Let me tell you a story. About two
thousand and some odd years ago, a man unlike any other died a
horribly painful death as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. This
man was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You see, here's the thing.
Everyone on the world is guilty of something serious enough to
separate them from God. That thing is sin. God did not want the
people of the world to be separated from Him so He sent His Son to
pay the debt for the sins of the world. That is the story of
salvation. One perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Here's the other thing. Jesus didn't
die for the sins of the world. He died for the sins of the
individual. He died for your sins just as He died for my sins. My
point is this. Jesus did not do a cost-benefit analysis at the foot
of the cross to decide whether or not the shedding of His blood would
save enough people to be worth the sacrifice. He could have, mind
you. He very well could have looked into the future at every person
who would potentially accept His gift of salvation and determined at
that point, if the number of souls saved from eternal damnation would
ultimately be worth the pain and humiliation of His death on cross.
But he didn't. In fact, I have recently become convinced that if you
or I were the only person left on this earth to save, and no one else
would ever accept the love Jesus offered them, He would have gone
through all that anyways. Just for you. Just for me.
In case you have a problem with this,
allow me another paragraph or two to walk you through my reasoning.
God has been watching out for the
individual since he created Adam. When the world became so wicked
that God decided to flood it, He noticed one man who still worshiped
him. He reached out to Noah and gave him a way to save himself and
his family. Noah built an ark using plans directly from God. This ark
was something that had never been built before. I would say it was
the Titanic of its day except that there had never been a boat of any
kind built before the ark and it was designed by God, so it actually
was unsinkable. God knew that Noah's descendents would eventually
develop such a superiority complex that they would attempt the
construction of a tower that they intended to reach heaven. The
result of their efforts was basically, the need for the Rosetta
Stone. God saved Noah anyways.
When Sodom and Gomorrah reach the
height of their depravity, God decided it was time for them to go.
Fire and Brimstone was the fate that awaited them. Abraham, on having
heard Gods plan for these wicked cities, plead with God for the life
of his nephew, Lot. God still carried out his plans for Sodom and
Gomorrah, but He created an escape for Lot and his family. He sent a
couple angels directly to Lots door. These angels told Lot and his
family to leave the city and they did. This family of individuals
left the city and reached safety in the caves with the exception of
Lots wife. God knew that Lot's daughters would eventually get their
father drunk and commit incest with him for fear of having no
offspring. The results of these acts were Moab and Ben-ammi. Moab was
the father of the Moabites. This group of people was more or less at
constant odds with the Israelites. The nation spawned by the Ben-ammi
wasn't much better. Their relationships were so strained that the
Israelites chose to go into the wilderness after escaping slavery in
Egypt rather than go through the land of the Moabites or the
Ammonites. God very well could have listened to Abraham's pleas for
his nephews life and said, “Look, Abraham. I could save Lot. But if
I do, two nations will be born that will cause trouble for Your
descendents for centuries. I've done a cost-benefit analysis of the
situation and it's really better in the long run if I allow Lot to
perish with the rest of the city.” Instead, he saved Lot and his
family anyways. He also used the Moabites in the lineage of Jesus
through Ruth.
All throughout history, God has
directly intervened in the lives of individuals. He saved these
people before they had a chance to earn His help and despite their
sinful natures. Many of these people went on to be used greatly by
God. Consider David, Peter, and Paul. Some went on to disappoint.
Consider Saul of the Old Testament who, despite repeatedly being
given opportunity after opportunity to repent, died an enemy of God.
Consider also Judas Iscariot. He spent three and a half years walking
with Jesus and ended up betraying his Lord to the Romans and Jewish
leaders.
My point is this. Jesus, being the Son
of God, died that horrible death on that cross all those years ago,
because God is interested in saving you.
