What It Cost
by Margaret Davies
I was looking recently at a DVD which showed a sculpture of Jesus at the cross. The artist had done an amazing job of portraying the utter desolation, pain, and rejection of Jesus at the cross. It clearly showed the pain of separation from His Father.
From the moment Jesus was born, He depended on God. From His birth, Jesus knew God as His Heavenly Father. But as a human being Jesus was unique, because He never rebelled, or strayed from God. This isn’t so with the rest of us. We quickly learned we had an independent will, and by about two years old we needed teaching and discipline to keep within boundaries.
We can’t even imagine what the pain of separation from His Father must have been like for Jesus, as He hung on that cross. I realised this was the first time Jesus was ever separated from His Father. ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?’ (Psalm 22:).
Up to that point He’d always had intimate fellowship with the Father, continually experiencing His abiding presence in His life. He never knew what it was like to not have the Father near Him, until the moment He took our sin upon Himself. He bore our transgression before God in the Garden of Gethsemane, and when He went to the cross. At the cross He was alone and without help.
On the cross He was torn apart and separated from the Father. The Father became inaccessible to the Son as He who knew no sin was made sin for us. ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Sin couldn’t enter the Godhead. He had to be separated from the Father in death. On the cross Jesus bore the separation from the Father, caused by our sin, so we could be reconciled to God, and have fellowship with the Father through the Holy Spirit.
It was by faith He passed through death on our behalf to conquer it. ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit’ (Psalm 31:5).
O what a debt we owe to God who sent His son Jesus! He went through that awful agony, not just of suffering pain, but going through a separation He’d never experienced before, so we could enter His kingdom. As we go into the season of Passover let’s remember the cost Jesus bore for us. The more we reflect on this season, the more the Lord takes us deeper into all that it meant. We can be so thankful to our precious, heavenly Father, for all He allowed His Son to suffer, so we could enter into the fullness of life in Him. Thank You, Jesus, for the price You paid.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You were willing to suffer the pain of separation from Your Father through taking the weight of our sin on Your sinless body. Your love was so great towards us, making a way for us to enter into the freedom of Your forgiveness. Help us to be able to grasp this truth deep in our spirits and know the reality of the price You paid for each one of us. We are forever grateful to You. Amen.
Margaret Davies is married to Trevor whom she met and married in Israel where she worked in various ministries for almost 10 years. They joined Ellel Ministries in Scotland in 2002 where they served for almost 13 years, and have just recently left the full time team at Blairmore House. They are presently living in a small village in North Essex, and Margaret enjoys baking, gardening and walking.
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