History provides us with moments of great importance. Decisions, decisions, decisions weigh heavily on our hearts. Sometimes proximity blurs the importance for us and we forget other much more important moments. A Thursday night 2000 years ago a decision was made not for the continuity of the Roman government but for the universe. God had sent His Son, His only Son, to earth and the culmination of that was would He or would He not while being human suffer one of the most horrific of deaths at the hands of those He had created.
There was silence in heaven as He fell to the earth in Gethsemane begging His Father for another way to save mankind. There was not another way. Satan pressed in smothering Him with the prospect of eternal loss, not only for Himself but for everyone. Rising from the ground He made the decision. But even yet the physical horror was yet to come. We can now count the beatings, the humiliations, the number of thorns in His brow, the betrayal of Peter, the wooden cross on his back almost stripped of all skin by the lashes with barbs embedded in the strips of leather, the nails in His hands and the thirst-the incredible thirst.
Satan was sure he could break Him. No one would so endure when with the flick of an eye bring it instantly to an end. All heaven and all hell waited to see what the end would be. Any other decisive moment in time pales in comparison to this.
On Sunday morning the angels sang because WE won. We won not just four years. We won eternity for everyone and anyone who will decide to accept the gift.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 9, 2016
rogerbothwell.org