John 3:16 & Isaiah 53:5

What a mystery that He was pierced and crushed for our iniquities and that our punishment was on Him, that by His scurging we are healed. There is no greater mystery than this in the world, there’s no position more exalted than having received salvation. The honour and things of this world, politics, education, success, marriage, cars, all worldly greatness is nothing in comparison to the Gospel of Christ.

Yet people forsake the Gospel for nothing. Old and young should be occupied with this one matter of worth. Let nothing distract you from it.

In John 3:16 we see true love, a love that gives, that helps and that brings life. This is not the kind of ‘love’ which a boy has towards a girl, which is the same love that a cat has for a rat – too catch it. Such a ‘cat love’ is built on empty promises and will rob a girl of all that’s good and bless her with an illegitimate child or Aids. And the man responsible will have to give account, for the soul that sins shall die.

The story is told that a great, strong German king, Shamiel, once brought home a huge pile of bounty after a conquest. He declared that anyone who touches it would be beaten with 100 severe strokes. Somehow the king’s own mother broke this rule. In desperation the king realised that if he closed an eye to his mother’s offence, he would become the laughing stock of the nation and would never have authority again, and that others would follow her example of stealing. (Some Christians attempt to close a blind eye to sin in their family, but news of the truth will soon travel across the world). The king realised that his mother would never survive the hundred strokes, but justice had to be done. After the first tearing stroke, though, the king fell on his knees and ordered his mother to move away – he would take the other 99 strokes in her stead. Till his death he carried the scars, and his mother not only loved him more dearly for saving her by taking her punishment, but she was also cured of her stealing. Jesus took the punishment and death that we deserved onto Himself.

During the Great Depression (1929 – 33) John Griffith and his wife and only child, Greg, left the American countryside in search of work in a city. John became the operator at a bridge across a huge river, where the bridge had to be lifted from time to time for ships to pass. Beneath the operator’s office one could see the huge gears and cogs turning when the bridge was lifted or lowered. In 1937 when Greg was 8 years old, he once accompanied his dad to work. They were enjoying a picnic lunch under a tree nearby when at 12 minutes to 2 John heard an approaching train whistle. He told the boy to wait there for him and ran across the plank above the gear system to press the buttons and lower the bridge in time for the oncoming train with 400 passengers. Suddenly he heard a child screaming and realised that it was Greg. To his horror he saw that Greg had followed him and fallen into the gears. Instinctively he wanted to press the buttons to stop the system and save his child, but he knew that that would mean certain death for the 400 passengers in that train. With broken heart he had to leave his only child to die in order to save those passengers. The bridge fell in place and at that moment the train sped across – two o’clock. Totally oblivious of the price just paid for their lives, the passengers were each busy with his own interests, reading a newspaper, children playing or eating ice cream, chatting, etc. The father felt like smashing the train windows and calling out to them that he had just sacrificed his only son’s life for their sakes!

The Eternal God gave His only Son for your sake. Are you unconcerned about it though you know it. What does Jesus Christ and God the Father mean to you – after showing you such great love? It is right that there is an eternal hell for those who trample such great love underfoot. God the Father had to bear hearing Jesus cry out while on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In His great love He wants to give you life eternal.

In Great Britain a bird-loving boy once tried to reach the nest of birds that stayed in a cliff just above the ocean. By tying a rope to a tree, he lowered himself across the edge. The cliff sloped inward and he had to swing to and fro to reach the ledge where the nest was. But after jumping onto the ledge, he lost hold of the rope. He realised that the swinging rope was loosing momentum and he would be stuck down there with nobody knowing about him if he didn’t jump to grab the rope the next time it came closer. It was a matter of now or never.