Why Jesus’ Death was so Significant!

Looking at all of the prayers that haven’t been answered and all of the things that went wrong in life, it’s no wonder why we start to believe that God has not given us anything.           

We can acknowledge that He gave us life, but what good is that gift if we feel trapped in our lives.              

I’m just saying what most are afraid to say!                  

I have had moments of feeling like the only gift that God has given me is my life, but I would rather return that gift; because it is more of a burden than a blessing.                

Hopelessness has been my closest friend in certain seasons of my life.            

Seeing the death of dreams, time, jobs, relationships and family members;     

the weight, it has brought me to my knees.              

Wondering,       

‘Why am I alive if all I am going to do is suffer?’                

“I’m not blind!”                  

“I see no good gifts from God here!”                 

I start to doubt if I really matter to God at all, or if He has already discarded me because of my failures.                   

Life is all that I have and I wouldn’t ask for that gift, if I had the choice.            

Have you ever felt this way?                  

Do you ever doubt that you matter to God?                 

Have you ever said in your heart,    

“If God is real, I am sure that He does not care for me.”                  

If you have, please keep reading!                

I understand the weight that you’re carrying and the pain that is consuming your heart.                        

Please give me the opportunity to show you the truth about God’s love for you.                   

I know it’s difficult to entertain this idea, but all I ask is that you continue reading this post, with an open heart.              

We will begin by reading about an encounter that was recorded in Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭41‬-‭44‬.                    

“Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.””                   

‭‭Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭41‬-‭44‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.               

This passage strikes the hearts of every reader who has ever felt that what they have, is not enough.                 

It gave me a second wind in seasons when I believed that my best is still not meeting God’s standards.                 

This account has always filled me with the realization that my all, is good enough for God.                     

Nevertheless, that is just scratching the surface of the true magnificence of this story.                    

God recently showed me the deeper meaning behind this encounter.                         

When Jesus pointed out the sacrifice of the woman, it was not because her offering was great by human standards.              

She gave pennies compared to what everyone else had given.                       

Her sacrifice was the greatest because she gave her entire livelihood…                

The only money that she had to her name.                       

So, though many gave the equivalent of hundreds of dollars, they only gave a small percentage of what they own.                    

It didn’t take much thought or faith for them to give an offering, but the widow invested all that she had.                 

God sees this!               

He measures the heart this way!                 

 

 

Greatness of a sacrifice is not determined by a certain amount, it’s determined by the percentage given from what is owned.             

Using the same measure, let’s examine what God gave to us.                

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”                      

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.           

 

   

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”                  

‭‭I John‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.               

God didn’t give from His abundance, He gave from His lack.               

He has one Son, and instead of giving an Angel, of which He has many, He gave His son.                 

We see a foreshadowing of this in Genesis 22, when a father was willing to give his only son, by faith.                       

Why did God have to do all of this?                     

Why is it significant?                   

Here is why this was so significant!                 

Why were people giving sacrifices in Mark 12?                 

Because of the system that God established from the beginning.                     

God defined sin as debt, in order for His people to understand the severity of it.                 

In God’s kingdom, sin is the work that earns death as payment.                

As life in prison is how a serial murderer pays for his crime.                   

“For the wages of sin is death, …”                         

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.                         

Sacrifices were established to show God’s people that sin requires payment; though, we find out eventually that our sacrifices are not enough to cover the debt that we have accumulated.                 

Sin still needs payment.                                  

We obviously can’t afford it, so it seems that the death penalty is the only way that this debt will be paid.                  

God doesn’t need to do anything but slam His gavel down and send us all to our due sentence.             

This Holy Judge doesn’t do that though…                   

This Judge does what the widow did.                

He gave all that He had, which means that His sacrifice was larger than any sacrifice that has ever been offered.                       

God didn’t give 200 sons out of His billions of sons.                         

He gave the only Son that He had, and because He gave what cost EVERYTHING to Him, it was counted as the greatest sacrifice of all time.                

God gave the biggest sacrifice, worth enough to save all creation.                        

This is why this story of the widow is so significant!                  

We get the opportunity to see what sacrifice truly is!                 

Think about it!                    

The Judge Who can rightly and justly sentence us to death, in order to pay for our crimes, decided to pay the fine, Himself.               

He gave all that He had to set us free!                 

God could’ve supplied a planet-sized amount of lambs, in order for us to pay our debt, but that sacrifice would still not be enough by Heaven’s standards!                  

The greatest sacrifice was God giving the one and only Son that He had.                     

Because God gave the greatest sacrifice, our debt is paid and death is no longer the sentence that is due to us.                        

We get to walk free for life, because God paid our debt.            

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”                     

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.                       

This is why Jesus death was so significant.