Love beyond comprehension

"And when I think

That God His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die

I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross,

My burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died

To take away my sin."

This week we remember the primary reason why Jesus came to earth as a man at all: to suffer and die, that we might be freed from sin and restored to life in Him. He did not come to be merely a Teacher and an example for us to follow; the moral standards God desired His people to obey were already revealed and codified in the Mosaic Law, and in every culture there have been great philosophers and moral teachers who have given us the basic information we need about what is right and what is wrong. God did not need to come Himself in the flesh - to utterly humble Himself and live in poverty and die in agony and shame - to simply give us more teaching. No, He has come to make us new. He has come to give us new life, to reconcile us to God, to redeem us from the depths of sin, to release us from the burdens of fear and judgment and condemnation by taking those burdens on Himself. He chose to pass through incredible depths of suffering and humiliation that we might be raised to incredible heights of glory and joy. We see this week, as we remember the sacrifice Jesus made, that His love for us truly is beyond all our comprehension - but we are also reminded that we can know that love experientially, in Christ, even as it is revealed to be deeper and higher and wider than we can intellectually understand.

"Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee:
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee:
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!"