God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. Acts 2:24
My mother taught me to write thank you notes upon receiving gifts as a child. She impressed upon me that
the person who gave the gift deserved a note free from mistakes. If I made a mistake while drafting the note I had to start again because an effective thank you note should contain no mistakes.
Likewise, God deserves a life lived free from mistakes because He gave us His great gift of life. God does not only deserve a life free from mistakes, but He requires it. We were made for God’s glory and our sin causes us to fall short of His glory. Due to the fall of Adam, man could no longer live a life free from mistakes, so God sent Jesus to live His life free from mistakes. As Jesus shared fully in our humanity, becoming like us in every respect, He also, in being fully God, was able to live a life free from mistakes. Colossians 1:19-20,
For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.
Jesus was fully God and therefore able to reconcile all things, including us, to Himself; through His shed blood. He is not only willing to forgive, but because He is fully God, He is able to forgive us; for only God can forgive sins against Himself. And we know we now have hope that we will overcome death and Hell, because God raised Jesus, loosing the pangs of death for all who would trust in Him.
Jesus became like us as a man, but remained far different from us in His perfect, divine nature. Our Redeemer had to remain fully God, for only God could overcome the grave on our behalf. On the cross our Redeemer was able to bear God’s anger against our sin because He had no sin; therefore, He was able to despise the shame of the cross and to be seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Let us be eternally thankful that our God sent One who never made a mistake and who now stands forever before the Father interceding for us on the basis of His perfect life.
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