Chosen and Proven Love

Resurrection Weekend (aka Easter Weekend) and the days leading up to it flew by in a whirlwind of activity. I usually take some time during this time of year to reflect on what is known as Holy Week and to place special attention on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I continued this tradition this year, but I wasn’t able to deeply reflect on the meaning of Easter as much as I would have liked.

Yet, God in His grace still helped me understand the depths of His love and the power of the gospel in a fresh way this year. He led me to a short Holy Week devotional called Love to the Uttermost by John Piper that helped greatly guide and focus my thoughts regarding the Easter story. This is the central and most crucial event in the Christian faith (as in, without it, we have no faith), so even though it deserves our constant reflection and attention, it is fitting to set aside specific time to ponder the depths of its reality and truth.

There seems to be several key words that encapsulate what God has been showing me about Jesus’ death and resurrection this year: joy, delight, choice, and love. All of them are related and all of them find their source in God, not in me – as in Jesus showed me it was the Father’s and His delight and joy and choice and love for Him to suffer, die on the cross, and then come back to life three days later. As Piper said over and over in his devotional, this extravagant love was a free love and it was driven by joy. The Father freely chose to send His Son to save rebellious, sinful people from eternal torment and separation from Him in hell, and the Son freely chose to give His live as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). The greatest and truest expression of love is a love that is given freely, not out of duty or coercion.

It was the Father’s delight to send His Son as the perfect substitute for sinners (John 3:16; 1 John 3:9-11). He freely chose to do so. He chose to set His love on us, even though we were spiritually dead in our sins (Ephesians 1:3-10; 2:1-10). God was not under any obligation whatsoever to do this. There was nothing in us that was desirable or that warranted His attention or affection (Deuteronomy 7:7-8; 10:15). There was nothing we did or could do to earn His favor or love because even the good things we think we do are filthy according to His perfect standard (Isaiah 65:6; Romans 3:23). So God didn’t owe us anything that He should set His love on us or show us favor. 

Furthermore, it was Jesus’ delight to do His Father’s will (Psalm 40:8) and to save a people for Himself (Hebrews 12:2). He freely chose to die a gruesome death in order to do so. His life was His to give over to death and it was His to bring back from the dead (John 10:17-18). No one took His life from Him in the ultimate sense; He freely chose to lay it down. He freely chose to endure the cross because of the joy and glory and reward that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). That reward was a people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people that would be His treasured possession and that would sing His praises forever and ever (Revelation 7:9-10). So God demonstrates His love through the death of His Son Jesus Christ to save a people for Himself.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

What more can He do to prove His love for us (something God has asked me when I've doubted or questioned His love for me)? Nothing. The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of God’s love for His chosen people. It is something we will never fully grasp or explore or exhaust, but it is real. And it’s reality is rooted in history: in the real, historical person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God’s love is not abstract. Not at all. It was displayed in the most critical event of all of human history. 

So God chose a people for Himself and then He pursues that people and rescues that people by sending His Son to die in their place in order that He can be with His people for all of eternity. That’s grace. That’s love – love that’s chosen and proven. That is love to the uttermost (John 13:1).

This is the center of the gospel—this is what the Garden
of Gethsemane and Good Friday are all about—that God
has done astonishing and costly things to draw us near. He
has sent his Son to suffer and to die so that through him
we might draw near. It’s all so that we might draw near.
And all of this is for our joy and for his glory. Piper, Love to the Uttermost (page 28)

On a slightly different note, I have been thinking about how the resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter morning gives us such hope for our future resurrection to life with Him. I have been thinking about this especially in regards to my dad. Because of Jesus’ victory over death and His resurrection, my dad too will have victory over death and will be raised to new life. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, I will one day be re-united with my dad…but in much, much better circumstances. :)

He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 25:8