The Man Who Can’t Be Moved (Part 3)
Got Some Words on Cardboard . . .
In The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, the singer camps out on a street corner to win the heart of the girl he loves. There, he carries a piece of cardboard with words written on it.
When the Son of God stepped out of heaven and became a man, he did not carry cardboard with words. He was the message. Jesus himself was heaven’s love letter written not on cardboard but in flesh and blood.
Jesus Christ was, is, and will forever be the complete and full embodiment of God’s thoughts and emotions (Col 2:9).
Everything God wanted to say to you and I was expressed through this Jewish carpenter. “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son” (Heb. 1:1-3).
Got Your Picture in My Hand . . .
During Jesus’ time on earth, photographs obviously did not exist. Nevertheless, Christ carried a picture of you in his hands. Check out Isaiah 49:15-16:
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands...”
This scripture was initially written by the prophet Isaiah as he was inspired to communicate God’s heart to Jerusalem. Yet, it can be applied to Jesus as he hung on the cross.
The Roman spikes that fastened Jesus’ hands to the cross became God’s instrument to inscribe your name onto his palms. He can never forget you! You are engraved into his scars.
If that sounds far-fetched, consider the story of Moses encountering God's glory (see Ex. 33:18-23).
When Moses asked God to see his glory, God hid Moses in the “cleft of the rock.” God's exact words were, “There is a place near Me where you are to stand upon a rock, and when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by” (Ex. 18:21-22).
A cleft is a tear, a rip, or an area that has been pierced or split open. The Bible prophetically refers to Jesus as the “Stone,” “Rock,” or “Mountain of the Lord” (Is. 2:2, Dan. 2:35, 1 Pet. 2:4).
On the cross, Christ the Rock was cleft to provide a refuge for you and me. Somehow God placed or hid us in Christ. He united us with Jesus. As the apostle Paul wrote, “. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).
Jesus carried more than a picture of you in his hands. He carried your entire sinful nature and the weight of its punishment (1 Pet. 2:24, Is. 53:4). “Love bears all things . . . ” (1 Cor. 13:7).
God engraved, united, and hid you in Christ. Jesus absorbed your sin and punishment so you could die to sin's controlling demands and be raised with him into an entirely new life as a beloved son or daughter of God (Gal. 2:20, Rom. 6:4-6, Col 3:1).
Some Try to Hand Me Money, They Don’t Understand . . .
At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth, Christ was tempted by the devil to bypass the cross. Satan offered Jesus indescribable riches, power, and glory if he would simply worship Lucifer.
“The devil took him [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Mt. 4:8-10).
All the wealth and power in the world couldn’t move Jesus from enduring the cross. His love for God the Father and his resolve to redeem you was unconquerable.
I’m Not Broke, I’m Just a Broken Hearted Man . . .
As the eternal Son of God, Jesus needed nothing. He created everything (Jn. 1:3, Col. 1:16, Heb. 1:2). Yet he became a man because he greatly longed for a relationship with you! And the only way that could happen was through the crushing agony of the cross.
On the night before he was crucified, Jesus prayed to the Father about you. Christ looked down through history and expressed a deep desire for your friendship.
Jesus asked that through his sacrificial death, you would be brought into an enduring relationship with himself and the Father. He prayed that you would be by his side throughout eternity, sharing in his glory and nobility.
The Apostle John recorded Jesus’ prayer:
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me ... Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (Jn. 17:20-24).
If you’ve ever wondered what God thinks about you, take time to read the words of that prayer slowly over the next several days, weeks, and months. Turn it into conversation with Jesus. Ask him to give you insight into his heart through that prayer.
Jesus and the Father need nothing, but they deeply long for your friendship. Consider these descriptions of their love towards you:
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn. 15:13).
“God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8).
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16)
Continued in Part 4
