God is holy, eternal, all-powerful, and all-sufficient. He doesn't require any created being, but we do. All of creation is reliant on the life that only God can provide. "All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time," says the author, "and when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust" (Psalm 104:14, 27, 29).
God, on the other hand, is completely independent of everything and everyone. He has no lack, no limitation, and no deficiency in his life. Without qualification or exception, he is "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14). He would not be God if He required anything to stay alive or feel complete.
As a result, God does not require our assistance. But, miraculously, He adores us and, in His goodness, desires for us to live with Him forever. So, 2,000 years ago, God took on flesh, came to Earth, and gave His life in order to atone for our sins and demonstrate His unfailing love for us. Nobody pays that high a price for something they don't want or value, so He paid the ultimate price to reconcile us to Himself.
Jesus was fully aware of what would befall Him at the conclusion of His earthly ministry (Mark 8:31; John 18:4). Blood-tinged sweat dripped from His brow as He prayed in Gethsemane about the trials that would soon befall Him (Luke 22:44). And Jesus was well aware of Isaiah 52:14, which states, "His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being, and his form marred beyond human likeness." The Son of Man had been flayed to the point of no longer resembling a human being. The crucifixion, the most painful and heinous method of execution ever devised, was then followed by something even worse: the torture.
His heavenly Father "turned away" from Jesus as he hung on the cross. God's eyes are "too pure to look on evil," according to Habakkuk 1:13. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Christ cried out at that point. (Matthew 27:46, NRSV)
This is the cost of God's love for us, and it's how we know He cares. We are offered eternal life as a result of this incredible and undeserved love for us disobedient sinners. Salvation is a gift that is freely given because of the one true God's breathtaking, voluntary sacrifice. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: Christ died for us while we were still sinners," says Romans 5:8.
Nothing can separate us from Christ once we are united with Him. 8:38–39 (Rom. 8:38–39): "Because I am convinced that neither death nor life, angels nor demons, the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from God's love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Christ's followers are reborn. "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me," we understand the depth of His love for us. My current physical existence is based on my faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
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