April 2, 2010 (Good Friday): Rick Warren began his bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life, with these words: “It’s not about you.” But for Jesus, His purpose was all about you and me. He came to restore us to a right relationship with God/Himself. He came to give us abundant life (John 10:10) – to restore to the access to the Tree of Life lost in the garden. And to accomplish that He had one principle plan: to die. Contrary to much popular belief, Jesus did not come to teach us how to live a good, moral life. He came to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins (Romans 3:23) that we might meet the demanding standard of God – sinless perfection, which no amount of good, moral living can begin to measure up to. He didn’t come to teach us how to live because that could never solve our problem (Romans 8:3-4).
In the Gospel of John, we see Jesus telling those around him that “his hour had not yet come” as he went about ministering in Galilee (John 2:4; John 7:6-8). He successfully avoided those who were seeking to kill Him (John 7:1; John 8:59; John 10:39-40). So you’re thinking, “Wait a minute. Sounds to me like Jesus was really trying to avoid death.” He fled and hid, not because He didn’t come to die, but because continue reading…
