Title: The Sacrifice
Scripture : Romans 5:8
Date : November 12, 2008
Last Updated : December 9, 2008
My Commentaries
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" - Romans 5:8
Does this story look familiar? Doesn't it reflect the same sacrifice that God has offered to us? In this video, it is made clear that the father loved his son very much, as well as the people who would travel on his bridges. When disaster stuck, the father had two choices: let a whole train-full of people die, or let his beloved son die. After watching it we see that as difficult as it was, he had to make a choice, and he chose to sacrifice his own son, so that many others could have a second chance and live.
In the same way, God loves Jesus very much, and He also loves us too! Because of sin, we are separated from God, and this sin leads to spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God. The only way to save us from this death is to sacrifice a perfect man, free of sin. But there were no such thing. So God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth, who took on the form of a man, lived a perfect and sinless life, to take on our sins and suffer the consequences that we are supposed to suffer. In that way, when we come to God in Jesus’ name, God would see that our debt has been paid by Christ, and we would be saved from spiritual death.
As we continue to watch the video, we see that while the father is grieving over the loss of his son, the people on the train go on with their business, not knowing what disaster could have struck their lies and what sacrifice was made so that they may live. They continued to be angry, lonely, selfish, hurt and addicted to drugs. Take for example the woman on drugs. Was the father's sacrifice in vain? Did she care about her life? Did she deserve this sacrifice? No, she did not, but the man did it anyways, because he loved her, and everyone else.
Coming back to God's grace given to us. God made the ultimate sacrifice, sending His only Son to die instead of us, so that we may live. But so many of us don't know what sacrifice was done. We don't know what was given up, nor that we could have died, but instead someone else, who loved us so much, gave up their life for us! And this "someone" is Jesus. But we don't deserve this. We are sinners, and our righteousness are as filthy as rags, we lie, we cheat, we curse others, we curse God, we are selfish and greedy people who are only after our own desires. And yet, you may ask, "If we are so undeserving, why would God still do this for us?". It's because of love and mercy. He loves us and does not want us to perish.
At the end of the video, we see something wonderful. The same woman, addicted to drugs, and basically killing herself, has changed. No longer a slave to her drugs, but made new, and pure and living a good life. The father's sacrifice was not in vain.
This is an example of the few who actually accept God's free gift. I would just like to point out that this video is not an exact replica of the true thing, but the message is there. Someone who loved his passengers sacrificed something/someone he loved, so that they may live. A difference I would like to emphasize on is that, while in the video, whether people knew of the sacrifice the father made, they still lived. However, concerning God and Jesus, this new chance for life is only for those who accept God's free gift of eternal life. If we reject it, when our mortal bodies die, so will our soul. To clarify this more, Jesus paid the price so that we may have eternal life. By rejecting it, we are essentially telling God, "I'm not going to accept your sacrifice; I'm going to pay the price on my own,” resulting in us dying instead.
Now what does "spiritual death" and "eternal separation from God" really mean? When we die, they’re only one of two places we can go. Either heaven where we dwell with God forever, also knows as having eternal life, or hell which is a lake of burning fire, separated from God, to dwell and suffer for all eternity.
The Bible says, "Today is the day of salvation," the day we accept God's gift of eternal life. It was not yesterday, it is not too late, and it is not tomorrow, because we are not guaranteed to live another day. What if we die in our sleep? What if we get hit by a car tomorrow? It'll be too late.
In all honesty, if you are hearing this story of salvation for the first time, amazing as it would be if this caused you to turn to God, I believe that you would have to hear it some more. They are just so many more wonderful things to add to this. I pray that you will reread this message with an open mind and open heart, and seek to learn more about how you can achieve this eternal life, and how much God loves YOU! I challenge you, continue to read more pages on my site open up a bible and start reading it. If you don't have one, you can read it online at BibleGateway.com . Perhaps at first, this whole thing may seem a bit silly to you, but trust me, I am not telling you this for my personal gain, but for yours!
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