For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
What is it with Christians and death and, in particular, the death of this one man, Jesus Christ? Why does it matter? Because everything rides on it, as the video below explains.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Could you please assure me that the Jesus that I meet in Revelation matches with the Jesus in the Gospels? He seems harsher.
That was the question addressed to Pastor John Piper recently. After all, the passage above is quite different than Luke 19, where we see Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey while people throw palm branches and shout Hosanna. So, the question is important, especially as we are in this important season when we think about Jesus’ life and what it means. Watch below as Pastor John, in effect, explains that Jesus is both to be loved and feared, depending on where your heart is.
Click on the image to view the message
There are three weeks until Easter, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his sin-atoning death on the cross outside of Jerusalem approximately 2,000 years ago. Let us not forget or slight the magnitude of what that death means for all of us. From John Piper, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis:
[W]e see this precious wrath-removal in John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). This means that when John says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” he doesn’t mean that every person in the world is saved. He means every person in the world—Jew or Gentile—will be saved if they believe in Jesus and follow him. If they believe, their sin has been taken away by the Lamb. If they believe, God’s wrath has been removed by the Lamb.
There is no race, no nationality, no ethnicity, no socio-economic status excluded. To as many as receive him, who believe on his name (John 1:12), their sins are taken away (John 1:29; 1 John 3:5) and the wrath of God is removed (John 3:36; 1 John 2:2) and they are made the children of God (John 1:12) and given eternal life (John 3:16).
These are good words to remember as Easter approaches and we think about the magnitude of what Christ did for us and does for us when we trust him with our lives. This is what John Piper is exhorting his family with, and I want to remember in my life as well:
Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.
The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,
* grace gets bigger;
* Christ gets greater;
* his death gets more wonderful;
* his resurrection gets more astonishing;
* the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
* the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
* its global extent gets wider;
* your own sin gets uglier;
* the devil gets more evil;
* the gospel’s roots in eternity go deeper;
* its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
* and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.
There are a lot of things going on this week, and it seems like Easter — the time of year where we mark the death of Jesus on behalf of mankind — has been pushed to the background. That’s not just sad, that’s tragic.
Today there will be countless number of people in this country gathered around television sets (or else distracted by them, if they are at work) watching to see if the right teams won so they can fill out their brackets. In our city, many kids looked forward to this week so they could not have school for several days in a row. Earlier this week, on Monday, many people honored the life of a follower of Christ by doing things that didn’t honor Christ. Millions of people are planning their evening to watch what will happen next to a group of people who exist only the minds of a group of television writers.
Living in the United States of America in 2008 means you can be a Christian, but please don’t push it in anyone’s face. But think about what this week of history means in our lives. If Jesus Christ had just lived a perfect life some 2,000 years ago and then just died, it wouldn’t have meant a thing. He was born to die a horrible death for our sins. And then, to show that God accepted that sacrifice, he rose from the grave. That’s the important part. Without it we’re just fooling ourselves and are living a lie.
Do you ever get a chill when you think about something that almost happened but didn’t? Well, without Christ’s death and resurrection we were all doomed to God’s wrath and to hell. You know, everlasting punishment for disobeying God. Think about that and shudder. Think about it and be jarred from the sleepy walk off a cliff called American pop culture. There is more to life than college basketball, St. Patrick’s Day, spring break, television, family visits and on and on.
Set you gaze on Jesus Christ and his perfect sacrifice. Think about the utter emptiness of this life without him. Realize that everything we’re looking for to fill up this empty void of our lives in fulfilled in him. Consider Jesus. Trust him. Treasure him.
Rockstanding 
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