TO CHEW ON: "'Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them at last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'" Mark 12:6
It's hard not to feel a pang when we read this story.
The phrase "beloved son" snags my attention. Who of us who have children can't relate to the word beloved describing our offspring? We make great sacrifices to ensure their well-being. We go great distances to help them when they're in trouble. We do everything in our power to defend them and fight for them. When they're sick or in trouble we hurt for them...
God, who knew the whole story, knew that when He would send Jesus, this story would have a middle chapter of unbelievable agony and then death for His beloved Son, summed up in Mark 12:7-8:
"But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours.'
So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.'"
But God also knew that tough middle was worth the glorious end:
"But God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through might be saved'" John 3:16-17.
As we meditate on the incarnation and all it signifies, let's not forget to thank God for sending and then sacrificing His beloved Son for you and me!
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus, Your beloved Son, with the purpose of having Him die in my stead. Help me to never take this lightly. Amen.
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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