Hebrews 2:14 (NKJV) 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
Yesterday we began looking at the role choice has played in the relationship between man and God. It begins with God’s choice to create man. For man to fulfill his purpose, he had to have the ability and the right to choose to love God or not love God. Therefore, God built a choice into man’s environment by placing two trees in the Garden of Eden. One tree represented the choice to love God and one represented the choice to reject God.
We then follow this powerful force through two more choices. Man chose to reject God and sin, making him a child of the devil instead of his true Father, God. God was left with another choice to make. He could simply destroy man and start again or he could rescue man. Although the choice to redeem man from his sinful state would require a great sacrifice, God chose to do it anyway.
One of the most important milestones of God’s dealing with man in the Old Testament was the covenant between God and Abraham. Once again, we see that choice is at the center of God’s dealing with man. God chose to offer a covenant to man and man chose to accept that covenant. Once both these choices were made, it opened the door to the real fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 and the full redemption of man.
The first choice of the New Covenant was foreshadowed in Genesis 3:15. God himself took on the form of flesh. He chose to limit himself to the same physical body in which all of humanity lived. It is impossible for us to imagine what it is like to be limitless and all powerful, but God made a choice to lay that aside and become just like all other human beings except for one thing. He was not born with the nature of sin.
In the course of his ministry, he came to the day of crucifixion. Before he goes to the cross, we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As we watch this drama play out, we hear Jesus tell his disciples, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” It may bother some people to think that Jesus did not want to go to the cross but that is the only conclusion we can come to as we watch him in Gethsemane. Listen to his prayer.
Mark 14:36 (NKJV) 36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
What is happening in this scene? Jesus is making a choice. He chose to submit what he wanted to the will of God. I do not know what would have happened if Jesus had said, “Father, I have not sinned and it is not fair of you to ask me to do this. I will help humanity in any other way that you ask me to, but this is too much.” Thankfully, we do not need to know what would have happened because that is not what he said.
I believe that God knew what he would say. Jesus was God in the flesh. Yet in his humanity, I believe he had to have the right to say no. The wording of his prayer tells me that he had the right to say no. Relationship to be true must be based on choice and Jesus makes his choice in Gethsemane. It is so difficult a choice that he sweats blood resisting the desire of his flesh to avoid the cross. In the end, he utters some of the most important words ever spoken on behalf of humanity. “Not my will but thine be done.”
Once Jesus makes his choice, everything changes. He is in complete control of every situation he faces from that moment on. We see him at his arrest, at the mock trial before the high priest and before Pontius Pilot. Not once does he appear in distress. On the contrary when brought before Pilot, Pilot appears distressed.
The city is in an uproar. As the Governor, Pilot knows that he risks an uprising that would be a disaster for his career. As chaos reigns all around him, Jesus tells Pilot that he is not really to blame. This is God’s will and Jesus is at complete peace. How could that be so? It is so because Jesus’ choice has released something in him that sustains him through the trial.
Over the next days and hours, the result of Jesus choice leads him to beatings, insults and crucifixion. He spends 3 days in the grave. During that time, he suffered in ways that make the physical beating and death pale in comparison. In the grave, he suffered the separation from God that was Adam’s because of sin. At some point, which we do not really know or understand, God said, “The price has been fully paid.”
When this declaration was made, the bible tells us that Jesus “spoiled” powers and principalities, defeated Satan and led captivity captive. (Colossians 2:15 & Ephesians 4:8) Finally, in Matthew 28 we read these words.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
The power of choice has led from the creation of man to the fall of man. It has caused God to declare to the devil that he chooses to redeem man no matter the cost. The power of choice has opened the door via the Abrahamic covenant that leads to the birth of the savior, Jesus Christ. The power of choice in the life of Jesus the Son of Man has enabled him to suffer the penalty for the sin of all mankind. It has also empowered him to defeat the enemy of humanity, cast off the power of sin and death and, as we read in Hebrews 2, destroy him who had the power of death over people, the devil.
Through the power of choice, God has once again opened the way for man to be what he created him to be. After the fall, man had no choice but to serve the devil. He could choose not to sin on any given day, but eventually he had to sin. Sin was his nature.
Romans 5 tells us that death ruled man until the law came through Moses. Under the law, the absolute rule of death was broken because man now had specific choices he could make. However, this was not good enough. Man could not come into the presence of God as God had intended in creation. Man could not choose to love God as his family. Man could not live in God’s presence forever. The choices Jesus made changed all that.
When Jesus was raised from the dead and made his powerful statement in Matthew 28, he proclaimed to all people of every race and tongue that they once again had the choice given to them in the Garden of Eden. In Eden, they started out as God’s children and had the right to choose to reject that relationship. After the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, their natural state was separation from God but Jesus gave them the ability and the right to choose to become God’s children once again.
The power of choice produced man’s existence. It caused man’s fall from grace. It provided the way for man’s redemption. Today, it is the only way for any person to be saved and ensure heaven as their eternal home.
Romans 10:8-10 (NKJV) 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
If choice is the vehicle that produces the ability for man’s relationship with God, what other power does it have in the life of the believer? More tomorrow.
Leave a Reply