"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."
1 Pet. 3:18
Most certainly, as the scriptures record, Christ came to die for sinners, destroy the works of the devil, give us life more abundant, heal the brokenhearted, deliver captives, open blind eyes, set at liberty those who are bound, etc. But the one ultimate goal in all of these was that He might bring us to God, His and our Father.
When He died the veil of the Temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom, opening a way for man to approach a Holy God directly, without fear. The writer of Hebrews tells us that veil was a picture of Christ' flesh, that we can now enter into God's presence boldly, through His blood.
The writer goes on to say it was, "a new and living way." Just as it was "new" to the Jews of that day, it is "new" to many today. I say this reverently, but they stop short at the veil. Jesus intended for us to enter in, not stand at the opening. Some think the hallmark of spirituality is stopping at Jesus, but everything He did was designed to bring us to the Father. He Himself said, He came to glorify God and bring us to Him. Interestingly one will be hard pressed to find anyone praying to Jesus; they prayed to the Father through Him; He is the Mediator, not the end!
The reason some Christians reject this is because they don't understand there is no jealousy in the Godhead. Jesus desires, unlike many children, to share His Father with His other brothers and sisters, in spite of the fact we were adopted. When He taught prayer, He told them to say, "Our Father..." And when He left them to go back Home he said, "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God."
In dark Gethsemane our Lord cried out, "Abba Father." And some years later Paul writes twice, "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father… And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
Let us each come to our Father and God through our Lord Jesus Christ! And in coming bow down and worship HIM! This pleases the Son.
By An Old Disciple
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