But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:8-11We sang a song last week that thanked God for "crushing" his son Jesus in order to reconcile us to him. At first that sounds violent and unloving. What we don't see when we look at this in isolation is that it was the love of Jesus that motivates his action. God the Father agrees with the plan. Because of Jesus' act of self-sacrifice, God rewards him with the resurrection and name above all names.
For me though, the power is in the wrath. I'm not one to talk about God's wrath much; I prefer to speak more about his love that works to help us escape the wrath. BUT, I can't help but be struck by the thought that Jesus was crushed to enable us to be reconciled and live in peace with God, live with God's peace in us, live in peace and not worry about our eternal destiny. And because of that it makes me want to live for him more, makes me want to be more like him, makes me want to tell more people about him. . . Funny how the right combination of wrath and love can do that.
