A Gospel Reminder

"HE gave Himself!" Yes, Jesus gave Himself for us. Note the contrast between the Giver — and those for whom He gave Himself.

The Giver is He who was the only begotten Son of God, the author of creation, the sustainer of the universe, the brightness of divine glory, the source and end of all things! He who was proclaimed by the prophet as "the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the prince of peace." He who is declared by the apostle to be "God over all — blessed for evermore!" He who is "God manifest in the flesh."

"He gave Himself for US." For us — who at the best are mere creatures, between whom and our Creator there can be no comparison. But it was not for us as mere creatures — but for us as base, vile, insignificant, and totally depraved creatures! We had debased ourselves, even unto Hell. Worse, our nature could not be, for "the human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked!"

The most exalted, glorious, and holy being in the universe — gave Himself for the most vile, polluted, and degraded of His creatures! O how astonishing!

But He volunteered on our behalf, without any solicitation, offering to become . . .
our Substitute and fulfill the law in our stead;
our Sacrifice, and make a full atonement for our sins; and
our Ransomer, paying the satisfactory price for our redemption.

He engaged to bear the desert of all our sins in His own body — to suffer all that the inflexible justice of God could inflict on our Surety — and so put away our sins forever, by the sacrifice of Himself. He gave . . .
His person — for our persons;
His blood — as our ransom price;
and His life — for our lives.

He gave His entire self, doing and suffering all that was necessary to secure our release from sin's curse, and our everlasting salvation. O amazing grace of a gracious Savior!

- James Smith

What a great quote!  I love this reminder of how Jesus bore all our sin so that we could have "everlasting salvation."  You can read the whole article by James Smith here.