Series: When God Isn’t There Week 11: Present for Absence
John 1:1-5,14,16. We were so absent from God that we could never be present with Him. So God became present to us in order that He could take on the absence we deserved.
MATTHEW 16:21. Jesus became present to die for our absence.
But through all Jesus endured, He never made Himself absent.
Jesus was completely present in His suffering so that He would not be absent in ours. The Word became flesh so that His flesh could feel what you are going through. Jesus is Immanuel—God with us & God for us.
LEVITICUS 17:11b.
Hebrews 10:4. God let blood become His life force so that He could shed it for us.
God displayed His justice by pouring out His wrath on Jesus.
Jesus did not come just to take our wrath but our absence.
Matthew 27:46. God the Son was absent from God the Father.
Even if He is absent in the way we most desire, He is still present in the way we most require.
Jesus bore the punishment our souls deserve. We don’t just deserve death, but we deserve separation. 1 Peter 3:18
God’s presence was won for the world by the sacrifice of Jesus.
Hebrews 6:19-20. Because Jesus experienced God’s absence, now we don’t have to. Because Jesus entered God’s presence, we now get to.
On the cross, God with us died for us. The One who was present was now absent. The Word that became flesh & died became the Savior who rose again & was glorified.
God came near but is still far. God came to our present but remains in our future.
Jesus is the antidote to absence.
Jesus became our absence. He earned our presence.
