And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:8 (English Standard Version)

The Opt-Out

There is a word in our vocabulary we can use to get out of something. It's called the 'opt-out.' On the Internet it can be used to stop email newsletters and spam, in banking and insurance companies it can be used to stop your information from being sold to third parties, or it could be used to tell someone you don't want to be involved in their plans. It's an escape clause.

The Gospels teach of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. How on the cross He became God's Perfect sacrifice satisfying His wrath against sin. When we read the Gospel accounts of the arrest and crucifixion of Christ we seldom consider that in all He went through He had an opt-out. As He was being arrested Jesus told Peter He could appeal to His Father in Heaven and He would send twelve legions of angels to His aid (Matthew 26:53). The number of soldiers in an average Roman legion was 5,000. Multiplied x12 it equals 600,000 angels. It is interesting that we find in 2^nd Kings 19:35 that one angel of the Lord, in one night, went through the camp of the Assyrian army, camped to attack the city of Jerusalem, and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Imagine what twelve legions of angels could have done to the earth had Christ asked for them!

Jesus spoke to His disciples telling them He had authority from God Himself to lay down His life and to take it up again (John 10:17-18). Before His arrest He prayed to His Father that if possible the cross and His taking the sins of history upon Himself could be avoided then let it be so, but adding “Not My will but Yours be done (Luke 22:42).” It was God's will that Christ die for the sins of the world since before the earth was created (Revelation 13:8) and Isaiah wrote of the suffering Messiah that it pleased God to crush (sacrifice) Him (Isaiah 53:10) to complete His plan of human redemption from sin. And in obedience to His Father Jesus willingly accepted the will of God (John 14:31).

After His arrest and illegal trials, He allowed His enemies to humiliate Him, beat Him, whip Him half to death, and nail Him to a Roman cross. This was all done voluntarily on Jesus' part. Jesus held total control and could have opted to have gotten out of it and destroyed His tormentors and enemies. But He humbled Himself through it for the joy that was set before Him, enduring the cross, despising its shame and afterward being seated at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 12:2). Christ endured our punishment for sin, crushing the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15) and disarming the rulers and authorities making a show of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Colossians 2:15).

For those that believe on Him Jesus replaces their sin, guilt and shame with the righteousness of God (Romans 5:21). The good news is that God raised Jesus Christ from the grave on the third day after He voluntarily shed His blood and died, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Christ could have chosen to opt-out of God's redemptive plan but He chose not to for our sake. That gives the phrase 'opt-out' a whole new meaning doesn't it?

Ken