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The Apostle's Creed
I believe in Jesus...who...suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
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I believe that the Son of God came to suffer and die for me. That belief doesn't come naturally. There's a dark side of me that wishes he had come in glory to right the wrong, punish the wicked, and enjoy great popularity and success. Then that dark side of me could claim to be part of a winning team. Likemy glorious leader, I could be powerful, famous, and successful.
Worship stems from faith. Without God's action of planting faith in human hearts, worship is not possible. The word worship means "to honor something or someone as divine or supernatural ." In other words, we are saying God is worthy of our praise and adoration. Worship is an act of giving. We give the Lord our praise and thanksgiving for all that he has given us.
Thank God it didn't happen that way. If it had, I would still be lost in sin and awaitingmy punishment in hell. Instead, Jesus came to suffer. Picture a baby bouncing uncomfortably along on a dusty road in the arms of frightened parents fleeing from a cruel king. Imagine trying to instruct disciples who were so painfully slow to understand. Try to comprehend what it must have been like to be despised by people you thought were your friends and even to be rejected by members of your own family. Think how it must have hurt to know that the respected religious leaders of the day were plotting to kill you. Try to grasp how horrible it must have been to have your closest friends desert you at the moment of your greatest need-having one of them betray you and another deny you.
The suffering that Jesus endured throughout his life reached its end in the excruciating agony of Good Friday. Falsely accused and condemned, he was brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to have his death sentence pronounced. The governor has found a place in history; the mention of his name guarantees that these are historical facts. For Jesus the sentence meant a crown of thoms, ridicule, and being spit on, scourged, publicly humiliated, and then forced to carry his own instrument of torture to the place of execution. There he was left to die. And die he did. He didn't just fall into some unconscious state. He didn't just appear to be dead. The soldier's spear in his side guaranteed that he was really dead. Friends took his body from the cross and buried it in a newly hewn tomb.
This is what I confess. This is what I believe. And, oh, what comfort is mine! Jesus suffered the punishment I deserve. Jesus died the death I had coming. He experienced the wrath of God if, my place. The sin that pervades every fiber of my being was buried with him. It's gone. It's forgotten. God sees it no more. Therefore, I will gladly take up my cross and follow him.
© 2005 Northwestern Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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