One Man for the People

A Word of Truth #074 (John 11:50-51) 

He had to go! It was just that simple.

The High Priest, Caiphas, believed that Jesus’ was destroying Israel. Caiphas told the other leaders that the solution was a matter of simple math. Lose one man by killing Jesus or many by having the nation destroyed? “It is expedient for us,” he said, “that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50).

Caiphas didn᾿t realize it, but God was using him to prophesy a truth about the Savior whom he was rejecting. Jesus didn’t come to lose the nation of Israel, He came to save it together with all other people on the earth. Caiphas was right, Jesus would die for the nation, but He would also die for all the world. It was expedient that one Man—Jesus—die for the people, although not in the way Caiphas imagined. Jesus died for all sins so that the whole world should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus’ New Commandment—“Love One Another!”

A Word of Truth #075  

We can express the entire will of God for our lives in one word—“love.” It is not surprising, therefore, to hear Jesus say on the night before He died “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you!” (John 13:34) Telling us to love one another, however, is certainly not new, for God has always said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What is new is the example we are to follow and the motivation that example provides!

We are to love others as Jesus has loved us! Jesus saw our need as condemned sinners worthy of God’s judgment. He then died upon the cross to rescue us from sin and its eternal consequences. What wondrous love He demonstrated—sacrificing His life for our own. We now in grateful devotion are to love others—not merely as we love ourselves, but as Jesus has loved us!