Undeserved suffering is the greatest gift that can be given to one that God loves.

John 10:17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

 

The present active indicative of agapaomeans that the Father keeps on loving the humanity of Christ, He never changes.

           

Jesus Christ as a member of the human race is going to operate within the boundaries of a plan. God’s plan designed for Him in eternity past and He is never going to step out of bounds.

 

Therefore, Jesus is the only human in all of human history where the Father’s love depended on His decisions.

 

The Father loves any member of the human race continuously based on one decision to believe on Jesus Christ as Savior.

 

But not one negative decision was ever made by Christ and His laying down of His life therefore became a spiritual reality, and for this, the Father loves Him.

 

You and I are in and out of the Father’s plan constantly. But we never once lose the love of the Father because every believer’s righteousness is the righteousness of Christ accomplished at the cross.

 

Christ’s impeccability and spiritual death made it possible for the Justice of God to reject every sin in the human race and never have to look at it again.

 

There was no one who was going to die for Christ’s sins and so if Christ committed one, God would have looked upon that sin, and would have continued to look at all of our sins.

 

But the sinless, voluntary substitute for the human race satisfied completely the Justice of the Father and for that reason the Father loves Him and will always love you.

 

Here is the cement of your relationship as a child of God with your Father. Try to put a monetary value or a materialistic value on that!

 

God loves the Son; God gave what He loved the most, the best He had to offer.

 

When this is combined with John 3:16 we have the whole picture of the Father’s love. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ and yet He gave Him to the worst judgement that will ever exist, worse than the last judgement upon the human race even is the judgement of Jesus Christ on the cross.

 

God’s best, God’s most, God’s greatest blessing to Christ was the cross and so in great caution and reverence we breach hallowed ground concerning the mind of God and the love of God.

 

Undeserved suffering is the greatest gift that can be given to one that God loves.

 

Phil 3:8-11.

The resurrection life isn’t the greatest gift given to the believer it is a result from the greatest gift given to the believer - being conformed to His death.

 

Most of us never see much of this gift because we refuse to prepare for it and gain capacity for it and we run from the slightest hint of it.

 

And in our logical finite minds it doesn’t make sense. Why would God give to the ones He loves suffering? Shouldn’t God be giving blessing? It’s true. But what we fail to realize, and usually because we don’t want to suffer, that undeserved suffering is a blessing and not a curse.

 

Gives you a whole new perspective on the escrow blessings that you’ve been striving for, doesn’t it?

 

“because I lay down” - tithemi means to put something on the line, to place, to put something on a table. The active voice says that Jesus Christ did this willingly within the framework of the divine plan. The indicative mood is the reality of the divine plan calling for the unique death of Jesus Christ.

           

“my life,” psuche is literally, “my soul.”

           

John 10:17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life [soul] that I may take it again.

 

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “I might take it” - lambano doesn’t mean to take, it means to receive.

 

It should be translated, “that I might receive it.”

 

Aorist tense: the point of time of the resurrection.

 

 

John 10:18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."

 

In verse 18 we have the volition of Christ in this matter of putting His soul on the line.

 

“No one” refers to no other creature, man or angel.

 

“has taken it,” is the Greek word airo which means to lift up.

It was used originally for murder. When a person’s head was lifted up and his throat cut that was murder.

 

It means to murder, to take away, to raise up, and also to remove.

 

Here it means to remove. “No one removes it [my soul] from me.” In other words His decisions are His own. He could have stopped it at any time. His own volition, His own self-determination decided to remain in the Father’s plan even to the point of spiritual death on the cross.

 

No greater love exists in this world. We all as sheep, whether we are obedient or whether we are straying must remember that no greater love exists than the love that the Shepherd has for His sheep.

 

Members of the human race have a forgetting problem. Instead of drinking from the pure water provided by our Shepherd we find ourselves drinking from filth. Instead of eating the luscious grass from the green pasture we find ourselves gnawing at dried up roots in the dust.

 

The call of the Shepherd is constantly reminding us where the luscious grass is and where the cool, clean water is. He is constantly reminding us of how much work He has done and is doing to make this possible and if we listen long enough and believe long enough we will realize that no one loves us like He does.

 

John 10:18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."

 

“but” - conjunction of contrast; “I lay it down” - present active indicative of tithemi; “from myself” - apo.

           

“From myself”

“From” is the preposition of ultimate source, apo.

 

Only the volition of Jesus Christ is involved in going to the cross.

 

The human volition of Christ made the decision periodically during His incarnation. His humanity had to face the decision more than once.

 

At the point of the virgin birth He said yes: Hebrews 10:5, 7, 10.

 

At the baptism - Matthew 3:16,17.

 

At the sheepfold - John 10:18.

 

At the Garden of Gethsemane - Matthew 26:39,42.

 

John 10:18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."

 

“I have” - echo, present tense, ‘I keep on having.’

 

“authority” - exousia means authority and power.

 

The authority of Jesus Christ is the plan of God [not His deity]. He also had free will, and authority is the free will of Jesus Christ making a positive decision to go to the cross and die for the sins of the world.

 

Why does He? Because He is operating within the framework of a plan. This plan is described by the word “commandment.”

           

“This commandment” - entole which means command, but it means an order, a directive, a commission, or an edict. It really connotes orders given within the framework of an organization, of a plan. The plan belongs to God the Father and this plan is called the commandment; it is a whole plan.

 

“I have received” - aorist active indicative. Aorist tense: in eternity past. Active voice: I personally received it. Indicative mood: the reality of the fact that God has a plan that begins with me - Jesus Christ.

           

“of” - para, preposition of immediate source; “of my Father.”

 

Because of our union with Christ, every CA believer has received a plan from the Father to which our volition can say yes or know.

 

Again, why does Christ possess authority to do such amazing things? It doesn’t come from His deity, nor does it come from something in His humanity that we don’t possess. It comes from His own volition to say yes to the commandments of God.

 

When we say yes to the plan of God, when we keep the commandments of God, we receive by means of escrow our own authority and power.

 

Christ has offered us everything for nothing. Christianity is attaining that wisdom.

 

Our authority comes in the form of promotion in time and in eternity. Our power comes from spiritual growth in time with the result that we will receive rewards for all of eternity.

 

These are the result of saying yes to the plan of God and keeping the commandments of God, never to perfection, but always striving to lining up our volition with His.

 

We all mess up, that’s where rebound comes in of course. But we are not to be apathetic to our positive decisions from the strength of the word and the Spirit.

 

Get to know your beautiful Shepherd and you will desire it more than anything. You will desire the good pasture and not the dried up, dusty, parasite ridden weeds of the kosmos.