Chapter 23/ "He First Loved Us"

ON A spring day nearly 2,000  years ago, an innocent man was tried, convicted of crimes he had never committed, and then tortured to death. It was not the first cruel and unjust execution in history, nor, sadly, was it the last.  Yet, that death was unlike any other.

As that man suffered through his final, agonizing hours, heaven itself marked the significance of the event.  Though it was the middle of the day, darkness suddenly descended on the land.  As one historian put it, "the sunlight failed."  (Luke 23:44, 45) Then, just before the man breathed his last, he said these unforgettable words:  "It has been accomplished!"  Indeed, by laying down his life, he accomplished something wonderful.  His sacrifice was the greatest act of love ever performed by any humans. -John 15:13; 19:30.

That man, of course, was Jesus Christ.  His suffering and death on that dark, day, Nisan 14, 33 C.E., are well-known.  However, an important fact has often been ignored.  Though Jesus suffered intensely, someone else suffered even more.  In fact, someone else made an even greater sacrifice that day-the greatest act of love ever performed by anyone in the universe.  What act was that?  The answer provides a fitting introduction to the most important of subjects:  Jehovah's love.

Next time: Chapter 23/"He First Loved Us" -The Greatest Act of Love

From the book: Draw Close to Jehovah