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THE
MOST PRECIOUS GIFT INTRODUCTION God's greatest act of love for the benefit of mankind is seen in the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ, as a ransom - the payment for our souls. Christ's willingness to suffer the indescribably horrible consequences for our sins on our behalf is the Good News of the Bible. The heart-breaking news is that many people do not understand Christ's accomplishment on the cross, nor realize the vital necessity of responding to this greatest act of love. The purpose of this booklet is to give a glimpse of the agony suffered by our Saviour for the saving of our souls and the necessity of our response to God's call. Inspired by God's Holy Spirit, the prophet Isaiah, many centuries before Christ's birth, wrote the following passage concerning Christ's ordeal and accomplishment: “ . . . many were astonished at him - his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men - so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him. . . He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. . . But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. . . (Isaiah 52:14-15; 53:3,5-7) "They shall see my Servant beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know it was a person standing there. So shall He cleanse many nations. . ." (Isaiah 52:14-15 LB). So, so very few people realize the full extent of our Lord's suffering and its life-giving result for the believer. The good news of God's Word is not only the fact that a Saviour was born, but that He suffered and died on our behalf for our sins. Jesus Christ's suffering mentally, physically, and spiritually; God's perfect holiness; and the extent of His hate of sin cannot be fully understood by our frail human minds. God loves the sinner but absolutely hates sin. God loves the world so much that He gave His only Son (Jesus Christ) so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world and for whom all things were created (Hebrews 1:2) suffered much rejection by the people whom He had come to rescue. Many attempts were made on His life. Finally, when the time was right, Jesus allowed His enemies their wish - His death. Knowing fully well how He was to suffer, Jesus prayed just outside of Jerusalem, in a garden called Gethsemane, "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). Our Lord began to be filled with horror and deepest distress. He was in such agony of spirit that he broke into a sweat of blood, with great drops falling to the ground as He prayed more and more earnestly. He knew what Roman crucifixion was like. He could have refused the death on the cross - and in those moments of intense prayer the salvation of the whole world was at stake. All believers can be forever grateful that He accepted what was to come. Just as our Lord finished praying an armed mob led by Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Him, arrested Jesus and thus began another phase of suffering for our Lord. The vicious mob led the gentle lamb of God to the home of Caiaphas, the High Priest, where all the Jewish leaders were gathering. The chief priests, and in fact, the entire Jewish Supreme Court assembled there and searched for witnesses who would lie about Jesus in order to build a case against Him that would result in a death sentence. Many false witnesses gave their testimonies and finally a phony charge was made. Then the High Priest stood up and said to Jesus, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus answered, "You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:63-64). Filled with uncontrolled anger, they all went into a violent rage and shouted, "Death! Death! Death!" Then some of them began to spit all over His face and made fun of Jesus by blindfolding Him and hammering His face with their fists. "Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?" they jeered, and even the bailiffs were using their fists on Him as they led Him away. Our Lord did not get any sleep that night, and being early morning by this time, the entire court decided to send Him to Pilate, the Roman governor, to demand Christ's execution. Pilate found Jesus to be innocent of all their accusations and wanted to release him. He therefore called the entire assembly of chief priests and the other Jewish leaders, along with the people and announced his verdict of innocence. But a mighty roar arose from the crowd, "Kill Him, kill Him! and release Barabbas to us" (Mark 15:13-15). Now the governor's custom was to release one Jewish prisoner each year during the Passover celebration - anyone they wanted. When Pilate saw that he wasn't getting anywhere and that a riot was developing, at their request he released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder. But he delivered Jesus to the guards to be flogged with leaded whips before the crucifixion. The typical Roman whip, called the flagrum, consisted of a wooden handle to which were attached two or three leather thongs tipped with balls of metal. These caused deep wounds upon the victim and produced the maximum pain. Some whips also had hooks or sharp pieces of bones at the ends. This type of whipping caused the flesh to be torn and shredded. As a gentle lamb is led to the slaughter, God's sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ, did not resist as He was led by the Roman soldiers to a pillar to be flogged. After removing His robe, Christ's hands were tightly stretched high and tied to a pillar. According to Roman custom we know that at least two soldiers were used to whip Jesus. This type of ghastly punishment was nicknamed "little death" because many of the victims did not survive the torment. Through His love for us, the Son of God allowed this pre-crucifixion punishment upon Himself. Two fierce and heartless men now began the terrible punishment. Jesus was savagely flogged up and down the front and back of his body. This went on and on until His whole body was shredded and battered to a pulp. These repeated blows swell up the skin and pieces of flesh are torn off the body; blood flows so that the whole body looks hideously red. On many parts of Christ's back, shoulders and rib cage the bones were revealed. How our Lord must have shuddered, groaned and prayed during this horrible nightmarish agony, which He endured on our behalf! How our adorable Lord's face must have swollen. No doubt His eyes were prevented from seeing by the blood with which they were covered. Truly the prophet Isaiah's words were fulfilled, that Christ's appearance was so "marred beyond human semblance. . . " (Isaiah 52:14). The soldiers' crazed hate for Jesus did not subside at all, so He was taken to the barracks of the palace and the entire palace guard was assembled. Jesus was stripped in a cruel and insulting manner. A purple robe was put on Him, a rod placed in his hand, and His head was crowned with thorns. This crown was composed of several thorn branches plaited together. These big strong thorns, when pressed down with great force can pierce the skull! Having put our Lord in indescribable agony, the soldiers jested Him by yelling, "Hail King of the Jews!" They then seized the rod which had been placed in His hand as a mock scepter and beat His head and face with it violently. Surrounded by these crazed men who were filled with Satan’s rage, our defenseless Lord was then spat upon continuously as He gasped for air. Undoubtedly, the crowning of the thorns was one of the greatest physical pains suffered by the Son of God. When they finally tired of their sport, the soldiers took off the purple robe and put His own clothes on Him again, and led Him away to be crucified. A huge cross made of heavy wooden beams was placed upon His wounded shoulder. Staggering from side to side due to His extremely weakened physical condition, Jesus added to His pains by falling many times on the way to the place of crucifixion called Golgotha (Golgotha means "skull"). When He could no longer carry the heavy load, Simon of Cyrene who was just coming into Jerusalem from the country, was forced to carry Jesus' cross. Great crowds trailed along, behind, with many grief-stricken women. Two others, criminals, were led to be executed with Him in Golgotha. There all three were crucified - Jesus on the center cross and the two criminals on either side. The authorities deliberately crucified Christ between two known criminals. Jesus was thus ranked with criminals and humiliated in front of the crowd. A signboard was fastened to the cross above Christ's head announcing His "crime". It read, "The King of the Jews". At the site of the crucifixion our exhausted Lord patiently waited as His executioners marked the places on the cross to which His hands and feet were to be nailed. While this was being done, He was offered a drink of wine mixed with gall, a stupefying drink to deaden the pain of crucifixion. And having tasted it, He was not willing to drink it. The locations at which the nails were to be driven in were deliberately marked too far apart. This being done, one of the executioners, created by God as all men are, raised his hand in rebellion against Him and nailed His Creator to the cross. Huge crude spikes tore through Christ's wrists and into the cross. Now came the most troublesome part of the work. The already enormous pain of our Saviour was to be tremendously heightened. Ropes were now needed to pull His feet downward to the spot at which they were to be nailed. As this was being done, some had to put their weight on Christ's arms and chest so that His arms would not be torn from their places. By the time Jesus' feet were pulled down to the proper location, all His bones had dislocated at the joints. It is known that the victims of crucifixion who were nailed (normally the victims were tied) to the cross were forced by the agony into an up-and-down motion, or seesaw motion. This resulted from the victim's attempts to relieve himself of pain in the wrists at the price of more pain in the feet. Another necessity of this motion on the cross was to enable the victim to breathe, since the arms had to withstand tension equal to nearly twice the weight of the body, inducing near-suffocation. No human vernacular can even begin to describe the pain and anguish our beloved Saviour endured from the combined pains of the physical torture and the pain of rejection by the people He was dying for. Yet, these incredibly beautiful words flowed from the bloody lips of Christ as He was displayed on the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Written hundreds of years before His birth, these words of prophecy concerning the suffering of Christ, testify of His anguish on the cross: Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast. . . Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evil doers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet - I can count all my bones - they stare and gloat over me. . . (Psalms 22:12-17). The climax of our Saviour's ordeal came while on the cross, He took your sins and my sins - the sins of the whole world upon His sinless self. Covered with our sins, Jesus shouted, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit! And having said this He breathed His last. (Luke 23:46) Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, "What a gruesome story! Why would the Son of God voluntarily endure this type of treatment at the hands of ungrateful people?" We find the answer in John 3:16: God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not die (eternal punishment) but have eternal life. In reality you and I crucified Christ. We are just as guilty as the people who shouted, "Crucify Him!" Our sins put Him on the cross. When God's Son was placed on the cross, God (the Father) placed all our filthy sins on Him. God's indignation and extreme detestation of sin was taken out on His Son. God loves us so much that He offered the life of His Son as a substitute payment for our debts (sins). And Jesus Christ loves us so much that He agreed to take our sins upon Himself and suffer the punishment which was due to us. He paid for all our lies, all our bad habits, all our filthy thoughts, our immorality, etc., etc. God's Word promises that there is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust Him (Jesus Christ) to save them. But those who do not believe in Him nor desire Him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in and accepting the only Son of God (John 3:18). WHAT IS SIN? Sin is to know what is right and not doing it (James 4:17). Sin is transgression - the breaking of God's law (I John 3:4). God's Word tells us that sin is falling short of God's standard and that we are all guilty of sin (Romans 3:23). In this light we can understand the very dynamic poetic words of Krikor Naregatsi, one of our beloved Armenian Church fathers: ”. . .what shall I record of my own wretched self? My face turns black and I have no answers, knowing how unworthy I am of the communion of God and Saints. Knowing even if the seas change to salty ink, and the forests of reeds are cut into pens and the boundless fields spread with parchments I could but finish writing a fraction of my lawlessness. And should I build a scale, and the Cedars of Lebanon with Mount Ararat on one side, my guilt would tilt the balance to the other. . . " WE MUST HAVE OUR SINS FORGIVEN BECAUSE GOD CANNOT TOLERATE SIN. No sin or anyone with sin shall ever enter into His heavenly kingdom. God is perfectly holy and punishes sin wherever it is found (Romans 2:12). The unbelievably gruesome punishment received by Jesus Christ on the cross is God’s severe warning for all time, regarding His utter detestation of sin. We also read in God's Word that the end result of unpardoned sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). We must also have our sins forgiven because it (sin) is a totally uncrossable barrier between God and Man. However, as a result of Christ's accomplishment on the cross and His resurrection from death, that immense uncrossable barrier was shattered. Christ's death and His becoming alive again is our hope of eternal life in God's kingdom. Therefore, if you do not accept by faith, God’s prearranged payment for the debt of your personal sins, then you will stand in judgment before Him and be personally accountable for the payment for your sins. Tragically, many people do not have faith in God, nor do they trust Jesus Christ to save their souls, even though some of them claim to be Christian. They substitute certain "good works" (make church donations, take communion - without really understanding its significance, etc.), they try to live "good" lives; give up certain habits such as smoking, etc., in order to make themselves "worthy" of heaven - just in case there really is God, heaven, and hell. They do not realize that it is simply not enough to try to be good (although we should do good works and this is pleasing to God), but that only through the provision of Jesus Christ there is eternal life. Most tragically, many people go around Jesus and not to Him. Dear friend, please understand that everything which could possibly be done for the saving of our souls from hell has been accomplished through Jesus Christ. The problem of sin must be settled through Him. Jesus Christ declared, "I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE; NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER BUT BY ME" (John 14:6). That is precisely the reason why it is not enough to simply believe that God exists or that all religions are different roads to God's Kingdom. Without Jesus Christ there is no knowledge of God, for Jesus alone can bring us knowledge of God. To deny Jesus is to be separated from the Father. Our relationship to the Father depends on our response to the Son. We cannot honor God the Father while at the same time rejecting His Son. The Son has revealed the Father and has made our relationship with the Father (God) possible. In John 12:44, 45 we are told by Christ Himself that "He who believes in me, believes not in me but in Him who sent me. And he who sees me sees Him who sent me." WHAT MUST A PERSON DO TO HAVE HIS SINS FORGIVEN? Just as Jesus Christ died for the personal sins of each one of us, each of us must make a personal deliberate decision to have faith in and accept Him. God promises that all who receive His Son will receive from Him the privilege of becoming His children (John 1:12). Jesus Christ Himself tells us emphatically that anyone who listens to His message and believes in God (who sent Him) has eternal life, and will never be damned for his sins, but has already "passed from death to life" (John 5:24). At this time you might be saying to yourself, "Do I really need to make a personal decision to accept Christ? I believe in God, sometimes I attend church and even make donations. I was baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church as an infant. Is 'accepting' Christ a new religion? Does my Armenian Apostolic Church believe in such a doctrine?" Dear reader, our Armenian Apostolic Church and God's Word (upon which all our doctrines are based) make it plain that in order for one to become a true child of God, a definite decision to accept God's Son Jesus Christ must be made. Our church, through its sharagans (hymns), its Badarak and in its doctrines stresses the vital necessity of each individual to have a genuine faith and sincere love for God's Son in order to receive eternal life (salvation). This is not simply the peculiar teaching of certain denominations. Baptism is one of the most important sacraments of the Armenian Apostolic Church (as well as any true Christian Church). Our Lord Jesus Himself was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. He instructed His followers to be baptized (Matthew 28:19). However, we must realize that water baptism is the symbol of a spiritual event. The placing of the baptismal candidate in the water represents death of the original sin and rising out of the water represents resurrection (as Christ's) to a new life. At baptism, the one baptized is formally declared a Christian by the Church and accepted by God. So the one who is baptized is accepted by the Church and by God, but in order to complete one’s salvation, he must accept God personally, and by doing so, will confirm his Christianity. Therefore, if a person has not in faith believed in Christ's accomplishment and not truly repented of his sins, then in God's sight the water baptism alone, without the faith, will not save the individual's soul. God wants our faith and sincere love from our free will. No one is forced to be a Christian. God does not force anyone to accept His love and forgiveness. These truths are stressed by the doctrine of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is evident from this passage found in THE ORDER OF BAPTISM, ACCORDING TO THE RITE OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH, prepared by Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan (p. IV): An infant is not conscious of what takes place at his christening. Yet, as in all other spheres of his growing life, his parents take upon themselves the responsibility of bringing up their child in the faith of their fathers... Then as the child grows, gradually becoming independent and assuming responsibility for his own life and conduct, spiritually and in all other respects, he becomes free to accept or reject what he has received as an infant. Yes, everyone must accept or reject what he has received as an infant. We
also realize these truths in a warning given by Archbishop Khoren Narbey,
in his A CATECHISM OF CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION ACCORDING TO THE DOCTRINE
OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. (pp. 184-5): The Archbishop also explains that "God does not desire that any of His sons should perish, but on the contrary He desires them to repent and to believe in His Son and be saved. . . " (p. 105). Many other examples can be cited. If there was no need to account for our sins, Christ would never have suffered on the cross and died in our place. But there was no other way for us to receive eternal life, to be the children of God. We cannot be wishy-washy in our relationship with Jesus Christ. He exclaimed, "He who is not with Me is against Me. . ." (Matt. 12:30). After all that God did through His Son for us, the very best we can do is to put trust in His Son and to make a definite decision to accept Jesus Christ. It is a great insult to God for anyone to think that he is "good enough" on his own merits to enter God's kingdom - without total dependence on God's Son. Through the baptism of her members, her Sacraments and Holy Badarak, the greatest hope and desire of our Armenian Apostolic Church is to see her members knowingly and freely accept God's most precious gift - His Son Jesus Christ. Dear friend, if there was never a time in your life when you made a definite, conscience and personal decision to accept and follow God's Son Jesus Christ, or if you have betrayed your baptismal vows, now is the time to do it. Won't you believe in Him and accept His great gift of Love for you - for which He paid the ultimate price? Pray this prayer if you want to have Jesus Christ as your Lord Saviour: Dear Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and in need of your forgiveness. I believe that Your Son Jesus Christ died for all my sins and resurrected from the grave. Please forgive my sins, save my soul, and help me to live as a Christian Armenian. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.
Park Hor Yev Vortvo, Yev
Hokvoyn Surpo, Ayjm Yev Mishd Yev Havidyans Havideneets Amen (Glory to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever, Amen). We believe in one God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only begotten, that is of the substance of the Father. God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten and not made. Himself of the same nature of the Father by whom all things came into being in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Who for us, men, and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate, was made man, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. By whom he took body, soul and mind and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance. He suffered and was crucified and was buried and rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven with the same body and sat at the right hand of the Father. He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father to judge the quick and the dead; of whose kingdom there is no end. We believe also in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated and the perfect, who spake in the law and in the prophets and in the gospels. Who came down upon the Jordan, preached to the apostles and dwelt in the saints. We believe also in only one catholic and apostolic holy church. In one baptism of repentance for the remission and forgiveness of sins. In the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgment of souls and bodies, in the kingdom of heaven and in the life eternal. Copyright © Renewal In Christ Mission. All Rights Reserved. |