“He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Who was He? Let me tell you of the most unique Man that ever walked in this world.
If you were to travel through our galaxy at the speed of light it would take you 100,000 years to reach the Milky Way. Travelling at 186,282 miles per second, to reach the farthest galaxy that astronomers have seen would take you eight billion years! Still you would only be on the fringe of this mighty universe, with an expanse before you so tremendous that no computer could begin to calculate its eternal vastness.
But wait! Beyond all of God's created universe lies His holy dwelling place - Heaven! About 760 B.C. the prophet Isaiah, through a vision, received a glimpse of Heaven and exclaimed, "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up . . . Above it stood the seraphims . . . And one cried . . . Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:1-3). That Person on the throne was the Son of God!
Let me take you to another scene, hundreds of years later. It is night in Bethlehem and a virgin has given birth to a child - "And she brought forth her firstborn Son . . . and laid Him in a manger" (Luke 2:7).
What has taken place? The answer is, "the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world" (1 John 4:14). Imagine, sitting high and lifted up on the throne in Heaven, receiving all the praise and adoration of the heavenly host and then - leaving it all! Have you ever wondered why the Son of God left Heaven and journeyed to earth to become a human being? God answers: "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).
Tremendous truth! He came to earth to save us from Hell and fit us for Heaven! You and I have sinned and are consequently bound for Hell, yet God loved us so much that He was willing to send His Son to earth, that through His death on the cross we might become the possessors of eternal life and live with Him in Heaven forever.
By believing that He died just for you, you can be saved from Hell and made fit for Heaven! Is that not simple enough? Remember then, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Robert Surgenor
