Jesus' Epic Expedition

what is THE MOST EPIC EXPEDITION EVER UNDERTAKEN?

No, it’s not William Edward Parry’s harrowing voyage to the North Pole in 1827. It’s not Edmund Hillary’s costly ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. It’s not even the 1969 lunar landing of Apollo 11. One expedition eclipses all of these.

NO PLAYWRIGHT could have DREAMED UP A STORY AS EPIC AS THIS ONE.

It happened two thousand years ago when God made the cosmic trek from heaven to earth to rescue those he loved. They were lost and in grave danger. They had wandered into a pit so dark and consuming they could never find their way out. God came to rescue his own, and he did it in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God’s divine Son, the God-man.

Without this deliverer, God’s beloved would PERISH.

This one-man search and rescue operation took Jesus into the depths of darkness. Still, nothing could deter him from his mission. For him, this was more than a rescue. It was a reconciliation, a reunion.

ULTIMATELY, this WOULD COST GOD'S SON HIS LIFE, which makes IT THE MOST EXPENSIVE expedition EVER UNDERTAKEN.

In what would become the most stunning display of sacrificial love the world has ever seen, the King of Glory willingly gave his life to save those he loves. “Greater love has no one than this,” he said, “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

BUT THAT’S NOT THE END OF THE STORY.

Three days later this divine hero rose triumphantly from the grave, demonstrating his invincible power and incomparable love.

What makes this true story so compelling is that it’s our story. We are the ones the Son of God came to save. We are the ones for whom he died. We are the ones he came to reconcile to himself.

JESUS CAME TO CALL US OUT OF HIDING.

He came to forgive us, to heal us, to redeem and restore us. Now he calls us to trust him as our Savior-King, that he might give us new life now and forever. He intends to teach us all about his will and his ways, so that we might delight in him, be transformed by him, and labor with him to reach others.

This is what discipleship is all about.

It begins with a willing reunion when we receive Christ as our Savior.

“And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”

— Charles Wesley