FATHER OF BOTTOMS

By Rick Mathes

Philippians 2:8 (NASB77) ⁸  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross

.As a former alcoholic, drug addict and criminal I know personally what it means to hit the “mother of bottoms” I have been there and Jesus knows it like I do because He hit His also. Those He loved to come and die for shamed and rejected Him. There was a contract on His life that began in the stable when the Imperial Emperor of the known world knew enough about Him to seek and kill Him. Jesus escaped that close call even though He was born to die, the timing wasn’t right. But when it all came together, His very darling creation turned on Him in a most shameful manner to treat Him as the lowest of vial creatures that did not deserve another breath of oxygen: the scum of the sewer. He was distained by swine and the demons rejoiced.

Jesus went voluntarily to the cross: it was an afterthought. I believe He did His real soul searching and anguish in the garden. It was there that He suffered the full weight and horror of Hell. This was all predicted throughout the Old Testament by all the prophets that God breathed the words to write and truth of the Suffering Servant to illuminate. The substitutionary death of the Son of God for the sons of men was the only way God’s judgment could be appeased and His name upheld. What genius!

So His life’s work was to prepare us to understand the significance of His crucifixion. His incarnation was the greater miracle; for God to stop and take on manhood is inconceivable but His birth had to precede His death. That cross was the culmination of the prophesies fulfilled and the seal of our redemption was His resurrection.

How bold can you get! He said, “I lay down my life and I have the power to pick it up again” and He did. That is the hinge of my faith in Christ. He said He would and He did. Three decades plus now of intense daily study and I am still astonished by my hero the risen King of Kings!

And to top it all off, if it could be, was His ascension into heaven. Over 500 disciples witnessed His feet leave the ground and His body rise and disappear into a cloud that carried Him home. I’m breathless just writing this!