“Why did the Savior heaven leave, and come to earth below where men His grace would not receive? Because He loves me so/Why did the Savior mark the way, and why temptation know? Why tech and toil and plead the way? Because He loves me so/Why feel the gardens dreadful dross? Why thro’ His trials go? Why suffer death upon the cross? Because He loves me so! (song: He loves Me)

“Why did my Savior come to earth, and to the humble go? Why did He choose a lowly birth? Because He loved me so/Why did He drink the bitter cup of sorrow, pain and woe? Why on the cross be lifted up? Because He loved me so! (song: Why Did My Savior Come To Earth? By J.G. Dailey)

 1.  He came to do the Father’s will (John 6:38; 17:4; 19:30).  *Not that such was against His own will (Hebrews 9:14; 10:17-18; Matthew 26:51-53; John 10:11, 17-18).

2.  He came to be man’s perfect example.

• In love (John 13:15; 13:34; Philippians 2:4-8; 1 John 3:16-18)
• In endurance (Hebrews 12:3-4; 1 Peter 2:21-23)
• In forgiveness (Colossians 3:13)
• In service (John 13:14-15; Matthew 20:25-28; Philippians 2:4-7)

3.  He came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17; John 5:39; Luke 24:25-27; Acts 8:30-35; 17:11; 18:28; 26:22, 27-28; 28:23).

4.  He came to give us a new covenant (Hebrews 9:16-20; Luke 16:16).

5.  He came to defeat Satan for us (Hebrews 2:14-15) and save us from our sins (Luke 19:10; John 3:17; 1 Peter 2:24-25; Matthew 26:28 cf. Acts 2:38).

6.  He came to give us a better quality of life (John 10:10).

7.  He came to give us peace and joy (John 14:27; 16:33; Philippians 4:4, 7).

8.  He came to become our perfect High Priest (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:17-18).

9.  He came to give us the hope of Heaven (John 14:1-3; Philippians 1:21; 1 John 5:11).

10.  He came because He loves us (John 15:13; Matthew 20:28; Hebrews 2:9; Philippians 2:4-7).  *And so does the Father (John 3:16; Romans 5:8).

11.  He came to reveal the unseen God (John 1:18; 12:45; 14:8-9; Colossians 1:15; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3).

12.  He came to establish His church (Matthew 16:18).   *Even Hades itself wouldn’t prevent it (cf. Acts 2:27, 31).

The next time that we are tempted to feel sorry for ourselves, may we meditate on what He endured for us (Hebrews 12:3-4 cf. 4:15). Consider the following story….

God Leads A Pretty Sheltered Life

   (author unknown)

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God’s throne. Some of the groups near the front talked heatedly, not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. “How can God judge us?” “How can He know about suffering?” snapped a joking brunette. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp, “We endured terror, beatings, torture, death!” In another group, a black man lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn, “Lynched for no crime but being black! We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, toiled till only death gave release.”

Far out across the plains were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in Heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger, no hatred. Indeed, what did God know about what man had been forced to endure in this world? After all, God leads a pretty sheltered life,” they said. So, each group sent out a leader, chosen because he had suffered. There was a Jew, a black, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate, a person from Hiroshima, and one from a Siberian slave camp. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather simple: Before God would be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God “should be sentenced to live on earth – as a man!” But, because He was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure He could not use His divine powers to help Himself. Let Him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted, so that none will know who really is His Father. Let Him champion a cause so just, but so radical, that it brings down upon Him the hate, condemnation, and eliminating efforts of every major traditional and established religious authority. Let Him try to describe what no man has ever seen, tasted, heard or smelled – let Him try to communicate God to man. Let Him be betrayed by His dearest friends. Let Him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let Him see what is to be terribly alone and completely abandoned by every living thing. Let Him be tortured and let Him die. Let Him die the most humiliating death – with common thieves! As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throng of people. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew… God had already served His sentence.