Former Blackout Artist

“Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?“
– Charles Wesley, “And Can it Be That I Should Gain” (1738)

He was one of many, and yet there was something different about him from the others. Although a prominent religious leader, he wasn’t so rigid in his religious tradition that he had abandoned all of his curiosities. After all, this man named Jesus had stirred the people greatly. And some had even reported witnessing miraculous things from Him.

So under the cover of darkness one evening, this Pharisee named Nicodemus secretly met with Jesus. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God,” Nicodemus said. “For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2).

I love Jesus’ response in the very next sentence: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” He wasn’t there to talk politics or how Roman rule was oppressing the people. Jesus was there to share the truth of the gospel.

But Nicodemus was completely dumbfounded by what Jesus had said. So our Lord went a little deeper in His explanation, leaving “Israel’s great teacher” even more perplexed.

“How can this be?” Nicodemus exclaimed.

And perhaps this is exactly where God must bring a man before He saves him – to the place where human wisdom breaks apart under the weight of such divine grace.

“How can this be?”

That question has echoed through countless hearts ever since.

How can it be that God would look upon men who have broken His law, despised His holiness, loved their sin, and yet still set His affection upon them? How can it be that the Judge of all the earth would step down from His throne and bear the judgment Himself? How can it be that the spotless Son of God would willingly suffer for rebels who resist Him daily?

No wonder Charles Wesley cried out:

“Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?“

There is no greater question in all the world!

The gospel is more than some soothing balm for wounded people. It is resurrection for dead men! It is mercy for the guilty! It is pardon purchased by blood! And the deeper a man sees his own sin, the more staggering the cross ought to become to him.

The proud heart stumbles over grace because grace strips a man of every boast. It tells us we contributed nothing but the sin that nailed Christ to the tree. Salvation is not a reward for the worthy – it is a gift for the undeserving! This is why natural man recoils at the gospel. We would rather earn our salvation than kneel and receive it.

But this is the enormous glory of God’s love: Christ did not die for good men trying their best, He died for sinners, for enemies, for the ungodly! For you and me! As Romans declares, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Hallelujah!

Can you not feel the weight of that?

He knew every wicked thought we would think. Every careless word we would speak. Every act of rebellion we would commit. Nothing was hidden from Him. And yet He still went to Calvary!

“How can this be?”

The answer is found nowhere in man. It is found entirely in God’s sovereign grace and unfathomable love.

But I fear many have lost the wonder of it.

Isn’t it true that we speak so casually of the cross? That we rush through these truths that should bring us to our knees? That we have grown familiar with words that ought to leave us trembling with gratitude? How is it that the angels themselves never cease marveling at redemption, and yet redeemed sinners often scarcely pause to consider it?

Beloved, let us not move too quickly past this wonderful holy mystery. Stand still before the cross and look long at Christ crucified. And let this question pierce your heart again and again:

“How can this be?”

And when you realize you cannot fully answer it, worship! For the greatest truths in the Christian life are not merely understood… they are indeed adored.

Amazing love indeed!