Back in eternal ages the Lord Jesus occupied the prime place in the affections of the heart of God. Being the centre of the Godhead - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; it stands to reason that it has always been God’s intention that His beloved Son should be the centre of all things.

When He came into the world He was the centre of angelic praise as His birth was announced in the middle of the night to shepherds caring for their sheep. Such was the importance of this announcement that they trusted their flocks to the care of God to go and see the thing that the angel told them concerning this precious New Arrival.

They found what they were looking for … “the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”, wrapped in swaddling bands, lying in a manger, just like the sacrificial lambs were set aside for future use in the temple for offerings of atonement and worship.

There He was, away from the busy city where there was no room for Him, and no interest in Him! This tiny little infant became the centre of the attention of lowly shepherds, a loving mother and Joseph her future husband in whose care she and her baby boy were depending.

Time moves on and next we see Him as a young lad surrounded by the doctors and religious leaders who were “astonished at His understanding and answers.” Luke 2: 47. Then at the beginning of His earthly ministry He was the centre of the attention of John the Baptist who was the one to proclaim that Jesus was indeed: “the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1: 29. After going through the waters of baptism God declared from the heights of heaven His pure delight and fully centred attention on His beloved Son.

Then we read of someone else who had a particular interest in Jesus. It was the devil himself, and he came to taunt Him when Jesus withdrew Himself to be in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. His interested was pinpointed on the future Saviour because He was just that! He tried every way he could think of to get Jesus to fall, to fail, and to sin, but failed! He tried to divert Him from going to the cross to be the Saviour of the world, but his cunning efforts failed again.

The crowds came to hear His gracious and often challenging words, others to receive His healing touch, or to have their needs met through His miraculous provision. I wonder how many folks got to appreciate who He really was? For a certain amount of time He would have been the subject of many a conversation, and the centre of everyone’s thoughts.

But as time moved on so the envious religious rulers began to stir up the crowds to think ill of this precious Man until they in a frenzy outright rejected Him and chose a rebel and murderer to be their preferred person instead of Jesus the Christ through Whom everyone’s need was met.

Within a week from being the centre of everyone’s praise and adoration as they cheered Him coming into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey, they were crying out for His blood!

The whipped up crowd could not, and would not think of anything else, and the beloved Saviour was rejected and delivered up to a mock trial and pronounced guilty of trumped up charges. He was scourged, pummelled and spat upon by the cruel Romans, crowned with thorns, and forced to carry His cross through the streets to Calvary where He was to be crucified.

There on Golgotha’s hill He was lifted up between two malefactors. There, in the centre as if the worst offender! But unbeknown to all if not most people there on that dark day in history, He was right in the middle of the will of God as the Scripture tells us something very significant:

It would be the easiest thing to overlook something wonderful here if it were not for how this event is described in the original text. 

Right in the centre of the past and anticipated future, Jesus, the Son of God was suffering, bleeding, and dying on a cruel Roman cross! God brought all of the sins accumulated from the first man right up to that very moment in time, and then He gathered all of the anticipated sins of all from then on right up to this present time and beyond, and He brought them all together and ‘made them to meet upon His Son’ who was dying in the place of sinners like you and me! 

What would be our reasonable response to such love beyond our contemplation or deserving? Would it not be anything less than to repent of our old ways and receive Him gladly? Would it not be anything less than to crown Him Lord of our life? Truly, there can be nothing more wonderful than to have Him in the centre of our lives around which everything else revolves! And God the Father would most certainly agree with that!

But there is coming a day when everybody, both young and old, rich and poor, from all nations are going to surround this blessed One and bow the knee to confess Him as Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Sadly, in that day they will have lost their opportunity to own Him as Lord of their life, and instead of bowing the knee for their blessing and justification as they have the opportunity to do so now, they will certainly be bowing the knee then for their judgement and damnation.

Calvary reveals the darkness of the heart of sinful mankind, but also it reveals the tremendous love and mercy of a holy God. The sufferings of Calvary offer to the repentant sinner pardon and peace. And the moment the guilty sinner acknowledges: “I am the guilty sinner BUT Jesus died for me”, God can and will come in with His forgiveness and cleansing, and make a brand new creation out of that person. That could be you today!

Today, for the most part the Lord Jesus is the centre of people’s hatred and vitriol, but to the one who has been forgiven and cleansed from their sin, He is the Lord and Lover of their soul, the joy of their life, and absolute and certain hope for the future.

What a precious and memorable time of the year right now for that new life from the heart of God to begin in yours!