Cleave

 

The word ‘cleave’ is one of those words which has two meanings which are totally opposite. It can mean splitting apart, rather like an axe splitting a log, or it can mean coming close, as in a child resting close to its mother’s breast.
 
Two words I have thought about are sacrifice and achieve. Of course, we know that to achieve something is a gain whilst to sacrifice something infers a loss. Yet we see these two words coming together when we think of the death of Jesus on the cross; great sacrifice and great achievement.
 
It does at first seem a paradox that you can lose something and yet at the same you can gain something.
 
At the cross Jesus was beaten, tortured, ridiculed, mocked until finally death overcame Him. We read in John’s Gospel that the last words of Jesus were, “It is finished” John 19:30. Jesus has paid the ultimate sacrifice, He had given His life.
 
But the other side of this horrible death was the unbelievable, everlasting and complete achievement of what it meant. Jesus, in His death and resurrection, defeated the power of sin and darkness. He overcame the evil work of Satan. He rescued and redeemed us from the grip of fear. He made the path clear for us to have a unique and personal relationship with our Almighty Heavenly Father, The One who sits on the Throne of Glory.
 
I want to emphasis the word ‘personal’; what Christ sacrificed and achieved on the cross was for you. The Bible tells us that, “If we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts the God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9.
 
So sacrifice and achievement came together in that one huge, cosmic, life-changing event in history. Today follow Jesus and rest with Him and give Him the praise, glory and thanks that He died and rose again, for you!