-Thabiti Anyabwile
Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection by Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile was a great read right at the start of Advent. As we focus on the gift of the manger, we realize that the birth of Christ was always ultimately leading to the death of Christ on the cross…and ultimately to his resurrection which is what separates Jesus from every other person declaring to be the Messiah.
I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below…
- God’s one perfect will accomplishes far more than all our imagined alternatives. A no from God does more for our good than a yes to all our dreams. Location: 107
- Jesus must be able to identify with our weaknesses in order to represent us before God. Location: 135
- Hebrews 4:15 tells us why Jesus shares our humanity: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” This sharing in our weakness was absolutely necessary. Location: 136
- Hebrews 2:17 teaches, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God.” Our Lord had to embrace our flesh in order to represent us to God. Location: 138
- In order for us to have the sympathizing, merciful, and faithful High Priest who knows what our lives are like and who never leaves us nor forsakes us, the Son of God had to be made like us and endure our sorrow. Location: 145
- Only Jesus ends the war between God and man with a peaceful solution. If Jesus does not go to the cross, then God will win the war with a final and terrible judgment against man for his sin. Sinners cannot fight God and win. Having Jesus as our Mediator is the only way for us to be reconciled to God. Location: 190
- The cross is the greatest possible revelation of the glory of God the Father and God the Son. Location: 242
- We must remember and treasure that Jesus willingly suffered all this so sinners can escape it. Jesus’ abandonment means the sinner’s adoption. He took our place on the cross so we can take His place in the kingdom. Because He was abandoned socially, we become children in the household of God. Because He was deserted emotionally, we become whole again—renewed in the image of God. Because He suffered spiritual separation, we are now spiritually united to Him through faith, never to be separated from God’s love. Because He was forsaken, we are forgiven. It is finished! Our salvation has been completed. We need only to turn from sin and trust in Jesus. Location: 498
- If we get stuck on the cross without contemplating the resurrection, then our faith feels like death rather than life. Our faith remains stuck on tragedy without triumph. The resurrection adds triumph to the tragedy! Location: 787
- Life lived in light of the resurrection looks like a life of sacrificial love. Location: 798
- Life lived in light of the resurrection realizes that knowing Jesus and being with Jesus is the greatest possible future. Location: 804
- The resurrection turns us from law-keeping to gospel-believing and from self-righteousness to an alien righteousness in Jesus Christ. It turns us from trying to earn God’s love by our good deeds to freely accepting God’s love as a gift through faith in His Son. The resurrection turns us from the death the law requires to the eternal life that Jesus purchased. Location: 868