THE ROLES REVERSED
Years ago, a military friend of mine got the assignment to be one of a handful of soldiers who were to be at the scene when the president of the United States came to visit the military base where he was stationed. He was honored, but also had to be nervous when given the details of his assignment. The men selected for this moment were there to protect the president. When the president arrived, my friend would be there, with his rifle in hand, facing away from the path the president was to be walking when he stepped off Air Force One. These individuals formed a protective barrier for him to walk, all with their backs towards that path. They were instructed to maintain a position facing away from the president and were warned against even turning their heads to look at the Commander in Chief. Apparently, such a gesture could be taken as a threat by the president’s secret service agents and could result in serious consequences.
The secret service agency has an obligation: to protect US political leaders including the US president, the US vice president, and their families. These agents are willing to lay down their lives because they believe the president is so valuable to our country and the rest of the world that he is worth dying for. These individuals would not take a bullet for just anyone, they were going to protect the president from any possible threat, and they were on alert even when amongst the country’s servicemen because they were taking no chances.
The president of the United States of America is an important figure, and many go to great lengths to protect him. We know, in our country’s history, many attempts have been made on the president’s life and sadly many have succeeded. This agency is in place to keep that from happening and provide great levels of security to those they are assigned to.
At the cross on Calvary these roles were reversed. There it was that the “President of the Universe” actually took a bullet for each and every one of us. He is the most powerful Being in existence, with a “secret service agency” of His own, made up of angels more powerful than any weapon man can construct. Christ could have prevented the bullet from striking Him, He could have called in 12 legions of angels from His agency to keep the bullet from striking Him, but it wasn’t Himself He was worried about protecting.
Christ’s concern was protecting us from the projectile that would result in our spiritual death. He dove in front of mankind and took the bullet Himself because, again, it was not Himself He was concerned with. His concern was you and me. He suffered the pain and anguish that should have come upon us but didn’t…because of His love for us. He gave up His life in order to save ours. He died so that we might live. Christ laid down His life for us because to Him, we were worth dying for.
Imagine the president of the United States jumping in front of a bullet to keep his secret service agent alive. Some might think such an act would be foolish, but it would have revealed just how important that agent was to him. It would have caused others to consider just how much he must have loved him. Well Christ did do that! The Creator died to protect the created! That is how important we are to Him. That is how much He loves us. He didn’t wait to get to know us to see if we were worth dying for, He just did it. He knew an attempt was going to be made on our soul, He knew what the outcome would be were we to be struck, and He knew the great loss that would be experienced should we lose our soul. The loss of us being able to spend eternity with Him, and the loss of Him being able to spend eternity with us. With all this in mind, Christ did not even hesitate, He simply acted.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”—John 15:13-14
Christ laid down His life for us. This is the greatest story and the greatest example of love there ever will be. The innocent dying to protect the guilty. How will we respond to the greatest gesture of love? How are we responding? All Christ asks is for us to do what He commands, and what He commands is to keep us safe, to keep our souls protected. He did everything to see that our souls were provided for and in a safe position, will we do what He commands to keep it that way?