Jesus' Ferocious Plan

I've tried to track down the author of this essay but haven't been able to (yet.) I read it some years ago on the blog of a wonderful Christian man, a Bible professor as I recall, who was dying from cancer. I remember that this entry was written by his wife after they'd attended a chapel service and heard their friend Elliot speak. Their online journal was very touching and inspiring, and this particular entry stood out to me as exceptionally grand, so I copied it and saved it to a folder. Going through some things today I found it again, so thought I'd share it with you.

"I can't possibly tell about all the things Elliot reminded us of, about how incredibly glorious Jesus is and what an unspeakable privilege it is to belong to him and be part of his kingdom, but I'll pick this one image he painted for us. He reminded us that Jesus' death on the cross was not a passive thing that he simply endured, but rather a ferocious attack on the enemy--sin and death--in which that enemy was defeated and destroyed by Jesus' obedience to the Father that flowed from his passionate love for him.

Elliot said he pictures it like shark hunting, in which Jesus gets ready to jump into the water to take on the shark. Jesus explains to his disciples that his plan is to get swallowed by the shark, rip out the shark's insides, and then jump back into the boat. When the skeptical disciples ask, 'Don't you think that will smart a bit, mate?' he says, 'Yes. But the shark will be dead.'

"Jesus took on human flesh, immersed himself in this messed-up world and chose to undergo a horrific execution in order to take on sin and death and rip out their guts. Crucifixion smarted plenty, but it worked. His resurrection--his startling jump back into the boat--destroyed the enemy. Hallelujah!

"That was a great reminder, both of what it cost Jesus to redeem us and of the triumph of his resurrection that broke the power of death over him, and also over us as we are united to him."