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Monday, August 09, 2010

THE BRIDGE - THE STORY OF SACRIFICE

I'm sure most of you have read this story, but if you haven't watched the movie yet, I give you the link below, and you should watch it, you won't regret~ ^^

There once was a bridge operator who had a young son whom he dearly loved. They were inseparable. The young boy often asked to go with his father to watch him work - to watch him raise and lower the draw bridge, allowing the boats to pass under or the passenger trains to cross over. One day the father relented and allowed his son to come with him.

"Stay here at a safe distance," the father warned the boy, "while I go and raise the bridge for the coming boat." The boy stayed where his father had left him and watched the bridge as it slowly lifted up in the sky. Suddenly, the boy heard the faint cry of an approaching passenger train - coming quite a bit sooner than had been expected. The father, up in the control room, could hear neither the whistle of the train nor the warning cry of his son.

The boy saw the train racing closer and closer, and he started to run along the platform to reach his father. Knowing there was a lever he could pull near the operating gears of the bridge, the boy ran to the door in the platform and tried to lower himself down to reach the lever. Losing his balance, he fell in to where the gears came together and was caught.

At the same time the father saw his son fall down into the hole in the platform, he saw the fast approaching train. In horror, he realized that if he didn't start lowering the bridge immediately, it would not be down in time for the train to pass safely. The train would crash into the river below killing hundreds of innocent people.

The man was faced with an unimaginable dilemma - race to save his son at the cost of hundreds of lives, or sacrifice his son to save the passengers on the train.

He made the only choice he could and pulled the lever to lower the bridge. In spite of the noise of the descending bridge and the oncoming train, he still heard the anguished screams of his beloved son being crushed to death between the gears of the bridge.

The father ran to the platform as the train was passing by. Most people on the train simply ignored the man crying on the platform. Others looked out of the window and stared, totally oblivious of the unspeakable sacrifice that had just been made on their behalf. They gave no other thought or concern to this man who had just given up what was most precious to him so that they could live.

Do you see the parallel? Can you understand the picture this story paints?

The sacrifice of One offers life to all. God did not take pleasure in watching His Son die. It had to have been agonizing for God to stand by as Jesus died covered in the intense darkness of all of our sins. There was no choice...it had to happen. The sacrifice had to be made in order for us to be able to live.

And like those people on the train, we have the choice regarding what we will do with that sacrifice. We can choose to ignore it - to ignore God - not even bothering consider what God did on our behalf. We can choose to look at God briefly - to glance in passing - and then continue on with our own priorities and plans. Or we can acknowledge what it was that God sacrificed to give us life. We can embrace it and accept it on our behalf, and choose to live our lives for God.

Where are you on that train? Can you see the anguish in the Father's eyes as you pass by? Do you know that He offered His greatest sacrifice so that you could live? Will you accept it? Will you choose to give your life to Him because of what He gave for you?

CHECK THIS OUT THE BRIDGE

19 comments:

  1. The equivalent would be if the son was to be resurrected in 3 days and lived for eternity with his father, somehow them both being the same person, namely God. Point is, that the "death" of Jesus doesn't share any parallel to what we, as humans, think of as death. Christians conflate their definitions of "death" conveniently to make the sacrifice seem scarier than it is. If you were Jesus, aka God, there is no such thing as death, as we understand it. And really, if you are Christian and believe in a heaven and everlasting life, there is no such thing as death either. The only way this story of the son and the bridge is sad is if you are an atheist or agnostic. Otherwise, the son is in heaven and the father will see him again one day. If someone can explain this to me otherwise, I would welcome it.

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    1. The way I see it is that the son was crushed in the gears, an excruciatingly painful death, as was Jesus. He was nailed to the cross whilst bearing the weight of the worlds sins. (The weight of the worlds sins - just imagine everything you have ever done wrong, or anytime you have hurt someone. Imagine all that guilt and pain coming upon you in one big blow, now imagine the WHOLE worlds wrong doings, guilt and pain). No father would ever wish such deaths on their children, whether they knew they would see them again or not. And for a father to witness such deaths would be most painful to him.

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    2. Mike... You forget that the humanity of God is only shown and given because of Christ. What ever your going through in your life that has filled you with such misery I hope it ends swiftly that you can regain your joy. This story is simply like the parables Jesus used. The story of The bridge may be just a way to show us Gods humanity as we are made in His image. The Bible is the true story.

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  2. The point of this heart-touching story is to show the desperate sacrifice a father had given so that the lost, confused and broken-hearted may one day be able to experience God's love in action. If God had not sacrificed his son, then we would not have the hope that we have today! (to some day be set free from the troubles and heartaches of this world and live eternally with Jesus Christ)

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  3. I think this story captures the heart to the significance of the sacrifice made...

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  4. Are you still maintaining this blog?

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    1. I actually think I am going to write here again. :D

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  5. A story of unselfish sacrifice on both the Father and the son. Something to ponder is, if the Father and the Son are one, who resurrected the son on the third day? Acts 13:33

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  6. Thank you for this shared illustration for the great sacrifice made by our great God in heaven to send the Lord Jesus into this world to die for us. The Bible says that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. But those who don't believe will go to hell. So, have your own choice or ignore it. (Hebrews2:3) And as for me, it's not only an information but also an illustration of the sacrificial love of God for the whole world, a message that every christian must preach to everyone and to the region beyond. GOD BLESS.

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  7. Death in the original context isn’t seizing to exist or the physical death, it means to be separated from God. Do you know what it means to be dominated by the power of sin for eternity? Death by Gods definiton, is exactly that. God giving you up to the power of sin forever and this power owns you, and you are under evilness for eternity. Jesus came and lives out the human life cycle, refuses to submit to the power of sin, and therefore destroys the authority of sin. Anyone who submits to Christ is no longer a slave to sin. So in actuality, the physical life and death of Christ saves you from eternal slavery from sin. Which is actually the biggest sacrifice anyone can make for you. But since you want to reject that, you can choose to be dominated by sin forever.

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  8. if u are in the situation if the child's father, what will be your decision and why?

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  9. I will not let my son die. I'm so sorry.

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  10. There you have it! God did what we wouldn't do- sacrificing His Only begotten Son for us that we might live and escape His wrath on sin & sinners. What excuse do we have if we reject His offer? Hear what the scripture says;
    "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation"- Hebrews 9:27-28

    26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God- Hebrews 10:26-31

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    1. I agree with your comments !
      Thank you for your Opinion.

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