Rom. 8:1-11, Circumcision Made Without Hands (2)

Paul spoke of trying to live his life “under the law.”  “With my mind,” he says, I “serve the law of God.”  But when the law came it aroused the sinful passions of the flesh.  So Paul was defeated.  “I don’t do what, in my mind, I want to do; yet I do the things that in my mind I don’t want to do.”  The problem he said was, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me (7:20).  The problem is that rule #1 (come on Paul, do evil) is strengthened or aroused by the law that Paul longs to obey.

What is the answer? The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death (8:2).  There is another law that comes into the one who is “in Christ Jesus,” who has learned to walk according to the Spirit rather than the flesh (8:1).  This law is the life of Christ.  I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20a).  In Rom. 8:9a Paul says it like this: But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Christ lives in the believer by His Holy Spirit who indwelt the one who has put his faith in Christ.  We know this has happened because, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not His (8:9b).  The Holy Spirit, when we are born again, makes us alive in Christ.  If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (8:11). This is the “eternal life” promised in the gospel (John 3:16).  This is what it means to be a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).

But still, what does this rule #4 do?  First, it does what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (8:3a).  Second, it condemns sin in the flesh (8:3b). That is, it takes away the power of the first law.  But again, what is the power of the first law?  It is the second law, the law of God.  What Christ did was remove the law of God by fulfilling it, by fully satisfying the righteous demands of God’s law.  Remember that Jesus promised this: I did not come to destroy but to fulfill … one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matt. 5:17-18).  This fulfillment came to an end with His death on the cross.  When He said, “It is finished,” He had fulfilled the law. 

The way Paul said this in Colossians was this: having wiped out the hand-writing of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (2:14).  The “hand-writing of ordinances” is not a list of your sins; it is the righteous requirements of the law!  And that, my brothers and sisters, is the circumcision made without hands.  And now you can understand why, after Moses told Israel the LORD has not yet given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day (Dt. 29:4) that He then promised that the day would come when the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Dt. 30:6).

Rom. 7:13-24, Circumcision Made Without Hands (1)

What Colossians says in 5 verses (2:11-15) Romans says in 3 chapters (6-8).  Spiritual “baptism” is explained in Rom. 6:1-14.  Circumcision made without hands is in Rom. 6:15-8:17. That term is not used in Romans. However both Col. 2:11 (“putting off the body of the sins of the flesh”) and Romans (7:24, “this body of death;” 8:10: “the body is dead because of sin;” 8:13: “put to death the deeds of the body”) speak of the same problem.  How are we to live our lives as Christians, given we still exist in the body we have used for sin all our lives?  The body is dead spiritually.  Yet, it is still our bodily home on this earth.  This is the problem.  Let’s study this out, beginning by identifying “four laws” in Romans 7:21-8:4.

·       In 7:21 Paul saw a law “that evil is present with me.”  The previous verses, where he describes the struggle (“I want to do good but I do evil”) is what he is talking about.  Sin is present, always.  That is “rule” #1 if you will.

·       In 7:23 Paul saw “another law in my members” (i.e. in his body).  That verse tells us this “rule” is about bringing Paul into captivity to sin.  Paul has a “mind” to do God’s law (7:22).  Yet there is something that is making this impossible for him.  What is that “something?”  Consider this carefully.  This “other” law is the law of God, whether the Mosaic law or the law of the conscience.  Don’t be aghast at this.  Paul makes this very clear.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death (7:5).  In 6:14 we read, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  The clear implication is that if we are “under law” we are being lorded over by sin.  This is the thing that the law “could not do” in 8:3.  In 8:7-8 we get the clear picture: the law of God is good because it points out my sin to me, enables me to know that my “covetousness” is sin.  But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produces all manner of evil desire.  For apart from the law sin was dead.  So “rule” #2 is: “keeping the law of God” will not produce holiness but will increase my struggles with sin.  Defeat is guaranteed!

·       In 7:23, the “law of my mind” is the third law.  In Paul’s mind he delights in the law of God (v22).  In Paul’s mind he longs to do good.  This ruled Paul’s life, even when he was living in Judaism before Christ.  So the first law says “do evil.”  The third law says “do good.”  The second law, the law of God, comes along and instead of empowering the third law it arouses the first law.  O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death? (7:24).  Paul’s short answer to this wretchedness is, I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord (7:25a).  His conclusion to this point, however, in in 7:25b: So then, with my mind I myself serve (douleuō, as a bondslave) the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

·       We will continue this in the next post, but for now let me say that the fourth law is the one mentioned in 8:2: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

Col. 2:6-13, The Sufficiency of the Cross (5)

The Savior is complete.  His work is complete.  The question now is, how does/did this work come to have the effect on those who believe in Christ that they are complete?  In other words, how do we come to be “in Christ”?

Before we speak of what Christ does, we need to see that the key for those who are “complete in Him” is their faith.  In Col. 1:22-23 we see that God will present us holy, blameless and above reproach in His sight if you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven.  Paul has already acknowledged that these people in Colossae are believers in Christ (1:4-8).  But as he says it in 2:6-7, As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith.  Some of them were tempted to add something to the work of Christ.  Paul is saying “no!”  You need to continue, growing, becoming more and more solid in your faith in Christ.  To grow in faith is not adding something to Christ or His work; faith is not a good work but an empty hand receiving.  To grow in faith is to see that faith in the all-preeminent Christ applied to more and more of your life.  If we buy into the idea that Christ did His work and now my work must be added to it, we are no longer living by faith. 

I hope you are seeing this clearly, because it is one of the greatest, liberating truths for Christians.  The same Christ of the gospel who saved us the day we first believed, is the Christ of the gospel in which we walk day by day. 

Christ’s work IN the believer, Col. 2:11-13.

Christ’s work “in” the believer is given to us with two pictures: circumcision and baptism.  Clearly, these are spiritual works.  The circumcision is “made without hands.” The baptism is a picture of our death, burial and resurrection with Christ.  We were not on the cross, in the tomb, and raised with Christ around 30AD while we were visiting Jerusalem.  Even The Twelve could not say that and they were really there.  No, our baptism is real and spiritual. 

Just as the foreskin is cut away in physical circumcision, so in spiritual circumcision there is a putting off the body of the sins of the flesh (NKJV; I realize the NU omits “of the sins.”)  From birth our physical body carried the sinful nature.  Throughout our lives our body was used to carry out the sinful passions that come from that nature.  God called on Israel to circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer (Dt. 10:16).  Stephen preached to the Jews, You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you (Ac. 7:51).  This spiritual circumcision has to do with cutting away sin.  But under the law Israel could never do this.  So God promised, the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Deut. 30:6).  In Christ this promise was fulfilled.

Psalm 99

Again we have a regal Psalm that begins The Lord reigns! 

·         He is the most exalted God because He dwells between the cherubim (v1-3), a reference to the throne room of heaven (Rev. 4) and it’s shadow on earth, the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle/temple of Israel. 

·         He alone is worthy to be exalted and worshiped (v4-5) because He is just (legal) and righteous (moral) in all His doings.  He is to be worshiped at His footstool, the place on earth where He rests His feet (i.e. the temple, His holy hill, the place He designated where He would dwell with men.

·         Moses, Aaron and Samuel called on His name; They called and He answered.  Moses and Aaron were noted for their communication with God in the wilderness, even as Samuel communicated with God at a time when few were communicating with God (1 Sam. 3:1,21).  In these great men God’s justice and righteousness was clearly seen.  He forgave them while at the same time holding them accountable for their sins.  A good illustration of this is Moses who was called of God to lead Israel and yet was not permitted to enter the Promised Land because of his sin in striking the rock.  We know God’s forgiveness in Christ; but we also know that we reap what we sow.  Thus we are called to join these saints and exalt and worship the Lord our God!

This is a great call to worship.  But it is not hard to notice what is exceptional about God in this great Hymn.  Three times there are references to the holiness of God (v3,5,9).  Three times, as in the song of the angels: holy, holy, holy (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8).  His name is holy (v3).  He is holy (v5).  And most wonderfully, the Lord (Yahweh) our God (the God of Israel, yes and of the Church, the only God besides whom there is no other) is holy (v9). 

Verbal definitions are hardly adequate but it is where we start.  The Hebrew qadowsh  means to be free from defilement of crimes, idolatry and other unclean and profane things (Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon).  It refers to God as abhorring every kind of impurity … as being the judge of what is right and true.  God is the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 1:4 and many other places in Isaiah).

The laws in the Old Testament concerning food (Lev. 11) provided a picture of holiness.  We are to be free of anything unclean, physically removed from it and cleansed (forgiven) when we have failed to do so.  And this is critical because there are no more important words in Scripture than these: Be ye holy for I am holy (Lev. 11:45, etc; and repeated for us in 1 Peter 1:16).

And how can we say we are to satisfy this impossible command?  This Psalm tells us.  Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool.  By and in Christ, God must be the exclusive focus of our worship.  Not simply Sunday worship; we are talking about the yearnings, desires, expectations of our lives every day.  Exalt Him!  Worship Him! 

Col. 1:13-22; 2:9-10, The Sufficiency of the Cross (4)

The sufficiency of the cross begins with the sufficiency of the Savior.  For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (2:9).  This is actually the conclusion to Paul’s argument in the earlier part of the letter.  The “Son of His (the Father’s) love” (1:13) is our Savior, in whom we have redemption (1:14). 

The sufficiency and fullness of the Son of God is described in two references to the “firstborn.”  In 1:15-17 He is the firstborn over all creation.  He created all things, so all things were created through and for Him.  We know He Himself was not created because, 1) He has the right of the firstborn over all creation; and 2) He existed before all things. In Him all things consist, meaning they continue to exist and fulfill their created purpose.  There is nothing in all the universes outside His firstborn authority.

In 1:18 He is the firstborn from the dead.  Here the Scriptures are specifically speaking of “the body of Christ,” “the church.”  This is the “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), those who have been born again.  The Father has made His Son preeminent in all things, both the original creation and the new creation.

This preeminence is related to the fact that the Son was the image of the invisible God (1:15).  The Son is the “invisible God,” but in the working of the Godhead the Son, the Word, became flesh (Jn. 1:14).  Paul does not give the detail in the incarnation as he did in Phil. 2:5-11.  What is important in Colossians is that this One who took on a visible form nevertheless had all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him (1:19; 2:9).  There can be NOTHING added to Christ!

Not only is He our Savior in whom we have redemption; He is our Savior in whom we have redemption through His blood (1:14).  From the very beginning of the sin-problem in Gen. 3 there needed to be a Man (seed of the woman) whose blood would be sufficient to redeem Adam and Eve and all their lineage.  As God shed blood to provide a covering for Adam and Eve, and as God was pleased when Abel shed the blood of a lamb for an offering (Gen. 4), so God began to prepare humanity for the coming of a Savior with all-sufficient blood, a Lamb without blemish.  Those who lived before that Lamb could put their hope in Him.  And those who lived after that Lamb could put their faith in Him.  That Lamb was Jesus (John 1:29).  It pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself by that Lamb who shed His blood on the cross (Col. 1:19-20). 

The result is that you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless, and above reproach in His sight (1:21-22).  Thus, Paul’s conclusion in 2:9-10 is not only that Christ is all-sufficient but that you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.  The Savior is complete.  His work is complete.  Those who by faith are in Him are complete!

Colossians 2:16-23, The Sufficiency of the Cross (3)

Specifically, we are talking about the sufficiency of the cross to give a person access into the presence of God.  It has to do with the rending of the veil from top to bottom.  Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the entire letter, is about the sufficiency of our Savior and His salvation, His person and work. 

Colossians was written to churches that were contending for the gospel, that were being told that the gospel was insufficient in bringing people into such a relationship with God.  They needed something more.  Whatever the “more” was, it involved philosophy and empty conceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ (Col. 2:7).  The specifics of what “more” was needed included standards involving food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths (2:16).  Since Paul says these things are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (2:17) it is possible there was some Jewish/Old Testament influence involved, although it does not appear to be the strong “Judaizing” influence experienced by the Galatian Churches. 

In addition, from 2:18-23, the “more” involved taking delight in false humility and worship of angels … regulations – “do not touch, do not taste, do not handle.”  These were according to the commandments and doctrines of men, and had an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body.  Since Paul does not speak of these in detail, nor does he contradict each regulation, it is possible that the problem is not that they have been led to follow the wrong “religious practices” but that they have been tempted to follow ANY religious practices. 

It is also clear that what the Colossian believers are being called to “do” is seen by Paul as “in addition to” the gospel.  In Col. 2:8 these things are “not according to Christ.”  In 2:17 the religious practices are at best “a shadow” but the substance is of Christ.  Doing these things has kept them from not holding to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God (2:19).  In 2:20 he clearly states that doing these things is totally unnecessary if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world.  And at the end (2:23) he is emphatic that these religious practices are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.  In other words, these religious practices, being designed to teach discipline or self-control, which is evident in all the rules and restrictions and taboos, are useless to do the very thing they are intended to do.

What is described here is not unusual.  It sounds like, essentially, every religion ever created.  Paul rightfully relates this to “traditions of men” and “basic principles of the world.”  The New Testament never taught these things.  We were not left with a system of religion, not even in the physical observances of water baptism and the Lord’s Table (nor foot washing if that is one of your practices).  There is a reason for that, and we will see it in Colossians.

Esther 4:10-5:3, The Sufficiency of the Cross (2)

In the previous post, the ideas about “forsaken” and “torn in two” bring me to the subject of “The Sufficiency of the Cross.”  Jesus without exception bore the sins of the world on Himself.  His work was complete.  The IMMEDIATE result was that, upon His actual death, the veil was torn, granting access to God.  In the Septuagint in Esther 1:14 we see that the seven princes of Media and Persia, the highest ranking officials in the government, were the only ones to have “access” to the king.  Later in the story, although the term is not used, the thing that everyone needed was access.  Haman had it by virtue of the King’s ring.  Esther was afraid to approach the King but did and was granted it when the King extended his scepter.  Mordecai later was given the ring, giving him access.  All this tells us that “access” is a high privilege, and brings great blessing to those who have it.

In the NT the term is used thrice.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom. 5:1-2)

For through Him we both (Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ) have access by one Spirit to the Father. (Eph. 2:18)

…according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. (Eph. 3:11-12)

Before we go any further, I want to share some current background illustrations that have brought this “access” to my attention.  We recently made a four week to visit family and friends.  We attended church fellowship on the four Sundays in what would be called “evangelical” churches.  In two of the four we were encouraged to celebrate or participate in some way in the 40-days of Lent.  I sat wondering why Protestants are taking up the call to Lent?  For some reason, centuries ago, we found these to be lacking in some way.  People died over the issue.  It appeared to my keen “pastor’s” eye that one church was parroting a program suggested by someone else.  Sure enough, later, through an internet search, I could find the same materials and terms and PowerPoint slides that had been used.  The other, which I know has some Anglican leanings, was much more “original” about it. 

Additionally, I have seen some article suggesting there is a great movement among young people towards the Catholic Church, even from those with Protestant leanings.  The reason has to do with a love for “ancient religion” and the ritualistic emphasis of the RCC.  Again, I’m wondering why?  Don’t expect a full answer to these questions, but I am extremely interested in the issue of “access” to both these questions.

Mark 15:33-38, The Sufficiency of the Cross (1)

Continuing in Mark 15, we note these events while Jesus was on the cross:

·       15:33-34: forsaken.  In this case He was not forsaken by His friends and followers of course but by His God.  We need to remember that this is not Jesus angry at His Father because of all the physical pain.  This is not like so many who doubt the love of God because He has allowed some grievous trial into their lives.  For one thing, Jesus is quoting Ps. 22:1, the beginning of the OT description of His death on the cross.  If you read the entire Psalm, which most understand was written by David under the direction of the Holy Spirit because David could not have been writing just about his own personal experience, you will see that at the end of 22:21 the subject of the suffering knows there will be an answer of hope from His God.  The Messiah is not so much looking for an answer to the “why” but is acknowledging that there is a “why.”  He is truly forsaken, the Son of God by the Father.  This is all within the bonds of the Godhead.  It indicates there is something of major and unique proportions that has happened to bring this about.  Never before had this happened, nor will it ever happen again.  It is only here, as Jesus is numbered with the transgressors, as He bears our sins, as He satisfies the wrath of God.  We will never understand this if we have a too-shallow view of our sin and guilt.

·       15:35-36: misunderstood.  This pales in significance compared to the forsaking.  Someone hears “Eloi, Eloi” and thinks he has heard a call for “Elias.”  In the order of the words of Christ from the cross, the cry to “Eloi” must have been followed soon after by “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28; cf. Ps. 69:21), because the one who hears “Elias” goes to get the wet sponge.  As we have noted previously, Jesus at the beginning rejected the wine with myrrh because He wanted to bear the fullness of our punishment.  So “My God” leads to “I thirst” which leads to “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30) and “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Lk. 23:46).  Jesus did not need to correct the man who misheard because at this point the only relationship of concern is the one He has with His Father. 

·       15:38: torn in two from top to bottom.  The temple was much higher than the tabernacle was in the wilderness.  Thus the veil was quite high.  Like the one in the tabernacle it was quite thick, several layers of material.  You can read about the original earthly veil in Ex. 26:31-34.  The purpose was to separate men from God, to maintain His holiness by separation.  Behind the veil was the mercy seat, where God dwelt with men.  Only the priest could go there, only once a year, only with blood to sprinkle (Lev. 16:15-17; Heb. 9:7-9).  But upon the death of Christ this veil was torn in a way, from top to bottom, that made it clear: only God did this!  The veil was torn, thus indicating there was not something special in the relationship that men could have with God.  There was “access.”

Phil. 2:5-11, The Fullness of Humility

As we continue through Mark’s account of the cross of Christ we come to an event that was recorded by all four of the Gospel writers: the dividing of His garments.  Does that surprise you that by the Holy Spirit they all were led to include this story?  I was and wondered about it: what point do we gain from this story?  I remember as a child that a teacher said it was special for Jesus to have a robe of one piece of cloth, so that the soldiers didn’t want to tear it in pieces but gambled for it.  That has a ring of truth, and I can imagine that among the women, some of them wealthy, who followed Jesus throughout His ministry, might have given it to Him.  Most of that is not important since it involves the imagination and not Scripture.

When I read Psalm 22:16-18, where it is part of the prophecy of the crucifixion, and thus adds greater importance to the event, it seems to be that it is in a context that emphasizes the humility of Christ.  Dogs have surrounded Me … they pierced My hands and My feet … they look and stare at Me … they divide My garments.  To me it has a little bit of a circus show.  People staring at the gruesome sight, jeering, while soldiers are playing a game.  All at the feet of the Son of God. 

Let me remind you of the seven steps in Jesus’ humiliation from Phil. 2.

Being in the form of God … He emptied Himself … Taking the form of a bondservant … Being found in the likeness of men … He humbled Himself … To death … Even death on the cross.

It is what Rome always intended for crucifixion: pain but shame!  “Fun and games” while the Savior suffers for sin!  All this is part of “death on the cross.”  As Isaiah prophesied: He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (Isa. 53:3).

·       15:25: Here is a reminder of the timeline, given in Scripture.  Crucified the third hour (9AM).  Both the Jews whose Sanhedrin met at sun-up, and the Romans who received the Prisoner shortly thereafter, things moved quickly.  There were no seemingly interminable legal moves like we have in our courts.  From noon to 3PM there was darkness (15:33, 6^th to 9^th hour), after which He entrusted Himself to His Father in death.  By 6ish the Body was in the tomb.

·       15:27: He was crucified with two “robbers,” also called “malefactors” or “evil doers” in Lk. 23:33.  I have heard a senseless theory that there were five crucified.  As I say, senseless.  Robbers are evil doers.

·       15:29-32: The blasphemy, head-wagging and mockery are a big deal, prophesied and anticipated in Psa. 22:6-7; 69:5-12; 109:21-25.  Remember: there is respectful disagreement with people of every religion, but not with Christ or His followers.  Quit acting surprised.  If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. … If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you (Jn. 15:18-20).

Heb. 4:14-5:11, The Fullness of Suffering (2)

Jesus paid the full price for a vicarious atonement, being fully counted as a sinner.  But in addition, here are two passages from Hebrews that tell us why He experienced the fullness of suffering.

·       Heb. 4:14-16: We love this passage because the Father invites us, no, entreats us to come into His presence in our time of need.  But what makes it so wonderful is that when we get arrive in His presence we find our “High Priest to the uttermost.”  Jesus was tested (that is the sense of the word “tempted”) in every way as we are.  Look in the following verses, 5:1-2, how the High Priest was chosen from among those He represented before God.  Since He has this connection eHHe can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.  His compassion comes from His identification with their weakness, not from the fact that He has gone astray.  Jesus never sinned.  But He was tempted to sin, meaning that He was tempted to the max because He did not yield to the sin.  But He could feel every bit of the temptation.  Thus, on the cross, He opted for the fullness of temptation.  He was there for the entire world.  No one can say “He doesn’t understand what I’m going through” because He has not forgone any of the test. 

·       Heb. 5:5-11: Furthermore, He is our “Savior to the uttermost.”  One of the many things that was “finished” on the cross was the “perfecting” of our Savior.  Let us remember the definition of perfecting.

The fundamental idea in this word is the bringing of a person or thing to the goal fixed by God. The word speaks here of Messiah having reached the end which was contemplated in His divinely appointed discipline for the priesthood. This consummation was reached in His substitutionary death on the Cross. (Kenneth Wuest)

“Perfecting” is not talking about sinlessness, though Jesus was sinless.  Rather it is about finishing the race, coming to the end successfully.  Heb. 12:1-2 fits here perfectly.  We are called to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  In other words, we need to come to completion.  And what is our goal?  Christlikeness!  We were predestined for this (Rom. 8:29-30).  When God chose us to be “holy and blameless” His plan was that this would come about through our adoption as sons (Eph. 1:3-6).  Heb. 12:2 tells us about Jesus’ perfecting: He endured the cross.  Therefore, in Heb. 5:8, we learn that He learned obedience by the things that He suffered.  As Wuest pointed out, this was finished on the cross.  Having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.  Do you wonder if “all” includes you?  Yes, it does, if you have exercised the obedience to the faith (Rom. 1:5).  You know because Jesus did not shun the suffering on the cross.

Psalm 98

Here is yet another Psalm of Victory in the “90’s” that exalts YAHWEH with new, joyful and loud songs of praise.  It’s likeness to other nearby Psalms is emphasized by the almost exact duplication of Psalm 96:11-13 in 98:7-9.  It is not that the Psalmist is short of ideas; it is that he has in mind the same exaltation of the Messiah when He comes to judge the world.

Consider this Psalm and its message in three contexts: past, present and future.

v  The impetus for this exaltation likely came from one of Israel’s victories, a victory when God especially showed Himself to be Israel’s Savior.  A prime candidate would be the victory over Israel’s eastern neighbors Ammon, Moab and Edom in the days of King Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20).  After God’s marvelous deliverance, in answer to the King’s great prayer, the people blessed God in the Valley of Berachah (Blessing) before returning to Jerusalem with great fanfare of instruments, harps, trumpets and so forth (2 Chron. 20:26-30).  The result for the nations was that they feared God when they saw how He delivered Israel.

v  The Church feels the same call to praise today for the same reason.  Through the victory of Christ in the cross and resurrection (Col. 2:13-15), the “Church on Earth” is assured to become the “Church Triumphant” (Heb. 12:22-24).  We shall be raised victoriously for death is swallowed up in victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and for this reason we are called to give thanks to God (1 Cor. 15:50-58).  The King is in waiting but the victory is already won!  This is reality for God’s people today.  To Him (the One who does exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think) be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever (Eph. 3:21).  For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever (Rom. 11:36).  And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.  To Him be glory forever and ever (2 Tim. 4:18).  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Pt. 1:3). 

v  The day will come when the King will no longer be in waiting.  He will leave the right hand of the Father and will ride victoriously out of heaven, with His hosts behind Him, and will come to claim His throne, the throne of Zion.  There is no more glorious and hopeful picture than that which is described in Revelation 19:11-21.  Everything about His revelation speaks of victory.  And His first action upon arrival at the Mount of Olives is to subdue His enemies, all His enemies, including the most formidable: Satan, the Antichrist and his false prophet!  All of mankind, yes, all creation are called to give this praise for He is coming to judge the earth … the world … the peoples with equity.

Phil. 3:8-16, The Fullness of Suffering (1)

What about “the fullness of suffering?”  Jesus refused the “wine mixed with myrrh” that would have reduced the pain.  The first thing we should consider is what Paul said in Col. 1:24: I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.  The Catholic Church has taken this as the basis for many heresies in my view.  It is particularly the reason for the constant re-enactment of Jesus’ death in the “mass.”  We are always needing to “make up for our sins” by repeatedly crucifying Christ “under the bread and the wine.” 

Certainly, you cannot take Paul’s words to mean that Christ’s suffering on the cross were incomplete.  Paul is speaking of his sufferings (“my sufferings;” “my flesh”).  Paul has in mind the fact that he is a follower of Christ and thus bears his own cross.  Every follower of Christ feels this (Mk. 8:34).  In Mt. 16, when Jesus called His disciples to take up the cross, He had also announced that He was building His Church.  When we obey the command to “make disciples” (Mt. 28:19-20), we, like Paul, are serving through our sufferings for the sake of the church, those who will come to Christ.  Paul’s longing in Phil. 3:10 is the same: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.  On the cross Jesus embraced everything having to do with death; that was His ministry.  That is not our ministry.  We have already, once and for all, been crucified with Him and raised to eternal life.  But now we carry our cross, and as He leads us, we are being “conformed to His death,” not completing or adding to His death.  As Jesus said, the work is FINISHED!

So now we ask, why did Jesus need to know the fullness of suffering?

·       Mk. 15:28: So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.  The term “numbered” is an important and familiar doctrinal term in the NT.  It means to “consider” or to think in a certain way.  In Rom. 4:3-5 it is used of Abraham believing God and it was “counted” to him as righteousness.  In Rom. 6:11 we are told to “reckon” ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God.  In 2 Cor. 5 it is translated “impute.”  Abraham was not considered partially righteous.  We do not halfway consider ourselves dead and alive in Christ.  Sin is not partially imputed.  So we must recognize, that when Jesus was counted or reckoned as a sinner, this was total.  He truly and fully became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).  He was not just an observer of our sins; He bore them in His body on the tree (1 Pt. 2:24). 

·       Isa. 53:6: The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  The doctrine of vicarious atonement figures into this as well.  Again, as Isaac did not have to die for sin because there was a substitute, so our substitute has provided full atonement.  Remember the Barabbas illustration in Mark 15: Barabbas was totally free and Jesus paid in full.  (More on this in the next post.)

Mark 15:21-32, The Passion of Christ (4)

We have spent a long time at the cross of Christ, which, of course, is a good thing.  The cross and the empty tomb should be part of daily meditation.  And we are still at the cross as we return to our verse-by-verse study through Mark’s Gospel.  We are under the same title, “The Passion of Christ,” picking up where we left off just over a week ago.  (There might be some duplication.)

·       15:22: “Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.”  Golgotha is from the Hebrew/Aramaic term; Skull is from the Greek.  The Greek term was became “Calvary” in Latin.  Why did this location have this name?  1) Possibly it was littered with skulls from previous executions, an explanation with very little evidence.  2) Possibly it looked like a skull, a thought that captured Gen. Charles Gordon who popularized the site in the 1800’s.  3) Possibly because Adam’s skull was at the base of the cross, which is the Catholic tradition behind the location inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  4) Possibly because Goliath’s skull was in the area, having been brought to Jerusalem by David (1 Sam. 17:54).  As you should know by now, I favor the sight that Gen. Gordon identified, not because it looks like a skull although that is possible, but because it fits Gen. 22:14, that salvation would be provided in “the land of Moriah;” and because it aligns with Leviticus where all the sin offerings involving a lamb were to be killed on the north side of the altar (cf. Lev. 1:11, etc.); and because it is outside the city (Heb. 13:12); and because it was by a busy road where many could see (Jn. 19:20).  The exact location is not important, but the truth of God’s word IS important.

·       15:20-22: “led … brought.”  There is an interesting possibility here.  They “led” Him out to Golgotha, but He was unable to bear His cross so they enlisted Simon to help.  Then it says they “brought” Him to the place.  “Led” means to be “led.”  “Brought” is a Greek term that clearly means to “carry.”  It is possible He was so weakened by all that had already taken place that He had to be carried.  In God’s plan, Jesus would not die somewhere short of the cross.  He must be lifted up.

·       15:23: “wine mingled with myrrh.”  We have already noted that the point here is that Jesus was not interested in this anesthetic that would reduce His pain.  This took place when Jesus was first on the cross; it was the only hint of Roman mercy for those being crucified.  You will remember that later, Jesus said “I thirst.”  In terms of the “seven sayings of Christ” from the cross, He only said “I thirst” after the darkness, after “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me,” and shortly before He would pronounce, “It is finished” and then “into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”  We refer to this as “the fullness of suffering.”  Why did Jesus want to endure all the suffering?  This sounds like someone with a “martyr’s complex.”  It is not, of course.  Let’s continue this in our next post.

Mk. 8:34; Lk. 9:57-62, The Privilege of the Cross

Mark 8 is “pivotal” in the literal sense.  There is a pivot in Jesus’ training of the twelve.  The pivot first comes in Jesus’ life when He tells them that He is heading to Jerusalem where He will suffer at the hands of men and then be raised from the dead.  The pivot in the twelve is that following Him so as to be made “fishers of men” has now come to, “if you want to follow Me as I go to Jerusalem and the cross, you must deny yourself and take up your own cross, and continue in My footsteps.”

Dr. Luke had this pivot in mind giving us the same message in Lk. 9:23-26.  Then, in v51, Luke says He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.  The pivot was first in the heart, but not only in the heart; it became evident in the trip planning!  All who would follow Christ were/are privileged to bear the name of the Messiah.  But what privileges or benefits accrue to those who follow Christ?  Here are a few!

·       Lk. 9:57-58: discomfort and inconvenience.  “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  Material blessings are not guaranteed.

·       Lk. 9:59-60: a strong sense of urgency.  “Let the dead bury their own dead but you go preach the kingdom of God.”  Someone else will set your daily schedule.

·       Lk. 9:61-62: commitment.  “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

Before we move on, note that all three of these things you can see in Jesus’ life and ministry.  If you follow Him you must “follow Him.”

·       Mt. 8:23: storms.  The disciples “followed Him” into the boat, and suddenly they were covered with waves.

·       Mk. 6:1: opposition.  They follow Him to His own country where the local synagogue rejected Him.

·       Lk. 22:39: temptation.  They followed to Gethsemane and encountered temptation.

These are real “privileges,” in that you only get them by following Christ.  But let us note some other benefits promised to those who follow Him.

·       Mt. 19:27-30: rewards, now and later.  Peter asked and Jesus answered: all who have left all to follow Me shall receive and inherit bountifully.

·       Mt. 28:20b: the presence of Christ.  As we make disciples as He did, He promises to be with us in power for that ministry.  What a blessing!

·       Rev. 19:14: In this passage, the moment of Jesus’ return to earth, those who have followed Him are still following Him.  That’s pretty amazing to think about.

I am reminded of the words of Jim Elliot: “He is no fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  And then there are the words of Paul: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.  (2 Tim. 4:7-8)

Luke 23:35-49, At the Cross (B)

 (The conclusion of meditations on those who were "at the cross" when Jesus died.  What did they think? or say?)

·       v47: The centurion glorified God.  He had seen the entire event.  He had seen Jesus’ attitude and heard His words.  Father, forgive them.  Today you will be with Me in Paradise.  Into Your hands I commit My spirit.  He had experienced the three hours of darkness in the middle of the afternoon.  And he watched as Jesus breathed His last.  In a Pastoral role, and as a father, I have seen people breath their last, as did this centurion.  No matter how you approach it, or try to make it “normal,” it is a profound event, a deeply emotional moment.  The man put his faith in Christ.  Certainly, this was a righteous man.  Those words and that heart glorified God!

·       v48: The remaining crowd beat their breasts.  They mourned.  The crowd knew of Jesus.  They knew of His message, His claims, His miraculous signs.  Perhaps they stayed because they were sure He would “come down from the cross.”  But He didn’t come down.  He stayed on the cross, shedding His blood for the sins of all who were gathered there that day, and all who ever lived and would ever live, and you and me.  But the crowd did not understand this.  For them, whatever hope Christ was to them, He died and they lost all hope.  They mourned, and then the next day would get up and trudge on.  They would leave behind the death of the One who claimed to be the Son of God!

·       v49: His acquaintances stood at a distance.  They were filled with confusion.  They had seen His greatness in the miracles and teaching.  But they had not understood His humility.  Nor could they make sense of He will rise again (Lk. 18:33).  That would come later.  For now, those who had followed Him from Galilee, and had been close to Him, stood at a distance.  Wondering.  What in the world has happened?  What do we do now?

All these people saw the same event.  But the thoughts varied.  Two believed in Jesus that day.  As for the rest, don’t think that many that day were not, as two men later put it, hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel (Lk. 24:21).  Honest men who think deeply know something is not right.  Their conscience tells them that.  They know, as one criminal put it, that they are under condemnation!  Death is always a reminder of this.  Which is why people need to come to the cross of Jesus.  They need to get close to death, His death.  They need to hear that this Man has done nothing wrong.  But through this Man’s death, sinners have been “redeemed.”  The price has been paid for sin.  (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).  Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).  Through this Man’s death, you too, the day you die, can be with Him in Paradise.  You too can glorify God!  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Luke 23:35-49, At the Cross (A)

Biblical Christianity considers the cross of Jesus the center-point of history.  When the gospel is preached today, it is a call for people to go to the cross.  The cross is the only place where men created in God’s image can honor their Creator.  I don’t know what your thought is on the importance of the cross.  But I would guess it is akin to at least one of the people who were there, in person, that day.  Dr. Luke gives us a picture of the crowd that was there.  What were they thinking?

·       v35: The people stood looking on.  The general crowd was apparently not saying much.  Jesus, being crucified in the Roman way, was in a location where large numbers of people would see Him.  Not on a hill far away, but on a roadside just a few feet away.  As these people “stood,” they likely had some understanding of who this was.  They stopped, even momentarily, their Passover-busy day, and stared, and filtered whatever they knew of Jesus of Nazareth through the lens of extreme suffering and shame.

·       v35: The rulers were sneering.  That’s because they are what the Bible calls, “the workers of iniquity.”  In 3 ½ years they had never been able to put Jesus in His place with their arguments, their tricky questions, their attempts to turn the people against Him.  But now they had “won.”  Let Him save Himself if He is the Christ.  Death is irreversible.  Jesus would soon be dead and they would be able to get on with life, fleecing the flock of Israel, living the life of ease.  When you think you have the upper hand, you want to broadcast it.  So, they sneered.

·       v36-38: The soldiers also mocked Him.  These are not the rulers.  The soldiers knew little or nothing of who they making fun of.  But that was what they did.  They were putting someone through excruciating pain, killing them, all of which is a heavy burden on the soul.  Ask modern day soldiers who have been in live conflict.  You need a diversion for your mind and heart just so you can go to sleep at night.  So, you make it a game.  If you are the King of the Jews!

·       v39: One of the criminals blasphemed Him.  He is about to check out of this life, suffering a horrible death.  Yet, he has not come to reckon with the issue of sin and guilt.  Or perhaps he has heard the rulers sneering and he repeats their line: if you are the Christ!  Why would he think Jesus would save him?  I would guess he didn’t really expect Jesus to do anything.  He was mimicking the religious leaders but he wasn’t religious.  Like so many people, he had gone through his life without considering the consequences for his actions.  The Roman consequences.  And the Divine after-death consequences.

·       v40-43: The other rebuked him and entreated Christ.  The other feared God.  He did understand that he was on a cross for a good reason, and that his death would not be the end.  He still had a date with his Creator.  For some reason, he had a thought that Jesus could help him with the Divine encounter.  I suppose he had heard of Christ before this eventful day, hearing enough to know this Man has done nothing wrong.  And if He has done nothing wrong, and yet is on a cross, and is not complaining, and if perhaps the criminals both heard Jesus forgive those who were driving the nails into His hands and feet (v34), then perhaps He really is a King, and knows that He also will have an after-death encounter with the Creator, and will receive a King’s reward.  I don’t have to have all the “ifs” and “perhaps” correct to know that this man put his faith in Jesus, confessing his sins and confessing Him as “Lord.”  

 (We will conclude these meditations in tomorrow's post.) 

Heb. 13:8-16, The Power of the Cross (4)

The Language of the Altar (Sacrifice)

·       The sinner was in need of an adequate sacrifice, the shedding of blood.  As we have seen, everything we have considered was dependent on the blood of the Savior shed on the cross.  Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Heb. 9:22).  For generations, men sacrificed animals.  Day after day, year after year.  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins (Heb. 10:4).

·       The Savior, Jesus Christ, was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29).  This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God (Hb. 10:12). 

·       The cross was the altar on which Christ was sacrificed. Unlike the blood of bulls and goats, the blood of Christ offered to God is able to cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hb. 9:14).  This altar was outside the gate of Jerusalem, and it is where Christ suffered (Heb. 13:10-12).

·       The choice is faith in Christ.  Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.  For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come (Heb. 13:13-14).

The Language of the Morgue (Quickening)

·       The sinner is dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1; Col. 2:13).  Not lethargic.  Not lazy.  Not unconscious. DEAD!  Though Adam and Eve lived hundreds of years after they sinned, yet they died spiritually when they sinned.

·       Of the Savior, Jesus Christ, it was said: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (Jn. 1:4).  And again, He said, I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (Jn. 10:10).  To give life He had to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2:14-15).

·       To destroy the one with the power of death meant that He, the Savior, had to die.  Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up (crucified), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (Jn. 3:14-15).

·       The choice is one of faith.  Jesus said: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believe in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life (Jn. 5:24).

There are “constants.”  The sinner is hopeless in every language.  The Savior is just that, the Savior, in every language.  In Rome the emperor was called “Savior” because they depended on him to meet their needs.  He himself, the emperor, was doubly hopeless: in need of a sinner and unable to redeem his citizens from sin.  In every language, the key is Christ on the cross!  Every language!  And the only response to receive from the Savior is to receive the Savior.