Rom. 5:1-10, The Power of the Cross (2)

Our plan is simple.  For each “language” we want to consider the predicament of the sinner, the work of the Savior, the place of the cross, and finally the choice to be made.  This is outline form, designed for meditation on various passages.  If you want to go in depth I did recommend a book in the previous post.

The Language of the Battlefield (Salvation)

·       The sinner lives in this world and is subject to the ruler of this world, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2).

·       The Savior Jesus is the only name by which we must be saved (Ac. 4:12).

·       The cross is the lifting up of Jesus whereby the ruler of this world will be cast out (Jn. 12:31).  It was on the cross that Jesus gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Gal. 1:4-5).

·       The choice was presented to the Philippian jailer: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Ac. 16:31).  It is for all of us: Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom. 10:13). Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us (Titus 3:5).

The Language of Relationship (Reconciliation)

·       The sinner is the enemy of God (Ro. 5:10), separated from God by sin (Isa. 69:2).

·       God was in the Savior, in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them (2 Cor. 5:19).

·       The event to bring this reconciliation was the cross:  It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself … having made peace through the blood of the cross.  And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled. (Col. 1:19-21).

·       The choice is the choice of faith in Christ.  Having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1).  We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20). 

The Language of the Marketplace (Redemption)

·       The sinner is enslaved to sin (Rom. 6:17; 7:14).

·       There is redemption in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24).  In other words, He is our Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

·       The cross is where the redemption (the ransom) was paid.  The price was the blood of the sinless One.  In Him we have redemption through His blood (Eph. 1:7).

·       The choice is always a choice of faith in Christ.  But that choice becomes our “lifestyle,” not just a one-time act.  We were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:20).

Acts 13:4-12, The Power of the Cross (1)

What is the greatest enemy of the gospel?  When in Ukraine we pointed to the Orthodox Church.  When students from the Bible college went to a village to bring the gospel to children, youth, and to all who would listen, it was the Orthodox priest in the village who would warn everyone that we were a terrible cult, tools of the devil, likely to try to kidnap their children.  Really!  That’s what happened regularly.

We have known missionaries in Ireland who received similar treatment from the Catholic priest.  In tribal areas it was the witch doctor who would threaten people with curses if they listened to those who brought the gospel.  This is no surprise.  Today’s passage from Acts tells of the sorcerer who “withstood” Paul on Cyprus. 

However, as powerful an enemy as are the purveyors of “religion,” the greatest enemy of the gospel is the flesh.  By “the flesh” we are talking about the pride that reigns in every person.  How do I know this?  The Bible tells me so!  The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16-17).  A Jewish person is offended by that statement because, if that is true, then all his religious works are useless.  The Bible calls this “the offense of the cross” (Gal. 5:11) and the religious Jew stumbles over this idea (1 Cor. 1:23).  The rest of the world is offended by the gospel because it tells them that the thing they do best is also useless when it comes to salvation.  People put a lot of stock in their education or money or creativity.  But the gospel is not about them or their successes but is about Jesus and His cross. Thus, they consider the gospel to be foolishness (1 Cor. 1:23). 

When the religionist comes along, he knows all this.  So he invites the person to adopt his religion, by which we mean to do those religious things in a religious way that will make the person worthy of salvation.  Here’s an illustration of a religion: taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen (Col. 2:18).  The details will be different in every religion, but the point of it all is seen in the next line of that verse: to cause the worshiper to be vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.  The gospel says the power is all with Christ and His work on the cross.  Every other religion says the ultimate power is in you!

With this “introduction” I would like to encourage you with a simple study of the Bible that reveals the power of the cross of Christ from a variety of viewpoints.  I need to tell you that I was helped immensely in this simple study by Leon Morris, an Australian very evangelical Anglican, and his book, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross.  In it Morris spoke of the different “languages” of the NT in describing what the cross of Jesus brought about in the life of one who put his faith in Christ.  These languages included the language of the battlefield (salvation), relationship (reconciliation), the marketplace (redemption), wrath (propitiation), the courtroom (justification), the altar (sacrifice), the morgue (quickening).   Just this list gives me cause to stop and meditate on the Lord Jesus and what He did for us all.  More in the next post.

Heb. 9:6-15, The Promise of the Cross

We have spent considerable time in our journey through the Gospel of Mark thinking about the things that were “written” of Christ.  Nevertheless, here is yet another reminder, in outline form, of the OT promise of the cross.

1.    Man needs a Savior.  Gen. 3:15 (the seed of the woman), 21 (the tunics provided by the Lord, that required the shedding of blood); 4:3-4 (the Lord’s respect for Abel’s blood sacrifice).

2.    Only God can provide this Savior.  In Gen. 22 (Abraham offering Isaac on Mt. Moriah) Abraham told his son, “God will provide Himself the Lamb” (22:6-7).  Out of that story came a name for God: Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide.  In that story we can see that the Savior would be the Son of God.

3.    This Savior must meet God’s standards.  He must …

a.     Be the perfect Lamb without defect (Lev. 1:3).  Jesus “knew no sin” when He became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).

b.    Provide atonement (propitiation, satisfying the wrath of God, Lev. 1:4).  Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2).

c.     Pay the price of redemption that our sins will be forgiven (Lev. 16:7-10).  Christ was that Savior (Eph. 1:7).

d.    Be lifted up that all who will may look to Him (Num. 21:4-9).  Jesus satisfied this picture as well (John 3:14-15; 8:28; 12:32f).

4.    Men must by faith accept the Savior God provides (Lev. 1:4, seen in the laying on of hands with the Lamb, transferring their sin to the sin-bearer). 

What we see in the consistence between the Old and New Testaments is not only that God is faithful to His promises.  It also tells us that things are and always have been the same.  The need is always there.  People are always sinners estranged from their Creator.  They are in a hopeless situation, unable to be their own Savior (Ps. 49:7-8).  God Himself, the One offended by the sinner, must come to the aid of the sinner.  But Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and Son of Man, He meets the need and only Him.  For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb. 9:13-14).  God has met our need.  There is nothing for you to do but to receive the Savior, to look away from all other offers and to look to the cross of Jesus.  Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.

2 Peter 2:18-25, The Suffering of the Cross

Years ago the Lord sought to instruct me with respect to the way of suffering.  The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis was helpful, along with A Grief Observed by Lewis written after the death of his wife and their short marriage.  At the time Joni Eareckson Tada’s story as well as her response to suffering after being paralyzed in a diving accident.  Another evangelical author at the time, Joe Bayly, wrote The View from a Hearse after the early-in-life death of three of his seven children.  In her book Affliction Edith Schaeffer (wife of Francis) added to my studies.  All this reading was couched in some amazing studies in Scripture, and the answer to the question, “why does our loving God permit us to suffer?” 

Our purpose today is not to deal with that specific question, but rather to gain a simple perspective on the suffering of Jesus.  Today’s passage is clear, that God sent His Son to earth to suffer.  That’s not the end purpose.  It does not tell us the reason for His suffering.  But the life He lived was difficult.  And Peter does say that one aspect of Jesus’ life was that it was an example for us, because we also suffer.  Note the three areas of suffering that is evident when we meditate on the cross.

·       Christ suffered in His body.  Isa. 52:14; 53:7-8; Mk. 15:15-24.  This has been the subject in the last three posts. 

·       Christ suffered in His soul. Isa. 53:2-3; Mark. 15:1-15,25-32.  You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out; ⁹ My eye wastes away because of affliction (Ps. 88:8-9).  To me, this is “soul suffering.”  All humans have a soul.  The soul speaks of all that we have in common.  The people cried out to have Barabbas given his freedom and to have the one many of them had celebrated as He entered Jerusalem earlier in the week.  They insulted Him, reviled Him, spit on Him.  This might bring us to tears, but not our Lord.  As Peter said, He did not return the rejection.  But the Psalmist tells us that the soul-suffering was real and felt!

·       Christ suffered in His spirit.  Isa. 53:4,6,10; Mk. 15:33-34.  Note how clearly the prophet Isaiah says: God put Him in the place of suffering (v4).  God put our sins on Him (v6).  God made Christ our guilt offering (v10).  Now, stop and meditate on Psalm 22:1, the words of “complaint” from Jesus on the cross: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?  There is no relationship in the universe any tighter than the Trinity.  “Tight” is really not the word because they are “One image” (Gen. 1:26-27), diversity in absolute Oneness (Dt. 6:4), each being the fullness of Deity (Ex. 34:6-7).  Interestingly, together in the Godhead, they understood “good and evil” (Gen. 3:22).  And yet, on the cross, in the hour of darkness, as Jesus bore our sins, He also bore the estrangement that we have known because of our sin.  I just need to think on this.  There is no greater pain in the cross than Mk. 15:33-34!  There is no greater pain in the cross as that which was brought about by my sin and God's love.

Luke 23:26-43, The Passion of Christ (3)

·       15:22 (crucifixion): “It was 9:00 when the melancholy procession reached Golgotha.  Avowedly, the punishment was invented to make death as painful and as lingering as the power of human endurance.  First the upright wood was planted in the ground … not high … the feet of the Sufferer were not above one or two feet from the ground … Next the transverse wood was placed on the ground, and the Sufferer laid on it … His arms were extended, drawn up, and bound to it.  Then a strong sharp nail was driven, first into the right, then into the left hand.  Next the Sufferer was drawn up by means of ropes, perhaps ladders; the transverse either bound or nailed to the upright, and a rest or support for the body fastened on it.  Lastly, the feet were extended, and either one nail hammered into each, or a larger piece of iron through the two … And so might the crucified hang for hours, even days in the unutterable anguish of suffering, till consciousness at last failed.”

v35: crucified:  The one to be crucified was stripped of his clothing, then laid with arms outstretched on the crossbeams.  A spike was driven through the centerpart of the palms into the beam, then another through each foot (though sometimes one large spike was driven through both feet).  A death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of the horrible and ghastly—dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds, all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness. (Smith's Bible Dictionary)

CRUCIFIXION was in use among the Egyptians, Gen. 40:19, the Carthaginians, the Persians, Esther 7:10, the Assyrians, Scythians, Indians, Germans, and from the earliest times among the Greeks and Romans. Whether this mode of execution was known to the ancient Jews is a matter of dispute. … It was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death. Among the Romans the degradation was also a part of the infliction, and the punishment if applied to freemen was only used in the case of the vilest criminals. … The victim was in full reach of every hand that might choose to strike. … The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries, especially of the head and stomach, became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and, while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst.—Farrar’s “Life of Christ.”

And if I may add, the one “complaint” of the Lord Jesus was not the physical pain but the forsaking of His Father.

Psalm 96

Again, what a blessing to be in the Psalms.  This great Hymn not only leads us to praise; it teaches us what our lives are all about.  Let us begin with the immediate context.  Israel was called to witness to God’s greatness and glory, a message that was to go to all the nations.  That is the essence of this song.

·         96:1-3: The redeemed are called to sing a new song, a song that proclaims the good news of salvation and the glory of the name of the Lord! This proclamation is to go to all the earth, among the nations and all peoples.

·         96:4-6: This song would simply be the expression of the way it is.  The Lord alone is great for the Lord alone made the heavens.  He is real!  All the gods of the people are idols (Heb. eliyl, meaning nothing, good for nothing, vain, worthless).  But God made the heavens.  Honor, majesty, strength and beauty fit Him perfectly.

·         96:7-9: Thus the families of the peoples are called to come join in the worship of the Lord, to tremble before Him, to give Him the glory due His name.

·         96:10-13: The one thing the nations need to know is it is the Lord who reigns and He is therefore the One before whom they will stand when He judges the people righteously.  The rest of creation will rejoice to see that day!

This song, in its entirety, was part of a larger psalm sung by David and the people of Israel as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem (1 Chron. 16:23-33). It makes perfect sense that they would want to proclaim the glory of YAHWEH at that time.  He is Israel's God but He is the great God for all the nations.

What a great testimony!  It is not that complicated.  Just call attention to Him, giving Him the glory for the good things of life.  As a matter of fact, this approach to witnessing was practiced by the Apostle Paul and thus commended it to us in our context.  I am talking about Acts 17 in his sermon on Mars Hill.  But it’s not necessarily a sermon; he is bearing testimony, giving God the glory. 

·         17:22-23: Gentiles (the nations, the families of the peoples) tend to be religious.  But they have not found the true God.  Yet!

·         17:24-28:  The true God made everything and gave life to all.  He is, as the Psalmist said, a God of honor, majesty, strength and beauty.  He has made us and enriched our lives so that we might seek Him.

·         17:29: They ought not to think God is like their useless images.

·         17:30: Rather they should repent, turn away from that ignorance and turn to the true God.

·         17:30: Because the day is coming when they will stand before the judge, the Man who was God come in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see how the Apostle declared God’s glory to the nations.  That is how our testimony should begin: by word and deed that indicates we are living for the glory of God!  Declare His glory among the nations.  Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.  For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised.  Like Israel we, the redeemed Church, are God’s witnesses to the nations. 

John 19:17-27, The Passion of Christ (2)

·       15:20: “Once more was He unrobed and robed.  The purpose robe was torn from His wounded body, the crown of thorns from His bleeding brow.  Arrayed again in His own, now blood-stained garments, He was led forth to execution. … terrible preparations were soon made: the hammer, the nails, the cross, the very food for the soldiers who were to watch under each cross, the whole being under the command of a centurion.”

The procession now began to Golgotha.  At the head was someone carrying a board indicating the crime for which the criminal was to be crucified.  Then came the criminal carrying his cross.  There were three types of crosses: X T and †, probably the latter. 

·       15:21: (Simon) “Unrefreshed by food or sleep, after the terrible events of that night and morning, while His pallid face bore the blood-marks from the crown of thorns, His mangled body was unable to bear the weight of the cross … So Siman enlisted.  He seems to have been well known, at least afterwards in the Church – and his sons Alexander and Rufus even better than he.”

 

GALL. Mereerah, denoting “that which is bitter”; hence the term is ap-plied to the “bile” or “gall” (the fluid secreted by the liver), from its intense bitterness, Job 16:13; 20:25; it is also used of the “poi-son” of serpents, Job 20:14, which the ancients erroneously believed was their gall. 2. RoÆsh, generally translated “gall” in the English Bible, is in Hos. 10:4 rendered “hemlock”; in Deut. 32:33 and Job 20:16, roÆsh denotes the “poison” or “venom” of ser-pents. From Deut. 29:18 and Lam. 3:19, compared with Hos. 10:4, it is evident that the Hebrew term denotes some bitter and perhaps poisonous plant. Other writers have supposed, and with some reason, from Deut. 32:32, that some berry-bearing plant must be intended. Gesenius understands poppies; in which case the gall mingled with the wine offered to our Lord at his crucifixion, and refused by him, would be an anæsthetic, and tend to diminish the sense of suffering. Dr. Richardson, “Ten Lectures on Alcohol,” p. 23, thinks these drinks were given to the crucified to diminish the suffering through their intoxicating effects.

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall, an allusion to Psalm 69:21. This was customarily given to condemned prisoners to serve as a kind of anesthetic or anodyne. It was literally a drugged “wine” (Gr oinon.) The statement that He would not drink indicates that our Lord refused any mitigation of His sufferings on our behalf.