The Crucified One
"One of the really surprising things about
the present bewilderment of humanity is that the Christian Church now finds
herself called upon to proclaim the old and hated doctrine of sin as a gospel
of cheer and encouragement. The final tendency of the modern philosophies,
hailed in their day as a release from the burden of sinfulness, has been to
bind man hard and fast in the chains of an iron determinism. The influence of
heredity and environment, of glandular makeup and the control exercised by the
unconscious, of economic necessity and the mechanics of biological development,
have all been invoked to assure man that he is not responsible for his misfortune
and therefore not to be held guilty. Evil has been represented as something
imposed on us from without, not made by us from within. The dreadful conclusion
follows inevitably that as he is not responsible for evil; he cannot alter it.
Even though evolution and progress may offer some alleviation in the future
there is no hope for you and me now. I well remember how an aunt of mine,
brought up in an old-fashioned liberalism, protested angrily against having
continuously to call herself a miserable sinner when reciting the Litany.
Today, if we could really be persuaded that we are miserable sinners, that the
trouble is not outside us but inside us, and that therefore, by the grace of
God, we can do something to put it right, we should receive that message as the
most helpful and heartening thing that can be imagined." (Dorothy Sayers)
One scarcely ever hears the
name of Jesus mentioned much in contemporary society. Occasionally his name is
mentioned on TV as the founder of a great world religion--along with Buddha,
Mohammed and Moses. The Discovery Channel and the History Channel sometimes
feature commentaries on archeology, history, and the Bible--and when this
happens they can't avoid mentioning Jesus of Nazareth--at least in passing.
Occasionally Jesus is magnanimously described as a "great moral
teacher" but scant mention is made of the central event of his entire
life: his death, burial and resurrection. Whoever would guess from the secular
media that Jesus is the ruling Lord of the entire universe at this very moment?
And as the "heir of all things" He is soon to be openly reigning here
on earth as well. C.S. Lewis said, "Enemy-occupied territory -- that is
what the world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed
in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of
sabotage."
Yet the death of Jesus on a
bloody Roman cross was the Number One reason the Son of God took on human form
and entered our race in the first place--as one of us--identifying with us in
the deepest possible way, and ultimately dying in our stead.
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time
past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His
Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the
worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by
Himself purged our sins,
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better
than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than
they." (Hebrews 1:1-4)
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but
made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in
the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted
Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11)
"For indeed God does not give aid to angels, but He does give
aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things Jesus had to be made like
His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things
pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that
He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are
tempted." (Hebrews 2:16-18)
Most Christians know that
Jesus died to take away their sins. We are indeed sinners--it should be
self-evident--but God, on the other hand, is infinitely holy and just. Nor can
He can act in any manner contrary to Who He is as a Person. However God could accept the sacrificial death of a suitable sacrifice
as a just punishment for the sins of our fallen race (John 3:16, I John 2:2).
It is staggering to consider what this transaction between God the Father and
God the Son entailed--a sacrifice in which all human history: past, present and
future meets for a divine appointment with eternity (1).
Christians for 2000 years
have experienced life-transforming changes in their lives which follow when
they simply trust Jesus as Lord. Millions of others, from all branches of the
human race, who lived before Christ came the first time, have also known the
same salvation--since the beginning of human history.
"For
if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is
for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One
died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should
live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we
have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed
away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has
reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the
word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to
God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:13-21)
In effect you and I traded
places with Jesus on the cross. He was "made to be sin for us," and
in very intimate way Jesus carried all our sins out of the universe as our
cosmic scapegoat, (Leviticus 16). At the same time He endured the fully-deserved
wrath of God's outrage against my sin and yours--sin which was transferred from
us to the sinless body of the Son of God's love. You and I, like the condemned
Barabbas before Pilate, can be set free, but the innocent Jesus has died
instead in our place.
The death of Christ on the
cross benefits only those who embrace Jesus as Lord, receiving Him into their
lives. The founders of "other" religions are long dead and gone.
Jesus is alive and today sits on a high throne ruling over the entire universe.
At death, every human being, one by one, meets this same Jesus face to face to
give an account of himself--both our deeds and our motives (2). For those who
do not believe, the biggest question nonbelievers may be asked when standing
before Jesus at the last judgment may well be, "why did you not let Me
forgive you while you were alive? Do you realize the enormous price that was
paid so that My Father and I could open a way for your forgiveness and a whole
new life for you? However since you have refused Our offer of mercy and grace
all along, We must now deal justly with your sins--you yourself must carry all
the deserved punishment yourself, separated from Us forever." (3)
Those who have received
Jesus as Lord find that ripples of healing and cleansing flow both backwards
and forwards from the point in time they experience spiritual rebirth. Eternal
life is a gift from God to be received here and now--it is not just endless
life after physical death, but a wholly different quality of life--rich and full--and
starting now.
In our earth
time frame Jesus died almost 2000 years ago, before we were born and before we
had done anything good or evil. Yet people now living who come to know Jesus in
our present day find that their sins have been somehow transferred to Jesus on
the cross outside of time. Furthermore all those who lived before Jesus was born, people
who had the same kind of faith as Abraham, discover that their previously
"covered" sins (under the Old Covenant for example) were forever
"removed" when Jesus died on the cross. Paul mentions this in Romans:
"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is
revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through
faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no
difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate
His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed
[i.e. before Christ came into the world], to demonstrate at the present time
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26)
There is more. Some imagine
that guilty sinners who have become believers will find themselves in a cosmic
courtroom when they die. There, Jesus, our defense attorney, will step up to
the Judge and ask the Judge to have the sinner's guilt and shame transferred to
His account. The Judge agrees and adds the mercy of the court--the
righteousness of Jesus is henceforth forever to be credited to the sinner's
account. No further charges remain unsettled on the cosmic courtroom
ledgers--the condemned leaves a free and innocent man. Furthermore, no future charges against the accused, now-acquitted sinner,
will stick (Romans 8:29-39).
"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having
forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting 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." (Colossians 2:13-14)
Glenn Miller shows that the
above simplistic courtroom model is not really correct because the death of
Jesus actually took place not in time but in eternity--before the creation.
"The biblical statements indicate that Penal Substitution is used to
preclude us even getting to the courtroom situation..." (4) Therefore the
believer will never go to a cosmic court room at all. He has been acquitted a
priori.
Notice that phrase: "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of
the world." This statement confirms again that time is not a factor in
eternity. The death of the Lamb actually took place in time, on earth, at a
specific date on the calendar--yet it is reckoned here as an eternal event
which has meaning for people who have lived ever since the beginning of time.
That is why an Old Testament saint such as Abraham could be born again by grace
through faith just like a New Testament saint--even though the tree which would
be hewn into the cross of Christ had not even been planted as a seed in
Abraham's time! The death of Jesus Christ was an event that can be fixed at a
particular set of coordinates in space and time--yet it is also the summit of
God's eternal program, utterly transcending both space and time. Thus the cross casts its shadow
over all of creation. (Ray C. Stedman, God's Final Word)
There are many other levels
of reality to the work of the cross beyond the atoning work of Jesus' for our
sins. For example, the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Colossae said,
"For God was pleased
to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself
all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:19-20a)
Ray Stedman discusses
the word "reconcile" in this passage,
"What does it mean, then, that Jesus
shall "reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things
in heaven"? It means a day is coming when the hostility of evil against
righteousness will be brought to a sudden halt. Evil men and angels will find
themselves unable to function in their enmity against God. They will be
subdued, and will cease their rebellion. It does not mean their punishment
ends; it is their active hostility that will cease. Then, at last, the terrible
question that every one of us has asked at times, "Why does God permit
evil?" will be answered. There is coming a day, according to this verse,
when all will be explained to us: Why do the good suffer? Why do bad things
happen to good people? Why does injustice reign triumphant at times? Why are
innocent children raped, tortured, and killed, or ruined in mind and body by
drugs or molestation? Why were six million Jews gassed to death in Germany? Why
were millions of others elsewhere shot, speared, drowned, burned or hanged by
the tyrants of history? Why?
We have all asked these questions. Why do
accidents occur, ruining our joys? Why does insanity rage in so many? At last
this question is to be answered. At last we will learn why it was necessary to
allow evil. Then we will see it was part of the working out of God's program.
Every hurt will be resolved, every tear will be wiped away, every pain will be
relieved. At last the whole universe will live in peace and harmony with one
another. "Nothing shall hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain."
Read the great promises of Isaiah in this regard. What glorious language he
employs to picture an earth where nothing is out of step, nothing is eccentric,
nothing is out of balance; everything is in harmony with everything else. That
is what this declares. Surely this is what Paul is describing in that great
passage in Philippians. An hour is coming when "every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father." That is where history is headed.
The
marvelous thing about this is that it flows out of the death of Jesus on the
cross. It is the cross that has brought this to pass. That is why it has been
the central symbol of Christian faith since the very beginning. We put crosses
up in our sanctuaries, not to make us think that the cross was a beautiful
piece of wood, for it was a dirty, bloody, rugged means of death. But out of
that death has flowed life to all the universe. That is what this is telling
us. We find it described very clearly in chapter two of this letter, in the
words, "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public
spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (2:15). It is the
cross that is the center of all life." (5)
One can discuss the above
issues at great length, and not even scratch the surface of Christ's atoning
sacrifice on the cross and all its eternal ramifications. Deep mystery veils
the Cross of Christ--we can scarcely see into its depths.
But there remains another
important issue connected with the crucifixion of Jesus which many Christians
today conveniently tend to overlook--or ignore. That issue is MY death on that
same cross--and YOUR death as well--that is, if we claim to be followers of
Jesus.
Near the time of his final
trip to Jerusalem, Jesus turned to his disciples and told them,
ÒThe Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the
elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third
day.Ó Then He said to them all,
ÒIf anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow Me. ÒFor whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. ÒFor what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world,
and is himself destroyed or lost? ÒFor whoever is ashamed of Me and My words,
of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in
His Father's, and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:22-26)
Was Jesus speaking
figuratively? No. After His resurrection he instructed his followers to be
baptized in water, thereby bearing witness to an inner reality which had already been silently wrought in them by
the Holy Spirit.
"Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we
have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall
be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ,
having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion
over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let
sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not
present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present
yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are
not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under
law but under grace? Certainly not! (Romans 5:3-15)
The experience of a
conversion to faith in Christ varies from individual to individual. For some it
is a sudden and dramatic event, for others a gradual awareness is felt within.
There may or may not be any immediate emotional experience when it happens.
However there will follow a sense of peace with God, and hope, and cleansing
from sin, and the conviction that one has crossed an invisible boundary between
death and life. At that boundary, the Holy Spirit silently and invisibly places
the believer "into Christ." This is the believer's "true
baptism" of which water baptism is but a symbol. (6) The resurrection life
of Jesus begins to operate immediately in the new Christian, though many
problems remain to be worked out in our present time domain. Everything about
the old life of Adam within us must be left behind--and has been in fact
already nailed to the cross. The Christian is an entirely new person inside
with one new nature, not two. (7)
Rather than simply picking
up and living life as one always had done before, Christians soon discover the
only lasting "works" in their new life which will survive into
eternity are those works which are done by Jesus living His life through us. All of one's "self-effort" counts for
nought. Nor does God accept our best efforts on His behalf! He does not wish us
to try harder, or to embark on self-improvement programs in order to refine the
flesh. This poses for us lessons which are hard to learn! The point is, we have
already died, and Christ is our life!
A majority of Americans
today, according to surveys, believe they will breeze into heaven automatically
at the end of their lives. Nothing could be further from the truth! The
majority of Americans neither know the Lord Jesus nor have they died to their
old life inherited from Adam. Jesus meant what He said, "I am the way and
the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me." (John 14:6,
see also Matthew 7:13-29)
The cross is ruthless and
uncompromising, only that which has first been killed can pass through to the
otter side. Only the individual who renounces all that he or she has and is
willing to die in Christ finds himself new and whole and complete--the person
God originally designed him or her to be. A foreview of the cross can be seen
in the mighty angels and a flaming sword posted to guard Eden's gate leading to the tree of life, after Adam and Eve were expelled
from the garden.
The Apostle Paul could say,
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for
me." (Galatians 2:20)
It is paradoxical to be
sure, but "unless grain of wheat falls into the ground it remains alone,
but if it dies it remains alone." So also "he who seeks to save his
life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake and the gospels will
save it." In dying to self--turning over all areas of one's natural life
to the killing work of the cross--one finds the flood gates of real life
immediately follow. Rather than losing everything, one gains all.
In writing to the Galatians
he said, "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world." (Galatians 6:14)
Jesus has finished His dying
on the cross for us. His work on the cross is finished. Our time on the cross
is not finished! Until Jesus
returns for us we must "die daily." In a way, we are now "the
crucified ones"--this is our daily calling if we claim to be following
Jesus. Failure to live the crucified life does not cause a follower of Christ
to lose his salvation, but it does mean a big loss in rewards at the Judgment
Seat of Christ (8).
In Romans Paul urges us,
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no
more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God.
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that
you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin,
but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For
sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under
grace." (Romans 6:8-14)
And in the
letter to the Colossians he urges us,
"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on
things above, not on things on the earth. For you have died, and your life
is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear
with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the
earth: fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because
of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in
which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves
are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out
of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man
with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge
according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but
Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put
on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with
one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against
another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these
things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God
rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be
thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
Him." (3:1-17)
Living "the crucified
life" means a long obedience in the same direction. There must be a daily
dying to self, putting off of old habits, not once but many times, and
replacing the old with the new. Every follower of Christ must say
"no" a hundred times a day to the old ways and by faith ask Jesus to
rule and to lead instead. While such a lifestyle may sound dull and unappealing
it is actually the only path to real life. Our Lord said, "I came that you
might have life and have it more abundantly." Real life is "Christ in
you, the hope of glory." Why do so many prefer the counterfeit? (9)
Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born,
If he's not born in thee
Thy soul is still forlorn.
The cross on Golgotha
Will never save thy soul;
The cross in thy own heart
Alone can make thee whole.
--anonymous, 3rd century
Notes:
1. Jesus' Death: Six
Hours of Eternity on the Cross, http://ldolphin.org/sixhours.html
2. Jesus, Judge of All, http://www.ldolphin.org/judgment.html
3. Ray Stedman, The Fire
Next Time, http://raystedman.org/thessalonians/4097.html
4. Glenn Miller, On Penal
Substitution, http://www.christian-thinktank.com/inmyplace.html,
and http://www.christian-thinktank.com/inmyplace.html
- TEAL.
5. Ray Stedman, The
Reason for the Season, http://raystedman.org/colossians/4022.html
6. Ray Stedman, The
Meaning of Baptism, http://raystedman.org/misc/0278.html
7. How God saves Us, http://ldolphin.org/howsaved.html
8. The Judgment Seat of
Christ, http://ldolphin.org/Jseat.html
9. Major Ian Thomas, The
Exchanged Life and other essays, http://www.christinyou.net/pages/ianthomas.html,
Bob Smith, Dying to Live, http://raystedman.org/leadership/smith/dyingtolive/index.html
Other:
A Tragic Death: A close friend of mine from the University of Kansas, Michael Krugjohn, 26, ended his own life on May 21st. A tribute page with photos is on this web site at http://ldolphin.org/krugjohn/.
The Electric Universe: Traditional cosmology from ancient times down to the
present has considered gravitational forces to be the dominating agent in the
creation of the stars, galaxies, planets and moons. But matter at high
temperatures is almost invariably ionized (electrically charged). Ionized
gases, or plasmas, are coming to be recognized to have a much more important
role in the creation. To gain an introduction to this subject see http://www.thunderbolts.info/home.htm.
Recently I was interested to learn that ordinary water has been found to be
stable, and high conducting, at enormous temperatures and pressures. Reading
Genesis (and 2 Peter) one can readily see that water plays an important role in
the early universe. But originally the extra heavy kind, known as
"metallic water" may have been predominant in the cosmos, along with
gigantic plasmas discharges, http://ldolphin.org/metallicwater.html.
My long-time friend astronomer Barry Setterfield, http://setterfield.org is pursuing these new
concepts vigorously.
Newsletters are on my web site: http://ldolphin.org/news/. My main web site library is http://ldolphin.org/asstbib.shtml.
Articles written since 2018 are
here: http://www.ldolphin.org/annex.html
May 29, 2007