Browsed by
Category: Encouragement

A Fully Invested Savior – His Body and Blood

A Fully Invested Savior – His Body and Blood

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Maundy Thursday” (the Thursday before Easter), I have tried to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ve shared some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  I’ll do so once more.  This final “Fully Invested” post will form the basis of our Maundy Thursday evening worship discussion.  I pray all of these posts have provided wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To state that our Savior, Jesus, was fully invested in winning our forgiveness and salvation would be an understatement.  He literally sacrificed every part of his body to accomplish the task.  His mind, head, back, hands, feet and heart were all engaged in the process.  The torture they endured in turn caused significant physical stresses to his organs and the rest of his body.  There was no portion of his body unaffected; no part uninvolved, and none unimportant.

Jesus, his entire body, and the blood that coursed through that body, were fully invested.  And they had to be!  Jesus was the holy fulfillment of all of the Old Testament Passover lambs and sin offerings, in which the living sacrifices were slain for the sake of the people.

The Lord explained the necessity of shed sacrificial blood in the Old Covenant in Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Yet the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament/Covenant makes this remarkable statement: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4).

The Holy Spirit inspires the writer to then quote from Messianic Psalm 40 where Jesus (through David) says to his Heavenly Father, ‘“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, my God.’” (Hebrews 10:5-7). 

In other words, Jesus was saying, “Father, I obediently offer my own body and blood to make atonement for sin in place of the countless and ineffective animal sacrifices, as you planned and desired all along.”  

The book of Hebrews then summarizes this significant truth; Jesus, God’s Holy High Priest, offered his physical body as the once-and-for-all Sacrifice for us.  So he was in effect the Sacrificer and the Sacrificee!

“We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But [then] this priest [Jesus!] offered for all time one sacrifice for sins … By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:10-12, 14).

What did the fully invested Jesus offer in his sacred Sacrifice?  His entire body and his divine blood. 

The Apostle Peter explains:

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).  “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

It took a fully invested Savior to save you and me; a Savior fully invested in enduring the ordeal of crucifixion and all that it entailed.  Archeologist Kristina Killgrove writes this about the process:

“Like death by guillotine in early modern times, crucifixion was a public act. But unlike the swift action of the guillotine, crucifixion involved a long and painful – literally, excruciating – death. The Roman orator Cicero noted that ‘of all punishments, it is the most cruel and most terrifying,’ and Jewish historian Josephus called it ‘the most wretched of deaths.’ So crucifixion was both a deterrent of further crimes and a humiliation of the dying person, who had to spend the last days of his life naked, in full view of any passersby, until he died of dehydration, asphyxiation, infection, or other causes.”

Yet despite the trauma Jesus’ body endured, it was not his wounds that killed him.  No, the eternal, almighty, God-Made-Man surrendered his life (“gave up his spirit”) at his own time and of his own accord.  When all was “finished,” the Lord Jesus simply shut down his body. (Matthew 27:50, John 19:30).

 It was two men from the Jewish Ruling Body, the Sanhedrin … both secret followers of Jesus … who removed the Lord’s body from the cross to bury it in a new tomb.  The corpse they claimed looked very different than it had just days earlier in life.  It was battered and bruised; pierced and torn and bloody – nearly unrecognizable from the pleasant, loving, thought-provoking Rabbi they had seen and heard before.

Little did they know that just a few days later, this dead body they deposited in the tomb would return to life again and walk victoriously back out of that sepulcher.

Our fully invested Savior had invested his entire body to redeeming us.  He did everything he needed to do, using every part of his body and shedding copious amounts of his blood. 

Yet he gave us something more.  The body and blood he brought into this world to offer as the holy sacrifice for the sins of all people he now offers to us as a testimony to all he has accomplished for us, and as a recurring gift, bringing faith and forgiveness to his own.  Jesus gave (and gives!) us his special Supper.

Most are familiar with Paul’s words regarding this gift. 

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

How astonishing that our Lord would wrap himself in a body of flesh and blood, and specifically so that this body could be tortured and killed, and this blood could be spilled. 

Equally astonishing is the fact that our Lord offers this same body and blood to you and me to eat and drink, and thereby joins together with us in an exquisite union.  It’s an earthly communion that will continue until the Lord calls us out of this world and into his perfect presence in Paradise where we will commune with him face-to-face in glory. 

Jesus’ body and blood.  Just another example of our fully invested Savior, offering his everything to bring us everything.

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

A Fully Invested Savior – His Heart

A Fully Invested Savior – His Heart

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The heart.  It is one of the most crucial organs in our bodies.  Heart problems equal health problems.  Consequently the word “heart” has come to symbolize significance (e.g. the heart of an issue).  In the same way, the word “heart” has transcended the physical to both the emotional (e.g. heavy or happy hearts) and even spiritual (e.g. devote your hearts to God).

And when we speak of the heart of Jesus being fully invested in us and our salvation, we are speaking of all of the above.  Or more accurately, we are referring to what the Bible tells us about the heart of God.

Already in the Old Testament, we hear of the love the Lord has for his people, demonstrated by his promise to send the Savior.  “He has raised up for his people a horn, [that is, a strong victor], the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart” (Psalm 148:14).

Yet we also hear, in strong poetic language, the grief the Lord feels when his people turn away from him.  Written by the prophet Jeremiah describing his own heartache over the Jews being carried away into captivity, by extension it also reflected the Lord’s heart:

‘“Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!’” Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins” (Jeremiah 4:18-20)

Of course, this heart of God was embodied in Jesus as God took on flesh.  Speaking of Jesus, the Holy Spirit inspired the prophet Isaiah to write, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (Isaiah 40:11)

Perhaps nowhere in the Gospels do we see this more clearly than in Luke’s account of this remarkable situation:

“Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out — the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. (Luke 7:11-17)

This heart that beat inside Jesus’ human body and which loved all people unconditionally and grieved as they grieved, brought him to earth and eventually took him to the most unlikely place on earth for the Son of God – a Roman cross.  But it was specifically because his heart loved us and grieved over our situation that he allowed himself to be nailed there. 

There was no other way for us to be saved; no other atonement sufficient to pay for our sins; no other Sacrifice sufficient.  So Jesus offered himself as our holy Substitute. 

He gave himself to our suffering, and when the payment had been made, he gave himself over to death.  His loving heart stopped beating as he gave up his life in love for you and me on the cross. 

John records the events of Jesus’ final moments, and of what transpired following his death.

“Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. [A common practice which resulted in death within moments.]

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ [like the Passover lamb – Ex. 12:5, 46] and, as another scripture [Zech. 12:10] says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced’” (John 19:31-37).

The heart that was pierced with grief for those who rejected him was pierced with a spear after he died.  This final abuse of his body wasn’t an additional suffering Jesus had to endure.  Rather it was the proof of his words, “It is finished.”  The perfect Sacrifice for the sins of the world had been offered and accepted.  The payment for iniquity was completed.

How incredible!  How wonderful!  How full of love was the heart of Jesus, even after emptied of the physical blood and pooled water following his death.

Which brings us to another comforting passage regarding the heart of Jesus – spoken by Jesus himself.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”  (Mathew 11:28-30)

Thankfully, Jesus’ fully invested heart moved him to fully invest the rest of his body to the process of redeeming us.  In the end, it demanded the investment of even his heart itself.  It was an investment he was very glad to make.

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

A Fully Invested Savior – His Feet

A Fully Invested Savior – His Feet

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sometime after he was born, even in the midst of the craziness of the events of his birth, Mary and stepfather, Joseph, must have held Jesus’ tiny feet in their hands, marveling at God’s creation.  And marveling that God would be made Man to be the Savior.  As they counted his tiny toes, how could they have understood all that those feet would do for them, and for all people?

Those little feet would grow larger, until eventually they supported Jesus’ entire body.  They would walk many miles on the dusty, rocky Palestinian roads, carrying the Son of God through his ministry.  Countless steps throughout the region of Galilee, south through Samaria to Judea, and then back north again, including a few side trips to Phoenicia on the West, and Perea and the Decapolis on the East.

The only time we hear of Jesus riding an animal was on Palm Sunday, when he rode “on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Mt. 21:5) in order to fulfill the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah (9:9).  He boarded boats a few times for journeys across the water.  Otherwise, it seems that wherever he went he walked.  Sometimes he even walked on the water!  (Jn. 6:19)

And while he walked he taught his disciples.  Wherever he walked, his feet carried him to opportunities to proclaim God’s Word, and to heal and help God’s people.  Many were the times Jesus directed his feet on special excursions to meet with very specific people in order to minister to them.

Wherever his feet carried him, they carried the loving Lord.  His feet were the means by which the compassionate heart of God was transported from place to place on earth, enabling Jesus to demonstrate who he really was with his powerful words and his actions.  They were the same feet, in fact, that positioned and repositioned Jesus before the twelve sets of stinky, dirty feet of his disciples so that in serving love he could wash them at his last Passover meal (Jn. 13:3-5).

Those feet were also the feet anointed with tears and expensive perfume by a sinful woman (Lk. 7:37-38), Mary of Bethany, and wiped with her hair just days before Jesus died and was buried.  (Jn. 12:1-3).  This remarkable act of sorrowful repentance (and perhaps also sorrowful recognition of Jesus’ impending death) was finally what prompted greedy, thieving Judas to betray Jesus to the Jewish leaders (Jn. 12:4-6, Mk. 14:10-11). 

How interesting that the washing of his feet would lead to them being pierced and stained in blood shortly thereafter. 

Archeologist Kristina Killgrove describes how the Roman crucifiers affixed the crucified’s feet to the cross.  “Once the crossbar was in place, the feet may be nailed to either side of the upright or crossed.  In the first case, nails would have been driven through the heel bones, and in the second case, one nail would have been hammered through the metatarsals in the middle of the foot.”  Dr. William D. Edwards writes that “Only very rarely, and probably later than the time of Christ, was an additional block (suppedaneum) employed for transfixion of the feet.”

Every depiction of the crucified Jesus I have seen shows him with his feet crossed and nailed through the top.  Is this assumption or based on oral tradition passed down through the millennia?  Regardless, either method of securing the feet to the cross was horrific.  And either would be supported with the resurrected Jesus’ invitation to his fearful disciples to “Look at my hands (wrists?) and feet (ankles?)” (Luke 24:39-40).

As I reflect on the feet of Jesus, those holy feet cruelly nailed to a cross as part of the atoning cost of the redemption of sinners, I can’t help but remember the words of two Old Testament prophets regarding feet bringing wonderful news.  Nahum was inspired to write these words regarding the ultimate defeat of the Assyrians: “Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! … No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed” (Nahum 1:15).  Isaiah shared a very similar message (52:7) that Gods’ people would be rescued from Babylon’s control.

Both passages refer to feet bringing the stunning news of earthly deliverance, but both ultimately speak of an even more stunning spiritual deliverance as well – a deliverance brought about by the Messiah whose hands and feet were nailed to a cross on “Mount” Calvary.

David was inspired to write the remarkable and oft-quoted prophecy that the Lord (the Father) promised the Lord (Jesus), “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Psalm 110:1).  This was a reference to the common custom in ancient days for a conqueror to place his foot on the head of a foe as a display of victory. 

Ultimately this prophecy will be completed on the Last Day when Jesus returns, but much of it came to fruition already with Jesus’ death and resurrection.  As the Lord’s very first promise of the Savior declared way back in the sin-tarnished Garden.  Speaking to Satan, the Lord stated,  [“The offspring of the woman – the Christ] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).  Or as Paul explains to the Corinthians, “For [Jesus] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  For he ‘has put everything under his feet’” (1 Corinthians 15:25-27).

From tiny feet at his birth, to feet that walked throughout Palestine on a ministry of love, to feet anointed with perfume and tears then cruelly pierced with nails, thereby crushing Satan’s head, to feet that carried the victorious Savior out of the tomb on Easter morning, our fully invested Lord dedicated even his feet to the process of winning our salvation.  And thanks be to Him that he did!

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy.  When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.  Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem” (Isaiah 52:7-9).

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

A Fully Invested Savior – His Hands

A Fully Invested Savior – His Hands

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How many people had been helped by those hands?  How many times had they reached out in love to touch the hurting and despised?  How often had their gentle touch comforted the grief-stricken?

Now those kind hands were stretched out wide and cruelly nailed to a cross.

Scripture abounds with references to God’s hands.  Already in the second chapter of the Bible, we hear how the Triune God hand-formed the first man from the soil of the earth (Gen. 2:7) and the first woman from the man’s rib (Gen. 2:22) … both created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27).  From the very beginning of time, God’s “hands” were directly involved with, and bringing blessings to, humans.

Throughout the Old Testament, many idioms referring to God’s “hand” describe the Lord’s activity in colorful illustrations.  Psalm 89:13 summarizes it succinctly.  Speaking to the Lord the psalmist writes, “Your arm is endowed with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.”  Job 12:10 states this: “In [God’s] hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

The Lord states the simple but profound truth.  “I am he; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens” (Isaiah 48:12-13).

The Scriptures repeatedly speak of God turning his hand against Israel’s enemies (Ezek. 25:6-7).  His hands lay hold of his enemies and seize his foes (Ps. 21:8); they destroy idolatrous prophets; (Ezek. 14:9) they drive out godless nations (Ps. 44:2).

But those same hands bring prodigious blessings to God’s people.  They are described as being lifted up in solemn oath (Dt. 32:40) and subsequently fulfilling those promises (1 Kgs. 8:15).  God’s hands are with those who love him (1 Chr. 4:10), satisfying them with good things (Ps. 104:28), upholding them (Ps. 37:24), delivering and rescuing them (Ps. 144:7).  In short, the Lord’s “hands” perform awesome deeds (Ps. 45:4).

The Gospels also repeatedly refer to God’s hands.  But when they do, they are no longer using idioms.  It was the actual hands of Jesus, God-Made-Man, in action.

And wherever his hands were involved, Jesus was expressing love.

After casting out a demon who had been tormenting a boy, the boy was prone on the ground.  “Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet” (Mark 9:27).  Following the terrifying revelation of his glory to three of his disciples, they were facedown on the ground, but Jesus lovingly touched them and reassured them.  And who can forget the picture of Jesus with the children?  “He took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them” (Mark 10:16).

Jesus routinely laid his hands on the sick and healed them (Mk. 6:5).  We witness it as he gently touched the hand of Peter’s mother-in-law and broke her fever (Mt. 8:14-15).  And again when he touched the crippled woman and straightened her back for the first time in eighteen years (Lk. 13:13), when he placed his hands on a blind man’s eyes and restored his sight (Mk. 8:25), when he inserted his fingers into a deaf man’s ears and mouth, providing hearing and speech (Mk. 7:35), and when he did the unthinkable and touched a leper to cleanse him (Mt. 8:3).  Most striking of all, Jesus grasped a dead girl’s hand and raised her back to life (Mk 5:41-42). 

Then there was the final healing miracle Jesus performed.  After Peter sliced off the right ear of the high priest’s servant, Jesus “touched the man’s ear and healed him” (Luke 22:51).  An astounding miracle!  Yet even more astounding – even after witnessing his love and his power, his enemies were still determined to arrest him and kill him.

Just a day later, the hands which laid the foundations of the earth and which repeatedly broke the rules of nature by bringing healing and help to the hurting were stretched along a beam of wood and viciously secured to it with piercing nails.  And once again when Jesus’ hands were involved, they were expressing love … in this case, profound love.

Dr. William D. Edwards describes exactly what crucifixion entailed.

“They could either tie or nail the hands … but the Romans preferred nailing.  Archaeological evidence indicated that the nails used were tapered iron spikes approximately 5-7 inches long and 3/8 inches in diameter with a square shaft.  They were usually driven through the wrists because they would tear out of the flesh in the palms of the hands.”

“When the hands (wrists) were nailed to the cross, it is likely that painful periosteal injury would happen.  The driven nail would crush or sever the rather large sensorimotor median nerve … producing excruciating bolts of fiery pain in both arms.  At least part of the hand would be paralyzed, and impalement of the ligaments would probably produce a clawlike grasp.”

Of course, the mighty hand of the Lord would never have turned his hands over to mere humans to be abused were it not his intention to do so.  The Lord says: “This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations.  For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?  His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”  (Isaiah 14:26-27).

This is a fascinating passage!  It was spoken in reference to God’s plan to obliterate the enemies of his people, the Assyrians and the Babylonians.  Yet “Babylon” is often used in Scripture to speak of believers’ spiritual enemies.  And when Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross … they were stretched out for … and over! … all nations to obliterate the unholy three of sin, death and the devil.  It was the Lord’s “purposed” plan to win salvation for sinners, and no one could thwart him or turn his hands back!  Written to refer to earthly deliverance by the Lord, the words certainly apply to the spiritual deliverance Jesus brings as well.

Which leads us to join with the psalmists in praising our fully invested Lord Jesus. 

“The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.  Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!
The LORD’s right hand is lifted high; the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!’  I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. (Psalm 118:14-17).  “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” (Psalm 98:1).

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

A Fully Invested Savior – His Back

A Fully Invested Savior – His Back

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Regarding his future suffering, the pre-incarnate Jesus stated this through the prophet Isaiah, “I offered my back to those who beat me” (Isaiah 50:6).  Of course, we hear about his scourging every Lenten season.  (See Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, and John 19:1.)

And we fail to comprehend exactly how horrible this was.

In an article written by Doctor William. D. Edwards, with input from Wesley J. Gabel and Floyd Hosmer, we are provided a medical explanation of what that entailed.  Be forewarned, this is not for the squeamish.

“Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution, and only women and Roman senators or soldiers (except in cases of desertion) were exempt.  The usual instrument was a short whip (flagrum or flagellum) with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals.”

“For scourging, the man was stripped of his clothing, and his hands were tied to an upright post.  The back, buttocks, and legs were flogged either by two soldiers (lictors) or by one who alternated positions.  The severity of the scourging depended on the disposition of the lictors and was intended to weaken the victim to a state just short of collapse or death.”

“As the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the victim’s back with full force, the iron balls would cause deep contusions, and the leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues.  Then, as the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.  Pain and blood loss generally set the stage for circulatory shock.  The extent of blood loss may well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross.”

Brutal flogging was standard before a Roman crucifixion.  The Lord limited the Jews to 40 lashes with their leather whips, but the Romans with their vicious flagrum observed no such limitations.  Their only priority was to leave the victim with sufficient strength to carry their crosses to the place of their execution. 

The fact that Jesus could not bear his cross suggests an extremely severe beating.  If you place any relevance on the Shroud of Turin, the blood traces on it showed the man wrapped in it endured between 100 and 120 “stripes,” mostly in groups of two or three. ([email protected]).

Regardless of your view on the Shroud, it does demonstrate the brutality of a scourging.  A study of the residue of the flogging wounds on the material reveal the following:

The marks are all over the trunk of the body, head, shoulders, and upper legs.  Most are on the back of the body, which would be consistent with tying the victim with his face toward a column.  However, there are also many traces on the chest, indicating that the cutting cords wrapped around his body.  There are no wounds on the forearms, almost certainly because they were raised above the head. 

“The lashes are in a fan shape, spreading out from two origins, one on each side of the body.  The center of the wounds inflicted from the right are a little higher than those inflicted from the left.  The probable explanation is that the executioner standing on the right was taller than the one standing on the left.  One of them showed a tendency to lacerate the legs” ([email protected]).

Our fully invested Savior willingly and lovingly offered up his back to that.

In fact, Jesus knew full well what awaited him.  He informed his disciples shortly before his suffering exactly what was about to transpire (Mt. 20:17-19).  Jesus simply stated the plan; he didn’t go into gory detail.  He didn’t have to.  Anyone living in the Roman world knew the specific implications of flogging and crucifixion.

Is it any wonder that Jesus as True Man begged his Heavenly Father in the Garden to remove this horrific suffering from him?  (Mt. 26:36-44).  Yet Jesus as True God was totally committed to winning our forgiveness and salvation.  Even to the point of having his back torn open and his muscles frayed.

Jesus as Man, knowing the Scriptures perfectly as God, must have found comfort in those passages like Isaiah 53, which showed his ultimate victory and glorious honor from his Father (vss. 10-12). 

Psalm 89 would have been another passage of assurance to him.  Written about the earthly David, some of the aspects of the psalm could only refer to the heavenly “David” (Jesus).  God the Father is speaking via Ethan the Ezrahite, and says this:

“I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. “

“If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.”

“Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness — and I will not lie to David — that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky” (Psalm 89:27-37).

God’s sons and daughters (the people he created, loved and blessed) did violate his decrees and failed to keep his commands, so the Lord punished “their sin with the rod” and “their iniquity with flogging.”  But astoundingly, the One the Father punished was his own holy Son, Jesus!

Yet this truth remained; the Father states it unequivocally: “I will not take my love from him,” (from Jesus), and “his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me.”

Comforting words to Jesus, surely.  And comforting words to us as well.

What an amazing God, that he would offer his Son for us to endure the torture we deserved.  What a fully invested Savior, that he would willingly allow his back to be torn open so our sins would be torn away from us. 

What else can we say but an awestruck and heartfelt, “Thank you, Lord!”

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

A Fully Invested Savior – His Head

A Fully Invested Savior – His Head

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What did Jesus look like?

It’s a two-thousand-year-old mystery.  Most people perhaps see him as Warner Sallman’s famous portrait portrays him.  (Many of us probably have that picture hanging on a wall somewhere in our house.)  The majority of illustrations of Jesus show a similar profile.  Even the Shroud of Turin seems to reveal a man similar to how most envision the face of the Savior looked.

But let’s set aside that discussion for the time being, because ultimately it doesn’t matter.

What does matter are the impressions those close to Jesus and privileged to know him personally witnessed.  How blessed they were to have a firsthand eye-witness view of the face of the Son of God himself!

I suspect that his smile was a delight to behold, and warmed the hearts of all whom he graced with it. What a joy it must have been to watch him throw his head back and laugh.  And in contrast, how intimidating to view the set of his jaw and righteous anger radiating from his eyes when someone slighted God. 

Those close to him saw him turn his head toward those bringing requests or questions, witnessed deep love and compassion demonstrated in his facial features, and watched as tears of sorrow flowed down his cheeks.  They heard him speak, and when they did they heard the very voice of God.

Is it any wonder then that Jesus stated privately to his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (Luke 10:23-24).

It was a face that those close to Jesus came to love; a head they were always glad to lay eyes upon.

Yet in a matter of hours after he allowed himself to be arrested, Jesus’ head was bruised, beaten and bleeding, his brain undoubtedly concussed, and his face almost unrecognizable.

Both the temple guards after his illegal trial by the High Priest and Sanhedrin, and the Roman soldiers following his “conviction” by Governor Pilate, treated Jesus similarly.  They all began with spitting in his face, then progressed to slapping it with their palms and slugging it with their fists. 

In their cruelty, the temple guards invented a new “game.”  They blindfolded Jesus, struck him, and then mocked him by saying, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?” (Mt. 26:67-68).  In the end, they tired of this sport and simply “beat him” (Mk. 14:65).

The legionnaires took things to an entirely different level. 

“Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again” (Matthew 27:27-30).

Let me pull a few lines out of the previous paragraph and repeat them. “They twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head … and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.”

There may not be a more sensitive part of the body than the scalp when it comes to the pain of being pierced.  The soldiers not only pressed the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, but they beat it down repeatedly with a staff!  Which would lead to concussion, contusions, abrasions, and broken off and embedded thorns … perhaps even in Jesus’ skull.  Those broken barbs undoubtedly remained there through his crucifixion, forming bleeding pinpoints of pain … even if the woven thorn crown was removed.

Another unsettling thought: the all-knowing Jesus not only knew who would be hitting him, but exactly when and where … even blindfolded as he was.  Yet he never cringed.  He had to endure it all!

The pre-incarnate Christ, knowing full-well what awaited him, spoke through the prophet Isaiah about how fully invested even his face and head were both in his earthly ministry … and in winning our salvation on this day of brutal beating.

“The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:4-7)

The spitting, slapping, hitting, beard-pulling, piercing and clubbing were all part of the process.  Jesus’ head and face took a horrific beating.  He knew they would, but Jesus was completely committed.  He was fully invested in winning our forgiveness and securing our salvation.  And thanks be to Him that he was!

We don’t know what Jesus looked like during his ministry, but we have a pretty good idea of his appearance following his arrest.  It wasn’t pretty, but it certainly was beautiful.

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

Reflections on the Ukraine Crisis

Reflections on the Ukraine Crisis

Most of the world is shocked and appalled at what is happening in Ukraine.  I feel compelled to share some thoughts on the situation, though I’m not confident I have anything personally profound to pass along.  However, I will also share God’s Word, and that is undoubtedly profound enough.  But perhaps these twelve reflections, and the Scripture included with them, will be a blessing to you.

This post is rather long, but I pray you find reading it is time well spent.

Let me start with perhaps the most unexpected statement.

Many of the Russian people are not necessarily evil

I recognize that as commentators talk about the invasion, they refer to “Russia” and the “Russian soldiers,” which tends to be rather inclusive.  Of course, it is Russia who is sending in Russian military to conquer Ukraine.  And of course, the nation and the soldiers are responsible for the death and destruction they are bringing to innocent people in a free land.

But it seems clear that many Russian citizens, and it sounds like even a fair number of invading soldiers, are opposed to this atrocity.

The nation and the soldiers are embroiled in this situation because their ruthless dictator demands it.  To stand against him often means punishment or even death.  But it is heartening to see so many brave Russians doing that very thing.

(Proverbs 28:15)  Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people. 

(Proverbs 29:2)  When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.

The wicked may seem to prosper now, but God and God’s people will ultimately prevail

It is difficult to observe the seeming prosperity of people who clearly and completely disregard the Lord and his instructions.  They scoff at God and seem to advance in every way.  But they are only tools of the Lord to bring about his will.  (More on this in a moment.)

Here’s the bottom line: God always wins!  Consequently, God’s people always win as well.  If not in this world, then for all of eternity – which is finally the most important victory.  Sadly but appropriately, the wicked have a completely different destination.

(Psalm 73 – selected verses) From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?” This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.  

Wars are a reminder that the End is coming

Jesus stated it clearly: warfare is a harbinger of his return.  Sadly, this world has always had wars, and it always will have wars right to the very end.  But every conflict is a reminder that Jesus’ return on the Last Day is nearer now than it ever was.  Wars are horrible; Jesus’ return, however, will be wonderful!  At least for those who love him.

(Matthew 24:6-8)  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. … All these are the beginning of birth pains [leading to the Last Day]. 

Recent events may be the Lord calling the world back to Him

Things certainly haven’t been easy lately.  In fact, in some ways world and national events seem to be spiraling downhill.  Natural disasters.  Global weather patterns.  Political and civil unrest.  Addictions, homelessness, and crime.  Not to mention COVID and all its ramifications.  The senseless attack by a world power on a neighboring nation.  And now mankind faces another potential world war and/or nuclear annihilation.

In my mind, it seems clear that the Lord is allowing these struggles to occur because the majority of the people in this world have turned away from God and gone their own way.  Just as he did with the Israelites throughout the Old Testament, so the Lord is doing today.  It’s a message from God to the world: “Come back to me!  You are not faring, and will not fare, well on your own foolish path.”

May many heed his urgent call!

(Hosea 6:1-3)  “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.  After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

(James 1:12)  Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

We (and the world) desperately need the true God and his Word

Closely related to the previous point is the simple truth that we need God.  You and I need God.  Everyone needs God. 

We need God for protection and provision; for guidance; for help and hope; for love, forgiveness and salvation.  There isn’t a single aspect of our lives where we don’t need the Lord!

The Lord reveals himself (and his many gracious promises!) in the Scriptures.  Search the Scriptures and one will find God!  As well as all the blessings that God brings! 

Yet the Bible is regarded by many as irrelevant.  It is anything but.

(Romans 15:4)  For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

(Isaiah 40:28-31)  Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

(Psalm 18:1-3)  I love you, LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.

The Lord is in complete control

Humans, foolish as we are, like to think that we have things under control.  Or at least some things.  And those things we don’t control yet, we convince ourselves we can and will control someday.

Which is utter nonsense. 

We control nothing.  We can set our plans for the day and proceed to try to follow those plans.  But it doesn’t take much to derail us and send things spinning out of control.

The old expression, “Man proposes, but God disposes” is absolutely true.  The wonderful news is that even though we control nothing, our God controls everything!

And praise be to Him … he has perfect wisdom, complete power, and infinite love.  Which means our lives and our world are in great hands, even when circumstances seem nasty.

(Psalm 115:3)  Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

(Isaiah 14:24)  The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.

(Proverbs 19:21)  Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

(Proverbs 16:9)  In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.

Even when we don’t understand his plan, the Lord is always acting in love on behalf of his own

Building off the previous point, the God who controls everything is also a God of boundless love. 

Case and point: no human fully understood God’s plan of salvation before he brought it about.  Yet it was a perfect plan, and God in love implemented it perfectly.  His own Son came to earth at just the right time, fulfilling the multitude of prophecies about him – right up to his redeeming sacrifice on the cross and his glorious resurrection on the third day.

The Lord still operates this way.  He makes his loving plans to benefit his people, and then he proceeds to carry those loving plans out.  Sometimes we recognize what God is doing or has accomplished; many times we won’t fully understand until we are with him in heaven.  Furthermore, what we judge as good isn’t always the different and greater good the Lord is bringing about.

But whether we comprehend or not doesn’t alter that fact that our God always has a loving plan. And thanks and praise be to him that he does!

(Isaiah 55:8-9)  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

(Romans 8:28)  We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(Jeremiah 29:11)  I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Our trust must be based on our faithful and loving God

This is a crucially important point.  It rides on the back of the previous statements.

When everything hangs in the balance, people desperately want to trust in something.  But where should they go?  Upon what can they rely? 

The list of earthly choices is long, but ultimately empty.  NATO?  World leaders?  Military prowess or firepower?  Diplomacy?  Sanctions?  Fate?  Luck?  Not much guarantee in any of those!

So where do we place our trust?  Where do we rest our confidence in regard to the individuals we know in harms way in Ukraine? Or for the nation of Ukraine?  Or for the decisions of leaders who may be unhinged but possess devastating weapons?  Or for the welfare of the very world itself?  Or for any other matter that may keep us awake at night? 

There is only one source of hope, but it is a great one.  The best one.  The only one!  We place our hope confidently in the Lord who controls all things, and who carefully plans all things.  He is a faithful and loving God.

(Proverbs 3:5-6)  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

(Isaiah 26:4)  Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

(Psalm 20:7-8)  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.

(Psalm 118:6-9)  The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

(Psalm 25:1-6)  In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

True peace is found in the Savior

There is no real peace when trust is placed in untrustworthy things (i.e. anything in the world).  However, when we truly trust in our God – an absolutely trustworthy source – then peace abounds!  And what a precious gift inner peace is!

The more people in this world who have this spiritual peace, the more worldly peace will prevail.  Own it.  Embrace it.  Share it!

(John 14:27)  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

(Philippians 4:7)  The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God’s gift of prayer is an amazing and powerful gift

Though we may personally lack control of events in this uncertain world, the Lord does not leave us powerless.  Rather, he urges us to access his almighty power by bringing our requests to him in prayer.  And he promises to hear and answer our prayers according to his loving wisdom!

How astonishing is that!

So pray, people of God.  Pray!  You don’t need me to tell you to pray or how to pray.  You already are.  I simply encourage you to continue to do so.

(Philippians 4:4-6)  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! … The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

(Isaiah 65:23-24)  They will be a people blessed by the LORD … Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

We typically take true treasures too much for granted

It’s simultaneously riveting and revolting. 

Videos abound of rockets bombarding a city, tanks advancing, citizens taking up arms, mothers and children saying sobbing goodbyes to their husbands and fathers as they flee for refuge while others are stuck in bomb shelters.  Watching can’t help but bring a person to reflection. 

Besides the aching empathy and my ongoing prayers for those besieged people, and the profound inspiration Ukrainians are providing to the free world, here’s my greatest takeaway: I am far too apathetic about my abundant blessings, and far too lax in properly prioritizing my life.

Our gracious God has overwhelmed us with his goodness!  Our faith, freedom, and families flow from our faithful God!  Our confidence and comfort in our Savior; our great nation, even with its flaws; our ability to gather for worship when, where or how we see fit; our privilege to publicly register a dissenting opinion or cast a vote; the convenience of making our own decisions in our life, such as where we want to work or if we want to enlist in the military; the gift of being surrounded by family and sleeping peacefully in our own beds each night.  The list goes on and on, and every item on the list is a treasure from a generous God.

God help us to properly appreciate his countless blessings, and to appropriately prioritize our use of them.

(James 1:17-18)  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

(Ephesians 1:3)  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

(Psalm 103:1-5)  Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

(Matthew 6:33)  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

This world will never be heaven

Unfortunately, this current world won’t ever make the cut.  Try as we might, humans will never achieve the utopia they so long to create.  Sin permeates everything and casts it ugly shadow everywhere.

Fortunately, as Christians we recognize that this world is not the end-all-and-be-all.  There happens to be a much better destination in store for those who know their Savior … a place that really is perfect. 

Consequently, we live in this world as best we can, living for and reflecting the love of our Lord and striving to make our little place in the world the best place it can be.  But all the while we long desperately for the wonderful world to come!  Because there we will finally find perfection.

(Romans 8:18, 22-23)  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. … We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

(Revelation 21:1-5)  Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

I pray these reflections, and especially the passages I shared, have been an encouragement to you.  Finally, our God really is the source of hope and his Word the center of our confidence.

Are there any additional points and passages that come to your mind?  If so, please share them in the comments section below.

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

A Fully Invested Savior – His Mind

A Fully Invested Savior – His Mind

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will attempt to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Did Jesus think of you, see your face, and love you personally as he died for you?

Of course, we won’t know until we get to heaven where we will “know fully, even as [we are] fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12).  But even this passage gives us a peek into our Lord’s mind and knowledge. We are “fully known” by the Lord.

Our Savior understands us completely.  He is acutely aware of our strengths and our talents, our faults and our flaws, our personalities, our preferences, our appearance and our entire lineage.  Even with the billions of people in the world today, Jesus knows us in our entirety!  (Just as he knows the other 8 billion fully!  What a concept!  What a God!)

David describes our Lord’s all-encompassing knowledge in Psalm 139:

“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.”

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast is the sum of them!”  (Psalm 139:1-4, 16-17).

Yes, we are indeed “fully known” by the Lord!

Furthermore, the Lord says, ‘“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart’ to be my own” (Jeremiah 1:4-5).  This statement was spoken to the prophet Jeremiah, yet it holds true for every single Christian.  In fact, even more astonishing, the Lord set us apart to be his children before the creation of the world! (Eph. 1:3-8). 

Before time began, our God was already fully invested in us.  Through the millennia, the Lord remained committed to us and to winning our salvation.  All of history was directed by our God to bring this to fruition!  Consequently, we can confidently conclude that there was never a time when the Lord was NOT thinking of us!

Which brings us back to the opening question: what crossed Jesus’ mind while he hung on the cross?  Did we personally flash through his perceptions?

His agony was extreme.  It’s hard to imagine being aware of much of anything beyond the pain.  But then, we’re referring to the mind of the Son of God here.  We can’t begin to understand him, much less comprehend his thoughts.

For example, as true God praying earnestly in the garden, he knew exactly what awaited him, and as true Man he cringed at the horrors of it.  At that moment, Jesus was engaged in an anguished, bloody-sweat-producing prayer (Lk. 22:44) to his Heavenly Father, begging him to find another way to save sinners.  His dual nature (God and Man) wrestled between the necessity, and the brutality, of his approaching torture and death.

Yet shortly before his prayers that the Father remove the cup of suffering from him (Mk. 14:36), Jesus prayed his beautiful “High Priestly Prayer” (John 17).  After praying that he himself would be glorified and bring glory to God as he completed his saving work, Jesus prayed for his personal disciples’ spiritual welfare and work. 

And then he launched into a prayer for you and me and all believers throughout history.

These words, perhaps more than any other Scripture, show us the mind and heart of Jesus as he was approaching his crucifixion.  Listen to his comments, flowing straight from his loving concerns for you and me:

“My prayer is not for [the disciples] alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity.  Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” 

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:20-26).

Did Jesus’ mind contemplate you and me personally on his excruciating cross?  Perhaps.  We can’t know now.  But here is something we can be certain about: Jesus loved us completely at that moment.  (As he always has!)  Which means we were definitely on his mind as he undertook his redeeming task.

The book of Hebrews provides this fascinating insight: “For the joy set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Hebrews 12:2).  Which is another way of saying that Jesus on the cross was eagerly anticipating the exultation of seeing our salvation secured when he was finally able to announce that “It is finished!” (John 19:30). 

All of which demonstrates that Jesus’ mind was fully invested in bringing us God’s full forgiveness.  How incredible our Savior!  How wonderful his salvation!

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

Hungry?

Hungry?

It takes less than a minute.  Often it happens in 30 seconds or less.  Sometimes I haven’t even reached the garage yet before they are swooping in and landing.

Even though I have witnessed the occurrence repeatedly, it still amazes me.  How do the birds arrive so quickly at the bird feeder after I have refilled it?  I don’t follow a certain timetable in number of days or even time of day; I add seed when I am able.  So how is it that the birds are perching and pecking at it so very quickly?

There can only be one explanation; the birds are constantly watching the feeder, ready and eager to eat as soon as new food is provided!  Undoubtedly, they are going about their daily bird business every day throughout the day.  But their eyes must continually return to their favorite food source.  Then, when food is supplied, they immediately descend.

Bailey, our golden retriever, is much the same.  With him we do have a feeding schedule, but it still varies to a degree.  He’s an outside dog, but he knows when breakfast or dinner is close, and he certainly recognizes the sounds of his meals being prepared.  So when we deliver it to him on the back porch he is sitting and staring expectantly at the opening door.  Upon spotting his dinner dish, the excited antics begin.

We witnessed this with our own children … especially when they were young.  All it took was one call, or the ringing of the dinner bell – yes, we used one – to elicit excited cries and bring multiple pairs of feet running to the table.

And let’s be honest.  Who of us isn’t delighted to sit down to a delicious meal?  As my father-in-law likes to say, “Call me whatever name you want; just don’t call me late for dinner.”  Most of us can relate.  And especially if the lovely aroma of cooking food has been filling our nostrils for a while!

When physical creatures are hungry, they are eager to eat!  This is natural, normal and good.

Physical hunger is easy to recognize and relatively easy to gauge.  We might not be hungry at all.  Or we might be a little hungry, quite hungry or extremely hungry.  Simply ask a person, any person, and they will be able to immediately inform you of their current hunger status.

Easy to tell when referring to physical hunger.  But what about spiritual hunger?

Physical hunger drives us to seek food.  The hungrier we are, the more desperately we pursue addressing the hunger pains.  But spiritual hunger is a totally different matter. 

The first dilemma is whether we even notice it.  The second is how do we slake it?

Let’s address the second question first.  How do we satisfy our spiritual hunger? 

The fasting and physically hungry Jesus provided the answer when being tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread.  Quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

The Lord stated this same truth with beautiful word pictures in the book of Isaiah: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live” (Isaiah 55:1-3).

How does one address spiritual hunger?  By listening to God speak through his Word!  

This is relatively easy to comprehend, but not so easily implemented.

There happens to be an interesting contrast between physical food and spiritual food (God’s Word).  With “real” bread, the more one eats, the less hungry they become.  (At least temporarily.)  With spiritual bread, the more one eats, the more they crave!  Or to state it another way, the less physical food entering a body, the more physically hungry that person will become.  But often the less spiritual food a soul ingests, the less a person desires it.

Yet the ultimate outcome of food deprivation is the same: if the body doesn’t receive enough physical food, or a soul enough spiritual food, each will die!  The difference?  The body’s warning signs that it is lacking sustenance are obvious; the soul’s warning signs are much more subtle.

Yet the signs are there.  God built humans with a deep need for Him.  The less God is a part of a person, the more that person will struggle.  That’s not to say that strong Christians don’t suffer!  We all do in this sin-permeated world.  But the more starved one’s soul becomes, the more prominent the issues which display themselves in that person’s life.

The most obvious: selfishness.  The less God reigns in one’s heart, the more “self” will.  Of course, this shows itself in a myriad of ways.  Spiritual hunger certainly displays itself in how one deals with others, but also with how one views and acts with self.  Priorities, attitudes, self-esteem, and life decisions are all impacted by lack of spiritual nutrition. 

Physically hungry?  Undesirable, but not to worry.  You will recognize and undoubtedly address it, and probably relatively quickly.

Spiritually hungry?  Great!  That means you are in God’s Word and craving more!  Keep feeding your faith! 

Not really feeling it?  Well, that almost certainly means you need to start a diet; a diet of regular time in the Word of God.  If you keep at it, the awesome news is you will get more and more spiritually hungry, which is a wonderful thing … as strange as it sounds.

We would be wise to mimic the birds in my backyard, always watching for fresh food.  And when an opportunity to feed on God’s Word presents itself, to be eager to consume it!

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

Numbers of Blessings!

Numbers of Blessings!

With apologies, this is one of the longest posts I’ve ever shared.  I did not intend or expect it would morph into something so extensive, but then I underestimated what I would learn as I researched the topic of Biblical numerology.  That being said, I pray you still read it, and I pray that it will expand your appreciation of our great God. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By God’s good grace, I’ve reached 100!

No, that’s not my age.  (Though, depending on the day or the activity, it might be how old I feel.) Nor is it (or ever was it!) my batting average.  I always managed to hit better than that.

What it does define, however, is the number of posts I’ve shared on this website since I began this endeavor in April of 2020.  This post is actually number 100.  I never would have dreamed I’d reach this number.  But by God’s good grace, here we are.

Sincere thanks to all who have subscribed to the blog since I began, and to all who have taken the time to read my meandering words at one time or another.  As always, I pray something I shared at some point was a blessing and encouragement to you.

100 seems to be a fairly significant milestone.  And we do like to utilize numbers to mark milestones, don’t we?  Whether birthdays, anniversaries, work, school, or personal accomplishments, we tend to mark them with numbers.  The numbers themselves may be different, and the noun after the numbers may change as well (days, months, years, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.).  But we use the numbers to designate significance.

Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise us that the Lord makes frequent use of numbers in his Scriptures.  He recognizes our fondness for digits, so he uses them to emphasize important truths.  But unless the reader recognizes the significance, he or she might miss some of the meaning the Lord is trying to impress upon us. 

Thanks be to God, the Bible is typically simple and clear; the simplest of minds can read the Gospel and find salvation.  However, there are definitely more nuances to God’s words than many realize!  And various numbers clearly carry additional meaning.

Now some individuals carry this concept of “Biblical numerology” to extraordinary (and in my opinion, inappropriate) lengths.  I found one list of examples that tied meaning to every number from 1-50, with multiple additional designations after 50!  I’m not comfortable with making that many connections.  Yet there are some numbers which definitely are more than “just another number.”

Not only are these numbers repeated over and over again in the Scriptures (both Old and New Testaments), but they are often used in conjunction with one another (sometimes by adding them together, sometimes by multiplying them).  You’ll notice this in the list below.

Let’s look at some of those “numbers of blessings:”  (Please note that the examples given for each sample are hardly exhaustive!)

1 = God, Unity

Though there are many “gods,” there is only 1 true God and Lord (Deut. 6:4).  1 Creator; 1 Redeemer; 1 Sanctifier!  And incidentally, Commandment number 1 demands we honor the 1 true God.

2 = Partnership

The concept of partnership probably seems intuitive to us; it seems natural.  And it is, because God created partnership way back at Creation, and has reemphasized it repeatedly through his Scriptures.  Of course, partnership began with the creation of male and female animals, and was capped off with the special bond the Lord created between Adam and Eve, the “crowns of his creation” formed in “God’s image” (Gen. 1:27).

Partnership in pairs is repeated through the Bible.  Some examples would be the animals entering Noah’s ark (Gen. 7:8-9), cooperating partners (Ecc. 4:9), and Jesus sending out 72 disciples in teams of 2 (Luke 10:1).  But marriage between a man and a woman remains a key example in the Word, as summarized in Ephesians 5:31: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

But the best partnership of all has to be the Lord joining with his believers!  As Jesus himself described, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23).

3 = God, Completeness

The obvious tie with the number 3 is the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19).  John’s vision of heaven was dramatic, and dramatically underscores the worship of the Triune God there and his “completeness”: “Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.  Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come’” (Rev. 4:8).

We see this number appear repeatedly in the Bible, some of the most well-known being Jonah’s 3 days in the belly of a fish, and Jesus rising from the dead on Day 3.  Lesser known but significant is the fact that there are 30 (3 x 10) references in Revelation to “the Lamb,” our Savior who has arisen, ascended and reigns in heaven, having completed our salvation!  (Pastor Wayne Mueller, “Revelation” commentary, NPH, p.5).

4 = Creation, Humans

Since this number pervades life in this world (4 cardinal directions, 4 seasons, etc.), it is used in the Scriptures (especially Revelation) to denote the creation of God.  We heard it used with the 4 living creatures in Rev. 4:8; it pops up again in Rev. 7:1 where 4 angels, 4 corners of the earth, and 4 winds of the earth are mentioned. 

Most importantly of all, it denotes the humans that God has created and saved.  Consider Revelation 7:9, where the description of the believers in heaven was supplied: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

6 = Imperfection: Satan, Humans, and Evil

As we’ll discuss in a moment, the number 7 is the symbol of perfection and God’s grace shown to the world.  Obviously, 6 falls short of 7; thereby picturing the imperfect.  One of the most famous numbers of all in Scripture happens to be 666, which is “the number of the beast” – Satan and/or the Anti-Christ (Rev. 13:18).

7 = Perfection: God’s Gracious Intervention

The fascinating part of this number is that it comprises the sum of two other previously discussed digits: 3 (God) + 4 (humans).  7 is one of the most commonly referenced number in all of Scripture; it appears over and over again in the pages of the Bible. 

Some obvious examples are the 7 days of creation, with God ceasing his work on the 7th day and setting that day apart as a day of physical and spiritual for rest for humans, as well as the 7 days of the week we still operate under.  7 pops up again at the time of the Flood, both in the number of the “clean” animals Noah was to bring on the ark, as well as the number of days the ark’s inhabitants were on board before the flood waters came.  In addition, the Lord instructed the Israelites to march around Jericho for 7 days, and then 7 times on the 7th day … led by 7 priests carrying 7 trumpets.  When they had done so, “the walls came tumblin’ down!” (Joshua 6).

7 played a huge part in the Old Testament worship life of God’s people, appearing repeatedly.  A few quick examples would be the weekly Sabbath Day (on the 7th day), the process of the Sin Offering (Lev. 4:6), as well as the timing of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:6-8) and the Festival of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:33-42).  The great Day of Atonement (a huge day!) was celebrated each year on the 10th day of the 7th month (Num. 29:7) – the number of completion combined with the number of God’s gracious intervention.

One may also remember Jesus’ answer to Peter when asked how many times one should forgive another.  “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Mt. 18:21-22), calling to mind God’s unending forgiveness to us as pictured in the parable Jesus shared immediately after these words.  (See also Micah 7:18).

Again, the Holy Spirit emphasizes this number in Revelation.  The book refers to 7 spirits, 7 lampstands, 7 stars, 7 churches, 7 bowls, 7 scrolls with 7 seals, and 7 trumpets, as well as sharing the 7-fold praises to God of the inhabitants of heaven.  (Mueller, p.5).  God emphasizes his gracious intervention for sinful humans, and thanks be to God that he does!

10 = Totality, Completion

Certainly the number 10 appears often in God’s Word.  The obvious 10 that comes to mind is the total list of the Commandments.  But the number is significant throughout the Bible.  For example, the words “God said” are recorded 10 times in connection with his creative process (Gen. 1-2).

Like 7, 10 is another number used extensively in connection with the worship life of God’s Old Testament people.  Where it especially appears is in God’s instructions for the furnishings of the Tabernacle (Ex. 26-27), and again in the construction of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs. 6-7).

The most frequent use of 10, however, is when it is used as a multiple of something.  We see this repeatedly in Scripture.  The product of 10 multiplied by another number emphasizes the fullness of whatever that item may be. 

One of the most common biblical examples of this is when 10 is used to the third power (10 x 10 x 10), which denotes the highest completeness.  Such as in Deuteronomy 7:9, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations (10 x 10 x 10) of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

Revelation 5:11 takes it a step further: “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.”  That would be 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 times 10 x 10 x 10 x 10.  (For those choosing to forego the math, that totals 100 million angels!)

12 = Result of God’s Work among His People

The product of 3 (God) times 4 (Humans) is 12.  It’s a number repeatedly appearing in the historical account of God’s people.  There were 12 Old Testament tribes and 12 Apostles of Jesus.  The number also played a significant role in the dedication of the Tabernacle (Num. 7:84-87).  Even in our secular existence, the number appears in the months of the year – reminding us of God’s planning and provision.

We run into 12 again in Revelation.  The Tree of Life in the heavenly City produces 12 crops of fruit, one for every month (Rev. 22:1-2).  And 12 holds a crucial place in the Holy City.  The “New Jerusalem” measured 12,000 stadia (12 x 10 x 10 x 10) long and wide, with 12 foundations, boasting walls 144 cubits (12 x 12) thick and decorated with 12 precious types of stones, with 12 gates guarded by 12 angels (Rev. 21:10-21).

But perhaps the most significant number of all in Revelation is the number of those who were “sealed” or set aside by God for God: 144,000 with 12,000 coming from each “tribe” of Israel!  (Rev. 7:4).  That is 12 x 12 (God’s work among his people) times 10 x 10 x 10 (highest completeness).  In other words, all those who are saved!

40 = Time of Testing, Training or Difficulty

40 is 4 (humans) x 10 (completion).  It’s another number we see often in Scripture.   Just a few examples would be Noah, who endured 40 days and nights of rain on the ark in the flood (Gen. 7:12); the Israelites who endured 400 years (4 x 10 x 10) of slavery in Egypt (Gen. 15:13); Moses while with the Lord for 40 days on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24:18); the Israelites wandering and dying in the desert for 40 years (Num. 14:34); Goliath taunting the Jews for 40 days before David challenged him (1 Sam. 17:16); Elijah’s 40 day journey to Mt. Sinai (1 Kings 19:8); Jesus fasting and enduring temptation for 40 days in the wilderness (Mk. 1:13); and Jesus teaching his disciples in the 40 days after his resurrection (Acts 1:3).

50 = Celebration

Feasts and ceremonies often incorporated the number 50.  The number was a key one in the construction of tabernacle (Ex. 26-27).  Pentecost, which was initially an Old Testament festival occurred 50 days after Passover (Lev 23:15-16), just as the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles on Pentecost 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection.  Then there was the year of Jubilee, which was to take place every 50 years (Lev 25:10).   

70 = Judgement

70 is reached by 7 (God’s gracious intervention) multiplied by 10 (completion).  70 members of Jacob’s family were listed in the genealogy of Jacob when they traveled to Egypt to be cared for by Joseph during the horrible drought (Gen. 46:27); 70 elders were appointed by Moses to oversee the people’s needs and adjudicate their disagreements; the Jews were in Babylonian captivity for 70 years (Jer. 25:11).  Furthermore, 70 and multiples of 70 appear over and over again in Scripture in conjunction with the punishment God doled out for wickedness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All of this numerology is rather overwhelming.  Which calls to mind some pertinent words from the book of Job: “Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven” (Job 25:2).  The Apostle Paul concurs: “For God is not a God of disorder … Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Cor. 14:33a & 40).

Thank the Lord for his numbers of blessings!

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.