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Lent – A Time for … Repentance

Lent – A Time for … Repentance

For the majority of the weeks during the church season of Lent, I will share a few thoughts on some of the various approaches Christians might take at this time of the year when we reflect upon the suffering Jesus endured in order to redeem us.  There are many appropriate actions and reactions for a believer as he or she contemplates Jesus’ crucifixion … and thankfully also his resurrection. 

These posts during Lent 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!

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If someone were to ask a Christian to define repentance, most would probably reply with an answer along these lines: “Repentance is being sorry for one’s sins.” 

In fact, doing a quick search online provided a very similar secular interpretation: repentance is “the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse.”  At its simplest level, this is an accurate definition.  And certainly in a non-spiritual context.

However, the Bible shows repentance to be a bit more complex, describing multiple facets of this spiritual activity.  It’s worth exploring and understanding these various nuances. 

The first aspect is the most obvious one, and the one already mentioned: repentance is sincere sorrow over one’s sin.  It is personal horror and profound grief over disobeying God’s will.  (It’s often referred to as “contrition.”)

The Lord describes this attitude beautifully through King David, who wrote in repentance after his sin of adultery.  “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

The second aspect of repentance flows naturally from the heart-wrenching agony of the first one: it’s the ardent desire to never, ever … ever! … repeat that mistake again.  “Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 18:30-31).

These first two elements are easy to grasp, as they seem logical to our minds and intuitive with the concept.  And while they are both incredibly important, the third aspect of repentance is equally important. Perhaps even more important.

Yet, it’s a concept that many believers don’t grasp – at least in relation to repentance. But it’s crucial that they do!

The third aspect of repentance is faith in God’s forgiveness … despite how despicable a personal sin may seem or how wracked with shame or buried under guilt a person might feel over it.

The Holy Spirit moved the Apostle John to share these comforting words with us: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. … This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts …” (1 John 3:16, 19-20).

The Apostle Peter summarized it this way to the crowds who mobbed him and John after healing a lame beggar. He boldly informed the people that they were guilty of crucifying the Lord and Messiah, Jesus.  He went on to urge them to repent, and informed them of the incredible result of doing so.  “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord …” (Acts 3:19).

In other words, where there is sincere sorrow over sin, the determination to do everything possible to abandon that sin, and the yearning of the soul to turn to God in faith – there is also absolute forgiveness – because forgiveness for every sin was secured by Jesus our Savior.

If you doubt that this third aspect of repentance is significant, consider two disciples who wronged Jesus in his final days before dying.  Judas betrayed the Lord to Jesus’ enemies.  When he saw Jesus arrested, tortured and condemned, was he sincerely sorry?  Yes!  Would he ever want to make that same mistake again?  No!  (Mt. 27:3-5).  But he lacked faith that he could be forgiven for what he had done, so he tragically took his own life.

Peter denied Jesus three times, despite the Lord’s dire warning that he would.  Did Peter feel profound remorse afterwards?  Was he determined to never repeat that offense?  Yes, on both counts!  (Lk. 22:61-62). But Peter held on to hope and clung to faith that somehow he could still be forgiven by God.  And, of course, he was! (Jn. 21:15-17).

There’s yet another aspect of repentance.  It’s an additional area that is often overlooked, but is a natural component of a faith-moved repentance.  God-guided repentance longs to restore everything that a person’s sin has tarnished or broken. (Like Zacchaeus promised to do in Luke 19:8!)  Sometimes this can be done, at least partially; sometimes sadly it cannot.

Ultimately, our Lord desires that we are continually processing through the repentance cycle in our day-to-day lives.  After all, we daily sin, so we daily have reason to repent.  But if there was ever a time to give repentance some additional personal attention, it is during the season of Lent.

One wide-eyed look at our bloody Savior is reason enough.  But view him not only through the despairing eyes of a sinner.  View him also through the rejoicing eyes of a believer!

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …” (Romans 8:1).

Thank you, dear Lord Jesus!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!”

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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.

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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!

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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!

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Summarizing the Incomprehensible

Summarizing the Incomprehensible

How does one put it into words?

God himself, existing in absolute glory and worshiped by throngs of angels, willingly left the wonders of heaven to dwell on a very unglorious earth.  That’s astounding enough.  But he didn’t come down just to live on earth, to hang out a while and teach us some important truths, and then quietly extricate himself again.  Jesus arrived here with the express purpose of dying here.  And not simply dying a quick death, but a slow, excruciatingly torturous one!

The Apostle Paul describes this wonder with these words:  “Christ Jesus, … being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Why?  Why would Jesus do that? 

Well, first of all because he loved us that much.  And secondly, because the Lord realized that there was no other way sufficient atonement for our transgressions could be made, and no other way that sinners like us could transition into heaven one day.  Only his perfect sacrifice would suffice.

So Jesus entered our world to accomplish what only he could accomplish – the saving of sinners.  It was an act of boundless love, but it cost him dearly.  It was a price he was willing to pay.

Jesus’ birth led to his death; his death led to his resurrection; his resurrection led to his ascension, when he returned to his rightful home in heaven and resumed his proper seat on a throne of glory.

Paul continued his summary of Jesus’ life and death in Philippians with these words: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

The Apostle summarizes the incomprehensible quite well, doesn’t he?  Which set me to thinking; how would I summarize the events of “Holy Week” in a few words?  Here’s a few attempts:

The perfect example of love demonstrated by the Perfect Example of Love.

The greatest love story ever told.

The most significant week in the history of the world.

The culmination and focal point of the entire Bible.

The Gospel put into the profoundest action by the Lord himself.

A sacrifice too great to give, but given anyway.

Events beyond belief.  (But believe them anyway!)

No greater carnage; no greater blessing!

The Holy One became “unholy” so the unholy ones (you and me) could become holy.

The Lord experienced hell so we could experience heaven.

How the wrongs were made right again.  That is, the Second Adam (Jesus) undoes the damage of the first Adam.

An unpayable debt … paid in full.

Holy Week: an occupied cross and then an unoccupied tomb.

“It is finished!”

Clearly I’ve only scratched the surface; there is so much more that could be said.  How would you summarize the incomprehensible events of this week?  Please share.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Finished?

Finished?

I know it’s strange, but I enjoy mowing the lawn.

Earlier this week I mowed our yard for the first time this year.  Those of you who live in other parts of the country won’t have to worry about that particular task for a while yet, but here in the Pacific Northwest spring arrives early.  The daffodils are starting to bloom, and the grass is beginning to grow in earnest.  Which means lawns need to be mowed. 

Fortunately, I enjoy mowing the lawn.  Well, technically I enjoy viewing the mown lawn afterwards.  I don’t mind mowing the lawn, but what I really appreciate is seeing the finished product.  And especially if I trimmed along all the borders!  When the job is completed, the grass blades are all nicely snipped off at a uniform height.  The lawn looks like a lovely, living green carpet … delightful to the eye! 

If I’m able, I celebrate the completed job from my deck by reclining in a deck chair where I can soak in the view and drink in the smell of the cut grass.  The appearance is extremely satisfying!  There is nothing quite like a manicured lawn to foster contentment in a job well done.  There on the deck I bask in the knowledge that the lawn mowing is finished.

But the lawn mowing isn’t finished.  In just a few days during the height of growing season the fine, finished appearance morphs into a rather untidy view.  Even when the grass transitions to dormancy in the winter months, the spring brings new life again, and the mowing resumes.  (Case and point: me mowing the lawn earlier this week!)  The sad reality is that the lawn mowing is never finished.

And that’s how it is with so many things, isn’t it?  The house repairs and house cleaning, the car maintenance, the work responsibilities, even our relationship adjustments are never, ever finished.  Restocking the pantry, washing and folding the laundry, paying the bills … also never finished.  Gleaning insights, becoming wiser, learning and growing into a better person is a life-long venture and is never completed.  Indeed, the list of unfinished business is a long one.

Which can be a rather depressing thought.  Wouldn’t it be nice if something worthwhile could truly be finished once-and-for-all?

Well, there actually is something wonderful that is finished.  Totally, completely, irrevocably, once-and-for-all finished!

No, it’s not taxes.  Not bills either.  Neither is it work or life-struggles.  Nor shady politicians.  Or aging ungracefully.  I’m sure we could make a lengthy list of issues that we would like to see brought to an end, but which won’t truly end until we die.  (And that’s an altogether different finish!)

Unfortunately, this aforementioned “once-and-for-all” finish isn’t an end to our sinfulness either.  Our faults and flaws will remain with us until, well … our ultimate finish, the moment we die.

So then, what is this thing that is totally, completely, irrevocably, once-and-for-all finished?  It’s not our humanness, our frailties and mistakes, or our utter sinfulness – but the atonement for our sinfulness!

That atonement was procured by God’s holy Sacrifice.  By Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”  (John 1:29). 

It wasn’t pretty.  It didn’t catch the eye and elicit a lingering gaze like a newly mown lawn.  People had to look away in horror and revulsion.  The very Son of God hung naked, beaten and bleeding on a Roman device of torture and death.  He had done nothing wrong; committed no crime.  But he bore all our wrongs and was punished for our countless crimes; crimes that were committed against him.  (Consider that concept a moment.)

Jesus didn’t miss a one.  There wasn’t a single sin we have tallied that he did not cover completely.  Not our secret sins.  Not our horrible sins.  Not our repeated sins.  Not those sins we are most ashamed of now.  All were included in his all-sufficient sacrifice. 

How do we know?  How can we be confident of this beyond a shadow of a doubt?  Because he said so himself!  “It is finished,” proclaimed our Savior from the cross.  (John 19:30)

When he announced, “It is finished,” Jesus wasn’t speaking about his suffering being over or his life being finished by death, though he died shortly after uttering those words.  No, what was finished was the payment for our transgressions.  It was a debt that was fully paid; a spiritual lien that was completely removed from our record. 

It was a job that wasn’t presumably or partially finished, or finished temporarily, but completely and certainly finished.  That is, finished finished.

How incredible!  How wonderful!  There really is something that is completely completed!  We are redeemed and restored through Jesus. 

“Is the payment for our sins really and truly made?” we timidly ask.  To which the Lord Jesus answers assertively, “Yes, it is finished!”

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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!

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