homeier@aero.ARPA (Peter Homeier) (09/14/85)
of all of
Christianity, and it is the source and key to everything that Jesus is to
us. For there is no wisdom we can aquire, there is no love we can share,
there is no joy we can feel, and there is no hope for the future that does
not come through our first standing at the foot of the Cross. Without
Christ's death in our place on the Cross and our acceptance of that redemption,
there is no way for us to enter the Kingdom of God.
For we were lost in our sins, burdened by guilt, with our hearts darkened,
not knowing God, and deserving death. But God had compassion on us, even
we who did not practice compassion:
"But while we were yet sinners, God demonstrated His love for us in this,
that Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) For that which we could not do, being
sinful, God did for us, sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, that
through a pure and sinless life Jesus might be an acceptable sacrifice for
those of us who do sin.
The night before His death, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane, and began
to pray with great fervency and passion, that His impending murder might be
avoided. "Lord, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless,
not what I will, but what You will." This was the beginning of Jesus's
Passion. So fervently did He pray that drops of blood formed on His face. But
the Father refused this prayer--there was no other way to redeem our fallen
race.
Jesus was betrayed by the traitor Judas Iscariot, who with a kiss signaled to
the Romans which man was Christ. All of Jesus's followers fled, and Jesus was
led before the Jewish religious high council, the Sanhedrim, and before the
Jewish and Roman authorities, Herod and Pontius Pilot. They scorned Jesus,
putting a purple robe on Him and a crown twisted from thorn vines, and putting
a reed in His hand, they mocked Him, kneeling down and saying "Hail, King of
the Jews!". Then they blindfolded Him, and struck Him, saying "Prophesy to
us! Who hit you?".
When they had completely humiliated Jesus, they led Him to the place where He
was to be crucified. And nailing His body to the cross, they put up the cross
between two common thieves. Beyond the pain, this was a shame as great as the
electric chair would be today. Darkness gathered over the land about noon.
The Father in heaven placed all the sin of the entire race of man on Jesus.
The Bible says that "Jesus became sin for us". (2 Cor 5:21) He who had never
sinned, suddenly felt the weight, the guilt, the filthiness, the foul
corruption, the darkness of all the evil that men have ever done, from the
beginning in the Garden until the end. But without resisting, without
rejecting, Christ suffered that burden. But God now in His holy purity could
no longer look upon His beloved Son who had become the repository for all sin,
and He turned His face away. The comforting presence that Jesus had always
felt, the joy and peace that had nourished him, the voice of knowledge and
wisdom that had instructed, and mostly the love that flowed to Him beyond any
measure, was withdrawn. This was the cruelest moment of all, when at the
height of His sorrows Jesus was separated from the Father. He cried out,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani", which means "My God, My God, why have You
forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46), echoing David's lament from the Psalms (22:1).
But Jesus continued to endure the suffering, even though evil men sneered at
Him, "If He is the Son of God, let Him come down, and we will worship Him."
Jesus had the power to come down off the cross. He could have asked His Father
for legions of angels to sweep His enemies away. But He remained obedient to
the Father, out of love to the Father and out of love for each one of us.
For if there had been only one person in all of time who would ever trust and
believe in Jesus, and if that person was you, Jesus would have remained on the
cross because He loved you. During this time on the Cross, Jesus was dealing
with all the sin that had been heaped on Him, not just enduring it but
conquering it, sin by sin, so that finally, around three in the afternoon,
with a great relief He said, "It is finished." And committing His spirit to
the Father, whom He could no longer feel but still believed, Jesus died.
And with that death the curtain that hung in the Temple in Jerusalem was torn
from the top to the bottom, just as when Christ's body was torn, He abolished
the separation between God and Man. For the curtain had separated the holy
place of the Temple from the Holy of Holies, and no one could enter the Holy
of Holies except the chief priest, and he only once a year to offer sacrifices
for the people. But Christ removed the law of sin and death which had
separated us from our Father, making possible the same intimacy which He
himself had enjoyed. And where before sacrifices had been repeatedly offered
by the priests for the people, now Christ in one ultimate sacrifice of himself
once and for all satisfied all the legal demands of God for all our sins.
(Hebrews 9:24-28) And now we can come through that rent curtain, through
Christ, into the very throne room of God in Heaven.
In the days when Moses was telling the Pharaoh in Egypt, "Let my people go!",
Pharaoh in the cruel hardness of his heart, by his own obstinate vile choice
continuously refused, even though he saw the miracles and plagues performed by
Moses and Aaron. Finally, God sent one last plague, after which Pharaoh let
the Israelites leave. All of the Jews, instructed by Moses, prepared and ate
the Passover dinner, marking their doors with the blood of the lamb which was
the center of the dinner. At midnight the angel of the Lord walked across
Egypt, destroying all the firstborn of every family, from the lowest slave to
the house of Pharaoh himself. But the Jews were spared, for the angel passed
by all houses which had the mark of the blood of the lamb. And the Israelites
then very soon escaped the cruel slavery of Egypt, and left for the Promised
Land.
Now all of this is an allegory for our sakes. Jesus is the Lamb of our
Passover, slain for us from the foundation of the world. (Isaiah 53:7,
John 1:29, Rev 5:6-10, Rev 13:8) It is His blood which preserves us from the
destruction of this world. (Romans 5:9) God is bringing judgement on
this world and on its master, Satan, but we will be preserved, though we lose
our earthly lives, and this works freedom for us. When we come under the blood
of the Lamb by accepting Jesus as Lord, we are freed from the kingdom of
darkness, which is ruled by Satan, and we come into the kingdom of light, ruled
by Jesus. We are freed from the law of sin and death, being forgiven for all
our sins. We have new life opened up to us, a life beyond all that we could
have imagined before, as much as the Israelites found a new life in their own
Promised Land beyond all that they had as slaves in Egypt.
For on the third day after the Crucifixion, women came to the tomb where they
had laid the body of Jesus, and found the massive stone that had blocked the
door rolled away and the tomb empty. Jesus had been raised from the dead!
And an angel said to them, "He is not here, for He is risen, as He said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And now go quickly and tell His
disciples that He is risen from the dead." (Matthew 28:6-7) And He later
appeared to the disciples in the upper room, and also in Galilee, and to four
hundred at one time. They saw Him, touched Him, and even put their fingers
into the holes in his hands and feet and side. And they believed that it was
Jesus, their beloved Lord. And just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so
shall we be if we believe in Him. And not only do we rise on the day of the
coming of the Lord, but we also begin now, today, to walk in newness of life
because of the surpassing excellence of His new life in us. There is Paradise
to come, but also a foretaste now, as the Bible says that we have been given
the Holy Spirit as a down payment on the gifts yet to be poured out upon us.
(Ephesians 1:13-14) So let us rejoice and praise the great and glorious Lord
for this complete redemption and salvation in which we live. Let us always
remember with thankfulness His compassion to us, and may we live with that
same love to Him and to each other always. Amen.
--
Peter Homeier
______
Arpanet: homeier@aerospace / o \_/
UUCP: ..!ihnp4!trwrb!aero!homeier \___)__/ \
The Aerospace Corporation, M1-080
El Segundo, CA 90245padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan) (09/17/85)
The contrast between religious and non-religious ways of thinking are a source of curiousity for me. For instance the original article is a classic in the sense that there is hardly a line that I can agree with. Look at the arrogance of the author when he writes: > ... For there is no wisdom we can aquire, there is no love we can share, > there is no joy we can feel, and there is no hope for the future that does > not come through our first standing at the foot of the Cross. Here he claims that non-christians are without wisdom, without love, without joy, and without hope for the future. I may not have wisdom, but I sure as hell have all the rest in this list. Therefore Peter is in error when he wrote the above. The interesting question now is whether he will demonstrate some of his self declared wisdom and retract (or qualify) the above assertion. Padraig Houlahan. ______ / o \_/ _____ \___)__/ \ \ / \____________/
buchbind@agrigene.UUCP (09/20/85)
> > > ... For there is no wisdom we can aquire, there is no love we can share, > > there is no joy we can feel, and there is no hope for the future that does > > not come through our first standing at the foot of the Cross. > > Here he claims that non-christians are without wisdom, without love, > without joy, and without hope for the future. I may not have wisdom, but > I sure as hell have all the rest in this list. > > Padraig Houlahan. What he should have said was that since the time he "stood at the foot of the Cross" he has felt much wiser, loving, and hopeful. It was invalid to extrapolate to other people (e.g. you & me). Lets be glad he "stood" there; it sounds like he was a very unhappy person before that. -- Barry Buchbinder (608)221-5000 Agrigenetics Corp.; 5649 E. Buckeye Rd.; Madison WI 53716 USA {seismo!uwvax!astroatc,decvax,ihnp4}!nicmad!agrigene!buchbind