All the kings of the earth shall give You thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of Your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.
(Verses 4-5)
Behold, My Servant shall act wisely; He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at You--His appearance was so marred, beyond human resemblance, and His form beyond that of the children of man--so shall He sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of Him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard, they understand. Isaiah 52:13-15 Italics, mine
If you are a Christian, what drew you to Jesus? What made the difference for you--kept you from walking away from Him? For most of us, I think, it's the cross. How could a person who understands what really happened there say, "Meh...not so much"? For those who've heard the gospel, the good news, and chosen another path, I'm guessing one of two things happened: they didn't fully understand the cross of Christ or some Christian/s turned them off with hypocrisy or self-righteousness. I can't speak to the second, but I can speak to the cross.
I was discussing atonement Wednesday night with Will's sweet girlfriend, Nikki, with whom I have the privilege of going through the New Testament book of John. We came upon Chapter 3 that evening. Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to see Jesus at night, out of the glaring light of day and away from the eyes of the other counsel members. Jesus says three spectacular things to this ruler. "You must be born again." Not by going back into your mother's womb, of course. The other part of you...the inner one that is truly you...needs to be born a different way. Transformed, really, from all self into an everlasting soul capable of looking for eternity into the face of a holy God.
Next, Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." Jesus was referring to the time when the refugees from Egypt complained in their journey that they had no water or food. Well...they had manna. "We're sick of this stuff!" Really. That's what they cried out to Moses. An angry God allowed pretty much all the snakes in the desert to slither through their camp and bite them. Poisonous and deadly. God was outraged by their ingratitude and grumbling. They were terrified of the snakes. "Save us!" From the serpents. "Moses, wrap a fiery snake around a pole and lift it up between heaven and earth," said God. "Everyone who looks upon the pole will be saved...healed." God, finding a way to excuse them once again. So Moses fashioned a serpent from bronze and held it high as God instructed. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that there was going to be a wooden structure lifted up between heaven and earth once more. This time Jesus would be on it. The serpent's power forever voided for all who look to Jesus. Referring, of course, to the lying serpent, Satan.
The third stunning thing Jesus said was this was going to happen because God loves the world enough to sacrifice Himself on our behalf. For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes on Him should have life everlasting (John 3:16).
The central question of salvation in my mind is Why? Why did Jesus need to be a sacrifice? Isn't there some way besides God becoming man and bleeding out for our eternal life? This is what Nikki and I discussed. In the moment, God gave me an example based on recent news of the beheadings of three journalists by ISIS. Using a crude knife the Islamic terrorists brutally murdered three innocent men, all of it captured for our horror, on video. Our government reacted. We recoiled. How do we atone for their deaths? Get even? Make their deaths not be in vain? How can we right this wrong, for a price has to be paid for such horrendous injustice? We all know this. Have a sense that one must pay for wrongs done.
In that scenario, we are not the journalists. We are the terrorists. Guilty of stuff, great and small. And it's all disgusting to a holy God--a just and holy God. We need either justice or forgiveness. Those are our options as sinful people. Sin is sin to God. Jealousy, envy, cheating, lying equals murder, adultery and armed robbery. All need justice or forgiveness.
God so loved the world, He came to us to be a sacrificial atonement for the sin we all commit. All of us. It doesn't matter how good we think we are, by His standard of holiness, we will all fall short. He knows this. And fixed it. So there's no argument about God being mean and oppressive, unforgiving and malevolent. No one would say that about another human who took a death sentence for them here on Earth. To that person, we would understand our debt. On a personal level, one by one, Jesus set us free. We can trade His righteousness for our sin. Christ was beaten beyond recognition as a human being even before He was hung on the cross to finish the sacrificial death. God blood sprinkled the whole Earth. Not just the Jewish nation. All nations in the whole world. For every conceivable sin--large and small. Kings and paupers alike need to stand in awe. See and understand. For one day every nation, kings and princes, ambassadors and premiers, tyrants and zealots, will bow down as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes in obvious glory. At long last receiving the acknowledgement long denied Him. So great a love should compel us to surrender our sinfulness for His grace. How could such a gift be refused?
"The cross in not simply an atonement, but a revelation of how God works with the people He loves."
Tim Keller
(Verses 4-5)
Behold, My Servant shall act wisely; He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at You--His appearance was so marred, beyond human resemblance, and His form beyond that of the children of man--so shall He sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of Him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard, they understand. Isaiah 52:13-15 Italics, mine
If you are a Christian, what drew you to Jesus? What made the difference for you--kept you from walking away from Him? For most of us, I think, it's the cross. How could a person who understands what really happened there say, "Meh...not so much"? For those who've heard the gospel, the good news, and chosen another path, I'm guessing one of two things happened: they didn't fully understand the cross of Christ or some Christian/s turned them off with hypocrisy or self-righteousness. I can't speak to the second, but I can speak to the cross.
I was discussing atonement Wednesday night with Will's sweet girlfriend, Nikki, with whom I have the privilege of going through the New Testament book of John. We came upon Chapter 3 that evening. Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to see Jesus at night, out of the glaring light of day and away from the eyes of the other counsel members. Jesus says three spectacular things to this ruler. "You must be born again." Not by going back into your mother's womb, of course. The other part of you...the inner one that is truly you...needs to be born a different way. Transformed, really, from all self into an everlasting soul capable of looking for eternity into the face of a holy God.
Next, Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." Jesus was referring to the time when the refugees from Egypt complained in their journey that they had no water or food. Well...they had manna. "We're sick of this stuff!" Really. That's what they cried out to Moses. An angry God allowed pretty much all the snakes in the desert to slither through their camp and bite them. Poisonous and deadly. God was outraged by their ingratitude and grumbling. They were terrified of the snakes. "Save us!" From the serpents. "Moses, wrap a fiery snake around a pole and lift it up between heaven and earth," said God. "Everyone who looks upon the pole will be saved...healed." God, finding a way to excuse them once again. So Moses fashioned a serpent from bronze and held it high as God instructed. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that there was going to be a wooden structure lifted up between heaven and earth once more. This time Jesus would be on it. The serpent's power forever voided for all who look to Jesus. Referring, of course, to the lying serpent, Satan.
The third stunning thing Jesus said was this was going to happen because God loves the world enough to sacrifice Himself on our behalf. For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes on Him should have life everlasting (John 3:16).
The central question of salvation in my mind is Why? Why did Jesus need to be a sacrifice? Isn't there some way besides God becoming man and bleeding out for our eternal life? This is what Nikki and I discussed. In the moment, God gave me an example based on recent news of the beheadings of three journalists by ISIS. Using a crude knife the Islamic terrorists brutally murdered three innocent men, all of it captured for our horror, on video. Our government reacted. We recoiled. How do we atone for their deaths? Get even? Make their deaths not be in vain? How can we right this wrong, for a price has to be paid for such horrendous injustice? We all know this. Have a sense that one must pay for wrongs done.
In that scenario, we are not the journalists. We are the terrorists. Guilty of stuff, great and small. And it's all disgusting to a holy God--a just and holy God. We need either justice or forgiveness. Those are our options as sinful people. Sin is sin to God. Jealousy, envy, cheating, lying equals murder, adultery and armed robbery. All need justice or forgiveness.
God so loved the world, He came to us to be a sacrificial atonement for the sin we all commit. All of us. It doesn't matter how good we think we are, by His standard of holiness, we will all fall short. He knows this. And fixed it. So there's no argument about God being mean and oppressive, unforgiving and malevolent. No one would say that about another human who took a death sentence for them here on Earth. To that person, we would understand our debt. On a personal level, one by one, Jesus set us free. We can trade His righteousness for our sin. Christ was beaten beyond recognition as a human being even before He was hung on the cross to finish the sacrificial death. God blood sprinkled the whole Earth. Not just the Jewish nation. All nations in the whole world. For every conceivable sin--large and small. Kings and paupers alike need to stand in awe. See and understand. For one day every nation, kings and princes, ambassadors and premiers, tyrants and zealots, will bow down as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes in obvious glory. At long last receiving the acknowledgement long denied Him. So great a love should compel us to surrender our sinfulness for His grace. How could such a gift be refused?
"The cross in not simply an atonement, but a revelation of how God works with the people He loves."
Tim Keller
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