To Die For

For the Passion of the Lord is here in truth, shaking the earth, rending the rocks and opening the tombs; and His Resurrection also is at hand. — Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), De Passione Domini 

“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” Matthew 21:5 

You thought I was worth saving 
So you came and changed my life 
You thought I was worth keeping 
So you cleaned me up inside 

You thought I was to die for 
So you sacrificed your life 
So I could be free 
So I could be whole 
So I can tell everyone I know 

— Worth by Anthony Brown 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD … Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. Psalm 118:26, 27 (NKJV) 

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes … Psalm 96:12-13 

 

Torn

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Mark 1:9-10 

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mark 15:37-38 

Did you see that? Did you ever really see that!? I didn’t. At the beginning and end of Jesus’ earthly ministry the way into the Presence of God was opened. Not just a casual opening of a window either. But a cleaving asunder, a rending, a tearing apart.  

The Greek word translated “torn” in both verses is schizó (σχίζω). It means to split, divide, rend, sever (literally or figuratively), break, open, make a rent.  

The Matthew 27 telling of the moment of Jesus’ death uses the word schizó twice and captures the passion and energy: 

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn (schizó) in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split (schizó). Matthew 27:51 (ESV) 

This was the plan from the beginning, from the sealing shut of Eden – to make a Way back into the Presence of God. He has done His part and torn away the veil, the dividing wall between us and God because of our sins. Let us tear away what we stubbornly hold onto that keeps us from Him.

Let us be as passionate, and even violent, about it as He is. Jesus said, “if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off … if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out.” Let us love Him with our whole heart.

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:13

Come into His Presence! Jesus made the way for you. 

This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. Ephesians 3:11-12 (NLT) 

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out (cried out loudly and urgently using a shout that expressed deep emotionⁱ), “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive … John 7:37-39 (ESV) 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. Revelation 22:17 

Salvation

ⁱcf. HELPS Word-studies for 2896 krázō, by Discovery Bible 

Image copyright by Derek Bair

Jesus’ Spit

I was reading the account in Matthew 27 of the soldiers mocking Jesus before they took him to be crucified. When I got to the part about how they spit in his face (oh think of that! The Face of God, the Presence!) I thought about what Jesus had done with his spit. He had used it to heal the blind and the deaf.  

And then I looked at all of the things the soldiers did to Jesus that day and saw that for each one there was a counterpart of love and mercy. Where Jesus was stripped, we have been clothed. Where he was mocked to belittle and shame him, we are encouraged and comforted and named. Below is Matthew 27:27-31 with what Jesus endured from the soldiers interspersed with His compassionate response. See what great love the Father has lavished on us! 

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 

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness … Isaiah 61:10  

and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. 

Bless the Lord O my soul … who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion … Psalm 103:4 

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. 1 Peter 5:4 

They put a staff in his right hand. 

… your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 

Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.  

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Revelation 1:5-6 

As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” Romans 9:25-26 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1  

They spit on him 

There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. Mark 7:32-33  

He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” Mark 8:23 

After saying this, he [Jesus] spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. John 9:6 

and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5 

Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle. Psalm 140:7 

After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Matthew 27:27-31 

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:16 (ESV)

Image in the Public Domain

Nothing

Recently I read a quote by Kierkegaard that took my breath away, until I realized what he really meant: 

“I have only one word to say, but if the power were given me to utter it, that single phrase, so that it would be fixed and unforgettable, then my choice is already made and I know what I would say: ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ was nothing; O Christendom, remember this!’” — Søren Kierkegaard, Papers 

“Our Lord Jesus Christ was nothing!!” This statement was startling, even blasphemous, to me at first. But then I remembered these verses: 

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as (think like, direct your mind, seek for, set your mind, have the mind and thoughts of) Christ Jesus:  

Who, being in very nature God (though he was God), did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage (grasped, asserted, clung to, exploited),  

rather, he made himself nothing (emptied himself, gave up his divine privileges, made himself of no reputation, without recognition, valueless) by taking the very nature of a servant (slave), being made in human likeness.  

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled (assigned himself a lower rank, abased) himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV) 

Kierkegaard, in Denmark, was reacting, as Wilberforce had done earlier in Englandⁱ, to the prevailing Pharisitic mindset that focused on outward appearances, and believed that all it took to be a Christian was to live in a “Christian” nation, attend the State-approved (acceptable) church, give your tithes, and, even better, have your own noticeable pew dedicated to your family. What you did the rest of the week didn’t matter. Individual responsibility for holiness was unknown or ignored. 

Most of these, especially well-to-do, churchgoers wanted to be “something.” They wanted to be “somebody.” But our worth to God does not come from outward appearances, accomplishments or wealth. In fact, these sorts of “something” may be detestable to God if they become our gods. 

He said to them [the Pharisees], “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. Luke 16:15  

But Jesus chose to be “nothing,” though he, of all humans to ever walk the earth, had the right to be Somebody – King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But he chose to be of no reputation, valueless, and he is our model. The word describing Jesus’ choice to become “nothing” is the Greek verb kenóō, which means “properly, to empty out, render void; (passive) be emptied – hence, without recognition, perceived as valueless (Phil 2:7).” ⁱⁱ 

This Greek word comes from kenós, which means “empty, void; hence, worthless (“null”), amounting to zero (of no value, profit).”   

Very few of us choose to be a big fat zero. We may feel like one, but we rarely choose it. Most of us crave the approval, the recognition, the respect of the world. You can only choose to be nothing and valueless in the sight of the world if you have a solid-rock certainty that you are of infinite value to God – and that others also have infinite value. 

And Jesus knew his value to God – “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 17:5). And he knew our value to God, for it beat passionately, faithfully, unending, unchanging in his heart, the very heart of God. And so, he came to be a nothing and to be “obedient to death— even death on a cross” for us. You are of great value to your Father. 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16  

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9 

Might I dare to become nothing with him to bring his lost loved children home? What would that look like? It would mean to trust utterly, even to the last breath. 

But he has demonstrated his own love for us … 

“God creates out of nothing—wonderful, you say: yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.” — Søren Kierkegaard, Journals 

God keeps bringing this theme back to me in different facets. See also Emptied

ⁱ A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity. William Wilberforce. Fulltext available at Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25709  

ⁱⁱ Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Image: Detail from Ford Maddox Brown, Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet [1852-6], Tate Archive, image  released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

Moriah

there the Lamb was provided 

there the plague was stopped 

there the grain was crushed 

at the threshing floor 

the temple is built 

and He blows the chaff away 

Grain for bread is crushed … Isaiah 28:28 

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities … Isaiah 53:5 

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16 

References: Genesis 22:1-2, 8, 2 Samuel 24:21, 2 Chronicles 3:1-2 

Image by Robert Schroeder on Flickr vhttps://flic.kr/p/ribTgF

Wait, What Just Happened?

When Jesus died on the cross something chain busting, history crashing and astounding happened. A transaction took place, what Derek Prince called a “divinely ordained exchange.” Let’s not let Easter fly by without camping out for a while in the revelation of what took place that glorious day. Below are some aspects of the exchange. I have also posted a Bible study written by R. Nelson Colyar in Hidden Treasure Bible Studies here The Transaction at the Cross

1. Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven and have peace with God (Is. 53:4–5) 
2. Jesus was wounded that we might be healed (Matt. 8:16–17, Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24) 
3. Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness that we might be made the righteousness of God (Is. 53:10; 2 Cor. 5:21) 
4. Jesus tasted death for us that we might share his life (Heb. 2:9) 
5. Jesus was made a curse that we might receive the blessing given to Abraham (Gal. 3:13–14) 
6. Jesus became poor that through his poverty we might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9) 
7. Jesus suffered our shame that we might share in his glory (Matt. 27:35–36, Heb. 2:10) 
8. Jesus suffered our rejection that we might become accepted by the Father as his beloved children (Matt. 27:45–51, Eph. 1:3–7)

You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:21-22 (NLT)

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By His Stripes

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

God showed me something about Isaiah 53:5 that has been helping me a lot lately. The verse says by his stripes we are healed.   

by his stripes (bruises, stripes, wounds, blows, blueness, weals, black-and-blue marks, hurts) 

we are/were/have been healed (healed, made healthful, cured, repaired, made whole)   

He stood there and he took it. He allowed them to whip and beat on him. He did not have to do that. When they came to arrest him and one of the disciples drew his sword to fight back, Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53). 

I guess this part never really sunk in for me like it has lately. He was beaten black and blue and bloody for us. I don’t usually like to write like this, but I think that we are so far removed from the reality of what went on that night that it has become just words.  

Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?”  Matthew 26:67-68 

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. John 19:1 

“Three forms of corporal punishment were employed by the Romans, in increasing degree of severity: (1) fustigatio (beating), (2) flagellatio (flogging), and (3) verberatio (severe flogging, scourging). The first could be on occasion a punishment in itself, but the more severe forms were part of the capital sentence as a prelude to crucifixion. The most severe, verberatio, is what is indicated here by the Greek verb translated flogged severely (μαστιγόω, mastigow). People died on occasion while being flogged this way; frequently it was severe enough to rip a person’s body open or cut muscle and sinew to the bone. It was carried out with a whip that had fragments of bone or pieces of metal bound into the tips.” — NetBible Study Notes on John 19:1 

This sort of punishment was very real to the early disciples. It happened right where they lived. They had seen it, and some of them would go on to experience it first-hand. But I am sure that they were bewildered when it happened to their leader, their Lord, the Messiah! Why didn’t he call the angels down? And later, why didn’t he come down from the cross? 

“But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” Matthew 26:54 

Going back to Isaiah 53:5, “by his stripes we are healed,” the Hebrew word translated “healed” is rapha. It means to mend, to cure, to make whole. This healing includes literal physical healing of persons, but also, figuratively, the healing of personal distress, like anxiety and depression. And, it can also refer to “national hurts” according to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. 

In this time of schism and hurt, of pandemic and anxiety, depression and fear – how we need this word! We need to meditate on it. We need to remember and proclaim it. We need to ask God to make it real to us over these thousands of years. The God-Man, Jesus, standing there taking it for us. 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds (bruises, wales, wounds that trickle with blood, blow-marks) you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 

“I gave my back to those who struck (smote, beat, scourged) me.” Isaiah 50:6 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you stood there and took the punishment that we deserved. Thank you that by your stripes we are healed.

Image, Passiflora, or passion fruit flower, by Heidi & Matt https://flic.kr/p/fZ2nn  

“Come down from the cross!”

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. Matthew 27:39-42 

Come down from the cross! As Christians, we are to be crucified with Christ, and whenever we are insulted and mocked for Christ’s sake it is a provocation to come down from the cross. This is man’s remedy. It is man’s way to show strength. It is like kids in the schoolyard, “You say you’re so tough? Prove it! Come over here and fight!” It reminds me of this verse: 

And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Luke 9:51-55 

This was not the first time that Jesus had been tempted to prove himself, justify himself – glorify himself – with the words “IF you are the Son of God.” Turn these stones to bread! Throw yourself off the pinnacle of the Temple! Come down from the cross! But Jesus always remained fiercely focused on the will of his Father – the salvation of the world. Love kept him focused. Love kept him nailed to the cross.

Man’s remedy is to come down from the cross. To call down fire from heaven. But what did Jesus command? “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-44). I like how the Message translation puts it. 

You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best–the sun to warm and the rain to nourish–to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. Matthew 5:43-45  

Jesus said that this loving-your-enemies thing, this giving like God gives is to be daily. And it can only happen if we deny that self that wants to call down fire. It can only happen If we have been crucified with Christ, if we stay there hanging on the cross with him. Daily. 

Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily (throughout the day) and follow me.” Luke 9:23 

I am to be daily crucified with Jesus. Hidden in him, I am to be his witness. To be a representative of his love and forgiveness and salvation here on this dying earth. To be His body here, making God’s invisible love visible.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with 

(rendered idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative, deprived of force, influence, power, caused to cease, severed, separated, loosed from us, put an end to, annulled, abolished, destroyed, made of no effect, vanish away, made void), 

that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:6-7 

I love that! The old me is unemployed. The one who wants to come down from cross and curse and hate and malign is inactivated. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I encourage you – don’t come down from the cross. In this time of insults and mockery and hatred, don’t respond in kind. Stay there on the cross with your Lord. Take it up daily. Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself”(John 12:31). That is our mission. To draw all men to Christ. To make God’s unconditional love visible. To give God’s best. To love and forgive and bless no matter what. To be crucified with Christ. 

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross …” 

Image, Coventry cathedral father forgive, by David Perry https://flic.kr/p/qfiB6r  

Who Will Rescue Me?

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7:24-25

The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:2-3

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way. Isaiah 53:6a

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7:25

When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Isaiah 49:2

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intercede; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. Isaiah 59:16

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7:25

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 (NASB)

The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6b

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:2

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:28

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7:25

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. Psalm 22:16-18

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25

For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. John 3:16 (TPT)

They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! Psalm 22:31

It is finished! (completed, accomplished, paid in full) John 19:30

 

 

All verses from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Image in the Public Domain

Gethsemane

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Matthew 26:36[i]

Do you know what the word Gethsemane means? The place where Jesus prayed that the cup would pass from him; the place where he sweat great drops of blood?[ii] Gethsemane comes from two Aramaic words. The word for wine press, and the word for olive oil. Gethsemane means an olive press. The place where the olives are pressed to get olive oil.

Pure olive oil was used in the Tabernacle for the oil lamps which were to burn continually.

Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. Exodus 27:20

The lamps that never went out are symbols of Jesus, our Light perpetually, faithfully.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

The pure olive oil was also made into the anointing oil used to sanctify, or consecrate, the Tabernacle and the priests.

Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them … He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. Leviticus 8:10, 12

Jesus came to sanctify, consecrate, set apart a “kingdom of priests,” and a Temple in which he can dwell.

For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. John 17:19

Jesus was pressed there at Gethsemane, the pure olive oil for the Light of the world, for the sanctification of those who would follow Him.

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Matthew 26:42

Thank you Lord Jesus for yielding to the press at Gethsemane that you might bring us light and life and freedom from sin. Let us pray for his strength to yield with him to our own press, following him to the cross, that we might be little lights in a very dark world.

Pray for strength to say with Jesus, Father may your will be done.

 

Image By Gold2874Hans Lie (according to Exif data) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24742929

 

[i] All Bible verses taken from the New International Version of the Bible.

[ii] Luke 22:44