Sunday, August 30, 2009

A Remarkable Revelation…

"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known..."

-John 1 v 18

We as human beings desire to know…We desire to know everything there is to know about anything. We’re inquisitive beings. And when we discover something new, we celebrate, because we’re that much closer to knowing everything there is to…

People who aspire to know everything there is to know will be disappointed, because no matter how hard they try, the amount of knowledge that a single human can obtain in his/her life time is not even a fraction of the amount of knowledge there is in the universe…

And so, many people have instead turned to look for information on the one who created the universe, God. I’m not talking about Christians at this immediate moment, although as follows of Christ we too wish to seek to know God. Instead, I’m talking about those who are confused in life. We as humans, find it easier to understand why something happened if we know how it happened, but more to the point, the reason why it happened…

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whob]"> have been called according to his purpose..."

-Romans 8 v 28

People desire to know God. Problem is that we as humans can never fully understand God by our own intellect. Suppose, for example a man enters a room wearing nothing but his boxers. Now we’ll never be able to fully understand why he has chosen to do this unless he reveals to us. In the same sense, in order to understand God, He himself must reveal Himself to us.

This is known as revelation, in which God chooses to show Himself to us through His word, what He has done, or through prayer and petition.

I know people who have desired to know God, and yet refuse to talk about the cross. But in a remarkable way, it is through the cross that we learn so much about God. One of our primary sources of revelation is that of Jesus, and while I’m not trying to downplay His ministry, far from it, it is through His death on the cross that we learn so much about who God is.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation..."

-Colossians 1 v 15

Here is a list of 8 truths that Jesus has revealed to us through His death on the cross. Note, some of what will be mentioned has been covered in greater depth in previous posts.

1. Jesus shows us that God is just.

"...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus..."

-Romans 3 v 24-26

Because God is a just and holy God, He cannot be in the same place as sin, nor can He let it go unpunished. One of my biggest fears for my friends who have yet to come and accept Jesus is that because of the justice of God, they will one day face judgement, and be thrown into hell. Hell in today’s world is taboo, no one wants to talk about it because it’s not nice…But it’s the truth, for anyone who doesn’t accept Christ, they will live for eternity, but not in bliss and peace, but in constant pain and torture. Fortunately, through Jesus’ death on the cross, God has dealt with us justly, with Jesus becoming the propitiation for our sins…

2. Jesus shows us the love of God.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..."

-John 3 v 16

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins..."

-1 John 4 v 9-10

When people think of love, it never usually goes beyond that of emotional lovey-dovey kind of love. Here, at the crux of human history, Jesus’ death on the cross, however, God shows His love, not that it is simply sentimental, but that it is efficacious. And God does not merely feel loving towards us, rather He puts His love into action, the greatest display of this being sending His Son to the cross to die for us, not out of obligation or duty, but out of love.

3. Jesus shows us the relational nature of God.

"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation..."

-Col 1 v 21-22

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit..."

-1 Peter 3 v 18

This is the biggest difference between Christianity and any other world religion. All world religions depict God as a far of being, not bothered by what happens to us. Jesus and God the Father are living and loving, they seek to enter into a relationship with each one of us. They aren’t some distant off worldly beings, but rather beings desiring to be at the centre of our lives. And God shows this nature, shows this want for a relationship with us, by reconciling us to Him through Jesus’ death on the cross.

4. Jesus shows us the pleasures of God.

"Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand... "

-Isa 53 v 10

"...he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ..."

-Eph 1 v 5-9

The reason why God would do what He did on the cross still remains a mystery. I often think of us as broken watches, with which God had no obligation to keep. Rather He decided to take each of us and fix us, not because He had to, but simply because it gave Him joy to act out of His goodness.

5. Jesus shows us the wisdom and power of God.

"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness..."

-1 Cor 1 v 18-25

People today think they’re incredibly wise in what they think, and yet they seem to neglect what the real problem in today’s world is, sin. People who think like this often enter into politics and psychology. People who, however, recognise that sin is indeed the problem, while wise, normally have very little power in which to raise the issue and combat it. God however is both of these, being wise enough to recognise sin as the problem, and having enough power to deal with it through Jesus’ death on the cross.

6. Jesus shows us the mercy of God.

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit..."

-Titus 3 v 4-5

God came down into this miserable world to deal justly with our sin as a Father of compassion. Because of this, He is free to extend to us His mercy, part of which is helping us live the life that He has called us to live, the kind of life Jesus lived. Had He been merciful without dealing with our sin, God would have been endorsing sin and evil. Thankfully this is not the case, as He has graciously dealt with sin, and mercifully extended Himself to us.

7. Jesus shows us that God is a living God.

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you..."

-Romans 8 v 11

Because God is a living being, and death is the result of sin, only death can have a hold on those who are sinners. But because Jesus dealt with sin at the cross, we see the result of sin, in His death. However, in His resurrection, we see the power of the living God raising Him from death to life. And this too is extended to us, that if we trust in Jesus and let Him be the centre of our lives, then we will be raised from death to live in eternity with Him.

8. Jesus shows us the healing power of God.

"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..."

-Isa 53 v 5

One of the primary effects of sin on us is that it destroys our lives, not just physically and emotionally, but spiritually too. We have become unclean and broken in the sight of God. However, thanks to the expiating work of Jesus on the cross, He no longer sees us as broken people; rather, He laid His life down so that we could be healed from the effects of sin. This can only come through the cross.

Jesus accomplished so much because of what He has done on the cross.

Through His death, Jesus has conquered Satan, beaten him and destroyed any grasp that he held on us.

"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross..."

-Col 2 v 13-15

Through His death, Jesus has redeemed us, that we are no longer slaves to sins, and that we can free to live in His love.

"...while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good..."

-Titus 2 v 13-14

Through His death, Jesus became our new covenant sacrifice, covering our sin in His blood.

"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 forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect..."

-1 Peter 1 v 18-19

Through His death, Jesus offered us righteousness, which is given freely from Him, and can only be truly found in the cross.

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God..."

-2 Cor 5 v 21

Through His death, Jesus becomes our justification, where God deals with us according to His just ways, and gives us new life through His Son.

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished..."

-Rom 3 v 23-25

Through His death, Jesus becomes the propitiation for our sins, taking the wrath of God away from us, and instead taking it ill-deservingly upon Himself.

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins..."

-1 John 4 v 10

Through His death, Jesus becomes the expiation for our sins, cleansing us from everything we’ve ever done wrong, past, present and future.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin..."

-1 John 1 v 7

Through His death, Jesus becomes our unlimited limited atonement, that through His death, we can be at one with Him.

"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world..."

-1 John 2 v 2

Through His death, Jesus paid our ransom, so that the chains of sins were broken because of the spilling us His blood.

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time..."

-1 Tim 2 v 5-6

Through His death, Jesus showed us how to live, by laying down His life for others, and following His Father’s will.

"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps..."

-1 Peter 2 v 21

Through His death, Jesus reconciles us to God, allowing us to enter into a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

"All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God..."

-Ephesians 4 v 31 - 5 v 2

Through His death, Jesus reveals the character and the majesty of God, so that we may believe in Him.

"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known..."

-John 1 v 18

We cannot but help letting Him be the Nexus of our lives…

"But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed..."

-Isaiah 53 v 5

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