The greatest victory that ever was

A few years ago, I went to a cinema to see The Passion of the Christ. It showed Jesus being tortured in terrible detail. After quite a time, it was obvious the film was coming to a close. I found myself saying to myself "Oh, please let it show the resurrection." It did, briefly. Suddenly, Jesus was standing alive in the tomb.

The crucifixion was a remarkable event. But it would have meant little without the resurrection.

The Bible records a number of times when Satan and his minions attempted to kill Jesus. Every time they failed, for it wasn't His time. Eventually, when the time did come, God handed Him over to His torturers. I imagine hordes of demons around the cross shouting "We got Him!" "We got Him!"

They were used. God used them to produce the most remarkable victory this world has ever known. When Jesus walked out of the tomb, he wasn't resuscitated, He was resurrected. Alive for ever.

He had won forgiveness, redemption, eternal life for as many as are willing to receive it. The kingdom of darkness was defeated. From now on, it would fight a rearguard action, but it would advance only by deceit. Its final overthrow is certain

Jesus Christ is King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Unto Him who hath loved us, and washed us from sin, unto Him be the glory, forever. Amen.
       

Two men: A stark choice

Tomorrow is Good Friday, when we remember how the world did its worst to the Son of God.

When Jesus was tried before Pilate, it was Passover. At Passover it was Pilate's custom to release a prisoner of the people's choice. Pilate could find no fault in Jesus, so he gave the people the choice: Barabbas, a terrorist and a robber, or Jesus.

In those days, Jews didn't have surnames as we know them. They were known as Judah son of Joseph, or Simon son of Jonah. Barabbas means "son of Abba." It can be translated  "son of the father." According to several old manuscripts, his first name was Jesus, a fairly common name in those days. So the people had to choose between Jesus, son of the father, who was a murderer, and Jesus,Son of His Heavenly Father, who came to bring life. They chose the son of Abba.

God was gracious to those people. Jesus died and rose again. So they had the opportunity to repent of their sin, believe on Jesus, and receive forgiveness

We have a somewhat similar choice. Jesus gave His life to be the one and only Saviour. Only the sacrifice of His life was good enough. He was the perfect sacrificial lamb. His blood, and only His blood, is sufficient to wash away our sin. We won't always have the choice, but we do have the choice now.

"As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." John 1:12.

Do it now.
   

Precious last words

One of the last things Jesus said to His disciples before He went back to heaven was something of tremendous import.

"All authority," He said, "has been given to me in heaven and on earth" (Matt 28:18).

When God created the earth, He made man to have dominion over it. "God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'" (Gen 1:26).

God didn't intend to rule over the earth. He intended man to rule over it on His behalf.

Satan, who had already fallen from his position in heaven as "the anointed cherub who covers" (Ezek 28:14), tempted Adam to disobey in the Garden of Eden. Adam fell, and lost his position of authority. Satan became "the god of this age" (2 Cor 4:4).

 When Jesus came, He provided us with redemption through His blood by His death and resurrection, delivering us from the power of darkness and translating us into His own dear kingdom. But that's not all. He disarmed principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (Col 1:13, 14; 2:15). Satan has lost his authority. The only weapon he has left is deceit.

Jesus was now able to say to His disciples "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore" - because of this, because all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth - "and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:18 - 20).

That's not an option. That's a command. Having departed physically, He has left us in command again, with His authority to do what He would do if He were here. And we have this promise: "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (v20).

How are we doing?

Doing away with the wrath of God

It's sad when churches begin to preach a powerless, ineffective, watered-down gospel.

The hymn In Christ Alone, by Irishman Keith Getty and Englishman Stuart Townend, has become a favourite with congregations on both sides of the Atlantic.

The hymnal committee of the Presbyterian Church USA wanted to include it in their new hymnal. But part of the second verse says

Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid -
Here in the death of Christ I live.

The committee wanted to  change "The wrath of God was satisfied" to "The love of God was magnified." They approached the hymn's authors, who declined to approve the alteration. The committee decided to drop the hymn from their new hymnal.  

Committee chairwoman Mary Louise Bringle wrote: "Arguments on the other side pointed out that a hymnal does not simply collect diverse views, but also selects to emphasize some over others as part of its mission to form the faith of coming generations; it would do a disservice to this educational mission, the argument ran, to perpetuate by way of a new (second) text the view that the cross is primarily about God's need to assuage God's anger. The final vote was six in favor of inclusion and nine against, giving the requisite two-thirds majority (which we required of all our decisions) to the no votes. The song has been removed from our contents list, with deep regret over losing its otherwise poignant and powerful witness."

Failing to recognise God's capacity for wrath can effectively trivialise God's power, said academic Timothy George. "God's love is not sentimental; it is holy. It is tender, but not squishy. It involves not only compassion, kindness and mercy beyond measure. . . but also indignation against injustice and unremitting opposition to all that is evil."

Someone pointed out that the committee's objections were scarcely in line with the Presbyterian Church USA's historic beliefs. The Westminster Confession in the current edition of the denomination's Book of Confessions says:

Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereto, doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual, temporal and eternal. . .

and

The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up to God, hath fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.

Mary Louise Bringle said later that people thought they had taken the wrath of God out of the hymnal. They hadn't; it was all over the hymnal. The issue was the word "satisfied."

Either way, it seems like the majority of the hymnal committee no longer believe in a substitutionary atonement.