ALL WE LIKE SHEEP
The
“We have a law, and by
that law this man must die, because he has made himself the Son of God.”
God
also has a law. And by that law this man will die, if this sin-sick race
is to have a hope.
God’s
law is simple:
For every evil thought, every evil word, every
evil act, there is a price to pay.
Innocent blood cries out, the whole universe
cries out until the price is paid.
Isaiah
understood this long ago, when he wrote:
All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one
to his own way. And the Lord has laid on
him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah
53
It
was just another crucifixion, like thousands before it. Criminals, outsiders, anyone who displeased the
Roman governor. Nail ‘em up! Hang ‘em
out to die!
Crucifixions
took place in public, as a warning.
Watch yourself. It could happen
to you.
As
he hangs there between two criminals, the
Strange. The sky has grown dark. And as he breathes his last breath the earth
begins to tremble. A minor
earthquake. Nothing to worry about. It happens all the time.
Up
in the
What’s going on?
No
one has a clue.
What
they were looking at, and what we are looking at back across the centuries, is
the pivotal moment in the history of this troubled planet.
The
God of the universe, in the person of that dying man, is taking upon himself the
evil, the guilt, the curse hanging over the entire human race, dragging it down
into the Abyss forever.
This
man, who healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the dead, now
dies in utter weakness. And as he dies, his Spirit tears apart that veil in the
This
crucifixion is the power which can bring you and me from darkness into the magnificent
light of God’s World—not after we die, but now, here in this life!
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth (on
the cross) will draw all people to myself.”
All
people.
Sooner
or later we will all get there. We will encounter that cross, and we will begin
to understand exactly what divine forgiveness means.
And
then we decide, every day, for the rest of our lives:
Am I going to receive God’s forgiveness and
walk in it?
Am I going to abandon the darkness of my own
ego, and live by the power of that cross?
Or am I going to sigh, turn and walk away?
Here’s
what the crucified Lord offers us when we draw near to his cross and open our
hearts:
Freedom from our past.
Forgiveness of our sins.
Eyes to see God’s Kingdom
Power to live as daughters and sons of God.
Freedom
from our past
Some
of us are always looking back. Always
trying to relive the good old days. And
some of us are still dragging with us regrets and resentments from things that
happened years ago. And some of us are
still trying to prove ourselves to that hard-nosed teacher, or that skeptical
uncle, or that father we could never please.
When
we come to the cross and open our hearts, the blood of that dying man washes it
all away. All that regret, all that
fantasy, all that bitterness.
“You’ve
given it to me,” says the Crucified One, “I’ll take care of it. Just put your hands on the plow, follow me,
and never look back.”
Forgiveness
of our sins
Who
can explain it? Who can understand
it? When we draw near to the cross,
staggering under the weight of our guilt, Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
And they’re gone!
And
now the Crucified One empowers us to show that
same forgiveness to those who have sinned against us. And as we walk in forgiveness, we have peace which
passes all understanding.
Eyes
to see God’s Kingdom
Amazing grace, how
sweet the sound
That saved a wretch
like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
What
do I see? I see God’s World, the Kingdom
Jesus planted on this earth by his death on that cross. So that when I pray,
“Thy Kingdom come!” I know the difference between God’s World and this world.
God’s
World will remain on this earth long after the Lord has cleaned up this mess. And God’s world is open to us right now.
Power
to live as daughters and sons of God
Power.
Paul
writes,
When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to
you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom.
For I decided to know nothing among you except
Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling;
and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the
wisdom of men but in the power of God.
I
Corinthians 2
It’s
when Jesus takes us down into his death and up into his resurrection--- that’s when we
begin to taste the power of the World to Come. We die with him and rise with him every day
afresh. Until we can say with Paul,
“I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ, who
lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me.”
Galatians
2
This
man, who healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the dead, dies
in utter weakness. And as he dies, his Spirit tears apart the veil of the
We
can enter that presence, not after we die, but right now, even as we read these
words.
We can draw near to the crucified Lord and be
lifted out of our miseries into God’s World.
Or we can sigh, turn and walk away.
At
the cross he gives us…
Freedom from our past.
Forgiveness of our sins.
Eyes to see God’s Kingdom.
Power to live as daughters and sons of God.
The
door is open.
The
Crucified Lord is waiting.
All we have to do is
come, and keep coming to that cross, for the rest of our lives.