Introduction

This an essay, slightly edited, that I wrote in this past summer in response to reading C.J. Mahaney's Living the Cross-Centered Life. I got positive feedback about its devotional value, so I'm giving it its own blog. This truly is the result of giving a lot of deep thought to the saving work of Christ, so I hope this can be of help to others.

Part One

Having just finished the book "Living the Cross-Centered Life" by C.J. Mahaney, I thought I'd write a piece on the remarkable nature of the death of Jesus Christ. It is not a subject that can be commented on too much. Anyone who has seen "The Passion of the Christ" - I have only seen a few minutes myself - at least somewhat realizes the intensity of the physical suffering which Christ endured that Friday. I have no parallels in my own life, for “His appearance was so disfigured beyond any man and His form marred beyond human likeness…” (Isaiah 52:14). What is it like to have the muscles ripped off the body to the bone? What is it like to have all the raw nerves coming out of the spinal cord exposed? What is it like when someone then puts a robe on that back, lets the blood dry, and rips it off? What is it like to be repeatedly beaten over the head with rods? What is it like to have enormous thorns plunged into the skull? What is it like to lose that much blood? And how could it be possible to then try to carry a tree trunk across town on the shoulder? It is no wonder our Lord was unable to do it. The wonder is that He was able to carry it even a little way. What is it like to have nails driven through the most sensitive parts of the wrists and ankles? What is it like to be forced to breathe only by lifting oneself up, tearing the tendons and rubbing the clustered nerves? I cannot imagine this. What is it like – to die this way? I cannot conceive it. Yet there have been others than Christ who have suffered in a similar manner. This alone does not make His suffering unique. There was more, however. What is it like to be betrayed by a close friend with whom one has shared everything for three years? What is it like to have another such friend deny any acquaintance? What is it like to be abandoned completely by all but a handful? What is it like to have one’s entire life work mocked, ridiculed, and seemingly discredited? What is it like for one’s own people to cry with one voice, “Crucify Him”? What is it like to be slandered, to be denied justice, and to give no reply to the charges? I can find nothing similar in my own experience. Yet there have been others who have experienced such things. Another aspect of these sufferings makes them unique, however. Jesus Christ is God. He lives in eternal bliss and supreme glory in heaven. It is one thing for those of us who have never known anything but a life of pain, sorrow, and disappointment to experience more of the same. It is quite another for Christ to lower Himself from the highest position of eternal bliss to the worst calamity that could befall a human on this fallen earth. Yet even in this, we have not seen the most remarkable part of the suffering of Christ. For intensely horrible as the physical and emotional suffering certainly was, it is only an emblem – only a way to help our finite minds begin to grasp the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice. He was not merely dying the physical death of an utterly unfortunate man. He was dying the spiritual death of millions. When the Apostles’ Creed states that “He descended into hell,” I believe it does so in the wrong chronological sequence, but assuredly the statement itself is not wrong – unless perhaps it is an understatement. For Christ was bearing the sins of all who would ever be saved. He was taking the Father’s full wrath, dying the full death, for all who would ever put their trust in Christ, before or after His first coming. He was utterly forsaken by the Father with whom for eternity He had enjoyed perfect communion – in order to bring those of us who would trust in His name into perfect communion with the Father. In doing so, He suffered more than any other individual will ever suffer. For in taking the full punishment of millions, perhaps even billions, in being utterly separated from the Father – and the Spirit – He somehow managed, so to speak, to multiply infinity to an unimaginable power. This cannot be grasped by the human mind. It is little wonder that He so desperately begged the Father to take the cup from him on the night He was betrayed. To “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger” (Revelation 14:10) for all the elect is not an experience to be conceived by human imagination, for it is both impossible and undesirable. It can only be symbolized. All we can do is consider the things that Christ suffered at the physical and emotional level and realize that they are less than nothing in view of what He experienced in His spirit. "Surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried." (Isaiah 53:4) He carried all of them – for all of us who believe. He did this even though we esteemed Him not, even though we hated Him, even though we would be ungrateful even after coming to know Him, even though we could never fully understand what He did for us, even though we deserved everything we had coming to us.

I’m not done. I haven’t even started considering in writing the stunning implications of this remarkable work.

"Lo! where condemned He
Bears His own cross, with pain, yet by and by
When it bears him, He must bear more and die.
Now Thou art lifted up, draw me to Thee,
And at Thy death giving such liberal dole,
Moist with one drop of Thy blood my dry soul."
-John Donne, La Corona

Part Two: Sin

I have written of the suffering of Christ. However, I have only alluded to its cause. I find it stunning to consider that I am part of the cause. “Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.” (First Peter 3:18) In light of this, there should be no doubt about the seriousness of our sin. Only by this bloody and terrible sacrifice could we be made right with God. It had to be death and nothing less. It had to be God incarnate and nothing less, so great is God’s glory. Anyone who thinks he is a good person should look no further than the cross. Our sins are so horrible that the Father could not look at His beloved Son while He was bearing them. Our sins are so egregious that the most fitting symbol of their concentrated presence was darkness and an earthquake. Surely the blotting out of the sun and total implosion of the planet would have been more fitting, but this would have been incompatible with Christ’s plans to purify for Himself a people in the future. How could you look at a God who took on His own wrath in this manner and tell Him that you are not such a bad person after all? Thus, for those who are in Christ, this blood was poured out for you. This body was broken for you. This soul was forsaken for you. How could we consider continuing in sin? How can we continue retroactively increasing Christ’s pain? How can we possibly continue offending the glory of One for Whom only such an unthinkable sacrifice would suffice? How can we continue to spit in the face of one whose love for us is so unsearchable? How can we live with ourselves knowing the full extent of our evil? I do not understand how this is possible, yet I too am guilty as charged. If there was ever any doubt about the utter sinfulness of sin, the cross should put it to death. Christ “became sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (Second Corinthians 5:21) “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) But we must not hesitate to accept this greatest of gifts. Of course it should not have been this way. But God willed that it should be nevertheless. Christ endured the cross “for the joy set before Him.” (Hebrews 12:2) And what was this joy? What but we for whom he died? We are His joy. “He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17) Let that send chills down your spine. Let that scare you. Let that cause you to purify your heart with fear and great joy. I’m still not done with this. The cross has more to teach us. God grant me the ability to convey it and to remember it day by day.

"Salvation to all that will is nigh ;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo ! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb ; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He'll wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try."
-John Donne, "La Corona"

Part Three: Rest

Perhaps the most common objection to the Faith is that if God is all-powerful and all-holy, there should be no such thing as evil. This objection is philosophically complicated in the extreme, and I don’t think anyone has been able to fully address this, although I have come up with a possible partial explanation through much consideration of the nature of cause and effect and of that which has often been referred to as “free will.” It is also possible to point out that God’s glory and character are more clearly manifested in a fallen world than in an unfallen one and that evil has no meaning apart from an infinite Standard of good. If you want to discuss abstruse philosophical questions with me, I’d be glad to try to explain my take, but I’m not going to do that here. My purpose in writing today is not to confuse anyone with the confused and confusing products of my mind, for although intellectual discussions are necessary to satisfy the gray matter of those prone to think too hard, they rarely if ever give anyone peace.

Perhaps the most common stumbling block over which people fall and thus fall away from the faith or are hardened to it is the grim reality of suffering and death. Countless people have experienced a tragedy and subsequently been unable to believe in God’s love, goodness, justice, sovereignty, or wisdom; in many cases people have been left rejecting even the existence of God. It is not wrong to explain to such a person that God has a plan and that His ways are higher than our ways. It is not wrong to point out that bad things do not happen to good people since there are no such people. It is not wrong to say that a person who stumbles upon experiencing a personal tragedy has clearly not thought through the faith before, or that person would have realized that such things happen often and to all. Yet these assertions tend to be unsatisfying to the sorrowing soul.

Many people object to the idea of Hell. It’s easy to see why. Certainly, it is one of the least pleasant Christian doctrines. Even God does not like this doctrine. “‘Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ Declares the Sovereign LORD. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?’” (Ezekiel 18:23) Yet the word of God is clear that He will eternally condemn all do not kiss the Son. The glory of God is infinite; having offended against the infinite, our punishment must likewise be insufferable and unending. Knowing this, we must acknowledge the justice of God, but this too may fail to set the soul at rest.

All this can be answered intellectually, at least to some extent, and all this should be answered intellectually because Christianity is a faith fundamentally rooted in absolute truth. We cannot fully grasp all truth and should not pretend to do so, but all of these things are true and have true explanations, and we are to love the LORD with all our minds. However, the frequent disconnect between the mind and heart is answered in the cross. Though that to which the mind assents may yet be revolted against by the heart, Christ Himself bore our burdens in such a way as to speak directly to our hearts and assure us that even if the way things are does not make perfect sense, the LORD is still God, and His word still stands.

To those who question the justice of Hell, look and see that in order for any to be brought near to God, He Himself had to suffer their penalty. For the cup which I held, that each redeemed sinner held, the cup of God’s wrath, the Son took and drank. He begged the Father to find another way, but there was none. So He drank. He became sin. He became a curse. He was forsaken by the Father. And is it not clear that in bearing more sin than any human, He suffered more than any human? Could we possibly fault God for punishing sin in this way when He was willing to endure such wrath Himself? Is it not clear that were there another way to redeem mankind, He surely would have taken it?

For those who have experienced such hurt and loss that it is hard to imagine a sovereign God of love, see in the cross the ultimate expression of love. See that no man has greater love than to lay down His life for His friends. See that to take your sin upon Himself would not have been possible were not His love extraordinary. Know that He felt the very griefs that you now feel. Know that He sympathizes with you in every way – by experience. Understand that all this was part of a perfect plan that through the cross will result in infinite good. Understand that by trusting in Him, your night will end in everlasting dawn, even as it did for Him. For He offered one sacrifice – Himself – and sat down at the right hand of God; so too, through His death, you may offer yourself once as a living sacrifice no matter what that costs and afterward enjoy God’s glory for eternity. You have never had a night as dark as that morning was for Jesus, and His night ended forever; so too can yours.

And for those who question how a holy God can exist in the same universe as evil, see in His death proof positive that He exists and that He hates evil. See too that in His death He has already established the end of history – the destruction of all evil. See God’s absolute hatred of evil in that it was necessary for the Father to crush the Son in order for the Spirit to bring us who know only evil into fellowship with the triune God. See the reality of evil in the reality of Christ’s suffering. See the reality of God in Christ Himself – who triumphing over death and evil came down from the cross and up from the grave and left our sin and our condemnation still hanging there. See Him who was able to lay down His life, take it up again, and give it out freely. To believe this is to know the true God – and eternal life. See the darkness that did not come from an eclipse, the earthquake that tore the temple’s thick veil, and the resurrected Jesus, and do not be unbelieving but believing.

I’m still not quite done; the resurrection deserves its own meditation.

"Moist with one drop of Thy blood, my dry soul
Shall—though she now be in extreme degree
Too stony hard, and yet too fleshly—be
Freed by that drop, from being starved, hard or foul,
And life by this death abled shall control
Death, whom Thy death slew; nor shall to me
Fear of first or last death bring misery,
If in thy life-book my name thou enroll.
Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified, But made that there, of which, and for which it was;
Nor can by other means be glorified.
May then sin's sleep and death soon from me pass,
That waked from both, I again risen may
Salute the last and everlasting day."

Part Four: Resurrection

As remarkable and absolutely necessary as was Jesus’ death on the cross, it is clear that it alone was not enough to give eternal hope. A dead savior would be a powerless savior, and a powerless savior is not a savior at all. Death happens to all, and life is short. To be “saved” for perhaps seventy years, followed by death, would be a rather anti-climatic outcome for the work of Christ, and, frankly, if He had remained in the tomb, we would probably not even have heard of Jesus Christ. However, He did not allow such a thing to take place. Instead, after putting away our sin on the cross, He put away death at the tomb.

It has always been a question among mankind what happens to a person after death. There are certainly reasons to suspect that death may not be the absolute end of existence. Modern brain research and the intimate connections between what occurs in the brain what occurs in our thoughts have led some to believe that our consciousness is entirely a product of the brain and must cease when brain function ceases. However, what is - amazingly - forgotten in this argument is that thoughts themselves cannot be explained from a material point of view. Those who would assert that matter is all that exists have somehow managed to forget that the very thoughts they are thinking are not material. Because past peoples have realized that the soul is distinct from the body, many have believed in the possibility of life after death. It is difficult to imagine living forever in a disembodied state, but many peoples, including the Greeks held to such a view. As difficult to imagine as this is, however, it is more difficult to imagine the dead being raised bodily. Such a thing simply does not happen in nature. From a biological perspective, life seems very discouraging. Every creature dies and, having died, stays dead. For this reason, the Greek philosophers Paul addressed in Acts 17 stopped listening and declared Paul ridiculous when they heard of the resurrection. Even among the Jews of Jesus’ day, there was debate over whether there would be a resurrection. The Pharisees affirmed that there would be, but the Sadducees denied it. Of course, the Old Testament does not speak very much about life after death. This is because death was still reigning at that time – Christ had not yet conquered it. Nevertheless, the Old Testament does speak enough about it that the Sadducees should have known better. Jesus described their problem thus: “You do not understand the scriptures or the power of God.” (Mark 12:24) Even as early a figure as Job, who probably lived during the ice age, had a concept of resurrection: “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God…” (Job 19:26) The psalmists frequently spoke of eternal life; perhaps due to over familiarity we may not notice when the twenty-third psalmist declares that “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Likewise, the seventy-third psalmist was confident enough to say that God “will guide me with thy council and afterward receive me into glory.” Later, the prophet Daniel, in 12:2, declared that “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to shame and everlasting contempt.” The Old Testament also clearly paints a picture of a God who is clearly powerful enough to raise the dead, such that Paul could say, in Acts 26:8, “Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?” He created and gives life to all things; why should he be unable or unwilling to give it back to those in whom he delights after the curse is lifted?

All this debate comes to an end, however, with the finished work of Christ. Having put away our guilt and punishment forever on the cross, he demonstrated the power of God to raise the dead and became the firstfruits of those who will be raised from the dead. He was dead. He was really and truly dead. The body of Jesus was a corpse in a tomb. Then on Sunday morning, Jesus was alive - in the flesh. Our God is that powerful, and in doing this He gave us His pledge that through the payment on the cross, He will do the same for us. Jesus was physically alive, but now in a body that was somehow different – an immortal body. It is stunning to realize that He has promised to raise His people in the same way. This is not some Greek disembodied spirit life. This is life – life as we know it, only more so. This is life in a body that does not continually push us into sin and that does not wear out. In the mean time, our sins have been paid for, and we can now freely come into the presence of Christ as soon as we die; having already been purified in spirit by His blood, we will shed our evil bodies and go to be with our Lord, awaiting our full resurrection into righteous and incorruptible bodies at the last day. This is as much beyond imagining as Christ’s suffering, but we can nevertheless count on this being every bit as incomparably wonderful as His death was incomparably horrible. There is no question whether this can happen; it has already been demonstrated! There is no question whether this will happen; He is faithful who promised. We await a new heavens and a new earth – where righteousness goes on forever. I’m done now. I’m done because I’m speechless at this point. I don’t think about this enough. But this was on my heart, and it had to come out.

“Salute the last and everlasting day,
Joy at th' uprising of this Sun, and Son,
Ye whose true tears, or tribulation
Have purely wash'd, or burnt your drossy clay.
Behold, the Highest, parting hence away,
Lightens the dark clouds, which He treads upon ;
Nor doth He by ascending show alone,
But first He, and He first enters the way.
O strong Ram, which hast batter'd heaven for me !
Mild Lamb, which with Thy Blood hast mark'd the path !
Bright Torch, which shinest, that I the way may see !
O, with Thy own Blood quench Thy own just wrath ;
And if Thy Holy Spirit my Muse did raise,
Deign at my hands this crown of prayer and praise.”
-John Donne, La Corona