The Cross of Christ - an investigation

          The death of the Lord Jesus must be understood from the whole of the Bible. In my purposed brief explanations, it is important to see the broad sweep of Divine revelation – from the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20) through to the Lamb upon the eternal throne (Revelation 22:3). This along with many other pointers, show the crucifixion of Jesus was no surprise, no martyrdom, but rather, as Peter preached “ He was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.....” (Acts 2:23).

      To see the final objective of God  - a redeemed people worshipping a once slain redeemer – gives much clarity to understanding the ‘why?’ of so many details. E.g. why He was judged by Jew and Gentile.

     I would like to make another general observation -  in the book of Acts , the death of the Lord is seldom explained as the basis of forgiveness. This is developed in the teaching letters. Forgiveness is in His Name  implies both who He was and the death and resurrection He  accomplished. His death is more often presented as a cause for repentance. When His death is explained in the letters of the apostles, it is often connected to the terms – redemption, ransom, remission, sacrifice, offering, suffering etc. To understand the terms, the Old Testament is vital.

  

      It is most important to notice that often when the Lord Jesus was foretelling His death, He referred to the Old Testament or implied it’s truth  to give meaning to the cross e.g. “ I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” (Mark 14.27)

    Another preliminary to my investigation is the care needed to discern the symbolism, metaphors etc frequently used in the Old and New Testaments. The one which I will later look at is “shed blood” – is it literal , a metaphor, a  generality or what? Well the Bible does give an answer, and we do well to let the Bible speak for itself rather than force the Bible to say what we want it to say.

     I find I must restrain myself from building a mountain of interpretation upon a minor detail  e.g. The Lord said “It is finished”  - I love the thought that the work of salvation was declared finished and the debt of sin paid, however I have little support from any other scripture that this is the meaning of “It is finished”. It could have referred to the fulfilment of scripture. Or the finish of the suffering , or the giving up of His life.

So let us proceed with due care and diligence!

John McKee  

jhnmckee@internode.on.net

Why must He die

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

       This most important historical event needs to be evaluated in history, in scripture, in the purpose of God, in its ongoing effect today, in its eternal value etc.

       Some people think about the Lord’s death once a year, others remember His death once a quarter or once a month. I grew up among Christians who spent time at least each week remembering the death of the Saviour. After fifty years regularly remembering, studying the Lord’s death, I find  ‘the well is exceedingly deep and very satisfying’  - I mean that I never weary of meditating on the multifaceted details of the death of the Lord Jesus.

       In this blog I will ask some questions and later give answers.

Note  -  I posted several articles on the ‘cross of Christ’  a year or two back. They should be found in the archives to the right.

Questions

   Why did Jesus die if he could have prevented such shameful end?

     Why must his death be executed at the hands of Jews and Gentiles  with        such injustice and torture?

       What does the Bible teach about the three hours of darkness?

         When was his blood shed?

          What sufferings were for atonement?

           Who did he die for?

            Where was he while his body lay  in the tomb?

Enough to start with?????????

Pray that the Holy Spirit will give wisdom to answer accurately  and to the glory of God.

PS if you want to follow this series, you can enter your email at the bottom of the page and each blog will be sent to you. I will not be harassing anyone, in fact I don’t think I am able to know who is getting the emails.

John McKee

Good news for the whole world

      If repentance and forgiveness from God is good news, what are we doing to spread it? The Gospel of Luke is followed by the book of Acts.  This is the ongoing history of the Gospel going out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

        I notice readers of this blogsite are from  many different parts of the world. I would be delighted to hear of your service to Christ , spreading the Gospel. Sent your story to 

johnmckee@internode.on.net

Repentance - forgiveness

My meditations in Luke have come to the last chapter and I would like you to think on just two words from the risen Lord.

“Repentance”  and   “Forgiveness”

The need for repentance has been clearly highlighted in the narrative by Dr Luke. Jesus taught the need for a change of mind about money. He called for a change of commitment from self orientated things to total commitment to Himself. He denounced hypocrisy.  His story about the Pharisee and the tax collector illustrates the repentance that counts.  The Pharisee was all boasting in himself. The tax collector put briefly –“God be merciful to me the sinner” Jesus  commented on this as the real way to blessing. Indeed the Lord made known what it was that caused joy in heaven – when someone like the prodigal son came to his senses and said “ I will arise and go to my father, and say I am not worthy..........”

It is wonderful that God grants us the opportunity to repent and it is wise for us to turn from our own way to choose God’s way.

Forgiveness in our world is often taken to mean ‘no revenge’, letting a hurt go so that we do not become embittered. On a human level that is true. With God it is somewhat different. He is and always has been a forgiving God, but He is wiser than to just let people get away with it. God is complete in holiness and calls each sin into account. Just like a speeding fine, the law must be applied and all my pleas for forgiveness will fail until the fine is paid. So it is with God. He who understands the debt of sin, the fine incurred, the consequences of an unpaid fine (the wages of sin is death), He chose not to overlook the debt, but chose to pay the debt Himself. The Old Testament sacrifices illustrate the costliness of sin, and Jesus here states that it was necessary for Him to suffer (on the cross) so that forgiveness might be freely offered to people of all nations. This is good news that “Christ died for our sins” and now that He lives, He is able to make the blessing real in the lives of all who choose to change (repent).

This forgiveness which is based on the debt of sin being paid in the death of Christ leads to God being triumphant in His holiness, His grace achieves its objective (reconciliation) and His love is satisfied (relationship of children) and His name is honoured in righteousness.

How good it is to see things as God sees them!

How good it is to respond in faith and be blessed by God.

John McKee

The suffering Saviour

Luke 22/23

My recent meditations of Luke have centred upon the sufferings of the Messiah. These chapters are so full of precious truth. I will recommend some of the profitable ways of meditating on them.

Highlight the verses which contain a prophetic implication – prophecy by the Lord Jesus about His impending death ( It was no accident).

Carefully study the trial of the Jesus – before the Sanhedrin, before Pilate, before Herod – all being illegal by their own standards. It is interesting to see the Lord vindicated as righteous on all occasions. Also note how the Lord controls the situation e.g. before the Sanhedrin He answers no accusations except the one concerning His personal identity. This is just what He wanted – the opportunity to declare before the highest earthly court who He really was. (link this with Daniel 7) Any false messiah would have denied , knowing that under Moses law a false claim to be messiah meant the death penalty.

Before Pilate the Lord Jesus focuses on His identity as being ‘from above’.

Trace through these chapters, the physical suffering of the Lord – being bound, buffeted, scourged and crucified.

Trace again the mental suffering of the Lord – betrayed, forsaken, unjustly tried, spit upon, lifted up on a cross as a transgressor, mocked by soldiers and those who should have given Him praise.   Then go deeper to the spiritual sufferings – the distraught prayer of Gethsemane, the denial of God’s authority in Jewish judgement, the anguish of knowing the awful consequences  for the people of Jerusalem and the  ultimate desertedness of the three hours of darkness.

It is important to observe His unbroken consciousness of God throughout the ordeal. From the prayer of the garden, to the final prayer on the cross, the Lord Jesus was not only in full command of Himself, but also in complete understanding of what was happening in the Father’s will.

His own summary is important - ‘ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into His glory.’ (24.26)

It is right to be touched by the tragedy of the cross, but it is so important to be converted by understanding God at work at the cross. This is why the teachings of the apostles are so important.

“God spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all”  (Romans 8)

For you, for me.

John McKee    comments welcome johnmckee@internode.on.net 

Tomorrow

God holds the key of all unknown
and I am glad
or if He trusted it to me
I might be sad

The very dimness of my sight
makes me secure
for, groping in my misty way
I feel His hand : I hear Him say
'My help is sure'

I cannot read His future plans
but this I know
I have the smiling of His face
and all the refuge of His grace,
while here below

J Parker

A servant role

Luke 17.7  The servant

       The story from the Lord Jesus leads us to stronger ties of discipleship. What do I mean? The story is based on the duty of a bondservant or slave. He has finished his duties in the fields, and at the end of the day returns to the master’s house. He is then expected to serve the master at meal time.

     

       The lesson : We so often expect God to bless us “for serving Him faithfully”. We expect blessing on what we have done, blessing for doing it and a reward later on. The Lord Jesus said that true discipleship response is – “We are unworthy servants ( not in the sense of failing to serve, but in the sense of mercy and grace), we have only done what was our duty.”

       Elsewhere we learn that God is good, giving and generous. In the parable of Luke 12.37, the master rises to serve the faithful servants. However it is inappropriate to trade on the goodness and grace of God. We as bondservants ‘deserve ‘ nothing or worse. As a bondservant we can expect no more than our daily bread. As those who once, and repeatedly do offend the master by wrong actions , bad words, unhelpful attitudes, we have no rights, no right to assume the master’s generosity. The Lord Jesus would have us take the lowly place so that He might exalt us at His pleasure and His time.

   Let us remember we are saved by His Grace  -  unmerited favour.

   Take a moment to read Ephesians 2 again in the light of this story in Luke  17.7. It causes us to realise that we deserve judgement, but God’s mercy and grace have brought us into the ‘Master’s house’, not only to serve, but as children, sons, saints to worship! What should be the effect of mercy and grace ? Conceit and pride -  NO, NO, -  humility and gratitude.

By God’s grace – John McKee