Burden Loosed From Off His Shoulders. Springs of Water Sent Down His Cheeks.
Here’s an excerpt from the Pilgrim’s Progress that I particularly enjoyed:
p. 45
Now I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called Salvation. (Isa. xxvi. i.) Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back.
He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do, till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre. where it fell in. and I saw it no more.
Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said, with a merry heart, ” He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.” Then he stood still awhile to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him, that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. Now, as he stood looking and weeping, behold, three Shining Ones came to him and saluted him with ” Peace be to thee.” So the first said to him, ” Thy sins he forgiven thee ” ; the second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him ” with change of raiment ” ; the third also set a mark on his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, which he bade him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the Celestial Gate (Eph. i. 13). So they went their way.
Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing—
” Thus far I did come laden with my sin
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in
Till I came hither: What a place is this !
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from off my back?
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack ?
Blest cross ! blest sepulchre ! blest rather be
The man that there was put to shame for me ! “
Talitha Koum!
Mark 5:37-43
He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” ). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
It says that Jesus took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). In light of a previous post (Ephesians 2), I wanted to highlight this story as it vividly displays God giving life to the dead.
Our souls are no different than this girl and Jesus takes us by the hand and says, Talitha koum! Our souls jump to life and although we are stuck in our mortal bodies and will inevitably face trials, pain, etc, we will live forever, experiencing the fullness of God. All pain on this earth will be un-done and death will be swallowed up by victory. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Religion Vs. Gospel
Tim Keller defines the gospel like this: You are more sinful and lost than you could ever dare believe, yet (in Christ) you are more loved and accepted than you could ever dare hope.
He put together a document that contrasts religion and gospel and I’m posting below a modified version from Tim Melton. I have found this to be very helpful. It is amazing how quick we are to be religious (self-justifiers) and how damaging a Pharisaical heart can be to others and to oneself.
Made Alive
Ephesians 2:1-10 – As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Colossians 2:6-15 – Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
The Greatest Hindrance to the Gospel
HT: Tim Challies
Some time ago I mentioned that I had been asked by a magazine to submit an answer to this question: “What is the greatest hindrance to the gospel today?” Since the magazine has now been published, I can print the answer at my site. So here goes…
You know the oft-told story, I am sure. G.K. Chesterton, along with other prominent authors of his day, was asked by The Times to answer this question: “What’s Wrong with the World?” His answer was beautiful in its simplicity and brilliant in its profundity.
Dear Sirs,
I am.
Sincerely yours,
G. K. Chesterton
As I ponder the greatest hindrances to the gospel today, I can’t help but feel that Chesteron’s words are applicable to this question, too. And yet, at the same time, I feel as if they are wrong; dead wrong.
Galatians 5:1 – It Is For Freedom That Christ Has Set Us Free
HT: Buzzard Blog
“When, from time to time, someone appeared who understood and proclaimed the genuine message of Galatians, he was liable to be denounced as a subversive character—as, indeed, Paul was in his own day. But the letter to the Galatians, with its trumpet call to Christian freedom, has time and again released the true gospel from the bonds in which well-meaning but misguided people have confined it so that it can once more exert its emancipating power in the life of mankind, empowering those who receive it to stand fast in the freedom with which Christ has set them free.”
-F.F. Bruce
The Kings Punishment
Joshua 10:26-27 – And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees. And they hung on the trees until evening. But at the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and they set large stones against the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.
The Scene: Moses had recently passed on and Joshua was the commander in chief. He and his men were marching in the promised land and taking over their inheritance. Along the way, they had to do battle with the existing kings and establishments. Right here, a group of kings had come together to try and overthrow Joshua, but they came up short. They were captured and thrown into a cave. Joshua finished the battle and then came to the cave where these kings were located. He brought them out of the cave (5 of them), made a display of them, had them hung from trees and finally they were thrown into the cave and large stones were put at the entrance (all of this took place before sun-down).
The Link: As I read this, I saw a strong correlation to the experience of these kings and to the experience of the true King, Jesus. Jesus died on a tree, he was thrown into a cave and a stone covered the entrance, not to mention the fact that this all took place before sun-down.
The Point: This passage in the Old Testament, like so many others, sheds light on what Jesus did for us on the cross. Just like those kings, we deserve ruthless judgment for our rebellion to God. We deserve to be hung from trees and thrown into caves forever, experiencing utter darkness. While this is true, we have a perfect substitute. The One who created all things and through whom all things exist and are held together, we were liberated. Jesus stood in our place and experienced the horrors mentioned above. Further, Jesus didn’t stay behind the large stone, but rather overcame death and currently sits at the right hand of God. He triumphed over the grave. These kings experienced something similar to what we deserve, yet the true King experienced our condemnation by His great grace.
Is God Ever Disappointed In Us?
A group of students got together this past Sunday and each wrote down a question on a piece of paper and put it in the middle of the circle. Once they did this, they discussed each of the questions. From what I heard, one of the questions generated a considerable amount of conversation and I think it’s a very penetrating question for us all to think through. It’s stated in the title of this blog, but here it is again, “Is God ever disappointed in us?” One of the students felt pretty strongly that the answer was no, but the others came to the conclusion that God can be disappointed with us at times, but still absolutely loves and accepts us. Well, it got me thinking last night and I wanted to share my belief with anyone willing to listen…
No, God is never disappointed with us when we are in Christ Jesus. Never. Although we are wretched sinners, still falling constantly (Rom 7), we have been set free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Rom 8). When we are justified by Christ, God feels about us the same way as He does about Jesus, whether we are doing very good or very bad. Christ’s perfect life has covered our sinful and rebellious heart so that God looks upon us as though we have lived like Jesus did. Jesus took the full condemnation, the full disappointment, the anger and frustration of God towards sin upon Himself when He bore our sin in our place so that we would die to sin and live to righteousness. He healed us through His wounds (1 Peter 2:24), he will present us holy and blameless (Col. 1:22), we are a new creation (Gal. 6), we are no longer condemned (Rom 8), we are counted as righteous because Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Rom 4), we have peace (Rom 5), etc.
When Jesus experienced the silence of God as he hung on the cross, He experienced all the disappointment that we deserve for our great sin. Our sin should not be taken lightly as nothing less than the Son of God dying on a cross would satisfy the requirements for us to be reconciled. As Tim Keller says, “We’re so bad that He had to die for us, but we’re so loved that He was glad to die for us.” Our sin is heinous and we don’t even have a clue as to how bad it really is, but thanks be to God in Jesus Christ that our sin was nailed to the cross and by God’s grace, we are now viewed as sons and daughters with perfect records in the midst of our actual flawed performance. We certainly need to repent and seek to live lives that glorify God, but our motivation is not to gain God’s favor or good will. We already have that in Christ. Our repentance is a gift from God to us and in our acknowledgement of our failure, His overwhelming acceptance of us drives us further into love with him and leads us to obedience. We are hidden in Christ.
This reality is difficult to swallow for most people, Christians included. We want so badly to incorporate our performance into the equation. We struggle to acknowledge the depths of our sin (if God can be disappointed in us, then He is all the time because we are almost always sinning in one way or another). We have such a difficult time believing that the cross and resurrection is our entire sufficiency and that Christ did it all. BUT, when we taste this grace, it’s impossible not to be filled with awe as it’s simply amazing. We get what we don’t deserve and what we receive is the answer to the longings of our soul.
No Condemnation
Romans 8:1-2 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
If you are anything like me, you are berated with accusations and lies, saying that you are not worthy, that you are a failure, that God is not satisfied and that He is not content. Hold these verses tight to the chest and remember that the law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Jesus. In Christ, He looks at us and says that we are His beloved and that He is well pleased.
If you are struggling with something right now and find yourself continually failing in a certain area, place your mind on this truth and let this love blow you away as the contrast of what you deserve vs. what you receive is beyond our understanding. The law crushes, but the Spirit of life allows even our worst moments to drive us further and further into the love of Christ.
