The Offense of the Cross

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14: 6).

What is your reaction to this verse? It says a lot about where you are relative to Jesus.

Some people might think, "I am so glad that I know Jesus! He is the one who ushers me into a relationship with His Father. And through this relationship, I am ushered into eternal fellowship with both the Father and the Son." Thus, their reaction is one of hope, joy and peace.

Other people might think, "How arrogant of Christians to think that only they are right. This is the height of pride and intolerance." Thus, their reaction is one of indignance, rejection and offense.

These two reactions stand at the heart of the great divide that Jesus Himself provoked while He was here on earth and that continues throughout this age.

"Do not suppose I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--a man's enemies will be the members of his own household'"(Matt. 10: 34-36). In other words, there is a division that is created when Jesus places the option to believe or not to believe in front of people. And even households will be divided by this.

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12: 32).

Jesus was lifted up on the cross as a kind of banner that rallies all of humanity to Himself. Those who look to the cross with eyes of faith are saved. Those who look at the cross, but do not believe, are left in their existing state.

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life...Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son" (John 3: 14-15, 18).

The "snake in the desert" refers to a story in the book of Numbers. The people were being plagued by snake-bites that were fatal. As a cure, God instructed Moses: "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived" (Numbers 21: 8-9). This image of a bronze snake became the symbol of medicine.

To "look at the bronze snake" indicates more than receiving the image of the snake on the back of your retina. When someone was bitten, they needed to believe that looking at the bronze snake held promise of salvation. Implied in looking at the bronze snake is the idea that one was looking with faith in God's provision for their healing.

And the picture of the bronze snake on a pole is a beautiful illustration of Jesus on the cross. He actually "became sin" (2 Cor. 5: 21) for us on the cross. When we look to Jesus by faith, lifted up on a cross, bearing all the weight of sin in Himself for us, we are saved.

When Jesus was crucified, there were two condemned thieves also crucified on each side of him. One of them looked to Jesus and believed He was the Messiah, the Son of God, who was bearing the penalty for sin as He hung there. He placed His faith in Him. And Jesus told him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23: 43). The other thief mocked Jesus and did not look to him in faith. All of humanity is summarized in these two criminals.

Back to our original question, how do you react to Jesus' claim that He is the only way to the Father? If you are in the "joy" category, it is because you have grasped that it is a question of who Jesus is, not which religion is right. If you are in the "indignant" category, then you see the question as a religious question of who's right.

It all boils down to the person of Jesus, Himself. He is the unique Son of God who came to do for us what only He could do, die for the sins of humanity in order to bring us to God the Father. No other person in all of human history has made such a claim. And because His claim is so radically challenging, it divides all of humanity into two camps: those who look to Him in faith, and those who are offended by His claims.

On what side of the cross do you stand?

Getting an Alignment

Have you ever checked your tires only to discover a kind of wear pattern that looks like big scoops taken out of the sides? Or maybe one side looks new but the other side looks bald?

You need to remember to have an alignment done.

You see, if your tires are out of alignment, they start to fight against the direction of the car. They start to stutter and shimmy, or they are turned in or out and, thus, they end up ruining your nice new steel-belted radials.

Think of your relationship with God a little bit like a new set of tires. If you stay properly aligned, your relationship will hum along as it was intended. But get a little bit out of alignment and you will begin to show signs of wear and tear.

What do I mean by alignment? The most basic truth we should understand is that He's God and I'm not. That is, He is the Creator of all things. I am one of his created things. When I fail to remember that in any way, I start to go out of alignment.

This is what happened to Satan. He was the highest being who was created to worship God and to lead all of God's creation in worship. He is called helel (shining one) in Isa. 14:12, from which the Latin translation, Lucifer (morning star) comes. In Eze. 28:14, God said that he was ordained as a "guardian cherub." But at some point, he got "out of alignment." Isaiah prophesies about his downfall. He begins to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. "You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself LIKE THE MOST HIGH'" (Isa. 14:13-14).

This is the original sin. Satan became conceited and deceived in a desire to be worshipped like God was worshipped. He was out of alignment because he forgot that "He's God and I'm not."

And so Isaiah tragically records: "But [instead], you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit" (Isa. 14:15).

Mankind's fall was similar. The temptation in the Garden of Eden was for Adam and Eve to take over God's job. "Sure God, you said that we were not to eat the fruit of this tree. But we aren't sure you have our best interests in mind. Therefore, we think we know better than You what is best for us. We will take the steering wheel from here on out and begin to run our own lives." (Perhaps I should have said, "ruin our own lives?")

Christian conversion in many ways is merely the re-aligment of our lives to match God's intention for all of His creation. When I become a Christian, as the old "Four Spiritual Laws" tract said, I am getting off of the throne of my own life and putting Jesus on the throne. It is getting the ultimate cosmic alignment job.

Worship is also alignment. It is the spiritual discipline that makes me place myself in proper alignment relative to my Lord. He's God and I'm not. Therefore, I worship Him.

This is what the Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian life are all about. They are the regular rhythms of spiritual discipline that keep our lives in proper alignment. Daily devotion and prayer time with God. A plan for regular reading through the Bible. Other regular activities like prayer, silence, solitude, journaling, and faith gatherings: small groups and the larger church celebrations.

But most of all: worship. You see worship is proper alignment with the Creator of the Universe.

How's your alignment? Need an adjustment? Just begin to worship and see what happens.

Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur is the highest holy day in the Jewish calendar--the Day of Atonement.

"Kippur" is from the same root word for the "mercy seat" or "atonement cover." That is, the solid gold lid that was placed on the top of the Ark of the Testimony. The Ark was a box made of acacia wood covered in hammered gold. In the box were placed the stone tablets upon which were the Ten Commandments written by the very finger of God. Also, a jar of manna and the rod of Aaron that budded (testifying to his selection as the High Priest--see Heb. 9: 4).

The Mercy Seat was made of gold with images of two cherubs looking downwards towards the box. In Isaiah chapter six, it is the cherubim who seem to protect the holiness of God. Thus, the symbolism here is that man's sinfulness contrasted with God's faithfulness is represented by the items in the box. The cherubim form a barrier to God's holiness.

And since their wings formed the back and armrest, the ark formed a throne where God, the Eternal King, would meet with Israel. But this could not happen unless God's holiness was satisfied.

On the Day of Atonement every year, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies behind the curtain and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat. Thus, God's holiness was guarded as the sins of Israel were expiated (covered) and God's wrath was propitiated (satisfied or appeased). This allowed God Himself to meet with Israel at the place of atonement.

Even the word "atonement" is a theological word introduced from the adverb "atonen" which meant "in accord" or "at one" and probably first used in Tyndale's translation in the early 16th century.

In Romans 3: 25, Paul tells us that Jesus was the "sacrifice of atonement" for us. The word is so difficult to translate that the KJV renders it "propitiation" and the NASB "expiation." Propitiation looks God-ward in relation to our sins (God is satisfied). Expiation looks sin-ward (sins are covered). Atonement actually has both aspects in mind. Our sins are covered, God is satisfied and we are now reconciled, or made "at one" with God.

But the underlying reality is that Paul has the Septuagint word-group that the Greek translators used for kofer in mind. Perhaps we should read it more like this:
"God presented Jesus Christ as the Mercy Seat--the place where our sins are now covered and His righteous wrath is satisfied--the place where we are now made at-one with God."

The same Greek word-group is used infrequently in the New Testament, but when it is used, to incredibly powerful effect. Four of these occurrences:

"God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18: 13).

He is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 2: 2; 4: 10).

"For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he may be made a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people" (Heb. 2: 17).

The good news for us is that the Day of Atonement happened when "he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9: 12). And now we ourselves can "have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way..." (Heb. 10: 19-20a).

Although the Day of Atonement has now happened, for each person, God is calling us to place our faith in Jesus so that we can experience at-one-ment with Him. In this sense, every day can be the Day of Atonement. Have you placed your faith in Jesus, the one who, in Himself, is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours, but the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2: 2)?