Today is Good Friday, and while the traditional events of this day probably took place on Wednesday, not Friday, it does not at all diminish the importance of what this day represents. This is, traditionally, the day that Christ was crucified, taking all of the sins of the world upon Himself and becoming the perfect, spotless sacrifice to pay for the mistakes that each and every one of us has made. I believe that this is why this day is called GOOD Friday, because I can't imagine why else it would be considered good. It represents the day that Christ was tortured and brutally executed, forsaken by God, and became sin. So this gets me thinking...
During this Easter season, our celebration is on Easter, and what it represents. We celebrate the resurrection of Christ, His return to physical life, His defeat of death. This is what the rejoicing is over. So as I think about it, was it His sacrifice that brought us salvation, or His resurrection that brought us salvation?
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states, " 12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."
So this makes a pretty compelling case that our hope and salvation are rooted in Christ's resurrection, without which we would still be in our sins with a futile faith, and this makes sense. This is the argument that I have heard countless times: "Many religious leaders are "good" and many have or would die for their cause, but at the end of the day, they are all still dead and Christ is alive, which is why He is so great and why we can have a confident hope in our salvation."
We celebrate Easter, the resurrection, as the culmination of Christ's gift to us, and believe that it is because He is alive that we have any faith or hope at all. It is all about the resurrection, but...
In Hebrews 9, it states, "14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. ...
"26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
So wait a minute. This makes a pretty compelling case that our salvation is a direct result of Christ's sacrifice, His shed blood, His death. This is what brings salvation, and without Christ's death we would have no hope of salvation. This also makes sense. The Bible is full of references to Christ being the sacrificial lamb, to forgiveness requiring a perfect sacrifice, to Christ's blood being our means of salvation. Christ even says, in Matthew 26 "28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." We even have plenty of hymns, such as "Nothing but the Blood," which imply that nothing, but the blood of Jesus can wash away sin.
So then, which is it? Why does there seem to be such a strong emphasis on both, separately, and, would Christ's perfect sacrifice have been enough to bring us salvation, had He never risen? Could we still celebrate our salvation even if we never celebrated Easter? Would we have a Good Friday holiday alone? Or is the shedding of blood essentially worthless without the resurrection?
Here are my thoughts: Christ's sacrifice, His death on the cross, His shedding of His blood bought us salvation. He paid the ultimate price for the ultimate prize, and through this, you and I now have the opportunity to accept that freedom. Jesus paid the price, with His blood, to buy our freedom, and all we have to do is accept it. It was His death, the death of a spotless lamb, and the shedding of the pure crimson blood that brought us salvation.
Now, what about the resurrection? It is no less important, and here is why. Christ's death brought salvation, but only because He is perfect, spotless, the prophecied Messiah, God. Had He been ANYTHING less than this, His death would have been futile and useless. When Christ rose from the dead, He proved that He was God. Only God has power over death, and Christ's resurrection verified, undeniably, that He was who He said He was. His resurrection gave power to His shed blood. Additionally, it was procephied that the Messiah would rise from the dead. Had Jesus been perfect, and shed His blood, but not risen, it would make God a liar, and leave us hopeless as our hope and faith would be based in a lie.
The way that I see it, Christ's blood, His death, is what made salvation possible for us. However, had Christ not risen from the dead, He would not have been the Messiah, and therefore His death would have been meaningless and completely unable to provide salvation. So the two are joined. Obviously, He had to die for there to be a resurrection, and there had to be a resurrection to give power to His death.
So those are my thoughts, and they are just that, thoughts. If you agree, disagree, have a completely different view, or can more clearly explain my view, please leave a comment. Have a great Easter everyone!
God bless!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Sting of Death
Manda asked me the other day, "Why do people have to die, and if people have to die, why does it always have to be so painful and miserable?" Her grandma died last night after a several week long battle with all sorts of problems, and it is simultaneously heartbreaking and relieving. We are all relieved that she is no longer suffering, but our hearts are torn in two at our loss, but also at the loss of those around us.
After hearing about her death last night I was incredibly sad and spent a good deal of time in tears, and then I started thinking about death, about the curse, and about the question I mentioned before. So here are my thoughts.
When Adam and Eve first sinned the brought death into this world. What was a perfect creation, full of absolute joy and free from sorrow, suddenly was introduced to a curse that would haunt humanity for the rest of its existence. Where there had previously been eternal, blissful life, tragic, destructive death was thrust into the midst of it all; and we were cursed..."You will certainly die."
Now I have always considered this curse to fall on everyone, but to be on everyone individually. Every one of us will die, it was not meant to be that way, but that is the way it is now, and that is the curse. However, as I was thinking this morning I realized something else. The curse is not just individual. It is a collective curse on humanity. We all feel the sting of death. In fact, there are those who have never died (Enoch & Elijah), but they were still subject to the curse of death.
When someone dies, in many ways, it is hard on those that are left, not the one who died. It is the living who are cursed by and suffer as a result of death. For the one who died, whether it was quick and painless, or drawn out and miserable, death is a completion, a step into what is next, which can be either a return to the glorious paradise we were intended for or a full completion of the curse for all eternity. (Now if someone does not know God and enters death without salvation, the full magnitude of the curse is realized in an eternal death and separation from God. This is far worse than what the living suffer, and it is not God's desire. He "is patient with you, not wanting any to perish...") With that in there, I return to the curse of death on the living. I seemed to realize today how immersive this curse is. It doesn't just cause life to end at some point. It causes sorrow, suffering, depression, confusion, heartache, etc... for those who are left alive. The curse also causes murder, jealousy, adultery, and virtually every other type of evil in the world. The curse of death involved death of our morals and our spirit and our connection with God, and this is the greatest blow. "The sting of death is sin."
So why do people die, and why is it painful and miserable? Because we are cursed. Because we have walked away from God, and this means that absolutely everything in life falls under the curse of death. We are all walking dead.
HOWEVER
If this were the end of this blog I would expect everyone to go away incredibly depressed, but it's not the end. Here is the second part of what I realized this morning.
When Jesus came to this earth and became a human. He willing entered the curse of death. He went from being Life, absolutely, to being subject to death's curse, and He experienced the curse, to its fullest extent. He felt the sorrow and loss associated with those you love dying. "Jesus wept." He felt the individual fulfillment of the curse as He suffered and physically died. He was even separated from God. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He became fully cursed for us, but He then did something so amazing! He conquered the curse! He overcame it! He shattered it against the rocks and offered freedom to us as well!
In the past, when I have read "Death has been swallowed up in victory." - 1 Corinthians 15:54b I have always thought of it in terms of Jesus overcame death and rose from the grave, and because He is alive He is able to offer us salvation. This is absolutely true, but it is so much more! Victory over death was not just victory in that single instance. As I said before, it was victory over the curse completely! "O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" - 1 Corinthians 15:55 This does not mean that we will no longer die or that death will no longer be painful for those left alive, but what it does mean is that death does not have to hold us in bondage anymore. While it is still painful, we now have hope and joy that run deeper and stronger than any fear or sorrow that death holds! The sting of death is sin, but death no longer has its stinger. Like a bee that stings and the stinger stays behind and the bee dies, Death had its shot. It stung at what it thought would be its greatest victory, but instead its stinger was left behind and the curse of death was defeated!
"He will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face..." - Isaiah 25:8
So we have hope and we have joy in the face of death now! We no longer have to fear it, and while it is hard, and we will miss her grandma, we have that joy that death did not win, and in this passing, her grandma stepped out of the curse and into the paradise of God's presence!
After hearing about her death last night I was incredibly sad and spent a good deal of time in tears, and then I started thinking about death, about the curse, and about the question I mentioned before. So here are my thoughts.
When Adam and Eve first sinned the brought death into this world. What was a perfect creation, full of absolute joy and free from sorrow, suddenly was introduced to a curse that would haunt humanity for the rest of its existence. Where there had previously been eternal, blissful life, tragic, destructive death was thrust into the midst of it all; and we were cursed..."You will certainly die."
Now I have always considered this curse to fall on everyone, but to be on everyone individually. Every one of us will die, it was not meant to be that way, but that is the way it is now, and that is the curse. However, as I was thinking this morning I realized something else. The curse is not just individual. It is a collective curse on humanity. We all feel the sting of death. In fact, there are those who have never died (Enoch & Elijah), but they were still subject to the curse of death.
When someone dies, in many ways, it is hard on those that are left, not the one who died. It is the living who are cursed by and suffer as a result of death. For the one who died, whether it was quick and painless, or drawn out and miserable, death is a completion, a step into what is next, which can be either a return to the glorious paradise we were intended for or a full completion of the curse for all eternity. (Now if someone does not know God and enters death without salvation, the full magnitude of the curse is realized in an eternal death and separation from God. This is far worse than what the living suffer, and it is not God's desire. He "is patient with you, not wanting any to perish...") With that in there, I return to the curse of death on the living. I seemed to realize today how immersive this curse is. It doesn't just cause life to end at some point. It causes sorrow, suffering, depression, confusion, heartache, etc... for those who are left alive. The curse also causes murder, jealousy, adultery, and virtually every other type of evil in the world. The curse of death involved death of our morals and our spirit and our connection with God, and this is the greatest blow. "The sting of death is sin."
So why do people die, and why is it painful and miserable? Because we are cursed. Because we have walked away from God, and this means that absolutely everything in life falls under the curse of death. We are all walking dead.
HOWEVER
If this were the end of this blog I would expect everyone to go away incredibly depressed, but it's not the end. Here is the second part of what I realized this morning.
When Jesus came to this earth and became a human. He willing entered the curse of death. He went from being Life, absolutely, to being subject to death's curse, and He experienced the curse, to its fullest extent. He felt the sorrow and loss associated with those you love dying. "Jesus wept." He felt the individual fulfillment of the curse as He suffered and physically died. He was even separated from God. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He became fully cursed for us, but He then did something so amazing! He conquered the curse! He overcame it! He shattered it against the rocks and offered freedom to us as well!
In the past, when I have read "Death has been swallowed up in victory." - 1 Corinthians 15:54b I have always thought of it in terms of Jesus overcame death and rose from the grave, and because He is alive He is able to offer us salvation. This is absolutely true, but it is so much more! Victory over death was not just victory in that single instance. As I said before, it was victory over the curse completely! "O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" - 1 Corinthians 15:55 This does not mean that we will no longer die or that death will no longer be painful for those left alive, but what it does mean is that death does not have to hold us in bondage anymore. While it is still painful, we now have hope and joy that run deeper and stronger than any fear or sorrow that death holds! The sting of death is sin, but death no longer has its stinger. Like a bee that stings and the stinger stays behind and the bee dies, Death had its shot. It stung at what it thought would be its greatest victory, but instead its stinger was left behind and the curse of death was defeated!
"He will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face..." - Isaiah 25:8
So we have hope and we have joy in the face of death now! We no longer have to fear it, and while it is hard, and we will miss her grandma, we have that joy that death did not win, and in this passing, her grandma stepped out of the curse and into the paradise of God's presence!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Mallory Punmpkin Pictures
So I have been really terrible at updating this blog, but I was recently inspired to post more pictures and videos of Mallory, and to just generally update this much more often. So, these pictures are a bit old, but here they are!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
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Friday, September 10, 2010
Family Photos
I keep my family on my desk at work, but not with the typical photos. Below are my family photos that I keep on my desk.
1st of all we have Mallory:
These awesome bedazzled animal stickers were my birthday present from Mallory. She picked them out herself and was so excited to give them to me, and they are absolutely amazing! They now adorn my computer screen, but I have a bunch left so I need to figure out what else to put them on! Everytime I look at them they remind me of my beautiful daughter!
Second we have Manda:
About a month or so ago it was insanely crazy busy at work, and I wasn't able to take lunch several days in a row. It was a bit stressful. So Manda went and picked me up lunch, Happy Meals to make me happy, and included with the Happy Meals, of course, were these awesome superhero toys! So now I have Spiderman, Captain America, and the Silver Surfer adorning my desk. Cpt. America throws his shield, it's quite fun to play with! I now look at these, or play with them, and it makes me happy, and reminds me of my incredible wife and all of the amazing things she does!Finally, my mom:
Now I'm not trying to say this is a representation of my mom... On Father's Day she bought me a Mr. Potato Head, because I was saying how much I love them and wanted one. So now I have a Mr. Potato Head who resides on my desk, and is played with by everyone in the office. My mom also bought me parts for a Mr. Potato Headesque Pirate Pumpkin, they are a bit bigger, but still fit on my Mr. Potato Head as well. So right now I have a Punk Pirate Potato, my mom. :)
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