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Resurrection: A Harvest Celebration

Thomas Jefferson, our nation’s third president, was a brilliant man. He was an inventor, a legal scholar, a diplomat, the primary author of The Declaration of Independence, and the founder of a university.

He also edited and published what is known as “The Jefferson Bible.” This was his attempt to draw attention to the ethics and morals of Jesus, while dismissing the elements of Jesus’s life that he didn’t accept as true. He literally took a pen knife and cut out the parts of the gospels that he rejected, including, and especially, references to the resurrection.

Despite the rationalism of Jefferson and other skeptics, the Bible is clear: Jesus rose from the dead, and his resurrection is the “firstfruits” of a great harvest to come in the future resurrection of believers (1 Corinthians 15:20).

This is symbolized in the Old Testament Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:9-14). It was the annual harvest celebration for the people of Israel. It accompanied the festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread. It was observed on the day after the sabbath day that followed the Passover. This would have been on the first day of the week, the day Christians recognize as resurrection day!

The worshipping family would bring a sample of the spring barley harvest to be given as a sacrifice to the Lord. It was an act of thanksgiving, in recognition of the Lord’s gracious provision. In contrast to the ancient Egyptians and Canaanites, the Hebrew people were not trying to manipulate their God into giving them abundant harvests with fertility rituals. They were acknowledging that he was the source of all good things. They were thanking him after the fact.

The New Testament makes use of this ancient practice to show how it represents the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He became the firstfruits. Speaking of his own death and resurrection, he said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). The apostle Paul wrote, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

The Feast of Firstfruits also pictures the resurrection of believers. “But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits,; then when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Corinthians 15:23). Death will not have the last word for those whose faith is in Jesus. A great harvest is coming when Jesus comes again.

“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

The Holy Spirit is the firstfruits of eternal life in the life of the believer. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23). The Holy Spirit is heaven’s investment in us now. The Spirit is God’s downpayment on our future inheritance, the firstfruits of what we may expect to come.

Believers in Jesus, then, are doubly secure. We have the Holy Spirit now, and the promise of resurrection when Christ returns. Believers are said to be “a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (James 1:18). 

Thomas Jefferson was an intelligent man, but he was not a wise man. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).  He denied what God’s word says about Jesus and the resurrection. If only he had understood the significance of the Feast of Firstfruits!

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Get Rid of the Yeast

The Old Testament people of God were given directions for living the way God wanted them to live. Their lives were regulated by seven annual feasts which celebrated their identity as God’s redeemed people.

Passover, the first of the feasts, was followed by the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. These rituals were for worship, rest, remembrance, and national solidarity (Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 28:16-25). They symbolized our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings of salvation.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread began the day after the Passover supper. It required the ceremonial removal of all leaven from their dwellings before the Passover. Why was leaven to be removed? Because in the Bible it represents sin. The New Testament has a lot to say about it. Jesus spoke figuratively of the leaven of the Pharisees (hypocrisy), the Sadducees (unbelief), and of Herod (worldliness). The apostle Paul wrote about the leaven of malice and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:8) and of false doctrine (Galatians 5:9).

We know leaven as yeast, which is used in baking. It makes bread dough rise. Why would God use a beneficial ingredient like leaven to picture sin? Because it spreads invisibly. Although it is small, it infects every part of the lump of dough.

So, for seven days the Hebrew people were to eat their meals with unleavened bread. This was a reminder of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and their covenant relationship to God. They were to be a separated people, consecrated to the Lord. During this week, there was to be a sacred assembly, a suspension of normal work, special offerings, and possibly periods of instruction about their unique place in God’s plan of redemption.

In Christian teaching this applies to God’s New Covenant people, and illustrates how we may have a relationship to him. In the Passover, the Hebrews slaughtered, roasted, and ate the Passover lamb, which represents Jesus, the Lamb of God. He had to die for our sins and go through the fire of God’s judgment for our salvation. We are not saved by self-improvement. We are saved by faith in the blood of the Lamb.

In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the bread pictures Jesus, the bread of life (John 6:25-35). When he instituted the Lord’s Supper, he spoke of the unleavened bread as representing his sinless body as he died on the cross. He was born in Bethlehem (“house of bread”). He said as God fed the Israelites with manna in the wilderness, so he is now the “bread of God” which gives life (John 6:33).

The Old Testament feast also reminds us of the New Testament believer’s spiritual sanctification, or separation to God. “Don’t you know that a little yeast (leaven) works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Sanctification, as taught in the New Testament, means that our Lord wants to remake us like himself: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). As we grow spiritually, we “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is a process of growth through the word of God and by the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

The New Testament guides us away from sinful practices to which we are susceptible. The Holy Spirit convicts us of wrongdoing and leads us to repentance and confession of sins. But there is coming a day in which our sanctification will be complete, when we are with Christ in heaven. “We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

Until then we are to “get rid of the old yeast” of sin and feed on Christ and his word. This is the way to “keep the feast,” that is, to live as life was meant to be lived.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Christ, Our Passover

“Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” ( 1 Corinthians 5:7).

Just a few weeks ago Christians worldwide remembered our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection. Every year this coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover. This is because Jesus’ death was during the Passover season. Even more important is the fact that he is the fulfillment of everything Passover symbolizes.

While there are many symbolic features in the Passover ceremony, I will point out just a few. Passover tells the story of Israel’s national redemption and rescue from slavery in Egypt. The ceremony was unique to the Israelites. No other ancient civilization had anything like it. The Bible tells us that Jesus is uniquely the only savior and redeemer.

The redemption pictured in Passover involved the sacrifice of a lamb. It was to be unblemished. The first Passover lamb was to be killed and its blood smeared on the lintels and doorposts of the houses of the Israelite people. The blood of the lamb was for the protection of the believing families as the angel of death “passed over” them when God’s judgment descended upon Egypt. Jesus, the New Testament tells us, is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He is “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19).

Every year after that, a lamb was to be roasted and eaten in the Passover supper, in memory of the Exodus from Egypt. The meal also included bread baked without yeast, or leaven. Leaven, in the Bible, is a picture of sin. Unleavened bread is sold today as matzah. It looks like a large saltine cracker. It is baked in such a  way that it is pierced with tiny holes and it has brown spots like bruises. Jesus said he is “the bread of life” (John 6:35). When Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, he held up the bread, broke it, and said, “This is my body given for you” (Luke 22:19). This reminds us of a prophecy: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

At the Passover supper the head of the household would lead the family in ceremoniously drinking four cups of wine, the cup of blessing, the cup of praise, the cup of redemption, and the cup of the kingdom. This would be accompanied by the reading of relevant scriptures and singing of psalms. At the last Passover with his friends, Jesus lifted the cup of redemption, and declared, “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:28-29).

Clearly, the New Testament is teaching us that Christ is the center of attention, the object of worship. The Passover was observed by the Jews in the spring of every year. It was a pointer to the ultimate sacrificial lamb whose blood brings redemption and spiritual security. For Christians, the Lord’s Supper is a reminder of these truths.

Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God “chosen before the creation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20). The annual killing of the Jews’  Passover lambs represented the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

The Bible says that while Jesus lived a sinless life, it was not his perfect life that atones for our sins. It was not his good example, as wonderful as that was. It was not his love or compassion alone that secured our redemption. He had to die for sinners. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). “You were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God” (Revelation 5:6-9). “Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

There were seven annual festivals on the Jewish calendar. Passover was to be observed as the first one of the year (Exodus 12:2). Each one of those subsequent festivals was an important picture to us of our Lord Jesus Christ and the panorama of God’s salvation. We shall explore these feasts of the Lord (Leviticus 23) in the coming weeks in this blog. I invite you to read these articles and share them with others on your favorite internet platform.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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A Conversation in Oxford

When Connie and I were in Oxford, England, several years ago, I found myself in conversation with  student from Japan. We were walking the streets among the 43 colleges that make up the university. I called his attention to the spires that rose above the medieval chapels, many of which were topped with crosses.

I asked him if he understood the significance of the crosses. He said that he did not. I asked him if he would like for me to explain the meaning of the crosses. He agreed to that, so we entered a deli, and over sandwiches, I talked with him about Jesus and his death on the cross for our sins. He was attentive and appreciative.

Any discussion of the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross should emphasize substitution. Jesus died in our place. This is the essence of the gospel. This is clearly the teaching of 2 Corinthians 5:21 — “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might be made the righteousness of God.”

John Stott summarized 2 Corinthians 5:21. “For our sakes God actually made the sinless Christ to be sin with our sins. The God who refused to reckon our sins to us reckoned them to Christ instead.”

In my conversation with the young man in Oxford, I talked about who it was who died on the cross. He was without sin. Just as in the Hebrew Bible the lamb that was sacrificed on Passover had to be unblemished, so Jesus was the Lamb of God “without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19}. The New Testament emphasizes the perfection of Jesus. He was “the holy and righteous one,” God’s “holy servant.” Jesus asked his enemies, “Can any of you prove me guilty of any sin?” (John 8:46). Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus “had no sin.”

Our conversation centered on what happened on the cross. “God made him . . . to be sin for us.” We cannot fully understand the depth of meaning in this statement. The morally perfect Son of God was treated as if he were guilty, so that we could be treated as if we were righteous.

Did you ever think about what it must have been like for the holy nature of the Son of God to live among sinners who were selfish, profane, hypocritical, rebellious, deceitful blasphemers? And how terrible it would have been for him to take their sins upon himself?

But this is exactly what the Bible says he did. “This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” ( 1 Peter 3:18). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

When did this happen? It was when our Lord felt the weight of our sin in the garden of Gethsemane, when darkness shrouded the land as he was dying, and when he cried with a loud voice from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It was when God the Father made him to be sin for us.

In this we are made to see God’s sovereignty, his justice, and his grace. He made eternal life possible for all who would believe this message. Jesus was rejected so that we could be accepted. He bore the law’s penalty so that we could be declared “not guilty.” He died so that we could live.

Why did Jesus die on that cross? It was “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This tells us that righteousness is given to those who are “in him.” We receive the gift of righteousness by faith in Christ. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness which is by faith from first to last” (Romans 1:17). “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:22).

This is the essence of the gospel. That is what we talked about in that deli in Oxford.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

 

 

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Learning from Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was known as “the prince of preachers.” He was possibly the most influential Christian pastor in the world in his time (b. 1834-d. 1892). He was the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle (Baptist) of London for 38 years. His preaching attracted large crowds and led many thousands to profess faith in Christ.

Recently, I read a biography of Spurgeon by one of his contemporaries (W. Y. Fullerton). This has inspired me to pass along to you some highlights of his ministry and some of the things I have learned from his example.

He boldly preached the Bible as the inspired word of God. His sermons were saturated with scripture. He had a genius for remembering everything he read. His knowledge of the Bible was encyclopedic and he was able to quote from memory many passages from scripture to support the doctrinal truths he was emphasizing. He said that if his church members were to be pricked, he wanted them to bleed the Bible.

Spurgeon vigorously opposed those who challenged the divine inspiration of the Bible. He denounced the liberalizing trends that he saw creeping into the churches of England from Continental Europe. He saw these trends as undermining the faith of the people and subverting the gospel.

He was an evangelist. Those who are familiar with Spurgeon know that he was a Calvinist who believed in, and preached “particular redemption,” the doctrine that Christ died for the elect, and only for the elect. However he maintained warm friendship with other leaders who disagreed with him on the doctrine of election. His Calvinism did not stop him from offering the good news of salvation through Christ to anyone and everyone. He pursued many means to do that.

Fullerton wrote, “Spurgeon himself ascribed his success not so much to his preaching of the gospel as to the gospel he had to preach. To him it was the truth that prevailed.”

Spurgeon had a city-wide vision for outreach. His sermons were published in newspapers and in best-selling books. He mobilized the people of his congregation to reach out with the gospel with Christian literature, an orphanage, a monthly magazine, a pastor’s college for training men for the ministry, a home for elderly widows, and twenty mission churches situated all over London.

The young pastors he trained were called to serve in many Baptist, and other “free” (non-denominational) churches. Spurgeon was gratified by reports that these congregations were growing and thousands were being led to Christ.

The mission churches started by the Metropolitan Tabernacle were evangelistic stations located in poor and working class districts in London. These missions were a response to the social upheavals caused by the industrial revolution. The urban poor, Spurgeon believed, were a great mission field.

The workers in these ministries were mostly members of the Tabernacle who were inspired by their pastor to seek to win the lost to Christ. He trained the people of his congregation to preach in the open air, to visit the sick, to teach Sunday School, and to share the gospel with individuals, all over London.

What was the secret to his success as a pastor? Fullerton mentions many qualities he had observed in his friend Spurgeon: his faith, his zeal, his courage, the novel style of his preaching, his fidelity to strong doctrine, his love for people, his humility, his natural wit, his hard work, his common sense, and his fluency of speech. But these do not tell the whole story.

Fullerton concludes, “It is the living mixture that produces the result. When, as in Spurgeon’s case, there is added to the great gifts of nature the power of the Spirit of God dwelling within the man, as in a holy temple, who can be surprised at the result?”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Life After Death

The celebration, last Sunday, of our Lord’s resurrection, is a glorious reminder that for followers of Jesus, death is not a terminus, but a transition. The hope of life after death is not an empty wish. Those who die “in Christ” do not cease to exist, smothered in eternal darkness.

In my years of pastoral ministry I have seen how this assurance has sustained God’s people. I have stood beside countless graves and have read the Bible’s promises of eternal life. Those mourners were blessed with the knowledge that their departed loved ones were “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).

In addition, there are examples in the Bible which illustrate this truth. They lead to the conclusion that death is not extinction. If we accept the Bible as truthful and trustworthy, then we will believe what it says about life after death.

Moses and Elijah

When Jesus took three of his disciples up on a mountain to pray, they had an experience that shattered their perceptions of reality. Jesus’ appearance was transformed. Suddenly his face shone like the sun, his clothes were illuminated, and the prophets Moses and Elijah showed up, talking with Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9).

Other important things happened, but what I want to point out is the matter-of-fact way in which this event is reported. Moses and Elijah were there, even though they had been off this earthly scene for hundreds of years. Yet here they were, recognizable, retaining their identity, talking with Jesus, very much alive.

What were they talking about? Luke’s gospel says they were discussing our Lord’s imminent death (Luke 9:31). It is likely that they understood how the crucifixion of Jesus would fulfill the Law, represented by Moses, and the Prophets, represented by Elijah. Then they were enveloped in a  cloud of glory and were gone.

What are we to make of this? One lesson is that God’s people of the past have continuing, happy existence with God and the scriptures want us to believe it.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

On another occasion, some of Jesus’ detractors who denied the resurrection, challenged him publicly. They spun an elaborate tale designed to make him look ridiculous for believing in the resurrection of the body (Matthew 22:23-33). Jesus answered their crude skepticism by stating that they didn’t understand the scriptures or the power of God.

He quoted Exodus 3:6 as God’s pronouncement: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He did not say “I was,” but “I am” their God. Then Jesus added, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

What does Jesus want us to believe? He wants us to believe that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, enjoying unbroken fellowship with God. This is a profound argument for life after death.

The rich man and Lazarus

Jesus told a story which was intended to arouse a sense of urgency about preparing for death. The account of the rich man in hell (Luke 16:19-31) reveals a person whose character was shaped by selfishness and greed. He was not in hell because he was rich, but because he failed to prepare for eternity by seeking God’s way of salvation, revealed in the scriptures.

The other person in the story, Lazarus, was in paradise because he was a believer. On earth he was a poor beggar. In heaven, he was rewarded for his faith with eternal happiness and peace at Abraham’s side. Abraham is the supreme biblical example of faith. Lazarus had the faith of Abraham and was associated with him in paradise.

Among other things, what our Lord is teaching is the continuing existence of individuals after death. Some go to the place of punishment, others to the place of comfort and reward.

The message of Jesus’ death and resurrection is good news for those who believe it. He said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). The consequences are serious for those who reject it. There is more than one kind of life after death.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Last Words from the Cross

On this day which is called “Good Friday,” we remember with gratitude what the Lord Jesus did for us in giving his life as a ransom for sinners. We remember what he said as he was dying.

When Jesus called out from the cross, “It is finished,” he was saying farewell to earth. When he said to God, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46), it was an entrance greeting to heaven. His spirit was to be separated from his body. He had assurance of his spirit’s continuance apart from the body. Those who are in Christ may have that same assurance.

His death was an act of his will. To be sure, he was killed by wicked people (Acts 2:23). But in a deeper sense his death was voluntary. Neither Judas, nor Caiaphas, nor Pilate, nor the soldiers took his life from him. “He gave his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). No human power could have touched him unless he permitted it. Only when the appointed time had come, did he allow his enemies to arrest him (John 12:23).

He had said to his disciples, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (John 10:17-18).

This tells us of the Son of God’s complete agreement with and submission to the Father’s eternal plan of redemption. His resurrection must be preceded by his death. This was the Father’s loving purpose for his obedient Son.

This was not a form of suicide, nor a martyr complex, nor fatalistic resignation. This was his authority to terminate his physical life, and then to resume that physical life in the resurrection. Only the Son of God has that authority. In this he exercised his power over death, to make possible our deliverance from the power of death.

So he “cried out again with a loud voice” (Matthew 27:50), “bowed his head” (John 19:30), and committed his spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46). In one moment he lost consciousness of the terrible scene in front of him and was immediately conscious of being in Paradise, in the presence of the Father. His body was taken down from the cross to be buried by the hands of humans. His spirit was taken into the loving hands of the Father in heaven.

This helps explain the Lord’s earlier words to his disciples, “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (John 16:28). If you and I believe in this Jesus, his word proves as true for us as for them, “The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:27).

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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“It Is Finished!”

Victims of crucifixion usually died exhausted and unconscious. The New Testament tells us that before he died, Jesus summoned the strength for a loud cry (Mark 15:37). This was unusual for a man dying on a cross after many hours of torture.

His final shout was a cry of victory over the powers of darkness: “It is finished!” He was saying that he had accomplished what he had been sent to earth to do. In this sixth statement from the cross (John 19:30), Jesus again alluded to the twenty-second psalm, a prophecy of his sacrificial death: “He has done it!” (Psalm 22:31).

What did he accomplish in his dying? He accomplished “everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man” (Luke 18:31; 1 Peter 1:11). He accomplished the requirements of God’s law. He was born and lived under the law, he fulfilled the law in his perfect life, and he bore the curse of the law in his death (Galatians 2:21, 3:13, 4:4). With perfect obedience he accomplished the purpose of the Father (John 17:4).

The Hebrew prophets, writing hundreds of years earlier, tell us that his death on the cross would be to “atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness” and that “the Anointed One (Messiah) will be put to death and will have nothing” (Daniel 9:24, 26). “They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He (God in Christ) has done it!” (Psalm 22:31). That is what he meant when he said, “It is finished!”

He was speaking to the Father in heaven: “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). He was speaking to those who  would make up that growing worldwide congregation of believers throughout history: “I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you” (Psalm 22:22). He was speaking to himself: “After he (God’s Lamb) has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53 :11).

The word “finished,” in the Greek language implies completed action with a continuous result. It has finality. The work of salvation is accomplished; the price of redemption is paid in full. This word was used in first century marketplaces where goods were bought and sold. A seller would write a receipt for a completed transaction with this word which means “paid in full.”

Rudolf Stier wrote, “There is nothing lying beyond the reach of this word. . . . Here is the center of the history of the world.” Nothing can be added to what Jesus accomplished to secure salvation for all who believe in him. “He has done it! It is finished!”

In his book, The Cross of Christ, John R.W. Stott wrote: “The loud shout of victory, is in the gospel text the single word tetelestai. Being in the perfect tense, it means ‘it has been and will forever remain finished.’ We note the achievement Jesus claimed just before he died. It is not men who have finished their brutal deed; it is he who accomplished what he came into the world to do. He has borne the sins of the world. Deliberately, freely and in perfect love he has endured the judgment in our place. He has procured salvation for us, established a new covenant between God and humankind, and made available the chief covenant blessing, the forgiveness of sins.”

Amen.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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“I Am Thirsty”

You understand thirst. You have felt thirsty. Have you ever experienced a burning thirst, a fearful life-or-death thirst, a dangerous thirst? Long distance hikers know the dangers of dehydration and the importance of locating water sources. They carry filtration systems for purifying water from streams, ponds or springs along the trail.

The fifth word of Christ from the cross came near the end when he said, “I am thirsty.” He knew that everything was about to be accomplished (John 19:28). He had been suffering the judgment of God for sin. This was to make possible our deliverance from the penalty for our sins. He identified with humanity in another way we all understand: “I am thirsty.”

Jesus had been hanging on the cross since 9:00 in the morning. It was nearing 3 pm. His physical sufferings were unspeakable. They were compounded by a burning thirst. He gave voice to a physical need. He had this is common with all humanity as when he experienced temptation, fatigue, sorrow, hunger and righteous anger. In thirst, common to all people, Jesus understood how it felt to be human.

The “I” in this statement opens another window on the person of the Savior. It is a reminder that this dying, thirsting man on the cross was also God in his very nature. Repeatedly in John’s gospel, our Lord Jesus identified himself as the “I AM,” who had boldly declared, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:10). John purposefully selected seven statements from the discourses of Jesus to affirm his divine authority: I am the Bread of Life, I am the Light of the World, I am the Gate, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Resurrection and the Life, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, I am the True Vine.

Then in John 8:58 he said, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” Not “I was,” but “I am” the eternal One, the self-existent One (Exodus 3:14; John 1:1). Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” ( Philippians 2:6-8).

Think of it! The one who “was with God in the beginning” and through whom “all things were made” (John 1:2-3) inhabited and was dependent upon the creation he himself had brought into existence. The one who created the springs, rivers and aquifers to slake the thirst of living creatures; the one who sent the seasonal rains to water thirsty crops, to provide abundant harvests; the one who covered three-fourths of the surface of this planet with water to dissipate the heat of the sun and to make the earth habitable — this mighty creator humbled himself to die on a cross and before he died he said, “I am thirsty.”

The historic teaching of the Christian gospel is that Jesus is both human and divine, God and man in one person. Because he was man, he was able to bear our sins. Because he was God, his sacrifice was perfect. Because of his perfect sacrifice he is able to bring believers to Paradise. Let us say to Jesus, as Thomas did, with reverence and gratitude, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

 

 

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The God-forsaken Savior

It has been called the “cry of dereliction” or of “desolation.” Amid the unnatural darkness that fell over his crucifixion, Jesus cried out in the language of his people, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). He was quoting scripture, Psalm 22:1. It was a prophecy being fulfilled.

Angels had supported Jesus when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. They helped him as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. The New Testament tells us a voice from heaven spoke approvingly of him on several occasions.

But on the cross no angels attended him. This time there was no voice saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Instead there was the pall of darkness at noon and the consciousness of being abandoned.

Jesus’ cry was not one of unbelief, despair or cowardice. At the last Supper and in Gethsemane Jesus had expressed his intention to  fulfill the Father’s will through his death. He had repeatedly predicted to his disciples the death he would die in Jerusalem. This cry of dereliction was a fulfillment of another prophetic word: “We considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).

J.C. Ryle of England explained it this way, “There is a deep mystery in these words which no one can fathom. They express the real pressure on his soul of the enormous burden of the world’s sin.” His suffering was not merely physical, but spiritual. He was forsaken by God because he was bearing our sin.

The famous hymn of Isaac Watts describes it: “Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in/ when Christ the mighty Maker died for man the creature’s sin.” This is Jesus becoming a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). Until then, he could always say, “My Father is with me” (John 16:32). But now he is absolutely alone, abandoned, forsaken.

Why? Because “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). In suffering the abandonment of the Father, Jesus endured the very sufferings of hell. “God made him who knew no sin to be made sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Yet despite the desolation, we recognize his belief that the essential unity of the Trinity was not broken. Jesus never lost the knowledge that God was his God. Fellowship was broken by our sin, but not his relationship. Not long after these dreadful words were spoken, Jesus would call God his Father again, praying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

This season of the year is an annual reminder of what our Lord endured for us in dying for our sins. As we meditate on his words from the cross, let us humble ourselves in grateful worship, deep faith and confident witness. He was forsaken so that we might be accepted. This is good news.

Years ago I wrote these lines: “How the glory once was muted / when upon a tree, accursed, / in the terror of earth’s darkness / Jesus took God’s wrath for us.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner