Tim Hayes – Page 5

Thy Name In Vain

Taking God’s name in vain is a serious offense: Jehovah will not hold anyone guiltless who takes His name in vain. (Ex 20:7) He introduces this concept in the Decalogue as the last command of three relating how we’re to treat God Himself. What does it mean, to take God’s name in vain?

Traditionally, it appears to have been understood to mean we’re not to speak or write God’s name inappropriately, which is certainly dishonoring to God. (Ps 139:20) Yet a careful look at the text itself indicates this is not the whole of the matter; it is perhaps only periphery.

The command does not refer to speaking or writing God’s name, but to taking His name, taking it up, bearing it, carrying it along. The Hebrew is נָשָׂא, nasah, to bear. Cain chooses this word in his complaint, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” (Ge 4:13), and God uses it to describe how the high priest continually bears the names of Israel upon his heart in the breastplate (Ex 28:29), and also how he bears their judgment before Jehovah. (30) So, taking Jehovah’s name seems to be more about taking it upon one’s self, associating and personally identifying with it … with Him.

So, what then does it mean to take up Jehovah’s name, or to associate ourselves with it, in vain? Vain is the Hebrew שָׁוְא, shav, meaning empty, false, deceitful. It is used in the command to not raise a false report, to mislead and give the wrong impression. (Ex 23:1)

Thus, taking God’s name in vain is to falsely identify and associate ourselves with God by appealing to His name and character when we aren’t submitted to Him, not loyal to Him, not faithful to Him. It would include speaking on His behalf when He hasn’t called us to do so and told us what to say. (De 18:20) It also would describe identifying ourselves as God’s servants or representatives under false pretenses or ulterior motives, to gain the respect of and/or otherwise influence, manipulate or control others, using God to benefit ourselves; this is the heart of all false religion.

When the disobedient become impostors, infiltrating the Faith, presenting themselves as Christ’s disciples and servants (2Co 11:15), they evidently do more harm to the name and reputation of God (Tit 2:5) than those who merely speak or write His name in appropriately. When we falsely represent Him to others, who then associate God Himself with our sins and indiscretions and blaspheme Him because of us. (Ro 2:24), God will not overlook this; He will hold each of us accountable for how we leverage and exploit our relationship with Him.

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No Man That Warreth

When we hear the term “spiritual warfare” we might think of casting out demons and/or praying for lost loved ones to be converted. That’s certainly part of the story, but in many respects it’s a very small part.

Each of us is in an ongoing spiritual battle every moment of our lives; if we’re unaware of this fact, perhaps we’re asleep in captivity, or worse — on the wrong side.

We’re in this battle 24X7 because Satan never rests or gives up; he never backs off and gives us a break. (1Pe 5:8) Whenever we let our guard down, he’s right there to take advantage (2Co 2:11): to steal, kill and destroy. (Jn 10:10) Whenever we make a little more room for him, he takes more ground and fights to hold on to it. (Ep 4:27)

If we’re ignorant of the struggle, then we simply aren’t in the fight. This can only mean one of two things: either we’ve been taken prisoner and Satan has us right where he wants us (2Ti 2:25-26), or we’re in league with the enemy and serving him. (Ep 2:2)

This battle can be described very simply: Satan lies to us to get us to sin, to violate God’s Law. (1Jn 3:4) Every time we believe him, we give him more power in our lives. (Jn 10:34) To engage him in battle we [1] identify the lies [2] believe the truth (repent) and [3] live in truth with our whole mind, heart and soul. (Jn 8:31-32) Every dimension of spiritual conflict of any concern to us can be related in these terms.

This war is not one of our choosing; Satan chooses when and how to fight us; we can either defend ourselves or give in to him and let him defeat us. There aren’t any other choices here.

Seeing we’re in such a battle, we should learn to think and act like soldiers who aim to win. A warrior disciplines himself to endure hardness and difficulty (2Ti 2:2); he doesn’t entangle and distract himself with worldly affairs; he’s focused on the mission, ready at a moment’s notice to engage the enemy. (3)

A good soldier keeps his weapon close and becomes proficient with it, always training and improving. He studies to understand his enemy (2Co 2:11) and learns proper military strategy from those who’ve succeeded in combat. He also learns from his own mistakes and failures, integrating his own practical experience. When he fails in battle, he doesn’t resign himself to failure: he doesn’t quit. He picks himself back up, studies and trains to correct his mistakes, knowing he is destined to overcome. (1Jn 5:4)

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Anathema Maranatha

Eternal hellfire and brimstone is seldom mentioned anymore, and the little we do hear about it is often tearless (Ph 3:18), yet Christ warns us all to avoid Hell at any cost. (Mt 5:29-30) Who among us still races headlong into this dreadful end? (Is 33:14)

How many souls are actually going to make it to Heaven? One in a thousand? (Ec 7:28) One in ten thousand? If the antediluvian proportion of His elect is any indication (one in a billion — 1Pe 3:20) it’s only a remnant (Ro 11:5); very, very few. (Mt 7:14)

The reality is all who don’t love Jesus Christ will be anathema maranatha: cursed when Christ returns (1Co 16:22); this is very nearly everyone. (Mt 7:13)

By inference, all who aren’t keeping and obeying the words of Christ are headed to Hell. (Jn 14:23) Those who don’t obey Him don’t love Him. (24a)

Similarly, all who mind earthly things, who focus more on temporal concerns than on God’s kingdom, these folk are also headed to Hell. (Php 3:19) The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches distract them (Mt 13:22), because these also do not love Him.

Who’s living as if they’re elect? Who is obeying Jesus Christ today (Mt 7:21), cherishing His Words (Col 3:16), the words of Torah (Ro 7:22), hiding them in their hearts and meditating on them day and night as a manner of life? dedicated to Him and to His glory? Almost no one. It shouldn’t surprise us, but it’s sobering.

The fact people aren’t aware of their dreadful, eternal fate is irrelevant; science and/or religion may give peace for the moment, but confidence without holiness is an illusion, deception. (He 12:14) They’re stumbling heedless over the fathomless depths of Hell itself every moment of their lives, and will fall into it suddenly, utterly consumed with terrors. (Ps 73:18-19)

How are we supposed to live in light of this? First, we diligently make our own election sure (2Pe 1:10), working out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12), examining ourselves in light of God’s revelation whether we truly are in the faith, and prove it out for ourselves. (2Co 13:5) Are the characteristics which accompany salvation evident in our own lives? (He 6:9)

Then we do what we can to encourage others to diligently seek God (He 11:6) and strive to enter the kingdom (Lk 13:24), bearing patiently with them (2Ti 2:24-25), knowing we ourselves also were lost (Ti 3:3), teaching and warning those who will listen (2Co 5:11) with all wisdom (Co 1:28), helping them as much as we can along the way. (He 12:24-25)

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Thou Shalt Not Kill

The sixth commandment, Thou shalt not kill (KJV, ASV, GNV), is commonly also translated, You shall not murder. (ESV, NASB, NIV, YLT) The Hebrew is רָצַח, ratsach, meaning kill, slay, murder, so either translation might be reasonable. Which translation is best, or does it matter?

Murder is defined as “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another” (emphasis mine); it implies the perpetrator acted with malice aforethought, without justification or valid excuse.

Kill has a much broader definition: taking a life regardless of motive or circumstance. The impact of the translation here seems significant, on a deeply fundamental precept.

In societies where euthanasia has been legalized, and/or killing in self-defense, it’s acceptable to take a human life on purpose under certain conditions. In such cases, the command, You shall not murder isn’t violated since the act is lawful, and may not even be malicious; however, such actions do violate, “Thou shalt not kill”; so, the translation does matter.

According to Torah, when is it acceptable for an individual acting on their own volition (not as an agent of the State enforcing capital punishment, or in the military) to intend to take another person’s life?

As a general baseline, consider laws regarding involuntary manslaughter (De 19:1-13): taking a life entirely accidentally, without any malice, forethought or criminal negligence (De 22:8), brings severe consequences in Torah. If the perpetrator wishes to live, he must flee to the nearest city of refuge, and forfeit the comforts of his home, community and way of life for the foreseeable future. The slayer is effectively imprisoned within the walls of this city until the death of the high priest, which could be decades.

If accidentally taking a human life, which certainly isn’t murder, carries such a penalty, effectively treated as if it were a significant Torah violation, what law does it violate, if not the 6th commandment?

What about other scenarios would we not consider murder?

Mercy killing, or euthanasia, for example, evidently violates Torah, though it’s not considered murder when legalized. Consider David’s reaction when a soldier killed King Saul, after Saul was already mortally wounded, to spare him the cruelty of being abused by the Philistines. Though the young man obeyed his king’s direct command, apparently in loyalty, mercy and kindness, even at further risk to his own life, he was promptly executed for doing so. (1Sa 1:1-16) If this act of obedience, bravery, kindness and loyalty did not violate Torah, David would have been guilty of shedding innocent blood himself and held accountable. Euthanasia evidently does violate God’s law, but not, You shall not murder, yet we don’t see any other laws besides the 6^th commandment which cover this case.

Further, though taking a life in self-defense is legal in many societies, and therefore not considered murder, this is also not generally allowed in Scripture and is punishable by death. (Ex 21:12) Self-defense, though it is generally not premediated or malicious in nature, is only allowed in a very limited context; Torah is much more limited than what’s legal in many societies.

Taking a life in self-defense is evidently only allowed in the case of a thief killed in the act at night. (De 22:2-3) In this case, in breaking and entering a home at night, the thief positions himself as a threat to an entire family. A man’s home is sacred; no one but family enters without permission. (De 24:10) So, breaking and entering a domicile under cover of darkness is especially threatening; apparently only in this very limited context is there sufficient grounds for proactively taking a human life.

Taking a human life as an independent free-will agent is an extremely serious matter; there is always a severe consequence, regardless of the motive, unless lives are being threatened and there’s no other way to manage the scenario safely. This moral precept is not sufficiently captured by, You shall not murder; it requires, Thou shalt not kill.

This principle of the inherent dignity of human life is rooted in Man being made in the image of God (Ge 9:6); it is foundational to a righteous society. Translating this text correctly is therefore extremely important.

One might argue kill is too general since technically this includes animals and plants, which contradicts other scriptures. Using murder does solve this problem, but then fails to properly classify several classes of unscriptural behavior as sinful, and there is no other command to account for them. This tells us we need to use the word kill here and understand from context the focus is on behavior towards people, not animals and plants.

Given the fact scripture indicates that several types of deliberate killing are forbidden which are not equivalent to murder, as in euthanasia and many cases of self-defense, it appears the classic KJV translation of the 6^th commandment is indeed the correct one: Thou shalt not kill.

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Incline My Heart

As we begin to understand the biblical definition of sin, which is to break God’s Law (1Jn 3:4), and to comprehend what this implies, the first question we’re likely to ask is, “Which laws do I have to keep?” (Mt 19:16-18a) It’s a perfectly legitimate question.

Yet even though it’s a natural question to ask, this may not be the best question; our initial inclinations aren’t always good. (1Co 2:14) In this case, the very act of asking reveals a problem, that we see God’s law as negative, an imposition, something to be avoided, contrary to us, opposed to us, that we’re averse to. As if God opens up His treasure chest to us and our first response is, “How much do I have to take?”

The part of us asking “Which laws am I required to obey?” isn’t the good part of us, the saved and redeemed part: it’s our carnal mind (Ro 8:7), the part that’s still at enmity with God, that’s not subject to His Law. (Ro 7:23)

Our new man delights in the Law of God (22), and longs after His precepts. (Ps 119:40) The better we understand God and the nature of His love for us, the more we trust that every one of His laws are precious beyond measure (Ps 19:10); we stop avoiding them and start searching them out diligently, trying to obey as many as we can. (Ps 119:4-5) The question our new man asks is, “Which laws am I allowed to obey?”

Keeping Torah brings us closer to God (Is 55:7) by exposing unrighteous tendencies in light of God’s holiness. (Ps 119:105) As we meditate on and obey the Law it renews the spirit of our minds. (Ro 12:2) That’s the goal of Torah (1Ti 1:5-8); there’s a great reward in obeying all of it (Ps 19:11), and this reward is God Himself. (Ps 37:4)

Rather than trying to find ways to discount and dismiss any part of God’s Law, we should be asking God to incline our hearts unto His testimonies (Ps 119:36), to open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of His Law (18), to make us understand the way of His precepts so we can share Him with others (27), and to make us go in the path of His commands because we delight in them. (35)

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The Word of God Came

In trusting the Bible as God’s written revelation of Himself to us (Jn 5:39), we should not do so blindly; we should examine the evidence and be ready to give an answer to those who ask why we believe as we do. (1Pe 3:15)

We could start with the historical fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the validity of the New Testament as a reliable account of His teachings. The Gospels contain Christ’s view of the inspiration of Scripture, and His resurrection implies He’s a trustworthy authority.

Jesus refers to the Tanach as “the Word of God” (Jn 10:35), and indicates it’s a faithful, reliable guide for us in our pursuit of God. (Lk 16:29) It’s so perfectly suited to guide us there’s no better witness even possible (31); God has given us everything we need. (Ps 19:7-11)

Jesus also reveals that the Holy Spirit will preserve His words through the apostles (Jn 14:26) for all the world to treasure (Mt 45:35, Mk 13:31, Lk 21:33), implying a body of New Testament scripture. (2Pe 3:15-16)

That these NT scriptures are inspired like the Tanakh may be derived from the fact that both bodies of scripture form the basis and standard of God’s judgment of Mankind. (Jn 5:45, Jn 12:48, Mt 7:24-27) He says continuing to meditate on and obey His words is part of being His disciple and finding freedom (Jn 8:31-32), implying His words are faithfully recorded and preserved for us; we’ll all be held accountable for how we receive and respond to what Jesus Christ says. (De 18:19, He 2:1-3)

So, Jesus Christ affirms the scripture as a text which has been divinely revealed by God, written in such a way that we may safely rely upon it as a guide to having a proper standing and relationship with God, being fully equipped and furnished through His word to do all He has called us to do. (2Ti 3:16-17)

This evidence for the inspiration of scripture is sufficient to expose and implicate all who refuse to submit to it as inexcusably guilty before God. (Ro 3:19)

Once we understand the divine origin of Scripture, it’s essential that we use it as God intended, not merely as a religious book, or even a theological manual; scripture is a survival guide, a map, a training manual for combat readiness, our weapon in spiritual warfare. (Ep 5:17)

It is also essential to perceive that scripture is not merely a book, it is alive (He 4:12), it is a Person. (Ga 3:8) Our attitude towards our Bible reflects and reveals our relationship with God. (Jn 14:23)

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It Is Written

Temptation is warfare; the enemy’s always looking for a way to distract, preoccupy and devour. (1Pe 5:8) We need to be on guard 24 x 7; we can’t afford to give him any more ground (Ep 4:27) to steal our joy, kill our witness and destroy our fellowship with God. (Jn 10:10)

When Satan tempts us, we’re drawn away by our own lusts and enticed. (Ja 1:14) When we yield to our desires and pursue them we sin, which alienates us from God and brings us into spiritual bondage (Jn 8:34): it’s a kind of death. (15) This is how Satan defeats us, and he’s a master of war. How do we resist and overcome him? (Ja 4:7)

When Jesus Christ was tempted of the Devil (Mt 4:1), what did Jesus do? He quoted scripture, verses He memorized from the Bible, but not random verses — He selected them surgically, tactically, the perfect text to counteract each dimension of Satan’s attack. (4, 7, 10) Jesus was defending Himself with the sword of the Spirit: the living Word of God. (He 4:12)

The attack on Christ itself was deliberate, thoughtful, calculated, probing, searching out any area of potential weakness Satan suspected might be present within the Son of God. Jesus was in a veritable sword fight with Satan; He could have engaged Satan in any way He liked and been victorious, but He skillfully wielded the Word of God as an example for us to follow. We do well to study and learn from Him. (1Pe 2:21)

It takes practice, lots of practice to become a master swordsman, and it can be a life-and-death matter: in real sword fighting we only lose once … then game over. If we must fight, and our only weapon is the sword, it’s wise to master it, to be as skilled as we can be. Yet we we’ll never be a match for Satan, so what do we do?

First, we should acknowledge that Scripture is the sword of the Spirit (Ep 6:17): the Holy Spirit owns this sword: it belongs to Him and He knows best how to use it. Yet we must also realize that we are supposed to take up this holy sword: the Holy Spirit doesn’t fight with it all on His own, He expects us to pick it up and defend ourselves; there’s a synergistic dimension to this warfare.

Bottom line is we must become deeply familiar with His Word (Co 3:16), listen as God teaches us how to defend ourselves with it (Ps 119:19), and continually abide in Him as we’re doing battle. The scripture must become an extension of our minds and hearts, engrafted into our very being, much like the Holy Spirit. (Ja 1:21) We fight along with God, Who fights within and through us (Php 2:13), so we engage the enemy as a single, triune being: soul, Spirit and Sword. (2Co 10:4)

We should be consuming the Word constantly (Ps 1:2), in a consistent pattern of prayerful memorization and meditation, throughout the day, every day. (Ps 119:97) We should be exploring it both on our own and in community, challenging ourselves and others with the goal of learning how to better defend ourselves from lies, to firmly ground and strengthen ourselves in the truth, so we understand the divine way. (Ep 3:16-18)

It’s a discipline of building patterns of instinctive self-defense into ourselves with the Word, developing spiritual muscle-memory, learning how to wield His Sword in conflict. The more scripture we ingest, the more of it we internalize, so it becomes more a part of us, and the more the Spirit has to work with in defending us.

Then, we should be observant, alert, sober, vigilant (1Pe 5:8-9); as Satan is tempting us, we should notice what he is leveraging within us: what lies are we still holding on to, that he is able to exploit within us to lure us into pursuing an ungodly path? (2Co 2:11) We ask the Spirit to reveal this body of lies to us, and then guide us into those passages of scripture perfectly suited to shed light on our particular darkness. (Jn 8:31-32) Then we memorize these texts and meditate on them, asking Him to give us repentance, a deep change in our thinking so we believe Him and His Word, transforming and renewing us way down into our subconscious minds. (Ro 12:2)

Then, the next time Satan comes at us, we look for the lies (Jn 8:44) and quote the relevant scriptures like Yeshua did, reminding ourselves and reinforcing the truth within our spirits so the lies won’t be available for Satan to exploit. This is how we resist him, how we deliver ourselves from bondage and overcome the world. (2Ti 2:25-26)

And when we fail, as we all do, when we get ourselves into a spiritual rut, unable to deliver ourselves, we confess our faults, our patterns of iniquity and defeat, to those in spiritual community we trust, so they can pray for us and with us, shedding light on our darkness with the Word (Ac 26:17-18), that we may be healed. (Ja 5:16)

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Endure Hardness

God encourages us, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, to endure hardness. (2Ti 2:3) He is calling us to voluntarily accept difficulty, obstacles and challenges which come our way, to count it all joy (Ja 1:2) and persist in hope, adapting, equipping and strengthening ourselves to make the best of our circumstances for His glory as well as we can. We can do this knowing God is sovereign over all, that He sees us, and has arranged our trials for our good. (Ro 8:28)

As a bit of perspective, consider this incredible man; his legs are mere twigs, capable of very little, yet he walks and runs with his arms, using his hands instead of his feet. He tends sheep, harvests crops, navigating forests and difficult terrain, apparently providing for himself and maintaining his own homestead under near-poverty conditions with little, if any assistance. He appears to have incredible ingenuity, discipline, persistence and endurance. (See video) He could complain, he could quit, and most of us wouldn’t blame him. But he doesn’t appear to be feeling sorry for himself.

When we’re tempted to say we can’t, thinking life is just too difficult, that our obstacles are too great … we should step back and get some perspective. This little man will, in all likelihood, stand up straight and tall on Judgment Day, and by his tenacity and industriousness put many to shame (Mt 12:41-42), those who faint in the day of adversity (Pr 24:10), who drop out of their race when it gets hard, who give up and quit when the going gets tough (1Co 16:13), who won’t faithfully make the best of their circumstances for the glory of God.

We may not think we have much to work with, we may think the odds are stacked against us, but we likely have much more capability and potential than we think. (Pr 13:23) God will not judge us based on our achievements in themselves, but on what we do with what He gives us. (Lk 12:48b) Don’t compare yourself with how others are today, but with who you were yesterday. Pursue continuous improvement in every aspect of your life.

If we’re always prioritizing our own comfort and ease we become enemies of the cross (Php 3:18); we won’t grow as we should in God without a struggle. (He 12:10-13) We’re called to prepare our minds for strenuous activity (1Pe 1:13), to diligently add to our faith (2Pe 1:5-7), to exercise and push ourselves. (1Ti 4:7)

The key is to start small, just take one more step, one day at a time. (Mt 6:34) We may need to take baby steps at first, and it may take a long while to train and discipline ourselves to endure hardness, to get to where we should be in this journey, taking up our cross and following after Him every day, to be worthy of Him (Mt 10:38), but it’s the way of God: His strength is made perfect in weakness. (2Co 12:9)

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He May Devour

Satan is as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1Pe 5:8) As a lion roars after its prey (Ps 104:21), so Satan’s roar induces fear, disarming and incapacitating us, as we might expect. But his devouring is not what we might think, not at all. How does Satan devour us?

Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy (Jn 10:10), and he does it through lies. (Jn 8:44) As we believe his lies, we give him place in our lives (Ep 4:27), allowing him to occupy and direct our thoughts, which distracts us and leads us away from God. To the degree we allow Satan to occupy us we enable him to consume us, to misdirect us and waste our efforts, devouring our potential in God, piddling away our precious time, energy and gifts.

Satan may attack us directly to induce fear and paralyze us, lying to us about God’s goodness and faithfulness (Ps 119:75), causing us to be afraid and/or resentful and bitter, stealing our hope and joy in God. (Php 4:4) We resist him by faith, returning to God’s precious promises and grounding ourselves in them (2Pe 1:4), and quench all his fiery darts. (Ep 6:16)

But by far the greatest leverage Satan has in our lives is our own negligence and passivity, our lack of discipline. As we fail to focus our minds, our free mental capacity, on God (Ps 104:34) and on His Word (Ps 1:2), meditating on Him and on His Law (Ps 119:97), we allow our thoughts and imaginations to wander off the path. (Ps 119:10)

How much of our lives do we actually spend focused on God, meditating on His Word, praying and seeking His kingdom and righteousness? (Mt 6:33) Where is our attention, and what eternal profit or fruit is coming from it? When we’re giving an account of every idle word (Mt 12:36), and likely also every thought behind our words and actions (Ec 12:14), what proportion of our lives will survive the fire (1Co 3:12-13), and not be consumed by the enemy, vanishing like so much vapor and smoke? (14-15)

Satan takes advantage of us at every opportunity (2Co 2:11), waiting and watching for any opening we give him, and begins to occupy and devour our head space when we aren’t focusing correctly, invading our thoughts and emotions. He inflames our lusts and provokes our imaginations with ungodly suggestions, tempting and distracting us and literally spending us, frittering away our lives on the irrelevant, the temporal, the mundane. To the degree we permit him to distract us like this, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the Word, pushing it off to the side, out of mind, and we become unfruitful. (Mt 13:22)

The more ground we give up to Satan, the more ground he takes, and the more he occupies and devours us. This process has a compounding affect, increasing its hold on us over time, crippling us and dragging us down into captivity whenever he wishes. And once he has us in his clutches, he does not give up his ground easily: God must help us get back on track, He must enable us in our struggle back to freedom. (2Ti 2:25-26)

God’s remedy is for us to prayerfully, soberly, carefully and vigilantly (1Pe 5:8) train and focus our minds (1Pe 1:13), to get in the habit of routinely hiding God’s Word in our hearts (Ps 119:11), memorizing it and meditating on the Word continually (Jos 1:8), desiring the sincere milk of the Word that we might grow (1Pe 2:2), receiving with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save our souls. (Ja 1:21) Whenever our mental energy is free from earthly responsibility in stewarding our resources and relationships before God (Ps 112:5), our minds should return to its default state of prayerful meditation. (Ps 119:20)

As we do so, we prayerfully focus our will on diligently adding godly character to our faith (2Pe 1:5-7), exercising ourselves in godliness (1Ti 4:7) that we might grow in grace. (2Pe 3:18) This is how we resist the devil steadfast in the faith (1Pe 5:9) and are transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we might prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. (Ro 12:2)

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The Travail of His Soul

Our response to the crucifixion of Christ reveals who we are; this becomes the ultimate litmus test, revealing the inward nature of both God and Man.

In contemplating the Cross, in particular the immense soul-crushing suffering of Christ on our behalf (Is 53:4-6), as the innocent Son of God becomes our sin (2Co 5:21), we may begin to comprehend God’s amazing character and appreciate the intensity of His passion and love. God in Christ, laying down His life for us, showing us how He loves us: this is how we perceive the love of God. (1Jn 3:16)

As Father God sees the travail and suffering of Jesus Christ, not merely the intense physical suffering but also His vast, mysterious spiritual agony (Mt 27:46), He is satisfied. (Is 53:11a) In God’s reaction to the Cross, we find that Christ’s payment for our sin is both necessary and sufficient for our salvation. (1Jn 2:2)

Seeing God the Father’s response to the Cross helps us fathom not only the goodness of God (in that He so graciously provides each of us a way to be reconciled with Himself – Jn 3:16), but also the severity of God (in that He requires such a complete and costly sacrifice for sin – Ro 11:22a) Further, we also experience both God’s justice and mercy (in that He fully accepts Christ’s sacrifice on behalf of those who believe, though none of us deserve it. – Is 53:11b) This is a priceless window into the matchless power and wisdom of God. (1Co 1:23-24)

Yet it also appears that Father God will partition the human race based on our response to His Son (Jn 3:36), and to the Cross in particular. (14-15) Our reaction to the Crucifixion will reveal everything about us that’s worth knowing (1Co 1:18); this determines our eternal destiny. (Jn 6:53) Disvaluing the Son (Ps 2:12) and His provision of salvation (He 2:2-3) deeply angers the Godhead. (He 10:29)

What will it be like on Judgment Day, as we stand before Jehovah God of the Universe and behold His nail-pierced hands? How will ignorant, ritualistic, self-centered worship pale before Him, in light of the infinite cost He paid to save us? (1Jn 3:1) How will indifference (Re 3:16), or a spirit of disobedience (Co 3:6) fare before the Cross in the presence of His incredible suffering on our behalf? (Mt 10:38)

If the Cross has not yet overwhelmed us with the love of God, with the majesty of God, if it isn’t moving us into holiness with God, and continually drawing us into gratitude and true worship (Jn 4:24), then we’re not yet rightly valuing the Cross of Christ; we’re not really getting it. (1Co 2:14) The spiritual mind is grounded in the supreme value of the Cross (Ga 2:20); this doesn’t come naturally; we should pursue God for this grace. (Ep 3:14-19)

A proper valuation of the Cross positions it uniquely within our hearts: the Cross on the one side, and all the world on the other. (1Jn 2:15-17) The crucifixion of Christ, when rightly valued and understood, tells us we no longer belong to ourselves; we’ve given up the right to go our own way; everything about us belongs to Christ now. (2Co 5:14-15) The Cross effectively crucifies the world unto us, and us unto the world. (Ga 6:14b)

If our affection and focus is still on the things of this world, if our appetites still command our attention and loyalty, then we’re still enemies of the Cross of Christ … and we aren’t yet His. (Php 3:18-19)

To glory in anything else, to depend on, exult in and/or rejoice in what is outside of and apart from God in Christ, especially in the context of the keeping of our souls (1Pe 4:19), highlighting anything we think we’ve done to contribute to our eternal salvation, devalues Christ our Savior. (Ga 6:14a) Knowing Christ, and Him crucified, is where we must begin. (1Co 2:2)

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