Thursday, October 24, 2013

High Voltage!

Last Sunday Nate McGlinchy gave a sermon full of wonderful points and gave quick reference to the various scriptural consequences of sin…and just touched on how they are in so many ways faced by Jesus on the cross. I pondered this during the week when moments allowed; the cross is always worthy of meditation. The odd thing was, I knew the things he mentioned, individually. Never, though, had I put them together as a group of things that Jesus faced that were reflected in the Scripture as a package of so many various things every sinner would himself face as the price for his sin (payment for which is entirely beyond mere human capability). The grouping of these awesome and crushing problems that Jesus took upon Himself and fully dealt with at the cross seemed like a bunch of power cords all bundled together to make one super-power cord! I thought I’d list some verses re: what the sinner has looming, and what Jesus removes from the repentant believer. I expect there are more than I was able to find!

Adam and Eve, and all the human race, is under the curse of sin until turning to Christ:
Genesis 3:14-19:
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you above all livestock
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
    and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and 
to dust you shall return.”
Jesus became a curse for us on the cross:
Galatians 3:13-14:
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Because we are born sinners, we are born under God’s wrath and destined for eternal punishment:
John 3:36:
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Jesus took God’s punishment for our sin upon Himself at the cross:
Isaiah 53:5-6:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.
Sin brings separation between us and God:
Isaiah 59:2:
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Jesus was separated from God on the cross:
Matthew 27:46:
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Death is the payment for our sins:
Romans 6:23:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins:
Luke 23:46:
46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Philippians 2:8:
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we are reconciled to God:
2 Corinthians 5:17-19:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Mark 15:37-38:
37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
One difference between Jesus going through these things and us going through them was that though He was tempted, He never sinned; He didn't deserve the punishment that He willingly took on for our sake:
Hebrews 4:15:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
We deserve these things. He did not. He gave His life willingly for us, in obedience to God the Father. So though I knew of these things individually, and each one is packed with power, combined it was like taking some huge high-power electrical wires and binding them all together. High voltage! Of course they do nothing, they lay powerless, until you apply them and realize all that He did for you, and turn your life over to Him. Then they employ that power to give life to your spirit and transfer your citizenship right out of recorded time and clear into eternity.