"To Him be glory forever": Good Friday

Friday, March 25, 2016

Proverbs, Good Friday and Easter

The book of Proverbs, that nearly never-ending collection of wisdom sayings. It's in the Bible, so my brain tells me I should read it. And it would be hard to say that what is written there is not wise, but frankly sometimes the proverbs seem so isolated. They seem like one wise saying after another, with little connection to either the one before or after, and with little connection to God. But every once in a while God shows Himself clearly, and He knocks my socks off. Such was my reading of Proverbs 16:6 yesterday.

"By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil."

This proverb was written long before the coming of Jesus into the world, but it is a word from God that looks forward and finds it's fulfillment in Jesus.

A number of things are present in the work of Chris on the cross, one of them being the atonement for sin, or what the author of Proverbs calls "iniquity." Any sin, and all sin, the things we would all call serious sins and the things we try to minimize as being "not that bad," are grievous offenses against a holy God. Their presence demands payment, or "atonement," by anyone who would desire to come into the presence of God. Not being holy ourselves there is no way that we can wash the stain of sin away. There are no good deeds that we can do to balance the scales in our favor. We are left in a mess that has no possible solution, except for the one the proverb points to. Iniquity is atoned for "by steadfast love and faithfulness."

Try as we might, we cannot live lives of steadfast love and faithfulness. The only one who did that is Jesus. As God the Son, He lived a life of steadfast love and faithfulness towards God the Father, a life that was free from the stain of sin and filled with love for both His Father and for those He came to save. As we think of Good Friday we think of the atonement He made with His life, a life laid down for the sin of all who would have faith in Him. A life laid down for my sin. Laid down for yours.

He lay his life down, and two days later He took it back up again. This is the Easter moment, and this is where the second half of the proverb speaks just as powerfully as the first. I can live in "the fear of the Lord," understanding "fear" to be "great reverence," because I know that Jesus gave His life for me. For my salvation. I can live a life of great reverence for Him, having an understanding of those things that please God and those that don't, leaning on Him as I turn from evil and towards Him.

Proverbs, Good Friday and Easter come together. Iniquity is atoned for by the steadfast love and faithfulness of Jesus, so that I can live for His glory, today and every day.

God spoke to me through this proverb. As we move through Good Friday and to Easter may He also speak to you. Amen.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

“…to take away sins…”

Last night my wife and I were reading 1 John 3:1-10 and verse 5 just jumped off the page at me. It reads,

“You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”

This is Holy Week and Good Friday is the day after tomorrow, with Easter two days later. John, in his way, has captured the essence of Jesus’ earthly life, in one verse.

There are number of reasons that one could list as to why Jesus came to earth but the one that John tells us is the only one that truly matters. Jesus came “to take away sins.” Without this particular reason there is no reason for the Incarnation. No reason for the Crucifixion. No reason for the Resurrection. No reason for the Ascension.

It is the only reason that requires Jesus to be both fully human and fully divine and it is the only reason that has eternal implications for every person who has ever lived.

Because Jesus came, or “appeared,” as John phrases it, the sins of all who call on him in faith are forgiven. Sin creates a barrier between a human and God but in the work of Jesus, the work that finished on the cross and was declared worthy in the empty tomb, that barrier is “taken away,” so that the Christian can live in freedom and peace with God, now and forever.

We are human and will never know perfection in this life. The finished work of Christ covers the sins we have committed in days past, the ones we commit today, and the ones we will commit during each tomorrow. It is a perfect act of forgiveness, completely taking away our sin.

In the perfection of God’s forgiveness we can rest in the assurance of God’s promise to hold us forever. Here is a link to a song by Chris Tomlin that speaks powerfully to the enduring love of God, a love we can only know because Jesus has taken away our sin.

I am thankful that Jesus has taken away my sin. That is an easy thing to say without pondering what it really means. Over the remainder of Holy Week I’m planning to prayerfully consider both what the real cost of that choice to Jesus was in human terms, and also the glory that God receives as a result.

And in the season of Easter may you also know the deep and abiding love of God in the finished work of Christ.