point there was, Jesus is identified up-front in his ministry as 'the lamb of God', and that reeks of sacrifice-Messiah, no less; hope of Israel, no less; salvation for humanity .. no less
`|`
in addition to pointing out sin, and pointing to the sinner, God, under the Old Covenant (law) is pointing towards someone
the law under which that sacrificial system was introduced was valid for a time
the point of that law was to point people in a direction - towards Christ
so the system that God set up for his elect nation Israel, thousands of years before the Christ advent, was headed somewhere; it was a guardian to lead us to Christ (Paul at Galatians 3:24)
instructive
illustrative
pointed
Hebrews points out that Moses took the blood of an heifer and sprikled it on the tabernacle and it's furnishings to typically sanctify it
and then he sprinkled that blood on the people .. .
imagine being there ..
what would be in our minds as the blood wet our faces?
but when the time was ripe, God sent the son, made of a woman, made under that very law (Gal. 4:4)
to free pepole from law, which actually gives sin life (Paul, Rom 7:9-11)
and the rest is HISstory in its fullness
law becomes obsolete
it was merely a shadow (Hebrews 10:1)
now the real thing is here!
Messiah has come
`|`
i have come to the place where i see the book of Hebrews as the entirety of God's revelation wrapped up in one discourse
that document alone, were it extracted from the rest of the scriptures, sings loudly of the Messiah and his spiritwork, esteeming him to be the very outshining of the glory of God perfectly represented in human form;
but more pointedly for this purpose, it speaks volumes to the sacrificial sytem and of Jesus' own sacrifice, placing it brilliantly in its cosmic context .. and it does this almost as a theme
in summary, it extols his high priestly work on the behalf of humanity as a whole, and his sacrifice as the one-time, all-sufficient act that cleanses the conscience, which no earthly high priest's sacrifice was able to do ..
it completely puts to rest (in my view) any and all arguments against the prior intention of God that the son was to suffer and die for humanity
and does that summarily to boot ..
i could stop right there
God's testimony exists already, beautifully so, in Hebrews, and far be it from me to try to add to that
however, i'm going through this for a reason
i want to reorient myself, and also any others who may read this and may be under the influence of today's theothink which looks to write-off the cross solely as a murder at the hands of humans ..
i want to refresh my spirit in the scriptural position that the sacrifice of Messiah was in the mind of God long before, that it was the very best God had to offer, and that God willingly offered Godself on behalf of the humanity created in the imago dei in love
i want people to know that God loves them as much as that .. to the farthest extent of Godlove
that God is that invested in humanity that the Word of God would forsake the Godglory, become a human like us, and die a cruel death at the hands of Israel and Rome - religion and imperialism - to redeem God's humanity
the imago dei people..
and further, i want people to know that the scripture points directly to Jesus on the cross
`|`
in addition to the Old Covenant scriptures pointing to Messiah's crossevent, Jesus himself repeatedly forewarns his disciples about what would happen (which they refused to listen-to, by the way) ..
and even though he says he will be killed at the hands of men, he persists in heading directly towards the Jerusalem event ..
if this was not in God's mind beforehand, and Jesus knew what awaited him in Jerusalem, why on Earth would he walk right into it?
in fact, he summarily and sternly upbraids Peter when he tries to stop Jesus, telling him not to go to Jerusalem; and he not only reprimanded him but said the satan was using him to say that ..
"get behind me, Satan!"
the cross was not foisted on Jesus by Rome
he walked directly towards it
even as he struggled passionately with the weight of what was coming
.. don't you get that when you read the scriptures?
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in the writings of the New Covenant we see a man struggling desperately to somehow convince God to find some other way to do this
we see Jesus in the garden stretched to his limits as a man, begging God, if it were possible, not to place this burden on him .. "if there's any other way .. even so, your will be done, Father." ..
and most telling, i hear that crosscry, loud and forlorn, agonizing and woefilled, reverberating through the darkness that enveloped that man , that space ..
seems to me the entire cosmos had a blackout as time itself paused in wonder that the creator dies .. .
`|`
as someone wisely said "No good intentions, no nobility, no sin avoidance, no piety .. Nothing could have stopped this Pascal mystery of God and humanity. No amount of super-good discipleship or wisdom .. would make a lick of difference to God's determination to draw all people to God's self through Jesus lifted high and on a cross.". (Nadia Bolz Weber) ..
true that ..
nothing could have stopped it
all history was pointing to this day, this person in particular, this event specifically, this lamb, this sacrifice, this powerful horrible saving reconciling determined-passive-act which instigated the defeat of the powers of darkness, even while they might have imagined they were now victorious ..
the son of God was dead! that same son of God that refused to acquiesce to the satan in the wilderness some 3 years or so ago .. "he is dead i tell you!"
.. .
as that most lonesome wail echoed off the planets, resounding through the halls of the galaxies Jesus himself had created in a previous life .. . . .
"My God! .. WHY??!! .. . Why have you forsaken me now? .. ."
the Creator himself, who had forsaken his glorious divinity to embrace humanity, now takes-on sin, all sin, in all its stinking, abusive, ruinous, fowl, selfish, wicked, destructive anti-God darkness
and he takes it on personally, intimately, in himself, as if he was the sinner - the murderer, the liar, the thief, the rapist, the abuser ..
and is himself forsaken
.. .. .
God walks away, haltingly, shoulders stooped, tear-stained cheeks, an awful cry of hurt in God's heaving and heavy heart at the almost unthinkable tragedy of God's own son made sin ..
for us
and Creator dies
death
darkness
Hell ..
.. while demondances and exultant screams pierce the dark abode of the dark powers, the satan glorying in his victory, imagining his own glorious future
.. while all the cosmos cries, creation itself slumped in the dreadful disappointment
in dread of the now-expected explosion of the satan's authority, and sin's sway ..
all is dark, all is foreboding, hopeless ..
all hope is lost .. ! .. .
we are lost
`|`
but the grave cannoth hold him
and Hell cannot hold him
for 3 days later that same Jesus, only different, emerges from the grave into morning sunlight
and all creation dances in its own exultation, makes its own joyful sounds
Creator is back!
he is not dead!
he is risen!
`|`
that's the context
that's our context
that is the story of the indescribable unutterable love of the Lord of Glory coming here to deal with the human cancer, personallyand giving his own life for humanity, to bring reconciliation to this world and to the cosmos-at-large
to release humanity from their bondage to the fear of death by sin ..
when we see this
when this dips down past our head and finds repose in our heart .. doesn't it astound us?
doesn't it make us feel sooooo very small
and at the same instant soooooo very loved by the God that would go this far?
it should, my friend
it should
`|` shalom
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