Salvation

Jun

2015

Lessons from Bees

While sitting in my parents’ back garden recently, I was struck by the very pleasant sound of the singing of birds and humming of bees. I would like to have recorded it. Playing it back, you would have been hard pressed to know that it was an urban, not a rural, setting.

This got me thinking about the bees. Being rather partial to honey, I did a bit of research. Did you know the following facts?

A honey bee flaps its wings some twelve thousand times a minute. They are the only insects who produce food for human consumption; maintain a temperature of 33 degrees centigrade in their hives, even if it is minus 33 degrees outside; and communicate with each other by dancing.

There are references to honey in the Bible. The promised land of Canaan is described as ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ (Exodus 3:4). Then, in the time of Samson, we read about a swarm of bees that had made their nest in the carcass of a lion. From this, Samson invented a riddle which went: ‘Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet’ (Judges 14:14).

Designed

But are there any spiritual lessons to be gleaned from bees and honey? Yes there are. If we have the spiritual insight, when we consider how bees are designed and how a hive operates with queen bee and worker bees each knowing their specific role — along with the place of bees in the cycle of nature, in the pollination of plants — surely we have to stand in awe of God the great creator.

Does not an observation of the universe, both on the macro scale and micro scale, give evidence of intelligent design? How do we explain the stars? How do we explain the honey bee without bringing the almighty, all-wise God into the equation?

Divine creation is one of the main themes of the Bible. The message of the Bible can be summarised under headings of creation, man’s fall and redemption. Its opening pages tell us, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ ‘and God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind’ (Genesis 1:1,24).

The created order is the vehicle and theatre of God’s praise. As Mrs C. F. Alexander’s famous hymn puts it:

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

Delectable

In the longest chapter of the Bible, Psalm 119, we read in verse 103, ‘How sweet are thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth’.

The psalmist is surely describing every Christian’s testimony here. Christians have been given a spiritual taste — a love for God’s Word. Just as honey is energising and agreeable to the taste, so is the Bible, the written Word of the living God, to the believer.

It is the written revelation of the one, true God, and his plan of salvation to save a people for himself and his glory. It reveals the way in which condemned sinners can be eternally saved. Its message, in a nutshell, is that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16).

There is, and there can be, no sweeter message than the saving grace and mercy of God to sinners, through Christ. ‘How sweet are thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth’!

Disarmed

Finally, we note that bees possess a painful sting. No one wants a bee sting. One skin remedy for it, we are told, is to remove the barb left by the bee, and then, as the sting is acidic, neutralise it with a mild alkali, such as bicarbonate of soda.

In 1 Corinthians 15:56, Paul writes ‘the sting of death is sin’. Death and the afterlife would not be a problem for us if we did not have to stand before God as condemned sinners. The problem is though that we are sinners and we will have to stand before God one day. ‘It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment’ (Hebrews 9:27).

But in 1 Corinthians 15:55 Paul is able to proclaim, ‘O death, where is thy sting?’ Every Christian is able to echo Paul’s triumphant exclamation here, for Jesus has taken the sting of death away for all who believe in him. Jesus has neutralised death’s horrific effects by dying in our place and taking the punishment for our sins which we deserved.

The gospel affirms, ‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures’ (1 Corinthians 15:3) and assures us, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1).

The wonders of the honey bee then lead us to consider the wonder of God himself. He is a creator of infinite wisdom. He has given us his precious and sweet Word. And in his Son he has provided a way — the only way — in which our sins can be forgiven and fellowship with God restored and assured, for time and eternity.

© Timothy Cross

(Featured image from www.publicdomainpictures.net)

Jun

2015

Unusual events at Calvary

When the apostle Paul came to Corinth, he ‘decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2:2). The cross of Christ lies at the heart of the heart of the Christian faith.

By ‘the cross’ we refer not to its wood, but its work — the redeeming work of Christ for sinners.

There was nothing particularly unusual about crucifixion in the first century. Gruesome and barbaric though it was, it was a common capital punishment when the Romans ruled.

When Christ was crucified, however, some very unusual events occurred which can only be explained supernaturally. These show that Christ’s crucifixion was as much an act of God as of cruel men.

Darkness

Let us consider three such unusual events. First, when Christ died at Calvary, a supernatural darkness covered the land. ‘When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour’ (Mark 15:33). From noon to 3.00pm, one day in Spring, it became midnight at midday! Something unique was happening.

Isaac Watts gave a clue when he wrote:

Well might the sun in darkness hide

And shut its glories in

When Christ the mighty Maker died

For man the creature’s sin.

Darkness in the Bible refers to divine judgement. Hell — the ultimate in divine judgement — is described by Jesus as ‘outer darkness’, where ‘men will weep and gnash their teeth’ (Matthew 8:12). Joel 2:2 describes God’s judgement as ‘a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness’.

The darkness of Calvary is explained by the fact that there Christ was being judged by God, not for his own sins, for he had none; but for the sins of others.

He was judged for our justification. He was punished, so that by believing in him we might be pardoned. He endured the darkness of hell, so we might forever bask in the light of heaven.

Isaiah prophesied, ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole and with his stripes we are healed’ (Isaiah 53:5), and the earliest ever Christian creed states succinctly that, ‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures’ (1 Corinthians 15:3).

Jesus then was forsaken by God in the depths of divine judgement, so that believers might be lifted up to the glories of heaven.

Curtain

When Christ died at Calvary, the Bible tells us that ‘the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom’ (Mark 15:38). This has no natural explanation.

The Jerusalem temple was modelled on the ancient tabernacle and divided into the holy place and holy of holies. The omnipresent God presenced himself in the holy of holies in a special way. Access to it was limited and barred, and a great curtain separated it from the holy place.

Only the high priest could enter the holy of holies, and only once a year with sacrificial blood on the annual Day of Atonement. But when Jesus died at Calvary, the curtain which prohibited entrance was torn in two.

It shows that the death of Christ accomplished something. He did not just die as a martyr or example, but as an atoning sacrifice for sinners. Sinners separated from God may now be reconciled to God, and gain access to God through the death of Christ.

‘We have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh’ (Hebrews 10:19).

Centurion

Thirdly, when Christ died at Calvary, a miracle occurred in the heart of a hardened sinner.

The Roman centurion supervising Christ’s crucifixion had no doubt witnessed many crucifixions in his time. Yet he was forced to confess that there was something very different about this one.

‘When the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God!’ (Mark 15:39). Almighty God had opened his eyes, so that he could see that Jesus was the very Son of God.

The value of Calvary lies in the identity of the one who died there. Only the eternal Son of God could offer himself up as an eternal sacrifice to atone for sinners. His blood alone can cleanse us from our sins and make us fit for heaven.

Yes, in the first century, crucifixion was a common event. But the crucifixion of Christ was unparalleled and unique. It alone saves from hell’s darkness, reconciles sinners to God, and is the sure ground of eternal salvation for all who, by God’s grace, put their faith in the crucified Christ.

For these reasons, every Christian has cause to say with Paul, ‘Far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world’ (Galatians 6:14).

© Timothy Cross

Dr Cross has authored many Christian books and articles, and has an honorary doctorate of sacred literature, from Christian Bible College, Rocky Mount, NC .

Mar

2015

Prison Praise

Did you know that when the good news of Jesus first reached the continent of what we now know as Europe, those who preached it spent a night in jail for their efforts?

The incident is recorded in Acts 16. A slave girl in Philippi, who earned her owners a lot of money by soothsaying, was converted to the Christian faith under the preaching of Paul and Silas.

Her conversion to Christ brought an abrupt end to her involvement in the black arts and a consequent financial loss to her owners. Her aggrieved owners engineered a mock trial for Paul and Silas before the city magistrates.

The magistrates turned a blind eye to the mob violence against Paul and Silas, beat them with rods and delivered them to the jailer, who ‘put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks’ (Acts 16:24).

So picture Paul and Silas. There they were, battered and bruised, and wallowing in a dark, dirty, depressing dungeon. How would you expect them to react to their plight? The way of God with them, when they were doing his will and work, seemed on the surface most painful and perplexing.

Remarkably, however, Luke records they did not utter even a murmur of complaint. Quite the opposite! There, in prison, they offered to God prison praise.

Doxology

A peal of doxology went up and out from those pained bodies, in those terrible conditions, in the prison at Philippi. ‘But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them’ (Acts 16:25).

So what a witness this is to God’s saving and sustaining grace! Paul and Silas obviously had a joy which this world cannot give, and which the adverse circumstances of this life could not take away from them.

A. Ironside comments: ‘Those dear men, afflicted, miserable, unable to sleep, could not move without anguish; yet, as they lay in that dungeon, their hearts went out to God, presenting their case before him and, assured he heard, they lifted up their hearts in glad thanksgiving for his grace’.

Some years after his release from jail in Philippi, Paul wrote a letter to the church located in that city. The letter to the Philippians was written during another spell in jail for the long suffering apostle — this time he found himself in a cell in Rome.

In Philippians 4:4, Paul exhorted the Philippian believers, amongst whom, no doubt, was the Philippian jailer and perhaps some of Paul’s fellow inmates from the jail in Philippi, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice’.

Joy

Joy is a duty enjoined on all Christians. Christians are exhorted to be joyful, and Christians have every reason to rejoice. When Paul wrote this exhortation, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’, his readers would know that he practised what he preached.

They would have known of Paul’s time in the jail in their city, along with his midnight joy and praise there — a joy completely contrary to his circumstances and surroundings.

All this begs the question, ‘What was the secret of Paul’s indestructible joy?’

The answer is on the surface of the exhortation he gave: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’. Our God is ‘the Lord’, the absolute master, ruler and orderer of all things. The assurance of his total control — and absolute sovereignty over all that is — is ultimately our only true comfort, solace and joy. Our God reigns!

On dark days and sunny days; in days of ease and days of stress; on happy days and sad days; in sickness and in health, God is on the throne and cannot be overthrown. He alone is King.

He is sovereign and has the sovereign right to exercise his sovereignty as his wisdom, love and power sees fit. ‘The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all’ (Psalm 103:19).

Strength

Secondly, Paul was able to ‘Rejoice in the Lord’ because he knew himself to be a recipient of God’s saving grace. And the deep conviction that we are actually loved by God is an inner source of joy and strength, which rises above adverse circumstances. ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength’ (Nehemiah 8:10).

Are we really loved by God? Yes! Romans 5:8 tells us that, ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us’. God sent his Son to be our Saviour. He procured salvation on Calvary’s cross.

And God has also sent his Holy Spirit to apply the work of Christ’s redemption personally to our hearts and souls. Romans 8:31 ff. is rhetorical when it asks, ‘If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?’

John Calvin allegedly ended every conversation with the words, ‘If God is for us, who is against us?’ He too then knew the secret of Christian joy.

So are we also able to offer ‘prison praise’? We might not be in a physical jail like Paul and Silas, but we can all feel trapped at times — trapped by our handicaps and limitations, trapped by our ailments and weaknesses, trapped by adverse circumstances, discouraged by little fruit for our labours, trapped by matters we are unable to change.

But, amidst all these, we are enjoined, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’. If God does not immediately release us from our prison, he will most certainly give us grace to sing our prison praise!

He is on the throne. He is all-wise and all-loving. He is working out his eternal will for the blessing of his people and glory of his name. Rejoice that he cannot be hindered or frustrated. Rejoice that he is a God of grace.

After all, he is the God who ‘so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16).

© Timothy Cross; originally published in Evangelical Times, reproduced with the kind permission of www.evangelicaltimes.org

Mar

2015

The Unfinished Work of Christ

Is Christ’s work unfinished?

‘The finished work of Christ’ is one of the dearest doctrines of all to Protestants (see January 2013 ET). When Christ died on the cross, he did everything necessary to save us eternally.

His death has paid the full price for the eternal salvation of his people. ‘When Jesus therefore received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost’ (John 19:30). ‘But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God’ (Hebrews 10:12).

So while it is an essential truth of the gospel that Christ’s work is finished, it is also true to say that the Bible teaches us of ‘the unfinished work of Christ’, that is, what the Lord Jesus is currently doing for his people.

The Bible teaches that Christ’s saving work is both accomplished and ongoing! This will be so until all of God’s people have been saved ‘to sin no more’.

According to the Bible, there are at least four aspects of the continuing work of Christ.

Saving

Christ has not finished drawing sinners to himself. Jesus stated, ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me’ (John 12:32). For his work at Calvary in the past to make any difference to an individual’s life in the present, it has to be applied to the human heart.

Christ continues, by his Holy Spirit, to draw sinners to himself. He convicts them of their sin and lost condition, and gives them saving faith to unite them to himself.

The Shorter Catechism states, ‘Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of God and renewing our will, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel’.

It is as true to define a Christian as one who has been drawn by Christ to himself, as it is to define a Christian as one who is justified by faith, redeemed by the blood or saved by grace.

Interceding

Christ has not finished interceding for sinners. Jesus is praying for his people. This is one aspect of his work as our High Priest. ‘[He] is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us’ (Romans 8:34); ‘wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them’ (Hebrews 7:25).

Jim Packer provides us with an excellent definition of this unfinished work: ‘Christ’s intercession [is] that heavenly activity … whereby he makes sure that all who come to God through him, pleading his name, trusting him for forgiveness, access, grace to help in time of need, and ultimate glory, will not be disappointed … it is certainly and infallibly efficacious [effective]’ (God’s words, J. Packer, p.118).

He died; but lives again

And by the throne he stands

There shows how he was slain

Opening his pierced hands

Our Priest abides and pleads the cause

Of us who have transgressed his laws.

Preserving

Christ has not finished preserving saved sinners. He not only makes us safe, but keeps us safe. If the barriers to our coming to faith in Christ were great, humanly speaking, so are the barriers to our persevering in the faith.

We face a continual battle against the world, flesh and devil, all of which threaten to make shipwreck of us and separate us from the Saviour. However, the Bible teaches that Christ keeps his own.

Jesus is stronger than Satan or sin. Jesus affirms concerning his own sheep, ‘I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’ (John 10:28).

The Bible teaches the eternal security of those who are united to Christ. The Christ who saves us is actually the King of kings. There is no higher authority than his. No natural or supernatural power is a match for him. Paul is persuaded that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:39).

The Shorter Catechism, in explaining how his kingship is an aspect of his being our Redeemer, states, ‘Christ executeth the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies’.

Christ is infinitely worthy of our confidence and trust. He will not let us go. Some of the apostle Paul’s last recorded words were the confident affirmation, ‘And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever’ (2 Timothy 4:18). All of God’s children may make these words their own.

Preparing a home

Christ has not finished preparing a glorious home for his people. He is preparing a home in heaven for all who belong to him.

Remember those well known words which the Saviour uttered in the upper room: ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions [lit. “abiding places”]. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you’ (John 14:2).

Think of it! He is preparing a place for you. A place in glory, in God’s house, for all those he died to save. What must that place be like? The Christian’s glorious, eternal home will surely be greater than any human words can tell.

If you are a Christian then, and your faith is based on Christ’s finished work of redemption at Calvary, you can also rejoice and take great comfort from his ongoing work on your behalf.

Christ has some unfinished business! He is working for you today! He lovingly drew you to himself. He intercedes for you, keeping you in the protection of his work at Calvary. He keeps you from all evil and, in amazing grace, is preparing an exquisite home in heaven for you — a home in the Father’s house itself.

Thou art gone up before us Lord

To make for us a place

That we may be where now thou art

And look upon God’s face

O think of the home over there

By the side of the river of light

Where the saints all immortal and fair

Are robed in their garments of white.

© Timothy Cross; originally published in Evangelical Times, reproduced with the kind permission of www.evangelicaltimes.org

Jan

2015

The Passive Obedience of Christ

‘To obey is better than sacrifice’ (1 Samuel 15:22)

While struggling to learn New Testament Greek, I was taught to distinguish between the ‘active’ and ‘passive’ voices. My tutor’s explanatory illustration has stayed with me — Active voice; think, ‘Jesus healed the leper’. Passive voice, think, ‘The leper was healed by Jesus’.

At the very centre of the Christian faith lies the fact of Christ’s obedience to his Father — he ‘became obedient unto death, even death on a cross’ (Philippians 2:8). Although the two are profoundly intermeshed, theologians sometimes distinguish between the active and passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Both were vital in relation to his procuring the salvation of his people.

The active obedience of Christ

By his active obedience we mean that Christ (uniquely among all the men who ever lived) kept the law of God perfectly. He lived a faultless life in every respect, being absolutely sinless in thought, word and deed.

This was an essential condition of his obtaining salvation for his people, since only a sinless person could atone for the sins of others; the substitutionary sacrifice must be ‘without blemish’ (Exodus 12:5).

The unanimous testimony of Scripture is that Christ was sinless. He alone could make the seemingly audacious claim, ‘I always do what is pleasing to [God]’ (John 8:46). And he alone could lay down the challenge to his enemies, ‘Which of you convicts me of sin?’ and be met by silence (John 8:46).

Christ’s active obedience, therefore, consisted in what he uniquely did. It was written prophetically of him, ‘I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart’ (Psalm 40:8).

Christ’s passive obedience

Christ’s passive obedience, on the other hand, consisted not so much in what he did but in what he suffered and endured. Famously, in the Garden of Gethsemane, contemplating his impending crucifixion, Jesus prayed, ‘Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done’ (Luke 22:42).

Here we see the Lord Jesus submitting to the will of God — a passive obedience that reached its culmination at Calvary.

Berkhof helpfully states that Christ’s ‘passive obedience consisted in his paying the penalty of sin by his sufferings and death, and thus discharging the debt of all his people’. And this definition accords with Scripture. Paul states that Christ ‘was put to death for our trespasses’ (Romans 4:25) while Peter writes ‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree’ (1 Peter 1:24).

The Lord Jesus, then, submitted to the will of God both actively and passively. His active and passive obedience are synergistic — that is, they ‘work together’ in procuring the eternal salvation of God’s elect. ‘For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous’ (Romans 5:19).

Our active obedience

However, we can also consider this matter of active and passive obedience in relation to our own Christian lives. What is the secret of true happiness? It surely results from living a life pleasing to God. But how do we please God? By obeying him both actively and passively.

Our active obedience consists in actively doing what God says ? by keeping his commandments, loving what he loves and shunning what he hates. Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’ (John 15:15).

A Scottish preacher is said to have prayed, ‘Lord, make me as obedient as it is possible for a saved sinner to be’ — and it was a good prayer. God our Maker knows what is best for us. To violating his laws — laws set out clearly in the Holy Scriptures — goes against the grain of our creation. Yet as fallen creatures this is what all people do continually and habitually (Romans 3:9-20).

But this is no longer the case for the true Christian. Redeemed by God’s grace and indwelt by God’s Spirit, the believer is both motivated and empowered to seek, know and actively obey the will of God.

It follows that our active obedience to God cannot be divorced from the Bible, for the Bible is the written revelation of God’s will. Thus Christians both are, and are to be, people of the Book — eager to read, heed and obey the revealed will of God in Scripture. If there is a ‘short cut’ to blessing, this is it.

Our passive obedience

But much less acknowledged is the need for God’s people to exercise passive obedience to the will of God. This is more of an ‘unseen’ matter, for it involves ‘being’ more than ‘doing’ — endurance rather than visible activity.

For example, God’s will for some may involve their being rendered inactive for a time — either short, long or seemingly interminable. In his providence he may see fit to send redundancy, illness or incapacity. His all-wise and eternal purposes may require crushing disappointments or the frustration of our plans. He may not see fit to give us visible fruit for our Christian service.

Such seemingly harsh providences will make us seek his grace that we might patiently exercise our passive obedience to his will. The proper response of faith in such instances is a meek submission to his dealings with us, continuing to trust him whatever betides.

We are to emulate Jeremiah and bear the yoke he has laid upon us — ‘Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, “Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it”’ (Jeremiah 10:19).

The God of the Bible has only one will — a ‘good, acceptable and perfect will’ that is implemented ‘according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will’ (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 1:11).

He is sovereign and in total control of the universe. His will is not arbitrary but ‘according to the counsel’ of an all-wise God. He knows what is best for his children. The Christian response to a seemingly harsh providence is thus one of passive obedience. ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him’ (1 Samuel 3:18).

The perfect will of God

The Christian, therefore, must not only seek God’s help in doing his will, but also seek God’s strength to endure his will. Oh to bear patiently whatever he sends our way! The passive graces of the Christian life ? humility, gentleness, patience, submission, steadfastness, faithfulness to God whatever our circumstance ? are not stressed sufficiently in an age of frenetic activity when everything seems driven by measurable results.

But who can deny that passive obedience is as pleasing in God’s sight as active obedience? Who will deny that the passive graces of the Christian life are just as much the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit as are love and joy? And who can deny that the passive will of God is, at times, far harder for us than the active will of God?

True Christian heroes are not always those in prominent positions in the church. We all aspire to be useful and fruitful. But what if God does not see fit to make us visibly so?

Sometimes the will of God for us is simply to be still before him: ‘Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him’ (Psalm 37:7). ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10). ‘For God alone my soul waits in silence’ (Psalm 62:1).

Waiting upon God

Waiting time is not necessarily wasted time. Under God, both busy and barren times may be sanctified for our blessing and his glory. It is a matter of distinguishing between active and passive obedience to God. Both have a place in his overall plan and sovereign will.

If you are currently struggling with passive obedience to God’s will for your life, you have my sympathy. But many of God’s people have walked this valley before you — including Katharina von Schlegel who in the early 18^th century penned words that have been a comfort and blessing to many since;

Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change he faithful will remain.

Be still my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend,

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

© Timothy Cross; originally published in Evangelical Times, reproduced with the kind permission of www.evangelicaltimes.org

Jan

2015

A Blanket of Snow

On 8 February 2007, the weather forecasters got it absolutely right — here in South Wales we woke up to a blanket of snow — 5 cm of it to be precise. The snow disrupted transport and closed many schools. This delighted many school children, but inconvenienced others.

My friends in Canada find it somewhat amusing that what is by their standards a very small amount of snow throws a large spanner in the national works here in the UK.

The winter snow of 2007 caused a lovely stillness. It dampened down the sound, and turned my mind to the God of the Bible. For in the light of the Bible, the snow reminds us of both the seasons of God and the salvation of God.

The seasons of God

We, of course, have absolutely no control over the weather, the time or the seasons of the year. But behind all these lies the hand of a sovereign God. It is he who is in control of the universe, for he is the God of both creation and providence.

In Genesis 8:22 God says, ‘While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease’. Then in Psalm 147 16-17 we read that ‘[God] gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes. he casts forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold?’ All we can do, then, is submit humbly to God’s providence and accept whatever weather he sends our way.

And does this not apply to ‘the seasons of life’ as well? Does not Almighty God, in his infinite wisdom, balance the seasons of life in the lives of his children, as much as he does the seasons of nature?

He may well make us experience a cold winter of the soul — a winter of sorrow, stress, frustration or spiritual barrenness. ‘For from him and through him and to him are all things’ (Romans 11:36). The trials and traumas of this life can chill our hearts.

What can we do? In the natural realm, we adapt. We employ central heating and warm winter clothes. And in the spiritual realm we can also adapt — God enables his children to adapt and cope.

It is the knowledge and assurance of his love in Christ which warms our hearts. The Psalmist wrote: ‘When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul’ (Psalm 104:19).

The only ultimate consolation we have is that ‘God is’ — he is sovereign in control, infinite in wisdom, and abundant in mercy, love and grace. He is too kind to be cruel and too wise to make mistakes. His promise avails in all seasons and circumstances: ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ (2 Corinthians 12:19). His grace keeps pace with whatever we face!

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labours increase.

To added affliction he addeth his mercy,

To multiplied trials, his multiplied peace.

The salvation of God

Secondly, the snow also reminds us of God’s salvation. In Isaiah 1:18 God gives the following wonderful promise: ‘Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool’.

Isaiah’s designation as ‘The evangelical prophet’ is apt. Here at the beginning of his sixty-six chaptered prophecy we have a promise of salvation. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’. The promise — with New Testament hindsight — has its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ and his atoning death on the cross for sinners. Sin is a defiled state, rendering us unfit for the presence of God. Hence David’s prayer to God in Psalm 51:5 — ‘Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow’.

The good news of the gospel is that God in his mercy has provided a way of cleansing from the sin which both defiles and damns us. His merciful provision was his own Son — who lived a sinless life and died in the place of sinners, bearing the wrath of God on their behalf.

The simple but glorious statement of 1 John 1:7 is that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin’. The blood of Jesus makes sinners fit for heaven. It washes us ‘white as snow’. The inhabitants of glory, says Revelation 7:14, are those who ‘have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’.

The snow of February 2007 soon thawed. It came and went within forty eight hours. But praise God that his truth stands eternally — ‘The Word of the Lord abides for ever’ (1 Peter 1:25).

The God of the Bible is a sovereign God. He is in control of the seasons of nature and the seasons of our soul, and knows how to balance both for his glory. And he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to the death of the cross. Jesus shed his precious blood so that sinners could be washed whiter than snow and saved eternally.

Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?

There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.

Sin stains are lost in its life-giving flow;

There’s wonderful power in the blood

There is power, power, wonder-working power

In the blood of the Lamb.

There is power, power, wonder-working power

In the precious blood of the Lamb!

© Timothy Cross; originally published in Evangelical Times, reproduced with the kind permission of www.evangelicaltimes.org

Jan

2015

The Finished Work of Christ

While walking home late at night recently, I passed a shopkeeper shutting up his store for the night. His body language suggested he was relieved that his day’s work was over.

Daily work is both a blessing and a bane. We are grateful for it as it enables us to pay the bills. Yet work, when it involves people, machines or computers, always has its pressures and stresses.

Well done

This being said, there is a great satisfaction from seeing a job through to the end. We can all relate to the feeling of ‘a job well done’. Think how a novelist must feel when he or she types the final full-stop after thousands and thousands of words.

What of an artist when he or she does the final stroke on a painting and puts down the brush? Then there are thousands of others of us who know the minor joy of clocking off at the end of the day, having played our minor ‘bit part’ for our nation’s economy and welfare. There is a great satisfaction in ‘a job well done’.

At the very heart of the Christian faith there also lies ‘a job well done’. We are referring to the finished work of Christ at Calvary. In John 17:4, the Lord Jesus said to his Father in heaven, ‘I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do’.

And then John goes on to record that, when Christ died at Calvary, ‘he said It is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit’ (John 19:30).

‘It is finished’. These three words are just one word in the original Greek, the word tetelestai. And this word tetelestai actually encapsulates the whole faith of the Bible. We could translate the word as ‘it is completed’, ‘it has been done’ or ‘it stands for ever accomplished’.

The tense which the Holy Spirit employs is the perfect tense. It is a fitting tense to describe a perfect, faultless work. In Greek, this tense refers to an action in the past which has continuing and abiding consequences in the present.

Once done

Christ’s cry of ‘it is finished’, therefore, was not a cry of defeat but a shout of triumph. We could paraphrase it as: ‘it is finished! — I have fully atoned for my people’s sins’; ‘it is finished! — I have paid in full the debt of sin which my people owe’.

‘It is finished! — I have wrought the forgiveness of my people, so that they will remain eternally forgiven’; ‘it is finished! — I have procured the eternal salvation of my people’; ‘it is finished! — my sacrifice, on my peoples’ behalf, has now made all sacrifice eternally redundant’.

So then, at the heart of the Christian gospel lies the finished work of Christ at Calvary. ‘He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself’; ‘when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God’ (Hebrews 9:26; 10:12).

On the cross Christ ‘made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world’ (Book of Common Prayer). By its very nature, perfection can neither be improved upon nor diminished:

Once, only once, and once for all

His precious life he gave

Before the cross in faith we fall

And own him strong to save

‘One offering, single and complete’

With lips and hearts we say

And what he never can repeat

He shows forth day by day.

Completely done

What then is the answer to the crucial question ‘What must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16:30)? The answer is actually, ‘Nothing!’

We do not have to do anything, because Christ has already done everything for us. According to the Bible, salvation is by divine grace, not by human works; it is by divine mercy, not human merit.

Salvation is a result of what Christ has done, and not what we do. It is due to Christ’s perfect, finished work, and not our imperfect, ongoing, unfinished works. Salvation is gained solely by availing ourselves of what Christ did for us at Calvary.

If you are anything like me, you do not like any ‘unfinished business’, those jobs which are still to be done. When it comes to our eternal salvation, however, if our faith is in the crucified and risen Christ, all is well with our souls. The job is fully done.

The Lord Jesus — the very Son of God — has already done it for us. When he died on the cross, he proclaimed, ‘It is finished!’ His perfect work of redemption saves undeserving, ill-deserving and hell deserving sinners. This is the gospel we proclaim.

© Timothy Cross; originally published in Evangelical Times, reproduced with the kind permission of www.evangelicaltimes.org

Salvation

Lessons from Bees

Unusual events at Calvary

Prison Praise

The Unfinished Work of Christ

The Passive Obedience of Christ

A Blanket of Snow

The Finished Work of Christ

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