Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8 NIV
It has been a long time since I’ve written a post. Lots of reasons for that but I won’t go into that now. Maybe some other time. But on this Good Friday, I feel compelled to share just two of the many reasons why this day is so Good and why I celebrate this Holy Day and Resurrection Sunday.
FIRST, BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE SIN WAS ACCOUNTED AND PAID FOR ON THE CROSS BEFORE WE EVER REPENTED OF THEM.
Some years ago, we were looking to purchase a property and I was researching the neighborhood of one in which we were interested. I went online to check for crime activity and proximity of registered sex offenders. With just a few keystrokes, I was looking at the location of each offender to the nearest block and street.
As I searched over our city, I saw something for which I wasn’t emotionally prepared. Not only did it list the name, age, street and block where they lived, it listed the crimes of these offenders. I was only able to read through a few of them before I literally became sick to my stomach. My heart broke for their innocent victims and I began to pray for each of them.
As I was praying for these victims, I felt the Lord tell me to pray for the offenders. I am ashamed to admit that my initial response to the request was resistance. But almost instantaneously I remembered something I had read several years prior that Steve Estes had written in the book, When God Weeps, which he coauthored with Joni Eareckson Tada.
In their book, Estes writes about how God rescued mankind from sin by Christ’s death and resurrection. Here, I found one of the most heartrending accounts of our Savior’s suffering on the cross. It wasn’t his description of the physical distress Christ suffered that brought me anguish as Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ did. Here it was Estes’ account of the emotional suffering Christ encountered as He took on EVERY sin and thus the Father’s rejection. (Isaiah 53:5-6; 2 Corinthians 5:21) Here is the moving excerpt:
Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
“Son of Man! You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped–murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten, fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk–you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp–buying politicians, practicing extortion, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves–relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, I loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?”
The Father watches as his heart’s treasure, the mirror image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah’s stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction. “Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?”
Maybe you are also guilty of ranking sin and writing off those who have committed worse offenses than you. Or maybe you feel like you have done things that are unforgivable. Scripture reminds us that every one of us has sinned (Romans 3:23) and deserved death (Romans 6:26) but it also reminds us that every single sin has been accounted and paid for on the cross and all we need to do is Ask God to forgive our sin, believe in Jesus (put our trust in Him) and Confess that He is our Lord.
SECOND, BECAUSE JESUS FREED US FROM THE POWER OF DEATH AND FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH!
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15
I think as Believers, we get that Jesus’ death and resurrection freed us from the power of death. We have all sung the Easter hymns proclaiming, “Where, O Death, is now thy sting?” and Where is thy victory, O grave?” 1 Corinthians 15:54,55; Isaiah 25:8.
As recently as an hour ago I played over and over one of my all-time favorite songs, GRAVE ROBBER by Petra.(Released in 1983.) Look it up on YouTube for a real Rock and Roll Easter Treat. (No pun intended. 🙂 NOTE: There have been direct instructions that this song is to be played at my funeral. You all, if I go before you, make sure this happens!
Grave Robber
There’s a step that we all take alone
An appointment we have with the great unknown
Like a vapor this life is just waiting to pass
Like the flowers that fade, like the withering grassBut life seems so long and death so complete
And the grave an impossible portion to cheat
But there’s One who has been through both heaven and hell
And the grave will come up empty handed that day
Jesus will come and steal us awayWhere is the sting, tell me where is the bite
When the grave robber comes like a thief in the night
Where is the victory , where is the prize
When the grave robber comes
And death finally dies.Many still mourn and many still weep
For those that they love who have fallen asleep
But we have this hope though our hearts may still ache
Just one shout from above and they all will awake
And in the reunion of joy we will see
Death will be swallowed in sweet victoryWhere is the sting, tell me where is the bite
When the grave robber comes like a thief in the night
Where is the victory , where is the prize
When the grave robber comes
And death finally dies.
But this Easter, God has been speaking to me that while I grasp that He has broken the power of death, I still walk in bondage to the fear of death. Recently, our Northwest Ministry Network Leader, Don Ross put it this way. “As Christians, we are not afraid of being dead, we are afraid of getting dead.” Because my mind and my sense of humor is a little goofy, this reminded me of Princess Bride and out came this meme. 🙂
Pretty much all fear is rooted in the fear of death. I say this from my own personal experiences but there are many theologians, therapists and theorists who concur.
I have struggled with “fear of getting dead” and I come from a long line of people who struggled with “fear of getting dead”. My mother had a fear of water her whole life and it wasn’t until she was 71 years old that my husband had the honor of baptizing her in water. Her entire life could be a case study on fear. A near fatal car accident and other traumatic events, I’m sure played a part in that.
She was the type of mother and grandmother that was always calling you up to tell you about food and baby equipment recalls, kidnappings, escaped convicts, and murderers on the loose. She once even conducted a one-on-two seminar with my two oldest daughters on how to get away from a mugger and what to do if they were kidnapped and put in a trunk of a car. I must say, I also saw her on many occasions get victory over that fear, trust God and do some amazing things.
It’s really easy to talk about my mother’s struggles with fear but just yesterday, I sent the below post to my daughters. I am my mother’s daughter.
We all laughed as this would have been something my mother would have sent if she had lived in the days of social media. What was more humorous or sad, depending on how you look at it, Someone, whose name I won’t mention, already bought the item below for each one of our cars…
“Fear of getting dead” gets passed down if we don’t break the chain and walk in the freedom Jesus provided. I have caught myself being fearful about my grandson’s safety when he does things like the picture below. He was standing on the couch behind my husband next thing we know, my daughter takes the picture and here he is.
More times than I like to admit, I find myself telling him, “Be careful.” Speaking my “fear of him getting dead” over him.
My biggest fear lately has been over my youngest daughter’s recent health challenges. She had an MRI done where they found a tumor on her pituitary but this Easter, God is reminding me that He has already paid for the deliverance “of those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death”.
Dear Lord,
Thank you that by your death and resurrection, you already paid the price for EVERY past, present and future sin, you broke the power of death and you freed us from the slavery of fear of death. May you draw those who do not know you to yourself by the power of the Holy Spirit. May they acknowledge their sin, repent and be reconciled to you. Please help those of us who struggle with fear to walk in freedom from it’s bondage from which you already released us. LH
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