These are the verses referred to during the sermon on baptism yesterday.
On Sunday we sang the great hymn, “Crown Him with Many Crowns” by Matthew Bridges. Here is one of the verses:
Jesus died and now lives “that death may die.” This week I’ve meditated on that biblical theme, looking at passages throughout the history of redemption that discuss the coming of death into the world, God's plan to overcome death, Jesus' victory over death, and the final destruction of death. Here is a selection of key passages on that theme. Read them - and rejoice that death will die.Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed over the grave, And rose victorious in the strife For those He came to save. His glories now we sing, Who died, and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives that death may die.
Jesus is condemned to death. Jesus is condemned to death! Is this just?
Surely on a human level, this is a travesty of justice. Jesus' trial is a sham, violating virtually every rule regarding fair trials under both Jewish and Roman law. There was no due process exercised in this trial; Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing.
But consider Jesus' condemnation from God's point of view. Was Jesus' death justified?
Listen to these words of Scripture:
· The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)
· He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. (1 Peter 2:24)
· He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. (Hebrews 9: 26-28)
These Scriptures tell us that from God's point of view, Jesus' death was justified. Indeed, Jesus' death was necessary if anyone is to be saved - for without His death, God would have to punish you and me for our sins.When we sin, how do we put matters right? This question keeps coming to the forefront even in politics and popular culture.
The former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, faced that question this week after his personal sins became public knowledge. On Monday, the New York Times quoted Spitzer as saying that he had spent the last several days with his family, “atoning for his personal failings.”
Consider also Atonement, Ian McEwan’s 2001 quintessential postmodern novel (which, in its film version, was nominated for this year’s Academy Award for best picture). The story opens with the main character, Briony, as a 13-year-old. With her mind wrapped up in the fantasies of her fictional stories, she destroys a young man’s life by falsely accusing him of a crime. The novel closes with Briony at 77, Alzheimer's on the horizon, writing alternative realities as she still tries – unsuccessfully – to atone for that sin. She writes,
A review of The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Have you ever heard statements like these?
- “How could there be just one true faith? It’s arrogant to say your religion is superior. . . . Surely all religions are equally good and valid for . . . their particular followers.”
- “I won’t believe in a God who allows suffering.”
- “The Christians I know don’t seem to have the freedom to think for themselves. I believe each individual must determine truth for him- or herself.”
- “There are so many people who are not religious at all who are more kind and even more moral than many of the Christians I know.”
- “I have . . . a problem with the doctrine of hell. The only god that is believable to me is a God of love.”
- “My scientific training makes it difficult if not impossible to accept the teachings of Christianity.”
- “Much of the Bible’s teaching is historically inaccurate.” “My biggest problem with the Bible is that it is culturally obsolete. Much of the Bible’s teaching (for example, about women) is socially regressive.”
In last Sunday’s sermon text, Malachi 1:1-5, God proves His love for the returned Israelite exiles in a strange way. “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother? . . . Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” There was nothing to choose between Esau and Jacob. Both were horrible sons; both were disobedient to God; the descendants of both were stiff-necked and rebellious. Both deserve judgment. Both deserve condemnation. Both peoples deserve hell. But God chooses to destroy Esau’s descendants and to love Jacob/Israel and his descendants. This is His sovereign choice. Only because He loves them are they not cut off.
We too need to see ourselves as deserving of hell, as undeserving of His mercy, and thus to bow before Him, asking for that mercy only on the basis of Jesus’ death on the cross. That is the clear message of the passage.
But a question remains: How can God say He hates Esau when God is said to love the world (John 3:16)? Doesn’t God love everyone? Doesn’t God desire all to be saved?