Christianity has been called a “slaughterhouse religion” with its emphasis on the
painful, violent and bloody death of a man on what has become the symbol of that relationship. This weekend is Easter Weekend with tomorrow being Good Friday. A man died on a bizarre form of execution almost 2000 years and we call that good? Why is that good?
Until Jesus walked among us, we were without hope, living our lives in a fruitless day-to-day grind that eventually ended in a solemn ceremony where we were put back into the ground, a few words said for the comfort of those left behind and that was all there was to it. Or was that it?
Jesus didn’t come to earth to make us feel better about ourselves or to give us words of encouragement without substance. If anything, He came to point out that our lives were completely futile without the knowledge, and complete reliance on a God who desperately loved us and was determined that there be a way for us to spend eternity with Him. But in order to give us the Good News, He had to give us the Bad New first: We were completely undone and without hope in the world. Our lot was desperate and there was no hope. The Bad news is that if things did not change, we would spend a short time on this earth struggling to make ends meet only to spend a much longer time separated from the One who created us in a place that we did not belong, a place of misery and torment.
The Bad News could be summed up in just a few words: The Law. The Law was what we call the Old Testament. In it were all the rules and regulations that we were supposed to follow to keep our relationship with God alive and well. The problem with the Law is that you had to follow everything in the Law completely or you were guilty of breaking all the rules. “Well, rules were made to be broken”. Not these rules. These rules had severe penalties for running afoul of them. James 2:10 says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” This would be like you being caught spitting on the sidewalk and then being convicted in a court of law of every crime the judge knew of, such as armed bank robbery, murder, sedition, infanticide, kidnapping, and wearing white after Labor Day. The Law was written to show us that we could not keep all the rules. There were just too many and they were too obscure for us to keep up with them all.
The Law was put in place to teach us about how God wanted us to live. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:24-25, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” Oh, and just obeying the Law wasn’t enough. You had to obey the spirit of the Law. It’s intent. You could keep the entire law perfectly and still miss the point entirely if you didn’t have the right attitude while keeping it. A little bit of pride that you’re doing your part and you’ve blown it. Oops.
Jesus was the only one who could keep the law in its entirety and do it right because He was the One who wrote the Law. And He knew it was too much. Then why did He write it that way? He wrote it that way in order for us to see that we needed God’s help. We, as a people, are a board mule. (In case you don’t know, a board mule is a mule that you have to hit across the head with a 2 x 4 to get its attention.) We had a problem and Jesus was (and still is) the answer.
Here’s where the cross comes in. The Old Testament tradition of sacrificing a lamb at Passover was a precursor to Our Good Friday Celebration. In the Old Testament, they celebrated Passover to commemorate the children of Israel just before they left Egypt, when they sacrificed a spotless lamb, put its blood on the sides and the tops of the doorposts, and ate the meat roasted over an open fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. God then “passed over their houses when the firstborn male of ever household was killed” in order to get Pharaoh to let the children go. Jesus was to be that sacrificial Lamb. Revelation 13:8 calls Him “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
This was no Freudian slip. When Jesus was died on the cross, Matthew 27:51 says that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This meant that God, through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, finally opened the way for man to enter the Holy of Holies (God’s presence) from then on without the sacrifice of another lamb or bull and without the intermediary of another human being, Jesus being our only intercessor. Hebrews puts it this way: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) It also says in Chapter 1:3, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” The work was done and salvation for all men was now available. That’s what Jesus meant when He said “It is finished!” while on the cross.
Christianity without the cross is pointless. It is the symbol of the relationship God wants to have with all mankind (every man, woman, boy and girl), but it is also the key to that door that was locked for so very long. Easter is not just a time to dust off the bible and go to church, then afterwards gather with friends and family and have a big dinner and enjoy the nice weather, although to most people, that’s all it means. It is a time to celebrate a new relationship that God Himself made possible through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. The bones of Mohammed are still in the grave. The bones of Abraham are still in the grave. The bones of Confucius are still in the grave. The bodies of the founders of every religion are still in their graves and all that is left is their bones. But Jesus alone left behind and empty grave because he rose from the dead and is alive today. Let this Easter be a beginning of a new relationship between you and God.
painful, violent and bloody death of a man on what has become the symbol of that relationship. This weekend is Easter Weekend with tomorrow being Good Friday. A man died on a bizarre form of execution almost 2000 years and we call that good? Why is that good?Until Jesus walked among us, we were without hope, living our lives in a fruitless day-to-day grind that eventually ended in a solemn ceremony where we were put back into the ground, a few words said for the comfort of those left behind and that was all there was to it. Or was that it?
Jesus didn’t come to earth to make us feel better about ourselves or to give us words of encouragement without substance. If anything, He came to point out that our lives were completely futile without the knowledge, and complete reliance on a God who desperately loved us and was determined that there be a way for us to spend eternity with Him. But in order to give us the Good News, He had to give us the Bad New first: We were completely undone and without hope in the world. Our lot was desperate and there was no hope. The Bad news is that if things did not change, we would spend a short time on this earth struggling to make ends meet only to spend a much longer time separated from the One who created us in a place that we did not belong, a place of misery and torment.
The Bad News could be summed up in just a few words: The Law. The Law was what we call the Old Testament. In it were all the rules and regulations that we were supposed to follow to keep our relationship with God alive and well. The problem with the Law is that you had to follow everything in the Law completely or you were guilty of breaking all the rules. “Well, rules were made to be broken”. Not these rules. These rules had severe penalties for running afoul of them. James 2:10 says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” This would be like you being caught spitting on the sidewalk and then being convicted in a court of law of every crime the judge knew of, such as armed bank robbery, murder, sedition, infanticide, kidnapping, and wearing white after Labor Day. The Law was written to show us that we could not keep all the rules. There were just too many and they were too obscure for us to keep up with them all.The Law was put in place to teach us about how God wanted us to live. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:24-25, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” Oh, and just obeying the Law wasn’t enough. You had to obey the spirit of the Law. It’s intent. You could keep the entire law perfectly and still miss the point entirely if you didn’t have the right attitude while keeping it. A little bit of pride that you’re doing your part and you’ve blown it. Oops.
Jesus was the only one who could keep the law in its entirety and do it right because He was the One who wrote the Law. And He knew it was too much. Then why did He write it that way? He wrote it that way in order for us to see that we needed God’s help. We, as a people, are a board mule. (In case you don’t know, a board mule is a mule that you have to hit across the head with a 2 x 4 to get its attention.) We had a problem and Jesus was (and still is) the answer.
Here’s where the cross comes in. The Old Testament tradition of sacrificing a lamb at Passover was a precursor to Our Good Friday Celebration. In the Old Testament, they celebrated Passover to commemorate the children of Israel just before they left Egypt, when they sacrificed a spotless lamb, put its blood on the sides and the tops of the doorposts, and ate the meat roasted over an open fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. God then “passed over their houses when the firstborn male of ever household was killed” in order to get Pharaoh to let the children go. Jesus was to be that sacrificial Lamb. Revelation 13:8 calls Him “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
This was no Freudian slip. When Jesus was died on the cross, Matthew 27:51 says that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This meant that God, through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, finally opened the way for man to enter the Holy of Holies (God’s presence) from then on without the sacrifice of another lamb or bull and without the intermediary of another human being, Jesus being our only intercessor. Hebrews puts it this way: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) It also says in Chapter 1:3, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” The work was done and salvation for all men was now available. That’s what Jesus meant when He said “It is finished!” while on the cross.
Christianity without the cross is pointless. It is the symbol of the relationship God wants to have with all mankind (every man, woman, boy and girl), but it is also the key to that door that was locked for so very long. Easter is not just a time to dust off the bible and go to church, then afterwards gather with friends and family and have a big dinner and enjoy the nice weather, although to most people, that’s all it means. It is a time to celebrate a new relationship that God Himself made possible through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. The bones of Mohammed are still in the grave. The bones of Abraham are still in the grave. The bones of Confucius are still in the grave. The bodies of the founders of every religion are still in their graves and all that is left is their bones. But Jesus alone left behind and empty grave because he rose from the dead and is alive today. Let this Easter be a beginning of a new relationship between you and God.
To read more by Thomas A. McLoughlin, go to http://insearchofintelligentlife.com or http:docsboyblog.blogspot.com
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