The face that Moses had begged to see
– was forbidden to see – was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that
God had sent to curse the earth’s rebellion now twisted around his own brow..
“On your back with you!” One raises a
mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier’s heart must continue pumping as
he readies the prisoner’s wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier’s life minute
by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his
lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by
the Son “do all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17.) The victim wills that
the soldier live on – he grants the warriors continued existence. The man
swings.
As the man swings, the Son recalls
how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm –
the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless – the nerves
perform exquisitely. “Up you go!” They lift the Cross. God is on display in his
underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to
his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere
during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but
his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless
being – the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father’s eye
turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father
like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses
himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the
shriveling remnant of man hanging on a Cross. 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
his eyes.
“Son of Man! Why you have behaved so?
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 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 exhortation, 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, loathe these
things in you! Disgust everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my
wrath?”
Of course the Son is innocent. He is
blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an
agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if
personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
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?!”
But heaven stop its ears. The Son stares
up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son
endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved.
Jesus, the God – man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice
for sin and was satisfied.
THE RESCUE WAS ACCOMPLISHED.
Written By: Joshua Harris
From his Book: BOY MEETS GIRL (Say Hello to Courtship)
God Bless Us..
cabreraflorina.blogspot.com
ios.florinac@gmail.com
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