We take a little break from the book of Acts to consider this question today. Many individuals over the centuries have tried to answer this one, and the vast majority were cleverer than I am! I offer a few thoughts here which I hope you find helpful. The argument often goes something like this. If…
— Read on andy-brown.org/2020/06/29/why-does-god-allow-suffering/
Tag: cross
Inseparable
To be honest, I have been mulling this post over for a couple of days. It is not controversial in any way, it is just that I have struggled to articulate what God has shown me. It is not some huge revelation either, simply that God met me where I was at, and through His Word spoke directly into my situation. Has such a thing ever happened to you? I’m sure it has…
A few days ago I wrote a post entitled Ask and Believe – linked here – where I prayed about something and the answer came. In an entirely opposite way, I prayed for something else and unfortunately the exact opposite happened. It did not shake my faith or anything so grand, as I am slowly learning to trust in God’s will for my life. The unanswered prayer led me to a choice I did not want to have to make, and neither could I put it off. I have since been anxious that I made the wrong decision.
In those moments of fear and worry, I was directed to read the following Bible verses. The comfort they brought is really the intangible substance I am struggling to describe. Perhaps it is best to simply let the words speak for themselves.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)
Paul was entirely convinced, that is – fully persuaded – that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus. I was not convinced, based on my initial feelings, until God so gently reminded me of this truth.
The things that Paul lists here are heavy hitters. Death, demons, the powers of hell – none of these things will ever be able to remove us from God’s love.
I have been reading these verses over and over, and letting them minister to me. There is nothing – simply nothing – in all creation that can pull us away from the gravity of God’s love. We are inseparable.
When our prayers do not get the answer we wanted, or when we face times of great difficulty, it can be all too easy to start to doubt God’s love. Yet in Christ and what He did at the cross, there is an immovable, unchanging, eternal testimony of that love.
God’s love does not equal instant access to a 100% prayer record, nor a complete trouble-free existence, but it does mean that no matter what happens, He will be right there with you in the thick of it. He is trustworthy. You can fully rely on Him. That love gives you an assurance that when you one day stand before Him, there will be nothing that separates you from His presence. When we put our trust in Christ, receiving that love and submitting to Him, our sins are washed away and our place with Him is irrevocable.
I needed that assurance this week. Perhaps you will need it today? Put Romans 8 before your eyes, read it aloud and trust that you cannot be separated from His unfailing love.
No created thing can come between you and God’s love when you are fully committed to Christ. There is but One who is not created, and that is God Himself. You are anchored and fixed in that love. Draw on that truth this day and always.
God doesn’t forgive issues (PoW)
Pearls of Wisdom
God does not forgive issues; He forgives sin
Every so often, I put out a shorter post which I call Pearls of Wisdom. The usual format is a short phrase or “pearl” with a few words from me highlighting its wisdom. I mention it here as I’ve not done one in a while, and I know there are a few newer readers. (Thanks for joining me!)
I listened to a sermon this week, and the preacher happened to mention the above phrase. It struck me that when we minimise sin (referring to it as slip, mistake or issue) we also minimise what God has done to resolve it.
We may not like to use the word sin or sinful to describe our behaviour, and so water it down with words like issues. All this does is serve to weaken our resolve against sin in all its forms.
God hates sin, and so should we. Christ’s great work at the cross did not achieve the forgiveness of “issues” but of sin and its wickedness.
The older I get, the more I realise the depth of my sinfulness. Not that I consider myself worse than anyone else, it is rather that the more I get to know Christ, it becomes apparent how far short I fall of His wonderful holiness.
Sin is a dreadful thing, and it carries a heavy cost. We Christians can be thankful that this cost is fully paid for by Christ. Let us not minimise His work by softening sin down to mere mishaps. Sin is sin, and yet God forgives it through the blood of Jesus! Hallelujah!
Rejoice in this truth today, and be blessed!
Three Days
For us, Easter Saturday sits between the devastating day of the cross on Good Friday, and the joy of the resurrection to come on Easter Day. I prefer the name “Resurrection Sunday” but perhaps that’s a discussion for another time!
For the friends of Jesus two thousand years ago, many of them were not ready or waiting for the resurrection at all. This day would have been a day of loss and grief for them. All of their hopes and dreams had been smashed. They had expected Jesus to evict the Romans and set Himself up as King. Quite the opposite had happened! Their Messiah had been lost.
Would they have started to doubt themselves? Would they have been asking one another – was this really the Christ after all? They had seen so many miracles and wonder works, yet they had not expected Him to die like a common criminal.
It may seem somewhat baffling to us that the disciples had not heard the words Jesus had spoken. In advance of these things, He had told them that it would happen. And even beyond His words, the Scriptures foretold it all. But I think we can forgive them for not seeing that in the prophecies of the Old Testament.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Matthew 16:21 (NIVUK)
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[b] and then to the Twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5 (NIVUK)
The verse above from the Gospel of Matthew shows that Jesus taught His disciples that He would die, and three days later rise to new life. Likewise, Paul (in hindsight of course) shares the same thing. Paul says however “according to the Scripture.” So the Old Testament must have predicted this in advance.
But where?
When reading Old Testament prophecies, we must understand that often they do not merely say “The Son of God will come, and His name will be Jesus, and after dying He will come back to life after three days…” That would be convenient for Bible scholars of course, but we must not forget the Old Testament was written by many people over hundreds of years. Despite this, it really is astonishingly coherent, and clearly shows the hand of the divine behind it.
The first place I want to point to is the lie – or rather death – of Jonah the prophet. Sometimes called “The Reluctant Prophet,” because he ran in the total opposite direction to where God was sending him, Jonah is a fascinating character.
You probably know his story from Sunday School, if you ever went, and may well be familiar with his being swallowed by a large fish or whale.
Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:17 (NIVUK)
We see here that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. Reading on to Jonah 2, I think it is clear that Jonah actually died in the sea or sea creature. He talks about the abode of the dead, or “the pit” so it seems likely he did actually die. If not though, the point remains.
Bible prophecy is often pattern and not prediction. that means it establishes a pattern of events which will occur again in the future. Jonah’s three days and three nights of “death” are a pointer towards Christ’s own experience of three days in the grave.
Similarly, Abraham’s sacrificing of Isaac is another picture. I’ve spoken before about this passage from Genesis 22, and personally believe it is a prophecy acted out by Abraham of what God would one day do with His own Son Jesus.
We read in Genesis 22 that from the time when God gave the command for Isaac to be sacrificed, to the time Abraham arrived at Mount Moriah was precisely three days.
Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
Genesis 22:3-4 (NIVUK)
In the Jewish mind, and so in Abraham’s mind, Isaac was essentially dead from the moment God had given the command. It was a three day journey, as we read above, until the events unfolded and Issac was returned to Abraham. So another son lost to “death” for three days.
There is more we could explore, but it would and should take an entire lifetime to examine the Old Testament and unveil the prophecies which spoke of Christ’s death and resurrection centuries in advance.
Many will tell you that you can’t prove God exists, or there is no evidence that the Bible is true, it’s just a personal matter of faith. Not true. A comprehensive study of God’s Word will show you that there is incontrovertible evidence of biblical truth. The more you study it, the more you will realise it is not only true, but the only real truth we can rely upon.
Jesus died for you. Three days later He rose from the dead. Many witnesses saw it. You don’t have the luxury to ignore it or deny it. So what will you do with this truth today?
Seven Sayings of Jesus at the Cross
It is Good Friday and the day we remember Jesus’ crucifixion. I find days like this quite difficult to write on, because so much has already been said. What can I possibly hope to add to the many faithful people who have penned words on this subject over the centuries?
I woke early this morning, and as I lay in bed, I thought about the crucifixion and what I might say about it.My thoughts turned to some of the things that Jesus said while He was nailed to the cross. So we will spend some time today considering His words.
Jesus spoke seven “Last Words” at the cross, as they are sometimes called, and we will go through each in turn.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:34 (WEB)
None of us really know who we are until we are put under immense pressure. When all is well, life is good and we go with the flow. But when hard times fall, the weight of worry can reveal who we really are. It can bring out of us the character that lies beneath. That is also true for Jesus, and we see the absolute perfection of His character in this first saying.
Jesus, in terrible agony and suffering, takes the time to pray for the ones who have done this to Him. He would have had every right to call down legions of angels to destroy those who would even dare to dream of doing such a thing to Him. Yet He prays for them…
I could point out what we could all learn from such an example. I could say that we all should prefer others to ourselves. But today, on this Good Friday, I want to emphasise the unimaginable love of our Saviour. As His very creation turned on Him, He prayed for their forgiveness. Jesus truly deserves our worship!
Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:43 (WEB)
These words of Christ were spoken to one of the criminals crucified with Him. In Matthew’s Gospel, we read that both criminals hurled insults at Jesus (see Matthew 27:44). Yet, one of them now turns to Christ in his dying moments. Facing his death, the criminal realises that there is indeed a God to face on the other side. As he looks to the side and sees the Innocent Christ on the cross, he realises he needs a Saviour.
Again, we see the quality of Christ here. In pain we cannot imagine, He still offers words of comfort and forgiveness to this lowly robber.
It shows us also that while we still have breath in our bodies, it is not too late to turn to Jesus.
Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
John 19:26-27 (WEB)
Once again we read words of Christ not about Him or His suffering, as you might expect from a man nailed to a cross. Instead, we see further selflessness from the Son of God, this time commending His earthly mother to the disciple whom He loved. Knowing the sorrow in His mother’s heart, He took a moment to ensure she was cared for. Jesus entrusted Mary into John’s care, and even now fulfilling the Ten Commandments and honouring His mother.
About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”Psalm 22:1
Matthew 27:46 (WEB)
Up until now, the words of Jesus we have studied have been words for the benefit of others. Now we glimpse the degree of pain He must have felt. Jesus here quotes Psalm 22, and I encourage you to read it today.
Psalm 22 was written a long time before Jesus was born, and even before crucifixion itself was invented. Yet the psalm paints a picture of a horrendous crucifixion. It is a clear prophecy of Christ’s death at the cross.
There are many reasons to be convinced that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God. For me, the many hundreds of prophecies that He fulfilled are more than enough evidence of this truth.
After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
John 19:28 (WEB)
A great thirst is one of the consequences of a crucifixion death. Much has been written on the medical impacts of such a death, and most victims would have died of suffocation. They would hang by their limbs, pushing up to take each breath. Eventually they would weaken and no longer be able to breathe. That is why the Romans would sometimes break the legs, preventing the victim from pushing upwards any longer.
Jesus, it seems, did not die this way and was already dead when they came to break His legs. This, too was fulfilment of a prophecy which said none of His bones would be broken.
You might imagine that such a slow and terrible death would leave the victim incredibly thirsty, and so His words are a clear sign of this.
The words themselves are fulfilment of prophecy too.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30 (WEB)
It is finished. Jesus completed His work. The plan that had been instigated the very moment of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, had reached its goal. Sin’s full payment had been made. Every man and woman who now looked to that cross for salvation would find it.
Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:46 (WEB)
Jesus very last words. Completing His work, He gives up His spirit into His Father’s hands. Those who stood by knew this was no mere man. Even the Centurion confessed that this was indeed the Son of God.
Jesus, at His death, trusted His spirit to His Father. Every day and in every way, you and I should learn to trust the Father to a greater degree. Every time we worry or fear, we are saying that we do not trust Him. If we do not trust God in the everyday, how can we trust Him with our eternal security?
One day every one of us will “give up their spirit” and enter eternity. Only those who put their faith and trust in Jesus’ work at the cross will find peace that side. Let this Good Friday be the one where you give yourself wholly to Christ. Don’t live in doubt anymore, put your trust in Him now and forever.
Jesus died for you. He suffered on your behalf. He paid the full price for your sin. Do not let that go to waste! Accept that gracious gift and be forever free!
Pearl of Wisdom #12
Beating yourself up is a symptom of pride.
In the past, when I made a mistake I would tend to beat myself up about it. The length and severity of my “self-beating” would depend on how serious I perceived the mistake to be.
And let’s call it what it is – not a mistake, but a sin. A falling short of God’s standards.
I’d think to myself, “How could I have done such a thing? I’m supposed to be a Christian! I’m better than that, and I shouldn’t be doing such things! I’m so unworthy. I just can’t do anything right!” And so on and so forth.
Read back what I used to say to myself again. How many times did I use the term “I” or something similar to it?
Answer: a lot.
How could I have done such a thing? Well, because I’m only human, I’m not perfect and I’m still on a journey with Jesus. As long as I live and breath, I’ll never be perfect in and of myself, only in Christ.
It is a symptom of pride. Believing we are above sin or simple mistakes indicates that we have a proud heart.
Often we think that beating ourselves up is a humble thing to do – far from it. In fact, it is suggestive that we don’t think Christ’s punishment was enough, and that we somehow need to add to it.
If you sin this week, don’t spend any time beating yourself up. It’s a waste of time. Just accept Christ’s work and forgiveness and move on.
Andy Brown 