Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


4.16.2006  

Indeed

'Tis Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday, however you and yours may prefer to refer to this most blessed of days. When I think of that morning so long ago when Christ's tomb was declared empty, I cannot help but to be taken even further back to other days before it.

This Friday past, an entry was written including passages of Scripture that, from various perspectives, have helped me to meditate on the cross of Christ. Genesis 22 tells of Abraham's obedience to the LORD in the sacrifice of his son, Isaac. David's cry in Psalm 22 was taken up by Christ on the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" A part of the book of Hosea tells us how God's prophet was granted a strange yet painful gift: that of sharing in the long-suffering, redeeming love of God for His errant, sin-stained bride, and that by himself being given the task of loving and redeeming his own unfaithful bride of harlotry. In Luke 22, Peter's hour of testing resulted in nothing short of shattering, unalterable failure. Luke's account also recalls that the Lord looked at Peter; what else could have added greater insult and pain to that moment?

The day of Christ's suffering and death was a day of ruin. It was unashamedly bloody, unabashedly terrible and full of wrath. The precious, priceless Son, the eternal King of Glory, was marred and forsaken by His people, by His friends, by His Father. What is prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament hinges upon that day; if not the cross, what do we have? Yet, it would remain merely bloody, merely terrrible and wrathful, if Christ did not emerge from the confines of His tomb, thereby making the cross wondrous and worthy of boast. The wrath and justice of the cross was carried out so that the grace and peace of the empty tomb would be made reality. Indeed, one cannot separate the two.

I have a tendency to forget that the suffering of Christ results in the victory over Death...my death. But oh, how wrong to forget! Remember with me that the Lamb, who is alive and seated at the right hand of the Father, longs to see His bride in fine linen, bright and clean, and also that it is He who rejoices unashamedly in declaring us holy, glorious, and at peace with God. Yes, He is risen indeed.

posted by Bolo | 6:02 PM
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