Saved By The Life

Have you ever wondered why Jesus died on a cross for mankind? If you grew up in a Christian home, you undoubtedly learned that Jesus died to pay the price for the sin of mankind and in order to be justified, blood from a perfect sacrifice had to be shed. Jesus Christ, we were told, was that perfect sacrifice (Romans 3:23-24, Romans 6:23, Isaiah 59:1, 2.)  You probably also learned that a person needs a savior to guide them (Proverbs 14:12) for it was a divergence from truth that brought catastrophe to our planet (Gen 3:1-24).

Because of this foundational teaching of the Christian church, precious emphasis has been placed on the death of God yet this teaching was not the primary focus in the early church.  Up until the Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.) the Christian church uplifted the Incarnation and Resurrection as over-arching themes in God’s role in humankind – not the crucifixion.  Up until then, the church taught with reverence and awe of a God who unlike all other deities, would seek to condescend and become a servant to his creatures by assuming a body of flesh and blood like us. No other religious community would dream of a god who would serve their subjects, no way. Instead, the gods were worshiped to be appeased by offering bloody sacrifices.  Who was this Unknown God who would dare to stoop? (Acts 17:23)...

Up to this point, the church taught of a God who would indeed allow his creatures to murder him but instead of emphasizing death, it was about life.  In the resurrection, God showed us first-hand that truth has the last word and that nothing can come between us and his unconditional love (Romans 8:38, 39).  Truth prevails – not falsehood. Though fallen and rebellious, God has measured his people and found them worthy (Rev 21:15-21) of winning them back to trust and love. 

After the Council, the cross became paramount and since then, we see it up front and center as some sort of “badge of honor” to wear as Christians.  It is true, Calvary was nothing less than a miracle yet the record (under even brutal scrutiny) will show that Divinity’s miracle is three-tiered beginning with the Incarnation (Mark 16:11)and ending in the Resurrection.  God became a man, beginning life as an infant, in order to show humankind that we need not fear God. God became vulnerable in order for us to put our fear of him to rest thus, be healed (Isaiah 53:5). This is what sets God apart from all other objects or persons of worship.

Was it such a surprise that when light came upon the face of the earth, the earth knew it not? Could not all of heaven’s atmosphere guess that when God descended upon earthly soil that he would not be revered but spit upon and jeered? God’s beginnings would never see a baby boy wrapped in silken royal folds but rather in the course and common cloth of his humble parents. Those tiny hands would never  grow up to grasp the mane of a  stallion steed fit for a prince but instead, became blistered and calloused from hard honest labor. His feet were not fitted with fine leather sandals but rather" shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."

Jesus really did take on the whole armor of his Father, withstanding the evil hurled at him.  He stood fitted in Truth and Righteousness in order to quench the fiery darts of the wicked - never once mirroring the evil before him (Eph 6)  As non-violent communication personified, he exchanged beauty for ashes and prayer for verbal abuse (Isaiah 61:3) What sort of God does this? The living God. The God of Isaac and Abraham who spoke face-to-face to the man Moses yet was feared and revered as arbitrary and punishing (Exo 20:18-21) by the majority. And he did all this during a lifetime that lasted only about 33 yrs!  He did all this to show us God in flesh – not to appease his Father. 

Hail to the early church for turning those thirsting for life to the One who by His own life showed us how to live – and die.“If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.” – New Living Translation

  - S.N. Belmonte 2010