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Easter
Ordeal
by COLIN BOND
 he
ring of the hammer on solid nails echoed across the hillside.
The thunder rumbled in the distance. The crowd jeered and laughed
while their leaders incited them to cry for the death penalty.
He
took it all in his stride. He knew their hearts. He’d met their
attitudes before. He knew what to expect. They mocked and spit
on him. They plucked his beard. They tore away his clothes. They
exposed him to shame. Some looked on him with pity but he knew
their plight was much worse than his. He looked down on them and
said, "Don’t weep for me, weep for yourselves for the day
is coming when you’ll cry for the mountains to fall upon you!"
Then
his closest friends, those with whom he’d shared his most intimate
thoughts, ran away to watch from the safety of distance. Just
a few women braved it to stay and watch in horror. Suddenly a
foul abhorrence swept over him, clung to him, filled him. He was
impregnated with all the wickedness of the whole world. It was
more than his holy body could stand. His Father immediately left
him. In anguish he cried, "My Father, My Father, why have
You forsaken me?" The revelation was strong. He was the sacrificial
lamb, a substitute to take the punishment for every person in
the world. The almighty Judge sitting in eternity was executing
judgment upon him. He submitted. Accepted the punishment. Deliberately
gave up his life. "Father, into your hands I give my spirit."
Breathed his last and made his way into hell, the place prepared
for all sinners. There in the fiery ordeal he dumped the load.
The sin of the world! The almighty Judge was appeased. The Light
of the World had entered hell.
The
thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed across the hill. Thick
darkness fell upon the country. Earthquakes shook the ground.
No longer would the Almighty allow men to look upon the carcass
of his beloved Son. Men cowered and shook with fear. Battle-hardened
soldiers said, "What have we done?" His followers crept
away in sad, lost confusion.
Meanwhile...
In
the stench, in the darkness, in the anguish, in the weeping and
wailing of lost opportunities, the Light of the World lit up hell.
It could not hold him. Demons and devils scurried to hide from
the light, crying in fear, screaming abuse. Satan himself, aware
of the failure of his last great master-plan to kill the Creator,
cowers and cringes before his Vanquisher, he bows to his knees
and confesses, "Jesus is Lord!" The Lord of Glory leaves
the sin of the world where it belongs. He moves to the gates of
hell, breaks them down, takes the keys, with mighty power leaves
hell behind, enters the now obsolete tomb and leaves by the stone
recently rolled away by his angels. The ladies arrive to embalm
his body.
They
are awestruck by shining angels. Sitting comfortably on the stone
they tell them, "He is not here, He is risen, just like He
said! Go and tell His followers."
 o
man ever experienced such a fiery ordeal as Jesus did. He triumphed
over that ordeal to become the King of kings, to sit upon an eternal
throne, to wait for the day when everyone will bow and acknowledge
He is Lord of lords. Now the angels and demons acknowledge Him
Lord. Today He says to all who receive Him He gives power to become
God’s children. He makes them kings and priests. They are his
royal family commissioned to bring everyone to His Father. He
trains them, sometimes through fiery ordeals, to live like kings
and priests.
He
is not here, He is risen! |
Can
you imagine anyone so blind, so foolish, so rebellious as to ignore
or reject such a King - to risk the hellish ordeal He suffered
to deliver them from its eternal anguish? The Bible says, "He
that possesses Jesus has eternal life but he that does not remains
under the wrath of God."
Colin
Bible
verses to help: Luke 16.23, Mark 9.43, Matt.8.16, Matt.25.41,
Revelation 20.11, Rev.1.6, John 1.12
Fiery
trials
A perspective from CHRIS WRIGHT
 sn’t
it great how honest God is? When God talks about life, He really
does tell it like it is. He doesn’t shy away from the truth. Sometimes
His use of words isn’t as we would use, but it’s still true. God
talks about trials. He never says that we won’t have them, but
He does say that He is with us in them and also that there is
a purpose for them.
In
many places the Bible says that God uses them to shape our character.
We can either learn and grow, or we can get bitter or self-pitying.
In his letter to the Romans chapter 8 Paul says that ’all things
work together for good….to conform us to the image of Christ’.
It says in the letter to the Hebrews chapter 5 vs. 8 that Jesus
Himself learned obedience through the things He suffered.
Sadly
we take more notice of problems than pleasures. When things are
OK we tend to forget our desperate need of God. When things get
a bit difficult, we suddenly remember Him. God wants to live among
us; the problem is, we are so self-centred. We are continuously
self-willed, greedy, lustful, grasping. God cannot live with sinful
people and so He has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him.
Jesus has made the sacrifice to redeem us for God. The offer is
there for us, but we MUST take it, we must claim it for ourselves.
hen,
even though we are now reconciled (1 John 1:8,9), we are still
not perfect. When we sin (because we will, being human - we don’t
want to, but we fail, slip up), we can get cleansed and forgiven.
God starts to train us, to shape our character, and to refine
us, and guess how He does it? Yes, through the situations and
difficulties that life throws at us. We can resent these things.
(I have for years, but God is slowly getting through to me that
these trials are my friends. As I want to become more like Jesus,
these things help with the process. But, rather like an operation
in hospital, the process can be painful, or awkward. What would
you rather happen, have your appendix out or die of peritonitis?
I went for the op. When I hear people ask ’Why does God allow
suffering?’ the answer is inevitably it’s our fault not His. Either
He’s doing something that we don’t understand or respond to, or
it’s the result of Man’s greed or jealousy. Let’s listen to Jesus,
respond positively to Him and trials and suffering will lift us
to a better life, greater wisdom and maturity. Don’t let ourselves
be robbed of God’s blessing!
Chris
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