(Note: If you haven't yet, read my Good Friday post first-this will mean more if you do)
Nietzche was right: God Him-very-self bled to death beneath our knives. We are murderers of murderers! God was dead. And we had all killed Him.
He descended into Hell.
Hell. We use the word so lightly in our culture! Even colloquially, we say "this is hell" (or "this is heaven")-but what do we mean? Nothing!
Hell exists. It is a very real place. Let me describe it for you...though how can mere language describe such absolutes?
Torment
Torture
Distress
Horror
Despair
Agonies upon agonies of missed chances
Spoiled hopes
Darkened dreams
Vanity of vanities
Darkness
Punishment
Utter loneliness and true aloneness
For eternity!
In a simple sentence, hell will be knowing what we've lost. God: everything.
Everything "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy"
Everything that makes relationships possible
Everything that makes everything worth anything
In a simple sentence, hell will be knowing that we have lost everything. Except-
Torment
Torture
Distress
Horror
Despair
Agonies upon agonies of missed chances
Spoiled hopes
Darkened dreams
Vanity of vanities
Darkness
Punishment
Utter loneliness and true aloneness
For eternity!
Jesus endured that
For us!
And then...
Oh! And then...
HE AROSE!!!!
Just as He said!
Where sin had given haughtiness, He gave humility
Where sin had given lies, He gave truth
Murder became love
Wickedness became righteousness
Love of evil became love of God
Discord and hostility, peace
Sensuality, true love
Impurity and lust, purity
Idolatry, true worship
Dishonor of parents and authorities, honor
Adultery, fidelity
Forgetting the Sabbath, sweetly remembering (and enjoying!)
Anger, love
Bitterness, forgiveness
Malice, love
Greed, generosity
Sexual immorality, true love
Obscenity, honor
godlessness, Godfulness
Glorifying self, glorifying God
Forgetting thankfulness, thankfulness
Every sin, its opposite virtue
And even better...
He takes our hurt and pain and sickness and disease - physical and spiritual - and heals us
He takes our broken homes, marriages and friendships and mends them
He takes our decay and restores
He takes Hell and gives us Heaven
He takes our punishment and gives us reward
He takes our despair and gives us hope
He takes our hunger and makes us abound
He takes our loss and makes us found
He takes our barrenness and makes us fruitful
He takes our brokenness and uses it
He takes our sorrow and grief and comforts it
He takes our longing and He fills it
He takes our hopelessness and gives us hope
He takes our death and gives us life
We cannot praise Him enough!
Nietzche was right! -but only mostly. God was dead. And we had all killed Him.
But He has not remained dead!
1 comment:
Hallelujah! He is risen!
Your post made me think of a couple things straight off:
a) Pastor Connelley's(spelling?) message; especially the part where he states that our belief is for nothing if Christ has not risen. If he was dead and stayed so, none of the benefits you mentioned would be ours. "For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins." (1 Corinthians 16-17)
So it should be to God's infinite praise that Christ was raised, for in Him we are raised as well, and shall experience the full joys of heaven as God's sons and daughters. "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man." (1 Corinthians 15:20-21) So praise be to God, Christ is indeed risen, and we are raised with Him!
b) What we are to be studying in Ephesians this week. Part of Ephesians (ch. 5, verse 25-26) mentions "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy..." In this, I extrapolate: To truly love means to give yourself up as a sacrifice. This applies to relationships, most definitely, but before I get off-track, let me say what I was planning to say. Christ did not love us as righteous, good, or in the least worthy of His awesome sacrifice. Rather, he loved us while we were in the depths of depravity, a lot of which you mentioned in your previous post. And because of His sacrifice and resurrection, He has made the church holy, sending the Holy Spirit to guide and consecrate us until He returns to claim His bride, the church. Now I am pretty sure you know this, and have heard it a thousand times, but consider this: God planned this an eternity past, selected us before time began, and even though He knew Adam would fall, he planned a greater course, to come and save us and be glorified throughout eternity. He suffered and died at the hands of those He loved and came to save, he lived and died and was resurrected on the third day, just as prophesied for hundreds of years before. And all of this was at the fullness of time, and accomplished perfectly in His resurrection. Every time I think of the perfect way God did this, it amazes me--there is no room for "oops" in God's work--praise Him for that! Even through eternity, which is incomprehensible to my finite mind, His plan is secure and unchanging as He Himself(which is one of the reasons for my view on your discussion topic; there is absolute truth due to the nature of Christianity and God)!
c)Because of these truths, there are a couple applications that I think Christians should show:
1) A joy and trust. Because neither height, depth, angels, demons, etc. can separate us from the love of Christ which he showed to us, we should have joy and praise that He loves us so, and a trust in Him to provide for us daily--for He has given up His Son to save us, how much more will He graciously give us all things?
2) An awe and praise. To plan our saving and resurrection with Christ an eternity past without mistake, rewrite or better plan, and to save those who deserved the depths of hell and place them in heaven as sons and daughters, God should be praised by us forever and with awe and reverence.
3) Following in His steps. Just as He loved us and sacrificed Himself for us, we should present ourselves as living sacrifices, willing to lay down our lives and desires for the sake of obeying Christ. We should also show to others this love which God gave so freely to us.
I have said this many times, but let me never tire of saying it: Praise the Lord! :)
--Josiah C.
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