Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Someone had to die

Luke 9:22

The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

The account found in Luke 9:28-36 is referred to as the Transfiguration, the account is also found in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:2-8. Jesus went up to the mountain to pray as was His habit and, as what was a regular practice, He took some of the disciples with Him, Peter, John and James. These three had been with Him on a number of other significant occasions where miraculous things happened.

On this occasion, however, they observed a different kind of miracle. It wasn’t the miraculous healing, nor was it the astounding feeding of five thousand. This was a conference, which I like to call the conference of the ages, a discussion in the realm of the spirit that would impact the natural and become the focal point for all of history, and all of the future.

While they were on the mountain, Jesus changed in appearance before them, transfigured, and was visibly before them, in the realm of the spirit, in conversation with Moses, the great Law Giver and Elijah, the great prophet.

This is a truly remarkable event that doesn’t get enough attention. The spirit realm manifested visibly in the physical, and we get eye-witness accounts of the event and the details of the discussions between the historical Moses and Elijah with the contemporary Jesus. In this great cosmic conversation, they discussed what they have been a part of down through the ages of human history, and what was about to happen to bring about that which they were each called by God to do.

This conversation put both the ministry and fate of Jesus in proper context. We could wonder about what else they could have found to talk about. They could have talked about the drama of his birth that would, in our day, spawn the global commercial phenomenon called Christmas. They could have talked about all the miracles He was doing and how they impacted and impressed people everywhere He went. They could even have talked about the confusion that He was causing among the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman political and military leaders alike.

However, they didn’t speak about any of those things. The only thing that they spoke about was Jesus’ death that was about to take place in Jerusalem. For them, Jesus’ death was the central event in human history. Because man had fallen, Someone had to die, this Jesus must die.

We can put this in a context. When Jesus made His public entry during the time that John the Baptist was popular, John made a public declaration about Jesus that was our clearest indication that He was destined to die a specific and purposeful death. John declared, as recorded in John 1:29, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

In that context and background, the lamb was slaughtered for the sin of the people, so, by extension, Jesus would die, but not just die, He would be slaughtered for the sin of all people. Although John said lamb, he knew that the blood of animals was not enough to pay the price for our sin so someone had to die. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Hebrews 10:4

All through the scriptures, we encounter this matter of the death of Jesus. The idea of the penalty of sin being a sacrificial death was introduced the moment God confronted man and his sin. Genesis 3:15 tells us that the serpent would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. And when God reacted to man’s attempt to cover their exposed selves with leaves, He made clothes for them from animal skins – the animals had to have their blood shed and die, Genesis 3:21. The other great story that points to this is the Exodus. Passover. The Passover Lamb had to be killed and its blood daubed on the doors for the angel of death to spare the occupants of the dwelling.

This deep theology and doctrine of is stated clearly in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26.

And that is why in this great conversation in the realm of the spirit when Moses and Elijah appeared to speak with the Jesus who was at the time living bodily on the earth the only thing they would talk about was His death. Not their former earthly lives but his impending death. Not the 10 plagues or the parting of the Red Sea but His death. Not the conflict with the prophets of Baal but His coming death. His death that changed everything for life!

Think on these things:

1. Do you ever talk about the death of Jesus?
2. Given the diversity of religious views around us, how does the death of Jesus feature in your engagements with others of different faiths?
3. Do you think that we get the focus right in our Easter observances?

Prayer focus:

Let us pray today that we would truly appreciate the weight of the death of Jesus on the cross.

In His Grace
Pastor Alex