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The Crucifixion: The Most Holy Place of Gospel History

April 7, 2023 by Christina

Today is Good Friday.  On this day we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus, the Son of God.  The temptation to rush through the crucifixion is always there whenever I read the gospels.  The gory details are more than I can bear.  But we cannot move onto Easter Sunday — that is, we cannot celebrate the Resurrection until we know the crucifixion.

Below are a few paragraphs I’ve extracted from F.W. Krummacher’s sermon, “The Crucifixion.”  I’ve read it five times since Tuesday. Each time I am overwhelmed.  Enter into what Krummacher calls, “the Most Holy Place of Gospel History” where a dreadfully violent murder had to occur so that poor penitent souls, like you and me, could know peace with God.

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“Alas! Alas! what is it that now takes place on that bloody hill? Four barbarous men, inured to the most dreadful of all employments, approach the Holy One of Israel, and offer Him, first of all, a stupefying potion composed of wine and myrrh, as usual at executions. The Lord disdains the draught because He desires to submit to the will of His heavenly Father with full consciousness and to drink the last drop of the accursed cup. The executioners take the Lamb of God between them, and begin their horrid occupation by tearing, with rude hands, the clothes from off His body. There He stands, whose garment once was the light, and the stars of Heaven the fringe of His robe, covered only with the crimson of His blood, and divested of all that adorned Him, not only before men, but also in His character as Surety, before God.

After having unclothed the Lord, and left Him, by divine direction, only His crown of thorns, they lay Him down on the wood on which He is to bleed. Thus, without being aware of it, they bring about the moment predicted in Psalm 22, where we hear the Messiah saying: “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me about; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.” What a dying bed for the King of kings! My friends, as often as we repose on the downy cushions of divine peace, or blissfully assemble in social circles, singing hymns of hope, let us not forget that the cause of the happiness we enjoy is solely to be found in the fact that the Lord of glory once extended Himself on the fatal tree for us.

See His holy arms forcibly stretched out upon the cross—His feet laid upon each other. Thus Isaac once lay on the wood on Mount Moriah. But the voice that then called out of Heaven, saying: “Lay not your hand upon the lad!” is silent on Calvary. The executioners seize the hammer and nails. But who can bear to look upon what further occurs? The horrible nails from the forge of Hell, yet foreseen in the sanctuary of eternity, are placed on the hands and feet of the righteous Jesus, and the heavy strokes of the hammer fall. Do you hear the sound? They thunder on your heart, testifying in horrible language of your sin, and at the same time of the wrath of Almighty God.

Awake you that are asleep in sin, and rouse yourself likewise you who are lulling yourself in carnal security! How many proud and haughty heart has been broken into salutary repentance by those strokes! Why does not your heart also break? For know that you did aid in swinging those hammers; and that the most crying and impious act which the world ever committed is charged to your account.

See, the nails have penetrated through, and from both hands and feet gushes forth the blood of the Holy One. These nails have rent the rock of salvation for us, that it may pour forth the water of life; have torn the heavenly bush of balm that it may send forth its perfume. Yes, they have pierced the handwriting that was against us, and have nailed it to the tree; and by wounding the Just One have penetrated through the head of the old serpent. Let no one be deceived with respect to Him who was thus nailed to the cross! Those pierced hands bless more powerfully than while they moved freely and unfettered. They are the hands of a wonderful Architect who is building the frame of an eternal Church—yes, they are the hands of a Hero, which take from the strong man all his spoil. There is no help or salvation save in these hands; and these bleeding feet tread more powerfully than when no fetters restrained their steps. Nothing springs or blooms in the world, except beneath the prints of these feet.

The most dreadful deed is done, and the prophetic words of the Psalm: “They pierced my hands and my feet,” have received their fulfillment. The foot of the cross is then brought near to the hole dug for it. Powerful men seize the rope attached to the top of it, and begin to draw, and the cross, with its victim, elevates itself and rises to its height. Thus the earth rejects the Prince of life from its surface, and, as it seems, Heaven also refuses Him. But we will let the curtain drop over these horrors. Thank God! In that scene of suffering the Sun of grace rises over a sinful world, and the Lion of Judah ascends into the region of the spirits that have the power of the air in order, in a mysterious conflict, eternally to disarm them on our behalf.

Look what a spectacle now presents itself. The moment the cross is elevated to its height, a crimson stream falls from the wounds of the crucified Jesus. This is His legacy to His Church. We render Him thanks for such a bequest. It falls upon spiritual deserts, and they blossom as the rose. We sprinkle it upon the doorposts of our hearts, and are secure against destroyers and avenging angels. Where this rain falls, the gardens of God spring up, lilies bloom, and what was black becomes white in the purifying stream, and what was polluted becomes pure as the light of the sun. There is no possibility of flourishing without it, no growth nor verdure, but everywhere desolation, barrenness, and death.”

You can read the entire sermon here.

Yes, you are unworthy!

February 7, 2021 by Christina

I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.

—Luke 7:7

You are much more sinful than you think you are, much more unworthy than you know yourself to be. Instead of attempting a soothing of your dark thoughts, I pray you believe that yours is a hopeless case apart from Christ. This disease is not skin deep. It lies in the source and fountain of your life and poisons your heart. The flames of hell must wrap themselves about you certainly unless Christ interposes to save you. You have not nor will you ever have merit of any sort. And more, you have no power to escape from your lost condition unaided by the Savior’s hand. No words can exaggerate your deplorable condition, and no feelings can ever represent your real state in colors too alarming. You are not worthy that Christ should come to you. You are not worthy to draw near to Christ.

But—and here is a glorious contrast—never let this for a single moment interfere with your full belief that he who is God but who took our nature, who suffered in our stead on the cross, who now rules in heaven is able and willing to do for you immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine. Your inability does not prevent the working of his power. Your unworthiness cannot put fetters to his bounty or limits to his grace. You may be an ill-deserving sinner, but that is no reason why he should not pardon you. Jesus Christ is able and willing to save those who come to God through him. Your emptiness does not affect his fullness. Your weakness does not alter his power. Your inability does not diminish his omnipotence. Your undeserving does not restrain his love.

Your troubled hearts, your sense of your unworthiness should drive you to Christ. You are unworthy, but “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). He gave himself for our—what? Excellences and virtues? No, he “gave himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4), according to the Scriptures. We read that he “died for sins … the righteous for the”—righteous? No, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18), to bring us to God. Gospel pharmacy is for the sick; gospel bread is for the hungry; gospel fountains are open to the unclean; gospel water is given to the thirsty. Let your huge and painful wants impel you to fly to Jesus. Let the vast cravings of your insatiable spirit compel you to go to him. Your unworthiness should act as a wing to bear you to Christ, the sinner’s Savior.

—C. H. Spurgeon

 Diana Wallis, Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church’s Great Preachers (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2001), 47.

Margaret Clarkson on Human Weakness and the Power of God

May 22, 2020 by Christina

“God teaches His children that human strength offers less security than spiritual strength, for the weakness of God is stronger than men’s strength, and His strength is perfected in our weakness. No man will prevail by mortal strength, He tells us, but we are able to do all things through the strengthening of Christ. The race is not won by the swift, not the battle by the strong, but by the power of God those who stumble are girded with strength. Mighty men are no delivered by much strength, but Scriptural story abounds with the exploits of those “who through faith . . . out of weakness were made strong.” Since God is the God of our strength, why should even the weakest of saints go mourning because of the oppression of his soul? (1 Corinthians 1:25; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Samuel 2:9; Philippians 4:13; Ecclesiastes 9:11; 1 Samuel 2:4; Psalms 33:16; Hebrews 11:33-34; Psalms 43:2)”

“Paul tells us one reason why God allows the pressures of weakness to bear down on us. “We were pressed out of measure, above strength,” he writes, “. . . that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God.” As long as we have one ounce of our own strength in which to trust, our human hearts will place our confidence there, even through we sometimes do it unconsciously; but God wants us to prove Him, to be strengthened with all might by His Spirit according to His glorious power. When we truly realize it is God who has girded us for the battles of life, we are able to cry exultantly, “O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength!” for we know that in Him we have not only strength for our needs, but strength to spare. And it is so that His people may glorify Him in learning these truths and living triumphantly by His power that sometimes takes our human strength away.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9; Colossians 1:11; Ephesians 3:16; 2 Samuel 22:40; Judges 5:21). ”

My God Shall Be My Strength
Isaiah 49:5

My God shall be my strength
Throughout my pilgrim way;
My sure defence, my guard, my guide
 My shield and stay; 
Secure in Him my heart is strong
And lifts aloft faith's triumph-song.

My God shall be my strength
Though fierce may be the foe; 
No hosts of hell my trusting soul
Shall overthrow:
Through Christ I conquer: by His power
I triumph in the evil hour.

My God shall be my strength
Though flesh and heart may fail; 
O'er want and weakness by His might
I shall prevail. 
In Christ I triumph over pain
And rise to face the foe again. 

My God shall be my strength
In sorrow's bitter hour; 
In loneliness and loss I plead
His sovereign power.
No harm can pass His perfect will,
And in His love my heart is still. 

My God shall be my strength
When death shall press his claim,
When languishing in weakness lies
This mortal frame:
Through Christ triumphant I shall rise
To sing His grace in Paradise. 

Source: Margaret Clarkson, Grace Grows Best in Winter, Grand Rapids Michigan, WM B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984. (pages 166; 170-171)

Crisis, Christ, and Confidence Episode 5: Coronavirus – A Call for the Church to Rise

April 22, 2020 by Christina

Watch as Drs. Gregory Poland, David Garner, and Peter Lillback discuss how God’s people are called to love, and show compassion during this time of uncertainty. As Christians, we dare not let suffering pass by without pointing to the reality of Christ’s saving grace over sin and death.

Man is not destroyed by suffering. He is destroyed by suffering without meaning. – Viktor Frankl

Source: Westminster Theological Seminary

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