Wednesday: The Unreachable is Us!
Isa: 53:3-9
Like a vulnerable plant, apparently of no special value, and despised ( Isaiah 53.2-3)—that’s the depiction we are given here of the Suffering Servant. Isaiah has quickly brought us through innocent youth to the brink of the abyss. Even with the background provided earlier, we are not prepared in the sense that we are resigned to the Servant’s fate. To the contrary! Isaiah has taught us to cherish the Child born to us, the supreme Prince of Peace. Others despise Him, but we know who He really is.
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
As someone has said: “We have met the enemy and they are us.” The servant is not the first to be despised, rejected, or a man of suffering. King David was all of those when he fled from his son Absalom (2 Sam: 15:30). But the suffering borne by this Servant is not His own and does not result from His own sin. Nor does He bear it merely for another individual; “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa: 53:6, NRSV).
The answer to the question “Why?” is Isaiah’s testing truth: Because of God’s love, His Messiah would choose to suffer. But why? Isaiah drives the “golden spike” to complete the unthinkable truth: He would choose to suffer in order to reach the unreachable, and the unreachable is us!
Those who do not understand regard the Servant as “struck down by God” (Isa: 53:4, NRSV). Just as Job’s friends thought his sin must have caused his suffering, and just as Jesus’ disciples asked Him “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2, NRSV), those who saw Jesus on the cross assumed the worst. Didn’t Moses say that “anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse” (Deut: 21:23, NRSV; compare Num: 25:4)?
Yet, all this was God’s will (Isa: 53:10). Why? Because “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal: 3:13, NRSV). Because God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor: 5:21).
“What a price has been paid for us! Behold the cross, and the Victim uplifted upon it. Look at those hands, pierced with the cruel nails. Look at His feet, fastened with spikes to the tree. Christ bore our sins in His own body. That suffering, that agony, is the price of your redemption.” — Ellen G. White, God’s Amazing Grace, p. 172.
| The weight, the guilt, the punishment for the sins of the whole world—every sin, by every sinner—fell upon Christ at the Cross, at once, as the only means to save us! What does this tell us about how bad sin is, that such a price had to be paid in order to redeem us from it? What does it tell us about God’s love that He would do this for us, even at such a great cost? |
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Theologians wax quite eloquent on the mechanism of salvation. They like to talk about how the death of Christ saves us using large words and long sentences. I am not suggesting that they don't have a point, but sometimes the rhetoric takes over and becomes a forensic exercise in academic understanding.
It is a bit like love. If you let the biochemists loose on the topic they will have us believe that love is a chemistry of hormones and pheromones like androstadienone and 16-androstenes. Now if I said to Carmel, "Are you associative with my androstadienone this morning?" she would probably tell me to stop talking rubbish and put the laundry out on the line to dry. Maybe the biochemists are right and love is chemistry, but at the end-user interface, love is all about doing things together and enjoying it. And that is something that cannot be appreciated by chemistry alone.
The fundamental principle behind the whole plan of salvation is an enormous love of the creator for the created. The created have strayed and the creator wants us back. How much he wants us back is exemplified by his willingness to become like us to share in our suffering. The significant difference between Christianity and most other religions is that God became like us to save us. Other gods, call us to be like them. God, being God, could have chosen any way he liked to save us, but he chose to love us by suffering with us. And that beats forensics any day.
God created us in His image, sin marred that image. Jesus came and took our sinful image to the cross in order to restore His perfect image in us. We chose to sin, but in Christ we have the choice to be restored.
Your thoughts make me think of the beatitudes so beautifully presented in Matthew 5. The blessings bestowed to us by Christ are pointing to those who also depict Christ's characteristics.
The poor of spirit(humble), the meek (quiet and calm), hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful,pure of heart, peacemaker, persecuted. As depicted throughout the book of Isaiah but specially chapters 50 through 53, the same characteristics Christ had, are the same we should have by Gods Grace and the gift of the Spirit. Those will be the ones Blessed with eternal salvation.
I really appreciate this blog as it enables us to meditate in depth on each section of the week's topic and submit our thoughts to the group for verification or amendment and then on Friday to put together our take away for the week that we can share with others.
Maurice said "God, being God, could have chosen any way he liked to save us" which is thought provoking. I have noticed that some people have a problem with the concept of Jesus being our substitutionary sacrifice but it is clear from Genesis to Revelation that this is the way the Triune Godhead decided to save us. Together they made the plan and together they carried it out. Jesus as one of the Partnership volunteered to be the one to lay down His life and pay the penalty for the sins of the world which is separation from the Partnership. He experienced the first and the second death so that those who surrender themselves to the LORD can receive eternal life. To understand how He died we need to look at the rest of the Word and understand how and why the LORD deals with sin. I am reminded of how Abraham took his one and only beloved son and was prepared to offer Him as a sacrifice, and how Isaac willing climbed on to the altar to be sacrficed. Then I think of how the whole Sanctuary system is based on sacrifices for sins to make atonement. Then throughout the New Testament it is repeated that God gave His Son as an atonement for our sins.
Good Morning!
I am a bit confused as to how Jesus suffered the "second death". Didn't the sacrificial lamb only die once?
Here are the verses I found regarding the second death.
Revelation 21:8, NASB: "But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.'"
Revelation 20:14, NASB: "Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire."
Revelation 20:6, NASB: "Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years."
I've always enjoyed your post and would appreciate an explanation.
Thanks
Hi Rey, I hope this might give some insight into Jesus dying the second death. Dying the second death does not imply that Jesus died two times or the sacrificial lambs died two times. It is implying that Jesus died the death of the wicked which is facing the death with no hope. https://ssnet.org/blog/the-god-forsaken-god/
Thank you so much. Great link. Everyone should read it.
Christ’s last words on the cross answer your question about the second death. Matt 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[a] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)
As His last breath left Him, Christ’s last thought was that He would be separated from the Godhead for good. At this moment with the weight of ALL the sin in the world upon Him, He could not fathom God raising Him from the dead even though it was that promise that had sustained Him. Mrs. White says in Desire of Ages, that Christ “could not see through the portal of the tomb”.
At the same moment He uttered those words, He could have just as easily called for Angels to take Him down and they would have obeyed but He remained there for you and me thinking that His separation would secure for us reconciliation.
Dying is sleeping until Jesus come. The second death is eternal separation from God Himself, the sustainer of life.
Rey, on the second death, William and Jim have explained it well, I would like to add a few texts which I have found helpful as well.
My understanding is that the 'second death' is the opposite to "eternal life" John 3:16, Rom 6:23
Jesus spoke of two resurrections in John 5:25:29, which we also see in Rev 20:4-6. The resurrection of the believers at the Second Coming and of the unbelievers after the 1000 years. The believers will receive eternal life and the unbelievers will cease to exist separated from the LORD who is the source of Life.
The Holy Spirit through Paul explains it in this text.
Hi, Shirley. Hope I am not a bother, but how could Jesus have died the second death, if the second death is Eternal separation from God?? And doesn't the second death include a Lake of Fire, too, and many other things? Where is all this in Jesus' death? I know He asked, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But we know that God did not forsake Jesus, but was instead shrouded in darkness.
If Jesus actually died the second death, according to the definition of it, Christ should be still dead, no?
Hi Benjamin, it is a paradox but that is what the Word of the LORD teaches us.
1) the wages of sin is to be annihilated
2) the gift of the LORD is eternal life
3) this is only possible because Jesus paid the price for us
4) because He is divine and was sinless He was able to lay down His life and take it up again
I recommend reading the article in the link William gave above.
Hi Benjamin, please share with us your understanding of what Jesus' death entailed and the process of atonement as from your questions it seems to be different to mine.
Hi Shirley, thank you for your response. I believe that Jesus' death was preceded by a second death experience in reference to the agony and torment that He experienced, but when He died, He died the first death, from which there IS a resurrection.
Jesus was so close to the Father that when He began to take upon Himself the sin of the world, this fact caused Him to suffer as the wicked would suffer prior to dying the second death, from which there is NO resurrection. God did not forsake Christ, but Jesus could not see this truth due to the darkness which overwhelmed Him, therefore according to His mind, He was forsaken. But the wicked will not just believe they are forsaken, but they will actually be forsaken by God which is God's strange act that will bring ultimate and final destruction upon the wicked.
Christ death secured for us an eternal inheritance and the opportunity to avoid an unnecessary death (second death).
Christ did not break the rules of the second death through His sinlessness, but He survived the experience of it through His sinlessness. When you experience something you must come out on the other side of the experience for it to be complete and there is no coming out from the other side of dying the second death, because the Bible says there is no resurrection from it. Jesus did not die the second death, He experienced it and died the first death.
This is my current understanding of Jesus' death and His atonement for us in a nutshell.
Unfortunately, we are our worst enemy. Only by experiencing the love of God, in a open relationship with Jesus, we might be transformed by His power. A power that is able to change us, change our nature, at least to give us the counsciousness of who we really are, and Who Jesus really is! God is love and His ultimate proof is His Son.
Whosoever committed sin transgressed also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4.
The Unreachable is Us!
I believe in my heart humans do not understood the gravity of sin; how evil it is, its effects and its consequences both in this life and future, so we commit sin as if it is a good thing. Go back to Eden when Adam and Eve sin, sin was seen as not so bad.
Jesus was crucified by humans. To make things worst, those humans were his own people, the Jews. The ones who supposed to know him as the one who was their master and heavenly King. I am sure Jesus did not told them to crucified him in such a way but the Lord knew the evilness of human hearts he told men of old-Isiah, how Jesus will live and die a cruel death. The hearts of human is constantly evil.
The author compared King David with his son Absalom and Jesus suffering, I will not even go there. That was the consequence of sin in David household. David lived a 'high' and 'low' sort of life. Jesus live a life of constant 'high'. The way Jesus lived was the way all humans supposed to live.
So if we killed Jesus, are we still killing him when we sin. Sin is to go against his laws no matter how small or insignificant our thinking and actions appear. Humans cant keep the law except Christ is dwelling in us. It is he who does the work in us to will and to do.
He offers us eternal life,
Why do we hide from Him?
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil
John 3:19
Ignorance and hostility against the presence of supreme spiritual Truth which has governed man’s affairs is still prevalent in our time; maybe even more so, because now the ‘woke’ folks think that holding on to the concept of a living and involved God demonstrates and proofs man's ignorance.
In times passed, at least mankind fought to establish who’s god is mightier and can give them more of earthly power and influence, today they fight to establish who’s man-made model to govern is the most advanced in technology, science, and promises to bring the most ‘societal advancements’.
In the end, mankind will come around 360 degree to end up where they started – seeing God! The question is – do they live or die when they see Him?
The warfare between heavenly forces of growth versus earthly forces of decay has been wone, but the message has not yet filtered through to all 'troops' fighting and too many minds and hearts still hang in the balance.
The Victory which wone this universal battle has been declared and fundamentally changed life for man: 'Christ Jesus, the Son of God and man has defeated the enemy of life; He accomplished, He finished the work to reunite mankind with the Maker of his life – Hallelujah! It is a peculiar Victory Christ has wone as mankind’s stand-in; He has fought the fight all by Himself – an army of one!
Man remains in the state of his Iniquity; he cannot escape from this fact, not even by doing good works or any other acts of service to others. Job had Hope, but his friends seem to not be able to share this hope. They could not see righteousness coming to man in the form of the Savior, they looked for this righteousness in man and could not find it - Job.14:1-4KKJV; Job15:14-35KJV.
The time has come when man became righteous in the sight of His Maker. It is God's righteousness in Christ, imparted to man as a gift from his Maker. Though Christ within us only b>covers our inherited iniquity, God's Mercy and Grace accepts it as sufficient righteousness in all man who believe. He calls us to give our heart, mind, and soul - our life - to the ‘good works’ appointed for the faithful, so with to express Immanuel - God with us and within - Eph.2:10KJV; Gal.2:20KJV; Rom.8:10KJV.
Man's willpower is not able to do this work of renewal of the spirit in man; it is the Holy Spirit, present with Christ living in us who does the work to sanctify the living soul who's faith rests in the One who inspires good works in us.
What is the focus of God's redemption of man? Is it not to give man the 'new nature' made in His Image, able to be inspired to act differently than the old nature? Does not this new nature express acts of and by the Image of God in which man originally was made and now lives again? Is this not true because now Christ's presence lives in us which does the work in and through us and so becomes our new life, the true life as He is the new man in us to ready us to so enter eternal Life?
Our willingness to submit, believe and have Faith is the only act our flesh contributes when experiencing the Lord and Savior Christ Jesus expressing Himself in us. As long as Christ does not reside in man, man remains dead though he appears to be alive.
Every day man lives Christ in him, he is called upon to die to the tucks and pulls of the old nature, to choose to experience more and more the life of Christ for it to so become his Life as he follows His Way of loving, lifegiving Truth and Light.
Both man die, but only one will gain a new life which can live forever. The difference lies in deciding to ‘live a life of death unto death’, or to live a life of life unto Life everlasting – both will see God.
If we become intelligent on the Sanctuary services, the way that sinners are saved, as described in Isa 53, makes perfect sense. We would also realize that there was/is no other way. God's means are not just about saving sinners, but includes the perpetuity and perfection of the Law of God, His government, purposes, and restoration of all creation.
Addressing the 2nd death, what is it? If we take scripture as our truth, we see than mortals will die in this life, and this first death of mortals comes with no judgment or "wrath of God", and is just the natural result of being mortal in most cases.(some exceptions would include the flood and the destruction of Sodom and adjacent cities, which God takes credit for after giving warnings.)
Because of the proliferation of sin, God must hold judgment before the restoration of this world to the sinless, perfect state in which He created it, where there will be "no more" of the bad things that sin brings with it. Who will get to live in this restored world? The judgment will settle this question. Those found unworthy of eternal life will also be raised back to life to receive their judgment/sentence of eternal death, and to give opportunity to protest or acknowledge God's justice. This "2nd death" is their end, as there will be no resurrection from this death, and they will be as if they had never been by a complete reduction to nothingness. Only Satan and the angels that fell with him will die this "2nd death" as their first and final ending. No unrepentant(warning!) transgressor of God's law will survive this death.
Jesus survived because HE was sinless, though He died as IF He was sinful. He received the "wrath" of God for all who will believe and repent of sin. I believe no other means could have accomplished this complete restoration for sinners and creation.
No unrepentant(warning!)
...for all who will believe and repent of sin
Robert, this is not Biblical and makes our salvation a result of our works, repentance in this case. We are told that repentance is a gift (2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 11:18; Romans 2:4; Acts 5:31). Repentance, like all of our good works, is a RESULT not CAUSE of our salvation.
“Repentance, as well as forgiveness, is the gift of God through Christ.” – Faith and Works 38.2
"Repentance is as much the gift of Christ as is forgiveness, and it cannot be found in the heart where Jesus has not been at work. We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken the conscience, than we can be pardoned without Christ."-Review and Herald, April 1, 1890.
“Many are confused as to what constitutes the first steps in the work of salvation. Repentance is thought to be a work the sinner must do for himself in order that he may come to Christ. They think that the sinner must procure himself a fitness in order to obtain the blessing of God’s grace. But while it is true that repentance must precede forgiveness, for it is only the broken and contrite heart that is acceptable to God, yet the sinner cannot bring himself to repentance, or prepare himself to come to Christ.... The very first step to Christ is taken through the drawing of the Spirit of God; as man responds to this drawing, he advances toward Christ in order that he may repent....
When before the high priests and Sadducees, Peter clearly presented the fact that repentance is the gift of God. Speaking of Christ, he said, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” Repentance is no less the gift of God than are pardon and justification, and it cannot be experienced except as it is given to the soul by Christ. If we are drawn to Christ, it is through His power and virtue. The grace of contrition comes through Him, and from Him comes justification.
Who is desirous of becoming truly repentant? What must he do? He must come to Jesus, just as he is, without delay. He must believe that the word of Christ is true, and, believing the promise, ask, that he may receive. When sincere desire prompts men to pray, they will not pray in vain. The Lord will fulfill His word, and will give the Holy Spirit to lead to repentance.... With prayer he [the repentant sinner] will mingle faith, and not only believe in but obey the precepts of the law.... He will renounce all habits and associations that tend to draw the heart from God.” -The Faith I Live By by Ellen G. White
Seig, repentance is a choice which we are gifted with due to Jesus' death for our sin. It is a gift I must receive and exercise by faith IF I am to benefit from Jesus' blood and righteousness on my behalf.
If you don't receive the gift, it will hold no value and bring no benefit. God calls all to "repent and believe the Gospel"(Mark 1:15), and this does not mean we earn anything, we only receive.
We need to understand correctly what Ellen is saying in the quote you shared. But understand this, no one who refuses to repent will be saved, and all who are saved will have repented and believed the Gospel.
Hi Robert. Yes, repentance, like salvation, is a gift that must be received. However, let's be careful to remember that gifts come from God and are not produced by us. Moreover, we must remember that the evidence of these gifts (i.e., works) are the result of the gift, not the cause of it.
no one who refuses to repent will be saved
While this is true, the reason it is true is only because our works (repentance, law keeping) demonstrate the presence of the saving faith that does save us. The Bible also says that liars will not inherit eternal life (e.g., Revelation 21:8). Does this mean that telling the truth will save us? No! It means that our works (honesty) reflect and demonstrate our belief (faith).
The crucial point is that our works (e.g., law keeping, repentance) are evidence of our redemption, not the cause of it.
No one is questioning your points Seig. It seems that most understand the gift of salvation and that we do not need to earn God's favor. At least I would hope so.
It is important to recognize our responsibility and necessity to act in faith, for "without faith, it is impossible to please Him"(Heb 11:6).
The cross makes the argument that God doesn’t care about humans or what happens to us obviously false. Sometimes it’s hard for us to understand this love. I’ve heard people say, God could’ve stopped it all. If that were so, we wouldn’t have the freedom of choice that we do, even if the results are evil. All there is in God’s response to sin is love, sacrifice, deep understanding and a compassion that goes beyond what we know. It’s unfortunate to refuse to believe in Him.
Benjamin,there would be no first or second death if Christ had not died on Calvary for our sins.Therefore the death He died was the second death.
The title "The Unreachable is Us!" needs to be changed to 'Reaching the Fallen' or any other more truthful and acceptable titles. In fact, God reached us in the person of Christ, when He became 'Immanuel, God with us' (Matthew 1:23), the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us... (John 1:14).'For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (He reached to us).' Romans 5:6. 'But God demonstrates His Own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (V8). For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.'(V10)
It was a supreme act of Jesus having already done the unthinkable, having condescended from being the Creator of the universe to the level of the insignificant sinful human race He came to redeem. Because of sin, we cannot anymore reach to the positive demands of the law which cannot produce perfect righteousness in us. Therefore, 'What the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.'(Romans 8:3), that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (v4). 'For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21) All these He did because it is impossible for us left on our own to reach to what the law demands, so the heavens reached to us. He already did the unthinkable, which already reproduced the perfect character of Christ in His martyrs who knew exactly what it meant to be identified with the saints of Revelation 12:11 who 'overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and did not love their lives to the death' having been prepared and influenced by the Holy Spirit with their unwavering faith of also doing their corresponding response of doing their humble share of the 'unthinkable' to the honor, praise and glory of God. Therefore, we are not 'Unreachable'. Otherwise, everything that Christ realized for us through his unthinkable doing and dying is just a tale, and not true. But it is true! He reached us! 'But God who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.' (Ephesians 2:4-7) The title needs to be changed, because even if it may be unintentional, yet it is not true. We are not 'unreachable'.