Tag Archives: Wander

What God Gave Up for Lent – Day 29

29. All & Fall

All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. (Isaiah 5:6)

blur crowd2

There are times when generalizations are used, and we need to take them seriously. When Isaiah says all here, he means all. Recall the familiar passage in Romans: As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ( Romans 3:10-18) Just as in Isaiah where all means all, in Romans, none means none.

All is a common word in the Old Testament, used over 5300 times. All is the most common of its translations, but other occurrences include: any, every, everyone, everything, whoever, whatever, and whole. Are we getting a sense of inclusiveness here? The iniquity of us all. Anyone and everyone who will come to Christ, He has already taken your sins upon Himself. As the old hymn goes: There is room at the cross for you. There are none saved, who have not had their sins taken away by the Son of God.

We must not miss the convergence here. Where as all of the iniquity of us all is dispersed amongst all of mankind, here it is focused upon The One. For Christ in His humanity to take upon Himself the iniquities of us all—and that doesn’t just mean those who existed at the time of His death; no, it means that everyone at any time throughout history past and history yet to come, every sin fell upon Him—that would be utterly overwhelming.

Fall upon can have a deadly meaning, and in most cases, the result of being fallen upon is actually to be killed. It can also mean intercede, and it is used as a geographical term regarding borders reaching or meeting one another. Christ did indeed intercede for us on the cross, and having our sins fall upon the Him had deadly consequences; but consider this as a geographical term. Heaven came down to earth, met sin, then took it upon Himself. Returning to the primary meaning, this meeting was deadly. Sin didn’t just fall; it fell on Him. Imagine the picture, of all the sins of mankind rushing down upon Christ, as an enemy would rush upon a foe, with so much violence and ferocity so as to completely devastate.

We must not think this was an exercise in gravity or magnetism; that all the evil in the world that was, and is, and is to come, was mindlessly attracted to Him. Neither should we think this was the work of the devil. No, this was the work of the Father, who caused the focus and unleashed the fall. I’m not sure we will ever understand what this did to The Father, what He was feeling and thinking; but we do know why He did it. It was for you.

Note where this comes in the chapter. Isaiah has just listed off the six substitutions of mercy and grace that only Christ could accomplish; and then—here it comes—All of us like sheep have gone astray. So immediately following the ultimate act of love and sacrifice, we wander off! Now I could see the Father becoming a bit ticked by that, as we turn from the greatest act of love ever done in the universe. But what does He do? He caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Look behind the cross and see in the Father the same love for you which the Son had for you.

What God Gave Up for Lent – Day 28

28. Cause & Consequences

lost sheep

All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. (Isaiah 53:6)

It is a sad thing—more, it is tragic—that Christ should lay down His Life, and have accomplished the six great substitutions of mercy and grace for you and me, and what do we do? We wander off, we turn to our own little ways, because we just… don’t… care.

Wondrously the Father did care—did love—enough to cause the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. We can no longer believe the Father was only an interested bystander; this shows us otherwise.

For a moment, let’s consider what happened in eternity past when Father, Son and Holy Spirit made this decision:

Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. ( 1 Pet 1:18-21)

This was not merely a decision to have Christ become the Lamb of God to die for the sins of the world. It also had to do with judgment, sentencing, death, sacrifice, substitution, propitiation, redemption, ransom, and resurrection; and certainly more than we are aware of. All the Godhead participated at the cross!

Here in this verse (53:6) we see the Father caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

Iniquity is an interesting word in Hebrew. The root word from which it is derived means to bend, twist, or distort. When Christ took away the sins of the world, he became a bent, twisted, distorted figure of Who He once was. Perhaps that is what Isaiah meant when he remarked earlier in the chapter: He has no stately form or majesty; and nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. Was Isaiah looking past the Christ Who walked the earth in normalcy for 33 years to see the aftermath of what the sins did to Him? When you add in all the ravages of the six substitutions, perhaps so.

Let’s return to the crowd at the cross. As we consider the different characters there, what did they see in this beaten, bloodied, and tortured body? Were they sick to their stomachs? Were they offended at the sight? Did they rejoice? Did they look but not see? Did any believe Jesus was deserving of such brutality? If they did, was this seen as a divine transaction of justice, or merely a human one?

For those who considered this a proper act of God, did any of them perceive that Jesus’ affliction and agony were requisite to the sentence He bore? Did any grasp it was in fact an act of God (the Son) that kept Him there?

Another reason to take note of this word is that it not only draws from the iniquity and guilt that fell upon Him, but it also speaks to punishment that fell upon Him. So you have both the cause and the consequences. And this is something we miss today. We all understand our nature and bent to sin, but do we understand the consequences? The punishment? We too easily and flippantly recite 1 John 1:9—If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness—and indeed we are forgiven. But do we understand the devastation sin has unleashed upon us? I think not.

As in the case of Christ, He bore not only the sins of the world, He also bore its deserved punishment as well. We understand that He was our substitute and, like the thief on the cross, we declare: “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” ( Luke 23:40-41) That is indeed true, Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life, and in His life did nothing worthy of such a death—or any death. But the moment He took on our sins, then the punishment, the consequences were deserved.

Father: Help me to understand what it cost Christ to bear my sins on the cross, and what it cost You to be His Judge. Amen

Singing with the King (90) – My Shepherd

The LORD is my Shepherd. (Psalm 23:1)

Good Shepherd2 Years ago, I heard a preacher—I don’t know if it was live or on the radio— who talked about the choices we make and the paths we take. So there you are, walking along with God, side by side, fellowshipping with Him, following Him, just being WITH Him. And then you decide to take a right turn, and go off in your direction. Now this is not without biblical precedence.

Note what He has done for us:

He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. (Isa 53: 4-5)

And what do we do after all this?

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. (v.6a)

So yeah, wandering off is in our nature. Now, back to the sermon. This preacher talks about us wandering off, to go down our own path, probably to do something sinful, something selfish, something displeasing to God. And the picture he painted was that God remained on the chosen path, while we trotted off on our own. And when we finally come to our senses, like the prodigal son did, we then turn around and go back to the path, and find God patiently waiting there for us.

THAT IS WRONG! And here’s why.

Does a shepherd just let his sheep wander off? Or does he go get them? He goes and gets them, because He knows we are too stupid, or too lost, to find our way home. Now granted, we may be off on this little tangent, this little side trip, and be totally unaware that He is with us—but He is. Because The LORD is our Shepherd. (Who by the way, laid down His life for us – John 10:11)

Also consider His nature.

Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there. If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me. I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night, but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you. (Psalm 139:7-12) With the exception of Hell, the is no place He is not.

Omnipresence is pretty tough to escape.

So, a role He willingly embraces, and a divine characteristic which is tough to get by (pun intended). God is not waiting at the beginning of your detour with arms crossed and foot tapping. He is with you. Now, you may not know that He is with you, because you’re trying to avoid Him, or ignore Him, or forget Him. But He is with you, and He always will be.

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Hebrew 13:5)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

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