He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death – Isaiah 53:9

For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin – Rom 6: 7

“Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sin far away” – Hymn

The greatest failing in people’s belief, is the lack of any real difference in their lives, once and if they ever express any faith in Jesus Christ. With no difference or change in our lives, we soon tire of trying to maintain the façade, and before long, any faith will simply be a memory. With such a high calling to be light in darkness, why is that so few experience any real change. Yet Paul tells us that we have been set free from sin?

After the death of Christ came the burial of Christ, and it is most important. In Romans 6, Paul says we are buried with him in his death, through baptism. Historically, Jesus should not have been buried; in Jerusalem, bodies of criminals were thrown outside of the South side of the City, a place known as ‘Gehenna’ (from which we get our place Hell). It was a garbage dump, where a fire burned continuously and where criminals were thrown, along with the rubbish and dead animals.

Most importantly, Jesus was not placed there and the reason is significant. In the early Easter morning, the Jewish Sanhedrin counsel met to decide what to do with his body post-crucifixion – there were 71 members plus a chairman, or High Priest. The decision though, was not unanimous there were 2 against; Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:43) and Nicodemus (John 3).  They had advanced warning Jesus was going to die, so Joseph approached Pilate to take the body away, and the remarkable prophecy in Isaiah 53 was fulfilled. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but it was with the rich man that he was placed in a tomb.

Why is this significant?

Well, there is a finality to burial. When a person dies, between that time and their burial, we often speak of the person in the present tense. When they are buried, we speak of them in the past tense. Burial is final, it is complete.  When something is ‘dead and buried’ we mean it is over and done with. We don’t just say it is dead.

In Isaiah 53:9, the prophet is talking about what is happening with our sin.  It is our being buried with him, that releases us from our sin so that it is remembered no longer. Properly repenting from our sin, then being baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit is a significant factor in this process, there is no doubt. We also need to believe though, about what the Bible tells us about our state when we put our faith in Christ.

We don’t believe this though do we, we fear that our sin is still there and we remain in fear, or walk away empty handed. We find it difficult to agree with Rom 8:1, “therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

If we understand justified, if we understand the Son, if we understand buried then we will understand there is nothing left for us to be accused of.  We must remember there are two who speak to us of our sin, the devil and the Holy Spirit. There is a difference. The devil condemns us while the Holy Spirit convicts. Condemnation wraps us like we are enveloped in cling film, conviction leads us to cleansing and forgiveness. In Isaiah 53:12, we are told that he, Jesus, was numbered with the transgressors (he was identified as one of us in front of God) so that he might make intercession (he stands on our behalf between us and the Father, speaking on our behalf). It is a beautiful picture to dwell on this Easter.

It is remarkable to consider that Paul, the converted Pharisee who wrote half the New Testament, never penned any confession of sin. Nowhere is there any mention of defect, or shortcoming, or failure in his duty to those he served. On the contrary, his authorship vindicates himself more towards a faultless life before both God and men. “you are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed” (1 Thess 2:10, 2 Cor 1:12).  This was no aspiration either, it was an admission of what his actual life had been. How could that be?

Surely it points to a life lived out in both the power of the Holy Spirit, as well as total understanding that with Christ’s death and burial comes utter freedom for all who would believe without any doubt.

We must grasp this about the Easter story, such that we be set free. All we end up with otherwise is religion. While we maybe justified before God, we might never be changed towards the likeness of his Son.

This Easter, let us seek our transformation towards his likeness above all else.

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.- 1 John 1:9

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be made whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. – Isaiah 53:5

The Gospel of Easter is wonderful news indeed to Ragamuffins like you and me. For those who come on their knees before a Holy God, for those who know their lives will never measure up, who openly and gladly confess their failings, the Easter message is sublime liniment as we seek a Merciful God. For the others, those who prefer the option of making it on their own, who prefer to face God on their own merits, who deny the Cross of Christ is truly necessary, they can face the Justice of God.  Every day we are on the streets telling of Jesus, we come across one of these. Who do you prefer to be today?

You see, there are two character traits in God, that make the cross at Easter essential. Justice and Mercy. Neither is compatible with the other, justice gives us what we deserve while mercy sets us free without punishment. How are they reconciled?

Few people, even Christians, ever consider that God demands justice, yet many will speak of his mercy. Do we understand the cost behind God’s mercy? While there are many illustrations to illuminate the point, let me use just one simple one. If I am in court for a crime, the magistrate can act either justly or mercifully. He cannot be both. The job of a magistrate though, is to administer justice, so imagine that I am found guilty and fined $100,000, which I cannot pay. Yet, my best friend is in court, and he takes out his cheque book and pays the fine on my behalf.

My record then reads: Michael, crime, theft; verdict, guilty; punishment, fined $100,000; paid in full. As far as a court is concerned, justice has been served, and mercy has been received, as a 3^rd party stepped in to pay the fine.

It seems so obvious when it is laid out, why then do so many come to God based on his mercy alone, without any consideration of their need for justice? The key to God’s forgiveness is based first on his justice. We are not free from a sentence based on the Judge’s kindness, it is on the basis of justice. The Bible talks of us being justified, not mercified.

Being justified is not simply another term for being forgiven though – it goes much deeper than that. It means that the case against us is closed, never to be reopened. In the days of capital punishment, when a person was executed for their crime a simple note was pinned outside of the prison and it said this, ‘At this place on this date, Michael was justified.’ Justice has been satisfied, the case is now closed, the crime can never be resurrected.

While mercy and the love of God lie behind the cross, if there was no justice we could be tried again and again for the same crime. But, and here is the wonderful truth of all of this, when God justifies us, he forgives us once for always and the case is closed. No more wondering about whether I am forgiven or not.

Why then the cross? Quite simply, Jesus has absorbed our punishment from God, and we are justified because of him, and him alone. That sentence is worth pondering some more. We talk to enough people out in the world who are racked with guilt because of what they feel they have done in the past. One man we talked to on a seat next to the beach couldn’t fathom this, in spite of (or perhaps because of) a lifetime in church. He still talked as though it was all dependent on him. We seem unable to accept it.

For many, the fact that our justification lies in the hands of another, not with ourselves presents a problem. We tell ourselves that somehow we should be good enough, that we must measure up; we have met many who have walked away empty handed from the greatest offer ever made, because they will not accept what Jesus had to do on their behalf.

Every other religion on the planet teaches of our having to reach God through our own efforts, only Christ at Easter tells us that God has already done what we could not; all we need do is receive it and we are free. Why is it so hard? Archbishop Temple once wrote that the only thing we contribute to our salvation, is the sin we commit before God.

In the verse from Isaiah above, it tells us that peace is ours, healing is ours when we can accept what has been done. We must make it our mission this Easter to understand and experience what that means.

God is merciful yes, but it is what Christ did for us that justifies us before God. This Easter, it is a reminder to us that the case against us is closed, complete.

Jesus, the very centre of all that God planned has done the work. Will you walk free?

But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners – Romans 4:5

When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins – Isaiah 53:11

On the way to the barbers today, my wife challenged me to talk about our Faith. So I did. As we got talking, two things emerged, firstly that my barber’s Dad had a strong faith and was not scared of death. But also, that he couldn’t ever bring himself to accept the forgiveness that is on offer. Easter is the appropriate time to understand God’s forgiveness, so if you’re reading this, these next 3 weeks are for you. There has never been a more important message.

The world views God by a simple creed, one we encounter all the time out on the streets. It goes like this, God punishes bad people, but rewards good people. That is humanity’s job description for God in Heaven.  Some wrap it up in Karma, most think they fall on the side of the good, few have ever stopped to think about it.

At this time of year especially, it is worth us considering the truth. You see, the Bible clearly disagrees with this view, because it tells us that ‘God justifies the wicked.’ It is extraordinary. God has thrown a curve ball at the entire moral order of his universe, and few are aware of it or what it means.  At the centre of it, is the wonderful person of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 42, we read of Jesus the servant before God. God presents us with an unexpected Messiah, the suffering servant, the suffering substitute.

The Easter story starts with the notion of substitute, Jesus stands before God on behalf of sinful people (Incredibly, the substitution cuts both ways; not only does Jesus get what we deserve, but we also share the inheritance that belongs to the Son). Consider the couplets in the first few verses of Isaiah 53 that highlight ‘him for us’:

• 4, surely he took our infirmities
• 5, he was pierced, our transgressions
• 5, he was crushed for our iniquities
• 5, his punishment that bought us freedom
• 5, by his wounds we are healed
• 6, the Lord laid on him
• 12, he bore the sin of many

Have you ever wondered who Jesus died for? Sinners, the world, for you and me? They all contain truth, but we are not the primary reason. In the first instance, Jesus died for his Father, God. ‘Considered him smitten by God’ (4) ‘the Lord laid on him, it was the Lord’s will’ (10) ‘the Lord makes his life a guilt offering.’

God was the one who required the cross as a substitute for sin.

Face it, we would prefer something much more straightforward, maybe along these lines; “as long as you’re really sorry and try not to do it again, you will be forgiven.” But this is never enough for God, and sin is a far greater problem for God than it is for us. His righteousness is violated, his wrath has been stirred.

If it was just a case of repentance, we would a) get counselling, b) repent, c) straighten up our lives as best we could!  But this doesn’t begin to deal with our problem. The cross was necessary.

What lies behind the cross, as much as the love of God, which is central to the whole theme, is the wrath of God. The brutality of the cross, is the expression of God’s anger. There is a very important word which has dropped out from Biblical use, the word ‘propitiation’. Propitiation, means ‘to turn away wrath by satisfying its demands’. God put Jesus forward as the propitiation for the entire human race.

The language of the Bible in Isaiah is that God himself strikes out at his own Son v4.  Jesus was not just stricken by evil men, or afflicted by evil men, but behind that, far worse, he was stricken, smitten by God. “It was the Lords will to crush him.” (10).  God vented his spleen for our mess, on his Son.

We think in our modernist, egalitarian culture that the cross is too brutal, that somehow it could have been avoided. If we think of sin at all, it is only as our problem that messes us up and gets us into trouble; but if we don’t realise that we first offend God, then our repentance will be trite and sentimental, our tears little more than tears of self pity.

In presenting the Gospel to the world, we have an opportunity to present the full story of why Jesus is so central to God’s plan and our future. We must understand, that Jesus stands in place of us, for the wrong we have done, the disorder that we created. This is what paves the way for forgiveness.

There is of course, more of the story to come. But as we often hear, it is always darkest before dawn.

• Further thought for this week: 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10

 

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. – 1 John

I wanted to talk about the other family we met last week. Remember them, they are believers as well. If you met with them, perhaps you might disagree. A few years ago, I probably would have as well.

Many years ago, I stayed with a lady who cleaned up addicts. She told me the story of a young heroin addict – 17 years old, who had been badly abused by several members of his family as a young boy. He stayed with her to get cleaned up; he used heroin to numb the pain. She took him to the local church that she attended, and they were clearly disturbed. What do we do with someone like this? She was asked to leave.

She would clean him up, this boy, but he would fall back into his habit, such a vicious habit and she would care for him in his desperation. It was difficult to let go of the pain. Eventually, aged just in his late teens, he committed suicide. Life had become too unbearable. But here’s the thing. He left behind his journal, and in it she read the tenderest words imaginable. She read of a starving human being who called on the name of Jesus each night, who went to sleep with tears and prayers of forgiveness on his lips, unable to make sense of why so many, including the church, had rejected and abused him. His only hope was that this Jesus might not. I will never forget that story, nor the tears that went with it. Just Jesus. We believe he found grace amidst the hell here on earth.

So we come to our family, whom we meet from time to time. Some have addictions, some disabilities. They are dirty, and they feel guilty and probably embarrassed about the state of the place where they live. They needn’t. I feel more alive in there, than in most of the swanky business offices I visit each week. We talk of fears, and hopes, dreams and realities, all based around Jesus. He figures quite a lot, and in the darkness he is there.

Of all the writers in Scripture, John deals with this issue with great compassion. “This is the verdict: some love light, some don’t,” he tells us in his earlier Gospel. It is the key.

We must be very careful, very careful indeed, in casting aspersions, or rejecting those that don’t meet our self-determined criteria: who is in, who is not. It is the loving the light, that is the measuring stick, not perfection. Let us be very clear on this. CS Lewis, in one of the great books ever penned, Christian Personality, sternly warns us against judging others against our own yardstick because only God knows the heart of each, and the circumstances that lead each of us to where we are now. As Lewis points out, one day there will be many surprises.

Jesus is after people who love the light, and they are the ones he draws to himself. He may love everyone, but he cannot help those who refuse to come to the light. Think of the many in the Gospels, who seemingly were so righteous yet were in fact so far away. The nicest, most religious person we know, who has all sorts of wonderful qualities but does not love the light, has no hope of ever seeing him. Yet, the very worst of us, who consistently and constantly messes up every day of our life, yet is broken and humble enough can “come into the light so that his deeds may be exposed.” There, they will find grace, there they will find forgiveness. Do we see that?

Such a person, as the one we meet with in the dark living room, is not concerned with what others think. In fact, he already knows, for he has felt the stares, the indignation. But, in their simplicity, they would rather be right with God than to have any person look up and esteem them; there are many, even within our churches alas, who would be counted as great, and holy, and worthy and mighty – even when it is not true about them anyway.

Fix that standard in your mind my friends; those who love the light are those who will walk with God, fellowship with the one who has already lived in eternity and with his brothers and sisters in complete joy. Last week I was prayed over by a simpleton. In just 2 simple sentences, I have rarely felt such devotion, such seriousness and genuineness.

Jesus, light of the world. Do we love the light, or are we deluding ourselves with our good works, our externals, our own righteousness. At this time of year especially, this is an eternal question we must ask ourselves.