Not Without Strength

     Listen to the words of the songs we sing in church. Consider the words of many sermons and books. Look at the most well-known verses about Christ. Search "Jesus Christ" on the  internet. What do you find? Most often, themes such as His love, His compassion, His meekness, and His forgiveness are highlighted. All of these are amazing qualities of the Lord we serve, so don't misunderstand the point of this post; nevertheless, I think that we as believers are missing something crucial.
     Let me illustrate. Suppose someone is trying to describe me to you; they talk about how much I love potato chips. And cinnamon rolls. And Dr. Pepper. And cookies. And my First Love of Food: pizza. What is the image you are going to get? You'll probably start to envision me as a lazy, incredibly unhealthy couch potato lounging on a stack of pizza take-out boxes. While the above facts may be true, they aren't the whole story.
     Then there's the guy who only talks about how I love to play paintball, shoot, run and go to the gym. After talking to that guy, you'll think of me as a no-nonsense, tough-as-nails cross between John Wayne, a Marine, and Captain America. Obviously I'm far closer to the latter, but that's not exactly an accurate picture either.
     I went through all that to say: if you stress one part of a person's nature and neglect another, you don't get an accurate picture of who that person is. And unfortunately, I believe that we have done that with the person of Jesus Christ. The main focus of our songs, sermons, and illustrations are His "gentler" qualities. Again, don't get me wrong, we have not overemphasized these qualities, but we have neglected elements of His character that we see manifested in John 18:2-12.


   2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.
   3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
   4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
   5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
   6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
   7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
   8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:
   9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
   10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
   11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
   12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him.

     Look at verse 6, the verse I underlined. Judas has betrayed Jesus and has led an armed mob to capture Him. Christ asks who they are looking for, and the leaders say "Jesus of Nazareth." Nothing unusual there. Christ says "I am he" and still nothing out of the ordinary. But then we get to verse six. When Christ merely said "I am He," the very force of His words literally blew the mob off its feet! Then the argument comes that the mob was just surprised; once they got on their feet they were strong enough to capture Jesus. Oh no...keep reading. Jesus says He would go with them if they let His disciples go. We know that the disciples escaped, but these verses imply that they were let go. Why? Because this mob of heavily-armed soldiers were too scared to tangle with Christ on anything but His terms! Look folks, this isn't "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus;" this is "You're Cooked if You're on the Wrong Side of Jesus!"
     The examples could go on and on. The demon named Legion crawling before Christ and begging for his life. Christ's cleansing of the temple with a whip and God-load of righteous anger. The picture of the returning Christ in Revelation 19. Christ is as mighty and valiant and powerful and wild and uncontrollable as He is loving, compassionate,  and meek.
     The Jesus we serve is not to be laughed at or taken lightly. He is not to be deemed irrelevant or weak at best. He is above all and second to none. This is the Jesus that we all will face before the Judgement Seat. But this is also the Jesus that defends, sustains, and guides those that have put their trust in Him. Just as we cannot fathom a Jesus without grace, realize that the same Jesus is also not without strength.

The Cup

     Ever wondered what was in the cup? We hear about it, we read about it, and we study the context, but have you ever thought about what was inside of it? Just hours before His death, we see Jesus in a way that the gospels rarely portray Him. Matthew says that Christ “began to be sorrowful and very [distressed].” Luke 22:44 has Him sweating “as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground.” In the Garden of Gethsemane, we see Jesus suffering in a way He did not even as Pilate proclaimed His death sentence. The reason for His suffering? A cup. Just a cup. Christ engages in three rounds of intense prayer in the garden, and all three times He begs of the Father, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me…” What was in the cup?

Talk to some theologians and skim the religion section in the library, and you’ll here mostly about the nails, the soldiers, and crown of thorns. Go to an Easter service in an average church and you’ll get the parting of Christ’s raiment, the spear in His side, and the beating He received. You’ll hear that Christ could see the physical suffering coming, and it caused Him this great agony. This was what the cup held.

Honestly, it sounds pretty good, but there’s a hitch. Thousands of believers suffered in horrible ways for their faith. Most of them exhibited a\n unbelievable amount of peace in their deaths. Some forgave their oppressors, others died singing hymns. And you think that the same future had the Commander of the Heavenly Hosts cowering in a garden?? No, the cup was a far greater penalty.

     Turn to Isaiah 51:17. “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.” Revelation 14:10: “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” Speaking of an apostate city known as Babylon in the end times, Revelation 18:5-6: “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.” I know this is a lot of hard, symbolic language, but look for the common denominator in reference to the cup. Let me give you one last verse, Revelation 16:19. “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”

     What was in the cup? All throughout Scripture, this symbolic cup is filled to the brim with God’s wrath against sin. Every sinful motive, thought, word, and deed are stored up carefully, waiting to be revealed against unrighteous men who commit them (Romans 1:19). We wonder why wickedness seems to take the upper hand. On the basis of Scripture, I can tell you with full assurance that any victory or prosperity gained by unrighteous individuals and entities is a façade, and one day, the veil will be lifted. God, from His throne will bring forth the cup of His wrath against their sin, and they will be forced to drink the consequences.

In the cup was the wrath of God against sin. That’s what Christ suffered. In comparison, the nails were trivial. The crown? Secondary. The thorns? Peripheral. Even the cross itself? Nothing compared to the perfect Son of God drinking down the wrath of God in our place. His response in the garden to the mere thought of the wrath we had stored up is a testimony to what He endured. Christ, on the cross, drank down every drop of the wrath we deserve. The wrath of God is not simply appeased for a time or held back by Christ’s sacrifice. For you who have put your faith in Jesus, there is no more wrath stored up against you. Christ took the cup from the hand of the Father, and when it fell to the ground, not even a drop was left to ever be brought against you.

Here I Come, Ready Or Not

     So the question of the day is: can a person write a blog dedicated to the truths and implications of the gospel and somehow forget to write a post about Easter? Yup...pretty much. With that said, I apologize for not doing something to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With that said, who cares when the calender tells me to think about Christ's resurrection; I'm going to do it today!
     Imagine someone ran up to you and said, "They just found Jesus' bones! The disciples moved His body and pretended He had risen from the dead. Your 'Lord' is nothing but a dead lie!" That's the kind of news that tends to put a damper on any day. No amount of pizza would fix that, and that's strong language coming from me. Why? Because our whole faith is wrapped up in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, He was perfect enough to atone for all of our sins, and He was powerful enough to over come death. If He stayed dead, none of the above would be true. Paul said it pretty well in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19.
     17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
     18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
     19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
At the end of the day, if Christ was never raised from the dead, we are in for a world o' hurt. Paul gets us with a back-to-back-to-back triple whammy right here. First off, if Christ isn't raised from the dead, He wasn't powerful enough to overcome the penalty for your sins and all those thoughts, words, and actions that you thought you would never have to answer for again are all outstanding! You're still guilty! He follows that up with the nice sunny statement that everyone who died believing in Christ are suffering eternal punishment in Hell because they trusted in an insufficient sacrifice for their sin. To top it off, not only can we not have eternal joy like we thought, but we can't even enjoy life now because we constantly have eternal judgement hanging over our heads. I mean, how exactly would you end that memo? "Enjoy your week" sounds a little lame at the tail end of that bombshell.
     If you think the above paragraph a little on the ridiculous and "waste of time" side, I want you to take a moment and think about what exactly was going on here. Take a moment, and read a couple passages for me. For starters, take a look at Matthew 20:18-19, Mark 9:31, John 2:20, and John 10:17-18. Common denominator here? All of them are prophecies by Jesus Himself regarding His resurrection from the dead. If Jesus never rose from the dead, He is a liar, a false prophet, and guilty of leading millions astray. That doesn't sound like a person perfect enough for God to lay on Him the sins of us all. If Jesus is not raised, our sins are still outstanding. Not only that, but Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. If Christ remained dead, He would not have overcome the full penalty of our sin. Basically, if Christ is not raised from the dead, our sins our still outstanding and there will be no hope for us before the Judgement Seat.
     Lest I be labeled as a downer, I want to show you what Paul says right after 1 Corinthians 15:17-19. Verse 20a reads,
     20 BUT NOW IS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD!!!
     Sorry, I just thought that needed some bigger font, capital letters, and exclamation points. I mean, talk about a shift. Christ is risen from the dead. He stormed the gates of Hell and stayed just long enough to trash the place. They carried Him in the tomb, but He came out of there with enough style to knock out elite Roman guards. Your sins are payed for, those who have died in Christ are covered under the blood, and we can have hope for what happens after death. Notice the verb tense in that verse...now is. Right this second, we have an untiring, unceasing, very much alive advocate constantly defending us against every accusation Satan brings against us. And who says we should only celebrate that once a year...