A Divine Demonstration That Disarmed the Powers
In my book “Why God Wills You to Suffer” I cover the topic of how difficult it is for we human beings to relate to the Almighty God.When we come to a sense of God as a singular yet infinite being, our minds go into convulsions when added to this acknowledgment we are also told that God is Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Although we are quick to give intellectual ascent to God’s divine attributes (that is when we think about them at all) like His Omniscience, Transcendence, Faithfulness, Goodness, Mercy, Justice, Grace, et al., we still find ourselves leaning upon the crutch of our own human frames of reference. As I point out in WGWYTS:
“We need to be aware that due to our limited human frame of reference, we have a natural tendency to separate and partition God the Father from God the Son. This partitioning is convenient for our minds, since we cannot build a conceptual basis for the true Oneness of both Father and Son as One Holy Being. We can easily relate to Jesus’ sufferings since Jesus is a man. When Jesus cut his finger it hurt Him just as much as when we cut our finger. On the other hand, it is hard for us to relate to God the Father as a sufferer because He is a Spirit [and if we are honest with ourselves we would admit that we don’t have a clue what a spirit actually is.]”
In a recent bible study in our church I found myself chafing at the repetition of the one-dimensional caricatures of the Trinity.
As an example, it is a commonly repeated theme that when Jesus on the cross said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” Luke 23:34, the emphasis on Jesus as the Atonement for human sin is constantly the center of focus. Man and his salvation takes the center stage of the universe as the acute and singular application of Jesus’ statement.
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the same message from the pulpit about the Grace of God, the need for man’s salvation, “For God so Loved the World…” and what suffering Jesus went through for man since He came from heaven to represent us before God. It is the “good news” after all… and this is all well and good. [Do you hear a 'but' coming?]
Yes, it is a very good thing to hear the Gospel message of salvation and acknowledge the greatness of God’s
Grace and His Kindness to save such sinners as we. And yes, our hearts shall indeed be always filled with eternal gratitude (literally) for all that God has done for us through the precious blood of Jesus.
This is a good and popular way to treat the Gospel message. But have you noticed that it still puts man in the center of the universe? Have you noticed that the Gospel message shows what God has done for ME the sinner? Have you ever heard a sermon where the preacher substitutes the word ‘you’ for the word ‘world’ in “For God so loved the world…” so that the Gospel message would become more ‘personal’ in its relevant delivery?
Have you ever taken some stock in yourself and in some small way recognized that the Gospel message is still “all about you?”
I would like to posit an alternative or an additive view of the infinite Grace of God by quoting A.W. Tozer:
“There's another way to think of the grace of God. Think of it as the way God is—God being like God. And when God shows grace to a sinner He isn't being dramatic; He's acting like God. He'll never act any other way but like God.
“On the other hand, when that man whom justice has condemned turns his back on the grace of God in Christ and refuses to allow himself to be rescued, then the time comes when God must judge the man. And when God judges the man He acts like Himself in judging the man.
“When God shows love to the human race He acts like Himself. When God shows judgment to "the angels which kept not their first estate" (Jude 6), He acts like Himself.
“Always God acts in conformity with the fullness of His own wholly perfect, symmetrical nature.” [A. W. Tozer on the Almighty God]
So often we think of Jesus the Human Being on the cross begging God the Father the Sovereign Righteous Judge to forgive man of his sins when He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” We partition them in our minds as two separate entities with competing interests in the middle of some inter-galactic conflict.
I don’t totally disagree with this view, but there is the other side of it:
That God is asking God for the infinite forgiveness of God to be poured out on man as a demonstration of Who God Is Within Himself.
Think of that for a moment.
God making a divine exhibition of Himself within Himself, demonstrating the Infinite Nature of His Love –not exclusively to man, and not just for the atonement for man’s sins, but as a Total Revelation of Himself to all of creation both physical and spiritual.
Thus it was not “justice” that demanded Jesus’ death on the cross for sin, for God is the Sovereign who is the One who defines what is justice. Jesus being God is Justice Himself, and justice does not demand that justice be condemned. Rather this was God being Himself in staggering universal proportions.
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” Colossians 2:15
I believe it was in this Divine Demonstration of the Cross that the Satanic argument against the authority of God was masterfully defeated. Jesus’ dying on the cross and asking the Father to forgive men, was in effect “God asking God” and thus destroying the charge that the universe is a “rigged” game where God makes all the rules but does not deem to follow them Himself because He is the One who created it in the first place.
This was the victory that sent shockwaves through the ranks of the condemned angels held by the Abyss’ chains awaiting the Judgment.
How Great is the Almighty God that He would use a nothing such as man to express His Infinitude of Love in triumph over His enemies. And in so doing, draw us ever closer to Himself that we may know that same Infinitude in the fellowship of His Sufferings.
Amen
