Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
As we consider Holy Week, we will move from our studies in Mark to other Biblical passages. Colossians 2:13-14 provides a memorable word picture: “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” We know that Jesus was nailed to the Cross to die for our sins; verse 14 assures us that “the handwriting of ordinances that was against us” was also nailed there. This description is of a legal certificate of debt written by the debtor in his own handwriting. Here, it symbolizes an open acknowledgment of personal sin and the need for forgiveness. The certainty that this astonishing metaphor provides us is that our debt of sin has been taken “out of the way.” Just as Jesus died a real death, both physical and spiritual, our “trespasses” have really been forgiven. The words of a familiar hymn well capture the power of this passage: “My sin – O the bliss of this glorious thought – my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more: praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!” When we contemplate Jesus nailed to the Cross, then, we are also contemplating our sins nailed there – forgiven forever.