Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (5)

 

 

“I have a longing for the world above where multitudes sing the great song, for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth. Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem.”

 

I love Hebrews 11:8 – 16, for it is not only the testimony of our fathers and mothers of faith, it is our testimony too – or at least it should be. Our spiritual ancestors were “looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” They confessed that they were “strangers and exiles on the earth” making it “clear that they are seeking a country of their own…a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

 

“Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

 

Our forebearers knew that the promise of a land was a shadow and type of a greater inheritance, a greater and lasting City and Land. Abraham was not focused on his descendants inheriting a strip of land in the Middle East, he was focused on what that land represented, becoming “heir of the world…through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13). The world which he was called to inherit was a heavenly world, kingdom, and City which would encompass and envelop and renew all things, heaven would (and will) descend upon earth.

 

Hence Paul writes that the earthly city of Jerusalem is not our mother and should not be our identity and focus, but rather the heavenly Jerusalem – the mother of those who live in the faith of Abraham (Galatians 4:21 – 31). How foolish we are to identify with earthly things when Jesus has said that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

 

Paul writes that we are to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1 – 2).

 

One of the great lies in our society is that a person can be so heavenly minded that he is of no earthly good. I have never encountered such a person, I have never read of such a person. On the contrary, it is often those who are heavenly minded who lead the way in caring for others – the poor, the refugee and alien, the homeless, the prisoner, the orphan and widow, the outcast, the sick. Those who are heavenly minded are those who point us to our destiny, to God our Creator and our Father, to the Christ of the Cross. Those who are heavenly minded insist that we do not prostitute ourselves to this present evil age, to its values, to its systems, to its prison of conformity to this world.

 

Those who are heavenly minded proclaim that, in Christ, we are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20). Those who are heavenly minded have the courage to live against the grain of the world, the flesh, and the devil; to witness for Jesus, to give their lives for Him and others. They also have the courage to live against the grain of a professing church that, at least in the West, has sold itself to the powers of the present age.

 

Those who are heavenly minded remind us that our souls were “never created to love the dust of the earth.”

 

Those who are heavenly minded sing Calvary’s Anthem, inviting us to sing the Great Song of the Ages.

 

Shall we join them?

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (4)

 

 

“O Lord, for ever will thy free forgiveness live that was gained on the mount of blood; in the midst of a world of pain it is a subject of praise in every place, a song on earth, an anthem in heaven, its love and virtue knowing no end.”

 

As I read the above, I recall Paul’s words, “For one will hardly die for a righteousness man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7 – 8).

 

Christ did not die for me because I was good, nor did He love me because I was good; He died for me when I was a sinner, but I was not just a sinner, I was an enemy of God. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

 

The love of God is beyond words. I was a sinner, a transgressor, but I was not only breaking the commandments of God, I was also an enemy of God. I was not only an individual enemy of God, but I was also joined to the realm of darkness and rebellion, I was participating in the rebellion of Satan (Psalm 2; Eph. 2:1 – 3). We must not gloss over our condition before being reconciled to God through the death of His Son, we must not fool ourselves about ourselves – this is true about who we were, it is also true about who we now are in Jesus Christ.

 

I was participating in the great family betrayal; the sons and daughters of the Living God had joined the forces of darkness through their sin and were living under the domain of Satan. When God sent His Only Begotten Son to bring us back to Himself, we killed Him, nailing Him to the Cross; unknowingly we were sacrificing the Lamb who was our true Passover. Jesus came to declare the Name of the Father to us (Heb. 2:9 – 13), and in the deep mysteries of God, even in our rebellion, we have heard His Voice. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God – is this not beyond words?

 

We were in such a condition that there was nothing we could do to help ourselves, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).

 

One translation has it, “when we were without strength.” I love that image, we could not lift a finger to help ourselves, we had no energy to save ourselves, we were overwhelmed by sin and evil and our wills were held captive by darkness until that Day when “He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13).

 

When we realize, in some measure for we can never (I think) see the full measure, our lost condition without Christ, when we see that we were His enemies, when we have a sense of our betrayal of God our Father, then we can begin to see the incredible love of God in Christ for us, for you and for me and for those around us. Then perhaps we can begin to sense the chasm that Christ crossed to love us, the depths of darkness into which He plunged to save us, His piercing cry on the Cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

O what a free forgiveness! We cannot merit it. We cannot deserve it. We cannot add to it. We cannot repay it. We can, by God’s grace, be good stewards of it; we can share it, we can live in it as God’s sons and daughters, we can sing Calvary’s Anthem, we can share this Good News with others.

 

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

the emblem of suffering and shame;

and I love that old cross where the dearest and best

for a world of lost sinners was slain.

 

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,

till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

and exchange it some day for a crown.

 

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,

has a wondrous attraction for me;

for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above

to bear it to dark Calvary. [Refrain]

 

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,

a wondrous beauty I see,

for ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,

to pardon and sanctify me. [Refrain]

 

To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,

its shame and reproach gladly bear;

then he’ll call me some day to my home far away,

where his glory forever I’ll share. [Refrain] (George Bennard)

 

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (3)

 

 

“At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones, and ample blessings that last forever; the blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace with never any diminishing of its fulness as thirsty ones without number drink of it.”

 

Picture, if you will please, a fine dining restaurant with luxury cars in its valet parking lot, with sophisticated patrons coming and going. Inside is a Matre’d, a sommelier, a place to check coats and hats, white tablecloths, and attentive servers. The menu has words that most of us don’t use every day, some are in French, others in Italian, and the wine list is a maze for many – some will admit this, others won’t.

 

Some of the patrons frequent this restaurant on a regular basis, others are there for a special occasion; some are about to spend more than they can afford. The elegance, the (let us hope) superior food, the service, the atmosphere, comes at a price; for some patrons the cost is inconsequential, for others it is manageable, for still others…well, perhaps they should have commemorated their special event elsewhere so that they could also enjoy financial piece of mind.  

 

Adjacent to the fine dining restaurant is a study in contrast, it is only there because it was there first and its owners will not sell their property. While there are a few luxury cars in the parking lot, most cars and pickup trucks and SUVs and motorcycles are unremarkable; the ones that are remarkable attract notice because of their age, they are old, some are rusted, some are banged up and need body work, and some have bald tires. As we ponder the parking lot, a transit bus stops and passengers get out and head to the door of the building next to the fine dining establishment.

 

This second building is also a place to eat, but all the money in the world cannot purchase a meal, for all meals are free. Why would those driving the few luxury cars in the parking lot, those who could dine anywhere they wanted to, who could dine next door with the wealthy, want to be found inside this unpretentious eatery? It is certainly not because it is free – these people can afford anything they want, well…almost anything.

 

They cannot purchase forgiveness or peace with God, nor can they do anything to earn peace with God or His forgiveness. But they can eat at the table with Jesus, they can eat with those He has redeemed, who have come to Him, and in doing so they sit at Table with rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated, people of all colors and languages and cultures. The meal is simple, yet not so simple.

 

It is bread and wine, it is His Body and Blood – and it is shared among all who enter. All patrons receive it from His hands, and they share it with one another, breaking the bread, breaking it again, and breaking it again; they are One Bread in Jesus Christ, One Loaf (1 Cor. 10:16 – 17).

 

Only the “poor and meek ones” may dine with Jesus, those who have repented in sorrow and surrender and who have taken up their cross to follow Him; those who have renounced their lives to live by His life, those who no longer belong to themselves. Only these can sing Calvary’s Anthem, only these can dine at the Master’s Table.

 

There are restaurants that require a coat and tie, restaurants that have a dress code. Jesus also requires a dress code to eat at His Table, and this dress code means that we cannot tell by one’s attire whether the person is rich or poor, we cannot tell from clothing what nation or culture people are from – we cannot tell anything about others in terms of their earthly lives (2 Cor. 5:16).

 

For the dress code of Jesus is the raiment of repentance, the clothing of humility and meekness and awareness of both sin and cleansing, of filth and purity – of joy and relief and peace that comes from drinking at the river of infinite grace. This means that we all look the same, in Jesus Christ we all look the same – we are all brothers and sisters of the same heavenly Family, drinking from His River, partaking of the Bread and Wine which is Jesus Christ.

 

As I ponder this admittedly poor image and illustration, I wonder why we attempt to make the “church” look like the world? Why do we market the Gospel with the world’s ways and methods, appealing to the consumerism of the world? Do we not know that the Gospel is foolishness to the natural man, that the Cross is an offense, and that until a man or woman or young person confronts the Christ of the Cross, that our cotton-candy religion will simply lull them into a false sense of spiritual security in which they can never have peace of mind or peace with God? (1 Cor. 1:17 – 2:5).

 

The world and the earthly church may not value the meek or the poor, but Christ Jesus bids them come to His Table and drink of His River, and that, my friends, is all that matters. O yes, it also matters whether you and I are among them.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:3 & 5).

 

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

 

Where are we dining today?