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?

 

Calvary's Anthem - A Meditation (2)

 

“For there is power in the blood of Calvary to destroy sins more than can be counted even by one from the choir of heaven. Thou hast given me a hill-side spring that washes clear and white, and I go as a sinner to its waters, bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.”

 

When I was a lad we sang of the blood of Jesus. There is Power in the Blood; Are You Washed in the Blood?; When I See the Blood; There is a Fountain; O the Blood of Jesus. Later Andre Crouch came along with The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power.

 

How I love the vibration in my soul when I sing, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.” The music of this hymn communicates reverence, holiness, and commands attention.

 

When I See the Blood takes us back to the Passover in Exodus and God’s promise that His judgment will pass over those households with the blood of a lamb on the lintels of their doors. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul reminds us that, “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed for us.” In our present age of Biblical illiteracy within the professing church, we do not readily make the connection between the first Passover in Exodus and the Perfect Passover of the Lamb on the Cross.

 

About eight years ago I was in a Sunday school class which was using curriculum from what was supposed to be an Evangelical denomination, written by a Ph.D. within the denomination. The lesson was on the Passover in Exodus and there was not one mention of Christ being our Passover Lamb. I could not believe it. I had to interrupt the teacher and make the connection between Exodus and Jesus for the class.

 

What is perhaps worse is that no one else in the class made the connection, even though most, if not all, of the people had been professing Christians for decades, many growing up in the congregation – a congregation which professed to be Bible believing. When I was a young Christian such ignorance would have been unthinkable in the congregations I knew.

 

The story of the Passover and God’s assurance of mercy remains a comfort to me in Christ, I trust the blood of the holy, pure, and spotless Lamb of God.

 

The hymn Are You Washed in the Blood? begins, “Have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” This is the question that matters, is it not? Do we even ask this question anymore?

 

Do preachers and pastors ask it? Do elders and deacons ask it? Do professing Christians ask it? We can have all the group therapy sessions we want on Sunday mornings, sing songs, engage in self-improvement, have motivational messages – have our coffee bars and our doughnuts and sit in our seats eating bagels and omelets – but if we aren’t washed in the blood of the Lamb we are dirty and unclean and under the judgment of God for we have not run to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing and new life in Him.

 

Have we forgotten the deadly seriousness of sin? Have we glossed over its evil consequences? Have we downplayed the holiness of God and the utter wickedness of who we are outside of Jesus Christ, outside of the Cross, outside of being washed in the blood?

 

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?

 

How I love to sing There is Power in the Blood. “Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, pow’r in the blood, would you o’er evil a victory win? There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.”

 

The evil, of course, is not “out there,” it is within me and within you. Jesus has broken the power of the evil one “out there,” we must be washed in the blood and die with Him and be raised with Him for the evil within us to be broken, there is indeed power in the blood of the Lamb.

 

When we gloss over our sin, when we treat sin as some kind of developmental problem that can be cured with therapy and self-improvement programs and self-talk and positive reinforcement and developing a better self-image…we are fools and we are believing the lies of the devil. Only Jesus Christ and His blood and His Cross can free us from sin and from self, only the power of Jesus Christ can set us free. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can wash our sins away.

 

Another verse says, “Would you do service to Jesus your King? There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood. Would you live daily His praises to sing? There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.”

 

Do we think about doing service to Jesus today? Are we interested in singing His praises daily? I seldom hear church folks speak of wanting to serve Jesus. I hear them speak of politics, of the economy, of sports, of entertainment, of acquiring more and more things, but I seldom hear anyone speak of serving Jesus Christ, I seldom catch anyone singing about Jesus Christ.

 

Friends, we can get caught up in “Christian” music all we want, but if we ourselves are not singing to Him, if we are not singing to one another and rejoicing with one another in Him, then we are deceiving ourselves – we really don’t know what worship is, we don’t know what true “Praise and Worship music” is, because if it isn’t flowing from our own hearts and souls then we are substituting what others do for our own koinonia with Christ.

 

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

 

If we aren’t doing this as our way of life in Christ, then something is terribly wrong. If we can’t sing with our friends, if we can’t share a song with others, something is amiss. What would happen if no musicians or choirs showed up on Sunday morning? Would we sit like those who cannot speak? Would we wait for someone else to lead in song? Is this a game we’re playing, or are we living in service to Jesus our King?

 

Calvary’s Anthem could also be titled, An Anthem of the Blood of the Lamb, for indeed it is. The blood of the Lamb flows from Calvary, from the hands and feet and head and side of Jesus Christ. It flows from eternity past into time and space, down through the ages, and onward and upward into eternity future. It is a glorious and mighty river, and the Lamb beckons us all to be washed in His sacrificial blood, to confess our sins, to repent (which means to change direction and follow Him), and to live daily for Him.

 

“It reaches to the highest mountain, it flows to the lowest valley. The blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power” (Andre Crouch).

to be continued....