Day 4 Thoughts from the Sukkah 2015/5776

I ended Day 1 with this thought.

Think about the people you are sure are enemies of God. Think about the people you are sure will not be in eternity with God – and who you are okay with knowing that is their fate because you know God is not okay with what they are doing. Then ask yourself, why are you okay with that?

Jonah didn’t want to take the message of repentance leading to grace to the Ninevites because he didn’t want them to be forgiven.

When asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Yeshua answered that it’s about who you are a neighbor to.

Throw in a parable about the workers who get hired early in the morning being jealous of the workers hired at the end of the day – and missing that they got to spend all day in the field with the Master. A parable about a servant forgiven much who turns around and refuses to forgive a fellow servant for a small debt. A parable about the sower sowing the seed without regard for the ground – even thought not all the ground was able to allow the seed to take root and grow.

Are you seeing the pattern?

When Yeshua hung on the cross He prayed, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

That’s a really powerful prayer!

The thing He said while hanging on the cross that gets quite a bit more attention, however, is this, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)

I have heard it taught that God forsook Yeshua when he hung on the cross.  That God turned His back to Yeshua and could not look on him or be in his presence because he was covered in sin and God cannot be in the presence of sin.

Then I learned that, culturally, if someone referenced a line from a Psalm it would call the attention of the listeners who knew their Scripture to the entire passage containing that line.  We have similar references today, though not generally of Psalms.  If someone sings a line from a favorite song, the entire song comes to your mind.  If someone references a poem, the poem and the meaning are instantly at the center of your thoughts.  There is a quote from Friends for every situation you might face!

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is the first line from Psalm 22.  I encourage you to read it.  It’s very Messianic, and I have no doubt that at the time Yeshua cried out these words, the full meaning of his words were powerful and understood!

14 I am poured out like water.
All my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
it is melted within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded me.
A company of evildoers have enclosed me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
17 I can count all of my bones.
They look and stare at me.
18 They divide my garments among them.
They cast lots for my clothing.

What an appropriate reference!

Then one day it hit me – the reason that what I’d been told about Yeshua’s words bothered me in a deep place – the idea that God cannot be in the presence of sin is blasphemous!  It presents a weak God who is weakened by sin as though it’s his kryptonite.  That is offensive!

It is sin that cannot be in the presence of God!

God is a holy refiner’s fire – burning the dross (sin) from us. When our sin enters His presence it is burned up. This is why Yeshua – blameless, sinless, God in flesh – was able to take the sins of the entire world upon Himself and stand in the Throneroom as it was burned completely and He was able to withstand the fire.  If we were to stand in the presence of God with our sin upon us, we would likely not do so well.

God’s grace is to save us from the power of sin and death – the consequence of what would happen if we carried our sin before God’s throne ourselves.  Because of what Yeshua did we can . . . “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

The Gospel . . . The Good News! . . . is that God did this for us when we didn’t deserve it.  He did not get anything in this exchange except the salvation of His Creation.  He did it because He loves us. He loves me. He loves you. He loves everyone. He loves all of the people who you think that He shouldn’t save.  He doesn’t have a problem.  And if you, or I, have a problem with God saving those people we don’t think deserve it, then we have a problem.

Which leaves us with the question of what we will do about our problem.

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