God Gave His Son

As we approach the Easter Season it is good to consider the eternal implications of the sacrifice our Saviour made when He died for our sins as well as the sacrifice the Father made as He turned His back upon His Son as the Son cried out,  "My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?...."

The following excerpt from my devotional book, "Gleaning Gospel, Gold" will perhaps give us just an inkling of the enormity of that eternal transaction of love:

"As the early morning sun peeped over the hill, silhouetting the drawbridge spanning the river in the valley below, a father and his young son made their way down the hillside. For months he had promised the lad he would take him to work with him one day. As he watched the young boy scampering up and down with his little lunch box in hand, he could sense his overwhelming excitement. A smile played across his face as he thought of the planned highlight of their day; a picnic lunch on the river bank. Perhaps he could set a line and, if they were lucky, they might catch a good fish. The little fellow could proudly show his Mom as he gave her a glowing report of their day together. 

His was no ordinary job. He operated a railroad drawbridge. He had the grave responsibility of raising and lowering the bridge on exact schedule; allowing the rail and river traffic to pass safely to and fro. His task allowed little or no margin of error. He soon settled into his daily routine, glancing occasionally at his young son happily exploring the wonders of nature along the bank of the river below. 

It was nearly time for their lunch and the bridge had just been raised to allow a barge tow to pass up river. As he prepared to push the levers that would lower it again in time to allow a special express holiday train to pass over safely, he heard his son’s first terrified cry. Glancing down quickly, his heart skipped a beat and it seemed his legs turned to jelly. "Oh no," he thought. "I told him to stay away from there!" The little lad’s leg was caught in large cluster of levers and gears in the midst of the moving machinery that raised and lowered the bridge. The cries of his son for help rose to a heart-rending crescendo. From high up he watched his only beloved son struggle and thrash frantically about and his heart sank with the sudden realisation that his little boy could not free himself.

What could he do now? No time to signal the train. No time to rush down and try to free his son. He must lower the bridge now or the train with its hundreds of passengers would plunge headlong into the cold river depths below. There could be no survivors. But if he hit the lever his son would be cruelly crushed. In a flash of precognition he visualised his son suffering a slow and agonising death, all the time crying out for his help. 

With a convulsive sob and a great cry of terrible agony, he leapt back to the control board and his hand fell heavily upon the lever. The train rushed safely across the bridge. As the holiday train sped on its merry way, the partying passengers never knew the agony of a father who sacrificed his only son that they might live!"

Did the above incident really occur? I don’t know. It’s my version of a story that goes so far back in my memory I am not sure I did not make it up to begin with. But one thing I do know. My Father did so much more for me and for all those who would trust in Him, as He heard from heaven the agonising cries and watched the cruel crushing of His only begotten Son in an agonising death on the cross of Calvary that I might be free from sin’s eternal condemnation and be freely given the gift of everlasting life in Him. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!" 

Like Him

In our century it has become increasingly clear that man's desire to be free of the surly bonds of earth and soar into the heavens has brought him to the very brink of new era. He has reached for the stars and seems to have taken a first feeble step into near space. Armstrong's historical statement, "One small step for man, one giant step for mankind," seems to summarise man's eternal quest for the heavens.

In spite of all the fantasising of science fiction, man is quickly becoming acutely aware of the many practical scientific problems posed in his penetration of outer space. It would seem that man is just too inhibited by the continuum of time, matter, energy and space to ever conceivably achieve his dream. The time required for man to travel safely at the speed required, using any propulsion and environmental survival systems that can be envisioned today, far exceeds man's survival capacity. The fragility of man's frame and the sensitivity of his biological systems mitigate against successful extended space travel.

Man's only real hope of breaking away from the forces of gravity and truly leaving the restrictive confines of this earth, lie in another direction entirely. Man  has the answer he seeks and the freedom he desires, but he does not seem to be willing to understand it or accept it. Man is truly designed for the stars, but he does not seem willing to fully come to grips with or grasp his eternal destiny.  A simple statement in the Word of God clearly settles the issue. John, in speaking of eternal sons of God said, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.." If we are to know the fantastic future our Creator God has in store for those eternal sons He has chosen as the eternal objects of His love in Christ Jesus, we only need to know what He is like. What He is like, physically, intellectually and spiritually is the key to our eternal existence. To really explore our future we must examine what He is like in His resurrected body. Because, as even Job understood two thousand years before the event, eternal sons and daughters of God will be given a completely new resurrected body - like Him.

Paul made sure we understood that this new body entailed an entirely different and glorious sphere of existence. Physically, that automatically entails transcending the continuum's of time, space and matter. Jesus clearly set aside the limitations of time, space and distance after His resurrection. Evidently he travelled from earth to paradise, to heaven and back to earth in an instantaneous manner. We can only speculate about the vast stellar distances involved. In doing so laws relating to energy and propulsion would of necessity be negated. Because our finite minds cannot comprehend such fantastic we are hesitant to fully accept it or speculate upon its full implications.

Perhaps it is enough to rejoice in being the eternal sons of God who will see some day Him as He is and be like Him in eternity!

Keeping On Keeping On

Luke 9:62

 'And Jesus said unto him, no man, having placed his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

As a young lad I had the special experience of following a horse drawn plough as the land was being carefully prepared for planting and cultivation. There is hardly a thing that is more pleasant to my mind than those memories of long ago. In my mind's eye I can feel once more the pleasant coolness of the rich damp soil against my bare feet on a hot and humid afternoon. The earthy and pungent odor of new turned soil again fills the air around me.

In the quietness of my memory I can still hear the sound of the breaking plough ripping its way through the fallow ground, leaving in its wake a squirming trail of worms, grubs and insects, and the occasional nest of field mice struggling for survival. The sights and sounds of spring overwhelm me with a nostalgic yearning to set my hand firmly to the plough once more and yell out, "Giddap," to the team for just one more turn around the field!

But the memory of row upon row of shiny sod cleaved by the sharp plough also reminds me of sweating from sun to sun under the glare of a blazing hot sun. I can also feel the pain of muscles strained wrestling with a heavy turning plough. As the long afternoon of struggle wears on, I can feel once again a bone-weariness, giving way to an almost irresistible desire to lay aside my assigned task and make my way to the old swimming hole to frolic in its cold depths with the neighbourhood boys.

It was in such a rural setting that I learned my first lessons of discipline. The discipline imposed by my desire to hear my parents say, "Well done!". The discipline required if I were ever to know the self-satisfying sight of a field well ploughed, planted, cultivated and harvested. What a great blessing parents impart to their children when they give them such a gift of a disciplined work ethic!

Jesus implies discipleship may be viewed as an expression of such discipline in the spiritual realm. The need for a serious and disciplined attitude and approach to the work of God has never been more apparent. It seems increasingly difficult to find people of God who are willing to carry His work on to an ultimate productive and fruitful conclusion. It seems many would much rather be frolicking with friends of the world in the cool pool of the pleasures of this world, than toiling as yoke fellows with Christ and fellow-labourers in the hot sun of the field of spiritual endeavour.

There is no doubt about the nature of our field of spiritual labour. Jesus commanded us to pray that the Lord would send labourers into the field of lost souls. We know what is involved in preparing the ground to plant the good seed. We know it is necessary to break up our fallow spiritual ground. We know a bit about the cultivation and watering often necessary to bring forth the harvest. We know we need to go forth with weeping, bearing the precious seed of the Word of God. We know the promise of the harvest to those who will really lift up their eyes to the possibilities involved in witnessing and soul winning. We know the law of sowing and reaping applies to the spiritual as well as the physical world and that our Lord has promised that we will joyfully reap in due season, if we faint not.  If we would be His disciple, we but need to keep on keeping on for the glory of God!

 - Pastor John White