Torn and Smitten part 4
Let me quote our key passage for this Rant series again, "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hosea 6:1-2). We've been focusing on the idea of the world trying to tear and smite us. But today I want to try to put forth the idea that on the cross it was God smiting and tearing Himself. And not as a substition for us. I don't think the God who IS love ever wanted to tear and smite His creation--His most prized possession. I think Jesus WAS standing in for us, in a sense, because when He died... we died. And when He rose again, we rose again. We were already dead in our trespasses and sins. We needed a second death so that we could get a new birth. So that we could walk in newness of life. And since God wanted us to have this life--HIS life--He sacrificed HIMSELF. He laid His life down--for us and as us--so that He could pick it back up... and we could experience it. He tore Himself down. Emptied Himself of His divinity. Wrapped Himself in human flesh. Literally became sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He tore HIMSELF so that we wouldn't have to be torn. And by His stripes, we were healed. Read that again. By His stripes we WERE healed. Past tense. 2,000 years ago. But we don't receive that truth. We try to earn healing. We try to earn everything. Because that's what makes sense to the carnal mind--do good and be rewarded, do evil and be punished. But that's what the second death was: We died to death. We got rid of the carnal mind so that we could let the mind of Christ (that's already in us) be in us. And when I say "we" got rid of it, of course I mean HE got rid of it for us. In us. As us. So let's break this mindset that says we have to be punished before we can be blessed. Its nonsense. Poppycock. We have already been blessed. And it had nothing to do with our actions. God blessed us, because He wanted us to experience His blessings. It was a gift. And you can't earn a gift. You can earn wages, but when the Bible talks about wages it talks about the wages of sin. Which is death. Which (one more time) is where we were before the cross. The last enemy to be defeated was death. And Jesus defeated it when He died and rose again. And we were in Him when that happened. So WE defeated death and now have eternal, abundant, everlasting, Resurrection Life. A life of love. Of knowing (and believing) that we are loved, and loving others with that same love. Receiving it and releasing it. Receiving it BY releasing it. Releasing it by receiving it. Letting God love the hell out of us, and filling ourselves to overflowing with that love. Letting what's inside come out. You can't give what you don't have, right? And you can only give what you do have? So if you feel like you've been torn and smitten... you'll tear and smite people. Hurt people hurt people. But if you know that you are loved... you'll love people. If you know that God hath torn and hath smitten... Himself... for us, then you can move past all of that and start to enjoy the gift that you've been given. Enjoy it... experience it... by sharing it. By giving it away!