Tags
Bible Study, Bible themes; Revelation;, Death, Easter, faith, J R R Tolkein, Lord of the Rings, Mount Doom, Resurrection, sin
As I sit this morning watching the snow fall, it is hard to believe that it is almost Easter. But yesterday was Palm Sunday, the day in which we celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, on his way as an obedient son to complete the work the Father had sent him to do. And this week we spend time reflecting on the events of that week so long ago, which God so carefully orchestrated to show us the depths of his love. There are many rich and meaningful moments portrayed for us to ponder in the Gospels. Today I am thinking of the unfathomable mystery of what God does with our sin.
In Exodus 34:6-7 God says, The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” So we know that punishment was required for the guilt of our sin. Jesus took that punishment on the cross so that we might be justified. “ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”(2 Corinthians 5:19,21)
But what became of our sin? Where does it go? Psalm 103:12 “says as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Micah 7:18-19 says “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” These verses have all been the basis for popular songs, as we ponder how far the east is from the west, and just how deep the ocean floor is.
But the version I like best is from an old hymn by L. Wilbur Chapman, called “Glorious Day”. It says “buried, He carried my sins far away”. My sin went into the tomb with Christ. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”(1 Corinthians 15:3-4) When Jesus arose on that Sunday morning, he could no longer carry any vestige of our sin. He was in a perfect glorified body that would shortly ascend to be in heaven, sitting at the right hand of God. “… looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
This tomb then, equates with the bottom of the sea, the distance of the east from the west, and according to a sermon illustration by Paul Browne, at New Life Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Mount Doom in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. At the Council of Elrond many wise beings discuss how to vanquish the One Ring, which inspires evil in mankind as sin rules in us. One council member, Glorfindel, suggests “let us cast it into the deeps…in the Sea it would be safe.” But the One Ring, as with sin, cannot just be hidden away. As Gandalf points out, it would not be safe even in the sea, as “There are many things in deep waters; and seas and lands may change…We should seek the final end of this menace,” just as Christ sought to end sin’s dominion over us forever.
And the only place where the One Ring could be destroyed was in the depths of the volcano, Mount Doom. The heat of the fiery inferno where it was forged was the only place where it could be unmade, so as never to hold its powerful sway over any creature again. Yet even the brave hobbit Frodo could not willingly destroy the ring.
The same is true of our sin. We can’t cast it away, not matter how much we want to. No human effort can break the power of sin in our hearts. Only the power of God, which raised Christ from the dead, can destroy the hold of sin on us. “ having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:12-14)
Our sin was buried with Christ in the tomb, and left there when he arose. While we still have memory of our sin, we have the righteousness of Christ. So we can sing with David:
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)
Have a blessed Resurrection Day!
soli deo gloria,
Diane