What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol? (5)

October 17, 2011 Leave a Comment

Did Jesus drink alcoholic wine? Needless to say, it’s a touchy subject. To answer the question, all I know to do is go to the Bible.

I’ll begin by saying that the gospels make a point of not using oinos, the Greek word for alcoholic wine, in regards to the famous “last supper” that Jesus had with His apostles. We see this in Matthew 26:27-29, Mark 14:22-25, and Luke 22:14-22. I’ll quote the Matthew passage here:

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

You see, the original Greek of the New Testament is perfectly capable of differentiating between alcoholic wine and mere grape juice when the facts of the case call for it. And that’s exactly what Matthew, Mark, and Luke did concerning what Jesus served His apostles at the “last supper,” which was of course His formal instituting of what we now call the “Lord’s supper.” (By the way, whenever we come to the word “wine” in the New Testament we should remember that if the beverage in question had been grape juice, the writer of the passage could easily have gone with the Greek for “the fruit of the vine.”)

Okay, so the Bible teaches that Jesus didn’t serve alcoholic wine at His “last supper,” which might imply that He didn’t drink it at that meal either. But are there any other passages relevant to our question? Yes, there are. Mark 15:23 is one. In the context of describing Christ’s crucifixion, that verse says:

Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.

The verse’s Greek word for “wine” is the familiar oinos, which means alcoholic wine. The Romans offered such a drink as a painkiller to men being crucified. Jesus, however, refused it. Some will say that He refused it because He was thoroughly opposed to anyone drinking alcoholic beverages under any circumstances. As for me, I line up with those who believe that He refused it because He wanted to experience the fullness of the cross. He didn’t want His senses dulled in any way. If He was going to die to pay the world’s sin debt, He would do so without any aid from anything that would dull the pain and thus lessen the suffering.

And so we’ve seen that Jesus didn’t serve alcoholic wine at the “last supper” and He refused the same as He hung on the cross. So does that finish out the answer to our question? No, it doesn’t. We also need to consider the teaching of Matthew 11:18-19 and Luke 7:33-34, two passages which tell the same story. I’ll quote the one from Luke. It records Jesus saying to the Jewish religious leaders:

“For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”

Basically, those Jewish religious leaders couldn’t be appeased. On the one hand, they criticized John the Baptist for his isolationist lifestyle and minimalistic diet (Luke 1:13-15; Matthew 2:4). On the other hand, they criticized Jesus for the fact that, socially speaking, He was the polar opposite of John the Baptist (Luke 5:27-32). But what we want to focus on is the fact that those leaders called Jesus a “winebibber,” which means “a person who drinks excessive amounts of wine.”

Now we need to be careful here because we can’t assume that Jesus drank alcoholic wine just because those Jews said that He did. With that noted, however, I don’t feel totally comfortable believing that they just pulled the accusation out of thin air. After all, they didn’t call John the Baptist a “winebibber,” did they?

I suppose the accusation could have simply grown out of Jesus attending feasts like the one in the home of Matthew (Levi) (Luke 5:29-32). Surely alcoholic wine was served at that feast. But, admittedly, Jesus being at such a feast doesn’t necessarily mean that He drank wine there.

Let’s understand, though, that some of those Jewish leaders were either in attendance at Matthew’s feast or had direct knowledge about it (Luke 5:30). So was it a boldfaced lie when they called Jesus a “winebibber” or did they know for certainty that He drank wine and simply exaggerated His drinking? That’s a good question. I wish we could nail down the answer with a high degree of certainty.

There are some who contend that Jesus would never have drunk wine because that would have violated Old Testament law concerning the priesthood. Certainly Jesus did live His earthly life as a Jew who kept that body of law that God had given to Moses and the Israelites. He even made a point of saying, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17) And what did that law command concerning priests as they ministered in the tabernacle (temple)? Leviticus 10:8-11 tell us:

Then the Lord spoke to Aaron (Israel’s first high priest), saying: “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statue forever throughout your generations, that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”

You say, “Ah, at last, that settles it! Jesus would never have drunk alcoholic wine because He was a priest, like Aaron.” Well, unfortunately, things aren’t so cut and dried as that. Consider the following facts:

#1: That law specifically dealt with ministering in the Jewish tabernacle or (later on) the Jewish temple. But Jesus never ministered as a priest at the temple of His day. He visited there, but He certainly never performed any priestly duties there. Israel had its own priests.

#2: The New Testament book of Hebrews emphatically teaches that even though Jesus is a High Priest, He isn’t of the priestly order of Aaron. He is, instead, of the priestly order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:1-6; 7:1-27) Interestingly, Melchizedek ministered in a time before the building of the Jewish tabernacle or the temple.

#3: In Genesis 14:18-20, the only Old Testament passage that speaks of Melchizedek, he brings two particular items to Abraham. Guess what they are: bread and (you got it) wine.

And so, in conclusion, what answer are we left with at the end of this post? Did Jesus drink alcoholic wine or not? The truth is, there is simply no way to take the Bible and build a 100% case for either a yes or a no answer. But if you pin me up against a wall and force me to state my opinion, I’ll say that I believe that, on occasion, He did. I just don’t think those Jewish religious leaders completely fabricated that charge about Him being a “winebibber.” Obviously, He never drank wine to excess because that would have been a sin. But I lean toward thinking that those guys had at least seen him drink some wine. And as for the argument that Old Testament law concerning the priesthood kept Him from drinking, as I’ve shown you that argument can be refuted pretty easily.

Filed under alcohol, Christ's Death, Crucifixion, The Lord's Supper Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

How You Get In

August 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

Dr. Thomas John Barnardo was revered in London for his work with orphans. One day a dirty, destitute little boy came to him and asked for admission to the London orphanage. Somewhat surprised, Barnardo said, “But, my boy, I don’t know you. Who are you? What do you have to recommend you?” The little boy held up his tattered coat and said, “If you please, sir, I thought these here rags would be all I needed to recommend me.” Barnardo swept the child up into his arms and said, “You are right, little fellow! Welcome to our orphanage!”

Just as that little boy’s ragged attire was all he needed to receive help from Dr. Barnardo, our sins are all we need to receive help from Jesus. But, like that boy, we must see our need for help. It is only when we stop attempting to justify ourselves and cleanse our own sins that Christ can step in and provide the forgiveness we need.

One writer has described it this way:

God has no message and no blessing for men who are trying to justify themselves. As long as you try to make a good name for yourself, God can only condemn you; but when you come into His presence and confess yourself a lost, guilty sinner, God has a message and a blessing for you. “God so loved the world” – a wicked, corrupt and ungodly world, and you and I belong to it.

Going back to the illustration of the little boy and the orphanage, yes, his rags got him inside the doors. But it wasn’t just his rags; it was also the love, grace, and authority of Dr. Barnardo. Okay, think of heaven as the orphanage and God the Father as Dr. Barnardo. How does the lost sinner get in? He gets in by way of his sins (rags). But, you see, those sins must stand as forgiven, and God the Father only forgives the sins of those who have believed in God the Son (Jesus) as Savior.

You ask, “But didn’t Christ’s death on the cross pay the sin debt for the whole world?” Yes, it did, but that doesn’t mean that the whole world is saved. Only those who stop trying to work out their own salvation and believe in Christ exclusively for the forgiveness of sins are saved. While it’s true that Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient for God to forgive all sins, that death is only efficient for those who place their belief in Christ. So, when everything is said and done, the question that each of us must ask ourselves is, “Am I in?”

Filed under Belief, Christ's Death, Forgiveness, God's Holiness, Heaven, salvation Tagged with , , , , , ,

Why The Christian Will Be In Heaven

August 8, 2011 Leave a Comment

Evangelist Dr. A.J. Fristoe tells the story of something that happened to him when he accepted an invitation to preach a revival in London, England. He said that upon his arrival he was met by those who had invited him. They told him that he would be staying in one of the finest palaces in England. It had all been arranged by the couple who owned the home. They had put in a special request that Dr. Fristoe be allowed to stay with them.

Even as Fristoe traveled to the home, he had to question why the wealthy couple would be so gracious to him. The mystery only deepened when he met them and realized that they were strangers to him. It wasn’t until all three were comfortably seated in an exquisite living room that he got his explanation.

The couple’s son, an officer in the Royal navy, was stationed on the other side of the world, but he had heard that Dr. Fristoe was to be in London. It was the young man who had sent instructions for his parents to be so hospitable to Dr. Fristoe. As the couple described their son, Dr. Fristoe did indeed remember him. The officer had been on a ship that had put into Norfolk, Virginia for repairs years earlier when Fristoe was serving as the pastor of a church there. The officer had attended Fristoe’s church and gotten to know the preacher quite well. Fristoe had invited the young man into his home for dinner on multiple occasions. There the two had enjoyed long discussions on the subject of religion, and those discussions had led the young man to believe in Christ as Savior. Dr. Fristoe had even baptized him.

After the officer’s ship had pulled out of Norfolk, he had kept in touch with Fristoe. Upon hearing that Fristoe would be preaching a revival in London, the officer had cabled his parents and instructed them to extend the invitation to the evangelist. After the explanation was all given, the couple ended it by saying, “Dr. Fristoe, you are here because of our son.”

The spiritual parallel isn’t hard to spot. Christian, when you journey to heaven and arrive at that indescribably beautiful place, God the Father could rightly look at you and say, “You are here because of My Son.” Take some time today to thank Jesus for the awesome fact that heaven awaits you when you leave this world.

Filed under Christ's Death, church, Church attendance, God's Work, Heaven, Influence, salvation Tagged with , , , , , ,

Find Things For Which To Be Thankful

August 1, 2011 Leave a Comment

A subway car was overly crowded, which caused several people to be forced to stand. Naturally, most of them were griping about the situation. As the car pulled into another station where still more people boarded, one man who was standing said to those coming aboard, “I hope you people like standing because we’ve been doing it for a long while.” He didn’t see the crippled invalid who was helped aboard the train and graciously given a seat, but the invalid heard the comment. To it he somberly replied, “You are fortunate.”

Please don’t hypocritically judge the fellow who was standing. The fact is, he could have been any of us. Speaking personally, his complaint sounds just like something that I would have said. It’s just typical human nature, isn’t it? But that doesn’t make it right or pleasing to God.

Hebrews 13:15 says:

Therefore by Him (Jesus) let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Christian, I ask you, how are you doing at continually offering the sacrifice of praise to God? What form is the fruit of your lips taking these days? Are you in the habit of giving thanks to the name of the Lord? Truth be told, our answers to these questions probably leave much to be desired.

The Lord knows that you have legitimate problems. He also knows that life can oftentimes be a difficult game to play. But through it all He remains forevermore worthy to be praised. Even during those instances in which you don’t feel like praising Him, He is still worthy. The secret is to train yourself to count your blessings. As the old saying goes, “Count your blessings one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

You see, even that crippled invalid who was boarding that train wouldn’t have had to look very hard to find something for which to be thankful. He could have been thankful for the people who helped him get aboard the train. He could have been thankful for the person who gave up his seat for him. He could have been thankful that someone in his condition could get aboard a train and travel to distant places, places he could never have seen on his own. Do you see my point?

So in the midst of all your grumbling and complaining, make yourself stop and be thankful for all the good things that God has sent your way. And if you can’t come up with anything, be thankful for the fact that Jesus Christ (God the Son) left heaven, took upon Himself human flesh, lived without sin among men, died on a cross to pay the sin debt for the sins of the world, arose from the dead, ascended back to heaven, and now offers salvation and forgiveness of all sin to anyone who will believe in Him as Savior. Trust me, that one item right there should be enough to keep you thankful for all eternity.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, contentment, Disappointment, Forgiveness, perseverance, Problems, salvation, Thankfulness Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Israel & the Old Testament Law

July 14, 2011 Leave a Comment

M.R. DeHaan was a well known pastor, author, and Bible teacher. He spoke to millions each week through his radio ministry Radio Bible Class. In his commentary Studies In Galatians, he offers a wonderful illustration to explain why God gave His law exclusively to Israel and not to the Gentile nations of the world. Here’s the illustration:

Imagine a man moving from Cuba to Canada. In Cuba he raised bananas successfully. He leases a tract of land in Canada and tells his landlord he is going to raise bananas. The landlord objects and says, “It cannot be done here,” and the argument waxes hotter and hotter as one insists it can be done and the other KNOWS it cannot be done.

Finally there is nothing left to do but permit the misguided farmer from Cuba to try it out. The boss helps him to make everything available for a good test, knowing beforehand it will not work. Now the whole farm of 640 acres is not planted, but only the most adaptable and naturally likely spot is chosen, say ten acres in the lee of a mountain, on the south exposure where the soil is best. It is fertilized and thoroughly worked, the best of plants are procured, and all that summer the most meticulous care is bestowed upon the banana plants.

But in late August comes a frost and the crop is a failure. They try it another year with the same result. And another, and another, and still another year, and always a frost and a failure. Now suppose they have tried it for FIFTEEN HUNDRED SEASONS. The owner finally says, “Now are you convinced?”

No more testing is needed. By this experiment on the most likely soil under the most ideal conditions in all Canada it is proven that bananas WILL NOT GROW ANYWHERE IN CANADA. He has proven, not only that bananas cannot be grown on that particular ten acres, but NOWHERE ELSE IN CANADA, where the conditions are not even as good as they were here.

Israel thought that they could keep the law. No amount of dealing with them could convince them of the greatness of their sin. So God gave them a law; a perfect law, a holy law, a just law. Then He planted them in a sheltered land, drove out the enemies for them. He sent them godly priests and prophets and kings. He gave them a ritual and the oracles and a perfect law and said, “Now see what you can do.”

Under the most promising circumstances and blessings which no other nation ever enjoyed, He left them for fifteen hundred years under the law, but – NO BANANAS. God has now proven that NO ONE can be saved by the law, since the experiment of Israel under the most blessed and salutary conditions failed utterly and completely.

Now, what you need to understand is that the body of law that God gave to Israel was the absolute pinnacle of what could be described as “living by good works.” Putting it another way, if any human being could ever truly live a life “good” enough to earn salvation, it would be by way of keeping the Old Testament law to perfection. But, alas, God’s great experiment with Israel has now proven once and for all what He already knew about us: No one can keep God’s law perfectly and thereby earn salvation as a reward.

And that’s where we get all of the Bible verses that speak to this subject. Here are a few of them:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)

Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law… (John 7:19)

…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. (Galatians 2:16)

So, in the end, if you think that your works are “good” enough to get you into heaven when you die, believe me when I say that you are wrong, wrong, wrong. You’re just like the stubborn farmer who kept trying to grow bananas in Canada. You might as well give up because what you are trying to do is impossible. The only way for you to see the inside of heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Allow His death on the cross to serve as the payment for all the sins of your life, and eternally stand in the complete forgiveness that is only found in Him.

Filed under Belief, Christ's Death, God's Holiness, Heaven, salvation, Sin Tagged with , , , , ,

How Optimistic Are You About Your Future?

June 22, 2011 Leave a Comment

Flagstaff, Maine was chosen as the site for a huge hydroelectric installation. The installation would include a dam that would impound miles and miles of water and bury the town under water. So, in 1950, the town was physically abandoned.

Even before everybody left, when the plan was first approved and announced, the need to keep up the appearance of the town went by the wayside. No one bothered to paint his house anymore. Worn streets were left unrepaired. The school building and the church building were left to decline. One newspaper reporter who went there summed up the situation by saying, “Apparently, when there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”

That’s a profound statement, isn’t it? And in the light of it I want to ask you this question: When you think about your future, do you do so with optimism or dread? Imagine yourself ten years from now. Do you see yourself as happier, more at peace, and more contented? Or do you see yourself in an even worse state than your current one? How you answer says a lot about you.

Every Christian should be an optimist because, if for no other reason, he or she is bound for heaven and eternal bliss. You can’t beat that for a future. 1 Peter 1:4 describes it as:

…an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

Be sure to notice that word “inheritance.” How does a person collect an inheritance? Somebody else has to die. Well, who died so that the Christian can collect a heavenly inheritance? The answered is found in the preceding verse, 1 Peter 1:3:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

You see, Christian, you have been begotten to “a living hope,” and that hope and optimism about the future should be inseparable. Does this mean that you won’t have any difficult times here upon this earth? No. Does it mean that the last days of your earthly life will be the happiest days of it? Not necessarily. But what it does mean is that you can be sincerely optimistic about the future because you understand that this world isn’t the end. Even if things get bad for you down here, you have an unshakable reservation for a better place. The point is, if you are looking to the future with dread, you just aren’t looking out there far enough.

Filed under Attitude, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, contentment, Heaven, Reward, salvation Tagged with , , , , ,

Suffering

June 2, 2011 Leave a Comment

We live in a culture in which we are taught to avoid suffering at all costs. After all, avoiding it does seem to make perfect sense. However, the problem is that God, Who oftentimes delights in making little or no sense, sees suffering as one of His tools. It’s a tool He uses to grow the sufferer in terms of maturity and spirituality. As one writer has written, “God often digs the wells of joy with the spade of sorrow.” Another one has written, “A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor; uninterrupted prosperity and crowning success never qualifies a man for usefulness and genuine happiness.”

Coming at this issue another way, we know that God certainly used the sufferings of Jesus. No, Jesus didn’t need to become more mature or grow spiritually, but God used Christ’s sufferings in an even greater way: to provide a payment for the world’s sin debt. Hebrews 9:26 says that Jesus “has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” And in Luke 24:25 Jesus says of His death, burial, and resurrection, “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”

My goal with this post is to remind us that suffering, as unpleasant as it is, is not without its benefits. As a matter of fact, the Bible actually sings the praises of suffering for the sake or cause of Christ. Acts 5:41 says of the apostles who had just been beaten:

So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Along the same lines, Philippians 1:29 says:

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

Of course, such passages exclusively apply to the Christian. But if you are a Christian there is one other passage that I’d like to share with you. It’s Romans 8:18:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

That is the verse that I will leave with you today, Christian. So if any bouts of suffering do come your way, please try to keep them in proper perspective. Remember that they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will one day be revealed in you. This is the great promise that allowed the apostles to rejoice that they got to suffer for Christ’s name, and it’s the same promise that should motivate us today.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Disappointment, Patience, Persecution, perseverance, Problems, Reward, salvation, Waiting Tagged with , , , ,

Be Sure To Get All The Message

April 22, 2011 Leave a Comment

In Napoleon’s day, long-range signaling was done by means of semaphoring. So when news of the battle of Waterloo came in to England, a signalman on board a ship semaphored the first word, “Wellington.” Then he sent the next word, “defeated.” But after that a fog came down and prevented the ship from being seen for the next few hours. Naturally, the message “Wellington defeated” spread like wildfire through England. That, of course, was terrible news for the nation.

However, once the fog finally lifted, the signalman was able to finish sending his message. And the whole message was “Wellington defeated the enemy.” With that news, England’s gloom was turned to joy.

We might say that when the body of Christ was laid in the tomb following His crucifixion, the fog came down and the rest of the message couldn’t be seen. But on the third day the fog lifted as Christ arose victorious from the grave. On Easter Sunday we celebrate the lifting of the fog and the completion of the message. So let us never leave Christ’s body hanging dead on the cross or decomposing in the tomb. We must always be sure that the world hears ALL the message.

Filed under Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Easter Tagged with , , , , , ,

The Indian Chief & Jesus

February 7, 2011 Leave a Comment

A missionary preached to a group of Indians, telling them that Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, had voluntarily died for their sins. The old Indian chief was very moved by Christ’s sacrifice and decided to do something for the Lord Jesus. So he rose to his feet, walked up to the missionary, laid his tomahawk at the missionary’s feet, and said, “Chief give his tomahawk to Jesus.” Then he went back and sat down.

The missionary, sensing that the Holy Spirit was working on the chief, started preaching again. This time he told the Indians that God, in giving us Jesus, had given us His absolute best. The chief listened carefully, considered the matter, and then walked forward again, this time carrying his blanket. He laid the blanket at the missionary’s feet and said, “Chief give his blanket to Jesus.”

But that still wasn’t the response the missionary was seeking, and so he went to preaching again. He told the Indians how Jesus, even though He was rich in heaven, had become poor for us by being born in a manger, living a humble life, and dying by way of a cruel, humiliating cross. This compelled the chief to leave the meeting, go and get his horse, bring the animal to the missionary, and say, “Chief give his horse to Jesus.”

Now the chief thought to himself, “I have given everything I have to Jesus, who gave Himself for me.” The missionary, however, started up yet another round of preaching. This time he explained that Jesus had arisen from the dead, appeared to many in His post-resurrection body, ascended back to heaven forty days later, and was now seated at the right hand of His heavenly father, calling men and women to Himself. And it was then that the Indian chief finally understood why the missionary had never seemed satisfied with the fine gifts. The chief stood up again, walked forward, bowed himself at the missionary’s feet, and said, “Chief give himself to Jesus.”

Ah friend, there it is! That is the decision that Jesus wants from each of us, and it is a far cry from merely attending church, putting some money in the offering plate, owning a Bible, praying prayers, trying to live a moral life, etc. Certainly each of those things is proper when understood in its rightful place. But, really, when it comes to salvation, they are all just tomahawks, blankets, and horses. What Jesus truly wants is you, lock, stock, and barrel. And, just to be honest about it, when He has you like that, He’ll have you keep all your tomahawks, blankets, and horses and use them in service to Him.

Filed under Belief, Choices, Christ's birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Commitment, Crucifixion, Evangelism, giving, God's Will, preaching, salvation, stewardship, Thankfulness Tagged with , , , , , ,

The Burned Spot

February 1, 2010 Leave a Comment

In the days when America’s west was being settled, praire fires were the scourge of the land. The very thought of them struck terror into the hearts of the people. With dry grass standing high, sometimes as high as a horse’s head, the fires could sweep over vast acreages and not lack for fuel. To get caught out in the midst of such a fire meant certain death.

Over the course of time, though, people figured out how to remain safe during such a time. The trick was to take a match and start another fire in a circular pattern in the grass. Once the grass inside that circle was consumed, a stand could be taken inside the burned spot. The praire fire would burn all around the spot but not come inside it. It couldn’t come inside because the grass there to fuel it was already burned.

When God looks down upon the earth, He still sees a certain spot just outside the old city of Jerusalem. It is a burned spot that the fires of His holy wrath consumed some two thousand years ago. The spot goes by different names: Calvary (Luke 23:33), Golgatha (John 19:17), and the Place of a Skull (Matthew 27:33). Scholars debate the precise location of it, but God knows exactly where it is. It was at that spot that Jesus died on a Roman cross for the sins of the world. The burning of the spot reached its climax when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

The fact is, the fire of God’s wrath must sweep through the life of each sinner. His indescribable holiness demands it. Those who have believed in Jesus as Savior are granted the privilege of standing inside the burned spot of the cross. Jesus has already taken God’s wrath for us. We can watch in safety as the fire rages all around us but never touches us. On the other hand, those who have not believed in Jesus as Savior must face the fire of God’s wrath out in the open, on their own. As John 3:16-18 and 36 put it:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God…He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

 

 

Filed under Belief, Christ's Death, Coming Judgment, Crucifixion, Forgiveness, God's Wrath Tagged with , , , , ,

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