March 19, 2018 (Monday)
R.G. Lee, that prince of preachers of generations past, went to the Holy Land, and stood on Mount Calvary, where Jesus was crucified. The guide noticed that Dr. Lee seemed to feel an emotional attachment to the place, and wondered why he seemed so interested. “Have you been here before?” he asked. “Oh, yes,” the great preacher replied, “Yes, son, I was here 2000 years ago.” Why would he say that? Centuries upon centuries passed after the crucifixion of Jesus before R.G. Lee was even born. How could he have been there? What did he mean by saying he had been there when Jesus was crucified?
He must have been thinking like the Apostle Paul, who said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NIV).” A few chapters later, the message continues, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14 NIV).”
Oh, yes, there is a connection. When we read the Scriptures, see the pageants, or hear the story once again, we seem to know instinctively, “That’s not just a story of a far away place in another time. That has something to do with me.”
The old spiritual song asks, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”
We sing joyfully, “At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day.”
Personally, I have never been to Israel. But I’ve been to The Cross. Have you?
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There’s more:
“Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life–no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of “death-as-the-end.” Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did. (Romans 6:6-11 The Message Translation).”