You Shall Call His Name Jesus

I was watching a live internet broadcast the Christmas production The Story this week.  While it is a production performed during the Christmas season, it is not particularly a "Christmas production".  It is a musical production performed by multiple big-name Christian artists telling the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  I joined the broadcast during the second half which depicted the New Testament.  While the entire portion of the production that I saw was AMAZING, one particular segment struck me and inspired this blog post.

The story is recounted in all of the Gospels.  An unnamed man condemned to die.  Guilty of an unknown crime against an innocent, unnamed victim.  A criminal.  A transgressor.  Scourge of the earth.  Robber?  Thief?  Rapist?  Murder?  We are not told for sure.  Matthew 27:38 and Mark 15:27 refer to him as a "robber".  Luke 23:39 describes him only as a "criminal."  John 19:18 does not describe the nature of his crime, only referring to him as "a man."  What we do know, by his own admission, that he is guilty.  He did it.  He confessed.  He was tried, sentenced and convicted.

Whatever he did must have been pretty serious; he was sentenced to death.  No opportunity for parole.  No chance at early release for good behavior...DEATH.  And not just any death.  Death by crucifixion.  THE most painful and, you might say, inhumane way to be executed.  Slow, agonizing, painful death.

Guilt, condemnation and death.  That was to be his epitaph.  "Here lies a guilty man.  Condemned and executed for crimes against his fellow man."

But hanging beside him was another man.  This man was guilty of nothing.  He had done nothing wrong.  He did not steal.  He did not kill.  He did not rape.  He did not murder.  He committed no crime.  But there he hung between two convicted criminals.  The same sentence.  The same punishment.  Death.  And with eyes of compassion and love, Jesus looked on the unnamed convicted, guilty man and declared, "...today you will be with me in Paradise."

While watching that production of The Story, I was reminded (and this is the key of this post):  that unnamed thief could be you and me.  We were born into the sins of Adam and Eve.  Death was our future.  Guilty.  No hope.  No future.  Destined to die.  BUT Jesus took upon Himself the punishment and death that were rightfully ours.  He paid the penalty to redeem us from our sins.

Thank God for Jesus and his willingness to obey...even to death.  Born of a virgin in a stable.  Wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.  Thank God for this season when we celebrate the birth of our Deliverer, our Emmanuel which means "God with us",  our Comforter, our Savior.

Remember the whole reason for the season.  Had He not been born, He could not have died and that unnamed man on the cross...and you and I...could not have been saved.

Haunted by the Past

Philippians 3:12-14 "I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.  No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."


I was reminded of a message I preached some time ago about people who are haunted by their past.  Past mistakes...past failures...past hurts...past disappointments...past "insert noun here".  In that message I referred to the account in Genesis 19 where God had vowed to destroy the city of Sodom because of its evil ways.  In His mercy, God had promised that a godly man named Lot and his family would escape the judgement.  They were simply instructed to leave the city and, very specifically, not look back.  The evil and destruction that was to come upon the city were to be put behind Lot and his family.  It was to be left in their past.


However, Lot's wife was unable to resist the temptation to look back and, as the Bible depicts, she was turned into a pillar of salt.  She, too, was destroyed.  You could say that her demise was caused by her looking back into her past.


What conclusions can we draw from this?  A very simple truth.  There is nothing in your past that can help you.  Focusing on past hurts and disappointments and failures can only lead one to destruction.  The way I like to put it...focusing on one's past brings it back into the present and affects the future.  


Perhaps you have been hurt by a close friend or family member...disappointed by a circumstance or situation...disillusioned by past failures and mistakes...Paul's words of encouragement are for you.  Ask God to separate you from your past.  Resist the temptation to look back.  Focus on God who is your future.  Keep your eyes on Him and allow Him to rescue you from the destruction of your past.