Offense That Heals

In Solidarity, At Golgotha

Along with doubtless everyone in the country we have been exercised and provoked in soul by the Christchurch quake. We are also approaching Easter when judgment fell upon our Lord. That too is always trying time, when we, along with all Believers, stand at Golgotha and contemplate what we have done. With the hymn writer we confess:

Behold the Man upon a cross
My guilt upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

The article of Christ's substitutionary atonement comes right out of Scripture itself. The Apostle Peter, speaking under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, declares, "And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the Cross . . ." (I Peter 2:24) Golgotha is a place of terrible divine judgment and retribution. The guilt of all the sin of all His people fell upon Him; He bore it for them in their place.

Therefore, Golgotha is also a place where Believers, along with the Saviour, die. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot, on the one hand, believe that the Christ loved His people so much that He bore the wrath of God on their behalf, without on the other, judging and rejecting one's own life of sinfulness, mockery and unbelief. So, Peter again: "And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the Cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." (I Peter 2:24)

Jesus under the Judge and Executioner. That is what Golgotha is about. All Christians know this. They know they stand in the judgment of God upon them, in Christ. It is not a pleasant place to be. But if there is to be any hope, any love, any consolation at all it will only be found at this wretched place, and in this Person.

The modern Unbeliever bridles at suggestions which makes even an oblique reference to divine judgment. This vituperative reaction takes place on two levels. The first level is that of scorning and mockery. The entire concept of God's judgment presupposes not only God, but that He is holy and hates evil. Since the modern Unbeliever has carefully constructed and drawn to himself a narrative of God's non-existence, his religious predilections require him to scorn and mock Christians when they warn of God's judgment to come.

The second level is more sinister, but related to the first. All stories of God not-being-true are actually suppressions of the truth. Therefore, when Christians speak to Unbelievers of the judgment to come there is a conscience-borne ring of truth to it. This ordinarily produces reactions of fear, loathing, hatred and disgust amongst Unbelievers. The truth hurts the sinful heart; this truth hurts most of all.

The mockery and scorning become quickly incandescent.

We have seen this occur in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake. Some Christians have suggested that it serves as a warning of the judgment to come. Immediately otherwise normally sane and balanced folk have jumped all over them, spraying spittle-flecked outrage in every direction. Here is the one that we laugh at the most: those Christians who dare even to suggest that the hand of God lies behind the earthquake in Christchurch, we are told, are the moral equivalent of Islamic fundamentalists. Now you just know that reason and judiciousness has flown the coop when those who warn of God's judgement are made the religious and moral equivalent of those who conspire and perpetrate murders.

For Christians this is nothing new at all. They live daily in the judgment of God. They have come to faith only through both acknowledging God as their Judge and seeing sentence carried out upon their Lord in their place. Moreover, that Moderns get so wound up at the notion betrays an ignorance of the Christian faith that is profound. All through history, Christians believe that God has judged people and nations for their stiff necked arrogance and rebellion against Him. Noah and the great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt under the plagues, the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and the even more catastrophic devastation of Judah and Jerusalem under Titus in AD70 testify to this. The prophets warn constantly of these things.

Consequently, there is a time honoured tradition throughout the history of the Church of pointing to all calamities and calling all men to consider their ways before Almighty God, while there is yet time. Our Lord Himself has done just that. Two calamities hit the headline news while Jesus was ministering in Galilee. One was an act of extreme and callous brutality by the State. The other was a natural calamity, like the Christchurch earthquake. Jesus used both to warn of the judgment to come.

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate?


"I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:1-5

Note the emphatic repetitious device. Note the authoritative, "I tell you . . ."

No doubt there were hearers that day who were outraged at Jesus. But Christians, living daily in the vortex of God's judgment upon them at Golgotha, believe completely in these words and the warning they contain. Of course the Christchurch earthquake is a warning to all in this country, just as every funeral, every death is a warning to the living. "For unto man it is appointed once to die, but after this the Judgment." (Hebrew 9:27)

For those who refuse to heed the warning, continuing to shake the fist of offence and rage, we have only this to say: you can present your case and your arguments to the Almighty on that Day. You will indeed have your day in the assizes of Heaven. But it will be us in the dock, not God. And know one thing further: on that Day there will be no disputes about procedures or evidence. All of you will be made plain: every thought, motive, intention, word, and ethic of our entire lives will be laid as evidence before the Judge. And He has already told us the standard He will be applying: "whoever observes the whole Law (of God), but slips in just one point, has become guilty in every respect." (James 2:10)

Christians have already been judged, at Golgotha. They live constantly in the shadow of God's judgment. But they no longer fear that Day. But no man, woman or child need fear that Day. If any heed the words of the Saviour of the world and repent, turning from Unbelief to Him, and stand in solidarity with Him at Golgotha, and believe that there He took their just punishment in their place, they too will be saved.

Has not God appointed Him the Saviour of the whole world? He Whom God has appointed, approved, and accepted as our Saviour, let not man despise.