Galatians 2:20a: "I am crucified with Christ."
Galatians 6:14: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom" (or whereby) "the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
In these statements we find that as Christians we died, in God's sight, with Christ when we accepted him as Savior; but there is more to it than this. There is also very much the demand that in practice we are to die daily. That is the negative aspect which we mentioned in Chapter 1 and which we will now pursue further.
As we said there, the Bible gives us a very sharp negative indeed-one that cannot be made an abstraction but which cuts into the hard stuff of normal life. We saw that the Word of God is definite that in all things, including hard things, we are to be contented, to say, "Thank you" to God. Here is a negative, and it really is a negative; it is a negative of saying "no" towards the dominance of things and of self.
We also see that the Bible tells us that we are to love men, not only in a romantic or an idealized sense, but enough not to envy. Here again it would be false not to point out that this is a meaningless word, a pure romantic word; it is a pure utopian word in the bad sense, unless we see that this also involves a very strong negative aspect. If we have this right attitude, it means that we are saying "no" in certain very definite areas to certain things, and saying "no" to ourselves.
Again we must say this is not just something to be taken romantically, to stir up some sort of an emotion within ourselves. It is a very strong negative word. We are to be willing to say "no" to ourselves, we are to be willing to say "no" to things, in order that the command to love God and men may have real meaning. Even in things which are lawful to me, things which do not break the Ten Commandments, I am not to seek my own, but I am to seek another man's good. Now anyone who is thinking along honestly must say at this particular point that this seems like a hard position which is presented to us in Scripture. When we stand in the circle of mankind's usual perspective of life, and honestly face these things in the Bible, we must say one of two things. Either we must romanticize, and claim that these statements are intended just to give a good feeling, and some day, way off, in the reign of Christ in the future, or in the eternal heaven, it will mean something in practice. Or, if we do not say this, but face in a real sense these words as the Bible gives them, we must feel that we are against a hard wall. You cannot listen to this type of verse, this negative thrust in the Word of God concerning the Christian life, in a comfortable way, unless you romanticize it. Surely this has always been so, since the fall of man. But surely also it is especially so in the things-mentality and the success-mentality of the twentieth century. We are surrounded by a world that says "no" to nothing. When we are surrounded with this sort of mentality, in which everything is judged by bigness and by success, then suddenly to be told that in the Christian life there is to be this strong negative aspect of saying "no" to things and "no" to self, it must seem hard. And if it does not feel hard to us, we are not really letting it speak to us.
In our culture we are often told that we should not say "no" to our children. Indeed, in our society repression is often correlated with evil. We have a society that holds itself back from nothing, except perhaps to gain something more in a different area. Any concept of a real "no" is avoided as much as possible. We who are a bit older may feel that we can say this is the younger generation. Much of the younger generation surely is like this: they know nothing of saying "no" to themselves or anything else. But this is only half true, because the older ones are also like this. The present mature generation has produced this environment, an environment of things and of success. We have produced a mentality of abundance, wherein everything is to be judged on the basis of whether it leads to abundance. Everything else must give in to this. Absolutes of any kind, ethical principles, everything must give in to affluence and selfish personal peace.
Of course this environment of not saying "no"-fits exactly into our individual natural disposition, because, since the fall of man, we do not want to deny ourselves. Actually we do everything we can, whether it is in a philosophic sense or a practical sense, to put ourselves at the center of the universe. This is where we naturally want to live. And this natural disposition fits in exactly with the environment which surrounds us in the twentieth century.
This was the very crux of the fall. When Satan said to Eve, "You shall not surely die . . . but you shall be like God," she wanted to be like God (Genesis 3:4, 5). She did not want to say "no" to the fruit that was good to the eyes, even though God had told her to say "no" and had warned her of the consequences-and all the rest flowed from this. She put herself at the center of the universe; she wanted to be like God.
As I begin the Christian life I must face the fact with honesty. I must realize that there is even for the Christian an echoing equal wave length within him with that which is all about him, where things and success are concerned. Consequently, it is false not to feel as if I were smashing against a strong wall when I consider this negative; it means I am fooling myself, I am not being honest. If I stand in the normal perspective of fallen man-and especially the normal perspective of the twentieth century-it is very hard indeed. But if I shift my perspective, the whole thing changes, and that is what I want to try to begin in this second chapter-to shift our perspective.
With this in mind, consider Luke 9:20-23, 27-31, 35.
"He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God. "And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and dazzling. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him." "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself" (or, renounce himself) (verse 23). That is the same thing we read in Corinthians-not seeking our own "things" even if we have rights to them.
"Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease"-and this word "spake" in the Greek has a sense of continuing to speak; it is not just one short speaking. It is a continuing to speak of Christ's coming death that is involved here. Verse 35 puts us in a different perspective. "This is my Son: listen to him!" We have here at the Mount of Transfiguration a preview of Christ in his glory. We have here a preview of that portion of the Kingdom of God in which we stand after we have accepted Christ as our Savior. But we are swept on beyond this to the resurrection, not only Christ's resurrection, but our future resurrection; we are swept on to the reign of Christ, and to eternity.
This is a different perspective. It is a perspective which is completely the antithesis of the world's perspective, which normally surrounds us. When we begin to look at these words in this setting, this totally other perspective-the perspective of the Kingdom of God rather than the perspective of the fallen world and our own fallen nature-it is different. Pressure is put upon us by a world that does not want to say "no" to self -not just for a minor reason, but out of principle, because they are determined to be the center of the universe. When we step out of that very black perspective and into the perspective of the Kingdom of God, then these negatives which are laid upon us take on an entirely different aspect.
You notice that they kept speaking of Christ's coming death. It was the topic of conversation. We are not told how long they talked, but it was n
ot the speaking of a single phrase, it was a conversation that continued; they spoke, kept speaking, of his coming death. Remember that when John the Baptist introduced Jesus Christ, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God." As he introduced Jesus Christ, he directed consideration to Christ's death. Here on the Mount of Transfiguration, in this environment of the Kingdom of God, the conversation was involved with an extended talk about Christ's coming death.
Here then is the wonder of wonders, the wonder of the ages. Here is true perspective, in which the conversation is centered on one topic: the Person who is God was to die. This one is the one who is referred to in verse 35: "This is my beloved Son, hear him"; "His decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem" (verse 31). Here God, as a true man after the incarnation, comes as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. It is not a false line in our poetry when we say: Christ, the mighty Maker, died.
Now let us think of this situation, in considering the question of true perspective. Let us notice that this is the very center of the Christian message. Its center is not Christ's life, nor his miracles, but his death. The whole liberal theology today, seeing the problem of man as metaphysical, would put the solution in the concept of an incarnation. Not that they believe in a true incarnation, but the concept of incarnation.
But this is not the scriptural place of answer. The nativity is the necessary thing to open the way for the answer, but the answer itself is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Exodus 12, in the Passover (looking forward to the coming of Jesus) the Passover Lamb died. In Genesis 3:15 where the first promise of the coming of the Messiah was given, we are told that the Messiah, when he comes, shall be bruised. He shall crush Satan, but he shall be bruised in the process. In Genesis 3:21, how is man to be clothed now that he has sinned? With skins, requiring the shedding of blood. In Genesis 22 we read about the great event which shows Abraham's comprehension concerning the Messiah who was to come. His son has to be placed upon the altar, as a sacrifice-and then a ram is supplied, thus giving a double picture of substitution. In Isaiah 53, this great prophecy made seven hundred years before Jesus came, what is the center of the matter? It is words like these: "wounded," "bruised," "a lamb to the slaughter," "cut off out of the land of the living," "poured out his soul unto death." These words roll down through the centuries in prophecy, and we come to John the Baptist who speaks these words: "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." It is the subject of thousands of years of prophecy. The center of the Christian message is the redemptive death of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ himself places the same center, when in John 3, speaking to Nicodemus, he says, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." If this is compared with John 12:32, 33 it will be seen that it refers specifically to Christ's coming death.
Romans 3:23-26: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time hisrighteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
Hebrews 7:27: "Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself."
Turn where you will, it is the same. In the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, we have the exclamation point to this in chapter 5, verse 9, where it speaks of the book of redemption: "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation."
If you turn to the theology of the early Church (and never make the mistake of thinking that the early Church did not have a theology) the substitutionary death of Christ is equally the center.
What is central in the Christian message of good news, the Evangel to the world? It centers in only one thing, the redemptive death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
From the time of the fall, and the first promise within twenty-four hours after the fall took place, until the very end, this is the message.
So we are not to be surprised that Elijah and Moses, meeting with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, had this as their key topic of conversation. "And behold there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah; who appeared in glory, and spake (and continued to speak) of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Of course they talked about it, because they had a stake in this. It was important for them not merely as a theological proposition, but the salvation of Moses and Elijah rested upon this single point the coming death of Jesus on Calvary's cross. The disciples who were there that day had a stake in this too, because if Jesus had not died upon the cross, they too would have had no salvation. And let us say to each one who reads this: we have a stake in this, for there is no salvation possible to us unless Jesus died on Calvary's cross.
Now the death of the Lord Jesus is absolutely unique. It is substitutionary. There is no death like Jesus' death. There is no parallel death to Jesus' death-this must stand as absolute in our thinking. His substitutionary death on the cross, in space and time in history, had infinite value because of who he is as God. Thus nothing need be added to the substitutionary value of his death, nor can anything be added. He died once for all. Having said that as forcefully as we can state it, we add that nevertheless in Luke 9, verses 22-24, we find Christ puts forth a chronological order. In verse 22: "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain and be raised the third day." The order is in three steps: rejected, slain, raised. This speaks of his coming unique and substitutionary death, yet this order rejected, slain, raised-is immediately related by Jesus Christ himself in verses 23 and 24, to us, the Christians. "And he said unto them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself" (renounce himself) "and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. Here Jesus takes this order that was so necessary for our redemption in the unique substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and applies it to the Christian's life. The orderrejected, slain, raised-is also the order of the Christian life of true spirituality: there is no other.
If we forget the absolute uniqueness of Christ's death we are in heresy. As soon as we set aside or minimize, as soon as we cut down in any way, as the liberals of all kinds do in their theology, on the uniqueness and substitutionary character of Christ's death, our teaching is no longer Christian. On the other hand, let us remember the other side of this matter. If we forget the relationship of this order to us as Christians, then we have a sterile orthodoxy, and we have no true Christian life. Christian life will wither and die; spirituality in any true biblical sense will come to an end.
Jesus is talking here about our death by choice in the present life. He applies it to a specific situation to make it most concrete. In the 26th verse: "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." The Bible is not speaking of some romantic feeling, some idealization, some abstraction. Jesus carries this concept of facing the rejection, being slain, down into a very practical situation: facing an alien world. It is the saying "no" to self when our natural selves would desire acceptance by the alien world-a world in revolt against its Creator and our Lord. As we look at the New Testament as a whole, we find that this command of Christ is not limited to one situation, it is that which is to be the whole mentality and outlook of the Christian's life. What is being presented to us here is the question of the Christian's mentality in all of life, and the order stands: rejected, slain, rais
ed. As Christ's rejection and death are the first steps in the order of redemption, so our rejection and death to things and self are the first steps in the order of true and growing spirituality. As there could be no next step in the order of Christ's redemption until the step of death was taken, so in the Christian there can be no further step until these first two steps are faced-not in theory only, but at least in some partial practice. Rejected, slain.
How central was Christ's death for our redemption! See Moses and Elijah standing there on the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ, all talking about this, discussing at length his coming death. They kept speaking about it. Equally it can be said how central and fundamental is our individual and continuing death by choice as Christians.
The death was central to the work of Christ and therefore it provoked conversation; the prophets spoke of it in the Old Testament, and Moses, Elijah, and Christ conversed about it in the New. In the Christian life it is just as central, and should it not provoke continuing thought, continuing consideration and conversation, and continuing prayer on our part? So I must ask, very gently: How much thought does the necessity of death by choice provoke, how much conversation? How much prayer does this provoke for ourselves and for those we love? Is it not true that our thoughts, our prayers for ourselves and those we love, and our conversation is almost entirely aimed at getting rid of the negative at any cost rather than praying that the negatives might be faced in the proper attitude? How much prayer do we make for our children and those we love that they may indeed be willing to walk, by the grace of God, through the steps of rejection and being slain? We are infiltrated by the world with its attitudes, rather than the attitudes of the perspective of the Kingdom of God. Not that we should live only in the negative, as we shall see as we go on in this series of studies, nevertheless it is important that we have an understanding of the order. We must not think we can rush on to the last step without the reality of being rejected and slain, not just at that point in our lives when we become Christians but as a continuing situation in our lives.