The Majesty of Righteousness Part V : The Crucifixion

Gents, this will likely be our final meeting and closure of Ironmen in its current format.

Today we are finishing off the series "The Majesty of Righteousness".

Basically, if you read Romans Ch 3, then today's discussion can be summed up in that chapter.

Let's recount what we have covered so far:

1. The Moral Argument - you can not have evil and suffering without a moral law and the moral law needs to transcend mankind.

2. The definition of evil - in order to have a moral law, we need to define what then is evil - it is the aberration of purpose. Purpose requires a pre-requisite of an intention and design

3. Justice needs to occur for a moral law, otherwise it is useless

4. Sacredness of sin - in order for justice to exist, it needs a judge and it needs to treat sin, irrespective of how big or small we might think it is, with the weight and punishment it deserves.

So today, it all comes down to the Crucifixion and what it represents, what it symbolises, what it demonstrates of God's character, how He views sin, why He did it, what it reflects back to mankind and what's in our hearts and what power it has out of such weakness.

If we come back to the original accusation about God:
"If God exists, how can there be so much suffering and evil in the world? How can He allow it to exist.  I don't believe in God because there is so much evil in the world"

Let me remind us of what Muggeridge once said:

"The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality, yet it is the most intellectually resistant fact".

Reinhold Niebhour said:

"No amount of evidence to the contrary seems to shake man's grand opinion of himself".

Let's take a look at the Crucifixion:

Jesus was "scourged" - 39 lashings (1 less than 40 in case they miscounted) with a whip with bone and rock in the leather strands Designed to rip the flesh from your body so that you would be almost dead, passed out from pain and or loss of blood.

Crown of thorns was placed on his head, with thick strong thorns pressed down deep into his cranium

Bashed and punched while in a state of indescribable pain by soldiers

Spat at, ridiculed, hit and whacked with weapons, taunted, degraded.

Whipped and shoved while having to carry his own death trap through a crowd jeering at him, coming to watch the spectacle.

7 inch nails hammered into his palms, between bones to ensure the weight of his body would not rip his hands off the crossbeam.

Nails driven into his feet smashing through bone to ensure he could no come off.

Naked, scourged, dripping with blood, jeered at and mocked, spat at, hit, demeaned, no single minuscule treatment, word or act of dignity usually afforded a human being.

Given a death process that ensures maximum pain over the longest and most painful period possible - death by asphyxiation. Every breath more painful and slightly shorter than the one before as your lungs collapse because you can not push your body back up, your internal organs slowly sag, unable to breath over many hours or up to days.

And this done to a man in a kangaroo court in front of what was to become the forbearer or the Western world.
A death process so bad, that it was banned in the 2nd Century.
No cross examination, no jury, no counter perspective, instead a political outcome that ensures Pilot keeps his reign and the Religious leaders get their outcome. The person trampled underfoot for the opposing sides gains. And we say politics is a dirty game. Add religion into it and it becomes deadly.

What does it reflect ?

What do you think God is trying to reflect back you and me? He's holding up a mirror to mankind and the content of his heart.

And if you or I or anyone thinks that "that was then, but we are civilised now", then take a look at the first 5 pages of todays newspaper. Read modern history of the 20th century. Watch documentaries on Slavery, Sex trafficking, read books about the GFC, corporations that have raped and pillaged the countryside or communities like James Hardy, Erin Brokovich....

In the 19 and 20th centuries the "rationalists" and "positivists" philosophies came to the fore, that out of rational thought and the empirical verifiable scientific mechanisms, these would solve and address our problems. It only gave rise to the bloodiest century ever known to mankind - 230Million people murdered or killed on wars. More than all put together in the previous 19 centuries.

You know it's fascinating and rightly so, that the media caught wind of the degradation of the Iraqi soldiers by the US troops and that torture was condemned as a mechanism to extract information.
Why - because it meant that the dignity of a human being was trampled on and that was sacred territory. A human being has some intrinsic rights the world recognised and what the US did was in breach of that.

And then we have Jesus's story.

It doesn't matter any way you want to slice and dice his experience up, it is depravity so deep at so many levels, that its difficult to comprehend.

I get so much that God is holding a mirror to mankind saying: see how much I love you, that I will take the worst possible process and form of execution and still triumph with love.

See how much I love you I will provide the justice for all the sin in the world, from the smallest to the biggest by imputing your innocence through my Son's guilt payment.

no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Romans 3:20

Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Chris Hitchens amongst many others have lambasted the fictional God and his Son's death as wicked, evil, that a father would sacrifice his own son, that a scapegoat is morally reprehensible.
"How could a father willingly sacrifice his son so that others can get off scot free?"
Let me rephrase it:
"How could a God allow so much suffering in the world and let the perpetrators get away with it?"

Can you see the irony, the self destruction creeping in.

You see the Crucifixion is so much more than just a process of death and resurrection. It is a clear representation of man's propensity for evil and God's triumph over evil through love.
The mere fact that he treats our sin with the sacredness it deserves and provides a way out of my malady is breathtaking.

The majestic nature of being made right before the holy and righteous God, in love and truth with true justice, and true redemption of my heart.

NEVER EVER EVER FORGET WHAT THE CROSS REPRESENTS.