At the final collective moments leading to the crucifixion of the Son of Man, if you were there, is there anything you would do that was not done? At the Mount of Olives, would you fight to stay awake to support the Lord while the full weight of oppression, sorrow and distress was upon the vulnerable flesh of the Son of Man, who by no means was immune to anxiety and angst? When you see His body, beaten trampled and pulverised, would you be brave and volunteer to help Him carry His cross? Would you volunteer to step up and take on some of the heat and take some blows off His back, His front, His legs and His head?
Was there any part of His body that was not flogged and ripped bare by the slashes and bashes of our rebellious love of violence? Relentless cracking whips of cruelty and hatred that condemned men inflict upon the only ONE who was ever born innocent, each blow of violence inflicted not by the hands of Roman soldiers or the elders, chiefs priests and teachers of the law, but by each of us who ever lived a day to breathe the Father’s breath of life. May it be Jews or Gentiles, we all come under one umbrella as sinners saved by grace, whoever is not a sinner can cast the first stone at those who were but vessels used for the majestic display of the glory and power of God who overcomes all things. Every scornful word and stone aimed at Him, every lash brandished against His skin with such hatefulness and harshness – every ounce of violence and blood shed equated exactly to the level we thought we did not need Jesus in our life, the intensity of our dishonour of the way the truth and the life, our refusal to accept that we are all sinners saved by grace, the height of which we had fallen, the degree of deception and disillusion to think that words of death can sanctify us or we can be born again by anyone else but the Holy Spirit. It is for us to understand that the severe extent of the damage we inflicted on our Lord’s flesh was proportionate to the measure of sin we had reached. The Lord is a God of justice, when He is mighty to save, He uses honest scales and accurate weights, even when it hurts.
Just as no part of this creation was untainted by our sinful disobedience and blatant disregard to the Father’s commands, so no part of Jesus’ body was left untouched by the corrupted hands of those who hid in darkness for fear of the exposure of light, and punished the light of life for showing us what we have become by revealing who He is to us. Blows that left no part of His body unmarked by our pride and hatred of the one who loves us as His friends. We were not satisfied with the damage to His flesh but go so far to tear Him apart to expose His bones, though they did not break for all His bones were accounted for. Each scourge we slashed upon Him was meant for us, but He took it all on because by His scourging we are healed. By His blood He purchased and redeemed those who were subject to the law, that we might be adopted and have an official Sonship and Daughtership conferred upon us, that we might receive the full rights as sons and daughters, for by His death we have life eternal, and by His resurrection the Father can begin to open His heart to the thought of the family reunion of His dreams.
What about at Golgotha, would you have the courage to risk all that you are, and push the soldiers out of the way, grab the large rusty nails into your one hand and the hammer in the other, and strike the nails into He who is the Saviour of all, so that their rough, brutal hands could not touch the precious flesh of our brother anymore, but it is you who know His will, understand the price and empathise with the pain and agony of not only the Son, but of the Father and His Holy Spirit? So that at the ultimate moments of pain that strikes through the heart of creation and pierces the soul of the Creator, making Himself one with the salvation of all what was lost by nailing the cross of deliverance to Himself - it is YOU, eyes full of love and eternal gratitude, recognition, repentance and regret, it is your eyes that He looks into- that the most damning blow we struck upon the Son of Man is done by one who loves Him and knows why it had to be done? Just as He Himself would have reached out and struck the hammer into His hands should others have faltered, what if Jesus had a brother and sister who was so same-minded, same-hearted, same-Spirited and same-souled and same-strengthed with Him, unified by the full potential of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that they would rather suffer the actual horror of personally nailing the Lord to the cross - for isn’t that we are really doing- than let others torture or touch their brother anymore? A courage and unity that will surprise and please an all-knowing perfect God? That at least the final blow is done by one who truly desires to understand the passion and complexities behind His motives, and is brave enough to step up for Him? Ones who dare to come close to Him to understand that the sacrifice of the lamb of God was not only of the flesh and blood, but of a sacrifice of the soul and Spirit!
For His words will never pass away, and so the words He spoke from the cross will never pass away, and lingers and echoes into eternity as well- words that marked His pain and anguish on the cross came at a time and a place in His heart that is still unknown to us, a pain which was born even before He penned those words into eternity. So as He is making everything new, how loud and thunderous our songs of praises to God must be to cover over the words of piercing pain uttered on the cross? And how much of a delightful and pleasurable eternal life we must help create for our God so that the recollection of the darkest moment of eternity will not even pass by the mind of He whose memory is perfect?
We read about the Lord’s walk to the cross, hear about it and we speak about it, but now we have the opportunity to visually experience it in confrontingly honest details, how can your salvation not take on a whole new realm of significance, how can it not make you wonder what is truly in store behind such a grand all-encompassing act, and how can it not draw you to Jesus even more and be amazed at the purity of love that only He can inspire in you? How can it not make you fall even more in love with Jesus? That yesterday you were just saying, “I love the Lord”, and today that love is being made a bit more whole, a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that come together to complete a treasure of a magnitude beyond our wildest dreams? Where in your wildest dream did you ever think you could love someone so much, and that someone would first care to love you so much? So much that the love that you had for Him seven days ago already seemed like an eternity ago, that you jump with joy just imagining the next 7 days, and the times coming when the sun and moon will no longer shine to mark the seasons days and years?
The crucifixion of the Christ will never be repeated again, for even the thought of it sends shudders through the spine of creation, so the chance to do it differently has eternally passed away. For that is what He did, He fought for us because the Father dearly prizes us- with His last breath and last ounce of strength He fought to the end so that the beginning can take centre stage. So when He is says, “It is finished”, He is also saying with the same breath, “I am making everything anew”.
But we are given insight to understand and contemplate the past, so that by the light of the Lord, we may be stirred like still waters and inspired like roaring waves as to the present, and make a meaningful change about our future with the guidance and discipline by the Holy Spirit. All this He does for us so that we do not remain the same yesterday today and forever. And the Holy Spirit does what He does with an open heart because He shares and is perfectly familiar with the visions the Father has in His solitude, the perfect family portrait God has always wanted for Himself, for they are the Holy Spirit’s vision too, just as they are the Son’s vision- borne out of perfect knowledge and understanding, inspired by unfailing love and grace, to reveal the mysteries and beauty of our God, based on the foundation of truth, whom He was pleased to have His fullness dwell and radiate out of His Son.
For this is the passion of the Father in the parable of the lost son (Lk 15:11) - whilst the repentful son was but a long way off, the father had already seen him, the sullen silhouette of a son who was dead but is alive again, was lost but is found, and He was instantly moved with compassion and tenderness, and He ran to his son and embraced and kissed him. Our Father watches and waits for our return to Him in quietness and repentance. It is us who makes the first step to come back to Him but it is He who runs the rest of the way to meet us and kiss us when all we have done is to look up and aim our eyes at Him- and at that moment, He already sees us, His neck stretched, fingers gripping tight and eyes bright with anticipation. Even while we are still a great way off from the fullness of a son and daughter who is fully alive in the exact image of Jesus, yet at that moment, when we say to Him honestly and sincerely, “Father, I repent”, He has already begun to accept us and pull us into His arms again, a place where we first came from, and indeed to Him, we had never really left because He didn’t have the heart to completely push us away from His sight. These 3 little words that are like honey from our lips to His ears, because a compassionate Father is who He is and repented children is how we are, and by these 3 words, we are made acceptable to Him again. This is the passion of the Father who waits and sees and appoints watchmen so that our return is safe and soon. And He sent His firstborn Son to look for us and guide us back to the road that leads to eternal life.
So this is the passion of the Christ, the unwritten third son of the parable, who had left the Father’s property and personally went to look for us in the land of the wild living and famine, and bring us back to Father by showing us who He is and who we truly are. For we do not return back to the Father as hired men, no longer worthy to be called His sons and daughters, but it is a cause of celebration as we are instantly re-instated because we believed in the Son and repented in His name. If we consider carefully how we listen, we’d see the unwritten third son, who speaks and behaves so closely and samely as the Father, that you wouldn’t have noticed it if you were not looking at and listening to Him with all your strength. For even while the Father is watching for each of our return, still a long way off, Jesus is standing right next to the Father, encouraging and cheering you on, removing stumbling blocks and helping you up when we fall, giving men in exchange for you and your life because you are precious to Him. And standing right next to you and dwelling inside you, surrounding all the air particles around you- is the Holy Spirit, reminding every word that Jesus said to you, convicting you to change you, grow you, sanctify you and rooting for you.
For this is the passion of the Holy Spirit- the Spirit of Sonship is the Spirit of Daughtership, and that is what the Holy Spirit is rooting for - Sons and Daughters grown and moulded to full stature of the truth and grace of Jesus, and the full stature of His power and His humility, to release and realise the full magnitude of the empire of visions of an eternal God, by making known to the whole of creation the sons and daughters of God through the revelation of the glory of God in His relationship with them.
This is why the Lord sent us the Holy Spirit for a specific period of time- Why else would we receive a Spirit of Sonship, not a spirit of slavery, for it is by the Holy Spirit we say “Jesus is Lord” and by the Holy Spirit, we cry out, “Father”! Why else would the Holy Spirit live inside us to do His work in us and sanctifying us from the inside out, making permanent internal changes in us so out of the overflow of the inside, what the external looks like is no longer relevant? Why else would He hang around us, continuously correct, discipline and rebuke us, scrub us clean, give us so many revelations and teach us the things that are to come, all the while guiding us to the ALL truth? Why else would He bother but for His passion?
For His passion in Sonship and Daughtership is seen in His steadfast commitment in convicting us in regards to sin righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin because we need to believe everything there is to know and understand about God through Jesus, in regard to righteousness because Jesus has gone to the Father and we need to be there too as guided by the precision of the path of His perfect footprints, and in regard to judgment because we are now one with the Spirit and stand with Him to pronounce that the prince of this world now stands condemned.
If you only want to remain at a great distance from God and say hurtful words like, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die”, then you will misleadingly think that only a little conviction by the Holy Spirit will be enough, that you wish to go no further and thus do not need the internal demolition and reconstruction work only the hands of the Holy Spirit can achieve. It is the Holy Spirit who has to soil his hands to scrub us clean of our darkness in order for us to approach the unapproachable light the Father lives in, so the darkness in us will not repel God, but let pure light draw to pure light to restore its original fullness. The closer we want to get into God’s heart, the more He needs to convict us, and the more we have to earnestly take up that right of official Sonship and Daughtership. In increasing measure, we have to be open to repentance and correction, and let Him deconstruct our every thought desire and motive, sanctifying us and preparing us and building us brick by brick as a spiritual house, for the duties our full rights of sons and daughters have conferred upon us. It is done when the Holy Spirit says, “It is done”, and the Father and Jesus say “Amen”. Yes, there are privileges but there are also general duties and tailor-made responsibilities for we come to the Father to offer our services so that He may reap an eternity-fold of a harvest from official Sonship and Daughtership, a mark on our forehead unlike any other mark creation has yet to see. For the Holy Spirit remembers the excitement and satisfaction He felt when He wrote, “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth- everyone who is called by Name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Is 43:6). He remembers how His heart skipped a bit and He sees them as if it was already reality. He is fond of the memory, and He is eager to realise the words into reality.
The Holy Spirit’s passion is for Sonship- and His passion is in Daughtership- the same Spirit of Sonship is the Spirit of Daughtership for our Lord God is Spirit and He is One. Male and female came from God, in His own image He created them. And in His stature and favour, He grows and matures them, and in His delight and pleasure, He will receive them through His magnificent gates. And though a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh,- it is sons and daughters who are now united with the Holy Spirit. And they will become one Spirit as the fourth grown-up of the Trinity- to form and welcome the fifth person of the Trinity- New Jerusalem, the bride of Jesus Christ.
It is the Lord who honours us when we did nothing to deserve His grace, nor were we entitled to His mercy. He calls us His servants, His treasured possession and His friends. He invites us as His wedding guests. He bestows titles upon us, workers, healers, teachers, prophets, evangelists, apostles, the elect. And we come a full circle because we understand that none of it means anything if we cannot come to Him, look into His eyes, and call Him, “Father”, and hear Him call us, ”My son” and “My daughter”, as true brothers and sisters of Christ, so that we may serve and perpetually be with the living God.
For this is what brothers and sisters do when their favourite brother is about to wed- they leave their houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for His sake and His wedding. A wedding of no ordinary proportions, and a wedding party like no other. This is a wedding for the firstborn Son who had by one sacrifice by His own blood and obtained eternal redemption, who through the Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, By one sacrifice of His body He has made perfect forever us who are being made holy. By one sacrifice, He picked up all the broken dreams of God, a Father whose desires and hopes had been trampled and crushed by the toxic ill-wills of men. This Jesus Christ- this brother of ours- the most wonderful man to have walked this earth- the only reason we have anything worthy to live for- the only begotten Son of God- He is getting married- so what are you going to do for Him?
Are you someone who will attend the wedding without the proper wedding attire? Will you be thrown out into the darkness? Are you contented to be a wedding guest, sitting way down at the back of the banquet hall? For many are invited, but few are chosen- Chosen to serve the living God to prepare for the bride and the wedding banquet- because that’s what brothers and sisters do. They who are the closest, who have sought the Holy Spirit diligently and early, they will be fit to get in on the inside, where all the real action is. The real action is not at the centre of the stage where the full operatic wedding of God’s Son unveils itself- the real action is backstage, right next to the groom and the bride, staying close to the Lord’s very heartbeat, and running around with our tasks as professional wedding planners, designers of the bride and builders of New Jerusalem- ensuring perfection and perfect pleasure- not because we have to but because we are enjoying ourselves, and we see the Father, He is sitting at the head table and He is saying to Himself, “I am so happy!” We willingly and delightfully help make all the preparations for the big day, for the wedding is our pride and joy too, as it is for the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus and New Jerusalem.
Let us not take anything for granted and contemplate all the intricate details we have to make perfect for the Father, the Holy Spirit and the Son. The sisters help prepare the bride, and the brothers help out with the banquet. That is how things are in this age, and that is how the Lord is inspiring us as to the next age. For as sisters, we are all bridemaids, we assist the bride with the wedding gown, the head dress, the veil, making sure the train does not drag along the ground- and who will be the Maid of Honour but Mary Magdalene, the one the Lord loves to honour, she who anoints the Lord so well will be so good at taking care of the bride! Amen! And as brothers, you are all best men to help with the groom- is His bow tie on right? Does He look handsome in His white tuxedo? Are the wedding bands in safekeeping? Have all the guests arrived? Are the wedding chariots adorned with flowers? How are the centrepieces for each table? Who is writing a new song to celebrate the new couple? Who is making the speeches? Who has got the first glass of new wine for Jesus - He who said, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom”- can finally have a toast with us!
For weddings are a time of family reunions, and a time for family portraits. God is looking forward to His perfect family portrait at Jesus’ wedding. His vision of His perfect family portrait comes from a place deep and delicate in Him which He is inviting us into, so we can not only share in His vision, but become One with His goodness so that in us, He can find the same goodness, and it will be like an unending love song of the goodness of love and the love of goodness that we sing and Waltz with Him. It is His perfect vision of life, and of love and eternity. And this is our allotted time to see it and understand it, and overcome the confines of our flesh and minds, and make it our vision of family portrait as well. In His image He created male and female, and it was the beginning of the formation of His family portrait.
And the Holy Spirit who keeps working in us until the appointed time, He works diligently and steadfastly with passion and commitment- the same passion He had when He hovered over the waters and God said, “Let there be light”- the same passion He has when He is baptised into you by Jesus who says, “I am the light of the world”. He closes His eyes and imagines the vision of the perfect family portrait the three of them share, and now we too are privy into in increasing measure, and He looks at us with the same passion Jesus has when He aimed for the cross.
So what is your passion- will you share His passion so that yours will be made holy, perfect and complete with the Lord’s, to make way for the Father’s perfect family portrait, one that Jesus gave His flesh blood soul and heart for? Can you feel the skip of His heartbeat by our unity in the same vision? Can you hear His small hurried sigh of excitement? Can He entrust you with His passion? Will you be contented to be the object of His passion to realise the content of His dreams? Will you put Him first always? Do you dare to come close to the Holy Spirit? Do you dare to dream His dream?
AMEN HOLY SPIRIT- WE ARE YOURS- MAKE US THE EXACT IMPRINT AND REPRESENTATION OF JESUS, PROPELLING THE UNIVERSE WITH YOUR MIGHTY WORD OF POWER- JUST LIKE THE FATHER HAS WILLED IT AND WISHES FOR- AND ALL GLORY AND PRAISE TO YOU WHO PASSIONATELY BELIEVED IN OUR POTENTIAL BECAUSE WE ARE CALLED AND REDEEMED BY THE NAME OF JESUS! THANK YOU Holy Spirit- For your passion- we are eternally grateful for we are made perfect by your passion for us!! May our passion for you match your passion for us!
