BIBLE GEMS FROM JERUSALEM - 23 March 2013/Nisan 12 5773

The big news in Jerusalem over the past week was, of course, the visit of the American President, who arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on Air Force One with a large entourage, including 500 security personnel. Disembarking, he made a brief speech in the presence of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and members of the newly formed coalition Government, affirming this land as "the historic homeland of the Jewish people," and adding that "after centuries of exile and persecution unparalleled in the history of man, the founding of the Jewish State was a rebirth, a redemption." From there, Mr Obama was flown by helicopter to Jerusalem amidst an unprecedented military presence, to attend a series of receptions and dinners, and participate in speeches broadcast to the nation, and indeed around the globe.

There was an historic sense in Israel during these days leading up to Passover 2013. To the student of the Bible, the President’s visit also evokes memories of others who have come to this land, some on missions of peace, others bound on conquest. Many are the would-be conquerors have compassed Jerusalem about over the centuries, from Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar to Rome and beyond. From the beginning of her long history, the nation of Israel has also necessarily interacted with the nations surrounding her, often choosing to enter alliances with one or other of these, with results sometimes beneficial and sometimes disastrous, as recounted in the prophetic and historical books. Others have come simply attracted by the tales they had heard in their own countries of the splendour of the house of David, or the lofty conception of the One God of Israel, in the manner of the Queen of Sheba, who was so overwhelmed by the glory of Solomon’s reign that “there was no spirit left in her”.

The visit which surpasses all others, to the Christian, is that of Jesus, when He rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey some two thousand years ago. Until that time, He had consistently rejected all attempts to exalt Him, but six days before the Passover, He Himself arranged this solemn entrance into the city, clearly in fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. This text is one of the most messianically significant in the Bible, speaking of a descendant of David who, although humble, rides as a victor into His city, Jerusalem, accompanied by spontaneous outbursts of joyful acclamation, for her king is coming to her. And the Gospel narratives all trace these Messianic features, the palm branches, the cry of Hosanna and acclamation as Son of David: the advent of the Messiah is now fulfilled; the King enters the Holy City, and in Him all the prophecies and hopes find their fulfillment. Yet Zechariah, after describing this victorious entrance, immediately turns his attention to his mode of transportation, one that seems unbecoming to a great monarch; he is lowly, and riding on an ass, the foal of an ass. The lowliness of this king is in startling juxtaposition to His triumphant arrival; he arrives not as conqueror, nor with earthly ceremony or display of military might, but comes “having salvation”. Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem on the 10th day of Nisan, when He rode upon the foal of an ass, was a public announcement that the King had come to set up His kingdom; and that the manner in which He had come to undertake this task was in the way of profound obedience and humiliation, to make an atonement for sin by suffering on the cross as the true Messiah of God sent into the world. It is this humility which is translated into universal dominion according to the context in Zechariah: “from the River to the ends of the earth”.

In the Hebrew scriptures there is recorded yet another entry into the Holy City, which stands in profound contrast to the Palm Sunday event. We are told in 2 Samuel 15:37 that “Absalom came into Jerusalem” – and this immediately strikes an ominous note, for Absalom is no rightful king, but one who is rebelling against his father, King David, a usurper of crown and throne and precursor of the “man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). We have seen in previous articles that the overthrow and death of Absalom is tied in with the “good news” which Isaiah foresees, that is to be proclaimed upon the mountains; and in turn the story of the vanquishing of Absalom is linked to the death and resurrection of Christ, the ultimate glad tidings which is to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. In many ways Absalom is indeed a type of Christ. Absalom was the king’s son who was “without blemish”; he rode upon a mule, and ultimately in his death hung on a tree (cf Galatians 3:13), suspended, as the scripture tells us, “between heaven and earth” (2 Samuel 18:9), with his hair wrapped in the wooden branches, just as Christ wore the crown of thorns; finally he was slain with a spear thrust through his heart – it is a vivid picture of the crucifixion.

It may rightly be objected that Absalom was in fact the complete antithesis of Christ, for he was the very incarnation of pride and arrogance, whose doom came justly upon him. Nevertheless, the comparison may be justified when we consider that the whole Bible is in essence a foretelling and an unfolding of the manifold beauties of the Person and Work of Christ, and the death and resurrection of Christ is the single most prophesied event in the scriptures. In this light, even Absalom’s negative qualities can illuminate the completeness of Christ’s victory, as well as its profound cost; and in order to draw out this comparison we must now turn to the New Testament.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul the Apostle makes one of his most amazing statements about the death of Christ:

For He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This expression made sin is startling, and also theologically elusive – one must ask what is the exact idea the Apostle intended to convey. The first point to note is that the verb is active and the subject is God, although the passage is often misquoted in such a way as to obscure this, so that the statement that Christ “became sin” becomes curiously impersonal, despite the fact that Father and Son were both involved personally to the utmost degree. Nor does Paul say that Christ became a sinner; no transgression ever blemished God’s perfect Lamb of God as He was being prepared for the sacrificial offering on the Cross, for He was perfect, pure and holy both in His pre-existent Deity and in His incarnate Manhood; and even His “becoming sin” was a righteous act of love. It cannot be thought either that He became literally sin in the abstract; for although poieo (Gk “made”) can mean “make something into something (else)”, the meaning here is not “God made the sinless one into sin” but “God caused the sinless one to be sin,” where poieo denotes causation or appointment and points again to the Divine initiative. The expression must therefore be in some sense figurative, and one approach is to understand made sin as "treated as a sinner". As our Substitute, Christ came to stand in that relation with God which normally is the result of sin, that is, estranged from God and the object of his wrath, and subjected to the sufferings which, if He had been personally a sinner, would have been a proper punishment for transgression. A second approach is to interpret verse 21 sacrificially, as "made to be a sin offering". This understanding is reinforced by the fact that hamartia in the Septuagint and ’aashaam in the Hebrew denote both the sin and the sin offering; that is, the transgression itself as well as the atoning sacrifice. And yet the antithesis in the passage between “sin” and “righteousness”, which is so obvious and strong, is destroyed by the adoption of this latter rendering; nor can we evade such vivid and vigorous language. Christ became so completely identified with sinful man that He became sin.

This sin that was laid upon Him pressed our great Substitute very sorely: the whole curse of the law, the whole desert of sin, the whole of the wrath of God for transgression, was put into one cup, and presented to Him. The Cross was the place on which this Sacrifice was offered; it was there that He presented His holy soul and body, the whole of His pure and sacred Humanity, in union with his eternal Deity, as an expiation for the sins of his people. On our great Sin-bearer fell the collective consequence of sin, the aggregate transgression of all humanity - for the sin of the world is one, as recognized in John’s pronouncement: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”. This is the foundation-truth of Christianity, the great transaction, the great lifting of sin from the sinner to the sinner’s Surety, so that fallen man’s sin-sundered relationship with God might be restored.

It is in these few direct words in 2 Corinthians 5:21, only 15 in the Greek, that the Apostle sets forth the Gospel of reconciliation in all its mystery and all its wonder – and it is here also that we confess that the limits of language are transcended, that we cannot penetrate and grasp the heart of the atoning mystery, but can only stand before it in awe. This Easter/Passover, may it be that the revelation of Christ’s matchless love shines to us anew in all its glory; may we breathe again the fragrance of this incomparable Sacrifice, this life given on our behalf and for the sins of the whole world; and may it happen that the drops of His passion might fall upon us and soften our hearts, kindling within us a flame of love which shall never die away. And what shall such love issue in, other than the emulation of our Lord? We finish with a quote from the weekly commentary on the parasha from the “Jerusalem Post”:

“The road to redemption is long and arduous; the secret which eventually allows it to happen is love. Sacrifice is born out of love; and since humanity is created in the image of the Divine, then to be human is to have the capacity to sacrifice. Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ Aristotle said, ‘I communicate, therefore I am’. Our rabbis taught, ’I have the capacity to sacrifice, therefore I am.’”

Shalom and blessings, David and Lesley Richardson Mount Zion Fellowship/Christ Church Jerusalem