The Pattern of Crucifixion and Resurrection
This note is adapted from an email that I wrote to a friend.
It might be helpful for you to watch this 3-minute video before reading this email, because I am going to speak about prophesy and the eternal, fractal patterns of reality that are revealed to us through the drama of the Bible. It can be difficult to understand these things without understanding that 1) reality is fractal and 2) the Bible is a map of the fractal pattern of reality. This slightly longer video might also be helpful if you have an extra 10 minutes to watch it.
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Preston and I are studying the book of Isaiah who lived in Israel during a time of corruption and decline (about 739-686 B.C.), and we regularly notice similarities to the United States today. His book condemns Israel's corruption and promises divine vengeance:
"How the faithful city has become a harlot! She who was full of justice - righteousness once lodged in her, but now, murderers... Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and chases after rewards... Therefore, the Lord God of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares, 'I will be relieved of My adversaries and avenge Myself on My foes. I will turn My hand against you...’ "
You are right that I do not give much attention to current events these days, but I know that corruption is rising.
Isaiah promised that Israel would be invaded and conquered. They were. Preston and I expect that the same thing will happen to the United States - in fact, the invasion is already underway.
In Matthew's account (chapter 23), Jesus is walking out of the temple at the center of Jerusalem and says, "Not one stone here will be left upon another which will not be torn down." They asked Him, "When will these things happen? What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?" Jesus replied, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes, but all these things are the beginning of the birth pangs. Then, they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name."
Shortly after this (in chapter 26), Jesus said to His disciples, "After two days, the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion."
These two statements are connected. Jesus viewed His body as analogous to the temple. John provides evidence in his gospel (chapter 2) in the form of a conversation between Jesus and the Jews. Jesus overturned the money changers' tables in the temple and said, "Stop making My Father's house a place of business." The Jews said, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" and Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews said, "It took 46 years to build this temple, and You will raise it up in three days?" Then, John writes: "But He was speaking of the temple of His body. When He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken."
When Jesus was arrested (Matthew 26), Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the slave of the corrupt high priest. Jesus said, "Put your sword back into its sheath, for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you not know that I could appeal to My Father and He would at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way?" John's record (chapter 18) is slightly different: Jesus says, "Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given Me?"
When Jesus was brought before Pilate, the Roman governor (John 18), Pilate asked Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Pilate said, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
Later, after Jesus is brutally scourged (John 19), Pilate asks Him a question, but Jesus does not answer. Pilate says, "You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given to you from above."
So, Jesus is crucified. He allows Himself to be unjustly tortured and nailed to a cross. While He was hanging there (Luke 23), He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But people mocked Him (Matthew 27), saying, "You who destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!" The corrupt chief priests - the ones who schemed to have Him crucified - joined in, saying, "He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God resue Him now."
But that did not happen. Jesus died. He was buried. Everyone who loved Him mourned. They were confused and afraid.
Then, on the third day (now I'm paraphrasing and quoting from Luke 24), the disciples of Jesus found His tomb empty. An angel appeared to them and said, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and rise again on the third day."
Later, two followers of Jesus were walking on the road and discussing what had happened. Jesus began walking with them, but they did not recognize Him. He asked, "What are you talking about?" They stood still, looking sad, and said, "Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who is unaware of the things that have happened here?" Jesus asked, "What things?" They said, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death and crucified Him. We were hoping that it was He who would redeem Israel. But also, some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early this morning and did not find His body, they came and said that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive." Jesus said, "Oh, foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" Then, Luke writes: "Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."
My point is this: This unjust crucifixion followed by a resurrection by the power of God is the necessary pattern. This pattern is so essential and evident that it was foretold over a thousand years in advance, and followers of Christ must participate in this pattern today. Followers of Christ, the church, are the body of Christ (in his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote, "By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" and "Now you are Christ's body"); therefore, it is inevitable that we will suffer like He suffered.
During the last supper (John 15), Jesus said to His disciples, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Because you are not of the world - but I chose you out of the world - because of this, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you - a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me."
So, followers of Christ will inevitably suffer with Christ. But if we suffer with Christ, then we will experience the conclusion of the pattern - resurrection and glorification. In his letter to the Romans (chapter 9), Paul wrote that we are "fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us."
Followers of Christ suffer injustice because we hope in the resurrection power of God. That is why we turn the other cheek. We trust that God will rebuild the temple that His enemies destroy.
Later in his letter to the Romans (chapter 12), Paul wrote, "I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God... Love without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love... Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse... Never pay back evil for evil to anyone... Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, and I will repay,' says the Lord [this is a quote from Moses in Deuteronomy written around 1400 B.C.]. If your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
In the book of Acts (the story of the church immediately after the ascension of Jesus), a christian named Stephen was arrested by the same group of chief priests who arrested Jesus. They stoned him to death, and as he was dying, he cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!"
But what if there is no resurrection? In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote, "If the dead are not raised... your faith is worthless... If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied." Yes - when the stakes are life and death, if there is no resurrection, then turning the other cheek is foolish.
But in the same letter, Paul also wrote, "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now... then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain." (Before encountering Christ, Paul arrested christians and handed them over to be executed. Paul was there when Stephen was stoned - he held the robes of the men who stoned Stephen and approved of what he saw. Paul himself is an example of the power of the love of God; he was transformed from an enemy of Christ into a champion of Christ.)
I experience the resurrection power of Christ all the time. If I patiently suffer some minor injustice that my wife inflicts on me and respond with kindness, and then the next day she comes to me and says, "I am sorry that I did that," then I have experienced the resurrection power of God. This is the same power that raised the crucified body of Jesus from the dead.
I cannot know with absolute certainty that I will be raised from the dead if I die as a martyr (if God will give me the strength) as part of some anti-christian genocide. However, this is where I choose to place my hope. I am convinced - I believe it - and so this is where I choose to stake my life. The more I trust in the resurrection power of God, and the more I suffer injustice with patience and forgiveness, the more I see confirmation of its reality.
None of this means that we should never 1) speak out against evil, 2) act against evil, or 3) run from evil to survive. Isaiah's condemnation of Israel's corruption was severe. Paul instructed the Corinthian church to remove an evil man from their congregation. Jesus said more than once, "My time has not yet come" and ran from crowds that wanted to kill Him.
However, the destiny of the christian is crucifixion - at least in the micro, if not in the macro - but maybe in the macro: actual martyrdom. There is no greater honor for a follower of Christ, and no greater act of trust in the ultimate goodness, justice, and sovereignty of God.
I opened this message with a quote from Isaiah, but I did not finish it. Here is the rest:
"Then I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. After that, you will be called the city of righteousness, a faithful city. Zion will be redeemed with justice, and her repentant ones with righteousness, but transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord will come to an end."