Paul just can’t get over the wonder
of our salvation, can he? It’s like a 24-carat mult-faceted jewel of incredible
price, the beauty of which is slightly different from various angles.
I’m going to tell one of my favorite
story illustrations here, even though for many of you it might be slightly
dated. For those unfamiliar with the history of the early 80’s, Ronald Reagan, recently
elected President, was shot and almost
assassinated a mere 69 days into his administration by a mentally ill man
named John Hinkley Jr.
The bullet came within an inch of Reagan’s heart, and that was the margin by
which he escaped death. Hinkley was taken and confined to a mental ward.
Another character in this drama is Muammar Khaddafi, who as of
this writing was recently killed by some of his own people. He was a ruthless
dictator of Libya, and he was a thorn in the side of Reagan during the latter’s
presidency.
Finally let me introduce George Herbert
Walker Bush, who at the time was Vice-President under Reagan. He was/is a
man who’s been almost universally lauded as a good and kind and decent man,
even by those who disagree with his politics and policies.
Now let’s imagine for a moment that
the time is the early 1980’s. Reagan has fully recovered and is running the
country. A call comes to the White House, however, and he’s informed that V.P.
Bush has disappeared. Of course there’s a nationwide manhunt, but no one
can find him. Then another call comes to the White House, and it’s Muammar
Gaddafi on the line. He says, “I currently have Bush in my possession, and I
say whether he lives or dies. But if you give me your son to torture for three
days, then at the end of those three days I will return both Bush and your son
to you. But if you don’t. . . you’ll never see Bush alive again.”
Now, that’d be a really tough choice
to make, wouldn’t it? Bush is a good, decent man, an important man. To have to choose
between Bush and his own son would be a nightmare for the President.
Now imagine another scenario with
me. John Hinkley Jr. disappears from the hospital in which he’s incarcerated.
Of course, there’s a search that goes on for him. And there’s a call from Gaddafi.
He offers the same deal: “I currently have Hinkley in my possession, and I say
whether he lives or dies. But if you give me your son to torture for three
days, then at the end of those three days I will return both Hinkley and your
son to you. But if you don’t. . . you’ll never see Hinkley alive again.”
Not so tough a choice, huh? Quite
frankly, if I was Reagan in the 2nd scenario, the next thing Gaddafi
would probably hear would be laughter and a click as the phone line went dead.
In the late 1980’s when most people
would be familiar with the characters and background, someone did their
paraphrase of Romans 5:7-8, which has stuck with me to this day:
“Very rarely
will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a George Bush, someone might
possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While
we were still John Hinkley Jr’s, Christ died for us.”
You see, that was the situation we were
in. We weren’t and aren’t good people who need a helping hand and someone to
point us in the right direction. We aren’t people who need a little “tweaking”
in order to get us into a right relationship with the Almighty. We were sinners
under his just wrath, destined for eternal punishment. By our sin we'd
declared ourselves his enemies. He reached out to us through multiple means:
The Law of Moses, multiple theophanies, the prophets, and finally he sent his
only Son. And we nailed that Son to a cross.
He had even less reason to reach out
to us than Reagan would have to offer up his own son to save the life of
Hinkley. But he did. He sent his own Son, not just as a messenger or a teacher
or a healer. He sent his own Son with the express purpose of dying for those
who hated him.
Think about that for a moment, would
you?
Father God, words utterly fail me in
thanking you enough for what you gave up. . .for me. If I gave up everything I
have and everything I am to you wholeheartedly, that still would never make up
for what you did. But what I do have, by your grace, I want to give.
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