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Step 4 of Crucifixion: The Fixing of Feet to the Cross
Posted by: | CommentsDuring crucifixion, as gravity pulled the body down, the natural response of the victim would be to push the body up and produce respiratory relief. To prevent that, the feet were also nailed to the cross and the legs of the victim were broken at some point. Pushing up to relieve the respiratory distress became very painful and soon impossible as the pain and exhaustion took over. The fixing of the feet was another mechanical technique in crucifixion that produced a forced obedience to the process and guaranteed the end result: Death.
The crucifixion of self becomes a reality as three things happen:
- We acknowledge the truth of God
- We accept the truth of God by faith and keep our hands out of His business.
- We affirm our faith in God’s truth by becoming obedient to it. It is the living practice of what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His passion: “Not my will but thine be done”.
It is by obedience that the power of faith in God’s truth is experienced. It is obedience that is sorely deficient in the lives of Christians today. As Christ’s feet were fixed to the cross, so must our own feet as we walk in obedience to God’s truth. The obedience requirement of the crucifixion of self requires us to walk through our sin and turn from it by the power of Jesus living in us. In other word, we allow him to walk out and live our lives for us, by faith.
The unwillingness to obey causes spiritual difficulty and produces the disasters and the spiritual beatings of daily living. We are commanded to love but we don’t. We are commanded to forgive but we don’t. We are commanded to be humble and poor in spirit but we remain haughty and proud. Without obedience, faith has no life. The book of James puts it this way: “Faith without works is dead”. The works of faith flow from obedience. Obedience is the final matter in the death of self. Without obedience, the Three Holy Lies continue to live and the life of Christ in us is suppressed.
Step 3 of Crucifixion: Fixing the Hands to the Cross
Posted by: | CommentsThe third step in the crucifixion of Christ was the fixing of Jesus’ hands to cross with spikes. Everything up to this point had been done to prepare Jesus for death. The fixing of the hands began the actual execution. The hands were rendered powerless and left the body suspended in a way that suffocation resulted. As gravity pulled the body down constricting the abdominal cavity, respiratory function was progressively restricted and breathing became impossible. The fixing of the hands was a mechanical technique designed to produce a specific physiological result. The fixing of hands was designed to not only produce the desired physical response but it was also designed to remove the victims power to stop the process.
The crucifixion of self-will also requires that we fix our hands to the cross so that we will keep them out of God’s business and allow Him to work His truth into our mind and spirit. This is so the life of Christ may be reflected in and through us. The fixing of hands can be seen as a symbol of faith and allowing God to do with us as he pleases. It is only by faith that God’s truth can be appropriated and faith requires us to trust Him. As faith grows, God’s will begins to reign. I open my arms to the restriction of the cross and by faith I accept God’s truth. I keep my hands out of God’s business so His truth can do its work.
The way I put my hands in God’s business is to buy into the idea that my will and what I want is better for me than God’s will and what He wants. When I know God’s truth and I question whether it is appropriate for me I am putting my hands in His business. When I rationalize what I want to do and make excuses for myself I am putting my hands in His business. When I believe that I can define truth, define God and define right and wrong I am putting my hands in God’s business. Engaging my faith in God’s truth and allowing that truth to be appropriated experientially is the prerequisite for the death of self. The way truth is appropriated experientially is through obedience, which leads us to the fourth step in the crucifixion process.
Step 2 of Crucifixion: The Crown of Thorns
Posted by: | CommentsThe Crown of Thorns
Following his scourging, Jesus was presented to the crowd. Upon his head a crown of thorns had been fixed. The crown of thorns was symbolic of the offense charged to Him by the Jews of claiming to be the “King of the Jews”. It was clear to the Jewish leaders who surrendered Jesus for execution that His words and deeds implied that He was God and their King in the flesh. Jesus told them that He and Father were one and that if they had seen Him, they had seen the Father. It was for this idea that Jesus was tried, convicted and executed. Standing before the crowd following His beating, he was presented by the Roman Governor Pilate as the King of the Jews, wearing His crown of thorns. The truth is that Jesus was their King and Messiah but they missed that truth. They rejected God’s truth about Jesus and offered Him up to be crucified. So, for our purposes, the crown of thorns represents the truth of God about Christ.
The spiritual beating we receive as the result of our sin prepares us for spiritual change within, which is the death of self. The sins of self are sustained and supported by continuing to believe that the Three Holy Lies are true. We want to believe that we can define truth to support what we want. We want to believe that we can define God, so we can rationalize our sin and be comfortable with it. We want to believe that we can define right and wrong so we can make up our own standards of righteousness as we go. The Three Holy Lies must be taken to the cross and crucified. This is accomplished by accepting God’s truth about Himself, His Truth and His Righteousness.
For our purposes, the crown of thorns becomes a powerful image to show us that truth stands before us in Jesus Christ. It is His life in us that has the power to defeat sin and self-will. The fullness of the truth of Jesus must replace the lies we believe that sustain our spiritual rebellion and disobedience. Jesus said we would know the truth and the truth would set us free. The truth of Christ frees us from the bondage of self-will and spiritual deception. The truth of Christ is the only truth that will end the spiritual beatings we receive from our sin. The crown of thorns represents that truth. The crown of thorns proclaims Jesus as Lord and King of Kings to all. The first step in the crucifixion of self requires that God’s truth be completely accepted and His Lordship acknowledged.
Step 1 of Crucifixion: The Beating
Posted by: | CommentsThe Beating
The crucifixion of Jesus began with a beating – a scourging of unbelievable intensity. The purpose of scourging was to weaken the body in preparation for actual crucifixion. The intensity of the beating was dependent on the particular mood and disposition of those charged with performing it. In the beating and scourging of Jesus, scripture indicates he received a particularly harsh and extended beating. He was almost beaten to the point of death. Crucifixion was a long process and would have been even longer without scourging to weaken the victim. Jesus’ actual time on the cross was evidently shorter than what would be normally expected and it may have been the result of the extreme beating he received in the scourging phase of the execution. The important thing to remember is that the beating was administered in preparation for death.
When we consider the crucifixion of self-will, how does the beating of Jesus relate to the process we must experience? It is easy to make the connection when we consider the consequences of our sin and the results they produce in our lives. When self-will is rampant in the life of a person it produces spiritual disaster and the effect is much the same as a beating. There are beatings we receive from the results of addiction. They are beatings that accompany divorce. There are beatings that accompany anger and resentment. There are negative spiritual consequences that follow every human activity that is not consistent with God’s will and His truth.
The beatings we experience as the result of our sin should be indicators for us that something about our spiritual condition is corrupt. God allows us to experience these spiritual beatings so that we might come to the end of ourselves and begin to allow him to work in and through us so that we will be conformed to the image of Christ. The scourging of Jesus was designed to weaken His body in preparation for death. The beatings we experience as the result of sin produce the same effect – weakening of the flesh so that we may die to it.
The beatings we receive as the result of our sin come in many forms, but there are four broad categories that are most prevalent: Broken Relationships, Addiction, Depression and Anger. These fruits of sin should serve as danger signals for believers because if any or all of these fruits exist in the life of a believer they are the result of a rebellious self-will living independently of God. These fruits of sin produce the spiritual beatings we are allowed to experience and the beatings will continue until we surrender to God’s great purpose, which is to conform us into the image of Christ. These spiritual beatings are administered and allowed by God to bring us to the end of ourselves. In the same way Christ was beaten in preparation for his execution, our spiritual beatings prepare us for the death of self.
The Process of Crucifixion
Posted by: | CommentsJesus’ crucifixion was an event, but it was also a process. Crucifixion was a long ordeal and Jesus moved through five stages or steps in the process of being executed. I believe spiritual truth can be seen in each step of His crucifixion and we can use that truth to better understand how to crucify our self-will. I certainly do not claim that these truths are the ultimate truth of the cross and the only way to view Jesus’ crucifixion. The complete theology of the cross is a great mystery and no doubt God speaks to us in diverse ways through the Holy Spirit and His revealed word. However, I have found the five steps of the crucifixion process to be a powerful analogy and a practical model that helps me understand how God changes me from within. Here are the 5 steps of Jesus’ crucifixion process:
1. The beating
2. The crown of thorns
3. The Fixing of hands to the cross
4. The Fixing of feet to the cross
5. The Spear in the side
Each step in the crucifixion process of Jesus provides a visual and mental picture of the way we must engage ourselves to the same process in order to crucify self. In the days ahead we will share these principles in more detail.
I Must Die Too!
Posted by: | CommentsThe crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus are the foundation of the Christian faith and the theology of God living in us. If there was no resurrection, then Jesus was simply a man who lived and died just like every other man. If Jesus does not live today, there is no resurrected life to indwell us. The accounts of the apostles assure us that He was raised and that He lives eternally. Scripture teaches that by our repentance and faith in Him as Lord, He will come to live within us. His life becomes our life as we accept that our old fleshly man of sin died with Jesus on the cross. That is the central truth of real Christianity. We died with Christ and are raised with Him into eternal life. Every Christian must understand that. People who have received the life of Christ will be with Him in eternity and somehow be like Him. Eternity is a done deal. My problem has always been how to live on earth until I get there. The point is that “I Can’t” but “He Can”. I have to die so that He can be raised in my life.
The Death of Self
Posted by: | CommentsThe Bible only offers one prescription for the problems presented in the seven deadly sins of self and that prescription is the death of self! The Apostle Paul presents the issue clearly in his letter to the Galatians:
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (Gal 5:17)
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Gal 5:24-25)
And in his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote:
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Rom 6:4-7)
It is only by the death of self that the risen life of Christ may be revealed in us. Only by the death of self may His Spirit fill us. Jesus says we must take up our cross and follow Him. Paul says we must crucify our flesh and die to sin. The cross is the most powerful instrument of Christianity and crucifixion is a bloody business. Most of the modern church has lost the view that the cross is an instrument of death. Worse, most Christians have no idea how to use it for the purpose of learning obedience by faith.
The heart of real Christianity is found in the crucifixion of self and allowing the risen Christ to live through us. That is the only ground upon which the Holy Spirit may trod and invade our spirit. It is by the death of self that we are filled by the Spirit and the death of self only occurs when we bring the seven deadly sins of self to the cross of Christ for crucifixion.
Trapped in the Self Sins
Posted by: | CommentsAs long as we continue to believe that we can define truth, define God and define right and wrong we will be trapped in self love, self seeking and the other deadly sins of self. The Three Holy Lies are Satan’s most powerful tool of deception and a major barrier that blocks Christians from being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit defines and reveals the truth of God and provides discernment of good and evil. When we believe and demand the right to practice the Three Holy Lies, the Holy Spirit will not fill us. Unless the Spirit fills us we will not grow spiritually. If we do not grow spiritually we will not be able to reflect Christ in our lives. If we do not reflect Christ in our lives we are in rebellion against God’s great purpose for every believer, which is to be conformed into the image of His son.
The Sin of “Self-Defense”
Posted by: | CommentsWhen Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they acquired the awareness of right and wrong. They did not learn how to discern the truth of right and wrong, but they became aware that the two conditions existed. All of Adam and Eve’s descendents have been struggling with issues of right and wrong ever since. Individually we resist accepting that we might be wrong about something. There is some mysterious force that takes over a person when they are accused of being wrong. That is where self defense kicks in and it is a most insidious sin.
God’s judgment of humanity is that all men have sinned and fallen short of His glory. Man resists this judgment and fights tooth and nail to justify himself before God on the basis of fleshly works. We do this until we reach the absolute end of ourselves and our excuses. Wringing a sincere, heartfelt apology out of someone is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. In our flesh, few of us are willing to admit we are wrong about anything until we have been boxed into a corner by undisputable facts that convict us. Even in the face of such evidence we may continue to defend ourselves and justify what we have done. Penitentiaries are largely populated by innocent people.
The Holy Spirit seeks to convict us of being wrong so that we may voluntarily see our rebellion against God and surrender it. On the way to spiritual maturity there are untold thousands of thoughts and things the Spirit will deal with that we must agree to change or release. To grow in the Lord and be filled with the Spirit we must be repeatedly convicted and found guilty concerning our unrighteous thoughts and motives. Our fleshly compulsion to declare ourselves not guilty and to defend and rationalize our error blocks the Holy Spirit from doing this mighty work in us. Self defense in the presence of truth represents continued rebellion against God and the Holy Spirit will not fill a person who continues to rebel against Him.
The Sin of “Self-Pity”
Posted by: | CommentsWhen people can’t get what they want, or feel they have been denied something they were entitled to receive, self pity is the next step. In self love we always want a good outcome and the best for ourselves. When it doesn’t happen we are tempted to indulge in self pity. Self pity opens the door to resentment, despair and an unwillingness to accept our life in the light of God’s objective truth. Self pity is the crutch of those unable to face the truth about themselves.
The Holy Spirit cannot fill a Christian who pities himself, because the Holy Spirit fills those who persevere in suffering and find joy in their misfortune. Consider this scripture:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (Jam 1:2-4)
Clearly, self pity is a major block to spiritual growth and I believe there is nothing more grievous to the Spirit of God than a whining Christian. We are to be about allowing the Spirit to conform us into the image of Christ, which means we are to be changed in thought and deed to think as He thinks and do as He would do. There are no passages in the New Testament that present Jesus complaining about or bemoaning His experiences. Jesus just accepted the will of His Father and was obedient by faith. Christians involved in self pity can’t be filled by the Spirit and the ability of Christ to live out His life through them is thwarted.
