Slain from the Foundation of the World
TCF Good Friday Sermon
April 10, 2009
The crucifixion is perhaps the most significant place in time, where time intersects with eternity. Of course, God interacts with time often. We could easily make a case that He does it constantly, daily, moment by moment, as His Holy Spirit is moving in ways we can see and cannot see – even as He sends His angels to do His bidding, in ways we can discern sometimes, and most often do not.
But in the crucifixion of Jesus, which we mark tonight, we have clear evidence in scripture, which tells us God’s eternal plan is being worked out in a very real, very practical way, before our eyes – that is, before the eyes of those who witnessed the events of the 1st Good Friday, and before our eyes as we consider the accounts of that day, written in the Word of God.
Scripture is clear that the crucifixion was not an accident that couldn’t be helped. It wasn’t an afterthought by God, when the world seemed to get out of His control, as sin began to spread from the first man and woman, throughout mankind, and down through the centuries to us. It wasn’t His fallback plan, plan B, when His creation chose to rebel, to sin, to reject Him.
Scripture reveals our great God as omniscient – all knowing. Because He’s also omnipotent – all powerful – He is able to take the things He knows will happen, even those things we might see as bad, and bring good from them.
As we saw with Palm Sunday, the crucifixion, too, was a planned event, scripted more carefully than the best stage play you ever saw – the best TV show or movie you ever watched. Only this was ultimate reality, and not fiction. And this was a drama which was scripted before time began.
But, continuing with the script analogy, the crucifixion was simply act three of this amazing story of this amazing week in history. Act One we might say was Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
Act Two took place in the Upper Room, the events we considered last night. Today is Act 3, and we’ll look at the happy ending in Act Four on Sunday.
Of course, this is only a part of the story of God’s plan of redemption, but I think it’s clearly the most significant part.
The climax of Lord of the Rings was the defeat of Sauron, accomplished by the destruction of the Ring. It took, at least on film, three separate movies, three hours long each, to accomplish.
The climax of God’s plan to redeem humanity took place on Good Friday, on the cross, even though the plan truly began before time itself.
Revelation 13:8 calls Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
But, does that mean Jesus died before He lived? We’re used to trying to wrap our minds around a lot of impossible ideas, but this? How could Jesus have been slain from the creation of, or foundation of, the world?
This is where we must pause to wonder – not wonder as if we begin to ask or wonder what’s going on, but to stand in amazement, or wonder, at God’s view of time and eternity.
God exists outside of time. Yes, He interacts with His creatures in time, now, and through the person of Jesus when He walked the earth. But, God is separate from us, completely other from us. Some philosophers have said that God lives in an eternal now, meaning there’s not really a yesterday, today and tomorrow for God.
The idea is that, God is able to look down, as if He were above it, on time, and the events in time. God sees it all at once. Of course, in our view, and our understanding, we’re restricted by before, during and after – linear time. You have to be born before you can live and then die.
But if God knows and responds to our life in time, and interacts with time, from His position in eternity, we can just begin to grasp, if not fully understand, how He can foresee the response of His free creatures to His love. We can begin to grasp how He can foresee the fall, our sin, and He can foresee the need for our redemption. In that way, Jesus is slain from the foundation of the world.
What it means is that, before there was time, before we existed, He had already put in place the plan for our redemption. We see this stated in a different way in 1 Peter:
1 Peter 1:18-21 (NIV) 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
God had also already put in place every element of that plan. He is, after all, the Creator of all things. So, this God, who ordained the laws that not only govern the universe He created, but also those laws by which we are to live, this same God also created the instruments of the way He chose to carry out His redemptive plan.
Can we really believe that God was that precise, that detailed, in His planning? Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:
Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV) 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
So, the idea is that if the hairs of your head are numbered, why wouldn’t God’s plan include not just the blueprint, but every element in that plan to bring us the gift of eternal life, that salvation which is found only through the shed blood of Jesus. This plan was recognized from the earliest days of the church.
Acts 2:23 (NIV) 23 This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Acts 4:28 (NIV) 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
The scope of this plan made me think of a song which I almost always seem ponder during this week of the year. In a few minutes, we’ll hear this song, but let me highlight some of the thoughts – the lyrics, in this song, because they relate to this reality of God’s eternal plan, and His intimate involvement with the outworking of that plan. These are the kinds of thoughts that not only magnify God’s omniscience and omnipotence, but His great love for us, in bringing us redemption in the way He chose to do it.
The song’s called Maker of the Universe. The words were written by a British poet and pastor named Frederick William Pitt, who lived from 1859-1943. It was set to music by Phil Keaggy in 1986.
Here are the words:
The Maker of the universe, as Man for man was made a curse.
The claims of Law which He had made, Unto the uttermost He paid.
His holy fingers made the bough, Which grew the thorns that crowned His brow.
The nails that pierced His hands were mined in secret places He designed.
He made the forest whence there sprung the tree on which His body hung.
He died upon a cross of wood, yet made the hill on which it stood.
The sky that darkened o’er His head, by Him above the earth was spread.
The sun that hid from Him its face by His decree was poised in space.
The spear which spilled His precious blood was tempered in the fires of God.
The grave in which His form was laid was hewn in rocks His hands had made. The throne on which He now appears was His for everlasting years.
But a new glory crowns His brow and every knee to Him shall bow.
Maker of the Universe
Let’s look at a few of the Biblical truths highlighted in these words.
First, Jesus is the Maker of the Universe. You might say, but Genesis 1:1 says, in the beginning, God created. Of course, that’s true.
But John 1 tells us a bit more about how that happened.
John 1:1-3 (NIV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
The Word referred to here is Jesus. Jesus was with God in the beginning, an affirmation of two of the three persons of the Trinity. The Word was God, John tells us. That’s an affirmation of the divinity of Jesus. Then, in verse 3, it tells us that “through Him all things were made.” This verse reveals to us that Jesus was God’s agent in creation. Jesus, who was there in the beginning before time began, before the foundation of the world, is the One about whom John says, “without Him nothing was made that has been made.”
This is a key thing to recall. Remember this important point as we continue to look at the intimate involvement of Jesus in God’s eternal plan to save us.
Then, in the song, we hear the words: “as man, for man, was made a curse.”
John also tells us later in John chapter 1 that “the Word became flesh.” Of course, we understand that Jesus is the Word. He’s the Word become flesh. He’s fully human. He’s fully man, even as He’s fully God. So as man, He was made a curse for man. This is affirmed clearly in Galatians.
Galatians 3:13 (NIV) 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
Jesus redeemed us by becoming a curse for us on the cross. This is a strong declaration of substitutionary redemption or atonement. Jesus was our substitute. Jesus took the penalty of all guilty lawbreakers on Himself. So, the “curse of the Law” was transferred from sinners, that’s us, to Christ. Jesus was the sinless One.
1 Peter 3:18 (NIV) 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
So, the sinless One, as a man, delivered us from the curse by taking it on Himself. He did that on this day we mark – Good Friday.
Next, we see the words: The claims of Law which He had made, Unto the uttermost He paid.
He made the rules that sin leads to death. So He paid the price of our breaking those rules with His own life.
1 Corinthians 7:23 (NASB77) 23 You were bought with a price;
In the book of Hebrews, we see clear references to the Old Testament sacrificial system, which were rooted in the Law of God.
We also see how Jesus came as the ransom to set us free from this law, and the penalty that breaking it inevitably brought.
Hebrews 9:11-15 (NIV) 11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Next, we hear these words in the song: His holy fingers made the bough, which grew the thorns that crowned His brow. The nails that pierced His hands were mined in secret places He designed. He made the forest whence there sprung the tree on which His body hung. He died upon a cross of wood, yet made the hill on which it stood.
To me, this is where the detailed, intricate involvement of God turns to an amazing irony, which reveals not only His power, but His love for us. Think of it for a moment. We’ve already seen in John 1:3 that there’s nothing made that Jesus didn’t make.
So, the thorns that were placed on His head before His crucifixion, grew on a bush He had created. The nails were made of steel from an ore that He created. The wood from which the cross He hung on was made, came from a forest of trees He Himself had made.
The Psalmist tells us:
Psalm 96:12 (NASB77) 12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
He made the trees to glorify Him. We read elsewhere in Psalms that the trees of the field will clap their hands. On Good Friday, we see a tree that becomes the instrument of His death.
These thoughts about the involvement of His own creation in His manner of death, continue in even more haunting ways as we hear more of the song’s lyrics.
The sky that darkened o’er His head, by Him above the earth was spread.
The sun that hid from Him its face by His decree was poised in space.
Isaiah 45:12 (NASB77) 12 "It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, And I ordained all their host.
Genesis 1:16 (NASB77) 16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
Then we hear these lyrics in the song: The spear which spilled His precious blood was tempered in the fires of God.
Isaiah 54:16 (NIV) 16 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.
The grave in which His form was laid was hewn in rocks His hands had made
Psalm 104:24 (NASB77) 24 O LORD, how many are Thy works! In wisdom Thou hast made them all; The earth is full of Thy possessions.
On Palm Sunday, we looked at the fact that Jesus planned the praise that day, telling the Pharisees, who were complaining about the people praising Jesus,
Luke 19:40 (NASB77) 40 And He answered and said, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!"
Here, on Good Friday, after Jesus death, we see stones, or rocks, that were created for praise, that were also used for another purpose – to hold the lifeless body of their creator.
But, of course, we know it doesn’t end there. We know what happens on Sunday, don’t we?
The throne on which He now appears was His for everlasting years.
Psalm 93:2 (NASB77) 2 Thy throne is established from of old; Thou art from everlasting.
Hebrews 12:2 (NASB77) 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
But a new glory crowns His brow and every knee to Him shall bow.
Revelation 14:14 (NIV) 14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Revelation 19:11-12 (NIV) 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.
Romans 14:11 (NASB77) 11 For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD."
Even as we soberly ponder the truths of Jesus’ suffering and death, and I think it’s appropriate that we remember this, that we think about this - we can also remember that it wasn’t the end of the story. Yet, to get to this wonderful end of the story, Jesus had to go through that awful Friday. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, seeing the things He Himself had created used as part of His eternal plan to bring Him suffering and death for our sins.
Let’s ponder these truths now, and listen for the Lord’s voice reminding us of the awful price He paid, to demonstrate His amazing love and grace to us. Let’s look upon this reminder of the cross of Jesus and think about these things as we hear this song.
Song
