Before we turn to the passage of our study today, I feel we must first look at a couple of other verses of scripture.
Turn with me to the book of Genesis, chapter 22, verse 6 and let’s read.
“AND ABRAHAM TOOK THE WOOD OF THE BURNT OFFERING AND LAID IT ON ISAAC HIS SON, AND HE TOOK IN HIS HAND THE FIRE AND THE KNIFE. SO THE TWO OF THEM WALKED ON TOGETHER.”
This verse is from the account of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, his only son.
To test him, God had told Abraham to take his son to the mountain and to sacrifice him there.
It is from this account that both Paul and the writer to the Hebrews take their evidence to assert that Abraham was declared right before God because of his faith. (For your later reading, those passages are found in the 4th chapter of Romans, and Hebrews 11:17-19)
There is much to tell from this story, but our focus is on verse 6 of Genesis 22. Isaac carried the wood for his own sacrifice, up the mountain.
Now, the biblical account is brief, but there is an extra-biblical account of this incident, from which we can gather some very inspirational information.
The first century historian, Josephus, is considered even by secular historians and archeologists who are not really interested in the scriptures themselves, to be one of the most accurate historians of all time. Josephus was a Jew who wrote specifically of the history of the Jews; but within the parameters of his study, he was meticulous.
Josephus tells us that Isaac was about twenty five years old at the time God gave Abraham instructions for this sacrifice.
This is important to note, since a twenty five year old man could easily have resisted had he been so inclined. This was not a small boy, as is so often portrayed in Sunday School materials and taught to our own children. This was a strong, healthy young man with much of his life yet to come; marriage, children, pursuit of all the usual priorities of this earthly life; yet he willingly carried the wood.
Here is a quote from Josephus, who apparently had documentation available to him that has long since been lost to his posterity, but he recorded it for us in his compilings. I’ve taken the liberty of paraphrasing it slightly for smoother reading and better understanding, but I have not changed the essence. It is Isaac’s response to his father’s announcement of what God had instructed him to do. According to this historian, Isaac said:
“I was not worthy to be born in the first place, if I would reject the plan and will of God and my own father, and not give myself up willing to both their pleasures. Even if this was the will of you alone, my father, it would be wrong to disobey.” And from there he went immediately up to the altar.
Isaac trusted his father to be obeying God’s will, and not only did he go willingly, he carried the wood!
Now, God did not ultimately require such a dear price from Abraham. He stopped Abraham from slaying his son, and provided a ram for the sacrifice; a type of the Christ to come, who would be God’s own sacrifice to redeem mankind back to Himself.
But Abraham had passed the test of faith, and Isaac had certainly passed a test of obedience; obedience even to death.
Now turn with me to the gospel of John, chapter 19, verse 17.
“THEY TOOK JESUS THEREFORE, AND HE WENT OUT, BEARING HIS OWN CROSS, TO THE PLACE CALLED THE PLACE OF THE SKULL, WHICH IS CALLED IN HEBREW, GOLGOTHA.”
First, I want us to see that it was God’s will that Christ should go to the cross and die.
Isaiah, prophesying of the Messiah said, “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”
The Father was pleased to send His Son to Calvary’s cross, for to Him the purchase was dearer even than the cost.
In John 18:11 Jesus called His impending crucifixion, “the cup which the Father has given Me”
And in Romans 8 Paul tells us that God sent His own Son as an offering for sin, and “condemned sin in the flesh”; meaning that while Christ hung on the cross, the Father laid all the guilt of sin for all time on Him, and judged sin, there in the person of His Son...in the flesh.
So who crucified Christ? Was it the Romans for fear? Was it the Jews for envy? Was it Judas for money? No to all three. It was God, for love.
Next I want us to see that as in Isaac’s case, Jesus could have resisted. He had His own will, just has we have our own will. He could have declined to come in the first place, and He could have resisted the cross.
There is evidence of that in His arrest in the garden. When a multitude with swords and clubs and torches came to arrest Him, they announced that they were Looking for Jesus of Nazareth. When He said, “I AM”, they ALL fell back to the ground. It wasn’t in surprise that they fell. They expected to find Him there. It was the power of the Holy Spirit. The powers of darkness were ALLOWED to work, in order to fulfill the Father’s purpose. But they weren’t going to work with any dignity. They weren’t going to be allowed the illusion that they were in complete control.
They should have bowed down then and worshipped Him. Didn’t they know that the One who spoke them to the ground could have spoken them out of existence?
But He went willingly.
In Matthew’s account of the scene at Gethsemane, Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away, and says “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
But His mission and desire were to fulfill the scriptures; to obey His Father’s will.
“AND BEING FOUND IN APPEARANCE AS A MAN, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF BY BECOMING OBEDIENT TO THE POINT OF DEATH, EVEN DEATH ON A CROSS”
So He carried the wood.
In Abraham’s case, he passed the test of faith and God did not require such a dear price from him. But in the case of Jesus, God did not stop it.
Father and Son and Holy Spirit had determined before the foundation of the world that this is the way it would be, and even at such a dear cost, they fulfilled together what they had decreed.
Now let’s turn and read our verse of focus, Luke 9:23
I’ll read verses 22 through 24
“THE SON OF MAN MUST SUFFER MANY THINGS, AND BE REJECTED BY THE ELDERS AND CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES, AND BE KILLED, AND BE RAISED UP ON THE THIRD DAY.”
***AND HE WAS SAYING TO THEM, “IF ANYONE WISHES TO COME AFTER ME, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, AND FOLLOW ME.***
FOR WHOEVER WISHES TO SAVE HIS LIFE SHALL LOSE IT, BUT WHOEVER LOSES HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE, HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL SAVE IT.”
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny Himself”
We must look first at what it really means to deny ourselves.
We have just looked at two examples; one from Isaac and one from our Lord.
Isaac felt, according to Josephus’ historical account, that his highest goal, his noblest purpose for being born, was to obey God and obey his father as his father obeyed God.
This was not the kind of self-denial we see in pagan religions, where for a chosen length of time food or other worldly pleasures are laid aside for the purpose of meditation and introspection.
This was not the kind of self-denial we see in the monkish sects, where vows of silence are taken to cleanse the soul and give evidence of devotion.
This is the kind of self-denial which follows recognition that man’s only worth in existence is to worship and obey the Giver of life. It is the kind of denial that recognizes that because of our sin nature and our sinful tendency to usurp God’s authority over our lives, self must be denied and His will done, or our purpose for life itself will have been laid aside and wasted.
This is the mind that recognizes that a long life serving self and no other, is an utter sham...while the briefest of lives here, wholly serving the will of God, is the life most fulfilled and valuable.
Jesus is the second example, and of course the perfect one. Throughout His earthly ministry we see Him saying, “My will is to do the will of Him who sent Me” “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” “It was for this hour I came”
He who, of all who ever walked this earth, had the right to rule and to walk unscathed through this world, and to have His own way without exception, yielded Himself daily and constantly to the Father’s will.
“...WHO ALTHOUGH HE EXISTED IN THE FORM OF GOD DID NOT REGARD EQUALITY WITH GOD A THING TO BE GRASPED, BUT EMPTIED HIMSELF, TAKING THE FORM OF A SERVANT, AND BEING MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN, AND BEING FOUND IN APPEARANCE AS A MAN, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF BY BECOMING OBEDIENT TO THE POINT OF DEATH”
So what does it mean for us to deny ourselves? It means to repent. That is, to turn around completely from the course of life that our sin nature screams at us to follow; seeking self-gratification, self-fulfillment, self-comfort, self-pride, and exercise the kind of faith that ultimately says, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”.
It is to understand fully that the only good in life is to seek the will of God the Father and do it; whatever He asks, whatever the cost to us; trusting that He knows the whole picture and will work for our good in it.
In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, “...and take up his cross daily...”
Common sense tells us that Jesus did not intend for us to literally go and be crucified on a cross. The key word here, is ‘daily’. If we took this literally, we would only do it once.
So what does the cross, as referred to here, mean? What does the cross represent?
Well, the cross represents death. Anyone who hangs on one, dies. Paul said that he died daily. By that, he meant that he made a conscious effort everyday, (knowing that his sin nature was strong and would call him away to comfort and self-seeking if he listened), he made a conscious effort to reckon himself as having been crucified with Christ, and therefore dead to that maniacal voice, and so doing, he daily walked in the power of a heavenly life with the risen Christ.
The cross represents death. So then why does Jesus exhort us to carry it daily? What does it symbolize in our daily life?
Death to ourselves. Death to self-service and our quest for earthly gain, recognition, respect.
The one who has picked up a cross and headed out, has left all things behind. Nothing of the old life is important any more. He may still have a love for the good things, but what good would those things retain if he spurned the cross to go back to them?
Or in the words of Jesus, “What is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”
English poet, Richard Lovelace, wrote a poem to his beloved Lucasta, called, “Going to the Wars”. The most remembered line from that poem is the last one, where he declares to her, “I could not love thee Dear, so much, Loved I not honor more.”
It is the willingness to give of ourselves completely to God; to deny self, endure in His name all the trials and testings of life so that He might be glorified, that gives value to any other good thing in life. In Him and Him only, do those things have any worth at all.
In fact, the things we call good in life, if we forsake Him for them, become demonic in that they become idols.
We must carry the wood, believer. When He exhorts us to pick up our cross and follow Him, implied in that command is the leaving behind of all that would detract from that purpose, good and bad. The cross does not represent our trials and testings, as some say, “well, it’s a cross I must bear”. The cross represents death to any real influence over our lives, of testings, trials, gains, goals, or even loves that are lesser loves than the one we have for Him. It is only as these other concerns of life take their proper perspective that trials are overcome, and joys become full.
Let us never forget that Christ’s obedience in all things pleased the Father, and the Father’s approval of the Son’s work was demonstrated by His resurrection from the dead and entry into His glory.
“AND BEING FOUND IN APPEARANCE AS A MAN, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF BY BECOMING OBEDIENT TO THE POINT OF DEATH, EVEN DEATH ON A CROSS.
THEREFORE ALSO GOD HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, AND BESTOWED ON HIM THE NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME, THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, OF THOSE WHO ARE IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH, AND UNDER THE EARTH, AND THAT EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.”
When Jesus said in Luke 9:23 “...and follow Me” He had a very specific place in mind. He only carried the cross to one place. The top of Golgotha.
We talk about mountain top experiences; where we have been in prayer and in our devotional study of the Word, and have come away blessed and refreshed, and these are good. But Jesus calls us DAILY, to a different kind of mountain top experience; the kind only found at Golgotha’s crest.
It is the only path to eternal life; obedience to it is the only path to blessing.
Never forget that He is with you, He honors faith, and the reward of obedience ALWAYS far exceeds the sacrifice. (repeat) Through Abraham, Isaac became a great nation. He received the promise. Through His obedience, Christ has been highly exalted, and sits at the Father’s right hand.
Carry the wood. Pick it up daily and head for Golgotha. The Father’s good pleasure in this kind of obedience is shown in resurrection power.
“Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”
Isaac carried the wood. Jesus carried the wood.
And in both cases, FATHER AND SON WALKED ON TOGETHER.
Don’t be afraid. The Triune God walks with you. And in exchange for your life, He will give you His Life.
