Author: Andrew Smith — The Gravity of the Situation
If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NLT)
There is a seen and an unseen world. What happens in the seen under its magnitude happens also in the unseen in its magnitude. Long story short there is a lot more going on than Jesus dying on a cross. In this examination, we need to realize that when compared the suffrage Jesus endured on the cross physically it is microscopic to the suffrage Christ endured spiritually as He stands as mediator between creation and Creator. Let us examine a passage of scripture in three different translations.
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT)
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV)
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 KJV)
That passage of scripture tells us that any affliction we go through in the temporary (seen) is miniscule at best to the glory that awaits us, that are in Christ, for eternity (unseen). The unseen has a glory awaiting us because we have been purchased by Christ. For those that leave this mortal coil without accepting the free gift of salvation the story ends somewhat different but we are going to stick to positive side for this installment. In this line of thinking one ponders, that what happened in the seen as Jesus was nailed to the cross must have been minuet compared to the eternal parallel of what happened in the unseen on that day. This arrangement is titled “The Gravity of the Situation”. The (situation) being what Christ did on the cross and the (gravity) being what happened under the veil of flesh as Christ allowed Himself to be crucified on a cross at The Place of the Skull (Golgotha).
So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. (John 19:16-18 ESV)
There are an ample supply of believers that focus on the torture, nailing to the cross, and death of Jesus the man. There are even more believers that focus on the resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus the Christ. But there few believers that focus on, or at least talk about, the eternal weight of what really happened on the cross from the more abstract unseen parallel. Being that the unseen is related to the eternal we need to first define the word eternal and really begin to wrap our minds around how eternity operates.
eternity-noun
- An infinite amount of time without beginning or end.
- Eternal existence, especially as contrasted with mortal life: the eternity of God.
- Theology . the timeless state into which the soul passes at a person’s death.
It is really hard to think about a state of being that exists outside the confines of time. It strains even the greatest of human minds to truly understand that in eternity there is no beginning, there is no end, there just IS. This means that the weight of what Christ did in the unseen by taking on the sins of the entire world onto Himself is a truth that transcends the confines of time. Christ bore our iniquity in the beginning and He bore them in the end for they are one in the same in the reality of eternity. It is that very Truth that the next passage scripture comes from.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. (Ephesians 1:3-5 NLT)
For me to say that I understand the eternal side of this matter in words or from the confines of this human mind would be an outright lie. This arrangement of words is only a whisper of the real that exists in my center. It is a knowing that can only be explained as abstract yet perfect or as in my center yet out of my physical grasp. However, when the thought of the amount suffrage and sorrow that happened to our Savior under the veil flesh at the cross becomes real in a connection with our Savior I become overwhelmed with emotion. I become reverently sorrowful yet ever rejoicing. It is when I look past the cross and what is seen and feel the depth of the Love that endured in the unseen that I find my greatest blessing. The fact that in His darkest hour as the very people He was here to save were nailing Him to a tree Christ utters these words…
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. (Luke 23:34 NLT)
The seen was Christ asking The Father to forgive the ones nailing Him to that cross, the unseen was Christ earnestly asking The Father to forgive those that do not understand the gravity of the situation. The ones like you and I that are so ingrained in our sin and blinded by flesh that death without forgiveness would be a devastating reality. Jesus understood that even the ones He had personally discipled struggled to understand the reality of Truth more less the multitudes that would be lost without intercession. I believe that reality drove the compassion as He said “forgive them for they know not what they do” With those words Christ took the sins of the world onto Himself. The crushing weight of not only my sin but the sin of every single person in Christ, and as if the crushing weight of the sin He takes on out of Love for us isn’t enough, He bears the sorrow of the multitudes lost to their own stubborn wills. I have a conviction in knowing the amount of sin I have put on Him and continue to put on Him like salt in the wound as I fail Him daily. Adding to His already unimaginable weight and sorrow through my cowardice acts burden me so and He even faithful to calm my troubled soul when I am drowning in shame. To embrace the unseen act of compassion Christ has freely given us and know in my heart of hearts that with each sin I myself drive those symbolic nails into His hands and I wilt in absolute reverent sorrow and ask for forgiveness. When I bare true witness to our Savior this is the place that it takes me, a Love so pure and so powerful it has the power to restore all things. This power will make all things new.
When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. (Hebrews 12:26-27 NLT)
The true power of the cross is within the unseen and abstract consciousness of our Lord. It is known in consciousness alone and shared through the Holy Spirit until this mortal coil releases us into the real, into truth, into the arms of our Christ. It is the revelation that we are all given a chance to take hold of the hand of Salvation that is reaching down in an endearing display of Agape Love and Divine mercy. If there is any doubt in your mind of which side of the great divide you will land when this mortal coil releases you I suggest you but ask the Lord of Hosts to reveal it to you. That simple question when asked earnestly, changes lives. When revealed, make the appropriate provisions to secure the flavor of that eternity and that it has the taste of Life and not death. That my friends…..is the Gravity of the Situation!
May the grace of Christ, and the love of Creator, and the fellowship of Holy Spirit be with you all.
P.S. To give credit to someone that breathed so much life into this revelation and formation of this writing and others like it I want to post The Choice by Trey Smith himself. This video still moves me when I watch it. Thanks to Trey and everybody at GIAN. Blessings !!
