Cross Way Publications Monthly News
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Poem of the Month
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Christ Jesus Wept for Me
BY: Larry Alan Merck
Christ Jesus wept for me
In town of Bethany.
Not just Lazarus, but me,
Sins affliction sorrowed He.
Christ Jesus scourged for me
And soldier's mockery.
Not for righteous ones, but me,
Sins affliction sorrowed He.
Christ Jesus died for me
On tree of infamy.
Not just nailing, but by me,
Sins affliction sorrowed He.
Christ Jesus rose for me
On Easter blessedly.
Not just He, but one day me,
Sins affliction conquered He.
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Poet Notables
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1. Thank you to Gabriele Embry, Laurie Jenkins and Gail Moss for financially blessing our ministry in March.
2. Welcome to our March 2011 members. Please be sure to stop by their Poet Pages to enjoy their poetry:
Kay-Jay Amuwo
John Atkins
Joel Bjorling
Teresa Kay Burleson
Christopher Devin Cantrell
Elizabeth Nicole Coley
Mike Hall
Jessie Patricia Hall-Wood
Gillian Ts6 0af Harrison
Caroline Sheila Hill
Ronald Lee Johnson
Trish Anne Johnson
John Langenderfer
Nicholas Millemaci
Jonathan Miller
Mark Priestley
Leslie Ann Rummel
Deepika Emmanuel Sagar
Carol E. Sandau
Michael Shaune
Arley W. Steinhour
Brenda Taggart
Rob Williamson
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Scripture of the Month
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Jonah 2:6 (NKJV)
6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
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This Month's Devotional Thought
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During a horrific storm, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, when thrown overboard from a ship headed for Tarshish. Within the belly of that fish, Jonah described his deliverance from the sea, by the fish, as having his life brought up from the pit. Then, three days later, God commanded the fish to vomit him out onto dry land. This whole ordeal that Jonah went through was used by Jesus to foretell and describe His death, burial, and resurrection. When Christ was requested to give a sign, by the Jewish leaders of His day, to confirm that He was who He said He was, Jesus told them: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.", (Matthew 12:39-40).
Jonah used the phrase, "life from the pit", to explain what happened to him and that phrase fits so well with our Lord's death, burial and resurrection. After having subjected Himself to the death of the cross, Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb. From that pit He rose to life! What unbelievably dramatic changes occurred with our Lord in those few days! He went from having a body like ours, only without sin, to a body wrapped in our sin and wracked in the suffering for that sin as He died on the cross. From there to a lifeless body buried in a tomb, but that body would not see corruption or decay, (Acts 2:31), because it would be brought to life. But not to the kind of life it had before He was put to death. He rose from the pit with a glorified body - an imperishable body never again to experience mortality. If we are in Christ we have the assurance of a similar resurrection, I Corinthians 15:42-54.
When contemplating the phrase: "life from the pit", we will begin by considering the pit as an eternal consequence of sin. Jonah described the pit as the earth and its bars being closed behind him "forever." This idiom may be used to illustrate the unrepentant sinner being assigned to the pit "forever". This eternal punishment for sin was laid on Christ so that those who believe in Him will be spared from an eternity in hell. But it may be asked: why didn't Christ have to suffer forever, when He bore the wrath of God for the sins of many? This may be explained by the finite nature of man who has offended the infinite God.
Any sin against the infinite God can only be satisfied infinitely. The eternality of hell makes it infinite. In other words the sinner must pay eternally for what he, as a finite being, cannot satisfy within a limited period of time. Christ, on the other hand, is infinite God and as such His death was an infinite death regardless of its duration. God’s wrath, against our sin, was satisfied in the death of Christ without it being eternal, (Isaiah 53:11). In keeping with this line of reasoning: if we cannot begin to imagine what an eternity in hell would be like for a single sinner, how much less can we comprehend what Christ must have suffered for all of our sins, in those final dark and dreadful hours on the cross!
Now, because of His resurrection, we know that our Lord's death accomplished what was needed to satisfy the just demands of God for our sins. He "bore our sins in His own body on the tree ..." (I Peter 2:24); and in so doing "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (II Corinthians 5:21). If indeed He bore our sin and died with that sin, could the justice of God ever allow Him to live again unless or until complete satisfaction was made for that sin? Certainly the resurrection of Christ gives credence to what was accomplished in His death. We know He effectively died as our substitute because He rose again to immortal and eternal life.
Furthermore, the resurrection of Christ completes our justification, (Romans 4:25). When Jesus rose again, as our representative, He was legally cleared of all those sins He bore and we were exonerated in Him. Christ's death procured the justification of His people, and His resurrection verified their acquittal. His "life from the pit" is the surety of ours.
Have you put your trust in the finished work of Christ for your salvation? "... If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9).
Philip Hoffman
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Quote of the Month
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"In the garden, on the cross, He presented Himself a full, and perfect, and sufficient atonement. In testimony that every debt is paid, He rises again, and shows Himself infallibly alive. To perfect salvation He enters as triumphant Conqueror into the courts of heaven, and sits as unceasing Intercessor on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
From Henry Law
