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| Copyright "Face of Christ Crucified" by Ann Chapin, used by permission. |
"My Jesus! loaded with contempt, nail my heart to Your feet, that it may ever remain there, to love You and never leave You again." Alphonsus Liguori
"Come now my soul, and worship this man, this God. Come believer, and behold thy Savior. Come to the innermost circle of all sanctity, the circle that contains the cross of Christ, and here sit down." Charles Haddon Spurgeon
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Isaac Watts
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:4-6
ACT FOUR/INTRO
Now we come to the second beginning because the first beginning fell from its great heights! A new beginning for all of us, conceived in the heart of God before time, before the foundation of the world. A new beginning wherein God corrects the wrong of the Fall, to bridge the chasm, and to consummate "The Plan."
This is where our beloved Jesus paid the penalty for our sin—so that we might enter in,
this fellowship with the Father, even as Jesus knew it, before time, before the foundation of the world.
"And I will continue to speak of Your name Father, in order that Your love, which was poured out on Me, will be in them. And I will be in them also." John 17:26
"In love HE predestinated us unto the Son-Place through Jesus Christ, so that we might learn to praise His glorious generosity wherein He has made us welcome in the everlasting love He bears toward The Beloved." Ephesians 1:5-6
And He brought to this earth the fellowship, that existed before time, so that the Father and the Son would tabernacle in us, to enter our hearts...THE HOPE OF GLORY!
"And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and reality.”
Know beloved, that all His pain, all His suffering, all His blood wasn’t so that we might just have a place in heaven, "In the sweet by and by." That’s not God’s plan at all and never was. His eternal plan is that we might know His divine fellowship, in us, HERE and NOW!
Ah! You say. That’s heresy! But hear me out! Or rather, hear Paul:
"May Christ through your faith dwell in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love…that you may be filled through all your being unto all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!" (Ephesians 3:17, 19)
This is not heaven above but God’s passion to be HERE and NOW! With us and in us!
Oh beloved! God’s passion is to come to this earth and…“…be glorified IN His saints and to be marveled at IN all those who have believed…” 2 Thessalonians 1:10
This is God’s passion for you! This is God’s passion for Himself and His Eternal Plan! To have a vessel on earth to magnify and multiply His Triune life of Joy! Communion! and Fellowship in Himself, in the Godhead before time!
So beloved, gaze upon the wounds of Christ! Know that all HIS pain was to purchase HIS glory and place in you, HERE and NOW! It is truly His Passion! Oh yes! There’s much more to come. No denying that!
But this foretaste of future glory has been veiled and neglected for centuries. It’s been hidden under moldy-smelly layers of ecclesiastical traditions that have lost sight of His “Eternal Purpose.” But “If that which heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father” (I John 2:24).
Jesus Christ is seeking a place to rest His glorious Head! He is looking for His rightful home and place on earth. He is looking for a people who will give HIM the place HE deserves. He is looking for His church where His headship can be expressed, not through a single pastor, priest, or preacher, but through each and every member by His indwelling expression in them.
“OH COME AND SEE!”
“It was God who was personally present in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not holding against them their sins but canceling them…
“For our sake He made Christ to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:19, 21
ACT FOUR
CALVARY’S FOUNDATION
Behold! A ROMAN CROSS!
Blood-stained by the sin-wounds of the
Lamb of God!
Slain! with “extreme prejudice”
from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8)
Behold! HIS HEAD!
CROWNED in the eternals before time
With ALL authority and honor…
CROWNED by every star that glimmers.
In the heavenly places.
CROWNED by radiant joy as it dwelt
in the Father’s bosom. (John 1:18)
CROWNED by the MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
That sings His glory in antiphonal praise!
But now!
HIS HEAD!
See it bowed under the weight of this mockery
of a “crown” woven by the hate of men
who didn’t understand…
that Jesus wore the crushing thorns of every man’s sins
your sins and mine…
He bears it regally this crown of shame.
A shame that cuts deep!
A shame that defiles and desecrates
His Sublime, Majestic Purity!
A shame that oozes and bleeds into His beloved eyes
And blinds Him to His FATHER’S presence
In HIS OWN HEART!*
Hear Now His Heart-Wrenching
Heart-Melting
Heart-Splitting Cry—
“My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?”
But the Father was there all along
Loving the world through His Son! (2 Cor. 5:19)
Behold! His VEIL OF FLESH (Hebrews 10:1-25)
His body, lovingly prepared by the Father (Hebrews 10:5)
Is Ripped to Shreds from top to bottom
By the Roman scourge of their brutality!
After all, in the day of the Caesars
Human flesh was cheap!
“Come one—come all!”
“Watch this so-called "king" reduced to blood and bone right before your eyes!”
The Pharisees gawk and wonder in scorn:
“Yes! This pathetic form of a man isn’t our idea of a “Messiah?
Yes! This imposter is getting just what HE deserves
for slandering the temple we built for God’s glory!”
Now Behold! HIS FACE…
THE FACE that beheld in rapturous love HIS FATHER
In the Celestials before time
Before the foundation of the world.
THE FACE that caused angels to swoon in joy
THE FACE that is FAIRER THAN TEN-THOUSAND TO MY SOUL!
Is covered with the
WICKED SPIT and BRUTAL PUNCHES
Of men seeking amusement and distraction from the burden and boredom
Of their wretched existence.
THE FACE the FATHER adores is marred more than any man!
ALL OF HEAVEN turns its face in grief
AND WEEPS at the sight.
And the angels look and wonder…
“At such a cost would God be willing to go through this
pain and anguish for…the Plan…to Redeem man back to God?
Then Behold! HIS HOLY HANDS
so filled with mercy!
THE HANDS that knelt that first day of Creation
to craft a man out of dust.
THE HANDS that caressed the leper’s face and healed
the sick
the lame
the blind.
THE HANDS that mended the broken-hearted
And Held the little ones so lovingly…and blessed them…
Are Invaded WITHOUT MERCY!
by the Hammer Blows of
NINE-INCH NAILS!
Demonic legions Gather ‘round the cross and grin
with each strike of the hammer!
If there’s ever been a moment of joy in hell
IT IS THIS MOMENT!
Now lower your eyes to Behold! HIS FEET!
The FEET that Danced with His Father
Before the birth of star-shine!
Becoming the tiny feet of a baby
Kicking straw in a manger’s crib.
The blessed feet of J E S U S!
Covered by the tears and kisses of a harlot who found
REDEMPTION! and SWEET FORGIVENESS in His Love!
Now HIS FEET follow His Father’s will to the uttermost!
are hammered to the unforgiving wood!
Demonic legions howl in scorn:
"This 'Jesus' won't be kicking us around NO MORE!
We'll make sure to that! That’s what He gets for casting us into pigs!”
Oh Beloved! Now Behold!
HIS BLESSED HEART!
Dearest of sinners!
Despised by demons!
A HEART that hungers for every lost sheep.
A HEART bigger than the sky
In a body of flesh too small to hold such a miracle!
PIERCED by a soldier’s ice-cold lance!
Freeing His heart from its prison of flesh (Hebrews 10:5)
And liberating an Immaculate Flood of blood and water! (John 19:34)
CHRIST THE SON becomes the Mother
giving birth to the Father’s children!
Granting divine power to become
The Children of God to anyone who will Simply Come and Dance
In His wounds!
Never further than Thy Cross,
Never higher than Thy feet,
Here earth’s precious things seem dross,
Here earth’s bitter things grow sweet.
Gazing thus our sin we see,
Learn Thy love while gazing thus;
Sin which laid the Cross on Thee;
Love which bore the Cross for us.
Lord Jesus, You are Your Father's Son. Full of love, full of mercy, and full of compassion. You carry His heart and His devotion deep within. His Love compelled You to continue when You knew what lay ahead. His Love kept you abiding in the heavenlies while this earth sought to drag You to Your knees. Your Father's Love was the power that turned the course for all of us. His Love for You and His Love for us. And now, because of Your actions, in response to His Love, we too enter into this love relationship with You and Him. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving Your Father so much. Mitzi North
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