Much thanks and credit to The City Harmonic's release of the album "I Have a Dream," featuring the song "Holy (Wedding Day)." Quotes from this song are used as headings, and put within quotation marks throughout the post.
The album was released in 2011 from the Kingsway label. The band is from Hamilton, Ontario (Canada).
"Hanging on a Cross for Me"
It is the underlying narrative--the unseen storyline--of all existence of humanity. Within culture, we see elements of goodness and malevolence, of rejection and redemption, and of wrath and mercy. Within the production of modern movies, we see small glimpses of these elements. Within the history of humanity, countless stories could be told with undertones of these attitudes and qualities. It permeates our existence to the point that we cannot even see the silent storyline of earth.
That, in the end, it is all one continuous novel. That, in the end, it is all one ongoing epic.
That "this is the story of the Son of God, hanging on a cross for me."
"Oh, Death..."
"Oh, death where is your sting?" Both the band in the prelude and the apostle Paul ask the question. After all, it is a worthwhile question. To presume, upon faith, that the grand story of the human race is faced with a dead Messiah, is quite the claim; it therefore begs the question of how death cannot hold a lasting sting. For all human cleverness and scientific advancement, this is the one part of life that we cannot overcome--we can only postpone.
Paul provides an answer to the problem. He writes in the epistle to Corinth that "the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ." We do not merely hold this dead Messiah in our memories as do the Moslems of Mohammed, or the Jews of Judas Maccabeus ("Judah the Hammer").
We have a risen Savior. Death itself has been overthrown. The story does not end with the cross.
"When Aslan Comes"
So what? "If"--as Dr. Jeff Cook (Cedarville University) says--"if God is just concerned with getting people to heaven," then we are in deep trouble. How does this narrative, the silent epic of the ages, affect me in the here-and-now?
This story is earth's heavenly hope. It brings comfort that the awe-inspiring God was willing to come and meet the needs of those on earth--both physical and spiritual. It takes "Oz, the Great and Powerful" and shows another dimension--that of love (and it takes both God's power, anger, and wrath to be added to his love, mercy and grace for Him to be portrayed rightly).
It is not as if this Son of God died, rose, and merely sits around waiting for us to come to heaven, while we suffer here. That would be cruel. This story--this gospel--reaches us now. And it gives us the hope that, despite the jacked-up world we suffer in, that it is not permanent.
As CS Lewis wrote in his classic books The Chronicles of Narnia, we can rest in the fact that "Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight."
"As It Is in Heaven"
Eventually, we do finally leave this God-rejecting (soon to be God-forsaken) earth. It will be burned. Purified. Changed. Earth's heavenly hope becomes the Christian's heavenly reality. The presence of God will be before our eyes. We will put down all that binds us and keeps us from saying "worthy is the Lamb." As Paul says, "Now we see in a glass darkly--but then, face-to-face."
Earth will be restored. Heaven will be present. We can finally worship "in spirit and in truth." The inconceivable glories of heaven are ours to enjoy, of which the pains of our earthly existence "are not worthy to be compared."
"This is the Story"
All of history has led from the beginning to this point. It touches our lives now and when we finally reach this future state. It is the ultimate battle of good and evil, and of wrath and grace. It is the great biblical narrative that permeates all of our culture, history and existence, and has from the beginning.
"This is the story of the Son of God, hanging on a cross for me."
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