He Owns It

It is true that Christ died on the cross for our transgressions. He made a way to communion and rest in the Almighty by taking on human error and mistakes. Undenyable truth of the Gospel message, no doubt. But in the same way God tells Habakkuk to trust Him without providing any additional information, there is more to the whole picture. You see, the Messiah didn't only die on the cross for humanity's mistakes, but also for the brokenness and dysfunction of creation; which includes but is not limited to our failure and sin. Adams sin separates us relationally, but the whole of reality is now also broken as a result of Adams fall. Because of the Fall we get work without reward or meaning. We get pain in childbirth; we get the loss of rest, marital discord, the tainting of peace and joy, the unleashing of failure and the second law of thermodynamics are all consequences of the Fall of humanity. The Fall didn't just break us and our relationship with God, it broke everything and now like a planet spinning off axis in an irregular revolution all that we now know is tainted by destruction, sin and death. And this is the bad news, we live in a world of beauty, but also barbed wire. But let us not forget that at the cross, God has drawn near to us and our suffering in this broken world.

The early Apostles say repeatedly that because of the death of Christ on the cross, and because of His triumphant victory of Resurrection, there will be justice. There will he healing. The world that spins off center where we see beauty and barbed wire at the same time is where Christ takes these broken things unto himself and defeats them by his resurrection.

Looking again at Habakkuk we see that God tells Habakkuk, "Trust me, I own this." he is telling us and the prophet that "I am taking on sin, death and the broken reality you now live in, onto myself throught the person and work of Christ and paying for the redemption of ALL of it, at the cross. The Chaldeans may crush you, the train wreck may occur, cancer may win this round, unexpected death will take place - because this place and all that is in it, all of the reality we know and experience, including ourselves, is fallen. Life and our experience of it is not partially broken, its all broken. Every last inch of it.

But here is the good news. He owns it, or better said, He owned it at the cross. The unexpected death, the terminal illness, the tragic and violent circumstances, are on Him and He takes them voluntarily, willingly, intentionally to the cross to restore from all the foul darkness, injustice and pain that makes up this fallen life, unto himself and pays for it because He loves us. He loves us too much to leave us here in the middle of all this fallen brokenness for all of eternity. He loves you too much to see the tragedy occur and then leave us to be burried in the dust with no restitution or healing, with no justice and provision, with no rest. He loves us too much. So he tore the veil and removes the barrier between here and eternity so that we might escape and find the healing, love and days of glory and light in His presence.

In this existence we know and live, the disabled person may never be restored, tragedies will occur, losses will be felt deeply and irrevokably change our journey. But all of it, all fallen brokenness gets repaired in enternity. It is as though God says, "I am not going to fix this specific issue you are experiencing right now, but I am going to correct the bigger problem." The bigger problem is that you would have to live with it all of your days, then pass without resolution or repair. But Christ takes all this, owns it and takes it to the cross. Resulting in the securing of your exit and perpetual restoration found in the perfect presence of God in eternity. You are experiencing the brokenness now, thankfully not forever without resolution or answers, and Christ has cleared the path into a place where tragedy is repaired, understood, and we will know Gods glory, love and clarity in a place where time is so long it isn’t even monitored.

For many of us, Now feels like the key problem, but the real issue would be the problem of pain with NO RESOLUTION. Death into dust and the real tragedy is the solution never comes. That is the core tragedy. But when God owns it, and tells us to trust Him, we can be assured that He has implemented a solution, and that implementation is a path to an exit from this pain, loss and brokenness and into His presence where we can enjoy Him and the lost loved ones, forever.

So let us rejoice in the wonderful love and provision of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who lived among us, in the beauty and barbed wire, and did something we cannot do for ourselves. He took all brokenness and He owned it at the cross. And because of his victorious resurrection, the end of suffering is in site. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen.