Chapter 6

Reason for Joy: Jesus has Redeemed the Fallen World

This is the first of two chapters which will appear in our school newsletter just prior to Easter.

Easter is the greatest festival of the Christian church. In the commercial world, and amongst people who really don’t understand Christianity, most people probably think that Christmas is the most important season. But I don’t think so. Easter eclipses Christmas for all of the following reasons:

1. Easter shows us the depth of our problem – our sinful nature is exposed in the angry crowds, the corrupt justice system, the failure of Jesus’ friends and supporters, the quick change from welcoming the King to Jerusalem on palm Sunday to the cries to “Crucify him!” just a week or so later.
2. Easter shows us God’s response to our problem – he is prepared to give his own son as a ransom for our souls.
3. Easter shows us the darkness of a world without God. For three days, there was no hope, no saviour, no Messiah, no more promises, just flies swarming around an execution site, a community that was cowering in its own sense of loss and betrayal, a government touting its strength and trying to look strong in its public stance on law and order, and a tomb with soldiers guarding a dead body.
4. Easter shows us the extent of God’s solution to our problem – a resurrected Saviour, deep and bubbling-over joy in the faces and hearts of those who know that He Is Alive, and a deep and now unshakeable sense of hope that is so strong it is almost beyond calling it mere hope; it has somehow become something we don’t have a word for – a reality that has not happened yet, but is certain.

In our world we often have cause for joy. We celebrate birthdays, enjoy wonderful musical performances, are enthralled by sporting competitions, do good business deals and generally find opportunities at many points to firmly believe that we are happy.

For most people, human happiness consists in finding sufficient of these activities to give them a lasting sense of being happy and at one with their world. But we need to recognise that there is a big difference between what I call “packed house fever” and genuine joy.

You know that sense of being in a huge stadium or in a theatre and just exulting in a great experience? Or of being on a holiday or a conference with other people out of your ordinary world and just being so at peace. Students who go on a Christian camp often come back “on a high”. They wonder why their whole life can’t be lived at this level. They conclude that their family is inadequate because life at home never quite reaches that fever pitch of “packed house fever”.

When the ordinariness of life kicks in again, when daily pressures mount, then we are reminded that much of what we thought was joy was actually only momentary happiness. Today it is only yesterday’s memory. The ecstatic hit of yesterday’s drug high is replaced by today’s depth of despair, or at least today’s dull ordinariness.

We still live our lives in the mud.

In the Bible there is an amazing story, that is very difficult to understand. It is the story of Job, who suffered great difficulties and trials when Satan persuaded God to take his hand of protection from him. I have to say that I really don’t understand the story, especially the beginning of it. It is hard to understand just what was happening there.

But what is clear to me, is that we have generally misinterpreted it. Most people would see the story of Job as the story of the assault of Satan on one poor man. I don’t think that this is correct. I think the story is really about the assault of Satan, not on man, but on God. And as such it forms the basis of the way we ought to interpret the story of our own lives, in a way that most of us never really consider.

The story of Job informs the way we think about the problems that befall us, if we can grasp that they are not is much the attacks of evil upon me, as upon God. And if the attack is on God, will he not respond to that attack? And should I not have deep joy in the fact that the Great High King is the Commanding Officer of my life’s battles.

It is as though we are living our lives in a split screen drama. Imagine that you are watching a film on television, or in a cinema on a large screen. But the story is telling two stories simultaneously, on two screens. The big screen is divided down the middle, and you are watching two series of events happening at once. Sometimes it is clear that the events are related in some way, at other times it is hard to see the connection.

This is what life is like for all humans across the globe and in all of history.

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One screen is telling the story of Man, oppressed and assaulted by Forces beyond his control. He is faced with chaos, death, war, sickness, hatred, spite, criticism, betrayal, gossip and many other enemies.

The other screen is telling the story of God being assaulted by Satan. This doesn’t deal with such basic actions as Man faces. The struggle here is on a much more majestic scale. The struggle is titanic, elemental. It takes place at the level of deep reality, as well as at the level of superhuman reality.

Do you remember the portrayal of evil in the films of The Lord of the Rings? At one level, there were struggles between the various characters. There were attacks by Orcs and the many different forces of evil, against the good characters of hobbits and elves.

But always in the background was the smoking mountains of Mordor. We always knew that behind all the evil and the growing tide of hatred and discontent was the driving will of the elemental, Titanic forces.

The apparent battle was being fought by elves and hobbits against a series of vicious and ugly enemies.

The real battle was being fought by the good wizard, Gandalf against the evil wizardry of Sauron and the Dark forces. This evil held many in its thrall. Saruman the wizard was taken over by Sauron, and although he genuinely believed himself to be free, he was controlled by the Dark Tower, because he sold himself out to the Dark and its goals.

This story is a parable of the plight of mankind. You and I are caught in enemy territory. We face daily the testings and the attractive seductions of the Evil one.

The prison and death threats faced by the Apostle Paul were clear and present dangers. But they were of the same source and nature as the our desire for the five bedroom house on the waterfront and the desire to win Lotto on Saturday night. We think that our drive to material success are innocent pleasures, but they are often the wily entrapments of the forces of evil.

The enemy sometimes appears as the son dying of leukaemia, and sometimes as the bright, successful family which pours its time and energies into the children and their successes on the sports field and the music stage, but who can’t find time or need to worship God.

The manifestation may be different, but the source is the same. One may appear more evil than another, but the deep motive and purpose behind each is the same.

It is to distract us from being attracted to God who is our home and our heart’s country.

To destroy our attachment to that which would heal us and make us whole beings.

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To entangle us with chains and fetters which seem at first to be light and attractive but in reality weigh us down, and drown us.

Because the struggle is truly titanic, the only solution must also be titanic.

If the problem is at an elemental level, the solution must be found there as well.

If the source of the evil is at a third or fourth remove from our immediate reality, then the remedy for it must be searched for there as well.

No use to look for the magic sword in the blacksmith’s shop. It can only be found in the Enchanted Forest. No use to employ the language of daily speech to combat the call of the wicked temptress. You must learn to use the secret language of the Good People who live in the Sacred Mountains. And the journey to the Sacred Mountains and to the Enchanted Forest will be dangerous and hard. You will need more than ordinary food and drink to sustain you there, on that journey.

Jesus came that first Easter to lead the way to the Sacred Mountains; to teach us the speech of the Just and the Good; to provide us with food and wine that will sustain us on the dark journey of the soul, to everlasting life.

To return to the story of Job. Although he lived thousands of years ago, Job had an intrinsic understanding of the purposes of God. And this is why his story is in the Bible.

Job’s joy in the midst of his suffering lay in his conviction that he had a Saviour. Here is some of what he had to say on the subject:

I wish, O God, you would hide me with the dead and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! If mortals die, can they live again? This thought would give me hope, and through my struggle I would eagerly wait for release. You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork. For then you would count my steps, instead of watching for my sins. My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover over my iniquity.

O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. Oh, that someone would mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.

Oh, that my words could be written. Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument, carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock.

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!¹

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All this from a man who lived thousands of years before Jesus Christ! These words are the cries of many of our hearts. But Job is confident that his Redeemer is living, and that he cares for him.

What does it mean to be a Redeemer? The word comes from old French and means “to buy back” and carries the idea that God has bought back his created humanity. Why did it need to be bought back? Who sold it?

The answer to that lies again in the story of creation. Satan rebelled against God, tempted Adam and Eve to rebel also, and to exchange the glory of living with God in daily, existential, moment-by-moment peace and joy for living for oneself. It is true that even today we have the alternative of living for oneself. We can choose to spend our money and out time on purely self-centred pleasures and activities.

Inevitably, however, we will find that these will not satisfy us in the long term. That is not to say that it is not terrific to own a beautiful house and a smart car, and to have sufficient money to buy whatever one’s heart desires. But you only have to read the pages in the magazines about the Hollywood stars to realise that money does no buy happiness.

Of all people in the world, the Hollywood “stars” should have it all: money, fame, friends, being noticed… But inevitably we find that their world falls apart, because just like you and I are, they too are made to be in a relationship with God. When we exchanged our right to live with him in exchange for the right to choose selfishly, we did not change our nature, our essential character.

God made us to be with him, and until we re-connect with him we will be unhappy, deep within ourselves. Hear Pascal, the French philosopher and theologian on this:

You will notice that none of this attempts to prove that God exists. The standard philosophical proofs of God are so dependent on reason and logic that they are useless to point anyone to God, who is a person, not an argument. Even if they turned my mind towards him, my will would turn me away again as soon as I had forgotten the proofs. The only useful connection with God will be a mediator, Jesus Christ, reminding me of my wretchedness, and offering me redemption.

This is the reason for Joy: God has provided me with a mediator, a go-between. He has given me his own Son who provides me with a pathway back to God. And it is all at his initiative, not anything of mine.

In France for up to 40 years after World War II, it was common to see signs on buses and trains, reserving seats for those they called “Mutiles de Guerre” (mutilated or wounded in the War). There were so many people with amputated limbs and other war injuries that it was necessary to ensure their perpetual care in reserving seats on public transport.

In similar ways we – you and I – are the “walking wounded” in the ongoing war between God and Evil. It is you and I who are still suffering the effects of that war. Jesus has fought his battle and won. He has been resurrected and lives in victory, but you and I are still waiting for the final call of honour to home and heaven. In the meantime, we walk and live in the context of an ongoing war, and it can be very fierce at times.

He alone destroys the power of evil that constantly darkens my horizons with its smoke and its fire. He alone creates for me a refuge in this world which is otherwise a lonely and terrifying place. He is the Creator-God who has become our Redeemer.

This is the greatest Joy of Easter. And this Joy lasts all year round. It is not a chocolate joy, eaten on Sunday morning for a few moments’ pleasure. It is my permanent heritage – the deep and lasting Joy of having drunk of the water of life, and of knowing that my tomorrows are in his hand.

Family JoyFinder

Gather your family around a meal table and together give thanks to God for his provision of his Son, Jesus Christ.

What evidence do you see in the world for the presence of evil in the world?
How does this make you feel?

Read this Psalm together, and then pray it as a prayer for you and your family: Psalm 116

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Psalm 116

¹ I love the LORD because he hears and answers my prayers.

² Because he bends down and listens,
I will pray as long as I have breath!

³ Death had its hands around my throat;
the terrors of the grave overtook me.
I saw only trouble and sorrow.

⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD:"Please, LORD, save me!"

⁵ How kind the LORD is! How good he is!
So merciful, this God of ours!

⁶ The LORD protects those of childlike faith;
I was facing death, and then he saved me.

⁷ Now I can rest again,
for the LORD has been so good to me.

⁸ He has saved me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.

⁹ And so I walk in the LORD's presence
as I live here on earth!

¹⁰ I believed in you, so I prayed,
"I am deeply troubled, LORD."

¹¹ In my anxiety I cried out to you,
"These people are all liars!"

¹² What can I offer the LORD
for all he has done for me?

¹³ I will lift up a cup symbolizing his salvation;
I will praise the LORD's name for saving me.

¹⁴ I will keep my promises to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵ The LORD's loved ones are precious to him;
it grieves him when they die.

¹⁶ O LORD, I am your servant;
yes, I am your servant, the son of your handmaid,
and you have freed me from my bonds!

¹⁷ I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the LORD.

¹⁸ I will keep my promises to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,

¹⁹ in the house of the LORD,
in the heart of Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

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1 Taken from Job 14:13 – 17, 16: 18 – 21, 19: 23 – 27.