Wednesday, August 13, 2008

HOW TO AVOID BEING THROWN OUT THE WINDOW! - CROSS PURPOSES 129

CROSS PURPOSES

17 August 2008

HOW TO AVOID BEING THROWN OUT THE WINDOW!

Hi Guys,

Big word for you. I wonder if you have ever heard it? DEFENESTRATION. It means “the act of throwing out of a window”. Usually associated with a person being thrown out the window!

The Sydney Morning Herald has had a humorous look at this word for the last couple of weeks. ‘Defenestration’ comes up in murder mystery novels as a ‘cause of death’. There are plenty of stories too about prisoners ‘jumping out of windows on the 10th floor’ of Security Service (Secret Police) buildings in various countries. And more than one or two troublesome royals in Europe have had lives ended by being turfed out of an upper window.

Did you know that God himself has been into some form of this “throwing out’? I was astonished how often in the OT the eternal God was warning that if his people would not repent they would be ‘cast out’. He did it too – the whole nation, first Israel and then Judah – went into exile and captivity.

Have you ever thought that God continued this practice in the days of Jesus?

In God’s New Testament economy it happens differently. The Father shoves the Son into this world, and the Son allows it to happen. Later the Son then gets cast out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to confront the devil. Jesus returns to his ministry full of the Holy Spirit. And what should be a ‘welcome tour’ among his own people becomes something macabre as the Son is declared unworthy and unwelcome. He experiences defenestration as he gets thrown out of his own world, by the people he called and created. They can’t stomach him so they effectively vomit him out. Calvary stinks.

But here’s the miracle, he gets cast out, he lets himself get cast out, and he’s the only human who doesn’t deserve to get cast out. Why? So that we can get thrown in! He pays a debt he didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.

LISTEN TO JESUS. “The person who comes to me I will not cast out.” John 6:37

Fred

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home