The Gospel in a Nutshell
On one day in September
last year, about a week after Lydia recovered from COVID-19, she was not
feeling well. She had a migraine, double-vision, vomiting and delirious. She
went to ER at the local hospital, then was sent to Bangor that night. As soon
as she got there, they took her for all different kinds of tests. But they
couldn’t figure out exactly what the cause was. It was a scary night. Joyce and
I could feel her pain. We could feel her agony. We wish we could take her
place. But all we could do was to be with her.
In Exodus 3:7-8, when the
Israelites groaned under their slavery and cried out, the Lord said, “I have
surely seen the affliction of my
people… I have heard their cry… I know their suffering, and I have come down to deliver them from the power
of the Egyptians…” And God did send Moses to deliver his people. But Moses was
a just shadow of the true and better Messiah to come. When the right time came,
God sent his Son… to set us free from
our sins and to give us new life. On this Christmas Eve, we affirm that Christ
is “Immanuel” – God with us. Christ is the God whom we can know, feel, and
touch. He is God with skin.
I like the
way Dick Foth explains the gospel in three sentences: “God
came to our place. God took our place. And then God invites us back to his place.”
God
Coming to Us
He
came to our place, in order to be with us. For parents and
grandparents, Christmas season can be stressful. Many of us are thinking about
what would be the best gift for our children and grandchildren. But the
greatest gift we can give our children is the
present of presence. For me personally, my greatest hero is my grandfather.
When I was in Korea, I used to live close by him. Probably it would take about
half an hour by car. Even after I was grown up and went to college, I often
dropped by my grandfather’s place, particularly when I felt down and depressed.
At that time, he was a retired pastor, but he was still quite busy. But always,
he made himself available to me. He shared his life stories with me. He
attentively listened to my stories. We had a meal together. We watched TV
together. We took a nap together. I didn’t always open up and share my
struggles and problems. But after spending time with him, I always felt much
better and uplifted. He gave me the present of presence. That’s what Jesus did
to us. The greatest gift God gives us is
the present of presence. Immanuel, God-with-us!
God for Us
God came to our place.
But not only that, he also took our place.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be sin for us,
so that we could be made right with God” In other words, Jesus became our sin, so
we could be his righteousness. He became our darkness, so we could have the
light of life. He became our curse, so we could be his blessing. The prophet Isaiah describes Jesus as the
Lamb of God who takes our place this way (53:3-6, MSG):
He
was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he
was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains
he carried—
our disfigurements,
all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own
failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our
own way.
And God has piled all our
sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.
He took our place.
God with Us
But there is more! He invites us back to his place. Years
ago I did a cross country trip from Vancouver to Quebec with four other friends.
So many good places. But for me personally, my favorite place was Rock
Mountains, Banff and Jasper, particularly Lake Louise. It was truly
breath-taking, to say the least – the sight of the emerald green water and
rugged peaks and glaciers. I will always remember that feeling. It was a
perfect day. But now as I look back, one thing was missing. “I wish Joyce was
here.” One of my bucket lists is to take her back there, so we can experience
it together.
That is why God became
“Immanuel,” not only to be with us here in our
place on earth, but also to invite us back to his place and to live with us forever! As we read Revelation 21-22,
we see his place, the new heaven and the new earth. It is just beyond
description in our human language. God wants to spend eternity there with you. The
Apostle John by the Spirit says this way: “Look, God's home is now among his
people! He will live with us, and we will be his people. God
himself will be with us. He will wipe every tear from our eyes,
and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.” (NLT). He came to our place. He took our place. Then
he invites us back to his place.
Experiencing
Immanuel
Do
you experience this Immanuel? A.W. Tozer said that “Most
Christians are theological
Christians… They’re trying to be happy without
a sense of the presence.” In other words, many people intellectually agree
that Jesus is Immanuel. And they want to live a life with God – life filled
with love, power, joy. But they don’t experience it. They don’t experience
God’s presence. Why?
Here’s what many Christians
tend to do: when we receive Christ, we invite him to be our guest, special
guest at best, but not our Master. We are still in control of our lives, making
decisions according to our experience, our preferences, our knowledge, our plans.
We drive the car, and Jesus is in the passenger’s seat. Even though he is the
best driver and is with us all the time, our life is still constantly in
conflict, confusion, and stress. And there is a constant danger of accidents. The
best way to handle this situation is to
get out of the driver’s seat and let him drive. Where is Jesus in your
life? Is Jesus in the driver’s seat
in your life? May Christ Jesus dwell in your hearts as Lord of all! May
Christ be made much of in and through your life! “I have been crucified with
Christ, and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me! The life I live in the
body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me!”
(Gal 2:20). Amen.
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