Pressed by Sin

        I was listening to a sermon this morning on Jesus' prayers in the garden before His arrest. I learned that the Mount of Olives obviously had many olive trees, but also that it had an olive press. It occurred to me that at the Lord's Supper, Jesus "took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:27,28)."  Of course, grapes have to be pressed to release their juice in order to make wine, right? The pressing of Jesus began there in that garden. As He prayed, submitting His will to the Father, He took upon Himself the past, present, and future sins of the entire human race. Praying in a place where olives would be pressed for their oil, Jesus was pressed by the tremendous weight of our sin, and His supernatural agony became so great, beyond our comprehension, that the capillaries in His skin began to break and bleed. Later, His blood-letting would be continued in His scourging and completed in His crucifixion by the Romans. Like a grape of wrath, trodden in God's holy judgment, He was pressed and crushed, and the blood which flowed from His broken body was the only blood that could satisfy the holy wrath of God for all believers.

        Later, at the day of judgment, "grapes of wrath" will be crushed again, only this time, in just punishment for the sins of all who rejected God and His Christ:

         "And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.” So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs (Revelation 14:18-20)."

     Don't wait.  I beg you, acknowledge God's sovereignty and mercy now, accept the sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins with a grateful heart, and follow Him.

The Sting of Our Sin

        God feels the sting of our sin. Imagine every sin committed every moment around the globe every day for the last 5,000+ years. God feels every single one. Whether we are proud, selfish, greedy, hateful, lustful, or enraged, each and every sin we commit is AGAINST GOD. And every single one is like a slap to the head, a punch in the gut, a kick in the shins, a curse in His ears, spit in His face. We are sinful by nature, and WE DO THAT TO GOD from the moment of our birth.... "You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth (Matthew 5:38)." We deserve EXACTLY what our sin does to God; slap for slap, curse for curse.

         But instead, God came to earth in the form of Jesus to endure even MORE of our sin. And after His arrest in the garden, He endured it not only spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, but physically as well. He allowed us to do to Him even more of the same, all while bearing the past, present and future sins of the entire world upon His shoulders. The wrath we deserve for reviling such a pure, holy, and awesome God was poured out upon Him. For our sakes? No, for His glory. "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins any more (Isaiah 43:25)." God IS justice, He IS mercy, He IS grace and forgiveness. For the sake of all that He is, He saves us.

         When the angels rejoice at the repentance of a sinner (Luke 15:10), they do NOT celebrate that sinner. We are helpless and apart from God's calling, we cannot recognize our own sin, what criminals we are against Him, and we will not seek His forgiveness (Psalm 14:2-3, 1 Corinthians 12:3). All of heaven rejoices and praises God, whose grace and mercy are so great that He would provide the sacrifice, and shed His own blood, suffering His own holy wrath, for the remission of our sins (Matthew 26:28). And for THAT, "to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (1 Timothy 1:17)."