Grace Journey Church

Heaven’s Cutbacks, Layoffs. And Downsizing

We...have, Jesus, a high priest Who knows our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all (for us)—all but the sin (He 4:15)

How different is the Kingdom of which we are?

Consider: What normally happens when a corporation in this world gets in trouble?
•Stockholders blame the board, executives, and upper management.
•The board, executives, and upper management blame middle management, hourly workers, and laborers.
•Middle management, hourly workers, and laborers blame upper management and everyone else “up the ladder.
•All this leads to whoever gets blamed being place “on the chopping block” to be fired, laid off, or downsized. And in cases of fraud and such…conviction and prison.

But in Father’s Kingdom, He, the CEO, board chairman and president...
•First stepped into the place of the ones who were at fault… us.
•He then took the accusations (trial), firing and cutbacks (scouring, beatings, mocking) on Himself.
•Then put Himself on the chopping block (the cross) to pay the price of our failings and crimes…received the conviction and prison (death and the grave) •essentially with no defense, only “forgive them… it is finished.”

He took what we earned and deserved that by His resurrection we could receive what we could never earn or deserve.
Heaven’s cutback wasn’t a pink slip but a blood stained cross.

God Of The Empty

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was against us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Col 2:13-14

One of the ideas in the “handwriting of requirements” is a record of charges. In today’s parlance we would possibly call it an indictment but this is an indictment of charges of which we are guilty.

We’re told Jesus has “taken it out of the way.” That phrase is one word in Greek (exaleiphō, ἐξαλείψας). It carries the idea of to destroy, obliterate, cover, blot out, or erase.

Erase…I like that. Jesus, in His crucifixion, took the indictment of our guilty charges and they were nailed to the cross with Him. In doing so every single charge of guilt was erased by His blood.

The point?
Our God is the God of the empty…the empty cross, the empty tomb, and our empty indictment.
And into our emptiness He has poured His fullness (Eph. 1:23; 3:19).