At the Cross

“The Lord gave these instructions to Moses: ‘Command the people of Israel to remove from the camp anyone who has a skin disease or a discharge, or who has become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead person. This command applies to men and women alike. Remove them so they will not defile the camp in which I live among them.’ So the Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses and removed such people from the camp” (Numbers 5:1-4).

Honestly, I struggle when I think about the Israelites who were “removed” from the worshipping community due to uncleanness that, often times, they couldn’t control. And I find myself wondering…

Were they lonely in their isolation? Did they mourn the loss of community? If one’s family member died, isn’t loving fellowship what he or she needed most?

Still, I understand that God has a good purpose for what He does, as Psalm 119:68 proclaims —

“You are good and do only good…”

As I wrestle with understanding Levitical law and all its requirements, I find comfort in pondering the New Covenant parallels — all that Jesus made possible, as well as what His life, death and resurrection nullified.

In my consideration of this, I recently recalled a sermon from years ago. The theme concerned time, and the question was posed “When did time as we know it truly begin?” The suggested answer —

At the cross.

What if “the beginning” wasn’t merely at creation only but also, mysteriously, when Jesus hung upon the cross — suffering and dying for humankind’s sin?

From God’s perspective, He saw beyond the heart-wrenching suffering of His beloved Son and saw all sin and suffering through the ages — Adam’s and Eve’s, Jacob’s, the children of Israel’s…

Mine. Yours.

From that moment — as Jesus hung dying — God’s plan to rescue the world was set into motion. To right the wrongs. Clean the dirt. Bind up the broken.

For a rebellious people, however, laws would be necessary, and therefore — required.

Jesus, the unblemished Lamb — crucified outside the city — took all the sin of the world upon Himself in those hours on the cross. He was rejected and abandoned by humankind and, yes —

Even by His Father.

Through His defilement, Jesus quelled our uncleanness — ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Thus, bloodshed is no longer required for the forgiveness of sin…

Instead, Jesus’ spilled blood is an eternal covering.

God no longer requires that the unclean and blemished be separated out…

Rather, sinless Jesus — His perfection stained only by our transgression — made atonement and now, through Him, nothing separates us from Abba.

I wonder if, on the day of Jesus’ death, God saw across time all those “removed” children of Israel. Did He see their mourning? Hear their weeping — even then?

Still, His Law stood firm. For sanitation. Protection.

Because of love.

Perhaps the purpose of all the “Do-s” and “Don’t-s” — those many complex regulations — was for directing a loving Father’s children to the simple, life-giving, set-freeing truth of The Word.

Yes — To Jesus.

And if The Word was with God in the beginning — and ever since because He IS God (John 1:1) — wasn’t His Spirit also there to comfort those who mourned in their quarantine? Yes —

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted… (Matt. 5:4)

All because of what one Lamb did in the beginning…

At the cross.

When have you experienced God’s comfort in your mourning? How might you extend comfort to another who is hurting in some way, even if you must step out of your comfort zone?