Dr Ed Hindson is the Dean Emeritus of School of Divinity at Liberty University and is a great mentor and friend of Pastor Jack Hibbs and Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, where this sermon was given. This post is excerpted from that sermon.
By Hedieh Mirahmadi
Whether we are aware of it or not, God is always with us. God can and will come down into our everyday life to rescue and walk with us. He has intervened throughout human history and He can do so for each and every one of us, if we cry out to Him for help.
The book of Isaiah in the Bible begins with the Christmas prophecies then in Chap 9 he talks about the Prince of Peace and the prophecies of His coming. Then he talks of his generations challenges and ends with how the Messiah comes to die for us. He also realizes that Savior won’t come in his lifetime and cries out to God:
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:1-4 NIV
Here are some extraordinary examples of God’s direct intervention in the course of humanity:
- In Genesis Chapter 3 we are told of how Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and sin by eating fruit from the one tree that was forbidden to them. It is God who comes down, walking in the Garden, to provide for the failure.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8
He didn’t strike them dead, he came down to the fallen place and sheds the first blood to cover them. He tells them her seed will crush the head of the serpent to defeat their enemy. It’s the first message of hope to man. Usually when we sin, we blame someone else, God, or the devil. However, our hope and “way of escape” comes when we admit we did it. Just as God rescued Adam and Eve, he can rescue us too. Regardless of what heinous sin we have committed, He offers us His Son. If we accept His gift, He changes our life forever.
- Time passes, the descendants of Adam run around the earth and are far from God. He comes to Abraham and promises him glory. Through him all humanity is blessed. But the children of Israel end up in slavery in Egypt. They wonder where is God. God comes to Moses in the burning bush. God called him by name:
So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:4 NKJV
He saw, heard and was concerned about the suffering of His people so He comes down to set them free. But He tells him I’m going to use you, Moses, to do it. Moses had been raised in the palace, knows the language, and God had to humiliate him before He could use him. God came down to teach Moses, gave him the commandments and delivered them from the Egyptians.
And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians..” Exodus 3:7-8
God will call you by name when he wants to get your attention. He knows when you’re ready to go. He knows when your heart is ready, when the timing is right for you and others to be delivered.
- God comes down again in Bethlehem to a barn. He stepped into the human race
“Immanuel, God with us.” Mathew 1:23
Only a sinless Savior can pay the ransom of sinners. He is God in flesh and a robe. He has the power to pay for our sins. That’s the point.
“I and the Father are One.” John 10:30
Jesus is God incarnate. They asked him
“Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus.” Mark 14: 62
So either he is a liar, a lunatic, or the King of Kings. From the box to the cross. God came down in person and at Golgatha he came down in atonement.
Jesus told the disciples repeatedly he came to die and to be a sacrifice for them. Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins. God’s first prophecy is that man would crush the serpent and the serpent would bruise his heel. That is what happened on the cross. He did it for us because we could not do it for ourselves.
Jesus also refused to come down from the cross. They taunted him to come down but he wouldn’t because he came to earth just to go up on the cross, die and come back to save us. He stepped into the human race because God came down to save us.
When he’s resurrected he comes back and says he will go back up but will leave us the Holy Spirit to permanently connect us to the life of God. It’s the gift of God we receive by faith. The power of spirit comes on us and seals us to the life of God forever. It’s the engagement ring of us to him as his bride forever. Your life becomes coeternal with the life of God.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17
God the Father comes down repeatedly to save us and provide for us. He comes down in person as His Son to die in our place. He then comes as the Holy Spirit to live with us until we are reunited with him in the final days. It is the real life, practical understanding of the Trinity.
Believing in Jesus’ divinity is a crucial aspect of belief in Chrisitianity, but it is also critical to having a personal relationship with Him. The one who accepts Jesus died for us to be free of blame and accepts Him as their Lord and Savior is saved, but the relationship does not end there. He left with us the Holy Spirit so the relationship, for rescuing, advising, and comforting us will be an ongoing process. Our soul is saved in an instant but the battlefield of our mind and heart endures. That’s why believing in the Triune nature of God [the Trinity] is so important. God the father is the Master of Creation, the Grand architect who set the plan and process in place, the Son Jesus is the means by which the Divine plan of salvation is executed. The Holy Spirit is how believers can tap into that plan, in a consistent manner, with power and guidance for our lives.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14: 26-27
Jesus can free us from a life of misery and death. All we have to do is surrender to the fact that we cannot do it ourselves. When we accept the gift of salvation we turn it over to Him and enjoy the peace and grace that comes through faith.