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Before we continue with the string lines, I must speak about the significance of the Cross, and the place where Jesus was crucified. I am in no hurry to complete this study until I have learned all I have to be an exact representative of Christ on this earth. So stay connected to this blog to learn more if you too have a burden to live right.
THE CROSS.
The fact that it was constructed on the Place called Skull, I
believe, has a great meaning for us.
This is the picture I have since I started with this bible study. The
plumb line in God’s hand is a true vertical line and everything must stay true
to this line. Not even the carpenter can change the plumb line. He must stay in
alignment with its truth. Jesus confirms when he said, “Everything I see my
father do, I do”.
The cross’s, embedded into the rock of Calvary, vertical
beam, is God’s plumb line. And Christ as the carpenter cannot shift this line,
but must stay in alignment with God’s commandments. That is the command. That vertical
beam stays true. No matter what people might say or believe, that beam is our
plumb line. It is our very foundation that keeps us true to what God wants from
us. It is the foundation, the cornerstone, not only of our faith but a moral
compass of what is right and pure.
The connection between God and us is Christ. And Christ demonstrated that it is possible to follow God’s commandments. Even in
today’s self-actualization, entitlement and humanistic thoughts, you cannot
stray from this one truth.
So, to understand this, we must look at the gate, a significant part
of the journey to the cross.
SHEEP GATE
Gates are built
on the road to protect you. You must be sure that your gates are fixed. The practical
application of this can be read in Proverbs 25—28 where you must learn to
control your own spirit.
A few quick
points of interest from these scriptures (See how many you can list from these
chapters):
· Search out a matter
· Take away the dross
· Remove wickedness from you
· Don’t think yourself better than others
· Don’t be hasty
· Speak wisely
· Be faithful
· Don’t search your own glory
· Be slow to respond
· Don’t bare false witness
· Don’t be lazy
· Don’t boast
· Be prudent
Gates brings
safety. When Jesus was led through Jerusalem and out of the city through the
Sheep’s Gate, he secured our relationship with the Father.
It was situated near
Golgotha. This site was commonly used to put thieves and other criminals to
death. The slope of the mountain looks like a skull bone, and at the time of
Jesus’s life on earth, it was called Calvary or Golgotha, which means place of
skulls in Hebrew. Today it is called the Damascus Gate.
Matthew 27:33
And when they had come
to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull.
John 19:17
Carrying his own cross,
he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
Mark 15:22
They brought Jesus to
the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).
Luke 23: 24-28
24 So Pilate decided
to grant their demand. 25 He released the
man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they
asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. 26 As the soldiers
led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the
country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of
people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and
said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves
and for your children.
This place became the altar for Jesus’s
sacrifice. He suffered so that we can become holy according to the plumb line
in God’s hand.
Hebrews 13:10-14
10 We have an altar
from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 The high priest
carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but
the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also
suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go
to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do
not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Right at the
beginning of this bible study, I mentioned we must count the cost before we
make a choice to follow him. This is the narrow road. It is a place of weeping and
shifting to what God wants to fulfil in your life. This weeping will be a heart-breaking
sound that will only be experienced when you are in the thick of things. Once you
began this journey, there is no turning back. Sometimes this weeping will be
heard and other times the pain will be so great that no sound or tear will be
able to truly say what you feel. People will think you are drunk or even going
mad. Think of Hanna when Eli saw her for the first time. Her cry was so intense
that no sound was coming forth. Only her lips moved, and he thought she was
drunk. Mikal thought David was beside himself when he burst out in joy. The bible
says that she despised him.
Jesus’s last words to his mother was in Luk 23:28 Jesus turned and
said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves
and for your children.
Just like Christ, we MUST face anguish and death, not a physical
death but a spiritual death. It is only when we are planted on the skull—dead
man’s tomb that we can truly come alive. And Jesus knew this, therefore the
warning to his mother and the women with her.
Weeping is to break down in tears. To cry
uncontrollably. To mourn something or someone. It is the absolute feeling of
loss so profound that words are not enough.
You must die
so that Christ can live in you. And it will cost you dearly. If you thought
that this would be a motivational study to make you feel good, you are deeply
mistaken. Not many preachers talk about this, too afraid their members will run
in different directions. But to know Christ, we should be honest about this. We should
talk about the skeleton in the closet or on the hill. Only then can we truly overcome.
But let’s get back to the Sheep Gate.
The first time the Sheep Gate is mentioned in the Bible is in Nehemia 3.
These are the people
who helped rebuild the wall and gates of Jerusalem:
The high priest
Eliashib, and the other priests rebuilt the Sheep Gate and hung its doors.
Then they dedicated Sheep Gate and the section of the wall as far as Hundred
Tower and Hananel Tower.
You see, the
Sheep Gate had to be rebuilt for one purpose. All the sheep that had to be sacrificed
had to go through the Sheep Gate. They had to be spotless lamb, chosen by hand
to be presented to the High priest. And Jesus himself had to go through this
gate as a spotless lamb. Chosen by God to sacrifice himself on the cross. Everything
that Jesus had gone through, every experience, had led him to this point. The
cross. God’s plumb line. He had to be measured, stripped and spit on and
slaughtered to show us the way.
In John 10, Jesus
revealed himself as the shepherd. He had to go through the gate, otherwise he
would have been a thief or robber. He had to become the gate himself to save
us. No hireling could stand in the gap. He had to do it.
John 10: 1-17
Jesus said: I tell you for certain
only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the
gate to the sheep pen. 2-3But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd,
and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd's voice. He calls each
of them by name and leads them out. 4When he has led out all of his sheep, he
walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. 5The
sheep will not follow strangers. They don't recognize a stranger's voice, and
they run away. 6Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand
what he was talking about.
Jesus Is the Good
Shepherd
7Jesus said: I tell you for
certain that I am the gate
for the sheep. 8Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber, and the sheep did
not listen to any of them. 9I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me
they will come and go and find pasture. 10A thief comes only to rob, kill, and
destroy. I came so everyone would have life, and have it fully. 11 I am the
good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. 12Hired
workers are not like the shepherd. They don't own the sheep, and when they see
a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and
scatters the flock. 13Hired workers run away because they don't care about the
sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep, and they know me. 15 Just as the Father knows me, I know the
Father, and I give up my life for my sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not in this
sheep pen. I must also bring them together, when they hear my voice. Then there
will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd. 17The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so I may receive it back again. 18No one takes my life from me. I give
it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.
He is the
great shepherd that finds you when you are lost and brings you back into his
fold. He carries your burdens on his shoulders. He leads you to still waters so
that you can have peace. Have you noticed verse 17? He does what the Father commands him to
do. Even Jesus had to
follow the plumb line to be true to Father’s commandments. He couldn’t do his
will. Jesus couldn’t practice self-actualization and demand entitlement. His highest
level of development was to do the will of the Father. His full potential was
realized when he died on the cross. There was no but in that equation. He
became the accurate reflection of the plumb line in the Father’s hand. Now, he is
the plumb line which we must stay true too.
When you die, you become the plumb line for others. The
true reflection of Christ. Remember Paul’s words to the church?
We can only reach our full potential
when we die to ourselves and do what the Father commands. This becomes
our actualization, our focus. Our potential fully developed to be an accurate representation of
Christ on this earth.
Next time, we
will look at the marks of a shepherd.
Continue to
study the word. Ask the Lord to show you what you need to change and where your
gate needs fixing.
Don’t wait
another day to do the repairs. Do it quickly.
Grace and
peace to you.
