Journey Through the Cross

Forty Days of Devotions on the Greatest Event of all Time.

Day 4: Companion Revisited

Screams and curses ricocheted through the charged air on the hill outside Jerusalem.

From the highest heaven to the gates of hell, attention was riveted on one lone figure writhing in agony on a central cross. Angel legions stood at the precipice of heaven, hands on sword hilt. Satan roared, laughed and blasphemed, ecstatic over the opportunity to inflict pain upon God.

And now Jesus Christ, Son of God and King of glory, was drawing His final breath.

He knew He was king, He knew He was God, He knew He was Man, and He knew He was alone.

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me…” Psalm 22:1

It was the ancient ache, the old loneliness, the burden borne since eternity past that was responsible for these nails, this darkness and humiliation, this sacrifice.

Jesus was One, Lone, Lonely.

Through His brilliant mind, His perfect but broken heart, His infinitely deep soul, swept this overwhelming flood of unbearable remembrance, this overpowering feeling, this crushing ache of loneliness.

Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. Ps 69:20

When the crucified Christ had been stripped of absolutely everything, when He was utterly and infinitely alone, He closed His eyes, breathed out His last, and fell into the deep sleep of death.

His side was opened with a roman spear, and God took a part of Him, the greatest bloodshed ever recorded, and began to work on a cure for God’s greatest malady.

From that part of Him, the Father fashioned a helper, companion, counterpart for the Son. She must be born not of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. She must be fashioned not from His heel to be trampled like the serpent, nor from His head to rule over His body, but from His side to walk with Him.

She must come from His heart that she may love and be loved, that she may understand Him, and do Him good and not evil for all eternity.

She must be without spot, wrinkle, or blemish, the perfect Bride for the perfect Bridegroom, compatible in every way.

And she must be the cure for His loneliness.

On the third day after His burial…

“Arise, My Son, I have Something for You.”

As the risen Lord looked upon what His sacrifice had purchased He saw His waking Dream. On the path before Him was the very vision of God become real. Before Him, and just for Him, was the Almighty’s idea of divine beauty to fulfill His every need, the most exquisite creature imaginable.

The Church, the Bride of Christ.

“This is My body, this is My blood, this is My Beloved.”

When His Bride smiles the sun is put to shame. When She laughs, it is as though heaven and earth quiver and giggle. When She calls the Name of Her Lord, He gives Her His undivided attention and does anything She asks. And when She touches Him…

Love grows wherever Her beautiful feet go, and the fruit of the Spirit grows ripe and heavy in Her presence.

And She loves Him.

With Her whole and perfect heart, with the mind of Christ, She loves and adores Him. She is His.

How completely She fulfills Him!

To labor alongside Her, to talk with Her, hear Her voice, to drink in Her beauty, fills His heart with ecstasy.

And when She smiles…

“Oh my Lord, am I not beautiful?

Am I not desirable?

Will you pursue me?

If you catch me, you can have me.”

I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He feeds his flock among the lilies. Song of Songs 6:3

Scripture References:

Psalm 22:1

Psalm 69:20

Ephesians 5:25-33

Matthew 26:26-28

Galatians 5:22-23

1 Corinthians 2:16

Song of Songs 6:3

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Journey Through the Cross, Day 4