April 2017 Communion Meditation

A DOOR OF HOPE

Written some 700 years prior to the Advent of Christ Jesus to this earth, we find the remarkable Old Testament book of Hosea—first among the Minor Prophets. And one of the most astonishing features of this prophecy is how anticipatory of Christ it truly is; so much so that Bible scholars have readily referred to it as “the Gospel according to Hosea.” For example, in the second chapter of Hosea we find God issuing a series of three “therefore” statements, the first two spoken in judgment against God’s people, but the third announced in tender mercy and longsuffering grace. God declares, “Therefore…I will give her back her vineyards from there, and will make the valley of Achor as a door of hope” (Hosea 2:14-15a).

Three times is the Valley of Achor mentioned in Scripture. You may very well remember the first of these occasions from your reading of Joshua 7:26 as this is the place, a once rich and fertile valley SW of Jericho, where the people of God entered into the Promised Land. But this is also the site where Achan and his family were stoned because of the sin of disobedience. So how is it that hope can be found in a place of such stern judgment? How is it that the Valley of Achor, which literally means the Valley of Trouble, can be transformed into a door of hope?

I would point you to our Lord's words in the final hours before His crucifixion and death while He was with His disciples in the Upper Room. Not long after Jesus entered into Jerusalem, as He willingly and submissively drew nearer to Calvary, our Lord stated, "Now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (Jn. 12:27). Again, in Jn. 13:21, we are told that Jesus was "troubled in spirit." But why was Jesus troubled? The answer becomes crystal clear as we look upon the cross on which our Savior died. Jesus was troubled in our place. Christ took upon Himself our troubles. God, quite literally, troubled His only Son with our sin in order that we might experience peace with God.

For this reason, on the basis of Christ’s substitutionary and atoning death in our place, Jesus could then say to His disciples, and by extension to every believer down through the ages, "Do not let your heart be troubled" (Jn. 14:1, 27). Even earlier in John's Gospel, Christ declared, "I Am the Door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." How astounding! Do you see the promise of transformation from trouble to hope, from ruin to redemption? If you are in Christ, beloved, you have experienced such restoration and reversal in your own life.

So as we come to the Lord’s Table this Good Friday, may we do so with an awareness that, in a real sense, we are unworthy to come into God’s presence on account of sins. Scripture plainly teaches that every human being has the same problem. No one is righteous before God the judge. Jew and Gentile alike are “under sin” (Romans 3:9). But Scripture similarly announces that the righteousness of God, from God, has been revealed and is given as a gift to all who would by faith believe in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-22). So may we take, eat, and remember that this gift, though free to us, came at a great, even inestimable cost through the shedding of Christ’s blood. May our faith be nourished and may our hearts overflow with greater praise to God and Christ for the work of redemption accomplished for us: "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Ps. 107:2).