Two Million, Three Hundred Thousand Years

While it makes for interesting, and some would insist historically important, Bible study, and, no doubt, it enrichens one's understanding of God and a host of other aspects of soteriology, I, for one, lose very little sleep worrying about the 2,300 days, years, or millennia.

Years have come and gone without those words crossing and recrossing my mind. Through the dark days that have come and gone, only Christ and his ever-present reality have been both in the forefront, as well as, in the back of my mind.

Whenever I happen to note other religious traditions and their detailed and exacting studies, reinterpretations, and endless quibbling of fine-haired details, I'm relieved to thank God for the beautiful simplicty of righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus.

So much time and effort is spent on rehashing all these dates, and possible interpretations and whether this person is right, or if they aren't how can they still call themselves Adventist, or Christian, or Spiritual. Why not give it a rest? That's right. Declare a moratorium, or a Sabbath Rest, that lasts longer than anyone has ever dared. Why not concentrate on more pressing matters, such as receiving and continuing to receive the Holy Spirit? Once more and more believers are filled with the heavenly comforter, all these dates and problems with dates, or with horns, or with places, times and reinterpretations will vanish. How I long for the simplification of Christianity. How far we've gotten from the apostolic church and their one-big-family style of worship and fellowship. We've unncessarily made Christianity into something as complex as are other tradition-obsessed schools of thought and practice.

Let's keep it simple, like Morris Venden suggested, salvation in a nutshell: "Pray to God, study His word and work with Christ." "...Apart from me [Christ] you can do nothing." John 15:5 (NIV) & "I can do everything through him [Christ] who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

Or as John Keats once said, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all you know on earth, and all you need to know.”

Aesthetics of Decadence and Violence

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8 (New International Version)

Are you tired of serious or quality films that while, ostensibly, are not junk as far as their artistry is concerned, nevertheless, their themes of violence, lust, twisted sexuality (necrophilia, voyeurism, sado-masochism), and their obsession with just plain appalling people whom you'd never want to bring home to your house or would feel comfortable visiting theirs, makes you long for a new cinema, one of decency and gentleness? While such anti-cinema-verite films may be useful to give you a point-of-reference when talking to both Christian and non-Christian lovers of serious film as Francis Schaeffer recommended in Escape from Reason, it is becoming increasingly distasteful to continue being "in the know." While the same thing could be said for significant literature and the arts in general, the medium of film with its alternate universe and in-your-face palpability, invades not only your mind for two hours, but your life, as well, with a lingering residue that lasts days or weeks or years, down the road. Even though I've only seen Silence of the Lambs once, years ago, its deadly world of misery and vileness reappears briefly whenever the title flashes across any history-of-film newspaper article or in a chance sighting on the DVD shelves of a library or store.

While the films that were then-current with the intellectual set when Schaeffer wrote his Escape from Reason, such as Satyricon or Day for Night were, no doubt, equally as offensive to some lovers of serious film, whether Christian or non-Christian, they seem almost wholesome in comparison to the movies of the 90s and of the first decade of the 21st century. The former, while containing some decadent and historically-correct violent images, left much to the imagination and were metaphorical in their use of images and motifs, as opposed to today's no-holds-barred approach. In spite of some of their themes being objectionable, the total effect of each film focused on the power of art and memory to enhance, instead of vitiate, the lingering effect of one's celluloid encounter.

Needless to say, some future film afficionado may one day look back upon Sin City and Kill Bill, Volume 1 and find them strangely nostalgic of a simpler time. It's painful to even imagine what those future serious films will be like, that will render these contemporary films agreeable and reminiscent of days gone by.

"By beholding we are to become changed; and as we meditate upon the perfections of the divine Model, we shall desire to become wholly transformed, and renewed in the image of His purity. It is by faith in the Son of God that transformation takes place in the character, and the child of wrath becomes the child of God..." –Elen G. White, 1st Selected Messages 335-338 (Signs of the Times December 26, 1892).

To Be a Rock, but Not to Roll

"And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:7-8 (NIV)

Even John the apostle was mildly influenced in his choice of imagery, though not his theology, by the gnostics and their emphasis, or fascination with light. We're glad he was mildly influenced for the style of the Gospel according to John is light-years away from the synoptic gospels. We intend, needless to say, no disrespect for the beauty and simplicity of Matthew, Mark and Luke. John did not write or live in a cultural and intellectual vacuum. His marvelous writings, including the often-shocking Revelation with its visions of lakes of sulfuric fire and cities of transparent light, were not written in a cultural or intellectual vacuum, though the Apocalyptic book was, of course, written in the apparent cultural isolation of Patmos' confinement.

Modern Christianity is necessarily colored by its time and its intellectual or cultural movements, as well. We have memories of Christians and Christianity through the kaleidoscopic lens of the Summer of Love. Again, no reference is intended by "kaleidoscopic" to most Christians necessarily taking psychedelic agents which colored their views of their religion. I, myself, was a church-going teeny bopper who was both afraid, but not ignorant of what others, both within and outside the church were doing with mind-expanding drugs. Nevertheless, we're reminded by now-forgotten accounts of pre-conversion encounters with God through Lysergic Diethylamide Acid (LSD), as well as, Cannabis (Marijuana.) Some of these accounts were of recently-converted first year theology students who had been tripping months prior to their conversion, or of late-70s or early 80s inner-city gang members whose first encounter with what later became correctly identified as God, was initially perceived through chance Cannabis-altered consciousness.

Might today's young adults, 30-somethings, and all other post-Woodstock generation individuals, whether generation-x, y, z and beyond, especially the Myspace.com generation, not also be influenced in their perception of Christianity through the cultural influences of the Worldwide Web, MTV, and the musical-cultural-cinematic excesses of their youth and early adulthood? Do they read the Bible or the related writings of their Christian founders, Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith, Ellen G. White, differently than do their pre-Gen X fellow Christians?

What about the aging Beat-era Christians? I met two or three Christian educators who had a mild awe of Kerouac, Ferlinghetti and the Cool Jazz Scene, though not of Ginsburg's Howl, when I was a student at an Adventist college in the 70s. Did their 50s-beat sensibility color their perception of art, culture and religion, in ways that were necessarily different than the Flower generation? No doubt, Beat-influenced Christians had more in common with the Woodstock generation Christians, than the latter group has with the odd apathy or nihilism of the Gen-X influenced Christians and beyond.

What about the "What the Bleep Do We Know?" flavored Christians of today and their descendants? Will their perception of Christianity be as alien to their parents as the Woodstock-era Christians were to their parent's Christianity?

Nevertheless, are there no takers for pure, undiluted, old-time religion, Christianity, or spirituality? Or is that a distant memory or theory or future development as the "End of Time" takes place, if it has not already taken shape as we write?

What is really meant by Adam & Eve?

"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" Ecclesiastes 3:21 (King James Version)

Something wonderful happened to planet Earth 6,000 years ago. The Bible records it as the story of Adam & Eve. However, might this deeply moving and "Mythical," not mythical, account not hint at a more astounding reality? For whatever reason, homo sapiens, man the thinker, finally discovered God, or was enabled to discover the reality of God, as well as humankind's own capacity for good or evil. The problem then becomes not whether God knew or didn't know that Adam & Eve would sin, but what was it about homo sapiens 6,000 years ago that finally enabled him/her to be able to perceive God? Did God, for whatever reason, step into the consciousness of a being that He purposely wanted and needed to create? Prior to God stepping into or giving homo sapiens sentience or a spirit (breath of life), were homo sapiens, again, little more than advanced primates waiting for the miracle of divinity to touch them and change their history, as well as God's, forever? Should we consider ourselves fortunate or blessed that we are the descendants and not the ancestors of homo sapiens? Were the precursors of homo sapiens unable to apprehend God because they were little better than intelligent animals, or are we getting too "scientific" and should simply accept the historicity of Adam & Eve with its problems of God's foreknowldege or lack of foreknowledge of Adam & Eve's downfall? We might never know the answer until our Lord returns for whatever descendants of homo sapiens are still alive and have not blown each other to kingdom come.

The Relativity of Time, not of Spirituality

" Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." John 4:21 (NIV)

If you're fleeing through space escaping Earth's final death throes, the seventh day week has lost most of its precise chronological defintion, unless, of course, you maintain a 24-hour clock and observe that Earth-bound chronology to hold onto an appearance of normal time sequences. If you push your interstellar ship's engines as close to the speed of light as you can get without violating the laws of physics, would the 24-hour day, or the seventh-day week have the same actual dimensions or implications that they had on Earth? Furthermore, if by some accident, all time keeping devices with the old terrestrial time were destroyed, without the regularity of day and night, how would you know when days or weeks had come and gone? How would you keep the Sabbath holy in a "timeless" reality? Would you still be bound by the letter of the law or would you seek for a spiritual day of rest, a day of commemoration, a day of devotion and communion with your God, and with your fellow human beings on board this trans-temporal craft?

What if humankind, instead of escaping into space to survive the perplexing disasters of Earth's history, present and future, would need to burrow deep into the Earth and be permanently shut out from the light of the sun and it's demarcation of days and weeks? Again, what if all time-keeping devices were damaged and you could no longer keep the actual seventh day because time had also lost its meaning? Would you keep all days holy so as to always be in a state of devotion and commemoration and "spiritual" rest with God and with your fellow human beings, or would you periodically decide that surely the day of rest had come again after an agreed-upon time period consisting of rising and resting cycles below the surface of the Earth?

If you could get into aircraft fast enough and keep on flying forward to the setting sun on Friday night, as the Sabbath approached would you continually be welcoming the day of rest or would you disregard the ever-setting sun and keep the 24-hour period that had commenced in your native time zone, say, Western Europe's time zone?

What happens when humankind settles on Mars with its longer day or the moons of the outer planets, or space stations in orbits beyond the asteroid belt? Would you observe the 24 hour Earth day with artificial time-keeping devices or would you observe the "day" as it is practical and meaningful in your new home? Is the Sabbath bound to this Earth and its 24 hour day? Or is it a spiritual principle outside of both time and space that continues evolving and being enhanced by the realities of time and space itself?

Do you stop believing in or needing Christ and His salvation just because the nature of time and space have changed drastically? Or do you continue adapting as humankind needs to do as humanity gets further and further away from both the physical, but not the spiritual, realities of Paradise Lost and the historical observance of the Sabbath in the Ancient Middle East?

A Never-Ending Perfect Day

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Mark:2:27 (New International Version)

A day is like a thousand years for the Lord. Therefore, might not 1,000 years be like a day for the Lord? The time period that Father and Spirit were separated from Christ might very well have felt like a thousand years . Being separated from the ones you love for any length of time is painful. How much greater was the pain of immortal beings than is our pain in being separated from each other for so long a period of time?

Perhaps the 24-hour Sabbath or Day of Rest is sufficient for most Seventh-day Sabbath Christians. The extra hours beyond sundown on Saturday and ending at daybreak on Sunday morning can be thought of as an extension, or enhancement, for those desiring a longer day of devotion, instead of an actual integral part of the official or standard Sabbath day that we are enjoined to remember and commemorate. By being a conceptual day outside of the actual Seventh day, and because the hours under consideration are integral or important hours during which Christ was still in the tomb and thus separated from Father and Holy Spirit, these additional hours of commemoration are not for the simply spiritual but for the deeply, or extraordinarily, spiritual Christian that wishes to more fully, or perfectly, observe or commemorate, Christ's separation from Father and Spirit. It is this separation that was the result of Christ's redeeming sacrifice for humankind.

This additional period, not yet Sunday and not Sunday in its 24-hour totality either, may very well be thought of as a conceptual day, or an Eighth Day, if you will. In this way all may observe the 7th day Sabbath of Rest, but only those wishing to experience something beyond rest, an intimation of eternity, might keep this 8th day. While the week is complete with the 7th day, the concept of the 8th day, being beyond the totality of the 7th day, can be thought as being something beyond completeness, if such a thing is possible. It may be a day that is beyond perfection if we consider perfection not as a static reality, but an ever-evolving and improving one. Since this 8th-day Sabbath is not specified in the Bible, or in Ellen White’s Testimonies for the Church, the observance of this time period beyond the setting of the sun on Saturday evening and lasting till daybreak on Sunday morning, are for those wanting or needing to go the extra-mile. You will have gotten all you needed during the 24-hour rest of the 7th-day Sabbath, but you also got something extra and equally as fine, the quiet and lingering spiritual essence of the 8th-day rest, or Sabbath.

The Seventh-day Sabbath can be enjoyed and appreciated as is, make no mistake about this truth. It, however, can only be enjoyed and appreciated by those who are enabled by Christ's righteousness by faith, as opposed to those who find that in order not to violate their own religious scruples or conscience, make the best effort they can to observe this oasis-like commandment. How unusual is this commandment that unlike the other nine, needs only to be kept on the Seventh-day, Saturday. Of course, the spirit of the Sabbath should be carried through the other six days of the week, but the actual letter of the law specifies only one 24-hour period at the end of each week.

It is an enigma that this same commemorative commandment is one that causes most disharmony among all of Christendom. Except for pockets here and there throughout history, e.g., the Waldensians, most of post-apostolic Christendom has kept Sunday as the Sabbath day, not Saturday. Even Sunday, if observed, is kept only once a week, whereas the other nine need to be kept all of the time, seven days a week. Since the law of God is a whole and not ten separate components, it could be said that in keeping the other nine during all seven days, you are also keeping the fourth commandment, the seventh-day sabbath which comes but once a week. Likewise, it could be said that in keeping the fourth commandment, which comes but once a week, you are also keeping the other nine which are in play all week long. "For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,'[a] also said, 'Do not murder.'[b] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker." James 2:11 (New International Version). Again, might the reverse of this text be equally true, as well, since as they say in basic algebra, if a=b, then b=a? Do we keep all the other nine commandments that are ever in play, by keeping the fourth commandment that comes but once a week? And, do we keep the fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," when we keep the other nine?

It should be pointed out that this text, James 2:11, does not say, as is often believed in some churches in Christendom, that you break all ten commandments if you break but one. Even Martin Luther initially referred to the epistle of James as the epistle of straw, though he later amended his comments in a revised edition of his autobiography. What James 2:11 is really saying, is that if you are an enthusiastic adherent of righteousness by faith in Christ and His saving grace, you are well aware that no one can keep even one commandment on their own, or by their own effort. If they do, or seem to do so, it is merely outward moralistic behavior. Only by accepting the free gift of Christ's righteousness and experiencing the gift of His Holy Spirit which works in us to produce "spontaneous" and genuine commandment keeping, as Morris Venden says in Faith that Works, are we actually, and freely, experiencing and enjoying the fruits of Christ's righteousness by faith? "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 (NIV). This purification, as well as the forgiveness of sins, or justification, is not something we can do to, or for, ourselves. It is something that can only be done “to” us by the indwelling Holy Spirit as well as the prior “external” wooing of the Spirit of Repentance. This verse does not add "and make sure to keep all ten commandments and not break even one, because that would cancel out any positive influence, or effect, the keeping of the other nine had on you or on others." Such a point of reference almost seems to suggest, "if you broke one, why bother keeping the other nine. You blew it, so why even try?" It also suggests to some, but not all thankfully, that if you keep all except one of the commandments, you might well not have bothered to keep the other nine. This kind of thinking might encourage some with a weaker nature or conscience, to reason, "well I didn't keep the Sabbath holy because I went dancing at the clubs on Friday night or went to the mall for a two-hour dvd shopping marathon, so what's the big deal if I go ahead and break some of the other nine?

Insisting that you have to keep all of the commandments, by your own efforts and supposed righteousness we should add, or else, why should you go through the sham of keeping what commandments you still have available to keep, leads to more flagrant commandment breaking. It also leads weaker minds to become enboldened in commandment breaking because of the legalistic tenor of this way of thinking. "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14

Christians who observe the seventh-day, mostly Seventh-Day Adventists, Seventh-Day Baptists, as well as a few others, would still continue to be integral members of their faith or system of beliefs. Those, however, who additionally observe the quintessence of the Eighth Day, a day of going beyond that which is required, would additionally be Eight-Day Futurists, because they would observe the enhanced meditation and contemplation of Christ's complete separation from Father and Spirit, which is a symbol of the excruciating separation between humankind and God, this side of eternity.

Eighth-day futurists focus both on this virtual day of meditation and contemplation, as well as the future life to come and its perfection. Some 8th-day Futurists who belong to less than progressive congregations or communities may reserve their observance of the 8th-Day, in the event it would precipitate expulsion or ridicule, or worse, indifference itself, from members of their standard congregations. Most, if not all, of the 8th-Day Futurists could probably hide the fact that they were 8th-day Futurists with little or no inconvenience. It would be their private devotional habit, and with astute powers of observation, they might well realize whom among their own, or in society at large, are also 8th-day futurists. It should be pointed out for those who further explore links related to this blog, that there is a school of 8th-day futurism that is a kind of bridge for secular individuals that perhaps one day, may accept the full meaning of the 7th-day sabbath and righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. In climbing Jacobs ladder, we don't want to remove the bottom rungs for anyone just because we are half way or almost near the top of our climb.

As of this day, July 2, 2006, we have experienced only our first 8th-day Sabbath, after enjoying the blessings of the 7th-day Sabbath. Though it was the first actual one experienced, it had been planned for more than a year, perhaps as long as ten years though it was dimly understood. Only the name, 8th-day Futurists, lingered in quiescence until a brighter day or spiritual experience might dawn. Our first actual 8th-day Sabbath was an experience like no other. It had been entered into with prayer and meditation and not, it is hoped, for the sheer exoticness of keeping a conceptual day, an eighth one and a Sabbath, at that. Less anyone should mistake what we mean by speaking of the 8th-day sabbath, again, we are not referring to the 24-hour period known and observed by most of Christendom, the Sunday sabbath.

Instead of rushing to turn on the television or making quick plans to find some wholesome activity to do on the much-hoped-for post-Sabbath Saturday night, the arrival of the 8th-day Sabbath made one want to linger in the luxuriousness of the 7th-day Sabbath and its afterglow. What activities or wholesome pleasures were engaged in were with the enhanced awareness that we were still commemorating all of the hours that Christ was separated from Father and Holy Spirit, as well as their being separated from Him whom they loved as much as they loved themselves. With the arrival of dawn, the newness of the 8th-day Sabbath had not ingrained itself into our consciousness; it was only 15 minutes after rising from sleep, while we were walking the dog, that the post 8th-day Sabbath morning made us realize that our first 8th-day Sabbath had come and gone as quietly as it had arrived. With eagerness we looked forward not only to the arrival of the 7th-day Sabbath, but to its companion, the 8th-day Sabbath, the complement to an already perfect day.

Questions but No Answers

Woman: Do you think God loves you?
Man: I don't believe in God. So your question has no meaning. Okay, I'll be honest. He may exist or he might not exist, but either way, I don't think he cares. Why trouble yourself asking me, anyway? How does it help you whether I care or not if he loves me. Besides, if he exists, he's awfully far away and could probably care less what happens to me.
Woman: That's where you're wrong, if you don't mind me saying so.
Man: Go ahead; it's a free country, as they say. We don't have to agree about most things, anyway. But, really, why do you care? I'm fine like I am. I never give God much thought, anyway.
Woman: Perhaps, you don't think he loves you or cares about you, so automatically you may be thinking, "why should I care?" But maybe, if he did exist, and you felt that he didn't care about you, that doesn't sound like what God should be like? Or am I offending you by reading things into your answers?
Man: I like you, so I'm putting up with this just to be nice, but, really, it's kind of funny that you Christians are so preoccupied whether others think God loves them or not, or whether we think he cares or doesn't care about us. I have other things to keep me busy, like how I'm going to buy a new car after the last one got banged up badly by some nut on the midnight express lane.
Woman: Yeah, it must seem funny to some people, but the reason I ask, is because God means a lot to me. I've been around talk about God since I was a little girl, and though at times I was more afraid or disinterested in him, most of the time, I sensed that he really did love me and cared about what happened to me, the good and bad things I went through all my life.
Man: Well, I guess we were brought up differently. My family was not religious; they were artsy people--always going to museums and the opera, and stuff like that. There really was no need or time for God in my family. It wasn't even talked about. I got what little information I did get about God from standing on street corners when some lunchtime christians would give their talk about what Christ had done for them. It always used to perplex me why they bothered as very few people seemed to pay them any attention, or had anything nice to say about them anyway. It even annoyed me, when one woman in particular came to the mike and said "Every knee shall bow and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.' Or something like that. I probably got the words wrong. But it bothered me that she was so arrogant in saying that every knee was going to bow, as if Christ were the only God around. How about Buddah, and all those other religions or deities that people believed in? What made Christ so special that she insisted that every knee was going to bow, whether they wanted to or not? I thought, "boy, is she ever going to be surprised when that never happens in human history," but, of course, how would she ever know if it happend or not?
Woman: Wow, and I thought I was going to be the one to, ahem, do the talking. I guess you've said more than I ever would have had courage to say. But, I'm glad you're being so candid. I wish I felt at ease to be as candid as you seem to be. It sounds to me that you've thought about this question or issue at least a bit, or used to anyway. Otherwise, why would you even stand and shake your head at that lunchtime crowd of street evangelists as opposed to crossing the street so you didn't have to hear them?
Man: When you're in New York City on your lunch break, there's an element of boredom or rush or both, and that crowd always made me laugh, of course, when they didn't get under my skin. I always expected them to start jumping up and down, but, unfortunately, I never saw them do that.
Woman: So you stood there to laugh at them?
Man: Hey, sorry, I'm just being honest. At least I stood there. Most people would have crossed the street or rolled their eyes and kept on going--oblivious to the fact that those street talkers were even there every lunch hour, even in winter.
Woman: Did you stop to think of why they thought it important to be there every day? Some of them probably skipped lunch to be out there every day in the the middle of the work day? Was that in Rockeffer Center where you used to work when you lived in Manhattan?
Man: Look, I see you've getting very defensive or protective about these people that you've never met and, probably, they're not even of your own denomination, so why should you care so much. It sounds like you care more about their feelings than mine.
Woman: I care because I know why they were out there every lunch hour. I would have joined them even if we didn't see eye to eye on every point.
Man: Ok, you've made your point. Let's have a bite to eat. You can tell me more some other time when my stomach is not growling so much.
Woman: Yes, let's do that. I wouldnt want my agnostic friend fainting from hunger on the boulevard in front of the Ritz Carlton.

Blood like Rain - Sangre cual Lluvia

Imagine yourself standing under the cross of Christ. You are the only one there with Him. Even though you yourself had to have been the one to nail Him to the cross, neverthelsss, you find that you alternate between three positions:

• looking up at the cross directly beneath His bleeding right hand
• looking up at the cross directly beneath His bleeding left hand
• prone on the earth, itself, with your head pressed up to the base of the cross with your face right under His bleeding feet

In all three positions, the cross is your only reality. Christ's bleeding hands are your only focus, interest and point of reference. Even though it clouds your vision, as it drips onto your eye lids, and partially clogs your nostrils, you cherish this experience because it is His blood that is gently dripping onto your eye lids and into your nostrils, and down the sides of your face. You don't seem to mind because it is Christ's blood, your Saviour's blood, that is washing your eye lids and your nostrils with its life-giving properties.

Imagine the blood of Christ soaking your hair, your face, your chest, your arms, your back, your legs, your feet, your belly, and, yes, every other part of the human body that He created.

Imagine the blood of Christ possessing an almost devouring quality or property so that any cloth or leather or metal that you were initially clothed in, has been disintegrated by the precious blood of Chirst Jesus, your Saviour and mine.

Imagine yourself, finally, completely covered from head to toe as though plunged into His crimson blood.

Imagine your heigtened sense of awe and love for your Saviour, as you stand in front of His bleeding body, completely covered by His blood. Imagine that this scene, or reality, is the only reality you have ever experienced or would ever want to experience. Both of you are frozen in time though it is a dynamic scene and experience that seems to never have had a beginning or an end. Your entire life has always been, continues to be, and will always be this amazing sight. You, His son or daughter, standing beneath your God and Saviour and Friend, as His priceless blood and life wash you over and over again with no end in sight.

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3 (New International Version)

Imagínese estar parado debajo de la cruz de Cristo. Usted es la única persona allí con él. Aun cuando usted mismo tuvo que haber sido la persona responsable de clavarlo a la cruz, sin embargo, usted se encuentra alternándose entre tres posiciones:

• mirando hacia arriba a la cruz y directamente debajo de su mano derecha sangrienta
• mirando hacia arriba a la cruz y directamente debajo de su mano izquierda sangrienta
• acostado en la tierra, sí misma, con su cabeza presionada hasta la base de la cruz con la cara bajo sus pies sangrientos

La cruz es su sola realidad en cada una de las tres posiciones. Las manos sangrientas de Cristo son su solo foco, interés y punto de referencia. Aun cuando su visión se enubleze, y tupe parcialmente las ventanas de la nariz, usted aprecia esta experiencia porque es su sangre que está goteando suavemente en sus párpados y en las ventanas de la nariz, y por los lados de su cara. A usted no parece que le molesta esto pues es la sangre de Cristo, sangre de su Salvador, que le está lavando los ojos y las ventanas de la nariz con sus características vivificantes.

Imagine la sangre de Cristo empapándolo a usted, su cabeza y cabello, su cara, su pecho, sus brazos, su espalda, sus piernas, sus pies, su barriga, y, sí, cada otra parte del cuerpo humano que él creó.

Imagine que la sangre de Cristo poseé una cualidad o una característica casi devoradora, de modo que cualquier ropa o cuero o metal del cual usted se encontraba vestido inicialmente, han sido desintegrados por la sangre preciosa de Cristo Jesús, su Salvador y el mío.

Imagínese, finalmente, cubierto totalmente de la cabeza al dedo del pie como si lo hubieran bañado en su sangre carmesí.

Imagínese que maravilla y amor está sintiendo usted hacia su Salvador, al contemplar su cuerpo sangriento, cuya sangre lo ha cubierto totalmente a usted. Imagínese que esta escena, o realidad, es la única realidad que usted ha experimentado en su vida o que desearía siempre experimentar. Para ambos parece que el tiempo ya no existe, aunque es una escena y una experiencia dinámica que parece nunca haber tenido un principio o fin. Esta escena asombrosa parece que siempre ha existido, continúa existiendo, y siempre existirá. Usted, Su hijo o hija, asercándose a su Dios y Salvador y Amigo, contempla su preciosa sangre y vida que lo lava a usted completamente, vez tras vez, por toda la eternidad."

Y ésta es la vida eterna: que te conozcan a ti, el único Dios verdadero, y a Jesucristo, a quien tú has enviado. " Juan 17:3 (Nueva Versión Internacional)