Facing the Wall

The view from my chair

I have a confession to make. Yesterday, I was late for Easter church service. Terrible, I know! Easter is only the most important church service of the entire year and I was late. I’m hardly ever late. I’m always sitting in the same seat, with a Bible, notebook, and pen ready to go. But not yesterday…

Yesterday, I was literally in the hallway. The place was packed and all the seats were taken. The ushers set up folding chairs and I was seated facing a big, blank wall. That wall separated me from where I wanted to be, in my same seat, near the worship band, seeing my pastor as he shared a message from the Bible. I was irritated. I was unsettled. I was distracted by the noise of people talking, children running, and babies crying.

As I closed my eyes in an attempt to concentrate, I imagined how it was when Jesus walked the earth. He’d be teaching and great multitudes would come to hear him. There would be thousands of people trying to hear his message in the midst of the distractions of the crowd, everyone trying to get a glimpse of him. I remembered the story of Zacchaeus (19:1-10) who was short man who longed to see Jesus. But he could not see over the crowd so he climbed up a tree. When Jesus saw him up there, he called out to him, “Zacchaeus, come down. I’m going to your house today.”  He saw Zacchaeus searching for him and he said, “Today salvation has come to your house. Because I have come to seek and save the lost.”

You see, when God first created Adam and Eve, he used to walk and talk with them in the garden daily.  He loved them and it brought him joy to be with them. But when Adam and Eve sinned, that close relationship was broken. God is a Holy God and their sin erected a wall between man and God. But God loved them still, even in their sin, and He had a plan to bridge that gap. Jesus was God’s plan. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that all who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Jesus took the sins of the world, my sin, and nailed it to that cross. One of his last words on the cross was, “It is finished” which means “paid in full”. Jesus Christ paid my sin debt in full. On that Good Friday, over 2000 years ago, when Jesus breathed his last, the sky turned dark and a huge earthquake rocked the earth. And in God’s temple in Jerusalem, a thick veil that used to separate God’s presence from his people was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51). That veil used to be a wall that separated man from God, but when Jesus declared, “It is finished”, God tore down that wall.  We now have free access to God, the Father, through Jesus Christ.

That is why we celebrate Easter. We remember and give thanks that Jesus, through the shedding His blood on the cross, destroyed that wall that separates us from God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

So yesterday, as I sat staring at that wall, I remembered that I didn’t matter if I couldn’t see the pastor or the worship band. I could worship and be in God’s presence right where I was sitting. When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, He sealed me with the Holy Spirit who now lives in me giving me access to God anywhere, anytime.

So today, if you are sitting on the outside, with a wall separating you from where you want to be, Jesus is just on the other side knocking. He won’t forcibly knock down the wall you’ve erected. It’s your choice. But He’s asking you, “Can I tear down that wall for you? I want you with me. I invite you in to My Father's presence. Will you come?”

If so, pray this prayer with me:
“Lord Jesus, please forgive me of my sins against you, those that I do knowingly and those that I have done unknowingly. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you that when you said, “paid in full” you meant that my debt was paid in full. Thank you that you conquered death and are now sitting at the right hand of the Father praying and interceding for me. Thank you that you are in heaven preparing a place for me so that I can live with you for eternity. I invite you into my life and heart. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Guide and direct my ways. Help me to read and understand God’s Word. I ask all this in Jesus Name, Amen.

Love,
Yolanda


1 Timothy 2:4-7 (MSG)
He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.