Perhaps the greatest need in our world has
always been for more bridges. I don't mean the ones made of concrete, steel or
wood. It's just that even with all the bridges we have we are still isolated,
separated, alienated from one another. We human beings spent far too much time
and energy building barriers between us instead of bridges—digging new and
wider trenches instead of filling up the old ones already here.
If we could see human society from God's
perspective, I think we would see individuals, groups, and nations separated by
wide canyons of mistrust, misunderstanding and hostility. We would feel God’s
pain and sorrow.
But every now and then we see an amazing
thing: two persons, two peoples, two nations, tired of separation, so they
begin to build a bridge toward each other—a slow, fragile effort to cross the
gulf that separates them. Sometimes they make it. Sometimes they don't, for the
bridge burners are always with us, the saboteurs of peace and brotherhood.
You don’t need to be a sociologist or
psychologist to realize that something's very wrong with our world, and within us.
There is brokenness, disjointedness throughout human society. Ours is more a
world of walls, chasms, barriers than bridges. But deep down we long for more
bridges.
Why?
According to the Bible, all this
brokenness comes because of the great divide between Creator and creation,
between God and humanity. Human beings aren’t in right relationships with each
other because they are not in a right relationship with their Creator. Sin has
created this great divide. Sin is rebellion against God, disobedience to God's
will, refusal to worship and serve the One who created us. It continues in
every generation. Each of us in our own way has carved it deeper.
The great divide between humanity and God could
not be crossed by a mere man—only by a very special man, a man both human and divine.
Only God, taking the initiative through this man, could span the great divide. Not
with steel or concrete, but with wood and flesh. What a strange, usual, bridge
it was—a bridge made of wood in the shape of a cross, with a man hanging on it.
God used such a cross to bridge the great divide, to open the way once again to
the loving relationship with God for which were created.
Consider Matthew 27:50:
Jesus again gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
Then notice the very first thing that happened
as a result of his death...
Vs. 51: Then the curtain of the Temple was torn in
two from the top to the bottom...
This was the sixty foot tall curtain that
separated the Holy of Holies in the Temple (which was the most sacred place of
all). God's very presence was thought to dwell there. And only the high priest
once a year could enter it to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people.
But now the curtain was destroyed—ripped
from top to bottom by God's own hands through the death of his Son. You see,
the way was open now back to God's presence for anyone, everyone. We could now
see into the very heart of God; and what we saw there was…love!
There’s a song, done by a contemporary
Christian group entitled, "The Great Divide." I borrowed from its lyrics
the title for my post today. Here's a verse and the chorus:
Silence...
Trying to fathom the distance...
Looking out 'cross the canyon carved
by my hands...
God is gracious...
Sin would still separate us...
Were it not for the bridge His grace
has made us...
His love will carry me...
There's a bridge to cross the great divide...
A way was made to reach the other side...
The mercy of the Father, cost His Son
His life...
His love is deep, His love is wide...
There's a cross to bridge the great divide.
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