Jesus, Fix It!

Save us, we pray, O Lord!  O Lord, we pray, give us success.  --Psalm 118:25 (ESV)

We were in church a little while ago, listening to the Palm Sunday sermon.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my wife, who was taking notes, pick up her phone.  I looked at what she was typing in, and it appeared that she was googling a word used in the sermon to find the correct spelling.  I turned my attention back to the preacher, but then it struck me what word she was looking up.  The preacher was explaining that Jesus testified that He would be glorified, but first would be crucified.  The crowd waving palm branches were solidified as they all magnified Him, but a week later justified His death.

The word my wife was looking for, so she could spell it correctly in her sermon notes, was the word CRUCIFIXION.

Being a writer, and an amateur wordsmith, I was struck with the spelling of the word.  If she had asked me, I would have spelled it C-R-U-C-I-F-I-C-T-I-O-N.  It turns out that this alternate spelling is incorrect.  I started thinking about why it would be incorrect.  The other words ending in -fied, some of which are listed in the first paragraph above, do not use the suffix -xion in their various forms.  When speaking of how someone testified, we call it their testimony; yet when someone was crucified, we do not speak of their "crucifony."  When we speak of a group of people being solidified in their belief and actions, we call it solidarity; yet when someone is crucified, we do not speak of a "crucidarity."  When God is glorified and magnified in our worship, we speak of His glorification and magnification; yet when we speak of Jesus being crucified, we do not say His "crucification." Stay with me, I have a point (I promise!)

We might think of the "crucifiction" as being "the story of the Cross."  But we know it is not a fiction--it was agonizingly true.  The actual word CRUCIFIXION comes from two Latin words: CRUCI, meaning "cross", and FIXIO, meaning "to affix or attach to".  So I want to key in on the syllable that focused my attention, and meditate on its meaning vis-a-vis the Cross.

Fix
1.  To make firm, stable, or stationary; affix or attach.
In this time we call Holy Week, we celebrate Palm Sunday as a coronation of the King of kings, the Lord of lords.  We look forward to Good Friday, when our Savior sacrificed His life for us; He took our sins uppon Himself, so that we would bear them no more. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:12).

Think about the act of crucifixion.  Jesus, God with us, was nailed (attached, fixed) to the cross, so that our sinful, unstable state could change, and our future in Heaven with Him could be secured.  Our hope is firm, our destiny is stable, our God is immovable, because we have fixed our eyes upon Him.  "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." (John 3:14-15)

2.  To hold, or direct steadily; to capture the attention of.
"Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments." (Psalm 119:6).  The whole of the Bible is the story of redemption.  Sin did not have its origin on Earth; Lucifer was an angel in Heaven when he rebelled against God.  The angel of light was cast into darkness.  God is Light, and all who are in His presence dwell in the Light.  Yet God left Heaven, and Genesis 1 says He spoke the light into existence in our universe of darkness.  Satan, the prince of darkness, has been fighting God in this universe for as long as Earth has existed.  People have always been drawn to the Light, but few have comprehended it (see John 1:5, 10).

Think about the purpose of the crucifixion.  Without death, there can be no resurrection.  One must die before he can be raised from the dead.  Jesus died, so that He, and by extension we, could be raised from the dead.  If our hope is in Christ, our attention is drawn to the sacrificial act of atonement.  "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." (Hebrews 9:22).

3.  To set or place definitely: establish (as in fix our position on a map), or assign (as in fixing the blame on someone).
"Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and stars by night, who stirs up the seas so that its waves roar--the Lord of hosts is His name." (Jeremiah 31:35). If we have as our World View the Creator-God, who set the world in place by His word, who established His immutable laws, then we know we are in need of a Savior.  We have broken His laws, we have disobeyed His voice.  "The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd." (Ecclesiasted 12:11).

Think about the results of the crucifixion.  See Colossians 1:15-20:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For byf him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

God became man to die for us, to reconcile us before God.

4.  To set in order; adjust.
The prophet Jeremiah said, "Thus says the Lord:  If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them." (Jeremiah 33:25-26).  Have day and night ever failed?  Neither, then, will the covenant of God with His people.  If things do get out of kilter between God and man, He will push a re-set button.

Think about the effects of the crucifixion.  God pushed the re-set button, so that we could come to Him as was planned before the creation of the world.  "For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers." (Romans 8:29).

5.  To get ready; prepare.
Isaiah 40:3 says, "A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God'."  This verse was cited by John the Baptist, who was sent to prepare the way for Jesus.  God has always known that He would send His message, first through the prophets, and then by His Son.

Think about the preparation for the crucifixion.  A number of prophecies had to be fulfilled in Jesus.  He had to live a sinless life, to be the "lamb without blemish" required by the Law.  Read Psalm 22, and see how it parallels the story of the crucifixion.  A sign was posted above him that read, "This is Jesus, King of the Jews."  Psalm 22:3 says "You are enthroned as the Holy One."  The Roman soldiers cast lots for His clothing.  Psalm 22:18 says, "They divide my clothes among them, and they cast lots for my garment."  Jesus, with His dying breath, cried out the very words written in Psalm 22:1, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  This act was no accident.  God had it all planned out beforehand.

6. Repair, mend; restore, cure.
Paul the Apostle, in his missionary journeys, preached Christ crucified.  "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31),

Think about the restoration of the crucifixion.  "And as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him." (Hebrews 9:27-28).  He has prepared a way for us to be restored, to have fellowship with Him forever through the death of His Son.  Isaiah 53:5 says, "But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed."  God bridged the gap between His holiness and our sinfulness by the death of His Son for us.

7.  To get even with (e.g. I'll fix you!); to influence the outcome or effect by illegal methods (e.g. The race had been fixed).
God established the Law.  Man fell short.  We needed grace.  God went outside the Law to atone for us by the Law--"without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins".  Satan thought he had us, because of the very Law that God had put into place.  There was no way out, yet Jesus came and became our escape from the curse of the Law.

Think about the atonement of the crucifixion.  The word "atone" means to supply satisfaction for; to make amends.  Simply put, "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8).  God doesn't owe you anything.  It was by His grace that He made a way for our sin to be covered when we stand before Him.  I love the picture in Zechariah 3:

1Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan^a standing at his right side to accuse him. 2The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

3Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

Satan wants to accuse us, as well.  God is our Judge, but He does not see our sin.  Because our advocate, Jesus (called in this passage "The Angel of the Lord") will clothe us in His righteousness, we can stand before God spotless, without sin.  Thank you, Jesus!