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Baptist Health Foundation

Star Wars” is about mankind’s struggle to defeat “the dark side.” The movies’ popularity has created a following that finds some fans living the characters, pretending to be Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and others.

I am not particularly interested in a story about men ascending into the heavens to fight for our survival. What does excite me is the story of a Man descending from heaven to battle for our salvation.

Scriptures when “heaven came down” and delighted those who saw it. Moses experienced it at Horeb when God hid him in the cleft of the rock. Years later, Isaiah was allowed to feel it as he entered the temple and God descended amid the seraphim. Experiencing those expressions of God’s presence and power should be what excites us. But alas most people are like those “Star Wars” fans who pretend to experience the real thing.

The greatest need of our generation is a sense of the greatness and majesty of God. Perhaps we lack this because He has invested His greatness and majesty in the cross of Christ and we do not want to look to the cross for our understanding of God. The cross event reveals the character of God. It says that God is love. It also reveals my true character.

In the light of God’s holiness, my sin is magnified. I must take my shoes off because the places I have been will contaminate the cross’s holy ground. But then some things need to be put off. That is repentance. No one can wash himself or herself clean enough. No one can change his or her sinful ways. Through confession of sin and repentance comes forgiveness and cleansing.

Isaiah saw cleansing coming from the altar of God by the hands of His servant. For us, it is the altar erected on a hill called Calvary. There we see the very Son of God. His hands stretch from the cross to place the cleansing fire of heaven upon our lips and lives. With His dying breath He cried, “It is finished!” The “star wars” are over. The battle for the souls of men is completed. Through the cross, there is peace between holy God and sinful man.