God began His world with a parting of the waters above and the waters below. Let there be light, He said, separating the light from the dark. Holding back the elements of turbulent chaos, with His great hands. Pulling forth life from dust. Bracing in place the puzzle of existence, piece by piece, with His omnipotent grasp.
This was His creation. Pressing out, teasing back, placing here, putting there. Actively wrenching order into the natural strife of chaos and confusion. Into everything. Everything that exists, everything that His fingers have ever touched.
And there is nothing, or no one, too far. To hide from the pressure of His ordered palm. So much, that His law is even inscribed into our hearts. Fitting each action thought and deed into a beautiful tapestry of right and wrong. Separating and weaving the boundaries of His decrees and the chaotic desires that swell inside. He holds them back, discerning.
But sometimes, if the great Maker is questioned, unbalanced, unheeded, unwanted, God may let His hand ungrip. Allowing the waters to crash back into themselves. Drowning the life blood of those who are already spinning in the orderless. Every once in awhile He may let the trickles of unnamed and unbounded break the floodgates, folding in upon each other.
In a swallow of forbidden fruit, the Creator felt self-knowledge flood the reality of existence. Good and evil, angst with God, hiding and terror, sin and separation. At the disobedience to His Word, the boundaries were loosed. Creatures now believed themselves to be gods, good gifts blended into evils, clean rigid lines became blurry and grey.
They now wondered if the restraint of God’s hand had been a burden. Slowly, unannounced, just soothing enough to believe that their infantile wisdom knew better. Or that their freedom in disorder opened the way to their best life. But little did they know, when God removes His hand, the chaos ensues. The disarray is not life. When God lets go, it is certain death.
Sodom and Gomorrah, releasing His divine protection, letting the stars fall and fire-coals burn. Unholy riders trampling the Red Sea, undoing His walls of oceans built in honor of salvation. Generations of a sinful earth, disappointed, grieving, destroyed. He let go of the waters, He let go of the heavens, He let go of the order that was held in His hands. And it flooded and smoldered the groaning creation. They die, and they were free. He released them, from Himself.
And this is His judgment. Letting go. Releasing His pressure. Moving His fingertips, so the self-made gods can do what they want. Un-restraining the boundaries, so that they no longer are gathered, according to His truth. Ironically to their disillusioned liberation, they have no choice than to blend into their own disarray. When God opens His hand.
God judged, by un-clasping His hand. God judged, by giving them up to the desires of their heart. And tonight, on Good Friday, God judged His only Son. Releasing the evils of mockery, corruption, and shame. Unbinding the innate code of human decency. Allowing the flood of sickening freedoms to unjustly drown. God removed His hand of defense, silenced His voice of order, and left Jesus all alone to die on a cross.
This was the final wash into chaos. The everlasting Son, God of God, light of light, upon him was unleashed the triumph of death. True freedom. Disconnected from the touch of God’s righteous hand. Severed. Life removed from Life himself. True nonsense. Real chaos. Punishment and judgement released on the Son of God. An emancipation that he never imagined, and not in the least deserved.
All the while, this destruction restored order. God was caught in faithfulness to His own Word, by His own hand. Both releasing the sinner into oblivion and holding fast to the righteous.
God let go, only to pull Jesus back to life. Pressing reality into the foundations of faithfulness from His Son. Re-ordering creation by the mighty hand of a raised-from-the-dead Savior, for the rest of time, unto eternity.
And now, it is done. There is nothing more that can be questioned, unbalanced, unheeded unwanted. There is no more chaos to be vanquished. Not in reality. Not in Christ. Not for you.
It is ordered, as His hand holds you eternally in place.
Cindy Koch 