Orange Moon Wednesday, April 8, 2026 "How Deep the Waters"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“How Deep the Waters” 

     

    When the Lord Jesus Christ died for us on the cross of Calvary, a horror occurred so unimaginable that the Bible merely records the fact.  No explanation is provided, nor will one ever be forthcoming.

    "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).

     The Apostle Paul does not reference our Lord's bearing of sin, as recorded by the Apostle Peter (I Peter 2:24).  Paul rather declares Christ “made… to be sin.”  Somehow, the Lord Jesus became everything He is not for the purpose of experiencing His Father's wrath against wickedness and evil.  Torrents of Divine fury descended upon the Savior made to “be sin” as the wrath of God raged within His forsaken soul.  From the experience of Jonah, the prophetic voice foreshadows a portion of our Lord's agony:

    "I cried by reason of Mine affliction unto the LORD, and He heard Me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest My voice. For Thou hadst cast Me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed Me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over Me. Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple. The waters compassed Me about, even to the soul: the depth closed Me round about, the weeds were wrapped about My head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about Me forever" (Jonah 2:2-6).

    What sorrow enveloped the spirit of One who “from everlasting” existed in perfect righteousness, but who became for us the very essence of unrighteousness?  What horrors would such a distortion of heart involve as a Father's love became the wrath of a judge?  We do not and cannot know.  We can only be sure that it happened, and that a long eternity will not suffice to provide understanding of "how deep were the waters crossed... 'ere He found His sheep that was lost" (“The Ninety and Nine” - Elizabeth Clephane).

    A holy proportion resulted from Calvary.  To the degree the Lord Jesus was made to be sin, God freely imputes His righteousness to those who believe. To the degree He was forsaken, we are "accepted in the Beloved."   To the degree His soul was enveloped by the darkest of nights, our spirit dwells in the light of God's countenance.  To the degree our Lord became who and what He was not, we become in Him God's redeemed sons and daughters.  All such grace flows to us from the River of life made possible by our Savior's experience of the deep, the floods, the billows, and the waves of God's wrath poured out upon Him for our sakes.  “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” cried out our Lord in the darkest depths of abandonment and loneliness any conscious being will ever know  (Matthew 27:46).

    We can never begin to fully comprehend our Lord’s suffering.   We can, however, believe.  Moreover, we can seek to increasingly avail ourselves of the gift purchased for us by such sacrifice.  May our Heavenly Father grant much grace of remembrance, and may we increasingly access the life of Christ made possible by a death suffered in far deeper waters than we will ever know...

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.  Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." 

(Isaiah 53:4)

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

(Romans 5:20-21)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.

 (II Corinthians 2:14)

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Orange Moon Tuesday, April 7, 2026 "Menial?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“Menial”

 

     The Lord Jesus Christ cooked a meal after His resurrection.

     “As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread… Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine” (John 21:9; 12).

    We might suspect that this everyday, earthly task would be too menial for the risen and glorious Christ.  This was not the case, any more than how our Lord involves Himself in the everyday, earthly activities of our lives.  

    “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31).

    The presence and working of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus in us is required for our glorifying of God in all our whatsoevers.  “Without Me, ye can do nothing… I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13).  We exist to serve as the spiritual temple of the Lord Jesus, who both “dwells” and “walks” in us as we trust and submit to God (II Corinthians 6:16).  In this life and forevermore, every act of obedience, including the most seemingly inconsequential, proceeds from the One who died for us, and who now lives in us that we might “bear the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:11).

    We will forever be overwhelmed by the majesty of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ.  “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17).  However, we will also know Him as He who bears the most servant of all hearts, the King who knelt before His subjects to wash their feet, and who then hung on a cross to redeem their hearts (John 13:1-15).  The menial is not beyond the risen Christ because nothing is menial to the Lord who so loves His creation as to involve Himself in “all things” (Ephesians 1:11).  Like cooking a meal.  After His resurrection.  We do well to remember such things as we seek to perform our “everyday, earthly tasks” that are no such thing so long as the Lord Jesus involves Himself in “whatsoever ye do.”

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.”

(Colossians 3:23)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.

 (II Corinthians 2:14)

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Orange Moon Monday, April 6, 2026 "More Than Conquerors"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“More Than Conquerors”

 

     So long as the tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ remains empty and His Heavenly throne occupied, born again believers must never view ourselves as on the defensive.  Because we never are.

   "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:35-37).

   Had we witnessed the life of the Apostle Paul during the years of his ministry, many events would have seemed to indicate Satan had our brother on the run.  Imprisonments, beatings, stonings, shipwreck, ridicule, distress, perplexities, and rejection by unbelievers and believers alike seemed to indicate Paul in frequent jeopardy regarding his calling and his very life.   Indeed, Nero ultimately put Paul to the sword and ended his time on the planet.  "More than conquerors?"  How can that have been true of the constantly challenged and finally slain Apostle who penned the affirmation of triumph? (II Corinthians 11:24-33).

    We know the answer.  The empty tomb and the occupied throne of the Lord Jesus bears witness.  Paul's life and death both affirmed the reality of Christ's triumph:

    My earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death" (Philippians 1:19-20).  

     The Apostle lived his life on the offensive by God's grace, realizing that battles and skirmishes won by our enemies do not affect the triumph of the ages already won by the Lord Jesus.  Born again believers in the Lord Jesus live from that victory, not for it.  Let the foes of Christ and Christians do what they will.  They can bluster, they can badger, they can batter.  They can even kill.  Our defeated foes nevertheless always fight an uphill, defensive battle wherein they lose even as they win.  Certainly, this does not minimize the challenges and very real sufferings of God's people.  However, it does affirm the "very present help in trouble" reality of our Lord, and His wondrous capacity to bring light in darkness, joy in sorrow, peace in turmoil, and even life in death (Psalm 46:1).  "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place" (II Corinthians 2:14).

     Appearances and experiences often do not seem to confirm the triumph of the Lord and His people.   It frequently does not feel this way.  But it always is this way.  The tomb is empty.  The throne above is occupied.  Jesus Christ is Lord.  So long as these truths abide, we cannot be on the defensive.  We live and fight in the light and life of our Lord's triumph.  From victory.  Always from the triumph of the empty tomb and the Lordship of Christ.  We do well to often remind ourselves and each other that we "fight the good fight of faith” not to defend, but to attack.  Always relentlessly on the offense.  Always.

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place."

(II Corinthians 2:14)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.

 (II Corinthians 2:14)

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