My newfound blacksmith friend at men's encounter had no great enthusiasm about the story I wrote in part 1 yesterday. He couldn't stop talking about the story you are about to read, his passion for it moved me, so after some time of reflection, I feel it to. I would never claim that this is his story or mine, and he does not want me to give him credit for it. This is the story of a loving Lord and a faceless blacksmith from somewhere back there, waaay back there. I to have become enthralled with the story. I agree with my blacksmithing friend that this is the better story, even though I am still much more enthused about part 1 than he is. He seemed to find part 1 a little awkward and embarrassing when I told him about it in person. So what you are about to read is the part that he is passionate about.
So the Lord saw all this, and He had known that this would come. He had prepared for such a reality. The Lord saw all people, and somewhere in ancient time he saw a man, and He knew what this man's descendant would do, would He spare his life? He had the power to strike him dead. He could so easily pull back His protection and allow the man to be taken out by the destroyer. He let this man live, but down the line, one of his great-grandsons is being watched by some fearsome wild beast. The Lord sees, and he knows what will happen down the line, will He let the wild beast attack? In the spiritual realms the Lord lives in, He hears the destroyer goading the wild beast, to kill, destroy, and consume. The Lord lifts a finger and motions the beast to remain still. All unaware, the man walks on. This cycle repeats over an over, through the generations of this family, the Lord, always decides to hold back the destroyer and preserve the line, and so it is many many years later....
The Lord is now a man, a human and yet also the Lord, He has come physically in the form of the son, Jesus Christ. The mysterious man's family line has been preserved all this time, and now the Lord watches as the 3rd mystery man featured in this story heats iron over the coals, and over those coals he beats out 3 crude, cruel spikes. The Lord looks at the spikes, and sees that each one is slightly different, each one is scarred by the trials brought on by the hammer in the forming that made them. The Lord knows exactly what they are for, but He turns himself in. The Lord knows that because of sin, new scars will be on the spikes, they will be smashed under the weight of the hammer, and scars will remain with those spikes for the rest of their existence. To put it precisely, the scars on the back under the smash of the hammer, are because of sin. The Lord has decided to come and pay the cost personally, and so, the nails are hammered into Him. It hurts tremendously, in ways that cannot be imagined. However, the Lord decided to redeem His children, He had created them in His image, and yet each one was unique and special, each one was fashioned in different ways, not only physically, but their souls, that part that serves as the command center, feelings, mind, will etc. were all different, because of trials, and sin. Yes, even though it was terrible torture, the price was worth it to have that relationship back, and so that day, the Lord died, and He died for the blacksmith.
You are the blacksmith, I am the blacksmith, we are all the blacksmith. The physical blacksmith physically created items to put the Lord on the cross, but so did you. Paying the price to get relationship, involved dealing with the sin. You created some of the sin around here, so did I. Now what? Well, the road is clear, because that brutal toll has been paid for you to turn from the sin and go back to the Lord, but, you have a choice to make. If you make that choice, the Lord will meet you. During this story, I deliberately used the name of Lord to refer to Jesus Christ, and the Father watching from above simultaneously, let us never forget that Christ is the Lord, there is no case where the Father is cruel justice, and Christ is loving mercy, apart from each other, they are one Lord who value mercy and justice both, so that day, the Lord, in ways we cannot explain or understand as humans, simultaneously, experienced the pain of feeling abandoned, losing a son, and being tortured, crucified, and unjustly murdered. In some way I definitely cannot understand, the Holy Spirit aspect of the Lord must have suffered to. However, the Triune Lord is firmly convinced that it was worth it. He has in all time past present and future been correct in all His judgements. In Holy Spirit form He is looking for a home in you, to live in relationship with you.
P.S. This is the gospel of salvation as I understand it. I really have no clue who the blacksmith was and what his family went through in the generations before him. However, if you imagine a little, you must know that there was surely something like this going on in the spiritual realm not?
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