I'm walking toward the cliff. Look at the ocean beyond; isn't it beautiful? I reach out a hand to touch the line in the air where the sea meets the sky, but it's not enough. I must touch that beauty with my own hands, know how it tastes and smells and feels on my skin. I am on an unstoppable mission. If only I had stopped...
No, please!Even now I
can hear the voice behind me. It used to be so gentle, but now it has grown hard. I knew it. Of course he would not want me to experience this beauty. The creature was right. He is afraid that I will know what he knows, and so he has forbidden this mission.
Stay here with me!The voice has grown sharper, and I want to believe it is out of anger, but something twinges in me because I know it is not anger. It is fear. And love. And indignation. It is not a voice of anger, my heart tells me, but a voice of pleading.
Please!
I love you!You will die if you go!Die? For a split second I think about stopping. Everything I have ever known has been beauty and wonder and peace and fellowship and assurance. Why would he lie to me? I can hear the emotion in his voice, and I know that it is not false. My head turns halfway, not really far enough to see him, but far enough to cause my steps to hesitate as I approach the rocks. Maybe...
But it is too late because as he senses the slowing of my steps, the creature grabs my hands and tugs me forward and out of my reverie.
It is even more beautiful up close, he purrs in my ear,
You will not die, but live for the very first time! And I remember where I am going and what the owner of the voice has denied to me, and I set my face on the perfection before me. If he really wanted the best for me, he would let me know
everything. He would let me be like him, too.
So I walk, and the voice is sobbing, but I've tuned it out now. It becomes easier and easier to ignore with each step I take as I anticipate the wonders that await me. It is not far now.
As I approach the edge, silence suddenly falls, and it is more terrifying than any noise. The voice! It's gone! I know I should feel relieved, but all I feel is intense terror. Oh no, what am I doing?
I turn frantically, but it is too late. I have come too close. I have already gone over the edge, though I did not know it at the time. The rocks beneath my scrambling feet crumble and I fling my arms wildly at the cliff, looking for something--anything--to hold onto. But there is only air and falling debris and the silence that is not silence anymore because it is filled with my piercing scream.
When I had looked at the beauty of the sea, I had not realized that I had to fall to reach it. I had not realized that it was all a lie.
I crash ceaselessly against rocks and jagged places on the cliff face as I fall. I had never understood what pain meant until this moment, and I am in agony, with no way to stop it. And even if I could stop myself, I would never be able to make it back to the top again. It is too far away.
What will happen to me now? I have been falling so long that terror of the fall's conclusion seizes me. I look down. The ground is far away, but it is getting closer. And when I reach the bottom I know that it will be too late.
So instead I look back up, a sob breaking in my throat as I remember that voice and the arms that had held me so warmly and the love that surrounded me.
But I am ashamed. I cannot look anymore. Except...
What was that? That flash so high above? And what is that figure that is getting larger and larger by the second. Between my painful tumbles against the rocks, I strain to make out this shape coming toward me.
And then suddenly I know exactly what it is. Who it is. It is he. He is falling.
But no, not falling the same way I am falling. He has jumped.
I watch in wonder as he gets closer and closer still. He is falling faster than I am. When he hits the ground it will be much more painful. How can it not destroy him?
He passes me and I reach out in desperation to touch him one last time, because I don't understand why he has to die, too. This was my mistake, not his. His fingertips brush mine for just a moment, but instead of joy as before, I feel sadness. Sadness because I know what is going to happen next and everything in me rebels against it.
I am spinning from my latest tumble, but still I see the moment he hits the ground below, sliced on the rocks of the beach. Then I cannot see any more through my tears.
I'm sorry. I moan through battered lips.
I know you jumped for me and I am so sorry.For three seconds I feel utterly alone and in much more than physical agony, but at the end of the three seconds it is all over.
I blink, confused, because the spinning has stopped, and the pain is gone, and I feel
safe.Then I realize where I am. In his arms.
He holds me close and I cling to him and I understand what he has done because I can see the scars where the cuts once bled, and I can see that he has climbed back up the cliff to me, to catch me. To stop my fall. Because he loves me.
But yet I am confused, because what happens now? He has saved me, so what else can he possibly do? Then I realize we are moving.
He is carrying me back up.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.-Galatians 2:20
Comments (41)
Wow... Utterly incredible :)
This was a very unique and beautiful allegory, and I must say God has blessed you with such a gift! :)
Go under the Mercy
-Sam
love it.
I don't understand;;;;
My understanding of Jesus is that he was crucified, by being pinned to a giant, heavy, wooden cross, which he dragged up the hill while being whipped.
....So if you die like that, can you make a claim that you died for all man kind on Earth?
I guess you can, so the more clarified version of that question goes like this:
Can you validate your assertion of dying for the human race, if you die on a cross?
@jai_ko - Is your question whether the fact that the death was on the cross was what gave it saving power? No, the means of death was not the important part, besides the fact that the events surrounding his death fulfilled many Old Testament prophesies about the messiah.
The important part was that Jesus was a sinless sacrifice and that while he was fully human, he was also fully God (God taking on human flesh). Yet even though he was blameless because he had never sinned, he took on the burden of our sin instead and took the punishment for it, which was death. Then, he was raised from the dead. It would not have been enough to save us if he had not been raised from the dead because his resurrection meant that he conquered death. And now, if we believe in him and what he did on the cross on our behalf, then we can be saved through his sacrifice.
So it wasn't the cross itself that saved us, but the fact that a perfect sacrifice was offered on our behalf to bridge the gap between us and God. If we accept this by faith, his death will cover our sins and make us blameless before God, whereas before we were sinful and God in his justice could not look on us.
I hope that explains it a little better. I can list scripture references if you want, and I can explain further if you are interested. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Great allegory! But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
what I'm wondering about is not his way of exiting the world, but rather waht gives him the right to assert that he died for everyone? Simply put, I can die right now saying "I'm dying for all you sinners out there!"
@jai_ko - The most evident proof that Jesus was the savior is that his coming was predicted in the Old Testament. There were tons of prophesies that he precisely fulfilled, which would be a difficult feat for just anyone to pull off. For example, the Old Testament prophesied that the messiah would come from Bethlehem:
"O Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be
Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."
(Micah 5:2)
Jesus was born in Bethlehem:
"Joseph [and Mary] went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into
Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem… so it was, that
while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered."
(Luke 2:4,6)
Can you reference any ancient texts that told of your specific hometown being the birthplace of a savior? Also, Jesus was of the lineage of both Abraham and David, which was another prophesy. His death on the cross fulfilled many prophesies, too, like that men would gamble for his clothes and that he would be pierced in the side, break no bones, and be pierced through his hands and feet. The Old Testament also predicted that his own people, the Jews, would reject him and kill him. Jesus also performed tons of miracles during his time on the earth to show that he was God.
I realize that no matter how much evidence there is to back up Jesus's claim, the truth is that it can never be completely proven. But neither can the scientific view of how the world and life began be proven. That is why it takes a leap of faith at some point, no matter which side you choose to believe in. But there is plenty of evidence to back up Jesus's claim.
If you want more examples than I can list here, I found these websites helpful:
http://www.biblestudyplanet.com/good2.htm
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/prophchr.html
Wow! Amazing work! I am glad I saw your plug!
Cowboy
It's great to know that God is there to catch us....isn't it? Great post. Have a wonderful day! Take care. xx
You have some good music taste.
Good job. I really like it.
WOW! Solid stuff! Pierced me left and right. You got it!
That gave me chills. Wonderful and beautiful and tear jerking.
Praise God for His one and only Son!!! Without whom, I am nothing.
That was beautiful.
"But no, not falling the same way I am falling. He has jumped." -wow
emo meets jesus. me likey.
wow! that was amazing!
That is one gorgeous piece of writing. Praise the Lord for the gift he has given you, and thank you for sharing it with us. I have tears in my eyes.
beautiful
I am speechless.
nice : )
@Piano_dudio - @flaviapop - @daryldadude - @IrisLoamsdownofDeephallow -
@cowboy_christian - @charlieseros - @somebody_u_know - @viva_exe -
@Papillon_Mom - @overly_toasted_bread - @mixcoolchick - @homefire -
@PhilippiansThree14 - @bllllh - @AngeliaEthaniel - Wow, you guys. Thank you so much for all of your comments. As much as my selfish pride would like to take all the credit, I certainly could not have created something like this on my own. I feel so overwhelmed by people's responses to this because I honestly did not know that it would affect everyone so much. That in and of itself is evidence that God is moving here, and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. My heart is so joyful to use something that God has gifted me in to bring glory back to Him.
@Audiofreak18 - I'm guessing you're talking about Switchfoot? They're the best, especially On Fire, Daisy, The Blues, Dare You to Move, Stars, and almost anything on the O! Gravity album.
@aaronmcnees - Emo? I guess I never thought of it that way...
@cowboy_christian - That cowboy mini is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
i meant it as compliment, see i'm kinda emo and i'm kinda riding the fence with jesus.
this line from your blog is especialy goth/emo:
"I crash ceaselessly against rocks and jagged places on the cliff face
as I fall. I had never understood what pain meant until this moment,
and I am in agony, with no way to stop it. And even if I could stop
myself, I would never be able to make it back to the top again. It is
too far away."
oh yeah. me likey.
what a beautiful picture of grace and redemption. So well written...I don't believe I have read an allegory that has been so relevant in the longest time.
Thank you, and blessings to you dear.
Peace In