Back to the real world, or so it is as I perceive it . . . .

I realize that I am a little late with these ponderings. For this I apologize, but I felt the need to post them. These thoughts have been trying to fight their way out of my mind since 1996, but I have never been able to put them out there in any kind of order until now. (Yes, I realize that this is not the best order, but it is the best draft I have come up with. If anyone wants the Bible verses I should have referenced, I can post those. This is not meant to be instructional, but rather my thoughts and some synthesis my mind has done after studying and reading others' studies. Here goes:

Reflections of mine regarding Ash Wednesday:

Properties of Light.
Light is blinding. Light purifies through fire. The Glory of God is a cleansing and purifying light. When Christ took on the sins of the world, and God turned away, there was darkness at noon without an eclipse or any “natural” event. It was simply the light of God turning away from what He could not be a part of: sin. God and sin are like two separate hands. They cannot occupy the same space. God is perfect, and cannot abide the presence of sin. The one thing that separates mankind from God is sin. So when Christ, who was perfect, took on my sin and yours, God could not be present. So the world became dark.

Now here is the interesting thing about Christ taking on our sins. When he did this, and died for these transgressions that were not his own, the blood of this perfect sacrifice paid for the sins of all mankind. The blood of a lamb was needed to cover each man’s sins every year. Now we have the blood of the Christ, God’s own son, all God and all man, the Lamb of God, humbling himself to take on the sins of God’s creation: mankind. We are redeemed by this act. The blood of that ultimate sacrifice meant the end of all petty sacrifices.

But back to light. Moses had to be shielded in the cleft of the rock in order to not be destroyed by the Glory of God. We cannot look as His glory in this human form. We will be destroyed. But let’s look at that. Think of a sword. In folding a sword, more of the impurities are exposed to the flame into which the sword will be cast. The flame burns out the impurities. What is left after this is transformed into a purer metal. Flame, light, the Glory of God has the power to transform and purify. What burns away is weaker material and is impure. So if seeing the glory of God will destroy this human body, what is then left is the purified soul. The material that has burned away—the impurities—are just so much ash.

Now, we wear these ashes on ash Wednesday for several reasons:
a.) to remind us that we, in our present, physical forms, are nothing but ash, dust.
b.) to remind us that God will transform us.
c.) to remind us that Christ took on our human form and paid our debts when we could not.
d.) to remind us that we are loved, and that Christ went through tribulations for us.
• We are sealed with a symbol that represents to the world our Savior—Jesus Christ. (An empty cross.)
• That in taking on human form, Jesus emptied himself and lowered himself to our form. What an act of love—not only to abase oneself, but then to lay down one’s life for his friends.
• To remind us that Christ went through all of the temptations that come from this corporeal, human flesh, and withstood. In spite of all that he endured, he remained sinless. He was God in human form.
o That this means that Christ understands us and our weaknesses, as well as our pain, for he has lived it.
o It would mean little to nothing if Christ had descended from Heaven a full grown man, jumped on a cross having never been tempted or experiencing the human condition, and paid our debt.
o In the first place, this would not fulfill the prophesies as his life and death did as they really happened.
o In the second place, there would be no true understanding. He died for something that he was willing to live for—us. How beautiful it is that Christ lowered himself in this way, endured our pains, and at the appropriate time, gave himself over to us to torture and sacrifice for our sins.
e.) We are reminded that Christ was transfigured before he died. We also know that after his resurrection, he was not recognizable by the disciples, as he was once again transfigured. The presence of his father upon him again had changed him. The battle for the keys to death, hell and the grave had taken place, and the then he was a resurrected son of God walking the earth, having shuffled off his mortal coil, picked it back up again, and went back to Heaven. When our sins were covered, and his earthly blood shed, he having committed no sin, had prepared the way for us to commune with God again. If we accept this sacrifice, we have access to holy God of all time. If we try to work to provide our own payment for sin, or worse yet, if we believe that we may accumulate enough good deeds to make God so proud of us that he lets us into Heaven without accepting payment for our sins, we fail, and we have no access. This access to God means that we will be changed.
f.) We are reminded to die to our flesh, as it will return to dust, and be burned away as ash when we finally see the Face of God. By serving the flesh, we die to the spirit, and by dying to the flesh, we serve God.