As an exercise in practical soteriology I have taken the principles of salvation and applied them to a mundane event – this is Bus Stop.
We begin with a basic logical formula:
Problem + Plan = Solution
The Problem: God created man and gave him authority over all the Earth and all that was in it, but man gave it up when he partook in the fruit of disobedience, when he ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Evil overwhelmed them and they were cast out of the Garden. Mankind was cast into death because of their iniquity, for as through one man sin entered the world, so also death entered the world through sin. Because of Adam’s silence, because of their compromise with sin, we are dead to sin.
The Plan: In Genesis 3:15:, shortly after man had taken part in sin, God made a promise which runs like a thread right through the entirety of the Bible. This promise summarizes the whole plan of salvation – that the Messiah will come and deliver His people from the captivity of death.
The Solution: God who is rich in mercy loved us so much that He stepped down into darkness to deliver us from the forces of evil. He who gives source to all light stepped down into darkness to free us from the bondage of sin and death. Christ is the fulfilment of the promise. The cross became His banner, as He bore all our sins and iniquities, every torment and every infirmity. The cross became His banner, His banner is love.
All of this being said and done we can now explain the Bus Stop thought experiment.
The word of God states that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and also that death came to all men through Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12). It is based on these two observances that we assume our separation from God.
As it is impossible to state that we are nowhere, I want to make a statement saying that we find ourselves at a bus stop. This bus stop is called “Death”. We are all dead to sin, and thus we find ourselves in “Death” – waiting for a bus to the end of the line.
It has been suggested that we find ourselves, currently, in a kind of purgatory – that this is the in between – between Heaven and Hell – but I would beg to differ.
For one, in 20 years of ministry I have yet to find a scripture even loosely suggesting this kind of thought.
Secondly, I personally, and with good reason, believe that we start out in hell – we are lost from the very get go – dead to sin and destined for eternal damnation. It’s like you’ve got a reservation there. Your room, for all intents and purposes, has already been booked. Out tickets have been punched. That is the direction of life without God – the destination of those who do not find salvation.
My reasoning is as follows – when I say that we start out in hell, I’m speaking in future tense, meaning – that is our destination when we start this journey called life. I say this because man has fallen into a state of total depravity, as the Romans passage says – for all have sinned.
Romans 3:10-18:
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes.
We find that none are righteous, this corruption being a very integral part of who we are. We find that our lifestyle has become quite apathetic concerning God, that we’ve all been walking on the broad and easy way. Our walk, our talk and all our ways have become corrupt, and so has our goals – we have become seekers of hedonistic, self-satisfying pleasures.
Now that we have described the bus stop, it might be of interest to us to explore the reason for our wait there.
Usually when we wait at a bus stop it’s because we have a destination, because we have a goal, a purpose. I used to be a waiter (good at waiting), but I grew impatient. We will get to that in a moment though.
You have a purpose. God says unto Jeremiah, in the very first chapter of Jeremiah – “before you came from you mother’s womb I foreordained you as a prophet to the nations. Before you were born I had chosen you to do something for Me and my children.”
David says – “Lord, my substance was not hid from thee, and also in Jeremiah God states that He has plans for us, plans for good and not for evil.”
In the first chapter of Jeremiah He states that He is the one who formed him in the womb, that he is the one who knitted him together in the dark place.
David, stating that his substance was not hid from the Lord makes room for two very interesting questions – are God’s plans for us a part of who we are? And What is God’s plan for us?
I believe that God’s plans for us form a very integral, central part of who we are, if we choose to accept His will. David says in Psalm 40: 8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Somewhere else he asks God to enlighten the eyes of His heart – to open them.
We find that God’s will for us – His plans for good, are part of who we are, we just need to wake up and see it.
You might be wondering what God’s plan for you is, well, Matthew helps us out:
Matthew 18:12-13:
How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
At the start we said – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and later we read that we all have strayed, that we are all found on the broad and easy way. We are all found at a bus stop called “Death”.
Christ refuses to leave us there though – He is willing to throw all our plans and preparations away to seek you! He is willing to let man’s will fail, in order for His will to succeed. He is like a shepherd going into the mountains, and through the valleys, until He finds you!
In Zephaniah the prophet states that God is a mighty one who will save, that He will quiet you by His love; that He will rejoice over you with singing!
When a sinner comes to repentance Heavenly Choirs are alive with celebration.
As I’ve said before – when we wait at a bus stop we need a destination. There has to be a reason – and the reason is that God loves us. That we have become separated from him, but He still loves us.
Ephesians 2:4-5:
4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Where are we going? That is a question often asked by more people than we choose to think about.
Going nowhere slowly is an expression often heard and said, one that is quite contradictory to God’s will. God says – come to me all who are weary and burdened. God calls the weary and the broken – a lost world is beckoned ‘come’.
When I look at the society that surrounds me it is clear that this call isn’t to a certain few but to the mass of the world.
We have a destination, a place we are meant to go – to Christ.
Isaiah 52:1-6:
1Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He is the one who bore our sins and our transgressions, all our burdens, our pain, our grief, our disease. He has paid the price, paved the way with His riches in mercy and grace. He has bought us a ticket that leads into Life Everlasting.
We are all waiting at the bus stop, and so often the bus comes our way.
Christ used the cross as a vehicle for our salvation – our salvation is not on the cross, but rather in the man on the cross.
By accepting Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, by allowing ourselves to be washed in the fount of His compassion and mercy, by allowing our sins to be washed away, we can draw near to God.
When the bus stops we have two choices – we can ignore it, or we can acknowledge it.
The Gospel is that bus – it is the vehicle that leads unto salvation. At the very core of it is our Driver, our Guide, our Teacher – our Deliverer – the Lord Christ Jesus.
We have two choices when we are confronted with the Gospel – we can ignore it, or we can acknowledge it.
Ignoring it means that we simply stay seated, exactly where we are – waiting for the end.
Acknowledging it means getting up and making your way toward the door, inspecting the bus, maybe even having a chat with the driver.
Today you are confronted with the Gospel which can be summarized in 1 Timothy 3:16:
16And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Christ is God revealed in the flesh unto us so that we could believe and be saved.
Christ said – no one comes to the Father except through me.
We also read in John 14:6:
6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
And in John 8:32:
32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus is the Truth – He is the one that can set you free!
In Hosea we read that we are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge – because we do not know Him we stay seated in destruction – we stay seated at the bus stop called Death.
The Bus is there. It is now our choice to give up all we are, to step in through those doors, or to stay outside. Giving yourself as a passenger means surrendering yourself to the mercies of the driver.
This bus however leads to life, eternal life, your salvation, the redemption of your soul.
Do you choose to stay seated at the bus stop, waiting for your transport to the lake of fire, or do you get in.
God doesn’t blackmail us saying ‘choose life or I’ll send you to hell.’ The choice He offers is – ‘choose life, or stay where you are.’
And I choose life each and every time.