Bridges

Bridges have always been a source of facination for me. I love to drive across them and I love to look at them. Some are known world wide, such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Other bridges are not quite so well known. Take for example some of these bridges that are beautiful and which take their job seriously. This bridge is along the coastline of Oregon.

This bridge is the Perrine Bridge in Jerome, Idaho, and it is beautiful as it spans the canyon created millenia ago.

This is just one of the bridges over the Mississippi River.

Then there are the much smaller bridges that you come upon in the woods when you are walking the trail. Here are a couple of samples that you might find on the next trail you walk.

This is a swinging bridge in Manitoba, Canada. I don’t know if I would go down that bridge … I might find a boat to carry me to the other side of the stream.

Then we have the wooden plank bridge that goes between the two sides of the cavern below.

Wooden bridge across creek in the Smokey Mountains

And last, but certainly not least, we have the bridge over the Royal Gorge in Colorado.

All these bridges have something in common. Not their construction materials or their location, not their popularity or their scare factor when looking down. No, all these bridges have this common factor – they enable people to move from one side of the canyon/river/stream/whatever the hindrance may be, to the other side.

That is precisely what a bridge does. We use the bridge to get where we could not otherwise go. That is its job. That is its purpose.

We have need of a bridge in our personal, spiritual life too. In the Bible, Isaiah says this about our condition before God:

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Isaiah 59:1-2

IAdam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, and that set the tone for the rest of us. We are all sinners and we cannot come to God on our own because God will not look at us in our sinful state. This is what Isaiah said … our sins have hidden God’s face from us so that He will not hear us. We are separated from God by our sin.

Indeed, the Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards made this observation: “The smallest sin is an act of Cosmic Treason against a Holy God.” Edwards also said: “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

How do we span the chasm that exists between us and God? God did not forget our helpless estate. Indeed, Jonathan Edwards noted: “The door of God’s mercy is thrown wide open, and Christ stands in the door and says to sinners ‘Come.’”

On our own, we cannot span that chasm. Rather, Jesus Christ is the intercessor between us and God; He spanned the chasm when He was on the cross, dying for our sin. He led the perfect life that we cannot live, and He died the horrific death that we deserve. He is the One who made it possible for us to cross the gulf between us and God.

Beloved, bridges are fun to drive across and to look at, to marvel at how they are constructed and to be thankful that they transport us to the other side of the river/stream/whatever. But, the most important bridge that you can fathom is the intercessory work of Jesus Christ on your behalf.

Trust Him. Look to Him in all circumstances. Praise His holy Name. Thank Him for your salvation and for the gift of eternal life.

Lord Jesus, we praise Your Name for the blessings that You so grant to us. The freedom from sin, forgiveness when we do err, the gift of eternal life, the gift of the Holy Spirit Who guides and leads us moment by moment each day, and so many more blessings that are beyond counting. We thank You and we praise Your Name.

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge accessed September 19, 2015]

There are a multitude of examples of bridges that we can find or have occasion to cross.

In Knoxville we have the Henley Street Bridge, which is well over 100 years old, and is the site of fireworks during holiday celebrations.

The interstate takes its course over this incredible bridge as we traveled across the Mighty Mississippi River.

Bridge across the Mississippi River outside of Louisiana

The bridge at Multnomah Waterfalls along the Columbia River Highway, Oregon enables people to get up close to the waterfalls without killing themselves on the slippery rocks or without being pummeled by the pressure of the water falling over the edge over 500 feet overhead. [See: http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/nws/falls.php?num=4051%5D

Multnomah Waterfall, Columbia River Highway, Oregon — Multnomah Waterfalls, Columbia River Highway, Oregon

Then we have a footbridge across the creek in the Great Smoky Mountains. Not every bridge is a sterling example of engineering marvels. Here, the bridge accomplishes its important purpose with dignity and a simplicity that is beautiful in its own right.

The bridge over the Mississippi River at Vicksburg is iconic as well as fundamentally important, being one of the links between the East and the West of our country.

While different in materials, design, location and terrain surrounding each bridge, the fundamental purpose is the same – to provide safe passage from one side to the other. There is a chasm from which passage is either extremely difficult or impossible and the bridge enables us to move unhindered across that chasm, if we will but avail ourselves of its presence.

In 1956 I had occasion to visit the Royal Gorge in Colorado. It was an event for which I have vivid recollection because of the impact it had on me – the depth of the gorge was mind boggling and its presence in the middle of, what seemed to me to be, nowhere made a lasting impression. I could not fathom how anyone could cross this incredible tear in the fabric of the ground!

The Royal Gorge, Colorado, picture taken in 1956

But someone did — many years before. There was a bridge over the Royal Gorge to make travel across the gorge both possible and safe. I admit to being panicked when my father drove across the bridge, but we were safe.

All of us are subject to a chasm that renders the Royal Gorge insignificant … the chasm between righteousness and sin. Romans 3:23 says, simply and concisely, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

We may think that we have done such good things that God will surely let us enter His Heaven, but if we have not repented of our sin and confessed Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we may be like the Pharisees in Luke 16 where Jesus said:

“You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15

Indeed, Jesus said: “No one is good except God alone.” Mark 10:18.

In short, we need to bridge the gap between us and our unrighteousness (also known as sin) and the Holy God, Who cannot look upon sin. Isaiah learned this as a result of the vision he had in the year that King Uzziah died. Isaiah 6:1-8. Isaiah saw the Lord on His throne, high and lifted up. And the seraphim that stood by the throne called and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Isaiah’s response was not to say something like “Hey there – here I am and you should be glad that I have come, after all, I am your prophet and have a lot of clout on earth! Look at all the times I did what you wanted and what I have accomplished for you!”

Quite the contrary – Isaiah said:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

After this, the seraphim took a coal from the altar and touched his lips saying:

“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Only after this did God speak and Isaiah responded. God cannot look upon sin!

Isaiah’s response when he was confronted with the holiness of God was “Woe is me!” Isaiah became aware that sin is not fixed simply by “washing up and looking good” – it is a fundamental condition that we are powerless to cure. It took action by God to cleanse Isaiah so he could minister as God wanted.

Like Isaiah, we can do nothing to fix our own condition. But, One has come and has bridged the gap for us – He became the way we can come before the Holy God and call Him “Abba, Father!”

In Philippians 2:5-8, Paul writes:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, bring born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The sinless One became sin for us so that we, who have no righteousness in our own selves, could be covered in His righteousness. His sacrifice made our acceptance before the Holy God possible – we stand in His righteousness claiming Jesus as our Savior and, miracle of miracles, God the Father accepts us as His children. Not because of anything good we have done – all because of the acts of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Father, I thank you and praise Your Holy Name for sending Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb Who secured salvation for those who call upon His Name, repent of their sin, and confess Him as Lord and Savior of their lives. Thank you for providing a way for us to breach the chasm that sin created, and I praise Your Name for adoption into the family of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Whose Name I pray, Amen.