Recently a friend shared with me that there are three types of things that tend to grab our attention: something of value, something unusual, and something threatening. No matter what we are thinking about, the moment we observe something especially valuable, unusual (like the upside-down words at the top of this page), or threatening, some of our attention will momentarily be diverted to that object or situation. Many advertisements make use of this tendency of ours. Probably the majority of advertisements try to grab your attention by showing you something that you will think is of good value. Other advertisements try to attract attention by portraying something unusual, and a few may even appeal to your attention by implying that something bad is going to happen if you don’t buy their product, take their medication, etc., etc. These are three of the things that grab our attention. But if you think about it, the gospel has components of all three. The hope of the gospel is priceless in value, God’s love for sinners is remarkably unusual, and the righteous wrath of God against sin and unrepentant sinners is threatening.

First, the hope of the gospel is priceless in value. Paul reminded the Ephesians about their condition before and without Christ: “…no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). Life without the gospel is hopeless, but the hope of the gospel is invaluable. Jesus used a memorable analogy to teach about the value of the gospel when he said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matt. 13:45–46). The gospel of the kingdom is pricelessly valuable—have you searched for it as for a hidden pearl of great price?

Second, God’s love for sinners is remarkably unusual. Paul put it this way: “…God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:7–8). His love for us in spite of our sin and rebellion is nothing short of incredible. Have you committed your life to him who loves you with this kind of love?

Third, the righteous wrath of God against unrepentant sinners is threatening. Speaking about those who willfully persist in their rebellion against the Lord, Paul said, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2:5). Those who refuse to give God the glory by yielding their lives to him will receive the consequences for their actions. God’s righteous judgement is not to be trifled with. Who can you tell this week about the righteous judgement of God, the jaw-dropping love of God, and the inestimable value of the gospel?

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sing with hundreds of other Christians in Nashville who were gathered to record worship songs for Praise & Harmony, a group that produces resources to help encourage the practice of four-part, a cappella singing among churches of Christ. One of the songs we learned and recorded was an arrangement of a song by Keith Getty, Matt Papa, and Matt Boswell titled All My Boast is in Jesus. Listen to the words of the first verse and chorus:

[Verse 1] What wonder of wonders, what love is this
That Christ would die for me
His goodness, His merit, His righteousness
This sinner’s only plea
O foolish pride, be crucified
The work is finished

[Chorus] All my boast is in Jesus
All my hope is His love
And I will glory forever
In what the cross has done

This song beautifully confronts us with some of the great truths of our faith. It truly is a wonder of wonders that Christ would die for me! We might consider dying for someone we already deeply love and who is dear to us, but who would die for someone who openly hates him? Yet this is exactly what Christ did: “…God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In Christ’s substitutionary death he bore our sins, and now by faith we can bear his name. This means that when we stand before God on the judgement day, there is only one thing by which we can plead for his mercy—not any goodness, merit, or righteousness of our own, but his goodness, merit, and righteousness (Romans 3:21–22, 5:17)! 

Because of Christ’s offer of salvation to us, our boast is always and forever in Christ and in Christ alone. We do not boast in our riches or our intellect or our goodness or anything else—we boast in Christ. Knowing him is our greatest treasure, our deepest joy, and our highest calling. Truly, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD” (Jer. 9:23–24).

“But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering” (Lev. 5:7).

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While sitting in the backyard this week, I was startled by a bird that flew into one of our windows before swooping down to a rough landing near my feet. It was a mourning dove and it looked stunned from its collision. As soon as he began to try to flutter away, it was apparent that he was not okay. I thought perhaps he had broken a wing in his accident. I watched as he moved several feet before he fell into a narrow hole where an upright 4×4 post had been removed on the property. Not wanting to leave him in there, I put on a pair of gloves and managed to pull him out again. Holding him for a minute, I couldn’t help but notice how small he was. There he was in my hands, tiny, helpless, and weighing just a few ounces. I left him in the yard overnight where he couldn’t fall into the hole again, and to my surprise, when I went out the next morning, he took flight and flew away into the trees, evidently recovered from his eventful night.

Reflecting on it later, I couldn’t help but think of the Old Testament sacrificial system, which prescribed the sacrifice of doves for certain sins and purification offerings. The act of taking a live dove up to the temple to offer as a sacrifice would have been a very tangible reminder that there must be a payment for sin. Offering a lamb or a dove would drive home the truth that if I am to be forgiven of my sins, payment must be made. Something else must take my place and bear the punishment for me in order for my sin to be atoned for. The sacrifices of the Old Testament served to teach the Israelites the truth that “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). But those sacrifices could not actually take away sins completely.

In order to completely pay for our sins and remove them forever, there had to be a much greater sacrifice—a representative for us, a perfect man, a willing sacrifice. And this is the beauty of the gospel, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became a man and became a sacrifice for us. He was our representative, the perfect man, and a willing sacrifice. Without animal sacrifices to tangibly remind us of the cost of our sin, we are in danger of cheapening the cross. But his sacrifice was much greater than all the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. This Sunday let the communion be a reminder of the sacrifice that was made for you—a sacrifice much greater than that of doves.

On a recent trip to Chicago, I made a brief stop at the University of Chicago’s campus in order to visit their Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. I know that museums are not everyone’s cup of tea, but this one has an exhibit that is of great significance for Christians. The exhibit I am speaking of is a six-sided clay prism about 18 inches tall, commonly referred to as Sennacherib’s Prism. Inscribed on each side of this object are about 80 lines of miniscule writing. The writing on this artifact is a royal decree by the ancient Assyrian King Sennacherib in which he boastfully describes several of his military campaigns. If his name sounds familiar to you, that’s because we also read about Sennacherib in the Old Testament. Sennacherib’s prism is a well-preserved piece of history that confirms the reliability of the Old Testament. It provides corroboration that the events recorded in the Old Testament really did happen.

On the prism, Sennacherib recorded the following: “As for the king of Judah, Hezekiah, who had not submitted to my authority, I besieged and captured forty-six of his fortified cities, along with many smaller towns, taken in battle with my battering rams. … As for Hezekiah, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem. I then constructed a series of fortresses around him, and I did not allow anyone to come out of the city gates.” (Column 3, Lines 18–30.) He also describes how he imposed a tribute upon King Hezekiah. Compare that with 2 Kings 18:13–17a: “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. … And the king of Assyria sent [his officials] with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem.”

Sennacherib conveniently omitted the fact that although he confined Hezekiah in Jerusalem like a caged bird, he never managed to take the city. That’s because the Lord was fighting for Jerusalem and decimated the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19), leaving Sennacherib to limp home with his tail between his legs. While my faith in the reliability of the Bible does not rest on the archaeological record, it is confirming to see that time after time, the archeological evidence does support the Bible. Sennacherib’s Prism is one of many such pieces of evidence showing that the Bible is historically reliable. The prism is also a tangible reminder that the things we read about in the Bible really happened in real places to real people with real fears and hopes and dreams, just like you and me.