The Great Brownout

When the lights suddenly go dim, we know it is may be due to something we call a brownout. That is usually caused by something drawing so much current that everything else does not have sufficient power to operate normally.

Typically this is not because the power company is not producing enough power. Rather it is limited by the capacity of the conductors to provide us enough power to run everything at the same time.

I have been thinking of this as a parallel to what happened at the cross with interesting implications.

When this world fell into sin we experienced a power vacuum, power being life itself. Over the centuries death and sin progressively increased and saturated the minds and hearts of humanity. It had already begun affecting the disposition of the onlooking universe and as they watched sin deepen on this planet it continued to affect them. The need for vital reconnection to the only Source of power in the universe became urgent if there was to be any hope of survival of this race of beings.

Enter Jesus, the connecting link between the original Source and the damaged planet quickly headed for extinction. For 33 ½ years Jesus secured 'wiring connections' in preparation for locking in a plan of redemption. This had been planned from eternity past as a rescue operation involving a massive infusion of life to reignite the life drained from the heart of humanity. Mixing metaphors, it was like Jesus was bringing a defibrillator to jump start an entire race experiencing cardiac arrest due to sin. But everything needed to be timed just right with participants in their right places before the fibrillation could be most effective.

During the last hours before His death, the power began to flow as Jesus took firm hold of both the reality of all sin that was threatening to extinguish humanity and at the same time grasping solidly the heart of God who is the infinite and inexhaustible Source of all power in the universe. This created a deadly mix that in electrical parlance we call a 'dead short.' And with Jesus that term was completely accurate.

As Jesus made Himself to be sin for us by absorbing the effects of sin experienced by every human who had or ever would live, while simultaneously securing firmly His intimate connection to the opposite of sin, the very power Source of the entire universe, He became the high-capacity conduit through which enormous power suddenly surged onto this planet. This power draw from the throne of heaven was so intense that it literally created a brownout causing even the sun to not shine with apprehension and fear aroused in all who witnessed that event. I wonder if possibly the rest of the universe also sensed this brownout as well.

The conduit used for this power surge was the human body and mind of Jesus, a limited conduit unlike His divine being which has infinite potential. As could be expected, this power surge for the saving of humanity became so intense that it culminated in 'melting down' the very conduit through which it passed as it flooded the entire planet. Not only did this power connection surge into the planet at that time but it supernaturally reconnected all the history and future of this planet with divine, healing, life-giving power. This infusion of power was the only possible way to rescue and redeem our planet effectively from all the damage, destruction and deception that has resulted from the rebellion. This power surge was what was necessary to save fallen humanity from the extensive effects of the curse.

Because that power surge caused the death the very One who had offered Himself as a conduit through which saving power could be transmitted, after He regained consciousness in His resurrection He was not feel completely assured that the 'plan' had succeeded. He knew what the plan was and what it was intended to accomplish, but He was unwilling to move forward with the next stage of the plan in full confidence until He was assured that it had given Him full authority to do so. He needed direct confirmation from God Himself that their plan to save the entire human race had really been successful. That is why His first order of priority after the resurrection was to return to the throne of God to receive assurance that the connection with humanity and the power delivered was sufficient to save any who would be willing to be saved.

What was accomplished by God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit at the cross was reconnection to life through the establishment of an irrevocable conduit to humanity through which could again have free access to grace, life and love directly from God. Before that connection had been secured, demonstrated and confirmed, all who previously wanted to connect with God's life were required to receive it through faith by the symbols of this connection that would happen in their future. But once this conduit was firmly reestablished by a human connection point replacing the first Adam with a more secure connection to God, all could be free to receive all the life they might ever need simply by believing and embracing this Avenue of access.

Other parallel metaphors can include a rescue tube into a collapsed mine shaft to provide air, food and water to trapped miners underground. Similarly it could be like an air hose for a disabled submarine. Connecting and discharging a defibrillator on a patient experiencing cardiac arrest seems to be an excellent analogy. In this case the parallel to Jesus' life and death could be that Jesus was securing all the contact points on the body of the patient during his life on earth. Then at the cross the full power was switched on making an enormous draw on the resources of the entire universe all for the purpose of reigniting life on this dying planet. The current draw was so strong that it killed the conduit of Jesus. But because Jesus remained uncontaminated Himself by any attitude of selfishness as a human, His death was only caused by our sin, not His. This meant that the secure connection with God's heart for humanity has now been securely reestablished forever.

I find these analogies far more effective for understanding many of the other things discussed in Scripture. The legal explanations used for interpreting much of Paul's writings along with others usually makes God out to be our problem rather than viewing God as in Christ reconnecting all humanity to Himself as the only source of life and hope and love. When sin is viewed properly as a condition of sickness, particularly mental sickness which distorts our view of reality, rather than a legal dilemma involving rules and external behaviors, everything begins to fall into place much more clearly and we find hope and courage attracting us to God for rescue rather than living in fear of Him as a judge waiting to pronounce sentence for or against us.