The Universal Wrench

 

The Universal Wrench

     A new franchise, with its doors open on the first day.  “Open” sign hangs in the front window.  Some shoppers pass by in wonderment.  Some are curious about the front window display.  Some venture in to look around.  The shoppers have made their choices.  How near they draw to the merchandise is up to them.  Only those who enter through the door can partake.

     Did the store discriminate?  Were there other signs in its front window?  “Whites only” “Cash sales, no credit cards accepted” “All sales final” If other signs accompanied the grand opening, then we could say the invitation was restricted.

     Nails pierced Christ’s hands to the wood.  His immense pain commanded Him to contract, but the spikes laid Him out to expose Him fully.

     I have a grandson who is curious about trapping.  Recently I bought a few small vermin traps from Bomgaars.  A little conibear and a pan trap.  We set them in the living room, and he shoots them with his Nerf gun under Grandpa’s watchful eye.  “Snap!”  Their jaws suddenly close and catch the dart cutting in half.

     At his last birthday party his grandma and I gave him a tanned racoon skin.  Smooth and cured on one side with fur on the other.  He laughed and the present carried on the trapping theme I had set in our living room escapades.

     To tan a skin, one must first remove it from the animal.  Care must guide the knife to separate skin from flesh. A gentle downward pull rewards patience.  Next, the fur is withdrawn without the blade carelessly leaving nicked pits.  Then the fur is fleshed by stretching it over a wood form.  A blunt tool is run over the raw side forcing the clinging fat down.  The resulting skin is cured in a chemical mixture to prep it for drying.  Many nails now affix the wet skin to a wood surface as the skin dries to resemble a drum head.  After a few days, the fur has reached its final form.  Smooth leather binds the hair making it pliable and useable.

     What has taken days with the furred skin, God accomplished in six hours on a cross.  Nailing His extremities to a form, He fleshed the Man and applied shame to cure His hide.  The result was a pliable covering God could use to cover a man’s sin.  All the way back to the Garden, God remembered.  At one time an animal was sacrificed to cover them.  Now, the skin of His own Son is offered to those cold.  Applied righteousness is understood as we stand before Him.

     We have a choice.  The world dictates another fashion.  God’s raiment fails miserably when judged upon the world’s runway.  Contrarily, His material hides our nakedness showing no embarrassment even though bright lights threaten.  This world’s lust licks other’s exposition while we are labelled as one of them.  If they shout one way, they separate themselves having drawn that line.  We, in our uncompromising nature, separate as oil from water.  We gather to our own and consider loss what could be gained in vain pursuits of self-gratification.

     We are the ones who wonder about the entrance.  Leaving the city lights and street’s distractions, our feet cross the threshold.  Seeing racks of robes, we behold the Merchant coming closer to us.  A grand smile meets our decision to enter His doorway.  “Welcome,” He says. “I’ve waited.”

     To say the Door is only open to some is ludicrous.  Righteousness is available to all who choose to enter.  The grand opening flung the Door opened at the cross.  Prophetic forward displays beg those to come in and find wears suitable before the coming Christ.  Prostituting street attire only brings judgement and wrath.

     Did Jesus die for all?  Was His skin stretched only for those hand picked by God?  For God so loved the world.  Does His store offer hope for all?  The Door be open.  “For many are called, but few are chosen.”  It is indeed His job to draw close.  His Holy Spirit goes out to convince individual men of their need for Him.  Yet, He respects our being, not forcing His will.  A street vendor He will not be.  A legitimate location at a known site calls all to come to His Son.

     A universal wrench?  The metaphor applies.  Jesus as the Door seeks to loosen rusted fasteners unable to make the move.  God applies the penetrating oil of His Spirit then Jesus applies the force.  Repentance is needed as those who enter bow before His authority.  All work together to get the man to a proper relationship with God.

     The idea is that grace is available to all.  Mercy is met in the sacrifice of the cross.  Grace is understood in the promise of His Holy Spirit.  God’s love is for all. He is the one who assigns worth.  God has never made a disposable being temporarily consumed for the sake of His glory.  We are all God’s children by the blood of Adam.  We are all made in His similitude.  A distinction He makes between our flesh and the animals’.  A recompense must be rendered for our life breath smothered.  If He assigns worth, then He has sent His Spirit out to gather as a hen her chicks.

     Jesus maintains universality.  His wrench fits.  His door is wide open.  Gazing upon the cross we behold His leathery skin dried for us.  The fat rendered off threatens no rancidity.  His robe we take up in gladly bearing our own cross.  We are so marked with Him.  He surely knows us individually.  To say Christ discriminates in grace offered is to close the hand of God.  Understand God’s character so revealed.