Hebrews 2:5-9
We live in a world that is not subjected to Christ. If it were, how could our worldly natures be inclined to sin? Why would it be so difficult to do the good and to shun the evil?
No--this world is a place of independance from God, and it cannot subject itself to God by its nature. This is why the new world is so important, a world described to the Israelites as the kind of place where the lion and the lamb can be friends. Paul said that this world is groaning in anticipation for the glory to be revealed in it. The writer of Hebrews says the world to come has been subjected to Christ, and that God has put everything in it under Him and in His authority.
Consider, though, a world subjected to Christ: a world in which our natures led us to worship Christ and to serve Him. This would be a world in which we would no longer cry out, "Wretched man that I am--who will save me from this body of death?" This would be a world that honored the birth of Christ every day instead of one day a year, and that remembered the death of Christ every day instead of one season a year...
Is this not what we want as Christians? Can we not join with St. Peter: "Lord, come quickly!" This life has its joys, but that life will be joy. Shall we not anticipate and yearn for the revelation of Christ's glory, the subjugation of this world, the final atonement for sins and the death toll for sin in this world? Christ has saved us and when His perfect goodness and righteousness is fully revealed in us, we shall no longer have anything before God of which to be ashamed.
And I long for that day! A day when shortcomings, famines, shortages, insufficiencies, needs, wants, are remembered no more--a day when every desire is fulfilled in Him that fills all in all--it is for that day we wait, and the world with us, in our best and most humble service to our beloved Lord. And even to us, our best seems but meager scraps next to the unsurpassed glory of the Christ; and yet, we serve Him because that is His will.
The will of perfect, holy God is that I, depraved man that I am, should do good works in His name and for His glory. I fall to my knees and cry, like Peter, "Get away from me, Lord! for I am a sinful man;" and yet, still He calls to me.
It's good that God does His will and not ours, isn't it? Aren't unanswered prayers just a blessing?
But there it is. God sent the agent of Creation down to earth, a little lower than the angels, as this man Jesus. And the man Jesus did everything that was spoken of by the prophets: He fulfilled the law of God and the prophets, and then He fulfilled the will of God by dying on a cross for the men that hung Him there and for you and for me and for everyone else that lived once in rebellion to God.
And now the Christ, now Jesus, reigns crowned with glory and with honor over the world that will come, an anointed King waiting only for His kingdom to be presented to Him by His Father.
Praise Him forever!
He's the One we serve, the One that saved us, the One that spurned equality with God, instead seeking to please God, the One that gave His life for us. He's the One we praise and worship and adore.
He's the One we live for, or the One we strive to live for.
It's by Him we're blessed of the Father, and through Him we're saved.
Praise Him.
No--this world is a place of independance from God, and it cannot subject itself to God by its nature. This is why the new world is so important, a world described to the Israelites as the kind of place where the lion and the lamb can be friends. Paul said that this world is groaning in anticipation for the glory to be revealed in it. The writer of Hebrews says the world to come has been subjected to Christ, and that God has put everything in it under Him and in His authority.
Consider, though, a world subjected to Christ: a world in which our natures led us to worship Christ and to serve Him. This would be a world in which we would no longer cry out, "Wretched man that I am--who will save me from this body of death?" This would be a world that honored the birth of Christ every day instead of one day a year, and that remembered the death of Christ every day instead of one season a year...
Is this not what we want as Christians? Can we not join with St. Peter: "Lord, come quickly!" This life has its joys, but that life will be joy. Shall we not anticipate and yearn for the revelation of Christ's glory, the subjugation of this world, the final atonement for sins and the death toll for sin in this world? Christ has saved us and when His perfect goodness and righteousness is fully revealed in us, we shall no longer have anything before God of which to be ashamed.
And I long for that day! A day when shortcomings, famines, shortages, insufficiencies, needs, wants, are remembered no more--a day when every desire is fulfilled in Him that fills all in all--it is for that day we wait, and the world with us, in our best and most humble service to our beloved Lord. And even to us, our best seems but meager scraps next to the unsurpassed glory of the Christ; and yet, we serve Him because that is His will.
The will of perfect, holy God is that I, depraved man that I am, should do good works in His name and for His glory. I fall to my knees and cry, like Peter, "Get away from me, Lord! for I am a sinful man;" and yet, still He calls to me.
It's good that God does His will and not ours, isn't it? Aren't unanswered prayers just a blessing?
But there it is. God sent the agent of Creation down to earth, a little lower than the angels, as this man Jesus. And the man Jesus did everything that was spoken of by the prophets: He fulfilled the law of God and the prophets, and then He fulfilled the will of God by dying on a cross for the men that hung Him there and for you and for me and for everyone else that lived once in rebellion to God.
And now the Christ, now Jesus, reigns crowned with glory and with honor over the world that will come, an anointed King waiting only for His kingdom to be presented to Him by His Father.
Praise Him forever!
He's the One we serve, the One that saved us, the One that spurned equality with God, instead seeking to please God, the One that gave His life for us. He's the One we praise and worship and adore.
He's the One we live for, or the One we strive to live for.
It's by Him we're blessed of the Father, and through Him we're saved.
Praise Him.
posted by ionathas78 at 5:45 AM
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