my doorway is painted red
[for Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed]
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“Spirit, come and fill this place; let your glory now invade.”
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Character and Gospel
“The unspeakably good news of the gospel is that unworthy bankrupt sinners are invited to buy bread without money, to eat a banquet at no cost to them, purchased by Christ crucified who is himself their living bread. The good news is that cripples and invalids who cannot fight have a Champion who fights for them. The good news for law-breakers is that hearts of stone are replaced by hearts of flesh. The good news is that a sinner’s justifying righteousness comes from outside him, from someone else. So does the source of his character. If a sinner develops good character, it comes from outside him. Common grace and saving grace abound. The goodness of gospel news is the magnificent beneficial overflow that comes from the God who is bountiful in mercy to sinners like me.”
- Sam Crabtree, Practicing Affirmation, p. 18-19
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Recently, we had a family picture day. Here is the outcome…
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Not many churches have graveyards anymore, and that’s a shame. […] If one really wants to see a theology for the church in action, one might walk into an old church graveyard at night. Walk about and see the headstones weathered and ground down by the elements. Contemplate the fact that beneath your feet are men and women who once had youthful skin and quick steps and hectic calendars but who are now piles of forgotten bones. Think about the fact that the scattered teeth in the earth below you once sang hymns of hope—maybe “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder I’ll Be There” or “When We All Get To Heaven.” They are silent now.
But while you are there, think about what every generation of Christians has held against the threat of sword and guillotine and chemical weaponry. The stillness will one day be interrupted by a shout from the eastern sky, a joyful call with a distinctly northern Galilean accent. And that’s when life really gets interesting.
- Russell Moore, A Theology For The Church, p. 926 (edited by Daniel Akin)
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“What a sacrifice that saved my life. Yes, the blood, it is my victory.”
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John Piper’s response to the President’s stance on abortion. There is much to think about as November approaches.
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Why We Draw Near With Confidence
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16, ESV)
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:7-11 ESV)
These words from Hebrews changed my day. They shifted the posture of my heart Godward. Lots of things were competing for my worship and my affections, but as I read this, I couldn’t help but think about how awesome it is that Jesus became a man to succeed in every way that I’ve failed so miserably. He lived a life of perfection, meeting a standard we could never live up to. He demonstrated righteousness, obedience, and love. His earthly life is the perfect expression of the type of living that pleases the Father.
As Lord and King, Jesus has every right to use his sinless life to condemn us. He has every right to say, “See? That’s how you should be living, but you can’t. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be as good as me. And because of that, you’re damned forever.” But he doesn’t. No, instead of using his holiness to condemn us, he uses it to save us.
Jesus has every reason to crush us under the weight of the excellence we could never live up to, but he extends his nail-marked hand in grace and invites us to approach him with confidence, knowing that his righteousness (the same righteousness we cannot measure up to) has been imputed to us forever through his death and resurrection.
He is the perfect one and yet it was he who suffered for sins. We are the sinful ones and yet it is we who receive redemption through the agony and suffering that we deserve. God crushed Jesus instead of us. God’s holy wrath demanded that there be justice for sin. When Jesus died, he met that demand.
That is why the author of Hebrews declares that Jesus is our high priest. In the Old Testament, a priest would mediate between God and his people because God is holy (he cannot be in the presence of sin) and people are sinful. There was a gap, a chasm that had to be bridged somehow. That is why God appointed priests then. And it is why he has appointed Jesus to be our priest now. The chasm is bridged forever in Christ’s atoning death and bodily resurrection, and we have full access to God’s presence.
I want to see this more clearly. I want to have clearer vision of this great high priest, who sympathizes with sinners like me and appeases God’s just wrath against me. I want to behold no other. All of this reminds me that there is nothing more powerful than God’s Spirit working through God’s Word. If we will orient our lives around the gospel as it is revealed in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will capture our affections. And he will not release us to stand in awe of anything lesser than the glory of our downtrodden, but exalted Servant-King, whose blood stands for all time as our source of unrelenting acquittal.
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Today’s Journal Entry
Wrote this prayer in my journal today. As I read Hebrews 3:7-4:13, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the surety of God’s gospel. His wrath no longer stands against any and every person who is in Christ Jesus. And because we are hidden in Jesus, we can enter his rest daily. We are no longer enslaved to our rebellion as the Israelites were in the wilderness. Because of the cross, God withholds no good thing from us.
Here is my response to so great a reminder:
God, I want nothing more than to enter into your rest. Do not let your wrath keep me from resting in you. Do not let your hatred of my sin keep me from all that you have graciously promised. Remember my failures no more. Forget all my transgressions, for I am hidden in Christ. Therefore see only his righteousness in me. See only his blood; I am wearing it around like a costume (in your eyes, it’s everything I’m not: innocent and pure). I parade it about like a shield in the midst of a raging battle; it is faithful to deflect every bullet of shame and condemnation.
Lord, keep me in your good graces and let only mercy come my way for no other reason than that my only plea is the blood of your Son. I have no other boast than his righteousness imputed to me. I have no other justification than that which comes by his death and resurrection. He continually saves me. He is my fortress that I run to for salvation from the just penalty that stood against me so severely. I am forever safe from my due wrath, for he has absorbed it completely. He alone is my strong tower when I am in danger; an ever-present radiance when darkness creeps in. I know the evil one wishes to destroy me, but I am safe and secure in the refuge of your grace, abounding steadily in Christ.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for reminding me of Christ’s unending goodness toward me. Through him and him alone, let me enter true rest. Amen.
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Our Verdict-Reversing God
“The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Peter in Acts 5:30-31, ESV).
Peter’s gospel-ing in this passage was despised by those who opposed the gospel’s advancement. They wanted to kill him for saying this. But for Christians, it is a standing invitation to reflect on Passion week. When I think about the sweep of the Passion story, I can’t help but see it through the eyes of the disciples. These men were there, watching it all unfold. They saw Jesus being delivered into the hands of sinful men, they saw the trial, and they saw the verdict against Jesus come down. And of course all this culminated at the cross. So by the time they laid Jesus’ body in the tomb and sealed the entrance, they must have been thinking, “this is over”. And they believed that this movement Jesus started was going going to die with him.
But that’s the thing about God. Right before the lights are going dim, he shows off his awesome power with a glorious turn-around. He is the verdict-reversing God. All of Christ’s humiliation, all of his shame, all the mockery, all the agony—everything was reversed and it is abundantly clear in the resurrection, the ascension, and his exaltation in being seated at God’s right hand: Jesus is Lord. This shattered the disciples’ unbelief and the movement that began with this God-man from Nazareth continued with Holy Spirit-empowered momentum.
So here’s what both the verdict reversal and the continuation of the movement means for us: Firstly, in reversing man’s verdict against Christ through the resurrection, God reverses his verdict against us. We were sentenced to die because death is what God’s justice demands from us. “All have sinned” (Rom. 3:23) - we have all offended God and robbed him of his due glory by sinning against him. But with Christ we are raised and justified to stand blameless before God, who no longer sees our sin and our junk; he sees the righteousness of his Son with whom he is well-pleased. God received an unjust verdict from sinful men, so that God’s just verdict against sinful men could be reversed forever.
Secondly, we who are redeemed now live as disciples of Jesus. Because our verdict was reversed by God in Christ, we are freed to live by the power of the Holy Spirit, no longer gratifying the desires of our flesh (Gal. 5:16). We worship in his presence, belong to his people, and are sent on his mission, all for the glory of our King. This is what the great time-tested work of our verdict-reversing God has accomplished. It will never be thwarted. It will never be undone. His gospel will go out into the world and bear fruit because our God is sovereign (Col. 1:3-6). And as we go in His name, we can rest in him, knowing that the work for our salvation is complete, sufficient, and eternal.
For those of us whose verdict has been reversed in Christ, there is no higher prize than his awesome glory being made manifest in every nook and cranny of the created order. This is what we hope for; it’s what we live for. For us, there is no higher joy, no higher delight, no higher prize than the coming day when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). And it’s all because he is glorious and we are his. Every eye will see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the great King and Lord, who has reversed the verdict of sinners and glory thieves like us once and for all.
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This info-graphic sheds light on the Tabernacle’s many facets of theological significance. Thought it was cool and wanted to share.
My name is Tyler Geoffrey Greene.
