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"If I imagined two kingdoms bordering each other, one of which I knew rather well and the other not at all, and if however much I desired it I was not allowed to enter the unknown kingdom, I would still be able to form some idea of it. I would go to the border of the kingdom known to me and follow it all the way, and in doing so I would by my movements describe the outline of that unknown land and thus have a general idea of it, although I had never set foot in it. And if this was a labor that occupied me very much, if I was unflaggingly scrupulous, it presumably would sometimes happen that as I stood with sadness at the border of my kingdom and gazed longingly into that unknown country that was so near and yet so far, I would be granted an occasional little disclosure." Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or * * * Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:23-26)
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But the gift of God through Christ is a very different matter from the “account rendered” through the sin of Adam. For while as a result of one man’s sin death by natural consequence became the common lot of men, it was by the generosity of God, the free giving of the grace of one man Jesus Christ, that the love of God overflowed for the benefit of all men. (Romans 5:15)
You see, it was the reintroduction, as a gift, of all that Adam was meant to be and receive -- all that he had lost as a consequence of the Fall -- that Jesus came to re-invite us into: Rather than continuing the generational, earthly curse of sin and death, Jesus came to reinstitute our showcasing the full glory of God within the earthly life of man. Rather than settling for our broken family systems and human-centered understandings of the past and the present, Jesus came to invite us into the Family of God. Rather than being ruled over by creation -- being defined ourselves by the economies of this world, the evil one, sin, death -- Jesus came (as the new-firstborn, perfectly chosen Son of God) to restart the whole process between God and man. And, finally, rather than walking in broken, disconnected misunderstanding, disobedience, and imperfect not-doing of the will of the Father, Jesus came to teach us how to walk with God again, just like He'd Himself once walked in Eden with that unFallen first man named Adam. Fairly glorious. More "Amplification" in Romans 5, this time in vv. 1,2...
Since then it is by faith that we are justified, “since then”: the language of an accomplished fact. And the fact of the matter is that, by faith, aligning our lives with the life and death of Jesus, we have already been justified: made right. We have been reset to our Garden of Eden, first-creation, new-creation factory setting and there’s nothing we can do to lose that. So… let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I’ll reiterate: “have peace.” Not “had for a minute at the moment of your prayer of salvation,” nor “will have at the moment when you breathe your last earthly breath.” No, by faith, and because of faith, and in faith, we are justified--right now—and at peace with God--right now. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself the Prince of Peace, came to impart eternal peace to all creation with the victory of the Kingdom of Heaven. Every battle of the great cosmic war is over. Peace is declared. We have peace with God now. And: Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, Everything we’re doing is meant to be new. It is not by works, not with terror and trepidation, not nebulous in its meaning and practice, not old, not joyless, sterile, or bland. It is through Jesus—that wonderful bearded Man from the Galilee—it is meant to be confident, a solid spiritual construct we can live inside, new, and relational in both grace and joy. We are each of us meant to show the world Jesus…by our confidence…as we enter further and further into the newness of this grace. And how will it look? and here we take our stand, It is solid. Consequential. Even geographical. It is a place (the Kingdom of Heaven) where we (individually and together) may solidly stand (in the security and surety of all that Jesus has done.) Every single inch of the earth’s surface is able to be inhabited with His goodness--in us: we may take this stand anywhere. And it is not a stand of division, mankind against mankind. It is a stand of spiritual flag-planting that claims all mankind—and the earth—for the Kingdom…which has forever, already, arrived. An amplification of Romans 5:5-8, with the verses in bold and my words in regular text:
Already we have some experience of the love of God flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. The Holy Spirit of God, the atmosphere of Heaven itself, the communion-point of the Father and Son, the animating force of all the greatest deeds of the Old Testament, has been given, without reserve, without end, without any restraint to every believer in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is within you--now. He is the exact point on earth--within you—where the “love of God”—the life of Heaven—is choosing to express itself. Your inward experience of, your union with, this Holy Spirit is the way in which you meet and experience the incarnate life and love of Jesus. And what is that love like? And we can see that it was while we were powerless to help ourselves that Christ died for sinful men. The love of Jesus is powerful…for the powerless. It is the perfect help of Heaven, sent to earth, for all the people of earth--everyone!—who are unable to help themselves. In fact, that is the best definition of the love of Jesus: that it is heavenly; that it cost His life; that it’s for the powerless, ie. all of us. The love of Jesus is the greatest universal, all-encompassing force that has ever swept across the face of this earth. Listen: In human experience it is a rare thing for one man to give his life for another, even if the latter be a good man, though there have been a few who have had the courage to do it. Yet the proof of God’s amazing love is this: that it was while we were sinners that Christ died for us. And, by the way, it was while we were sinners that He also lived His life for us—just ask Matthew the tax-collector. Or the woman caught in adultery and hauled into the Temple. Or, for that matter, any of His disciples. And, maybe most notably, while He was in the midst of giving His life for the sake of sinners, the criminal who met Him in death—and then met Him again in Paradise. “God’s amazing love” is amazing because of how relentless it is—even beyond the bounds of life and death—in pursuing the sinner. All human history before Jesus was a record of the seeming wrath of God; everything after is a catalogue of the immensity of His love. |
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