Amazed by His Splendor

This week I offer the following quote for your thoughtful reflection. The subject is the resurrection body of our Lord, and by implication, our future resurrected bodies. The new creation is bout to be lit.

In the resurrection, the flesh of Christ is subject to a kind of spiritualization not because it ceases to be a material body, but because it enters a higher plane, where the glorified material body is perfectly subject to the soul and indicative of its inner spiritual states. Agility follows from this, which is a note of the resurrected body that refers to unique abilities and actions of which the glorified body is now capable. Christ can appear to the disciples behind closed doors, and be present where he wishes. In doing so, he manifests himself in his whole person as Son, under the circumstances and for the duration of the time that he wishes. Some apparitions are humble in form and almost hidden (Jn 20:11-18), others overwhelming (Rv 1:12-18). The clarity or splendor of the body refers to its beauty, which has instrumental power to communicate the spiritual presence of Christ. In the gospels, his apparitions are discreet and surprising, but also splendid and spiritually luminous. Those who come into contact with the risen Lord are amazed and transformed by his splendor.

Thomas Joseph White, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God, 654.

Earth and Sky

“Thus declares The Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him…” Zechariah 12:1

You know the Lord is about to drop science when he introduces himself like this. He is the Craftsman of our realm—and let the realm never forget it!

Check the technique of his workmanship: he stretched, he founded, he formed. The skies above he stretched out like a tent. The stars too. The earth below he founded like a rock. And us he formed, a wondrous blend of the two.

Our souls are heaven-born; let mind and heart expand, in the knowledge and love of God, who is in heaven. Our bodies are earth-born; may flesh and blood ground us, keeping us humble in our earthly duties. And thus we will image God, and imprint his celestial beauty and order and love onto the cosmos.

And yet we have failed at this. Badly. So God came down and did it for us. Trust him today, and he will save you from your cosmic failure to reflect his glory, and he will help you begin to do it yourself, too.

The Reason for Being

What is the chief end of man? So goes Q1 of the Westminster Larger Catechism (I’m paraphrasing). Answer: To glorify God and enjoy him forever. That’s why we exist, to make much of God and bask in the rays of his infinite splendor.

This God of whom we speak is Triune, and his Triune nature helps us understand why we exist. In the Trinity (that great Mystery) there are Three divine Persons eternally existing in and as the One God. These eternal relations of procession are reflected in the way God works in and through his creation. All created things have their being from God the Father, in God the Son, and by God the Spirit, even in their fallen state. In salvation, the Father sends the Son to win our salvation for us. The Father and Son then send the Spirit to apply our salvation to us. In doing so, the Spirit glorifies the Son, and the Son in turn glorifies the Father, directing all things back to him. In salvation, all things return to the Father, by the Spirit and in the Son.

And that’s why you exist. To turn back to your Maker. To turn all the things he sends your way back to him in praise and thanksgiving. That’s why your today exists, to move everything under your influence back to him. This is the reality. Get swept up in the Trinitarian glory right now by trusting the Father to forgive your sins through the death of his Son, by the power of his Spirit, to the praise of his eternal glory, and he will wash your sins away and embrace you forever and ever.

Paul as Mr. Mom

We are currently in 1 Thessalonians in family worship. In last night’s reading the following verse stuck out to me:

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children (1 Thessalonians 2:7).

Here Paul compares himself to a new mommy. Not that he was or could be, but to these new believers he was like that, for he was as tenderly compassionate and delicately nurturous to them as the nursing mother is to her tiny newborn. How cautiously and carefully does she make every move, lest she disturb or upset the nursing little one! That’s how Paul acted toward these believers. (Boy was the apostle secure in his manhood!)

It is even a comparison that God uses for himself:

Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you (Isaiah 49:15).

As does Christ, speaking to cosmic rebels:

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings (Matthew 23:36).

Turn to Jesus today and you will find him infinitely strong to save you and also supremely gentle to care for you now and always. For he is as tender—no, he is infinitely more tender than the best mother could ever possibly be. After all, our sweet moms are a loving expression to us of the kindness of him who lives forever and ever.

On the Omnipresence of God

Where is God? So reads Question 13 of the children’s catechism we use at home. Answer: God is everywhere. It’s the kind of idea that kids really love to puzzle over. Let’s be honest, it’s the kind of idea we all love to puzzle over! How can God be everywhere all at once? The question leaves us bewildered in wonder at the mysteries of the living God.

One thing we can say is that God is everywhere because he created everywhere and keeps it (and everything in it) in existence at all times. Hebrews tells us that he “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (1:3)—he is doing so right now and always. So he is there, wherever there is, holding the very shape of reality together by his infinite power and wisdom.

God is outside creation. He transcends it, dwelling beyond space and time and all the other things and places he has created (including heaven). And yet he permeates his creation. It is rich with his presence. He is the hidden power at the very source of the being of everything that exists. Because of this, God is intimately close to everything and everyone that exists. As Paul said, “He is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:27-28).

Call upon this great God today, and he will hear you, for he is near you.

Everything You Did Yesterday

Think it over. Everything you did, everything you said, everything you thought, everything you imagined, everything you wished for…all of it. Everything that your soul participated in yesterday was written in ink before the face of God. You can’t erase any of it. On the day of judgment everything you did yesterday will be thoroughly examined by the Judge of all the earth, to see what good was in it, and what evil. Does that make you uncomfortable?

But that’s not all. Every evil thing you did yesterday can also be washed away forever. God is ready to forgive you for all of it, and the stuff you did the day before … and the stuff you will do tomorrow. How? Jesus died on the cross to pay for sin, rose again from the dead, and went to heaven where he now sits on the throne of the universe. Trust him to save you from your sin and he will, right here, right now. It’s not called Good News for nothing. See if he won’t do it. Yes, you.

Reflections

The world is full of creatures beyond count. They appear in all shapes and sizes, from grass and flower to bird and beast. Every one of these characters in the great tapestry of nature has something to say to us. When some plant or animal grabs my attention, I want to ask, “What truth about God does this creation embody?” Truly our God is good and glorious in all his works!

There is one creature, however, that can tell us more about God than all the rest. It’s not even close. Who is this amazing mystery being? People! The Creator created people in his own likeness. We are called the image of God. That means we are living images of the God who lives forever and ever. Wowzers. We are like walking soul-mirrors, made with care to reflect his supreme majesty.

But wait just a minute! People are what’s wrong with this world. The animal kingdom is ruthless, but it’s not sinful. Otherwise activists would be breaking up the whole operation as soon as they could. Instead we watch documentaries about it while eating chips on the couch. But people…people lie to each other. People plot and scheme. They hate and they hurt each other. People do unspeakably evil things to other people. And they love it.

Clearly these mirrors are busted. Big time. And the Creator who made them will judge every evil thought, word, and deed in the end. But why does he allow it to happen now? Ah! Now that is to show us something else about himself: he is merciful. He still loves them. He is saving them. He is calling them home. He became one of them, and lived and died for them, to bring them back to him.

Trust in Jesus today and get your mirror fixed. Become the person you were created to be.

Keep It Simple

I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

Life moves fast in the technological age. Our modern 24 hour entertainment and news cycle splinters our minds into a thousand fragments. Being pulled in so many directions is confusing. Before long we are being tossed to and fro, we know not whither, morning, noon, and night, like lost sailors on a treacherous sea. If we’re not careful, Satan may overwhelm us with his cunning allurements, distracting our minds from God and his love.

Paul’s idea of the Christian life is much different than this. There is a sweet simplicity to walking with Jesus. Let us put to death this ungodly fear of missing out on something, on anything, and be content to think of Jesus and his love for us. We will miss out on lesser things. #WorthIt.

Open your Bible, ask God to speak to yoU, meditate on his word, and go face the world with a quiet, trusting soul.

Blessed Obscurity

God became a man. He lived in a neglected corner of a tiny nation. He grew up in a little town. Even at the height of his ministry he was but a leader of hundreds of true followers. Do you ever think about that? I suppose that sort of thing could make somebody doubt that Jesus really is the Son of God. Oh, but that seems to me like one of the things that really proves his divine origins. What better comment upon his low esteem of what people hold glorious than his own incarnation on the low low?

Mankind wants to be exalted, and known, and praised. Jesus living in obscurity makes sense of our own lives. We say we are children of the living God, seated already with Christ in heavenly places, heirs of the universe itself. And yet here we are living our little lives in unknown seclusion. It sure doesn’t feel like we are cosmic kings and queens. But we are like Jesus in this, our blessed obscurity.

Pre”veil”ing Grace

“The glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east.” Ezekiel 43:4

So much meaning in so few words. The whole gospel is laid out here in short order. It is the story of the universe in abbreviation.

Because we see the Bible as one inspired book, ultimately penned by one divine Author, we see it as one complete story. When our father Adam sinned he condemned us all to lives of sin and suffering away from God’s paradise. He was kicked out of the Garden to the east, and at the east gate was placed a guardian cherub and a flaming sword to seal the way.

This God called a son of Adam named Abram to father his special people. He would live among them in a temple which was decorated to resemble the Garden. And between his holy throne and the priests was placed a veil facing the east, woven with … you guessed it, cherubs.

When Jesus, the true son of man, the son of Abraham, the Second Adam, died for our sins, the veil in the temple (the cherub guarded gate!) was miraculously torn in two from top to bottom. This was to symbolize that by his death for sin Jesus had opened the way back to God’s paradise.

This is God’s glory, the expression of his magnificence through the cross of his son, where sinners may be saved and where God’s image bearers may once again rule with the Creator over his creation.

Call it the gospel according to Ezekiel.