Thinking in 3’s - Revelation 1:5-6 - O, the Deep, Deep Love
Rev. 1:5 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus loves us. He loves us, not because of us, but because of Him. He loves us, not because of what we have become, but He loved us even when we were what we were. His love is not a response to His redemption of us. His love was a driving force for Him to do the work of redemption for us.
Love is not a mere sentiment. It demands action. We were in trouble. And Jesus loved us. Because He loved us, He would not, could not, sit back and do nothing. He had to step forward and accomplish this redemption, at great cost to Himself: by His blood.
The picture of our redemption, as it is here described, is not that of propitiatory sacrifice. That picture is present in many places where Jesus’ sacrifice is taught, but here, we are “freed.” This means that we were bound, in captivity, to some one or some thing, and that what Jesus had to do in order to accomplish redemption was to rescue us. This is different than Jesus “paying the penalty for our sins,” (and, again, that picture is presented many times in Scripture). Here, Jesus had to defeat the enemy that was holding us captive in order for us to be freed. Whether that enemy is described as the devil, or sin, or death - those enemies had to be vanquished. We could not do it ourselves. We were (are) powerless before them. Our salvation is in our Savior alone, our Deliverer.
And then Jesus transformed us, not merely as individuals, though that is an important part, but by making us members together with a people, the people of God. He made us to be a kingdom, and to give us roles in that kingdom that carries great privilege, and great trust, and great responsibility - to be priests. To be handlers of the glory of God. To be a blessing in the life of the world (or, new heavens and new earth), and to be a blessing to the lives of those around us.
When Jesus loves, the world is changed. The individual is changed. Something which did not exist before comes into existence, and God is glorified.
No comments:
Post a Comment