20 December 2009
Psalm 24, 29; Gen 3:8-15; Rev. 12:1-10; John 3:16-21

The beginning of all the trouble in the world. At that time we knew how to react to sin, to hide from God. He knew what had happened and He came anyway and had to call us out of hiding. As sin becomes more prevalent, we no longer see it for what it is and we no longer feel the need to hide, instead believing we are righteous. Isaiah got quite a surprise in the temple one day and in the light of God’s holiness, saw himself as sinful and therefore shouldn’t have been in the temple. By the coming of Jesus, God walked among us and we decided we were more righteous than God. Today we talk very little about righteousness and, in the words of CS Lewis, put God in the dock and ask for explanations from Him about how a loving God could allow horrible things to happen. It’s easier than looking at ourselves.

Our sins deserve the death penalty but God’s love wouldn’t allow Him to execute that judgment. We were given a chance at reprieve in Jesus’ death on the cross. Our sins, all of them, are transferred to Him if we are willing to believe and to accept His Lordship over our lives. Accepting His sacrifice is also acceptance of the law at one level as in order for Him to take our sins we have to be willing to agree on what they are which then provides us with a definition of righteousness for the future. Like our first ancestors, some refuse to come out of hiding in the darkness and come to the light because they prefer their sin to change. Dealing with sin requires us to come at His summons and confess our sins in order to receive pardon.

Satan is the great accuser, the one who wants the law applied down to the letter and punishment for sins to the nth degree. His defeat in heaven is the sign that the judgment of God is at an end, we no longer have an accuser. It is his desire to destroy God’s plan for salvation, to destroy the baby before it is born, before it can begin to proclaim God’s love. He has hated us from the start and it was his plan to destroy us in death. The revelation of John tells us that there will be a time when sin and death are destroyed and it requires a battle in the heavens. Sin is an awful thing, no matter what it is, a little thing like a piece of fruit eaten in disobedience to God’s command necessitated all of this. Maybe we need to reconsider that reality as a check in our lives.

Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory!