Is it possible that
the god we worship, the god we think about, is actually an idol? We may not create carved images for ourselves
and worship them but we often reduce Him to a god of our own imagination. We lose sight of the fearsomeness and power
of God and make Him tamed, it is no longer a dreadful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God. Jeremiah reminds
the people of God's awesome creative power that brought all things into being
in contrast to the gods and idols of the people. Too often we think wrongly about Him, we
think of a pale, thin Galileean man hanging on a cross as a pitiable sight, a
travesty of justice and forget that in that form on the cross is all the power that
created all things, power enough certainly to come down and wreak vengeance but
loving enough to restrain Himself for their sakes. Jeremiah knows this and begs the Lord to come
not in anger but in justice.
"Who are
you?" Paul knew that question didn't
he? It was the same thing he asked of
the voice from heaven that asked why Paul was persecuting Him. The answer, I am Jesus, must have undone Paul
as Isaiah was undone in the temple when he saw and heard the seraphim. Why did they not ask this question of Him
more often? Why come to conclusions on
your own based on your own wisdom and knowledge? Jeremiah was right when he said that every
man is stupid and without knowledge. The
reason that is true is that we rely on our own understanding rather than
His. Jesus tells the truth that unless
they believe they will die in their sins and yet who could have heard it and
believed it? He doesn't say the magic
words, I am God, but in all that He did and all that He said, they should have
known. We need to pray in all that we do
that the Lord would be made known through us and our words.
In Jewish lore and
teaching all pass by Adam after death and shake their heads, blaming him for
death. In reply, Adam says it is not for
his sin they died and are judged, but for their own sins. In Christian teaching we all pass before
Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father and He takes on those sins in
order that God's judgment might pass over us and we be justified. It is not for Adam's sin that we are condemned,
it is for our own. That condemnation no
longer falls on us, it has fallen on Jesus if we have put our faith in
Him. Justification by faith in Christ
alone teaches us about the love and grace of God. We are dead in our own sins, not the sin of
Adam, but we are made alive not in our righteousness but through the
righteousness of the one man, Jesus, therefore grace indeed abounds. We have been justified, now let us live lives
of righteousness and obedience.
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