Humankind lives in the shadow of the fall. This is a sadly inescapable fact. Much more important, though, is that we live in the light of the cross also! Both influence our lives, but they are not equal influences.
Light and darkness are not the two great opposing forces jostling for dominance; neither are good and evil cosmic realities locked in battle for supremacy. This might be a popular notion, but nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that the cross of Christ was already blazing brightly by the time God said, “Let there be light”. This claim can be made with confidence because the cross was the manifestation of the Eternal Covenant agreed upon in the Godhead before creation commenced.
The implications are immense. The Lord took full responsibility for saving us before ever creating us. Father, Son and Holy Spirit knew that should first Adam be created with free moral agency, a second Adam would be necessary. They also knew all that would be required of that second Adam, were He to be redemptive of first Adam and his progeny. In ways too lofty for us even to imagine, each member of the Trinity committed themselves to the redemption-plan and their respective role in it. Nothing was left to chance. No one was put at risk. God Himself, unilaterally, guaranteed the redemption of everything redeemable!
Light outshines darkness for it is more powerful than darkness. This is no coincidence. Light overpowers darkness for it preceded it! Our eternal security lies in these foreordaining truths. In a physical sense light came out of darkness, but in a spiritual and ultimate sense, Light is before darkness ever was!
You and I are saved because of an agreement the Father, Son and Holy Spirit entered into before the beginning. The crucifixion had its date and time, as did the moment in which we believed. These two events make our salvation factual, anchoring it in history. This is good. Even better is that history itself has an anchor in that which predates it – our Triune God. History, correctly understood, will therefore always be His Story!
The opening verses of John’s Gospel speak so clearly into this. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God……….. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” The whole Gospel reveals Jesus as the Son of God, fully human and the Light of the World. The Light which came into the world now indwells us through the Holy Spirit and because of this we are able to walk in the light. Wonderful stuff. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Pleasure Ros. Thanks for sharing your thoughts as well!
Awesome:
adjective
1.
causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear:
an awesome sight.
2.
exhibiting or marked by awe; showing reverence, admiration, or fear.
No way that you can feel any other way about the Gospel and the finished work of the Cross.
Cool comment. Could make a great poster!
Important!!!! God wasn’t firing a bullet at mankind which JESUS got in the way of; like JESUS was saving men from God. The truth is that Father, Son and Spirit were in total agreement in the Gospel. Totally loved this blog post Gavin Cox.
Absolutely. God saved us from sin, not from Himself. He loves His world!
Nice!
Thanks :-).
And light overshadowed darkness! Skitterende blog Gav!
Thanks Randall.