(The forum will not let me paste the Greek text, not sure why. So I substitute a (Greek) placeholder. It may not matter much to us, because we don't read Greek. The message is still strong and marvelous.)
James R. White writes today,
Skipping past all the political tripe in my feed today, I am instead considering:
(Greek phrase)
Especially the aorist active participle (Greek word). He made peace. He accomplished His intention. There was no "try," there was no "hope to succeed," He MADE PEACE. It is only because He made peace that we can have peace. The peace He made was (Greek phrase), through the blood of His cross. It was final, (Greek word), once for all time, for all of history led up to, and now looks back upon, that cross, the center point of history itself. My experience of peace is completely and utterly dependent upon His accomplishment of peace, the completion of the sacrifice of the cross. That cross demonstrated God's wisdom and righteousness in all of creation---in how He would treat with mercy and grace the elect He joined to the Son, in how He would demonstrate His wrath and power upon the rebels who, despite the demonstration of His righteousness, love, and power, would remain obstinate in their love of self. And it must be emphasized, He did this. He made peace. Not a theoretical, "if we will but help Him" peace. He made peace. The cross was to be the center of history from day one. No after-thought, no second option. The focus. Always.
James R. White writes today,
Skipping past all the political tripe in my feed today, I am instead considering:
(Greek phrase)
Especially the aorist active participle (Greek word). He made peace. He accomplished His intention. There was no "try," there was no "hope to succeed," He MADE PEACE. It is only because He made peace that we can have peace. The peace He made was (Greek phrase), through the blood of His cross. It was final, (Greek word), once for all time, for all of history led up to, and now looks back upon, that cross, the center point of history itself. My experience of peace is completely and utterly dependent upon His accomplishment of peace, the completion of the sacrifice of the cross. That cross demonstrated God's wisdom and righteousness in all of creation---in how He would treat with mercy and grace the elect He joined to the Son, in how He would demonstrate His wrath and power upon the rebels who, despite the demonstration of His righteousness, love, and power, would remain obstinate in their love of self. And it must be emphasized, He did this. He made peace. Not a theoretical, "if we will but help Him" peace. He made peace. The cross was to be the center of history from day one. No after-thought, no second option. The focus. Always.
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