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Saturday, May 9, 2015

Pastoral Pings ~ The Living One Dies so His Dead Brothers Can Live With Him Forever


          When Jesus prayed, "you have given him (Jesus, God's Son) authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him,”[1] he identified that there were people who were given to him, but these people did not have eternal life. The Father sent his Son into the world to do something about this problem, that he had given his Son people, but none of these people had eternal life, or could get this eternal life for themselves.
          As I considered this, that Jesus knew he had already been given people, that these people did not have eternal life, and he had been given authority over all flesh in order to carry out the work of granting these people eternal life, I had a sense of what this was like for Jesus to be given people who were dead in their trespasses and sins,[2] but were his as a gift from the Father. It sounded/appeared something like this in my head, and led me into a fresh wave of wonder at the intricacies of the work of God on my behalf:

“Son, here are the people I am giving you. I am sorry, but they are dead. They do not know us, and they cannot know us. There is not one of them that does good, and none of them seek after us. 
“However, I give you authority over all flesh so that you can go and give eternal life to all these dead people I have given you. I give you the authority over everyone and everything in order to bring about the redemption that will return these people I have given you to life, to knowing me as the only true God, and knowing you as the Christ whom I have sent for their salvation.”

          While I consider such thoughts with fear and trembling, careful to not put any words or thoughts in God's mouth, so to speak, I still found it helpful to consider what it was like for the Father to give his Son people who were spiritually dead, separated from the Triune God as long as they were under the curse of sin. The only way the Son could enjoy eternal fellowship with the people he had been given, was if he laid down his life as their sacrifice for sin.
          What a wonder we see in the Son of God's love, and his desire for these people to be his brothers.[3] He came into the world knowing he could have every one of the people he had been given (because they had been given to him by the Father), but only through the sacrificial, atoning, propitiating death that would redeem these people out of their sin, and give them eternal life. When he gave them this eternal life, they would then know the Triune God in love-relationship forever.
          If you have this eternal life, consider what Jesus did for you because you were the Father's gift to his Son, and redemption was the only way he could have you with him in eternal fellowship.
          If you do not have this eternal life, consider this God who gives people to his Son as a gift, and this Son of God who gives his life in order to have this gift of brothers forever.
          Also, consider the wonderful power of God that the Father gives dead people to his Son, and the Son gives his life for these dead people, and how this results in the Father, and the Son, and the dead people, living in the love-relationship of knowing one another forever. 
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”[4]

© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)




[1] John 17:2
[2] Ephesians 2:1-3
[3] Hebrews 2:10-13; Romans 8:29
[4] John 3:16

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