The Recreation

In his gospel John says, "In the beginning was the Word, ... "  We often use this text, in its context, as proof for the deity of the Word, that is, the deity of Christ.  This is all true, and John is certainly pointing out the deity of the Word -- without which his subsequent argument makes no sense.

But, the fact that the Word "was," and the fact that the Word made every single thing that was made, and without him not one thing was made that was made, needs to be applied according to John's evident intention in the passage:  The Word, who is the one who created the world in Genesis 1-2, is the very one who takes on our nature at the Incarnation, for the exact purpose of recreating what he had originally made, which was fallen.

Surely, surely the one who created the cosmos and all the angels and mankind, "in the beginning," is competent to perform the recreation of all things by his self-abnegation in Incarnation and death on the Cross!  The one who was the Light said "Let there be Light" in the primeval darkness, and there was Light.  So, in the darkness of Jewish and Gentile apostasy and unbelief, this same Word by his words speaks into existence the New Creation.  As the Light of the World, he comes into the darkness, where even those of his own reject him, and yet by his mighty power and glory causes new sons of God to be spiritually born through faith in himself -- sons not born of human will, but of God's Will, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.  We are his New Creation, having our birth through the Spirit from above -- from God.

We must glory in this.  How can the tribulations of this life, and the shortness of it threaten our Recreator's work in us?  Surely, we shall be perfected in glory!

The good Name and Power of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are at stake in this, and by this Name and Power it will be done!

On Heaven's Seat

It's hard, from our lowly position in God's World, to envision how our attitude toward this world should be shaped, unless our vision is shaped by God's Word.  In that Word there is certainly a lowly vision of ourselves, as servants, even slaves of God, living by the rule that the last shall be first, and that the greatest is the servant of all, and that our hope is in resurrection.  But, behind this Godly lowliness is the Godly vision of the human race on the Throne of Heaven.  It is all in Christ, of course.  But how little do we ponder how he rose to heaven's throne in our nature.  Of course, we believe he is a real human being.  But, don't forget:  We are in him!  In him, we are risen and seated there!  Think of yourself on that throne!  What is your perspective on the world's business as you sit on that throne?  What do you think of all the outward excellence in the world, even if it came to the Christian dominion of all the world's business?  Is this vision of the government of this age ultimately worthy of your position?  Is this what you are co-ruling with Christ to bring about?  No.  Isn't the current vision of Christian dominion in this age a sanctified Enlightenment, Western 19th-century liberal, upper-middle class, educated vision, which is successful in business, science, liberal arts and politics?  Is this really a Christian vision?  Most of the believers in this world have not, and up to now cannot, share this vision because of "backwardness," "lack of progress," and persecution.  No.  They have a higher vision.  Even if you told them of the Western Enlightenment vision that God's dominion might eventually bring to them, would they truly look forward to it?  Would it replace the Eternal Vision?  No.  It would be a seduction.

We must be grateful to God in his providence for the excellencies of our earthly life, and the seeming successes of our Christian efforts, but these are not in themselves God's Kingdom, though they bear traces and signs of it.  But, God's Kingdom is far higher than these things.  We should think again, how the last shall be first, and the lowest shall be highest, and the least will be the greatest, and how the cross will triumph through his suffering servants, and God's Kingdom -- the one that really is his -- will one day, when all cares of this earth are past -- shine forth in eternal glory, in the fellowship of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Seeing this now, we shall have power.

Distinction from the World (Revised)

This is a comment on the previous post.

The point of the previous post is that the church must maintain spiritual separation from the world.  But, sometimes the word "separation" has a bad image.  So, I will express what I mean by using another word -- "assimilation."  The church permeates the world, but is not to be "assimilated" to the world.  There remains a spiritual distinction from the world -- a distinction which is visible not only in worship and in personal Christian behavior and testimony, but also in the serious requirement of intra-church Christian social communion where the Lord's grace, wisdom, and encouragement is shared between the believers.  This fellowship manifests the spiritual bond which makes the believers' first priority in prayer and action to be the welfare of other believers in Christ.  We should do good to all men, but especially to the household of God.  Our lifestyle is not to dissipate ourselves by throwing ourselves into the embrace of the world to convert the world, but to draw people from the world into the embrace of Christ.  The church is a "counterculture."  That distinction of worship, life, and spiritual separation must characterize the body of believers, lest their testimony before the world lose its vitality.  My thesis in the previous post is that engaging the world while forgetting to be the counterculture is spiritually fatal to the welfare and testimony of the church.

Therefore, whether it's too much preterism, or too much visionary medieval-style communion of church and state, the spiritual effect is the same.  The church and the world become only formally, but not vitally, distinguishable, to the detriment of the church.

During the days of union and communion between church and state, it was the monks who continued to preserve the distinction between the church and the world.  In a sense the church of Christ, following Judaic principles rather than Greek philosophy, must adopt the monk's sense of spiritual separation from the world, without the asceticism.  The good that those monks did could only be done because they were monks -- separate.  Likewise, the good that we do can only be done because we are separate.  If we lose our separation, we will lose our calling and our effectiveness in the world.

Preterist Hope and Resurrection

This article keeps being revised, in order to clarify the language, remove unnecessary offense to brethren, and be more correctly adjusted to its practical environment. However, any hyperbole still present is intentional, because if there were no hyperbole, no attention would be paid to its technical language and apparent theological blandness.  This article is commented on in the next post.

In the Reformed "Covenant of Works" it is regularly assumed that the destiny of the race is properly understood from the standpoint of the original creation, as if the Fall was a fatal blot on that original plan which was cured by Christ's redemption, so that the recovered plan of world dominion can now be carried forward in the present age in Christ.  When this idea is coupled with a preterism which denies a final apostasy, the Kingdom of God becomes an immanent kingdom.  It comes here and now, in this age, though gradually.  The distinction between the "Now" of Kingdom life in the present age, and the "Not Yet" of Kingdom life in the Age of Resurrection gradually fades away as the kingdom comes, and, in the end, a saved and glorious world is made ready for the final advent of the Savior, and the destruction of the last enemy -- death.  But, resurrection is icing on the cake, in what may be a far distant future.  The focus of the church is on this age,* and on the expectation of the increasing triumph and glory of the kingdom of God in this age.  As a consequence the resurrection age inadvertently becomes distant, ethereal, disembodied, perhaps even "gnostic," compared to the realism of kingdom now, the beginnings of which we perceive with our senses.  Life is now.

This focus has a profoundly negative effect on the practical mission of the church and on the life of faith. By asserting a vision of increasing fulfillment, contentment, triumph and glory in this age, the church embraces the world, hoping to redeem the world through Christian accomplishments and good works and (hopefully) the preaching of the gospel, but the result is that the world embraces the church.  A vision of world-conquering, world-integrating moral triumph through charity (and a subsidiary profession of orthodoxy) replaces the gospel vision of salvation from the world-system, personal and corporate holiness, and Christian accomplishments and good works that preach this deliverance.  We've been here before:  Look at the policies, activities and failure of the "liberal" churches.

There are theological reasons why this is an unworthy way to conceive of the divine plan.  For one thing, the Fall occurs so early in the Scriptural record, and so little is revealed of the original creation, that it's clear that the Scriptural record is just not focused on the restoration of the original creation in its original form.  That original creation is irretrievably lost in death, just as Christ's participation in the life of this age was brought to the fullest and most complete death on the cross and in the tomb.  And yet, in triumph, Christ rose from the death of the first creation, and he himself became the embodiment of the New Creation, along with all those spiritually in him.

The New Testament is clear that this redemptive work is accomplished by our Lord's participation in the first, fallen creation (yet without sin on his part), as he dies.  But he is not resurrected back into the first creation.  He remains "dead to the Law," which killed him, for ever and ever.  Yet, He himself becomes the New Creation in Resurrection, living to God in a new way, by the Spirit, corresponding to the New Covenant.  The home of the New Creation is the resurrection body, ultimately in the resurrection age.  Therefore, we should only see our redeemed destiny in resurrection terms.  We are spiritually resurrected now, as believers, but we live in bodies which are the products of the first creation, and we live in a fallen age.  We cannot see the Kingdom of God fully manifested in this age, because this is not the age of resurrection.  The Kingdom of God is not inherited by flesh and blood (the Adamic inheritance of the first creation).  The Kingdom of God is fully inherited only in the resurrection body, in Christ.

This explains why Paul is so insistent that our spiritual attention be directed to Heaven where our treasure lies waiting for the age to come, the resurrection age, and that our spiritual attention not be directed to this age, which is groaning under bondage to corruption and death.  After all, the creation is also doomed to be delivered from death in the same glorious resurrection that we will experience at the Last Day.

Therefore, we must divert our vision from an immanent kingdom of God, with a vision of glory in outward life in dominion and triumph in this age, and direct our vision to the future and transcendent kingdom coming with resurrection, with only a hidden glory now in the triumph of our suffering, until the great day of deliverance from death comes, and we participate in the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God.  This is the only vision that separates us from the world-system and makes us a holy people of Kingdom-come, and this is the only vision which testifies to the world that Christ has come.

Unless the End comes first, we will all die a death that was ordained for our sin, and that has been transformed by Christ's resurrection into a doorway to the presence of Christ, until eternal glory dawns.  Yes, the last enemy to be destroyed is death, but what an enemy!  It's really paradigmatic of all evil and sin in our lives.  Death is the curse!  Therefore, let us no more have "boys' religion" about these things, confusing our vision of eternal life with a vision of worldly glory in this age.  No.  Our destiny is death and resurrection, following in the steps of our Lord, unless he should return first.  Focusing on the glorious manifestation of the Kingdom of God in this age will have a carnalizing influence on us and on the practical ministry of the church.  But, focusing on the eternal kingdom in resurrection will make us a holy people who preach a holy gospel, and do holy works testifying to the glory of Christ.

There is a warning here:  The true vision of the city whose builder and maker is God is held by those who view themselves, like Abraham, as migrants and pilgrims through life in this age, seeking that city and glory which is eternal, and is not of this age, but of the age to come -- the age of resurrection.  Only a converted heart can rest in that vision.  The flesh wants glory now, and anything that satisfies that urge in this life has corruption in it.

This post is commented on in the next post.

*  My claim about "focus on this age" is not vain, because, after writing this post, with my own ears I heard an ordained PCA Teaching Elder (Minister) not associated with my church, use these very words unguardedly in a comment stating that our attention should be focused on this age and not on some other (future) age.  He wasn't thinking, but the loose and uninterpreted comment nevertheless illustrates what I mean.

The Testimony of Glory

Our Lord Jesus prays for us in the Upper Room:

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You -- that they also may be one in Us, in order that the world may believe that You sent Me.

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, in order that they may be one just as We are one -- I in them, and You in Me -- in order that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.   John 17:20-23.

In this prayer, we see that our destiny, as a result of our Savior's prayer and sacrifice, is that we shall be and now are one in the fellowship of the Father and the Son, just as the Father and the Son are one in each other.  Furthermore, this unity is created by the same glory now given to us which was first shared by the Father and the Son before all worlds.  This union in glory, visible to the world, effectually converts the world.

In the unity and glory being revealed in us, things ordinarily considered incommunicable to the creature have become ours, such as having God the Father of the Eternal Son also be our Father, a present sharing in the blessings of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), and present participation in his glory (Rom 8:30).

Contemplation of these astounding facts ought to lead to boundless spiritual astonishment and love for the Father and his unique Son who think of us this way. Wherever we see Christ speak of the love and glory between the Father and the Son we ought to recognize that this love and glory is meant for us, too.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14

As the Son was full of grace and truth, so are we, by his grace.

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.  John 1:18

No one has seen God at any time -- but we have seen him in Christ, and the world will see him in us.

The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  John 3:35

For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  John 5:20

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.  John 14:12-14

By Christ's authority, from his works and signs, comes to us a testimony of like kind.  Built upon this foundation we glory in his Name, and shed forth his glory before the world, and do signs in his name and power which continue the witness to his glory and majesty through us, that the world may believe that Christ is the Savior.

The New Commandment (Revised)

This post has been slightly revised for emphasis in the last three paragraphs.

I grew up dispensational, being taught Dispensationalism by Hal Lindsey while he was assistant pastor of Berachah Church, Houston TX, a long time ago, before he wrote books or became famous.

Much later, along about 1982, I think, through hearing teaching and doing some reading, I saw that the Dispensational approach was not in full accord with the Scripture.  But, rather than trying to find a substitute for Dispensationalism, I decided to withdraw from detailed study of eschatology, and simply to hold the "catholic" position that Christ is coming again, bodily, for the Day of Judgment, at which point we will be resurrected bodily to enjoy eternal fellowship with him.  In other words, I gave up direct study of eschatology, and gave my attention to other topics.

This benign neglect of curious detail worked until 2005.

At that point we joined a church with a strongly postmillennial cast, and so I began to hear about this approach first-hand, being immersed in both the doctrine and the practice of the church.  I did not know that this experience was also set to be a lesson in eschatology!

Even now I do not know to what extent the functioning of the internal, mutual ministry of the church is influenced by what appears to me to be the reigning postmillennial eschatological doctrinal position.  So, perhaps this exercise is simply a learning experience for me.  It is certainly the case that Our Lord has decreed that I will now learn some eschatology! 

Now, my main interest is not an abstract investigation of millennial types.  My main interest concerns the effect eschatology has on the spiritual life of the church. 

This investigation, in turn, takes place amidst my personal redemptive-historical theological view which regards the New Testament scriptures to contain the preeminent hermeneutic for interpreting all of Scripture -- both Old Testament and New.  Therefore, all the unfulfilled, and yet to be fulfilled, eschatology of the Old Testament, as well as the New, is interpreted and explicated according to the norms of the New Testament writers.  The New Testament is never transcended throughout the age.  It is not a standard of ecclesiology and Christian ethic suited only for the childhood and youth of the church, but is also supremely suited for her maturity.

Now, the New Testament carries within it themes of triumph, themes of conflict, themes of judgment, themes of love for the world, and themes of separation from the world.  All these themes need to be well-balanced and Scriptural in the life of the church.

Now, we know that the church is both separated from the world and in the world, just as the individual Christians are.  We are in the world but not of the world.  Furthermore, my reigning concern on this topic is that the mutual love shown in the internal fellowship of the church, in separation from the world, is (along with gospel preaching) the visible testimony to the world that Christ has come.

Another way to put this is to say that the redeemed humanity, the visible church, is a new, gospel-preaching and gospel-acting culture, a counter-culture to the world, which testifies in the world and to the world what is the nature of the inner life of the New Humanity, and that this testimony of the true inner life of the New Humanity is the testimony to the world that Christ is the Savior.

Jesus said, in the Upper Room, after Judas had gone out (John 13:31ff):

So, when he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We are probably so used to reading about the New Commandment that we hardly grasp the astounding significance of Jesus saying this:  He's exceeding Moses (not that Moses would ever disagree with what Jesus is saying).  John, of course, was lying back toward Jesus while they were reclining at the Table and marked this saying well.  Even the testimony of the Apostolic Fathers about John's deportment as he was carried to church in a chair in his old age was that he was continually exhorting them to "Love one another."  This is not some kind of mushy, gooshy emotionalism, but John's recollection and re-anouncement of the New Commandment, which he obviously regarded as the real guiding principle of the New Covenant:  In the quote from the gospel given above, "Love one another" is repeated three times!

Therefore, a scriptural eschatology, regardless of the positioning of the "millennium," and regardless of how much the Kingdom of God is fulfilled in this present age, must teach us how to execute the New Commandment!  The Church must know, or come to know, what real Christian love for one another actually is, and must live it in Christian community.

But, there is a problem.  There appears to be no time for the cultivation of deeper Christian friendship and mutual ministry amidst urban busy-ness and the accompanying idolatry-of-good-things.

It may also be so hard to see the need because the upper-middle class church is materially "rich and in need of nothing," even though spiritual poverty is actually widespread (Rev 3:14ff).

Might it also be, to some degree, a defect in eschatology?  Can an eschatology and vision of individual and church "world-engagement" be a detriment to the inner social life of faith, apart from the world?

This World, or the Next?

It's worth making it a primary consideration in one's Christianity, whether the emphasis is going to be on this world (age), or the next world (age).  Is the Kingdom coming in this age in such a manner that our focus can be on its progress in this age, that is, do we believe that the Kingdom of God will be manifest in this age so strongly that the Final End is more or less the "icing on the cake," rather than a catastrophic revolution bringing in the resurrection state?

If the Kingdom comes gradually and fully, then our hope, though sourced in heaven, certainly lies in the progress of this age.  If the Kingdom comes catastrophically, then our hope is both sourced in heaven, and lies in heaven.  In other words, does heaven come to earth gradually, so that we focus on its coming in this age?  Or, does heaven come to earth catastrophically, so that we focus on the age to come?

It easy to see that I've phrased this question in terms that speak straight from the New Testament about catastrophe.  It's vital that we view the New Testament revelation as the reigning Kingdom Hermeneutic, or we will not have the proper focus on the nature of the Church and our relationship to the World.

If the Kingdom fully comes gradually in this age, then our focus IS on the world.  The ultimate correspondence of the Church and the World is expected.  However, if the Kingdom comes catastrophically, then our focus is on the Age to Come.  Then, a spiritual "separation" is maintained between the Body of Christ and the current Age (world).

The path of union with the world, even the neo-Kuyperian concept of the Organism of the Church permeating the world, while the Institution of the Church is limited to its own sphere, is contrary to the eschatology (as well as the ecclesiology) of the New Testament.  Common grace displaces special grace.  We will be "orthodox" liberals, will lose our "separation" from the world, will lose our spiritual fellowship with one another, will lose our morals, and will finally lose our doctrine. 

But, the Scriptures are plain.  All men are either sons of the devil or sons of God (1 John).  Light and darkness do not comport with one another.  God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  There is a harvest, in which the wheat come to fruition is kept as the King's Harvest, but the chaff and tares are thrown into the unquenchable fire!  Therefore, the spiritual antithesis between the Body of Christ and the "world" cannot end until the Day of Judgment.

To lose our "separation" from the world by a wrong eschatology will be (and has been, in history) the ruin of the church.  The wrong kind of postmillennialism can be heresy!  We must not go there!

Christian Suffering, Spirituality and Eschatology (revised 5/28)

This is the first post of what may be an occasional series of posts on the interrelationship of Christian Suffering and Eschatology.  

The basic thesis of these posts, which I will try to support over time, is this:  The age-long continuance of Christian Suffering is such a significant emphasis in the New Testament, that a view of the progress of this age which sees a gradual end to suffering by the time of the Second Coming of Christ must be an eschatology which is seriously at odds with the New Testament.

A few points are:

1)  The general cast of the New Testament is opposed to gradual entrance of conditions of such spiritual and experiential peace and plenty such that the transition to the eternal state is not catastrophic.  Put another way, the eternal state does not come by a process of development, or spiritual evolution, in either extent or quality.  I do not deny by this that the current age has a path of spiritual development, and that that development tends to the sharpness of the distinction between good and evil, nor do I deny that the preponderance of Christianity, and its effects, increases.

2)  The experimental suffering which is put forth as the norm in the Bible as a whole, and especially in the New Testament, must be the experience of all believers in this age, until the end of the age.  The maintenance of Christian spirituality depends on this.  Therefore, a view of the end of the age in which spiritual conditions approach conditions in the Eternal State is inimical to the New Testament vision of the spiritual value of the suffering that characterizes the present age.

3)  The whole Bible narrative of the believers' experience shows that an easy life is spiritually harmful to those still in the un-resurrected flesh.  Our fidelity to God is only guaranteed through spiritual struggle.  Christ, the perfect man, learned obedience through suffering.

4)  The spiritual purity and "separation" of the church from the world, so important in the text of the New Testament, is at stake.  The only way to maintain our testimony and actually have an effect on the world is to maintain this separation.  The liberal churches have simply identified their eschatology with popular political and social progressivism in all its methods and results, and thereby demonstrate the result of this kind of "postmillennialism."  A theonomic replacement of the world's carnal "law" with God's Law will not fix this problem, because the problem is spiritual in a way which transcends "law."  The Church is a New Creation, not simply a renovation of the Original Creation.

5)  Finally, the "proof-texts" for the evolution of gradual spiritual perfection do not support this picture.  Any sustained argument built up from the full revelation of the New Testament will show the continuing threat of apostasy -- even a final apostasy, and the spiritual warfare between the wheat and the tares will not end until the harvest.

Good and evil will "come to a point" at the harvest at the end of the age in such a manner that Christian suffering will remain the Christian lifestyle until the end of the age.  Our hope is in the Eternal State, not some near-perfect manifestation of God's Kingdom before that time.  To focus attention and hope on the pre-Eternal State as capable of containing the near-full manifestation of God's Kingdom is to lose the eschatological vision, and potentially to fall into the trap of worldliness which is condemned in the New Testament.

Our expectations in this age must be properly focused, lest the spirituality and separation of the Church from the World be lost.  If the spirituality and separation of the Church is lost through some kind of "gospel reductionism," and if the central focus of the hope of fulfillment in an Eschaton which transcends the current aeon and its ways of life is lost, the result will just be "liberalism" again.

The Second Man and the New Creation

In Christ the Old Creation died,
     undeliverable by the Law, and crucified for sin.

In Christ the New Creation rose to life, 
     where sin reigns no more.

The world we see with the eye of flesh does not know this, but, thanks be to God, the mystery of Christ has been revealed to us by the Spirit.  The Christ and the New Creation which we now see only with the eyes of faith we shall see with our own eyes when he comes again.  We shall see and touch the Lord Jesus whom we love through the Spirit!

Glory be to God, and to Christ the Lamb of God, who will raise us from the dead!

Come, Lord Jesus!

Glory and Anti-Glory

We think too much in worldly terms concerning glory -- and other things, too.

1)  Paul is clear in 1 Cor 1 that it is God's intention to shame the worldly powers in all their greatness by means of those who are weak and shameful in the eyes of the world.  The world has one idea of what power and glory are, and the church has another, opposite idea.  From our standpoint, the world's power and glory are vain, but our power is glorious, because we know and are empowered in all our weakness by God the Lord.  The world, on the other hand, is empowered in all its strength by that fallen angel doomed to the Lake of Fire.

2)  Think about Christ's suffering.  He was doomed by the world, and the Prince of this World, to shameful death on the Cross.  Yet, from the standpoint of faith, our Lord on the cross reigned as from a throne!

3)  Think about our sufferings as we follow in the footsteps of Christ.  The world thinks that our hope in Christ in the age to come dooms us to lack of self-fulfillment in this age.  From our perspective, any hope of self-fulfillment in this age is futile.  The only real hope of any fulfillment lies in the age to come.

4)  The world thinks that disease and difficulty, and eventually death, are evils to be avoided at all costs.  Suffering, while occasionally seen by the world as heroic, is really looked upon as an unmitigated evil.  From our perspective, we learn obedience through suffering.  Our character is built through suffering.  In suffering we give thanks, and testify to the grace of God, because we know that we will be rewarded with eternal rewards for spiritual endurance through suffering.

These instances could be multiplied.  In every case the world's conception is opposite to ours.  What is glorious to the world is hateful to us.  What is glorious to us is hateful to the world.  The world fears the world to come, because they know they will get what they deserve.  We long for the world to come, where we will receive as a gift the full inheritance of all that God has to give.  It will be a day of fulfillment and glory, in the only world that matters, and our lives are now filled with joy and anticipation as we wait for it by faith.

Paul said that he was crucified to the world (in Christ), and that the world was crucified (subjected to capital punishment) with respect to him.  The Cross is the great separator that crucifies the relationship between this age and the one to come.

Christ was made sin for us, taking away our sins on the cross, and triumphing over death for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him by faith.

Therefore, believe and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord!  Receive the Spirit of God who wages war against sin within us, and who fills us with all joy!  That Spirit is himself God's own down-payment to us from the inheritance we are destined to receive in the Age to Come!

Let There Be Light!

"Let there be light!"
     The world was made!
     Adam, murderer, killed it.

"It is finished!"
     A New World made!
     Jesus, Savior, Victor!

"Let there be light!"
     Souls alight!
     Made again in resurrection,
     Unfallen and infallible,
     Sprung new from His creating hands!

     No more death, no more sin,
     No more cursing Law!

     Alive to God, forevermore!