Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

Because He was willing: Victory!

He did what I could not do. He did what no one else was willing AND worthy to do. The King left His throne in Heaven where He was loved and adored. He took on the form of a servant in a world where He was despised and rejected, condemned to a painful criminal’s death. Only His love for us drove Him on through His Passion, the suffering, the cross, and separation from the Father.

The angels now cry “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” They watched His entire journey from the beginning and now praise Him in awe, as the Father has exalted Him to the Highest Place. One day all creatures will see what all Heaven sees, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. His unfailing love expressed in His blood and the nail prints in His hands and feet. Wow! What kind of love is this, that the Father has lavished on us, that we should share an inheritance with Christ Jesus and be called the children of God.

Persons of the Trinity: Each Refers to/Defers to the Other

Sorry, I couldn’t find a picture of the Trinity.

The Trinity is one of many mysteries that no one is ever going to understand fully, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t meditate on it. Three-in-One. One God in Three Persons. Co-equal, co-substantial, and yet each Member plays a slightly different role. There is really nothing to compare it to, and even when we do–like to a triangle or the ice/water/vapor illustration–the comparison is always woefully inadequate.

Trying to understand the Trinity is like trying to fathom infinity and eternity. How big is God? How long has He been around? Forget it. “His greatness no one can fathom” (Psalm 96:4). Every time I try to take it all in, I just get confused, frustrated. We cannot wrap our finite minds around it.

But as I read scriptural references to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, I do see this odd “otherness.” God sent the Word via the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s purpose is to exalt the Son. The Son honors the Father, but the Father gives all authority to the Son. Each member of the Trinity seems to refer to or in some way defer to another Member of the Trinity, the “other.”

“Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Well, it sounds like the inhabitants of Heaven will be doing the same: Deferring to each other, referring to each other. Our attention, the attention of angels, the attention of the Trinity all are focused on lifting up and ministering to “others.” We will minister to God in praise. He will minister to us in love. We will minister to and love each other. Don’t ask me to describe exactly what that looks like, but I think that it sounds like love. A place where all serve and humbly submit to each other. It’s not all about me. It’s about them. It’s about us. In our separateness, uniqueness, and individuality we will all be bound together in perfect love.

The Father’s Extravagant Heart

Smelled like a pig sty? It never says he took a bath before going home.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and  felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.”  Luke 15:20

Years ago, while in Korea, I read the Buddhist version of this story. In it, the son returns and the father watches his son work as a servant to see if he has learned his lesson and if he is worthy to be restored to sonship. Well, that does seem fair and reasonable, but the Kingdom of our God is about extravagant grace from an extravagant Father.

The son in Jesus’s parable was no doubt dirty, smelly, in rags, truly a pitiful sight, helpless and beaten by his bad choices, a real loser. Yet he came, armed with a confession of guilt ready to humble himself and work for his  keep. The son deserved stern treatment, rejection, punishment of some kind. The father might have made him grovel, beg, plead, work his way slowly back into the father’s favor as in the Buddhist version.  This father gives us a glimpse of the tender heart of God for those who came to Him by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

“I am no longer worthy to be called your Son. But, the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.”  Luke 15:21‑22

The Father heard the son’s statement.  He did not need to be told that the son no longer deserved sonship.  The Father heard the statement and ignored it.  Loving grace, not merit, rules in our Heavenly Father’s house. So the wretch was restored and given a robe as a covering and a ring of authority over the father’s house. That’s not fair. That’s grace. That’s a glimpse of who God is

God ran?