AS I said last time, this next to last chapter in our study is an excellent summary of all that we have studied. Miles’ opening words say it best,
It should be evident by now that the truths we have been studying are interrelated, and interdependent. Together, they form a single unit of truth—centered in the cross and our risen Lord. Their express purpose is to conform us to the image of God’s Son.
WE are not going to moving quickly through this chapter. If you have the book, you ought to read the chapter in its’ entirety, but we will look at what is here piece by piece. There is one point however, I want to make before we enter in to our reading. I’ve made this point before, but it warrants repeating. Redemption is not just looking to the future, our acceptance and final entrance into the presence of the Lord, but it is a now deliverance as well. We have been deliver not only from sins condemnation and defiling stain, but from its present power as well as we walk by faith, reckoning upon this gospel truth daily so that sin would have no dominion over us. (Rom. 6) We possess a “so great salvation” that is complete, without lack in anyway. With that reminder, I want to share something that surfaced in my daily devotional reading from J. R. Miller.
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care . . . Even angels long to look into these things!” 1 Peter 1:10- 12
Both earth and heaven are intensely interested in the great redeeming work of Christ. There are wise men who are so busy in their researches into little earthly matters, that they cannot get time to study the things of the spiritual kingdom of God. But nothing in this world so merits the thought, study, and research of the wisest beings in the universe—as Christ’s work of redemption.
The interest of the angels in Christ’s suffering as the Redeemer, is very beautiful. There is a picture by Domenichino which represents the scene on Calvary, after the Savior’s body had been taken down and laid in the grave. The cross is empty. An angel stands beside the crown of thorns which lies there, feeling with the tip of his finger, one of its sharp points. His face wears a look of wonder. He is trying to find out the meaning of suffering—but he cannot understand it nor fathom its depth.
The artist’s thought is, that to this angel the sufferings of Christ were a great mystery which he was trying to comprehend. The same thought is suggested in the words, “even angels long to look into these things!” Surely it is worth while to give thought and attention to the wonderful things of Christ’s redemption, since even the angels find in them mystery worthy of their deepest study.
INDEED, it is very worth while – beyond measure, even – to give thought and attention to the wonderful things of Christ’s redemption.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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Chapter 53—Results of Reckoning – Part 2
“Reckon ye also yourselves to be … alive unto God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11, ASV). The foremost reason for reckoning ourselves to be in the glorified Lord is that His risen life may be manifested. Although our “life is hid with Christ in God,” His life is not meant to be hid in us!
The wonderful fact about this reckoning is that out of our being “alway delivered unto death,” out of our “being made conformable unto His death,” His resurrection life emerges. As long as we are in this unredeemed body, which is vulnerable to temptation and prone to sin, we are going to have to count upon the crucifixion of the cross to deal continually with the Adamic life within. But the very things that crucify provide the daily death from which our new life in Christ is revealed. The more death, the more life! “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11). The continuity of manifestation has its source in our continual conformity to His death.
The Continuity of Life Out of Death
“So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:12). This is the cumulative result of our life-out-of-death reckoning. What is the essential characteristic of the Lord Jesus that is to be manifested in us? It is the sacrificial quality of being poured out for others. …. To be continue.
