Psalms 98 and 66; Jeremiah 30:10-17; Luke 6:12-26; Colossians 1:15-23
It bewilders me to consider that as I put my hope and faith in Jesus who died on the cross to save me, to remember that Jesus is God - that it is God who saves. Jesus and God are not separate beings, at cross purposes, or in conflict. God is not bad, Jesus good. God is consistent in how God deals with sin and restores and reconciles. The God who creates and reigns and judges and punishes is the God who saves us from our enemies, and from ourselves, from death. The God of Israel is the God of the cross, who was raised from the dead. The prologue to John's gospel (John 1:1-3) and now Colossians affirm this: 19For in [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
The way I see it, God intended peace and intimate relationship with God and creation since creation. Peace with the earth, with each other, with God. So God's created intent was to create a way from the beginning - that way is Jesus, the cross and the resurrection. It took a long time for God's people to find God, to trust God. Perhaps God knew it would, since God created us with wills to wander. Scripture tells us Jesus was there through it all, the Savior-Son-ManGod. When the enemies of God came against Israel, and when Israel turned away from God; when our wounds were grievous and we were "hostile to God," Jesus was there with and as God. Says the Lord in Jeremiah, 11For I am with you, says the LORD, to save you; I will make an end of all the nations among which I scattered you, but of you I will not make an end. I will chastise you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. With us from the beginning was truth, justice and grace, mercy and wrath, protection and discipline, all in the One true God.
As I come close to Jesus in prayer, and if I pray like Jesus, deeply - as he prayed all night long, I hear him call my name. And he draws me to God. And he tells me not to fear, even though God's character is both to save and to judge. On this side of heaven, I am still puzzled by the mystery of the Trinity - of Jesus being God, however distinct in time and economy - yet one.
This I know, God's ways are Jesus' ways, and vice verse. God's will for our lives is still relevant and necessary for us today and is manifest in Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit may we have ears to hear, and hearts to follow, minds to obey, and wills to trust to accept what God has for us, in Christ. Says Paul, 21And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— 23provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.
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Since we are prisoners of a few dimensions and God is multi-dimensional, we can only glimpse of His greatness. He can be in two places at one time and can be 3 beings at one time. We just don't have the understanding or comprehension to get past the question - How are Jesus and God one? Because it is faith that saves us, these mysteries help focus our attention to the one Creator/Savior.
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