God’s Response: Jesus

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” —Hebrews 1:1-4 (NKJV)

For those of us who know what is like to have grown up being the difficult one what was the response of your parental units when you disobeyed their commands? Did you have the kinda parents who gently took you aside, waved their finger into your face as they scolded you and then went, “Now, do you understand me?” Or did you, like me, have the kinda parents that went crazy ape bonkers in front of everybody, grabbed the first available appendage they could get their hands on, then would slap your back side while they repeatedly said, “Don’t you ever do that again. Do you understand me”?

Now, in both cases, I’m not too sure about the understanding them part. I had no problem going back to the very thing that got my tail slapped around so I never understood what the fuss was all about in the first place. And I’m not too sure about that finger waving stuff either, I was never one for empty threats (guess that’s what made me difficult to deal with). Never the less, in both cases, there was a response for disobeying the parental units. However, now-a-days there’s safe spaces and months long seminars for parents to attend when it comes to dealing with the difficult child. Kinda makes ya wonder how the God of the Universe responded with His first two kids when they disobeyed His command and got, got.

Even in the bigger scheme of it all, how does God respond to the disobedience of an entire world where no one seeks after Him or His righteousness? Well to borrow a few words from Paul Tripp, “God’s response to the sin of people against His rightful and holy rule can be captured in a single word. I wonder if you thought, “I know the word: grace.” But the single word that captures God’s response to sin even better than the word grace is not a theological word; it’s a name. that name is Jesus.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” — John 1:1-5

I always hammer away at the beginning of mankind’s story but within the mess there was given a redemptive twist. God gave an example on how that was gonna look when He first scolded His children, cursed the adversary then took an animal outta the Garden (that Adam was supposed to in charge of) and knowing how God can be about what can or can not get sacrificed, you know He picked the bestest animal and covered His children. Maybe that animal was an unblemished lamb? We’re told to put on Jesus first thing in the morning, ain’t nothing wrong with some fresh wool to start the day. Who’s to say for or against such a thinganyway, besides, Jesus is at the foundations of the Creation moment that we all agree on so what’s not in the Word isn’t in it.

But isn’t the grace of God Jesus also? Who is willing to surrender their only son to cover for the sin of world? Granted, we can read in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13) but those letters are in red so it’s Jesus sayin’em and He isn’t just sayin’em either. Au Contrarie’, He’ll go out into the world with His starting point in a lowly place only to be raised up on a criminal cross 33 years later. God is so all sufficient that El Shaddai says redemption starts in a lowly place. Who’d thunk that?

So, how does the Advent season begin? Well, it starts with Jesus and here’s a spoiler alert, it’ll end with Jesus as well. In His sovereignty and in His power He’ll take grace and wrap it up in a bundle of joy named Jesus Christ. So, to borrow a final thought from Tripp, “This season, in the midst of all the celebrations and gift-giving, be careful to remember that at the center of what we celebrate is one game-changing, life-altering, hope-giving reality: grace is a person, and His name is Jesus.” Amen?

 

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a child of El Elyon, a son, husband, a father, has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net.

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This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.” Psalm 133:2