By Richard Brewster, Anastasis
Scripture Reference:
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8).
Devotional:
When Jesus was here on earth, He came as fully man and fully God, as Paul writes in Colossians 1:19, “…God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” He appeared on earth as a man and was condemned and killed as such. But from the heavenly prospective, it was God in all His glory that died on the cross that day!
As Malcolm Boyd says in To Enjoy Him Forever, “Jesus is…our perfectly beautiful One…our altogether lovely One.” And we know that He is the essence of purity and holiness! The hymn writer tells us that He is, “The lily of the valley, the bright morning star, the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.” David, in Psalm 27:4, says, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.” Also Psalm 50:2 states, “From Zion, perfect in beauty, God…shines forth.”
So we can understand that when, in eternity, we come face to face with that One, we will see the most beautiful Being! As Paul explains at the end of 1 Corinthians 13:12, “Then we shall see face to face…then I shall know fully.”
But then we shall know that it was this altogether lovely One who was tortured and killed to atone for our sins! So now, instead of the man Jesus, picture the Calvary scene with that Being of absolute beauty, holiness, and purity, suffering and dying on the cross. Now we can’t look. It is too horrible!!
And yet, He will carry His scars through all eternity and this will be a reminder of what our sins have done. But, in a now unfathomable manner, these scars will enhance the beauty of our Lord. Praise His holy name!
Prayer Points:
* Pray that God will reveal His beauty to our souls.
* Pray that we will understand the price that Christ has paid to atone for our sins.
* Pray that God will increase our love for Him.
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