majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:5,
"By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for
which we hope."
As Paul makes his point that attempts to be justified by keeping the
law are antithetical to being justified by faith, he observes that
those who are of faith await the "righteousness for which we hope." As
I think of this righteousness, I think of a whole new paradigm in our
relationship with God. This will be fulfilled in its entirety in the
resurrection, which is why Paul calls it that "for which we hope."
Before time began God had determined that, after he created mankind
with a free will and knowing what would eventually take place in the
Garden of Eden with the fall of man, he would redeem man though Jesus
Christ. This redemption brings an eternity we will live with God
himself, in his very presence. From that perspective of before time
began, God decided that it would be within the nature of that
redemption that we would live with him, not as "black sheep" of the
family, those family members with a sordid past, but that we would
have a standing of righteousness before him.
As Paul puts it in Ephesians 1:4, "He chose us in him before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." Imagine
that! Our standing before our holy and righteous God will be one of
holiness and blamelessness! No whispering behind closed doors of what
so-and-so did during his earthly life. No second-rate citizenship or
second-rate family member-hood for us in the resurrection! Indeed,
when we show in the resurrection it will be as Jude puts it in his
beautiful doxology, Jude 24, "To him who is able to keep you from
falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault
and with great joy..." Without fault! We will have the very
righteousness of Jesus Christ himself!
In our world things don't work this way. Forgiveness can be a
struggle, and where forgiveness has been extended, there often remains
a reservation about the culprit. The stain of wrong doing may be paid
for, forgiven or dealt with in some way, but removing that "black
mark" is another matter. Not for us in the kingdom of heaven! We will
enjoy a righteousness - a right standing before our God and everyone
else!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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