God's Righteousness
"But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been ashamed..." (Is. 50:17)
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel...." (Rom. 1:16-17).
The gavel drops. Echoes. We humans pass judgment. We question. Is God just?
The gospel shows God's righteousness. God's righteousness. Not the righteousness that he gives us (although it shows that too!), but his righteousness.
Exile.
Suffering.
Silence for 400 years.
Issues we still wrestle with as a society--Is God to blame for suffering? Is God still active in a world of typhoons and terrorism and atomic bombs? Personally, where is God? Have you abandoned me? Why are you silent? What about cancer? Chronic illness that isn't healed? Court cases that seem unjust and insurmountable? Decapacitating anxiety? Addictions that rule even though we are told that the power of sin is broken?
Is God faithful?
How does he relate to the world?
We are not ashamed, we are not put to shame, because the gospel reveals God's righteousness. After exile, suffering, and silence of the Old Testament and the intertestamental period, God breaks into the world in Jesus Christ. He is faithful, fulfilling all his promises. God is vindicated. We who put our hope in him are vindicated.
It is a grand concept, but what does it mean to me? My little story is caught up in the larger story. I am part of the gospel. You are part of the gospel. Our lives show the vindication of God in the blessings we now enjoy. Even when the cancer remains, the eternal hope we have is a vindication. The strength and perseverance he gives us to take one more step even when we think we cannot, to have a flicker of light in the face of crushing breaking darkness--this is vindication of God.
The world watches. The heavenlies watch (the divine council of Job, Eph. 3:10, the angels of 1 Peter).
The gavel drops, a crashing of joy and hope. We know, above all doubt now (although our doubts still come!), that God is faithful because of the gospel, because Christ stepped down into the world and fulfilled all the promises, reconciling God and man, conquering suffering. Each time we profess his name, each time we tell of the gospel, the gavel sounds again, resounding from our little lips to the people around us, the skeptics, the nations of the worlds, the angels in the heavens--the gavel rings, "God is just. God is faithful. God is good in Jesus Christ."
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel...." (Rom. 1:16-17).
The gavel drops. Echoes. We humans pass judgment. We question. Is God just?
The gospel shows God's righteousness. God's righteousness. Not the righteousness that he gives us (although it shows that too!), but his righteousness.
Exile.
Suffering.
Silence for 400 years.
Issues we still wrestle with as a society--Is God to blame for suffering? Is God still active in a world of typhoons and terrorism and atomic bombs? Personally, where is God? Have you abandoned me? Why are you silent? What about cancer? Chronic illness that isn't healed? Court cases that seem unjust and insurmountable? Decapacitating anxiety? Addictions that rule even though we are told that the power of sin is broken?
Is God faithful?
How does he relate to the world?
We are not ashamed, we are not put to shame, because the gospel reveals God's righteousness. After exile, suffering, and silence of the Old Testament and the intertestamental period, God breaks into the world in Jesus Christ. He is faithful, fulfilling all his promises. God is vindicated. We who put our hope in him are vindicated.
It is a grand concept, but what does it mean to me? My little story is caught up in the larger story. I am part of the gospel. You are part of the gospel. Our lives show the vindication of God in the blessings we now enjoy. Even when the cancer remains, the eternal hope we have is a vindication. The strength and perseverance he gives us to take one more step even when we think we cannot, to have a flicker of light in the face of crushing breaking darkness--this is vindication of God.
The world watches. The heavenlies watch (the divine council of Job, Eph. 3:10, the angels of 1 Peter).
The gavel drops, a crashing of joy and hope. We know, above all doubt now (although our doubts still come!), that God is faithful because of the gospel, because Christ stepped down into the world and fulfilled all the promises, reconciling God and man, conquering suffering. Each time we profess his name, each time we tell of the gospel, the gavel sounds again, resounding from our little lips to the people around us, the skeptics, the nations of the worlds, the angels in the heavens--the gavel rings, "God is just. God is faithful. God is good in Jesus Christ."
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