See in today's reading how God himself will raise up a shepherd who will gather his scattered flock and will shepherd and feed them. We have to ask ourselves what flock this is that God is gathering? What is it that belongs to God? Our final answer? Everything. Everyone and everything belongs to God. It is all his creation, he is the one who sustains everything and provides for everything. It all belongs to God. What does this mean, then, that God will gather his flock and feed them? It means that sustenance, eternal sustenance, life without need and without deprivation, eternal life without suffering, life of plenty is available for everyone on the planet. It all belongs to God. He is raising up a shepherd who is not going to go around willy nilly deciding that some of God's sheep are no longer his sheep.
In three sentences Paul sums this up in Romans 3. Look at it here in the English Standard Version. "For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Who has sinned? Everyone. Who is justified by God's grace as a gift? The same antecedent, "all." Jesus Christ has paid for the sins of everybody everywhere in all times. End of story. But it isn't the end of the story. Just like the sheep of a shepherd can starve themselves, just like they can run away from the flock, just like they can eat or drink things which poison them, the Lord who has gathered us and feeds us requires us to stay with his flock and eat and drink what he has given us. We receive this forgiveness, this mercy, this provision by faith. We take God at his word and trust what he has said. We are then in perfect safety, eternally. We have all we need as we receive his provision by faith. But when we try to earn our salvation, when we go to work for our food, when we say the food the Lord has given us is not good and we want some other food of our own devising, we bolt from the flock and leave the place of safety God has provided us.
Let us all, man, woman, and child from every nation, look to the Lord who has redeemed the world in faith. As many as have sinned "are justified by his grace as a gift." And that justification is received by faith, which is another provision we can receive from our Lord.
Lord, grant us to believe today.
No comments:
Post a Comment