To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me. Colossians 1:29.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God remains forever. Isaiah 40:8.

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:1-3.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 32: Prefigures Christs’ once-for-all death. Leviticus 16:15-17: Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. And, Hebrews 9:7-14: But into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

I love reading Scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit as I walk with Him and with others who delight in learning about Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. All of our history of mankind including today is bound in the greatest story ever told. And Jesus, the Son, stepped right into the middle of our history still unfolding, not the end of our history, just as it was prophesied from the beginning. Jew and Gentile, children of God all, will one day be united in our love for the Father. Last night I thought about Jesus as He lived among us and His closeness with His Father, our Father. He wasn’t absorbed in the events in the Roman Empire. He wasn’t absorbed in the limited understanding of the religious leaders. He came for all of us. And our sin and His love met violently at the cross just as it was foretold. And then I thought about the disciples so confused and trying to understand teaching so different from what they had been taught and had been living. But when Jesus was resurrected to life and with them, every understanding changed and continued to change with the help of the Holy Spirit. As I’m rereading in Tom Wright’s book, What St Paul Really Said, Paul grasped that fully as he himself was confronted by the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. Can you imagine? His, Jesus’, resurrection to life proved to Paul that He, Jesus, was the Messiah promised by God to Israel and not just to Israel, but to all the world as promised in God’s covenant with Abraham. That’s why Paul labored, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully worked in him. He was bringing the gospel message, so much bigger than just any individual being “saved”. The good news of the Kingdom of God. I love this excerpt from Wright’s book: “Isaiah’s message was about Israel’s God becoming king – king of all the world, not just of Israel. Paul’s gospel was likewise a message about the one true God, the God of Israel, and His victory over all the world. In a passage that we have every reason to suppose Paul intended to be seminal both for his greatest letter – the passage stands right at its opening – and for his understanding of God, the gospel, Jesus, and his own vocation, we read: Paul, a servant of Messiah Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures – the gospel concerning His Son, who was descended from David’s seed according to the flesh, and marked out as God’s Son in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, through the resurrection of the dead, Jesus the Messiah our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations for the sake of His name…(Romans 1:1-5).” How can we not marvel as we contemplate this incredible love of Creator God? And as we turn to Him and walk with Him, His love flows naturally into our own lives turned to Him. And as we grow in trust in Him, His love begins its needed work in our own heart and mind, opening us to the love He has for us and all His children. That today is both scary and huge. And needed.