Being in Christ means that we’ve been given a whole new definition of “work.” Work is no longer a thing we have to do to pay the bills. Instead, we have this new category, “good works” which are to fill up our whole life.
In Christ, us Gentiles have been given full citizenship in the kingdom of God. We’ve been fully adopted into the family. We are full members of the people of God.
If anyone is in Christ, He is already a part of that New Creation. The old has already passed away. What God is one day going to do for all Creation, He has already done for us.
Jesus, being fully God and fully man, is the only person who can be the main character of the Bible. He does what men should have done but failed to do, and He does what only God can do. From first to last, He holds the centre stage.
When the Word became flesh, Jesus replaced the temple. He became the way in which God dwelt with His people. Not in a building, but in a person.
Each of us will have opportunities this week to submit to the loving rule of the Son of David. And as we do that, we look forward to the day when His enemies are put under His feet, and He reigns from sea to sea with no opposition.
There’s a notion that in the Old Covenant, they had sacrifices, while in the New Covenant, we don’t have sacrifices. That’s not really true. In the New Covenant, we had one sacrifice, and that sacrifice was enough for everybody, forever.
"He comes to make His blessings known far as the curse is found."
Satan reached out to strike at Jesus, but in so doing he was destroyed. He bruised the heel of Jesus, but in that very action, the bruised heel of Christ crushed his own head.
Everywhere Adam failed, Jesus succeeded, and became the father of the new, true humanity.
In Jesus, all the promises of God are Yes and Amen. He is the is long-awaited One, and in Him the kingdom of God had arrived.
The exile proves that there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. All that's left is to wait for God to keep His promises; wait for the Son of David to come for us. "Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel."