IN THE FIRST PLACE

And without doubt great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh... – 1Ti 3:16.

Have you ever wondered why the Bible makes a big deal about Jesus’ miracles? I mean, after all, He is God Almighty, isn’t He?

He’s the Creator of Heaven and Earth: from the super-galactic to the sub-atomic, the corporeal to the spiritual, from grains of sand to the sands of time... “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” (Jn 1:3)

When you consider these things, you realise that the issue is not that He cursed the fig tree, but that He stooped so low to speak to it. The mystery isn’t that He walked on water but that the Holy Writ considers such triviality worth recording. Indeed, the big deal isn’t that He rose from the dead, but that God could die at all, IN THE FIRST PLACE!

* Unable to handle the shame of the Cross, the Sun, scandalised, hid its face for 3 hours, (Lk 23:45).

* Death, panicking at the prospect of LIFE Himself bowing to it, lost grip of the souls that had been in its care and graves began to burst open (Mt 27:52).

* At the wedding at Cana, when the jars were uncovered, Water realised it was its Maker looking down at it at such close range – and blushed!

If we speedily read through the life of the man Jesus in the Gospels and miss the incredulity of it all, we will miss a vital revelation of the Incarnation.

The whole point of God coming down to Earth in human flesh is to take YOUR place! That is why it’s a big deal that He walked on water, that’s why it’s newsworthy that He could heal the sick, and yes, that is the only reason why the episode at the Cross makes sense.

For since we have become one with Him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with Him by being raised to life as he was. (Rom 6:5 GNB).

Buried with Him in baptism, in which also you are risen with Him... And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (Col 2:12,13)

Therefore, by the wisdom of “the operation of God” (Col 2:12), whatever Jesus did, was done as YOU. You were right there in and with Him. He did it all, FOR YOUR SAKE.

Take a few moments to thank Him today.

AMEN!

GREG ELKAN