Each Person of the Trinity is a
distinct personality, and although they’re one in essence, they each have a
different part to play in our salvation. Yesterday we looked at what the Father
did in eternity past: He chose us in his Son in accordance with his pleasure
and will to be holy, blameless, and adopted. Today we’re going to examine what
this glorious passage has to say about the Son’s and the Spirit’s part in all
this.
The Father sent the Son to earth,
and everything the Son did was in full conformity to the Father’s will and in
the full authority of the One who sent him. The Gospel according to John in
particular focuses
on this truth: Jesus even went so far as to say
“I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
So the Son’s main purpose on earth,
at rock bottom, was to fulfill his Father’s plan and will. The Son loves us
with an everlasting love, but that’s not the #1 reason why he came and died.
The Father planned out how we were going to be saved, chose to set his love
upon us, and (in some sense) planned out each person’s individual salvation--If
you have a problem with that last part, I have to point you to Romans
8:29-30. But every aspect of the Father’s plan for us was carried out by
the Son—“his good pleasure was “purposed in Christ” (vs. 8). All of the
blessings of God are mediated down to us through the Son. The Father’s grace
was given to us through Christ (vs. 6).
And of course the really hard part
was “redemption.” The English word “redemption” means to “buy back” something
or someone. To buy something means a price has to be paid. In this case, that
price was the very blood of Christ (vs. 7). This enabled the Father to forgive
us once and for all and forever.
That brings us to the Spirit’s part
in all this. The Father sent the Son, and the Son said that when he returned to
the Father, both the Father and he (Jesus) would
send the Spirit to back to us. Among the many works the Spirit does is that he marks us with a seal. According to MacArthur, “The sealing of which
Paul speaks refers to an official mark of identification placed on a letter,
contract, or other document. That document was thereby officially under the authority
of the person whose stamp was on the seal. Four primary truths are signified by
the seal: 1) security (cf. Da
6:17; Mt 27:62-66); 2) authenticity (cf. 1Ki
21:6-16); 3) ownership (cf. Jer.
32:10); and 4) authority (cf. Esther
8:8-12). The Holy Spirit is given by God as His pledge of the believer's
future inheritance in glory (cf. 2
Cor. 1:21).”
There’s one more aspect of this that
we need to consider here, namely the end of all this. What’s the “end game”
here? It’s both complex and simple at the same time: “to bring unity to all
things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” Everything and everyone in heaven
and on earth will be brought to unity under Christ’s feet. In a sense, the
Father has already
placed all things under his feet, but all the universe will one day get to see
it up close and personal. One day every individual person (angel, demon or
human) who’s ever existed will
bow the knee at the name of Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord of all, to the
glory of God the Father. Paul’s phrase in vs.10 which is translated in the NIV as
“unity. . .under” was often used as an accounting term, referring to adding up
a column of figures, similar to a bank ledger or a check book register. In
life, things often don’t “add up,” so to speak. We see chaos and injustice and
lots of things which make no sense. But there will come a day when that won’t
be true any longer. Everything and everyone will be united in submission to the
Son, who will then hand
it all over to the Father.
So it all started with the Father,
and it all comes round full circle back to him. And what’s my part in all this?
Once again, my raison d'être is to glorify
and honor and bring praise to my Savior God. But the more I understand about my
salvation, the better I can do this.
There’s plenty to mediate upon today. Pick some glorious truth we talked about, and focus your thoughts on that for a while. Thank and praise him for it.
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