More of Matt's Musings

Saturday, April 11
At the Creation museum near Cincinnati, we ended with a video on “The Last Adam.” I was struck with what seems to be an obvious fact, but which perhaps had lurked rather cloudy in the back of my mind. We saw a video of Old Testament priests sacrificing a lamb to pay for sins. The real Lamb, though, was shown to be Christ.
Did the priests who offered lambs somehow have their sins forgiven because of their obedience to what God had commanded them, through faithful obedience to as much as God had chosen to reveal to them? Almost, correct, but not quite.
Did the blood of the lambs they sacrificed do ANYTHING at all to cleanse them from their sin? No, they did not. I am most confident that no blood from any animal could ever forgive sins. So why did they sacrifice? It was a picture of Jesus, a reminder, and nothing more. It was the blood of Jesus that paid for old testament people, too. And no, their obedience did not pay for their sins. Grace saves today, and then, through faith. Their obedience was the evidence of faith, as they walked in God’s offer, his deal, his covenant, his grace.

Sunday, April 12
Today the speaker spoke of “Jesus with skin.” What is the incarnation? Is it that God could put on flesh and walk the earth 2,000 years ago, or that he is incarnate today through the church? It is both. Do you find this as miraculous as I? They both are the incarnation – and they both are God’s answer to reach a lost and dying world – both are God at work in the everyday, in the physical realms of imperfect humanity. Jesus’ flesh was not deity, but it was controlled by the spirit of the Man, to do what he willed to perform with his physical body. Even so today, his church Is not the deity, but acts out what He wills. This is why Jesus will forever be the incarnation – God doing his will through His Body!