Epiphany- Day 30
Psalms 91 TNIV
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
They say of the LORD,
“He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
“Because they love me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue them;
I will protect them, for they acknowledge my name.
They will call on me, and I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will deliver them and honor them.
With long life I will satisfy them
and show them my salvation.”
Colossians 1:13-20 The Message
God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating. We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
CONSIDER THIS. . . .
“We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen.” Jesus said it even more plainly, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” When my Sam was younger anytime we passed by a picture or statute of Jesus I would ask him, “Sam, who is that?” His reply always came instantly, “That’s God.” He didn’t say “Jesus” or “God’s Son” or “the second person of the Trinity.” He said it plainly, “That’s God.” It’s not, “God and Jesus” as is commonly spoken. God is Jesus.
And isn’t that Paul’s point? Jesus is God. It is so easy to develop a general sense of “God” these days when our need is to see God in all his specificity and gloriously unconventional detail. Want to see God? Look at Jesus. Jesus is exactly what God is like not because he was sent to us to be a “good example,” but because he is God. Say it aloud, “Jesus is God.” Write it down, “Jesus is God.” On the surface this may seem obvious to you; however, the bigger epiphanies await to awaken us just below the surface. Jesus is God. He really is. It’s why we “fix our eyes” on him. He is the ever unfolding icon of our vision. (jdw)