The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Wonderful Mercy, Wondrous Mystery"
"John speaks to the heart, affirming our Lord's marvelous and merciful motivation. Paul refers to the mind, acknowledging our Lord's marvel and miracle of method."
The Apostles John and Paul unite to bless us with a sublime illumination of mercy and mystery singularly found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (I Timothy 3:16).
John tells why our Heavenly Father sent His Son to take humanity upon Himself - He "so loved the world." Paul, however, acknowledges that we cannot know the how of such a seeming impossibility - "God was manifest in the flesh." John speaks to the heart, affirming our Lord's marvelous and merciful motivation. Paul refers to the mind, acknowledging our Lord's marvel and miracle of method.
God deems human hearts as precious to His heart despite the fact that "all we like sheep have gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). Such glory of grace is based on who He is as One whose character ever flows with devotion to others (I Corinthians 13:5). The better we know our Lord, the more we realize He could not and would not act in any other way than to sacrifice Himself for our redemption and eternal benefit. "The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalm 145:9).
Paul, conversely, declares the incarnation of the Lord Jesus as an inarguable "mystery of godliness." How does the Infinite become finite, while remaining infinite? How does the Eternal enter into time without forfeiting His "from everlasting to everlasting" being? (Psalm 90:2). Paul and other writers of Scripture proclaim the mystery, but never attempt to offer explanation for the inexplicable. It is enough to know that the Lord Jesus is the God who became man, and the man who remains God. Theologians sometimes refer to this as "the hypostatic union." This always elicits a chuckle, as if some fancy, academic terminology can somehow describe the indescribable (no offense intended). No less than Paul acknowledges "without controversy" the glory as a profound enigma, to be wholly embraced with the heart, even if the mind finds it an elusive ray of light difficult to distinctly view.
Wonderful mercy - John 3:16 - comes to us by way of wondrous mystery - I Timothy 3:16. John and Paul unite with words inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal the wonder of the Christ never to be fully comprehended, but forever to be known as the brightest illumination of the glory, character, nature, and way of God. In both Heaven and earth, there is no one like the Lord Jesus. He occupies a distinct being comprised of divinity and humanity that, according to our understanding, should not exist. He does, however, and so we fall before Him to join the Apostles in their exultation. Wonderful mercy! Wondrous mystery!
"But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."
(Hebrews 1:8-9)
Weekly Memory Verse
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
(I Timothy 3:16)
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