The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"No Contest"
"But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:20-21).
Two powerfully influential realities presently exist in the earth.
"The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD" (Psalm 33:5).
"The whole world lieth in wickedness" (I John 5:19).
The former, of course, transcends the latter by an infinite measure. It does not appear this way as wickedness abounds in great measure and sad effect. However, the Lord's goodness is so superior that it uses evil to fulfill its purposes, while not willing or causing it. The cross of Calvary, where the most wicked of all sins occurred, most bears witness to the surpassing greatness of goodness.
"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23).
What was the cross? Was it the "determinate counsel" of God? Yes. Was it "wicked hands" whose sin the Lord did not and could not cause due to His perfectly righteous nature? Yes (Ephesians 1:11; James 1:13). Righteousness and sin both had their day when the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the tree of sacrifice, where the wrath of God and the wrath of man inflicted untold sorrow, pain, and forsakenness upon the innocent Lamb of God. Which was greater? The empty tomb of the Lord Jesus bears clear witness to the answer. The world, the devil, and the flesh gave it their worst in perpetrating the cross, and were completely responsible for their crime. God, by His infinitely greater power and providence, gave it His best in revealing a superiority so glorious that it can use even its enemies to fulfill its intentions. As Joseph declared regarding his brothers' cruelty and God's purpose, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20).
We waste not a moment attempting to understand how such a process of providence operates amid the effects of righteousness and sin. We spend much time pondering its glorious wonder, being amazed, illuminated and encouraged as we see so much evil in the world, but remembering that surpassing superiority of good. Again, good is so much greater than evil that God can use evil to fulfill His purposes even though He does not and cannot cause it. No understanding of such glory exists for the human mind. Much faith, however, can and must grace the human heart as we realize that for believers, the worst thing that ever occurred became for us the best thing. Calvary led to the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus and the full spirits of those who trust Him. Good and evil. Which is greater? No contest.
"And though they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulcher. But God raised Him from the dead."
(Acts 13:28-30)
Weekly Memory Verse
He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
(Matthew 13:58)
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