Devotion Corner
Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
In this one verse, we have a sobering insight into the chasm between the perfect, loving, selfless will of God, and the murderous, selfish will of mankind. God’s will is that none should perish, but that all should come to salvation through repentance of sin and faith in Christ Jesus. Our Fallen will, however, is to deny God and look to save ourselves through our self-righteousness.
God’s will when lived out, gave us the Incarnation of the Godhead that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He who came willingly, setting aside His eternal glory, so that He might deliver us from our desperate plight. That being our wandering towards eternal punishment for our sins, and the loss of all that is good, that which is known through His everlasting love.
Conversely, our will when lived out, sees the crucifying of the one life lived that was truly innocent. All are conceived in sin, except the Lord Jesus. All fall short of the glory of God, except the Lord Jesus. Yet we each deny that blemish free life of Christ Jesus, when we sin against Him and turn away from His selfless love. Our sins caused Him to be hung upon that cursed tree that was the Cross of Calvary. This was the playing out of the will of Fallen mankind, truly wicked.
Yet God knew all this long before the Son came in the flesh of man. The foreknowledge of God would not be stopped by the free will of mankind. It would march on in loving glory, fulfilling its task completely, planting its flag of salvation firm and high for all to gaze upon. Then, it is up to us to choose, as to whether we march towards that flag of salvation and cling to it; or deny the truth set before us and march away from Christ Jesus.
Praise the Lord, He opened our eyes so that we saw and still see the beauty and glory of Jesus, so that we ran to His forgiving embrace. Pray that by the grace of God, many more will choose to lift their eyes to Jesus too and see how His will is truly glorious and abundant in life. Amen.
