A Purposeful Propitation...

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins..."

-1 John 4 v 10

Dealing with life isn't always easy. Trust me, I know. Things happen which are out of control, sometimes good, sometimes bad. I think you're intelligent enough to flick back through my old posts to discover that my life hasn't been a cake walk. Rather, my life has been quite tough. That's not to signal me out, I know plenty of people who have experienced far worse things then I ever have, and hope not to experience.

I'm thinking that this post is going to be a hard one to write, because A) my brain has decided to not function properly due to tiredness, and B) what I'm going to talk on is something that we don't tend to talk about a lot...wrath...

More importantly, the wrath of God. See, I know a lot of people have this image of the father as being this grumpy old man who, whenever you do something bad, snaps His fingers and...BAAM! Lightning bolt in the face. And I know this because a lot of the time that's the image I have of Him. But He's not just angry, He is Love, as clearly shown through the most well-known Bible Verse of all time;

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life..."

-John 3 v 16

That's not to say that God isn't angry, or that it is wrong to be angry. Rather, if anger is shown in a way that reflects the righteous anger of God, it's justifiable. God's shows anger to sin and ungodliness, so if we are angry at the evil in the world, its perfectly acceptable in God's eyes. Loosing tempers though, that's a big no-no, as there is no justification.

But the thing about God's anger is, while we as humans are normally quick to anger, God's anger is aroused slowly (Ex 34 v 6-8), sometimes turned away (Deut 13 v 17), often delayed (Isa 48 v 9), and frequently held back (Psa 78 v 38).

So what have we learned so far? God is angry, but His anger is justifiable... Let's move on.

Because of God's hatred towards sin and evil, He can't simply stand back and do nothing. Like we've discovered, He gets angry, but we haven't talked about what He actually does. This is when the wrath of God comes into play.

Many people, myself included, see God's wrath as being active. You do something wrong, God instantly throws said lightning bolt in thine face, or something similar. But God's wrath not only is active, but is passive. Put simply, God may just one day decide to passive on your sinful bee-hind...and let you keep sinning. And that's scary;

"Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them..."

-Romans 1 v 24

That's scary, the fact that we could face the wrath of God by Him not doing anything. Even when God does nothing, He's still doing something far more powerful than we can ever imagine.

This is starting to sound like a really depressing blog, but in truth, its needed. A lot of church folk today simply don't want to talk about God's wrath, because it ain't something that we like to talk about. Its probably one of the biggest taboos in Christianity today, if not in the whole world. But its necessary in order to understand a key doctrine of our faith.

The Day of Atonement was one of the biggest days in the Jewish calendar. It represented the day when the people of Israel were forgiven of there sins. The part that we're most interested in today is the first part. Two spotless lambs, signifying sinless perfection, we chosen by the High Priest. One was taken and slaughtered it. He then took some of the blood, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat atop the Ark of the Covenant. The lamb was no longer a representative of sinless perfection, because it had become a sin offering...

Likewise, so did Jesus become our sin offering.

What we have here is the doctrine of propitiation. You may not have seen that word before. That's because in many translations of the Bible today, its translated into "sacrifice" or "atonement" and various other words which come close to its meaning, but are not the same.

To put simply, propitiation is something that appeases or conciliates an offended power. To put it even more simply, its the diversion of just wrath from a guilty party. Instead of us suffering at the hands of God's wrath, Jesus propitiates for us, and takes our rightful wrath upon Himself. God's wrath is taken from us, and placed on Jesus.

Romans 5 v 8 gives a beautiful description, saying that because of propitiation, we no longer need to view the Cross as the place where God's love was absent as His righteous wrath was poured out on Jesus, but that it is exactly where His love is shown through the propitiation of Jesus;

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us..."

-Romans 5 v 8

Its something that I've often thought about, but never in this way. I always thought that God decided to place Jesus instead of us against His wrath, and while to an extent this is true, Jesus freely takes our place out of love;

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed..."

-Romans 3 v 23-25

It is because of this that we need no longer hold any grudge, because at the Cross, justice and mercy kissed, and it is because of this that we can forgive those who have wronged us.

How we can avail of Jesus' propitiation for our sin?

Simple...

Let Him Be The Nexus Of Our Lives...

The Downfall Of A Legend...

This isn't a regular post of mine, but after what I've just saw, I am compelled to blog about the atrocities I have seen...

Now and forever, Metal Gear Solid has be ruined...

How has it been ruined? Simple, Konami have now decided to make, not only one game, but two...TWO! The story is finished! It ended with MGS4, and while as not as good as say MGS2 as regards story, the ending was the best I've seen in years. And now look what they've done. I knew it was coming, but I didn't realise it would be so bad...

MGS Rising is the new main release coming sometime within the next few years. You play Raiden...I'm sorry, despite his awesomeness in MGS4, it would be criminal to allow anyone to play him. He's a separate character in the series now. I can see why they made him the main protagonist in MGS2, to give us a new look at Solid Snake...But there in lies the biggest problem of all...without Snake, there really is no way MGS will be creditable. Big Boss works because of his lineage to Snake, but because of Snake's inevitable death (if you haven't played out the ending to MGS4, sorry, guess I've kind spoiled it) the series would be missing a vital part of its...well...its being. And in no way am I saying "Bring back Snake" because that wouldn't do him justice. He's earned his rest. And before I move on, Lorcan: I mean no offence to you or any other XBox 360 owner, but MGS Rising will come to you. It shouldn't. Konami is a sellout, MGS has always been a Playstation title, its part of its heritage, and they're only doing this to make more money...sorry, but if you do buy a copy of this for Xbox, I will personally make sure that it is destroyed before you've even had a chance to play it...

Things aren't all doom and gloom, because, despite my negative sounding above, the second title, called MGS Peace Walker has intrigued me. Get passed the ghey title, and it looks to be a solid game (no pun intended) along the same lines as Portable Ops. Big Boss, Costa Rica, Big Ass WMD's, what isn't there to like...well two things actually; 1) The Story. I'm not saying that I don't want to know why Big Boss did in the first Metal Gear games, but...I don't know, it just seems to me they're trying to make more money out of this dazzling franchise. 2)The platform. PSP. Again, Sony trying to boost sales by offering a title that none can refuse...

I'm not a happy bunny at all. The main reason why I'm not happy is that the MGS franchise should be given its well deserved rest. Kojima has managed to achieve something magnificent over the past 21 years, and I cannot help but be disgusted at the greed of the company. But more than that, Snake is dead, and without Snake, there cannot be a good MGS as I've already explained. Its time that the franchise be put away, not because its old and bland, but because it deserves the right to retain some of its dignity, and so does Snake. I'll buy the games, and I'll play them, but to me they won't be Metal Gear Solid, they'll be Metal Ghey Solid...

Rant Over...

Summer Time...

Hey guys!

It's finally summer! For 3 months, we're free, and for those doing their Leaving Cert they'll be free for a lot longer!

Just want to say that regular blogging will resume next Sunday. I'm currently in Wales at the moment so I can't do a huge one today. I've been busy with exams as well, so I couldn't really do one during them. I assure you though, next Sunday I will continue our 12 week series on "Death By Love."

Just a couple of prayer requests. I think it goes without saying that those doing the Leaving Cert could do with some prayers. They've already had one postponed paper, we just want the rest of the exams to go smoothly for them.

I've started to think about what I'm going to do when I finish school, and to be honest, my head is all over the place; I've got ideas for college courses, GAP years, time with the OM Mercy Ships, among many other things. Prayer for some guidance at this time would be brill.

Speaking of guidance, I could really do with some as regards relationships. I think everyone knows by now that I'm still waiting on a girlfriend (if you didn't know...surprise!). I'm just really confused with the whole thing at the moment, and prayers for some guidance would be fantastic.

I'm also going to be pretty busy this summer. Aside from working with my dad, studying for the summer quiz and blogging and what not, I have quite a bit to do for Summer Madness, I'm volunteering with OM, hopefully leading at 10-12's in Ovoca, going to visit some friends, RAW Summer, helping a youth centre in Kingscourt...all that and my average daily life... Prayer for strength and endurance to help me through this summer.

Cheers guys,

Talk to you soon!

Nexus


PS-I hope my grammar is up to your standards Nicole!:P

Exam Time...

Hey guys,

As you know, we're nearing the end of another school year. Unfortunately, that of course means exams (unless you're lucky enough to be in Trans Year...), and despite the fact that my exams won't be for another week or so, I'm really feeling the pressure because of the study. For this reason, I shan't be posting for the next 2 weeks....shocking...me, taking a break from posting...who would've thought?;)

Good luck guys!

Phil

Brief Announcement...

Hey guys,

Just to let you know there won't be a post next week. I shall be in CERN, possibly destroying the world... I mean, getting my Physics on.

Ciao!

Better Is One Day...

A Joyous Justification...

"...For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished..."

-Romans 3 v 23-25

We all sin. If you've been reading this blog long enough, you've probably gathered that from the numerous times I've said it. I admit that it does get repetitive, but it is a very real threat. Frankly, I don't think its mentioned enough. I mean, in Christian circles, we tend to focus on the good side of things, but when it comes to the bad things such as sin, Satan, hell and Judgement Day, we're very quick to bolt for the door, as if there's some sort of taboo on these very real subjects.

In order to explain where this blog is going, we have to look at a key part of God's character. His holiness. We briefly mentioned it in the last post, but to a great degree. What is holiness? What does it mean to be holy?

There are quite a few meanings of the word holy but in this context the dictionary states that it is to have a "having a spiritually pure quality." This is a pretty good definition, but as regards the character of God, it really only scratches the surface;

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all..."

-1 John 1 v 5

To put it in simple terms, to be holy is to be without sin. That's something big, something out of this world. God is without sin, which makes Him holy. But the side that I want to look at is something which comes out of this attribute. Because God is holy, He is without sin. But one thing about God is that He can't be anywhere where there is sin, for to do so would compromise His holiness. And because of this, He can't let everyone into heaven, because not only would He be giving credit to Satan, where there is no credit due, but it would compromise His home, His heaven. Heaven would no longer be the place that we all seek, it would rather be just another Earth, full of sin.

Why did we have to go through all of that? Well it leads onto another attribute to God, which we also touched on last time. God is just. And because He can't let any sin into Heaven, all of us must stand in front of Him, and give an account of our lives. All of us will be judged on the Day of Days, and those who don't cut it, well, they're in for an eternity of suffering and pain. That's the only way that we can repay for our sins is to suffer in Hell because of them... Or is it?

See, last week, we talked about righteousness, and in honesty, this is really a follow on blog from that. There are really two things that can happen come the Day of Judgement;

1) We can be thrown into Hell for eternity to pay for what we have done.

or

2) Through accepting Jesus' work on the Cross, we can be forgiven and called righteous by the living God.

How? Just a player comes on as a substitute in a soccer match, so Jesus became our substitute for God's wrath. Every sin that we had every committed, are committing, or will commit was place on Him, while the Father turned His back, and poured out his wrath on Him who became sin, who knew no sin.

How does this work? How does the great exchange actually happen? To be honest, I don't know, and I doubt I will ever know until I reach my guaranteed home in Heaven, when I can ask God for myself. But there's an important point here; truth is not limited by comprehension. God does things in our lives that go beyond belief. I know for a fact that the fact that God loves a pure sinner is baffling to me, it makes no logical sense. But I still believe, because I put my faith in the character of God. Sometimes God achieves things that we don't understand, but we believe God is good, and so we trust Him.

I think we all know which would be better. But as in last week, it is only through Jesus, not anything that we can do, that can make us righteous. It is by faith in Him alone that will ultimately decide your fate;

"...so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life..."

-Titus 3 v 7

"Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ..."

-Romans 5 v 16-17

How can we be justified?

Simple...

Let Him be the Nexus of your life...