glimpsedglory

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:9

Sisters – Let the wind of the Spirit blow over those words and drive them deep into your heart this day. We have been rescued! Those who have believed in their hearts, confessed with their mouths, and this day are being transformed from one degree of glory to another have been ushered into safety by our Sweet Messiah.

Try not to get all caught up in the shades of the word appoint when you read the verse– some translations have it “destined” others use the word “intend” – there may be a time and place when you are called to pull the Sovereignty threads apart and seek out Scripture’s guidance on that particular word but for just the few moments that you will spend reading this post let’s keep to the Strong’s Concordance definition of “to decree one to be subject to” and throw our hats in with A.W. Tozer in the Pursuit of God . . .

God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, “O Lord, Thou knowest.” Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God’s omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.

Let’s rejoice together that if we have claimed Christ as our Savior then God in His infinite grace has not decreed that we are subject to His wrath.

In Bible study this last week the class was challenged to ponder the word wrath and jot down the things that popped to mind.  I’m certain we came up with many of the same ideas and concepts your mind would conjure given the opportunity.

• Punishment
• Unrelenting Pain
• Destruction
• Unrestrained Anger

And maybe the most pointed term of all – DESERVED.

And yet, God did not decree those who believe to be subject to punishment, unrelenting pain, destruction, unrestrained anger – He chose not to subject us to exactly what our sins deserved. Rather, His appointment for we who believe is to obtain salvation. Beloved, the thing He has decreed for the Romans 10:9-10 believer is rescue.

• Preservation
• Deliverance
• Safety
• Grace

Unmerited favor placed squarely on your shoulders, squarely on my shoulders, because the Messiah chose to place the Beam across His.

Is His compassion not breathtaking? It’s unfathomable that He loves us so. What faithfulness He displays to we who by nature are children of wrath . . .

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Ephesians 2:1-3

It’s our nature to be children of wrath, but here Sweet Sister is the entrance of Grace and Love . . .

BUT GOD . . .

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Ephesians 2:4-5

I don’t know what that does for your heart or how it quickens your spirit but for me it feels a superhero has swooped in from heaven and saved me from certain death at my own hands!   Do you see it?

BUT GOD . . .

And the Creator of the universe stoops from heaven to lift you . . .to lift me . . to the Rock of certainty. To hide us in the cleft . . . to hold us in the place of safety that we do not deserve. What so great of rescue is this that the Son would wear our death so that we might be dressed in life?

Every act of disobedience merits retribution. Every sin deserves punishment.

Retribution—Punishment—Wrath is exactly what I deserve . . . BUT GOD!

He has saved us, rescued those, who were by nature children of wrath, placed our punishment on the head of Christ and appointed to us the crown of life . . . BUT GOD!

Girlfriend, we cannot make too much of those two words — BUT GOD!  They are our lifeline.  It’s what we live on! Cling to! Trust in! It’s our firm foundation to know without a doubt that the mercy of God has sliced through the world timeline in the person of Jesus Christ and looked directly at us with the Face of Grace.

It’s what makes our walk confident when we should be anything but in this very dark world.  It’s what makes our faith unshakable when our circumstances quake around us. And it’s what makes us stand firm in the face of our enemy for greater is He who is in us than He who is the world.

So Sweet One, no matter where the pressure comes from today, rather the assault is from without or the attack is from within – you steady your heart in His love, stare that thing in the face, raise the hand of victory and you declare for all the heavenlies to hear. . . BUT GOD!

Tags: 1 Thessalonians 5:9, A.W. Tozer, BUT GOD, Ephesians 2:4-5, God's wrath, Heart in Bible, Jesus Christ, Rescued, Romans 10:9-10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8-9, Saved