Law and Promise
Open Your Bible
Galatians 3:10-18, Genesis 12:1-7, Isaiah 53:1-12, 1 Peter 2:24-25
BY Bailey Gillespie
Light wanes
On Wednesday evening of this last Holy Week, I attended the Tenebrae service through a local Anglican church. Held at the Belcourt Theater, this service draws its name from the latin word for “darkness” and is intended to capture the depth of sin and brokenness—without resolution.
On the stage, there was a tier with twelve candles. Traditionally, one candle at a time is snuffed out until the room is completely dark, encouraging people to leave the room in silence. The purpose is to sit with the sorrow of Christ’s death longer than we feel comfortable with so that the triumph of Resurrection Sunday is all the more joyous.
I was nervous to attend. Friends described it as being a pretty visceral experience, and since I already have a personality that’s sharply attuned to darkness and suffering, I wasn’t sure it was the best idea. But the event was meant to commemorate the fact that Christ had been crucified to break the curse of sin and death. The very least I could do was sit in an old theater seat.
Darkness grows
In the dark rows, candlelight flickering, we watched the opening piece: the music video to Johnny Cash’s song, “Hurt.” I couldn’t help but see the connection between that haunting lyric and Christ’s agony in the garden of Gethsemane:
“What have I become,
my sweetest friend?
Everyone I know goes away in the end”
In Galatians, Paul says that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (3:13). Although God set the law in motion, it could never save us. It always pointed to the cross. Because the law leads to death, only death could satisfy sin and lead to eternal life.
The heaviness of what I felt during this Tenebrae service was just a sliver of what Christ felt on the cross. He carried the weight of the whole world’s suffering on his shoulders. Can you imagine? Yet, somehow, “for the joy that lay before Him, He endured the cross” (Heb 12:2).
Darkness overcomes
Over the course of the evening, I could feel my breaths grow shallow and staccato-like. My friends were right. It was hard to sit through. More than once, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, hoping to ground my body, while at the same time hold close the story of my Lord’s suffering. Thinking about Christ being made a curse for our sake makes me shudder because there was such a cost to fulfill the demands of the law—a cost so great that the earth grew dark from the sixth to the ninth hour (Mt 27:45).
Light reemerges
But the shocking beauty of the gospel is that this “great reversal” transforms Christ’s persecution into our blessing. The law is fulfilled and replaced with a promise, and we never need to fear the darkness again. The curse has been lifted. It is finished.
Light endures
28 thoughts on "Law and Promise"
-
I am astounded by today’s reading & devotional. The story of Jesus continues to be the most beautiful event I’ve ever seen, heard of, or talked about. Isaiah reduced me to tears today. Knowing He took on our sins and pains is incredibly humbling. I can’t believe my Abba provided me with healing and salvation in such a beautiful, powerful and never ending way. Thank you Abba for seeing my pain and holding me through my journey.
-
We are redeemed from the curse!!!
-
Women’s Swimwear
So what it like being rich? Being rich is a huge catalyst.
Everything happens so much faster and easier with wealth.I never have to clean cook weed paint repair or even pack for a trip.
My club coach refs national play and he always talks about the advantage.If someone on a man up doesn leave the pool but he doesn have an effect on the
game, like the ball isn near him, he won call the second exclusion on him until the ball comes to a player he guarded.So in this case, although this is just my uneducated
guess off of his logic, unless you were causing an advantage by say drawing a defender into 2 and then kicking the ball out to a now open defender,
my guess is it would be ok, but thats just a college freshman playing on a shitty club teams guess.Tankini Swimwear Oh, I liked this poem. It reminded me of being a teenager and thinking I’m in love,
but it’s so one sided because I don’t know what to say and
the object of my flights of fancy was oblivious.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. It completely different if you diverting your attention from
other customers who need your service but youre busy
tending to someone else who leaves you 13 on 500.But handing someone a bottle takes five seconds.
No way you should expect 20% on that kind of thing..
Tankini SwimwearCheap Swimsuits But do pack your tent and food since the beach is
devoid of resorts or any establishments. The only fee you have
to pay is the entrance fee of Php 130. If you want to explore the nearby sandbar, hire a boat for Php 300 to take you there.
I think that if you truly want something more
than just a fling or non exclusive relationship, then I think it time to sit him down and tell him.
Have him make a decision (doesn have to be right then and there).
Give him some space to think about it. Cheap Swimsuitscheap swimwear Hablando de fondos, si buscas comodidad
elige shorty cut o un modelo vintage que puede ser muy conveniente para ti.
En ambos casos, una pieza tiene la ventaja de ser c ya
sea en un corte retro o moderno. Es ideal para los deportes de playa y para
los amantes de la piscina!. cheap swimwearswimwear sale The program returned 842 pounds (382 of
lunar rocks and soil to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon’s composition and geological history.
The program laid the foundation for NASA’s subsequent human spaceflight capability, and funded construction of
its Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center.
While the Mercury capsule could only support one astronaut on a limited
Earth orbital mission, Apollo would carry three astronauts.
swimwear salebikini swimsuit Future growth is likely to remain demand driven and organic with capital decisions
hinging on demand and returns and the balance sheet.10.7
mm shares by the company expected to price between $14 and $16; green shoe of 1.6 mm shares including
a small portion offered by a selling shareholder.
Net proceeds at $15, without shoe exercise, would be $142 mm.
Proceeds will go to repay roughly a third of its term debt, to pay down the revolver to $0, and to put cash on the balance sheet ahead of
further fleet growth this year. bikini swimsuitbikini swimsuit Oculus go is a step in that direction. It doesn have six degrees of freedom but it is possible to put it all into just a headset and controllers.
With more powerful hardware and new software it could become as
good as the tethered setup Or a full blown VR station becomes the norm..
bikini swimsuitswimwear sale Phase III data was impressive in several
ways. Patients experienced better, longer lasting and more complete pain relief after orthopedic surgery.Additionally, nurses reported that it was much easier to use the Nanotab system.
Combination lenses are usually not great in any one area.
Nifty Fifty can do some macro, is pretty fast for portraits and
out door shooting, the cropping is a bit close but it can be used for desktop vlogging.
Landscapes and one the go vlogging you might look for the
10 18mm efs. swimwear saleswimwear sale People don have to say yes, thry can educated.
Not only that but what you are putting in your system.
10 points submitted 1 month ago. No NSFW content.
Keep it PEGI 12 or lower. (PEGI 12: Suitable
for ages 12 and older. It still an attempt to mandate patriotism (as well as a business move, sure) because you can fully exercise your right to protest without
being financially punished. It a limit on speech. The entire point of
what those players were doing was kneeling where
they were visible by everyone swimwear sale. -
Thanks for sharing Dee. Couldn’t agree with you more. I am having trouble following the study presented with the scripture. Thank you Jesus for redeeming us from the curse of the law and that we can live by grace through faith.
-
“We never need to fear the darkness again.” Thanks be to God
-
Sometimes, a lot of times, ALL the TIME . . . GOD’s Word sums things up far better and more completely than I.
I Peter 2:24-25
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. -
I pray that I would hold tightly to this reminder of the grace of God. I pray that I would never take this gift from God for granted.
-
I am so grateful for Christ’s courage and obedience to lay down His life for me. I am reminded, yet again, of the beauty that is found in the Gospel.
Post Comments (28)