A descent of God from the Throne of the Third Heaven, down to the heavens seen by man, and down to the clouds of the first heaven above us in this earthly atmosphere; even down to the dust and ashes upon which we walk is a great humility for the Living God Who created it all.
As if Jesus being born of ‘adam (Mary, betrothed to Joseph of Nazareth) is not humility enough – as if crucifixion for our sins is not humility enough; Jesus descended into Hell before He was raised to His former glory.
Ephesians 4:9 In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?
We walk closer to Hell than the Third Heaven of our Lord God. We are nearer to perishing than to salvation.
Romans 3
English Standard Version (ESV)
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Do you recall the devastation of Mount St. Helens in 2008 A.D or Mount Vesuvius burying Pompeii in 79 A.D.? Certainly the power and wrath of God are in evidence in current disasters: hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, even the eruption of mountains spewing out hot lava from the depths of the earth.
Can you think vertically? We walk nearer the bowels of the earth than to the Third Heaven of God.
God can wash the sea upon us, crack the earth beneath us or cover us with the ashes that were once a mountain.
Why do the nations not worship God? Why do the people refuse to follow Christ Jesus, our ONLY hope for eternal life?
Think horizontally for a brief moment in these last days:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
OR to put the beginning in a context of Christ:
John 1
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Matthew 1 provides a genealogy of the Son of man, Christ Jesus, beginning from Abraham, the descendant of Adam. We refer to this horizontal timeline as B.C., that is: Before Christ.
2013 A.D. (from the Latin) means in the year of our Lord.
We have no problem projecting horizontally into 2014 A.D., 2030 A.D., even perhaps a time beyond our certain death like 2100 A.D.
Think ahead.
Think of Jesus Christ as the center of the Cross of grace for you. HE has descended into the depths of hell from the heights of Heaven. HE was before the beginning. HE was before His incarnation, His own death and His resurrection. HE IS.
HE was before you and I were born. HE IS now. HE will be after our death.
Jesus Christ will be after the end.
What must we do for eternal life?
Worship the Lord and bow down.
