Day By Day By Grace
Bob Hoekstra
June 7, 2010
Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will.
(Hebrews 13:20-21)
These powerful verses continue our inquiry concerning a life of
obedience. They conclude with what results when God is relied upon to
do His work in our lives. We become "complete in every good work to do
His will." This hope is made available to us by "the God of peace."
We all started out in life at war with God. Although we may not have
been aware of this fact, we were enemies of God: "You ...were alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works" (Colossians 1:21). We were
disobedient by our very nature: "the sons of disobedience ...by nature
children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:2-3). Yet, through His Son, God reached
out to offer us peace. "For He Himself is our peace, who... abolished
in His flesh the enmity...making peace...through the cross, thereby
putting to death the enmity" (Ephesians 2:14-16). This sacrifice on the
cross was effective, because the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead
with victory over sin and death: "the God of peace who brought up our
Lord Jesus from the dead."
At the cross of Christ, the blood that brings eternal blessings to all
who believe in Him was shed: "through the blood of the everlasting
covenant." The Lord promised these eternal benefits to His people
through the prophets of old. "And I will make an everlasting covenant
with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will
put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me . . .
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an
everlasting covenant with them" (Jeremiah 32:40 and Ezekiel 37:26).
The blood of the new covenant of grace secures these benefits: "This
cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" (Luke
22:20). This shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses and forgives
forever all who humbly trust in Him. Also, this shed blood of the new
covenant (God's new arrangement for living) supplies the adequacy we
need from God for the obedient life He has called us to live: "Our
sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of
the new covenant" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
Dear God of peace, I praise You for the shed blood of Jesus, changing
me from Your enemy to Your friend. I thank You for also making
obedience available through this new covenant of grace. I humbly ask
that You teach me to live in dependence upon Your sufficiency, Amen.
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