Whom Do You Seek? Part 592

Salvation is a gift. Indeed, salvation is grace imparted to individuals who ask Jesus Christ to come into their hearts. It is He who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our own good works but rather, according to His own purpose and grace. This purpose and grace, according to II Timothy 1:9, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Further, Jesus was raised from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death. Why? Because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. (Acts 2:24) This is why the question asked at the tomb is so relevant. That is, why do you seek the "living" among the dead? Here the women who loved Jesus when He journeyed with them (as revealed in the gospels) had gone to see the tomb. There, the stone had been rolled away. Inside, Jesus was nowhere to be seen. Indeed, this is because Jesus had already risen. 

Earlier, Jesus had asked the soldiers in the olive grove, "Whom do you seek? Prior to this, the shepherds and wise men looked for the promised Saviour. In all of these occasions, the people sought Jesus the Christ --- the promised redeemer that had been prophesied before the foundation of the world was shaped.

Before the world began, Jesus -- God in the flesh becoming as one of us so that we might experience the gift of salvation personally -- was purposed. Decided because the Almighty God who created us knew -- even before we did -- that we as humans do not have the capacity to live up to the letter of the law. Adam and Eve couldn't do it. Neither can we.

As Romans 5:15 states: "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many." (Romans 5:15)

As the Bible states repeatedly, God loves us -- His precious creation -- more than the angels. He framed the world and scattered the stars and yet knows us personally by name. Further, Jesus' love is eternal, surpassing even our most in-depth understanding of love. In fact, God --  His name is Jesus -- became the Resurrection and the Life for you and I. He is our Maker, our Refuge. He gives us peace in the midst of the storm. All we have to do is believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. (Acts 15:11)

Know too that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24) So the question for each and every one of us this Christmas is "whom do you seek?" Stand in the offering plate.