2017年アドベン、ニューイングランドの母校からメッセージ その20 日目

2017年アドベン、ニューイングランドの母校からメッセージ　その20
日目

2017 Gordon-Conwell Advent Devotional
Day 20 | God's Dream Come True
Luke 1; John 1:14; John 3:16; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 10:5

We often think of Advent, the babe born in the manger from our perspective, how it affects and radically changes our lives. And rightly so! The long prophesied and awaited Savior has come to the world, to redeem his people, to save us from our sins (Luke 1). Advent answers all our problems. Yet Advent answers all of God’s problems, too.

Ever since Eden, humankind has erected a barrier hindering and delaying God’s dream. God’s dream was to make humankind his habitation, to plant his roots permanently with us. Why? If he resides, he can have personal, intimate contact and reveal his affection for and commitment to us. It is all about relationship!

Driven by pure passion for the relationship, he relentlessly pursues a course of action to deal with the barrier. Without HIS initiative the dream would remain a dream since it could not be achieved by human effort. Thus God took the necessary step to realize and communicate his dream. When God wanted to communicate in the most effective way, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:14). God comes from heaven to earth to live with the profanity of humanity. This shows how hopelessly devoted he is to the fulfillment of his dream. “God with man was pleased to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.” It is all about relationship!

Through Jesus, God longs that we see and know that HIS heart pines for relationship, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only son,” (John 3:16). Through Jesus, God’s affection, commitment and grace appeared (Titus 2:11). Moreover, God calls on Jesus, the faithful and obedient carpenter from Galilee, to repair the breach in the relationship (Heb 10:5). He asks Jesus to do the work and pay the bill, a request that would eventually cost him his life. As a result of Jesus’ work on the cross, he removes the relational barrier. “God and sinner reconciled.” God’s dream has come true. It is all about relationship!

Dr. Donna Petter
Director of the Hebrew Language Program;
Associate Professor of Old Testament