Issue 404
Ever since the first human error heaven has been issuing government bonds. Each divine act of mercy, forgiveness and rescue racked up the sovereign debt for the ruling party. Every issue of care and love emanating towards this planet we inhabit has contributed to a unique and gigantic problem.
This Advent season we will take a look at the words of these days and capture some thoughts for you to take with you to work, to your week, to your life.
So what are you carrying right now? Perhaps you feel you are carrying a debt burden. Maybe you feel weary and weighed down with your portion of the present crisis and long for release. Throughout the world, the effects of the sovereign debt crisis are being felt. Governments have issued bonds to raise funds because they have been living beyond their means. Now we are all having to pay.
Perhaps you are now thinking I am writing about two separate issues – one metaphor and one actual. I am not.
Hundreds of years before the first Christmas, these words were written ‘The government will be on his shoulders’. Only governments can clear sovereign debt. One way or another, sovereign debt has to be cleared by sovereign actions.
Such is Christmas. The government Himself is taking planned and deliberate action to deal with the global debt crisis. The arrival of the issuer of all bonds heralds the restructuring, clearing and resolution of the problem. The son of man comes to be born, live and die, taking unilateral action to clear all sovereign debt. It is governmental intervention on a grand scale.
Don’t be deceived by the size of the manger. Don’t misinterpret the gentleness of the story. Mighty God has arrived to balance his own books, create lines of credit and show his hand.
Make no mistake, God mortgaged himself sovereignly by crediting righteousness to all who believed prior to the arrival of the son of man. The debts got bigger as the son of man raised people from the dead, forgave sins and healed the wounded and ill.
Then came the clearing of debt. We call it the crucifixion, for that was what was seen, but the son of man was taking all government on his shoulders, clearing his own sovereign debt and opening up a line of free credit to any who will now ask.
The world changed with the arrival of the son. The offers remain. Governments proclaim all kinds of programs to solve the sovereign debt crisis. Perhaps they should proclaim days of repentance and prayer, seeking the crediting of rightness, which is available.
The government does not rest on their shoulders, nor does it rest on yours. While we persist in attempting to solve spiritual problems with financial solutions, we will still carry too heavy a load. The answer, I suggest, is not in savings, but in a Saviour. ‘Today’, said the angel to the working shepherds ‘in the town of David a Saviour has been born’.
This is serious business.
Next week: Bailout
Luke 2:11
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
Romans 4:1-3
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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