The recent birth of our daughter, Aliza Mattea, confronted Angela and me with the reality of God’s creation power. Yesterday, I held Aliza in my arms looking at her angelic face thinking, “The only existence of this child before conception was in the mind of God. Now she has been born, and, as a result, she will exist for eternity. Wow, that’s creation power.”
Of equal significance and wonder is the power of God’s new creation, the moment in which God gives spiritual life to one whose heart is darkened by sin and death. Of course, not everyone believes in Jesus and the new life that he provides. Thankfully, Advent is the perfect time to pause and consider this question, the very one that Jesus asked Martha in John 11:
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world… [Jesus] cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”
Following is a sermon that I recently preached on the above passage. God bless you and your family as you pause to consider the creative power of Jesus to forgive sin and provide lost humanity with eternal life.
