We journey through the desert with Jesus. He wants to bring us to the promised land, to the new Jerusalem, where we can worship him in Spirit and truth, in the new temple of his own body.
Rather than following Jesus we often turn aside to idols, adding infidelity to infidelity, and practicing all the abominations of the nations. Yet even when we turn from him he does not abandon us. He does not want to condemn us. The Father lifts up the Son so that we can turn from idolatry and see the love which God has for us. The Father longs for this love to draw us back to him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
We are in the desert now. This explains why we're so ready to look for any consolation we can find. Yet aside from God all consolations are empty. We must look to the promised land. We must look to the LORD's love raised on high. Only then can we hope to make it safely home to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!
God is so rich in mercy and love that he brings us to life when we collapse in the desert because of our sins. He does not leave us where he finds us. But just as Christ is raised up we too are raised up in Christ.
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
The raising up of Christ happens on the Cross but it does not stop there. It continues as he is exulted into heaven. So too for us if we just keep our eyes on him. This is the free grace we are offered today. Let's not look away even though our own sinful hearts are exposed as we gaze. The desert is not our destiny. Let us prize the heavenly Jerusalem above all our joys.
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
When we do this we live the life God intends for us even in the driest deserts of life.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.
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