Enemies No More!

Ephesians 2: 11-22 

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--

Remembering that we were dead, and now we're alive in Christ, Paul is bringing out the main differences between the Gentiles and the Jews. 

remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

Remember before you were saved, while you were still dead, and were without any future or prospects. 

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

These Gentiles who were so far away from God and God's people and His ways; now they have been washed clean in the blood of Christ and brought close to the heart of God.

For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 

Christ Jesus Himself is our peace, who tore down the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place where the Lord dwells--this is the wall that separated us from God. And the whole Law with the sacrificial system separated the Gentiles from Israel. 

Now Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law, has broken down all the barriers, and now welcomes all of Mankind into the chosen family of God.

by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 

Jesus' body and blood, on His altar, the cross, as the Lamb of God, fulfilled the sacrifices that were required; so we don't need to offer animals on altars any more, He finished it. 

and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 

And by offering Himself He became our total remedy for reconciling with God and with one another. We're not enemies any more. We are all one body, and Jesus is our Head.

And 

He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near (Isaiah 57: 19);

for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 

Christ Jesus proclaimed to both Jews and Gentiles that we are at peace with one another, and we have peace with God the Father; because we both, Jews and Gentiles, can now approach God the Father by the same Holy Spirit that lives in both of us.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, 

Now both Jews and Gentiles are all saints, brought into the family of God together as His children, all one family. 

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 

Paul changes to another illustration, portraying us as a building. The foundation of this building is the apostles and prophets, and the corner stone that holds it together is Christ Jesus.

in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 
in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.  

Where God dwells is His temple. When He puts His Spirit into each of us, making us alive, then He dwells in us, individually. So the picture here is that we are living "stones" that are being laid on the foundation to build a building in Heaven for God to live in. 

Right now as we live our lives here, God lives in each of us as a little miniature temple, so we can talk with Him any time, He's right here with us all the time. And when He gathers us together into one structure, then we will be His holy temple in Heaven where He lives. 

And we read the end of the story in Revelation that Heaven comes down to the New Earth for God to dwell with His people, His family, forever (Revelation 21: 1-3). 

This is the final destination that God has planned for us, and when we get there, I imagine that He has a lot more adventures for us, so we will be busy working on His good purposes for us forever! 

In the mean time, while we're still here, we need to pay attention to all the lessons He is teaching us, and pass all the tests He presents to us, so that we will grow up to be the adults in His family. We're children in school now. No matter how many years we've been in this world, we're still children spiritually. We need to remember this, as well as where we're headed.

O my Father, Your plans are so wonderful! You have planned out my life so that I will face all the situations that will grow my faith and trust in You, and I ask You for the strength and perseverance and faithfulness to pass all the tests You will prove me with. 

Send me out, Father; use me and my words and my actions to show the world who You are, and how much You Love each one of us! Enable me to demonstrate to others how You have already met all of our needs, and that You want them all to turn to You for cleansing and new birth. 

Grow Your family, Father, using my hands and feet; to help Your children grow up, and to add many more children to Your household.  

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King of all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!




 

How Are We Alive When We're Dead?

Ephesians 2: 1-10

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 
in which you formerly walked

We were dead. Dead people can't do anything. They're dead. Our sinfulness that resulted in our disobeying the rules caused us to be spiritually dead. So we lived our physical lives as the walking dead.

according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 

We lived our lives obeying the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of disobedience, that his minions are still following. We were also his minions. 

Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 

We all used to live our lives following this evil spirit, indulging in all the worldly pleasures that hold so much promise but never delivers. The nature we were born into, with that damaged DNA we inherited, deserves wrath. We were born as chamber pots, deserving only the dregs of this world. 

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great Love with which He Loved us, 
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 

God knew we could never do anything that He could accept, so He did it all. That's how much He Loves us. We were dead, so He made us alive. But we are alive only in Christ Jesus. "G.R.A.C.E." is "God's Riches At Christ's Expense." Jesus Christ paid our full sin-debt for each of us.

and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

This we have not experienced yet, but God sees us as already resurrected, at the destination He predestined for us. 

so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

In the future ages of existence, we will be like trophies that will display to all creation how gracious and kind God is to take such disreputable beings and make us into glorious beings of light that are prepared to rule and manage in His own Kingdom.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 

We have been given access to this grace through our believing and trusting God to have done it; and even this faith to believe it is also a gift that God gives us, in drawing us into His family. 

not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

There is nothing that we can do to work up this faith, or to try to get God's favor. We were dead, remember, so we couldn't do anything. Jesus said that no one could come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6: 44). 

So when someone turns to God from idols (I Timothy 1: 9), it's because God the Father has drawn them. All we can do is to want to find Him, and He will be found of us (Jeremiah 29: 13), when we decide to seek Him earnestly. He does all the rest.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

When we are saved, that's when God creates us new, putting His Spirit into our spirits, making us alive. He does this so that we will be able to do things He can accept and reward us for, because He is doing it all through us, as we are in Christ Jesus as His body. 

We are alive with the same Holy Spirit in us that is the Spirit of Jesus. We are one with Him with the same Spirit, as He is one with the Father (John 17: 21-23). 

God has done it all. There is nothing we can do at all in any of this process, so there is nothing that we can boast about in ourselves. If we want to boast, we can only boast about what God has done! In spite of us! 

O my Father, You are so great, so good, so compassionate, so powerful. You do whatever You want to do, and there is no one who can say anything to You about it. You are not accountable to any other--every other is accountable to You. You have made us, and You have re-molded us into something else entirely! 

We, being made in Your image, are already able to do whatever we can imagine (Genesis 11: 6), by taking what You have created, and rearranging and restructuring it into "new things" that can perform in ways that would have been incomprehensible to people of former ages. 

[For example, we've gone to the Moon! And today, the little phone in our hand holds more computing power than was required for those Moon shots! Truly amazing!] 

Thank You, thank You, that You have caused us to be re-born and re-made and re-molded into beings that will be able to actually rule and manage in Your Kingdom! I cannot imagine all the fabulous things You will have us doing! 

O Father, help us to understand how wonderful You are, and how fantastic Your works are, and to appreciate all You have already accomplished for us, to show all the Universe how gorgeous You are, and Your goodness and glory! 

Help us now, Father, to live our lives showing the world that Jesus really did come, and finish everything You said He would do to save us, and will return again to enforce His rule over this Earth, taking over the whole world we have built on it. Help us to love those in our little worlds as You have Loved us, and draw to Yourself all those who will want what we have, and call on You. 

That Your house will be filled up with all Your children, every place at Your grand Banquet Table occupied, that we will eternally enjoy Your fellowship and presence. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth is our Christ and Messiah, our Savior and Redeemer, Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 




 

What To Pray For

Ephesians 1: 15-23 

For this reason 

The reason is in the preceding verses we just covered yesterday. 

I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,

Paul has heard about the believers who live in Ephesus, of their faith and their loving acts to help other believers. 

do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 

Paul has been praying for these believers, probably by name, thanking God for them. How often do we pray for other believers we know? 

This is how he prays for them:

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 

He wants God to open their understanding to be able to comprehend who God is and all He has done for us. 

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 

He asks God to give them a wise understanding of God's destination for us all and the abundance of the riches we will enjoy as His kings and queens.

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. 

To understand how great His almighty power is for us and for our benefit as believers.  

These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 

The power of God that is working in us is the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, resurrected His body into a whole new life, and gave Him His throne in Heaven. This power is what we have access to! 

far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 

This authority is over all other authority or might or rule everywhere in Heaven and on Earth and in every other place in all creation, both now and in the future!

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, 

God the Father gave to God the Son the Lordship over all Creation. 

and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 
which is His body, 

Jesus is the Head and we are His body, as His church, His bride. 

the fullness of Him who fills all in all. 

We as the church are the fulfillment of His being, to fill up the substance of everything in the Universe, and all the Universes after this one He will create throughout all eternity future! 

O my Father, open our minds and hearts to understand and comprehend and revel in all the goodness You have planned for us! Remind us to be praying for one another to realize how much You have Loved us, in making us to be Your children, primary members of Your own family. 

Keep us mindful, Father, to remember one another in prayer before You, to lift up each other before Your throne for Your special attention for blessing and growth in the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Continue to shape and mold us, Father, into the very image of our Lord, so that we will be prepared and ready to help Him rule when the time comes. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus 




 

The Seal And Promise

Ephesians 1: 7-14

In Him we have Redemption through His blood, 

Redemption is His total rescue from this whole fleshly existence, all the way into having the Resurrected body like Jesus was Resurrected with.   

the forgiveness of our trespasses, 

Our trespasses are the wilful sins we commit, knowingly disobeying what we know is right. This is only one of the kinds of sin we are rescued from. 

according to the riches of His grace 
which He lavished on us. 

God showered His grace on us abundantly, freely giving us all the good we could never earn or deserve. 

In all wisdom and insight 
He made known to us the mystery of His will, 

"Wisdom" is sophia, "higher, spiritual or lower, worldly wisdom."
"Insight" is phronesis, "intellectual or moral insight; prudence, wisdom." 

God's insightful wisdom has let us know what His will is, that was not known before. That we will one day be His kings and queens, managing all the worlds He will create in the future eternity, starting with Jesus' 1000-year reign on this Earth.  

according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 

God the Father intended to give the Lordship to the Son, which He did, making the Son the Lord God Almighty. 

with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, 

God the Father is looking at the end from the beginning, the overt rule of the Son, Christ Jesus our Lord

that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the Earth. 

After Jesus returns as King, He will unite all the Earth with the rest of the Universe and all creation, including the holy angels and the demons and their leader; all creation. 

In Him 
we also have obtained an inheritance, 

As Jesus' brothers and sisters, and His bride, and His body; we also will sit in His throne as He sits in His Father's throne, to administer and manage all the parts of His great Kingdom. 

having been predestined according to His purpose 

This is our final destination, why we were saved and molded and grown up in God's family; His purpose for us. 

who works all things after the counsel of His will, 

God is God, He does whatever He wants to do, and succeeds at everything. 

to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ 

Paul and the rest of the apostles and the believers in the churches he founded were the first people to be Christ's body, His bride. Through the ages since they lived, many more have been added to this number, and will be until He returns. 

would be to the praise of His glory. 

Our lives are to reflect the family's characteristics, and He will get all the credit for it all. 

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation--having also believed, 

When the Christians in Ephesus heard the message of the Gospel, they believed that Jesus died for them and rose from the dead, and put their trust in Him to do what He said He would do, to save them from sin. 

you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of Promise, 
who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, 
with a view to the Redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

When they believed, God put His Holy Spirit into their spirits, just as He still does today into us. His Spirit causes us to be born spiritually into His family, and is the down-payment on the full Redemption that will be accomplished when we also are resurrected. He seals us up to this future, that nothing can change. 

And God still gets all the credit, all the glory and praise for having thought it all up, planned it all out, and carried out all His plans to their completion. 

O my Father, thank You so much for planning to create Mankind to be Your own children! That's why You are not willing for any of us to perish, but for all to come to the realization that we deserve that execution death Jesus died in our place as the Lamb of God. That is why He came as a human. 

Thank You for washing us so clean that we are without even a trace of a shadow of sin, completely pristine, so that You could come into us as Your Spirit to live permanently with us, never to leave or forsake us. He is our sealing wax, and our promise of everything else You have planned for us. 

Thank You for having me be born as a human, also, to be in Your own family, instead of an angel or any other sentient being. We will sit with You in Your throne, under the authority of Your Son. After we learn all the lessons and pass all the tests here. 

And Your Kingdom will never stop growing more extensive and expansive. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, is God the Son, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!




 

The Adoption As Sons

Ephesians 1: 5-6 

He predestined us 

This refers to the final destination God has planned for us to reach. 

to adoption as sons 

This will take a little explaining. The word translated adoption here, huoithesia, does not refer to what we consider to be the definition of the word. This concept refers to the Roman legal pronouncement of a child, either born or taken into the family by other means, to be the responsible adult who has been prepared and is ready to assume authority in the family business to sign contracts and receive profits.

We are also "adopted" into His family in the sense that we were born into the human family first, then brought into God's family. But it means so much more than this. We are actually "born again" spiritually into His family, rather than just pronounced judicially as His children, as an "adoption" would mean.

This means that the final destination God has destined us for is to have the responsibility to manage His family business, His Kingdom.

through Jesus Christ to Himself, 

We will be sitting in the throne, the authority, of Jesus Christ who is King, who sits in His Father's throne, who has given Him His authority to be Lord over all creation. 

according to the kind intention of His will, 

In His incomparable, unconditional Love for us, He has always intended that we would be His own children, to allow us to fail and to rescue us and cleanse us and grow us up. He planned it all from before the beginning.

to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 

God wanted to give us all the benefits of this, and to accomplish it all for us in His glorious grace, which He lavished on us freely. He could do this because He places His own Spirit in us, causing us to be born spiritually into His family, as brothers and sisters to the Son of God, the Beloved. So we also, as His body and His bride, are in the Beloved, and God the Father Loves us as He Loves the Son. 

This is something that I cannot fathom, I just cannot get my puny mind around this eternal fact. That God Himself would consider me as precious as God the Son is something that is far beyond my comprehension. But it is something that I can enjoy, and trust that He will bring it about, so I can see the Light at the end of the tunnel!

This gives me hope that no matter what is going on in my life right now, even if life is pressing into me on all sides, I still can lift my head and keep on keeping on, placing my hand into His and following in His footsteps on the path He led me into, my feet firmly planted on the Rock of my Salvation.

O my Father, You alone are my Source and my Supply of everything I have and need to have and know and be able to do. It is Your power and Your ability that You have given me, so that I will be able do Your will, according to Your plan and Your design; to accomplish all Your tasks as Your hands and feet, so that the praise of the glory will all redound upon You alone. 

Father, You have seen the end from the beginning, and no one is able to thwart Your plan. You will do everything You want to do, and it will all be finished perfectly, just as You want. And You are so good and gracious and generous, that You will reward us for what You are doing through us, giving us the joys and enjoyment of Your great bounty. 

And Your house will be filled, every place at Your grand Banquet Table will be occupied; and we will enjoy the fellowship of feasting with You forevermore! 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, Son of the Father, sovereign King over all Creation; to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Every Spiritual Blessing

Today we will begin to study through the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. 
The introduction alone has so much to consider! 

Ephesians 1 :1-4

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, 

Before Jesus Christ confronted him on that Damascus Road, Paul thought that these people who followed Him were blasphemers, and hunted them down to torture and martyr them. But God the Father sent His Son to bring him into faith. It was God's idea, not Paul's. 

to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 

The people who lived in the City of Ephesus were called Ephesians. And those who were saints were the ones who were faithful to Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ through their faith in Him. 

grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Father and the Son and the Spirit are one God, and have one will. All three, as God, grant His unearned favor to us, which gives us the peace of having no more rebellion against Him. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who has blessed us  

May God the Father be exalted, as He is the One who has given us such rich kindnesses.

with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 

God has lavished upon us His Love, along with all the wonderful spiritual gifts we could ever want or need, that will last forever, through Christ Jesus. 

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the Earth, 

Before God even began to create anything, He planned it all out; and He chose to make us His own children.

that we would be holy and blameless before Him. 

Knowing that Mankind would rebel against Him, He arranged for us to be able to die when Adam sinned, so that His Son could Redeem us, washing us in His blood so pristine clean that He could live in us; so we could be His kings and queens to assist His Son in ruling all He would create. So we are "holy"--separate from all the sinfulness of the world, and we are "blameless"--without blame, nothing can be blamed on us, as we have been cleansed thoroughly in the blood of the Lamb. 

This is the most incredible Truth! God was so clever that He made the human race to be able to both die and to live forever! That doesn't seem possible, but God is God, and has done everything both possible and impossible to make us into suitable beings to bear His family Name. 

God is perfect, and He's making us into perfect beings. Right now we're still here on His Earth that He made for us, living in the world we have built on it. While we're here, we're little children in school, learning the lessons and taking the tests to shape us into images of the character of Christ. We are stubborn beings, and sometimes we need to learn the same lessons over again several times until we are able to pass the test, and go on to the next lesson. 

Everything He allows to touch us is for the purpose of molding our characters, so that we will be appropriate rulers over God's creations. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth is our Messiah Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

The Picture Of The Tabernacle, Part 3

As we continue to study this most extensive of God's pictures, we will today consider the final piece of furniture in this Tabernacle, and all it means. 
 
This last piece of furniture is the most important, as it is the very Throne of God in the midst of His people. It is in the Most Holy Place, separated from the Holy Place by a curtain, or veil, which is also embroidered with the guarding cherubim. 

The high priest was the only one permitted into this Most Holy Place, only once a year, and only with the blood of the atoning sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. He was to burn the incense before he entered, so its smoke would cover and hide the Ark of the Covenant from his eyes as he went in to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat (Leviticus 16: 12-14).

This Ark of the Covenant is a wooden box, representing the humanity of Jesus; completely covered inside and out with the finest gold, showing His divinity (Exodus 25: 10-15). Inside this box Moses put what God told him to put into it: the Tables of the Testimony, the 10 Commandments (Exodus 25: 16); Aaron's rod that budded (Numbers 17: 8-11); and the pot of manna (Exodus 16: 31-34. See also Hebrews 9: 3-5). 

God had Moses preserve these three items so we could know the One who is the True Bread to nourish us, the great High Priest to intercede, and glorious liberty through the fulfillment of the Law. 

The lid on that box was made of solid gold, made in one piece with the cherubim that knelt on it, one at each end, bowing their faces toward the Ark, their wings overshadowing it (Exodus 25: 17-21). This is called the Mercy Seat, for it is here that the Lord God would meet with Moses to grant mercy to the people through the commandments (Exodus 25: 22). 

God's Presence came down to rest on the Mercy Seat between and above the cherubim. This Presence affected the Ark, making it dangerous to approach casually. 

Even when the Lord was not resting on it, it had danger about it. We see several times when God's rules were not followed, and the consequences: 

I Samuel 4:1 -6:16 tells us about when Israel was fighting the Philistines, and brought the Ark to the battlefield, using it as a good luck charm. They were defeated, and the Philistines took the Ark into their territory and put it as equal to their god Dagon with frightening results. And God "ravaged them and smote them with tumors" and they realized it was because of this Ark of God, so they made arrangements to send it back to Israel. God had protected His priests and Levites from these cancerous effects. 

And when some men in Beth-Shemesh disrespected it by looking into it, they were "struck down" (I Samuel 6: 16-21). 

And when King David wanted to bring the Ark back, he neglected to move it in the proper manner, by its poles, and "placed the Ark of God on a new cart." This resulted in Uzzah putting his hand on the Ark to steady it so it wouldn't tip over, and the power in the Ark struck him dead! Was he electrocuted? We don't know, but that really put a pall on the whole celebration (2 Samuel 6: 1-11). 

Then three months later, King David again moved it, this time by having the Levites carry it on their shoulders with the poles, as God had directed, and it was successfully delivered to the City of David to the tent that David had prepared for it (2 Samuel 6: 12-19). 

Even the camping arrangements of the children of Israel in the wilderness reflect this care God took to protect His people (see Numbers 2). The tribes  were to camp "around the tent of meeting at a distance." And the Levite families were to camp between the rest of the tribes and the Tabernacle, on the four sides of the compound. And when they traveled from place to place, they were to each take off in their order, with the priests and Levites surrounding the Ark, in turn surrounded by the rest of the tribes. Everything done in order, as set out in Numbers 1: 47-54. 

So we must have the proper respect and reverence for God, and do things His way that He has directed. It only makes sense to obey and follow the Manufacturer's Instructions, just as we consult and take care of our automobiles according to its owner's manual. 

God made sure that His people would not be in any danger from His Presence with them, and taught them what they needed to do to approach Him safely. And to show us what His Son accomplished in fulfilling this whole, complicated picture of the way of Salvation. 

O my Father, thank You that His blood did not just cover, but wash away all our sin, permanently, so that now we only need to wash in the water of the Word regularly to maintain that purity that allows You to live in us by Your Spirit. 

This shows us how powerful His blood is, to cleanse us so thoroughly that it is as though we'd never sinned! 

And Your care for us has written Your Law in our hearts, to love You and to love one another as You have loved us. And to remove the danger of approaching Your holiness without complicated procedures. 

Teach us to understand the process by which You have Redeemed us from our vale of tears, into the joy of Your Salvation.

Father, help us to realize Your greatness and Your holiness and Your separateness from everything You made. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus the Son is our Christ and Messiah, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!