Mercies Old and New
I was journaling yesterday, thanking God for His mercies, new and old…
New mercies: electricity, sunrise, oranges and lemons waiting to be processed and preserved, Bonus Teen’s joy in helping and interest in learning, hugs and prayers with the Hub, strong machines to do laundry and dishes, abundant food and clean water, vegetables newly sprung from the earth, nest-building birds, hot coffee.
Ancient mercies: redemption’s plan (from before creation), ordered creation (air before there were creatures who breathed, water before there were plants, plants before there were animals who ate them), seasons and months, photosynthesis where light becomes bread and water births wine…
There I stopped, stunned by the thought that Jesus identifies Himself as the Light of the World and the Bread that comes down from heaven…
Through the wonderful biochemical process of photosynthesis light forms sugar, which is built into plant starches and cellulose, which are formed into plants, that produce seeds or grains which are ground into flour or meal and baked as bread. Jesus is the Beginning and the End of this process, because He is the Light and the Bread.
…and the Holy Spirit as the Living Water springing from our inner man when we come to Him, the Fountain of living water.
The water from heaven (a.k.a. rain) soaks the ground around the vines, is pulled up into the branches and released into the leaves (Hello again, photosynthesis!) and blossoms, eventually filling clusters of succulent orbs almost to the point of bursting with sweet goodness. Crushing the fruit releases the juice that becomes wine, with a little help from yeast and bacteria, and some time.
The first “sign” that Jesus did making Himself known as Messiah was to turn water into wine, but in a moment not a season; and at the last meal He ate before His death, He identified the wine as the blood of a new agreement between God and man (one that would break forever the power of sin to separate us), that is: His own blood about to be released in death.
This is an ancient mercy, having been in the works from before the beginning…
As we remember Jesus’ sufferings and death, and await the new morning of the Resurrection, join me in rejoicing, even through tears, that it was always God’s loving plan to rescue us from our sin and ourselves, knowing the cost to Himself.
Behold His great mercy toward us! And His unfailing love for us!
Praying that you will experience both of those!
Christi
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