Lenten Devotional (33), A Postmillennial Response to Jeremy Sexton & My Palm Sunday Composition
Athanasius: “Even on the cross, He did not hide Himself from sight; rather, He made all creation witness to the presence of its Maker.”
“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy.” (Ps. 5:11)
Every time heaven breaks through our daily lives, we rejoice. It breaks through with tremendous regularity in significant events, like the birth of a child, the provision of our financial needs, recovering from a deathly illness, or whatever it may be. We see heaven given to us regularly.
But heaven also breaks through in many little things, like a child's response to God's wisdom, the comfort of a sunny day, a note, or a word of encouragement. Are we responding to that joy when heaven breaks through?
It is common for people to talk to one another to report the sad details of other people’s lives; it is not so common to rejoice in the details of other people’s lives. We need more of that. We need to be genuinely joyful over the joy of others. As Augustine observed: “The good that we desire for ourselves, we desire for our neighbor also.” Instead of lamenting the joy of others, let us rejoice in their well-being. Our lack of joy may stem from our lack of joy for other people’s joy.
Prayer: O, Lord, be gracious to us and show us the joy of rejoicing with others. Take away our anger and jealousy and make us happy to see the godly prosperity of our neighbor through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Notations
Athanasius: “Even on the cross, He did not hide Himself from sight; rather, He made all creation witness to the presence of its Maker.”
All of Holy Week is a tribute to creation and the restoration of creation. Jesus enters surrounded by trees and branches and dies on a tree crowned by twisted branches/thorns.
We were honored at Kuyperian Commentary to publish Rev. Ralph Smith’s monumental response to Jeremy Sexton. Ralph argues persuasively that postmillennialism is the only eschatology that makes sense of the flow of redemptive history:
The victory of the Gospel is a victory through the Word, a victory often won paradoxically through humiliation and suffering, victory often with all the appearance of defeat. What is incumbent on Christians in our generation is faithfulness to Jesus and the Gospel, praying for the kingdom as Jesus taught us, living as obedient kingdom people worshiping the King, forgiving one another daily and eating and drinking the meal He gave us, and earnestly preaching the Gospel in all the world until all the nations bow down to Jesus in praise.
My new interview with Eschatology Matters is now available:
Here is a Palm Sunday tune I wrote a few years ago:
Lenten Blessings,
Uriesou Brito
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