The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers . . . Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Deut. 7:6-8; 9:6
Dear heavenly Father, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about our coming life in the new heaven and new earth. The more I’m aware of my brokenness–and the brokenness all around me, the more I long for the staggering inheritance you’ve promised your children.
The more I ponder images of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-22:6), the more I experience doxological overload. A life devoid of chaos and evil and permeated with beauty and wholeness, has never looked so good; and it’s all ours, only because of your sovereign delight and generosity.
We’re your treasured people because you chose to make us your treasure. We’re not a choice people; we’re a chosen people. Apart from the gospel we’d still be rebelling against you and trying our best to ignore you.
But you set your love upon us in eternity and revealed your great affection towards us in history, when you gave Jesus for us. And we wouldn’t love Jesus unless you’d given us a new heart by the Spirit and the faith we need to receive eternal life. The only reason we’ll enjoy life in the ultimate land—the new heaven and new earth—is because of the righteousness of Jesus. Apart from Jesus’ righteousness, we have none.
We’re still a stubborn people, in desperate need of more and more grace. Our stubbornness is seen most clearly in our refusal to believe the gospel; in the ways we still run to “broken cisterns”; and in our multiplied failures to love each other as Jesus loves us.
Father, by the same grace you justified us, sanctify us—make us like Jesus. By the same Spirit who brought new life to our hearts, extend new life through us into the world. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ triumphant and loving name.
