We considered last week that in His death, the Lord Jesus put all ungodly violence to death. When the lion lies down with the lamb, it will be the outworking of His passion and sacrifice. When they no longer hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain, it will be because of the death He suffered on that small mountain rise called Calvary.
That is what God has done, laying the foundation of all His purposes and plans. But let us speak for a moment about the privilege He has given to us, the privilege of extending His work in the world. We are called and chosen instruments—not for establishing this work, but rather for extending and applying it. Jesus died, and His death was once for all.
But we go out into the world, prepared to die, not because our deaths are foundational to God’s purposes, but rather because our readiness to die is His instrument for extending what He has already done. This is why Paul can say that he fills up the afflictions of Christ in his body (Col. 1:24). When Christ cried out that it is finished, the foundational work was indeed finished. But the application work had just started. When we gather around this Table as we ought to do, prepared to overflow with grace to our brothers and sisters, we do so because we are applying the death of Jesus to one another. We are giving it as a gift, and it is, of course, not ours to give, at least not in our own name. But the Lord gave it to us, and He did so with this in mind. So come, partake together.
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