Right Handed Mercy

As we gather here, we are partaking of Christ. This is presented to us under the forms of bread and wine, representing His passion on our behalf. But we are not being presented with a momentary Christ, a Christ limited to those few days at the end of His life.

No, we are presented with everything Christ is and has. We are presented with everything He has done in history, what He did for us on the cross, the glory of the moment when He left the tomb, the wonder of His ascension into Heaven and presentation before the Ancient of Days, His gracious outpouring of His Spirit, which brought His bride into union and communion with Him. Not only that, but we are united with Him in His glorious Second Coming.

As we consider the world outside of Christ, we see with them the perennial desire to be free of this Jesus. They do not want Him to rule over them. But we do want that, and we bring it to pass by worshiping His Father through Him and in His name, in the power of the Spirit. As we do this, we are anticipating by faith.

Anticipating what? We long for the day when Christ will be revealed to the entire created order as the one who has been given universal dominion. Every eye will see Him, and they mourn the one whom they pierced. They will acknowledge Him, with every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. They will bend the knee before Him, because He sits on a throne looking down upon the sons of men, and as He does so, by faith we see righteousness in His left hand and—glory to God—mercy in His right. Because mercy is in His right hand, we have good news to proclaim to a world that has not been consumed.

We are not coming here to a partial Jesus, or an incomplete Christ.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.