Jesus’ Excellency and Exceptional, Extravagant Love and Plan!
[Editor’s Note: Nancy Wilson writes with the passion and conviction of the Apostle Paul. Her focus today is the person and presence of Jesus Christ. Her call and challenge to all Christians in today’s blog post is to live in remembrance of our unique status, and rejoice in our victory in Jesus.]
My beloved brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
I write to you who have been ravished by our Savior’s intimate love and sacrifice on your behalf. He has purchased us with His very own blood and willingly laid down His life so we could belong to Him forever and ever!! Oh, what a wonder this is, that He has chosen us to be His Beloved Bride for all eternity! It is still such a holy mystery! How can we possibly comprehend this?
What does this mean for us as His Church in the last days? How can we shine with the fresh revelation of this love that surpasses all human understanding?
Comfort in Turmoil
In these days of such global turmoil and suffering for believers around the world, my heart has been freshly gripped with the need for the flame of first love for Jesus to consume us with His passion and purpose! My comfort is knowing that He has purchased me, and I am no longer my own. I belong to Him. As the apostle Paul reminds us:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal.2:20, NIV).
What a life-altering truth! Jesus now lives in each of us—body, soul, and spirit—to accomplish all His purposes within and through us, individually and as His Body, the Church!
Paul also recognized that God had set Him apart from His birth and called Him by His grace so that He could reveal His Son JESUS in Him! He recognized that His preaching was ordained so that JESUS could be made known to the Gentiles. He also eloquently teaches us in the book of Ephesians about our lofty position in Christ! How many of us are strengthened by this revelation of oneness with JESUS, our beloved Savior and King?
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in CHRIST JESUS (Ephesians 2:6-7, NIV, emphasis added).
The Coming King
When I contemplate this mystery, which has its ultimate consummation in our Lord’s bringing together of both Jew and Gentile to be “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15) who displays His glory and beauty together, I stand in awe and gratitude. This plan is His, and I can bask in the supremacy of JESUS CHRIST, our soon-coming KING!
Our role is to display Jesus’ love, compassion, grace, mercy, power, and victory in our passion for HIM. It is not for us to achieve, but to receive the filling of the Holy Spirit and all He gives us with humility and reverent fear of God, our Father, who has brought all of this about!
The Bride of Christ
As history unfolds with clarity and consummation, we understand Isaiah’s prophetic picture of Jerusalem as the “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God.”
Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride. Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isaiah 62:4-5, NLT).
Rejoice, my dear brothers and sisters! Because we are one with Jesus, we can completely fulfill our calling to be united with Him to bring forth His awesome plan for the ages, culminating with His reign forever as King! Let us rule and reign with Him now as He prepares us for all eternity! He will pour forth His glory and power through us as His holy vessels filled only with JESUS CHRIST! Many will see and come to know that He indeed is LORD of ALL!
Loving and living His life, with and for His glory,
His Beloved Bride, Nancy
About the Author
With over 30 years of ministry experience, Nancy Wilson is a dynamic speaker and author who combines a zest for life and a love of people. She now serves as Global Ambassador for Cru and Spokesperson for StoryRunners, a mission to reach the 70 percent of the world’s population who are oral learners. Nancy has written several books, among them The King and I: An Intimate Love Song to the Nations (includes a worship CD), which are available on her website.