The Third Way

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28 ESV). God makes his first appearance as King in the first chapter of the Bible. There, we find him first exercising his creative authority and then delegating it. He begins by separating light from darkness, sky from sea, and land from water. Then, he provides rulers for each realm, climaxing in humankind, who are given authority over all of creation. They must “fill the earth and subdue it,” joyfully continuing the creative process in accordance with God’s will. When a king delegates authority over a territory to a governor, he expects the governor to faithfully represent and execute his will. But what if the governor refuses to submit to the king? The king has two clear choices: either surrender the territory, or replace that governor with another. God was faced with the need for a decisive action when his “governors” failed to execute the will of their King. He was unwilling that the territory would be ceded to man or the devil. That option was not ever a real consideration. He ruled out replacing them even before they would be created. God knew of their coming failure and still gave them the responsibility of governing. He had to create another choice. And, so he did. God found a third way of dealing with his failed, rebellious human “governors” of earth: he became one of them and then ruled faithfully on their behalf. When a certain man traveled about first-century Israel proclaiming that God was personally taking charge again, and then rode into Jerusalem past cheering crowds as if he himself were about to claim the throne, he wasn’t getting things mixed up in his head. That was precisely what was happening! In the next few weeks as we approach Christmas, we will look at some of the specific things that resulted from the third choice God put into action. Today we should recognize the incredible sacrifice that choice required. Jesus took on the weakness of flesh so that he might prove himself worthy to be the sacrifice for all of mankind’s redemption. We are saved for no other reason than Jesus loved us. And, he loves us still. Thank you Lord for choosing our redemption!