Our Rightness With God

Christ is the reconciliation of God and humankind — God’s faithfulness to us and our faithfulness to God.

“God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We are made righteous, not by impartation or by imputation, but by Incarnation. Christ has taken upon himself our substance and made it his own — and that union is our reconciliation with God.

Christ Trampling Down Death, Bestowing Life

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life.

I love the icon of the Anastasis (Resurrection). Beneath the feet of Christ are the broken gates of Hades (the place of the dead) which could not prevail against him and his body, the Church.

See, at the bottom, that the “strong man” has been bound and his house has been plundered (Luke 11:21-22).

Christ has destroyed the one who held the power of death (that is, the devil) and set free those who were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15)

See Christ taking the hands of Adam and Eve, lifting them from their graves — and with them, all humankind. “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Rejoice! And believe the good news of the gospel.

Accepted in the Beloved

In the Incarnation,

God has judged us all,

and this is His verdict:

Accepted in the Beloved.

Joining Together Heaven and Earth

The Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ

and the Descent of the Holy Spirit

at Pentecost join together

Heaven and Earth.