Victim Divine, Your Grace We Claim, LBW 202
1 Victim Divine, your grace we claim,
As here your precious death we show;
Once offered up, a spotless lamb,
In your great temple here below,
You did for humankind atone;
And now you stand before the throne.
2 You stand within the holiest place,
As once for guilty sinners slain;
Your blood for sinners intercedes,
Redemption for the world to gain.
Your blood shall still our ransom be,
The payment made to set us free.
3 We have no need to go to heav'n
To bring the long-sought Savior down;
You are to all already giv'n,
And even now your banquet crown.
To ev'ry faithful soul appear,
And show your very presence here.
Devotion
We have no need to go to heaven to bring the long-sought Savior down
You are to all already given and even now your banquet crown.
To every faithful soul appear and show your very presence here.
Long before the Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle sang "Heaven is a place on Earth," Charles Wesley had figured it out.
While I am certainly interested in seeing the sights of the new heaven and the new earth, I am equally excited about walking in the garden with God TODAY. Immanuel means "God is with us." Heaven is living in the presence of God. We do that.
The overlap between the Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of God that Jesus ushered in with his death and resurrection is where we are now. I refer to this time as the "icky sticky middle." God's work, our hands, is a slogan that really works for me as we live into the new kingdom.
Please know that the icky sticky middle isn't always easy, but God never said it would be easy. God did say, however, that He would be with us.
He is! He lives!
Prayer
Thank you God. You have done are doing and will do amazing things in my life, starting with the cross on my forehead—a mark that claims me as your own from my baptism. Help us to know you, to feel your presence and to share this love. Amen.