I just finished reading the Olivet discourse: Matthew 24-25. In particular, this morning, Matthew 25. After Jesus has told them that He is coming again and it will be when no one expects it, He gives two parables and a warning. The parables are about being ready for Him to come. Both are about preparation, but the second is about stewardship. Jesus then explains that this stewardship of those who will live with Him forever and not be punished is worked out in deeds of justice and mercy.
The older I get (with some good teaching from the church, and the Holy Spirit's guidance through continual Scripture reading), the more I see that Micah 6:6-8 is a picture of the fruit of true conversion and a life with God:
“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Compare this with Matthew 25:31-46, and Jesus warning for the goats, and you can see the connection with the Holy Spirit's guidance.
Yet, as I have studied the rest of Scripture, of course, the mercy and justice does not save us, it just demonstrates that Jesus actually has saved us. Because, having been made alive by the Holy Spirit because of the application of Christ to us, we have a new heart that matches the heart of God.
And what is God's heart and character? It can be found in Exodus 34:6-7:
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
If you don't have this heart, God offers to remake yours into this through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.
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