God's Immutable Mark of Love

"Awake! Awake! Put on strength, oh arm of the Lord. Awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old! Art though not the one that hath cut [Egypt], and wounded the dragon? Art thou not the one who hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?" Isaiah 51:9, 10

The underlying mythos of Israel was the Exodus. It shaped their very view of God: His character, His ways, and His relationship to them. Consequently, it shaped the way they viewed all of their circumstances. Every captivity, every conquest by foreign invaders, was to be viewed as another sojourn in Egypt, another chance to see the wondrous power of God.

The underlying mythos of the Church is the Cross. All of our days are to be seen through that lens (Psalm 118:22-24). It is the objective reality that is to shape our view of God. Like the Exodus, it too speaks of His character, His ways, and His relationship to the world. The groundwork of understanding who God is to begin with the Cross, and the Cross as it is revealed by the Scriptures; all other notions must be dominated by that one theme.

That one theme should dominate all of our life as well. The Cross stands to silence all criticisms of God's character and all doubts that lurk in the hearts of men. Any fears we have, all distresses or preoccupations, must be laid to rest at the foot of the Cross, God's immutable mark of love upon the world.

"Holy spike that shattered the world,

May I hide myself in Thee..."

-Jon Vowell