Covenant Reminder, Chicago, IL
There are accounts scattered throughout ancient cultures of a great cleansing flood which destroyed most of mankind that had devolved into an unredemptive state of depravity. The great flood in the Old Testament Genesis account is one of these significant accounts of divine retribution where God had become so aggrieved that he set out to destroy all creation. Fortunately, Noah and his family found favor in the eyes of our Creator and the future destiny of mankind was secured—but not until all others were lost. God subsequently established a covenant with Noah and his family to never again flood the entire earth and the rainbow was designated as an eternal reminder. Later He established a covenant with Israel to be the means of salvation for all nations.
We then fast forward to the good doctor Luke’s New Testament account of a new covenant for all people through the birth of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Every birth is a miracle of life, but this birth was God in the flesh. One of my favorite contemporary Christmas songs asks, “Mary did you know when you’ve kissed your little baby, you’ve kissed the face of God”? After all, Messiah means “God with us”. Thankfully, it would seem that God took on a radically different mission this time. Instead of destroying His creation, He chose to personally provide for its redemption, while still leaving us in a broken world that tests our free will choices every waking day of our lives. The divine presence within human flesh that entered the world in Israel over two thousand years ago not only taught us mortals how to live with unconditional love, but willingly went to the cross as a blood sacrifice to save our spiritual souls. And the cross has remained as an eternal reminder since that very Black Friday.
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