The word of God is medicine. It is the true cure for the things that make us sick. It heals our wounds. But it is not only medicine. It is also food. It is also light. It nourishes our hope and our strength and our vision. And so, whenever you might be tempted to focus on one part of scripture (say, verses about fear and uncertainty, for instance), resist that temptation. Instead, continue feeding yourself a steady diet of all that God says, even while you continue to apply targeted medicine-verses to particular, current struggles. Along those lines, today I wanted to share these thoughts from John Calvin on what a powerful covering the righteousness of Christ is. This is a helpful meditation on Psalm 32 and Romans 4:7 (“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered”). Calvin writes:
Christ’s righteousness, which as it alone is perfect and alone can bear the sight of God, must appear in court on our behalf, and stand surety in judgment.
Furnished with this righteousness, we obtain continual forgiveness of sins in faith.
Covered with this purity, the sordidness and uncleanness of our imperfections are not ascribed to us, but are hidden, as if buried, that they may not come into God’s judgment, until the hour arrives when, the old man slain and clearly destroyed in us, the divine goodness will receive us into blessed peace with the new Adam.
There let us await the Day of the Lord in which, having received incorruptible bodies, we will be carried into the glory of the Heavenly Kingdom. (1 Corinthians 15:45)
(Institutes III.14.12)
Furnished with this righteousness. Covered with this purity.
Friends, there are more dangerous things in this universe than any virus. Sin is a dark weight which will drag me down to eternal darkness. Impurity is a disease which will kill me forever. Separation from God, for even a moment, is more terrible than any quarantine. If we must be alone in a room, let us have it filled with his presence. If we must catch a virus, may we be cleansed from all sin. If we must be at risk, may our eternity be secure. And may the fact that Christ has already destroyed our greatest enemy always strengthen our hearts. Nothing worse can befall us than what befell him on the cross—and he has taken that penalty out of our way. He faced it so that it may never face us. Whatever else may come, those truths are worth their weight in eternal gold. Let us rest in them now, and we will praise him forever that they are true.
There let us await the Day of the Lord in which, having received incorruptible bodies, we will be carried into the glory of the Heavenly Kingdom.