December 15

---

‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). Romans 10:6-7

---

🔊 The redemptive work of Christ stretches from the highest throne of holiness and bliss to the deepest hell of God-forsaken misery that human beings could ever imagine.  We know so little of these extremes.  We know little of where we came from, or how we were individually made.  There is mystery on every side.  But these verses tell us that Christ has come down from on high, and has plumbed the depths of sin and death and hell.  As one poet put it:

“Dying Jesus, going down,
Deeper than a man can drown,
Deeper, darker, further, far,
Than ever fell the morning star.
Jesus Lord! My spirit saith:
‘Bury me within thy death!’ ”

Here is the marvellous love of God that reaches us wherever we are, and lifts us to know the life and the love that are His for eternity.  There are conflicts too severe for our human minds, there are choices too heavy for us to bear, but Jesus made the whole matter easy for us.  We must choose Him and embrace Him who reached down and paid the price for our redemption.  Thank God that there is a Saviour who takes all the burden and enables us to partake of that immense life that spans the creation, and redeems us from sin.