I was immediately drawn in when he said this because although it is good, true, and important to discuss Christ’s work on the cross and how that applies to our sanctification, the believer also needs to hold fast to where Christ is now, interceding on our behalf at the right hand of the Father, and what he is going to do, return for his bride and reign with her on the new heavens and the new earth. All of this is good news, and helps us to strive for that eternal Sunday.

There has been much to say in books and blog posts about sanctification. This is a doctrine that is both important and practical for every Christian. As I’ve been listening to G.K. Beale’s lectures “Biblical Theology of the Gospels” on ITunes U, something he said in his first talk, and has been essentially expanding upon in all of them, connected once again while I sat under the preached Word last Sunday. Here is what Beale said:

“Eschatology is the key to your sanctification in the Christian life.”

He continued, “The better you understand eschatology, the better you are going to be able to live your spiritual life…The better you’ll understand God, and yourself, and your relationship to him, and what your purpose is.”

I was immediately drawn in when he said this because although it is good, true, and important to discuss Christ’s work on the cross and how that applies to our sanctification, the believer also needs to hold fast to where Christ is now, interceding on our behalf at the right hand of the Father, and what he is going to do, return for his bride and reign with her on the new heavens and the new earth. All of this is good news, and helps us to strive for that eternal Sunday.

In preaching on the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:7-15, my pastor opened up saying that Christ completely reorients our lives. He pointed out that from the beginning of the Lord’s prayer we see that we are to be zealous for God’s glory and honor. We are to have a zeal for his name, for who God is. We bear that name! So this zeal for God’s name affects our lives and witness.

Continuing in the prayer, we learn that we are to have a zeal for God’s power and his purposes. We pray for his kingdom to come and for it to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And here we are confronted again with the tension of the already and the not yet. Our new lives in Christ have begun, we are new creations. But as we are in the process of sanctification longing to rid ourselves from sin and death and to be glorified with our great Savior, we are completely dependent upon God’s grace.

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