According To His Works - Romans 2:6-11

Romans 2:6-11 ESV 

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

How do we participate in the salvation of God? Is anything required of us? Paul tells here that patience, endurance, and perseverance in faith, will lead to eternal life. The idea of the need for our work is confirmed throughput Scripture. We are called to run a race and persevere to the end.

The difference is between seeking God, or self seeking. Everyone will be judged based on the truth and that truth is that same for everyone. It is important that we all seek the truth of God and walk in the light of that truth. We all will stand or fall according to the standard of God's truth. 

Our fruit is not a "nice to have" option, but a requirement. The fruit of the Spirit will manifest in the life of the believer in increasing amounts. We are not perfect, but in a state of transformation. That transformation is our journey, our race to the Father. 

The Firstborn - Exodus 13:15-16

Exodus 13:15-16 ESV 

For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

Being the firstborn could be a good or bad thing depending on which family you choose. The firstborn of God's sons find the redemption of God. Rejecting His offer of grace can result in the sacrifice which is lot of every natural man. 

The Israelites received the mark of God on the outside as sign of their distinction from the world. The Church receives the mark of God on the inside through the giving of the Holy Spirit. He is written on our hearts by His indwelling of the heart of each believer. 

A Holy Nation - Exodus 19:4-6

Exodus 19:4-6 ESV 

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter calls the Church a royal priesthood and a chosen people. Israel bears that title. A remnant of Israel will fulfill that promise made to Abraham long ago. They will be joined with the Church, even as we have been grafted into their tree of promise. From God's view there are no Jews or Gentiles. There is only a people chosen by God, united in one Spirit. There is no distinction between male and females. We are all sons of God. A holy nation. 

A Dwelling Place - Ephesians 2:18-22

Ephesians 2:18-22 ESV 

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The holy temple is the household of God. The Israelites and the Church are together built as the one dwelling place for God. The word of the prophets and the gospel proclaimed by the apostles serve as foundation of this house, all speaking the word of God who is the Christ. He is the cornerstone. It is for Him and by Him that all things are made. 

We are built together into the one house. The Bible gives an account of a single story, of the great and wonderful thing God is doing as we move to a new creation. That day of eternal rest is at hand. 

A Terror - Jeremiah 34:17

Jeremiah 34:17 ESV 

“Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Three of the four horsemen in Revelation find illumination here in Jeremiah. It is the punishment of Israel for breaking the covenant. The seals have been broken and the trumpets blown. Israel has been under the yoke of oppression for thousands of years. They have been re gathered as the Lord said He would. 

The fear of God and Israel has yet to take place for the nations. The cup of trembling has yet to be tipped. The nations gather round the promised land and tremble not. The glory of the Lord will be seen and they will know that He is God.  

So Shall Your Offspring Be - Romans 4:18-19

Romans 4:18-19 ESV 

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

Abraham's hope went beyond a reasonable hope. God can do immeasurably more than we can hope for or can imagine. He placed his faith in the One Who can do all things. 

We are as good as dead until God causes the barrenness of our body to receive the seed of the word. The offspring is a spirit reborn into the life of God. We become the offspring of many nations that come together in faith to receive the promise of our Father. 

Took The Body - John 19:39-40

John 19:39-40 

Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

Luke 2:7 ESV 

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

He came into the world and was wrapped in strips of cloth as a baby, called swaddling cloths. His body was wrapped with linen strips for burial. He would rise to be clothed in  a linen garment of the whole cloth of righteousness. 

He received myrrh as a gift from the wise men, and was prepared for burial with myrrh. 

His coming and going was for one reason: to die for us that we might live. The Lord bound His life in the wrapping of our humanity to wrap our mortal bodies with the eternal life of the divine.