Tuesday, March 31, 2015 Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
[Continued from yesterday]God has in his mercy shown us a completely different way. “Men cannot come up to me, so I will go down to them.” And now God descends to us men... This act of becoming man begins at Christmas and ends on Good Friday...God really goes to the end. He reaches the goal. To be sure, this end is exactly the opposite of what we fix as a goal. We wish to climb up to heaven; God, however, descends—down to where? To death on the cross... This is why Jesus Christ had to descend into hell. He had to go the way to its very end. The rightful end of man is hell, that is, banishment away from God—Godforsakenness. There only has God completely come to us, there where he has taken upon himself everything, even the cursed end of our way... Jesus Christ has gone into hell in order to get us out of there. For along with everything he does, that is his goal, that he may get us out, bind us to God, reconcile us with God, and fill us with God’s Spirit. He had to despair of God for us so that we do not have to despair of God... He has taken all that upon himself so that we may become free of it.
... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), I Believe in the Living God: sermons on the Apostles’ Creed, Westminster Press, 1960, p. 80-83
(see the book; see also Isa. 53:2; Ps. 22:1; Isa. 49:14; 53:3-6; 1 Pet. 3:18-20; more at Christmas, Cross, Death, Despair, God, Good Friday, Hell, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, Jesus, Reconciliation, Revelation)
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.
Last updated:
04/15/16
Fun stuff
Tweet this
CQOD is now available to include on your personal home page, blog, or church web site—perfect for a sidebar.
To display CQOD on your web site, updating daily, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/"></script>
To display this particular quotation on your web site, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/index-03-31-15.js"></script>
For more information, see CQOD Web Home
|
Welcome to the CQOD home page. This page changes daily, publishing a different
quotation each day, so return here often. Many people use this page as their browser home page. Bookmark this page by pressing cntl-d.
means text and bibliography have been verified.
CQOD makes numerous features and links available. Here are some important links to help you get around:
Previous day’s CQOD (Brunner)
Following day’s CQOD (van Gogh)
This month’s CQODs
CQOD for today
CQOD on the go!
Use our double opt-in listserve to receive CQOD by email
CQOD daily index
All monthly archives
What’s New on CQOD
Author index
Title index
Poetry index
Scripture index
Subject index
Search CQOD (or see below)
CQOD Blog
CQOD RSS
Facebook CQOD Fan Page
Follow CQOD on Twitter
Follow CQOD on Instagram
About CQOD
CQOD on the Web
CQOD FAQ
CQOD Liturgical Calendar
Mere Christianity: a conversation
Simple Songs for Psalms
Quotations Bible Study
Essays Archive
Bookworms
Spotlights
Publications:
Jonah: a miracle play
Ruth: a play
Also visit these organizations:
Arab Vision
Crescendo
Oratorium
More devotionals
Search CQOD:
|