In pursuit of perfection

“And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” – This was the Bible text the Chief Apostle used on 30 July 2023 in Neunkirchen, Germany.

The background: Jesus had just performed a miracle. And the people of the time marvelled at this. Their astonished cry— “He has done all things well”—can mean two things for people today:

• “This is a sign: now salvation has come. Now the Saviour is here,” explained Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider. After all, the healing of the deaf and mute was something that Prophet Isaiah had already foretold in association with the arrival of the Messiah.
• For us as Christians, this is a reference to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. After all, this notion of doing things well—which is even rendered as “making things very good” in other translations—is associated with the first account of the creation. At that time, God looked at everything that He had made, and saw that it was very good.

“Everything that Jesus does is perfect,” explained the Chief Apostle.

A perfect life: “Jesus Christ was perfect in His obedience. To the very last, He remained true and obedient to His Father. He remained without sin. I admire Him: He always made the right decisions, always had the best answers, always had the best reactions, always chose the best way.”

A perfect sacrifice: “It is precisely because He was without sin that He brought a perfect sacrifice—once for all—and this sacrifice is eternally valid for all human beings.”

A perfect victory: “He broke the power of the evil one. Of course, evil is still at work today, but its power is limited. The end of the story has already been written: Jesus Christ wins! The devil—the evil one—can do whatever he wants, but he has already been beaten!”

Perfect redemption: “This is not just an alleviation of pain, not just compensation for some damage that we have suffered here and there. There will no longer be any deficiency, there will no longer be anything burdensome: everything will be perfect, forever and ever! He not only does this for our souls, but for soul, spirit, and body! We will receive a new body and we will be in His kingdom as a whole person.”

A perfect work: He does not force anyone to accept salvation. Rather, “He inspires within us both the desire and the ability to fulfil it.” On the one hand, “He works on our souls and proves His love to us. The more we grasp His love, the greater our desire and willingness will be. However, the Lord Jesus tells us, ‘I will help you. I am with you. And I will grant you perfection—by My grace.’”

Perfect righteousness: “His salvation, His sacrifice, His gospel is perfect. This means that it applies to all human beings. And with this gospel, with His sacrifice, He can redeem all human beings. He will see to it that all human beings—both here on earth and in the beyond, and even in the coming kingdom of peace—will have the opportunity to come to Him by the Last Judgement at the latest.”

“How do we now react to this? Asked the Chief Apostle, before going on to provide the following answers:

• Follow: “If I have understood that the Lord Jesus does all things well, shouldn’t it be my wish: “I want to do the same?”
• Trust: “Whatever He does, He does well. Even when we do not understand Him, we trust Him. He will always give us whatever we need in order to be redeemed.”
• Love: “All things work together for good to those who love God. Our sole concern should be: I want to love God more, and more deeply!”
• Wait: “Today we cannot grasp and see everything in this way. But please be patient. In the end it will be revealed to all: the Lord has done all things well.”
• Begin: “No matter what has happened in your life, no matter what you did or did not do, it is not too late: God can make everything well—everything! He grants you His full grace. He grants you the opportunity to make a new start. Let us lay hold of this grace!”

“Now it all comes down to your own will,” emphasised Chief Apostle Schneider. “Think about God’s love for you. Consider the goal, consider the perfect redemption that He holds in store for you, and ask yourself the question: “Do I really want this?” If that is the case, God says, “No problem: I will make all things well!”