Mine Again!

I am remembering a story a youth leader told us when we were teenagers. It is about a young boy, in Scotland, whose grandfather, a master wood carver, was teaching him how to diligently craft from wood a small boat. The boy worked hard, detailing his model with masts and ropes, and his mother handmade perfect sails.

One day the young boy took his finished boat to the creek to proudly sail it. It had been a rainy week and before he knew it, the usual gentle currents of the creek were rushing away downriver to join other creeks on their way to the sea. He lost his boat!

A few years later, while walking through shops in Edinburgh, he spied his little boat -- it was his, no doubt, even the initials he had carved into its deck attested to that!

He cried out, "That's my boat!" And the shop keeper replied, "Well, son, that might have been your boat, but right now it is mine and you'll have to pay for it if you want it back!"

So he did. He purchased back his boat, because in order to possess it again, he had to pay the required price. He wasn't even given a discount! Full price!

The point? Of course, that's what God did. He made us, crafted His image into us, and when we wandered away, He had to pay a great price to get us back.

A simple story with profound meaning.

The story will be retold in eternity.

Picture God sitting on the throne, and Christ, the 'Lamb slain from before the world' standing beside Him.

The elders "fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives for ever and ever. They lay down their crowns before the throne and say:

You are worthy, our Lord and God,
To receive glory and honor and power
For you created all things,
And by your will they were created
and have their being.
Revelation 4:10-11

And then,

I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne...He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb...And they sang a new song (Revelation 5:6-10):

You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals
Because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and
language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
And they will reign on the earth.

So they gave their praise and worship to the God who created everything, and then they gave it to the Lamb who purchased His kingdom back!

Back to original ownership - signed sealed and delivered.

Now let's picture ourselves there!