Recapturing Excellence

By Kenneth Ryland

“We have heard many times the scripture that refers to “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.” Have you ever thought about what that means?

Excellency has to do with surpassing the current standard, exceeding the norm. That is certainly true of Jesus’ work on this earth. The norm was for a man or woman to present an animal to the priest for sacrifice to atone for sins. But, Jesus presented Himself. He not only exceeded the norm; He surpassed it to the ultimate. After His sacrifice, no other was necessary. In doing so, He took upon Himself the very worst of every man and every woman, so that they might be freed from the penalty of their own sins and cleansed to the core of their being. The exchange was that God would die for man — the highest and best for the lowest and worst. There is no more excellent thing in all of God’s creation than this.

This is our example, and I use it to show the quality of God’s work as well as the efficacy of it. All the work that God has ever done for mankind has this same mark of excellence, this unsurpassed quality. It is forever both thorough and complete. There is nothing lacking in it…”

(this article is an excerpt from the March-April 2002 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 3, click this link: https://biblesabbath.org/tss/494/tss_494.pdf