Redemption by Christ is the spinal cord of the Bible. Every promise of God in the Old Testament is built on facts, especially one great fact, developed in the New. From first to last it is God in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing to them their sins, and Him that knew no sin, for us He hath made sin, that we might be made the justice of God, in Him. It is God in Christ, treating with man, every when and everywhere. On the basis of the atonement completed on Calvary, God meets with man, and pleads with him in that promise: If your sins be as scarlet they shall be made white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be made white as wool. If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. Strike out the record of the Passion and Death of the Incarnate word, and there is no meeting point of man and God. God would not have pronounced forgiveness; man could not believe in it; nor could Heaven rejoice over it. But now, God, as a Father, taking man as a penitent to his bosom, quickens, renews, and saves. A new heart he can and does give, and a new life. The soul made anew after the image of the Saviour, to be born at length, through all the travail and sorrow of present discipline into the sunlight of the eternal world. The carrying on and completion of the work of redemption in man individually is the office of the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete; a promise of God, resting for fulfillment on the atonement of the Son, as the Son Himself assured us. I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete that may abide with you for ever. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Eternal One, Almighty Trine,
Since Thou art ours, and we are Thine,
By all Thy love did once resign,
By all the grace Thy heaven's still hide,
We pray Thee keep us at Thy side,
Creator, Saviour, strengthening Guide.
- text taken from Daily Bread - Bring a Few Morning Meditations for the Use of Catholic Christians by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp