STANDARDS!

Overlooking the River Thames is the grand dame of time-keeping, The Royal Observatory in Greenwich. King Charles II commissioned the institution in 1675, creating the position of Astronomer Royal, and until the mid-fifties of this century, Greenwich Mean Time was based upon the time calculated at this observatory. The standard! The Royal Observatory was officially appointed as the bearer of the standard at the 1884 International Meridian Conference because most of the world’s charts and maps were already respecting Greenwich as the location of the Prime Meridian (longitude 0˚). The standard!

To help the rest of the world synchronize their watches and clocks to GMT, a “time ball” was installed in 1833; the globe still drops daily to pinpoint the exact instant that it turns 13:00 hours. The standard!

Advances in technology and the desire for a more stable and universal standard have led to the establishment of International Atomic Time (TAI, Temps Atomique International), a weighted average of the time kept by about 300 atomic clocks (mostly Cesium) in over 50 national laboratories across the world. We’ve got to have a standard! And the right one!

And that goes for more than time (or weight or length, for that matter). There are things in life that need precise definition, things more important than hours and kilos and miles. Things that have eternal value. The standard of measurement that discriminates between right and wrong, good and bad, holy and sinful.

There is only One. And He is God. And He doesn’t change. The standard of righteousness.

Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
Revelation 15:4

His is the standard God requires us to maintain!

Therefore you are to be perfect,
as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48

An absolute impossibility for sinners—you and I and all mankind.

There is none righteous,
not even one;
there is none who understands,
there is none
who seeks for God;
all have turned aside …;
there is none who does good,
there is not even one.
… for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
Romans 3:10–12, 23

What an indictment!

But, Oh! the grace of God.

God, being rich in mercy,
because of His great love
with which He loved us,
even when we were dead
in transgressions,
made us alive
together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved).
Ephesians 2:4–5

For the Lord Jesus Christ took our sins to the cross, becoming sin for us, that all who believe might be saved.

He made Him [Christ]
who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become
the righteousness of God
in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

So that we might “have” the righteousness that God demanded! The Great Exchange. So that we might be …

… justified [declared righteous]
as a gift by His grace
through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:24

For the believer who has placed his/her trust in Christ as Savior, this exchange is complete. Standard met. Demand fulfilled. Salvation procured. Life assured. Praise God!

… thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory
through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57

And now, again, God calls us to live lives of holiness in response to the incredible and awesome salvation that He has achieved for us.

… like the Holy One
who called you,
be holy yourselves also
in all your behavior;
because it is written,
“You shall be holy,
for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:15–16

By His grace, in His strength, for His glory, we shall.