Tag Archives: the forgiveness of sins

LUKE’S GOSPEL…THE PROMISE – 69

Bible Study, ,

“He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭24‬:‭44‬-‭47‬ NIV

On hindsight, all becomes clear! “Life is lived forwards but understood backwards!”

“This famous quote by 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaardhighlights the paradox of human existence: we can only find meaning in our experiences (struggles, joy, decisions) by looking back in hindsight, yet we must constantly make choices and move forward into the unknown future.” (Source: Google AI)

How well this quote fits the experience of the disciples! Why had they been so dull…so unbelieving…whenever Jesus had spoken of His impending death? Much as they had believed Him to be the Son of God, they could not make the connection between the Scriptures they were schooled in from childhood and the words Jesus spoke of His coming suffering and death. 

Their minds were clouded by the anticipation of a showdown with Rome. They fervently believed that Jesus could do it…like waving a magic wand and causing every vestige of Rome’s presence to disappear. 

How foolish! How childish! They had yet to grasp that Jesus was about sin! Not Rome! Sin…the great chasm between themselves and a holy God. Not all the blood of bulls and goats poured out in a sacrificial river, could ever be the bridge between themselves and the Father Jesus had mirrored. Only God Himself could provide the perfect sacrifice, and He, Jesus, was that sacrifice…the Father’s greatest gift of love.  

All the mysteries of Jesus’ words…His deeds…His actions…His eager move towards Jerusalem…the climax of all His prophetic utterances…the bloody, broken figure hanging on a cross…came together, in a flash, in His final revelation on the Mount of Olives. In a lightbulb moment of understanding, they saw it all! 

What joy! What celebration! What ecstasy of hope! The disciples, all eleven of them, were infused with an expectation that rose above mere human optimism. They had inadvertently lived and walked with the God of the universe, who had come to them in human form! Was this possible…but it was true!  

Jesus cautioned them, in their zeal, to wait. They must not rush off, in the heat of His disclosure, to fulfil a commission for which they were not yet prepared. Something more was needed than mere knowledge and enthusiasm. Their human energy must be controlled and directed by the indwelling presence of God Himself…to tame their fleshly nature and to provide the authority and power to fulfil so   great a task. 

The promise and coming of the Holy Spirit must fit perfectly into the fulfilment of the festivals God had required them to celebrate year after year. Seven feasts, in order, each one a picture of the Father’s great work of redemption. 

Their journey to the Promised Land, in all its phases, was a picture and a preparation for their spiritual journey through life. 

The feasts fulfilled…

The Sabbath…the weekly celebration of God’s rest…the exchange of useless self-effort for grace…God’s gift to those who believe.  

““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭8‬-11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Spring Feasts

Passover…the first of the annual feasts predicted…

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus…God’s Passover Lamb…

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Unleavened Bread…the removal of leaven, the symbol of sin… a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. 

“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Firstfruits…the promise of the harvest to come.  

“Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Pentecost…the celebration of the ingathering of the harvest… outpouring of the Holy Spirit…

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭28‬-‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭32‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It was all there…in the Scriptures!

The feasts yet to be fulfilled…

The Autumn Feasts

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 “The three fall festivals of Israel—the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teru’ah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles(Sukkot)—are considered prophetic and yet to be fulfilled. These feasts are generally understood to represent end-times events, including the second coming of Jesus, national repentance for Israel, and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom.” (Source: Google AI)

Since Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts, perfectly and in order, we can be sure that He will also fulfil the  autumn feasts. 

The disciples were to wait…for the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, who would come in His wisdom and power upon them first…and then upon all people…This was the birth of the church…Jesus’ body…His representative and agent to finish what He started. They were to begin where Jesus ended…to proclaim the New Covenant to fulfil and complete the Old. 

To be continued…

THE POWER OF THE CROSS – REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD

Gospel, ,

THE POWER OF THE CROSS  

REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. (Eph. 1: 7)

Everything that God has done for us flows from His grace but through the cross. I said yesterday that Jesus foretold the fact but did not give the reasons for His death. It was Paul who received the revelation from the Holy Spirit to explain the depth of meaning that the cross has for us.

Before we go any further, let’s sever, once and for all, the connection between Jesus’ death and Easter with all its pagan trappings. No self-respecting believer in Jesus should ever celebrate Easter (or Christmas, for that matter) because everything Easter and Christmas stand for are an intrusion into the truth.

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.’ (2 Cor. 6: 16)   

The death of Jesus is rooted in the Passover feast. God gave His people seven annual feasts to celebrate, in anticipation, the work of Messiah. Each feast foretold, in picture form, an aspect of what Jesus would do for His people. The first of the annual feasts was Passover which told the story of their redemption from Egypt. 

Just as the Israelites were slaves to their cruel taskmasters in Egypt, so humanity was enslaved by the devil when Adam chose to believe his lies over the truth of God. God created the first pair to be one with Him. He made them in His image and filled them with His Spirit (breath) so that they would enjoy fellowship with Him and live in perfect harmony with Him as their Father and with the world in which they lived.

God gave man one gift which put both Him and man at great risk – the gift of choice. Without the freedom to choose, people would be robots, programmed and controlled by their Creator. True freedom involves the right and power to make choices without the control of anyone else, including both God and the devil. 

Satan lured Adam and Eve into believing that God had short-changed them; that He had withheld from them something that would be to their benefit, independence. God never intended that freedom to choose would involve freedom to make the rules. The moment they capitulated to the devil, they were hooked. They did not understand that the depth of true freedom lay in their oneness with God, choosing to do His will and living in perfect harmony with Him because only He is truly free – from everything imperfect that enslaves the heart.  

They were enslaved to a nature that was corrupted and could no longer serve its purpose – to have fellowship with the Father in the perfection of His untainted nature. They had a new nature, stubborn, rebellious, and evil, and a new master – a cruel taskmaster who drove them through shame, guilt, and fear to hate God and to run from Him. They no longer recognised or experienced God as their Father, but they hid from Him because they were afraid of His wrath.

Their imperfection became an impenetrable barrier between God and them. They could not reach Him, and He could not reach them. They were enslaved, body, soul and spirit to the devil, and no amount of self-effort could remove the barrier.  Even if they tried to be perfect, their past disqualified them from access to Him.

God built into His instructions for living – His Torah – a sacrificial system which would teach His people how serious the problem of sin was, and that the death of a perfect lamb was demanded to pay the debt of sin and free the sinner from his enslavement to the devil. Animal blood was only a picture of redemption. It could never pay the debt God required, but it spoke of one who would come – a perfect Lamb who would be qualified to pay the debt and free humanity from the penalty of death.

Every year, the Israelites celebrated their redemption from slavery in Egypt in anticipation of the one God would send to redeem them from even greater slavery – slavery to sin and the devil.

When Jesus came, they refused to recognise Him or to acknowledge that He was God’s Messiah. He lived the life of a perfect Son before them, but they crucified Him. They did not realise that the very suffering they put Him through, in His life and in His death, qualified Him to be the perfect Lamb that would remove the barrier of sin between them and God and rescue them from slavery to the devil so that they could be restored to fellowship with the Father.

It was Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, who recognised Him to be that perfect Lamb.

The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ (John 1: 29)

Through His death, Jesus took sin away and broke its hold over the sinner. Satan can no longer hold us to ransom because the debt has been paid. He no longer has a claim on us. Jesus provides forgiveness for the whole world and for all time. Even the sins that lie in the future are taken care of by His blood.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2: 2)

This is the power of the cross!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands

Bible Study, , ,

HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Eph. 1: 7-10).

Let’s step back for a moment. Did Jesus die to forgive our sins? Yes! Did Jesus die so that we can go to heaven? For the moment, let’s say, “Yes”. But the story is much bigger than being about us. God’s plan is all-encompassing. It includes the entire universe, not just humans.

Before He created the first man, God said, “Let us make man in our image.” Although the “image” of God includes those attributes that we share with Him, attributes such as love, self-consciousness and free will, being created in His image includes much more than these. God wanted a species that could have fellowship with Him and be one with Him, just as the members of the Godhead are one in their love, their mutual submission and their purpose for creation.

Adam and Eve enjoyed oneness with God until they fell for the devil’s deception and declared independence from Him. Their rebellion incurred a huge, unpayable debt which alienated them from Him, making fellowship and unity impossible. They had become His enemies. Had they even wanted to be reconciled to Him, they could not, because of the barrier of unpaid debt that stood between Him and them.

But God’s plan was already in place before He formed the first man. Adam’s rebellion did not catch the all-knowing God unawares. Just as He chose us in Christ “before the creation of the world”, so also His Son was “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world (Rev. 13: 8).”  

From God’s perspective, the forgiveness of sins was not the be-all and end-all of salvation. It was a part of His plan to restore all things to their perfection and purpose when He created the universe. The sin of the human race stood in the way of completing what He had begun. There was only one way to remove it – a man who was without sin had to pay the price for the whole human race.

God revealed the enormity of His mercy by sending His own Son, in the likeness of man, to die as a substitute for humanity. Jesus came into a polluted and corrupt world and lived among people who were contaminated by sin. He refused to act independently of the Father in spite of the devil’s vicious campaign to get Him to declare independence from God. He submitted to the Father up to the moment of His death, committing His spirit to the Father with His final breath.

God was satisfied with Jesus’ perfect life and sacrificial death. He raised Him from the dead because there was nothing to hold Him in the grave. Jesus paid the debt; He unmasked and defeated the devil, proving once for all that He, not Satan, is Lord. The barrier of sin between God and man was finally demolished. There was nothing left to stand in the way of God’s purpose to bring everything in heaven and on earth together in unity under the authority and power of His Son.

God revealed to the world and to the devil who had tried to usurp Jesus’ position and authority as Lord that, through His Son, His plan was back on track.

All those who believe the truth that Jesus is Lord, receive the benefits of His death and resurrection – the forgiveness of sins and reinstatement as God’s sons and daughters in His family. God gives them the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit – the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead – whom He called, “the Spirit of adoption” or “the Spirit of sonship” (Rom. 8: 14-16).

That’s what it’s all about, dear readers. God’s original plan was to have a family of sons and daughters, created in the image of His Son, who are one with Him and who live together in obedience to Him and in harmony with one another. For what purpose? To put His glory on display for Satan and his rebel hoards to see, once for all, that God is love.

Satan challenged the love of God in the Garden of Eden. Adam fell for his deception. He chose to believe the devil’s lie and not trust the Father’s love. Jesus, the perfect image of the Father with a face, came in person to put the record straight by His sinless life and sacrificial death in obedience to the Father.

You can believe Him now, dear reader. God IS love. He did it all to reveal just how great His love really is!

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3: 1a).

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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