One of God’s greatest promises to us is that He loves us. Today being Good Friday, we can remember evidence of His love as He sent Jesus to die in our place due to our sin. He wanted us to be able to commune and live with Him but we needed to have a way to rid ourselves of our sin. Nothing we can do is enough- we can’t be good enough to erase our sin.
Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead,I am loved by God. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was motivated by God’s great love for me and you. John 3:16says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Love was what caused God to come up with a plan to save us as He desires to be in relationship with mankind and wants us to live with Him eternally.
God repeatedly tell us in the Bible that He loves us. Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Paul describes God’s love for us in Ephesians 2:4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” God saved us because He loved us and through His grace and mercy He sent Jesus.
How do you feel today? Do you feel loved by God or are you letting the cares, worries and circumstances of life block God’s love? As you think about God’s love today, let your mind be transformed by the love of Christ. He died for you and me. Know that He loved us enough to die for us. God loved us enough to send Jesus to bring us into a relationship with Him. Know you are loved by God as the proof is in His sacrifice on the cross.
As you look at the cross today, feel cherished and loved by God,
God promises that our faith in Christ will redeem us from our sins and leave us pure and holy. Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead,I can claim be presented to God as justified and free from sin. Wow! that is a big deal and a good deal for you and me!
Why is this so important to you and me? To be justified means to be declared ‘not guilty’ and to be acquitted of wrong doing or shown to be innocent. Because of our sin nature we are guilty before God and can do nothing to help ourselves. We can’t do enough good works or be really good and earn enough ‘points’ to be declared worthy or clean before God. All you have to do is look around you to see that people do wrong things all the time even when they don’t really mean or want to. Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” is pretty plain that all mankind are sinners. However, let’s look at verse 24, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”. We are all sinners but saved by Jesus because He declares us ‘not guilty’ though His work on the cross. It is a gift to us through His grace when we believed in Him. We did nothing to deserve it. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our faith in Jesus brings us into a relationship with God that is peace filled and free from the guilt and burden of our sin. Martin Luther declared many centuries ago that we are saved by grace alone, in Christ alone and by faith alone. Christ did all the work to save us and justify us before God.
As I think about this, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Jesus saved me from condemnation and declared me ‘not guilty’ before our heavenly Father. I will no longer be subject to the penalty I really deserve for my sins which is eternal death. I am also now open to God’s peace and can let it fill me each day as I rest in His eternal redemption. Praise God! How about you? Are you resting in Jesus? Let these final days of Lent be a time of peace, filling as you praise to Jesus for his sacrifice and His declaring you Not Guilty before God.
Eternally grateful for His justification and peace,
After His arrest Thursday night, Jesus endured 4 trials. He went before the religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, then Pilate who sent him to Herod, the Jewish head of state, then back to Pilate. The Jews wanted Jesus killed but they did not have the authority to execute Him. They demanded that Pilate, the Roman authority in Palestine, crucify Him. Pilate had Jesus flogged and beaten even though Pilate knew Jesus to be innocent. He had hoped this cruel treatment would pacify the Jews. However, the crowds pressed him and requested the release of the criminal Barabbas instead of Jesus since it was the custom to release one convicted person as a token of goodwill at the Jewish Passover. The crowds demanded that Jesus be crucified and Pilate agreed to appease the angry and vocal Jewish crowds. Jesus was then made to carry His own cross to the place of execution, Golgotha. Along the way Jesus stumbled and Simon of Cyrene was conscripted to carry the cross. Jesus was then nailed to a cross and hung to die. His clothes were stripped from Him and as He hung naked on the cross then soldiers gambled for his clothing underneath the cross.
I can not imagine the pain, anguish, humiliation and shame Jesus endured on my behalf. He took all the sins of the world, yours and mine, upon His pure, sinless and innocent body and the sin took him to a place he had never been before. The sins He took upon himself, our sins, separated him from God, His holy Father. He did this so that His sacrifice could atone for our sins. 1 Peter 2:24explains what Jesus accomplished for you and me.
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. (NLT)
I never realized how sweet Jesus’ final words from the cross were until recently. “‘It is finished.’ With that, he lowered his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:30 He declared with His final breath that the work of redemption was complete, and He had accomplished what the Father had sent Him to do. Through His death He took the punishment, death, for the sins of all who would believe for all eternity. Having accomplished His work, He gave up His spirit. His life was not taken from Him, but He gave it up voluntarily at the time of His choosing. Only God can choose the time of His death. When we speak of someone dying, we say the person has life take from them. We don’t get to chose the hour or minute of our last breath, but Jesus chose when and where He was to die for you and me. I am staggered by His love and sacrifice that He would endure such punishment and isolation from God on my behalf. As you ponder the cross today, think of all Jesus gave up and all He did on your behalf.
Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I live redeemed from the penalty of sin, covered by His incredible sacrifice and will be able to stand before God sinless.
Prayer: Father, the enormity of Jesus’ sacrifice and your love in sending Him to die for my sin is incomprehensible. ‘Your ways and not my ways’ Isaiah reminds us in Isaiah 55:8. I am so thankful for your plan of redemption. I stand humbly before you because of Jesus, my Savior, covered by His righteousness. Praising you in Jesus name, Amen.
As the Song #4 continuous in Isaiah 53:4-8 we hear and see more about Messiah and His suffering. We see the cost of His sacrifice for us.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Verse 4 points out that the pain and suffering Christ endured was ours to bear but He willingly suffered for us. Verse 5 goes on to explain that it was our sins that brought on His punishment. It was our sins that caused Him to be crushed in spirit as he died and caused him to feel forsaken by God. Sin separates us from God and Jesus died so we could be healed. He suffered that separation so we could be healed and brought into relationship with the Father. He was not left separated for He conquered death and rose from the dead. By His wounds were are healed. Here are some New Testament passages that speak to these verses in Isaiah. Romans 4:25 “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” 1 Peter 2:24-25 “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.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
7 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. 8 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.
Verse 7 speaks to the fact that Jesus did not defend his innocence when put on trial. Luke 23:9 “He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.” John 19:9 “and he (Pilate) went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.” Verse 8 reminds us that Jesus was judged unjustly and then led off to His death. Here is the passage from John recounting the scenes leading up to the crucifixion. John 19:1-16 “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.”
Jesus suffered so for our sins. Through His death and resurrection we can be brought into a redeeming relationship with God. He paid the ultimate price. John 15:13 “Greaterlove has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Thank you Jesus.
Fearless Living 