Does Christ's death mean all our sins can be forgiven?
Yes, because Christ’s death on the cross fully paid the penalty for our sin, God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness to us as if it were our own and will remember our sins no more.
(2 Corinthians 5:21) (from here)
Maybe I'm going to do something terrible, or in anger, say something destructively cruel. Maybe my heart will soften and I will be horrified at my ordinary wrongs. Whatever it is, you received its exact punishment on the cross. That time when I thought that my negligence might have played a part in someone's death, and saw that with my confession, I might lose all, I remembered the murderer Moses, that there was forgiveness even for that and a place for him. Help me to appreciate how this is amazing. Help me praise you for your justice and for the completeness of your generous love. In my security, let me marvel and exclaim that I am secure.
Thank you that you came to earth to be punished for every last piece of evil, becoming all the wicked things though you were pure. And now you are raised up and I bow before you, smiling with relief and joy, my Lord and my King.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
24
Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die?
Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life. (Colossians 1:21-22) (from here)
I am here, as I now am, with all the hopes and promises I hold dear, with you at my side, with sorrow and comfort in sin - all because of you. I don't know how bad the things are that I have done and thought and felt and willed, but I know they're bad. You saved me from hell. You took the punishment that was coming to me and now there is none leftover for me. I don't have to spend a day or a minute there, for I died and was raised with you.
Without you, I would be going to hell for all eternity, though it costs me to say. Now I am safe and at home. Without you, that punishment would be deserved, though I struggle to see it. Now I am safe in your nail-pierced hands.
I tried to take your place. I walked up to you, the Maker and Lord of all, and spat in your face. Or I walked up to you and, failing to even acknowledge you, gazed over your shoulder. Then I started running things my way, as if it were my right. I know I only see the smallest part of how ugly and wrong that was. But you saw the abyss waiting for me and saw that I could not - nor wished to - step aside. So, taking on the disguise of a punk or an indifferent, you jumped in to suffer an eternity of pain - the punishment of many, including me. And now there is none leftover for me. Because of you, I am safe and free.
Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life. (Colossians 1:21-22) (from here)
I am here, as I now am, with all the hopes and promises I hold dear, with you at my side, with sorrow and comfort in sin - all because of you. I don't know how bad the things are that I have done and thought and felt and willed, but I know they're bad. You saved me from hell. You took the punishment that was coming to me and now there is none leftover for me. I don't have to spend a day or a minute there, for I died and was raised with you.
Without you, I would be going to hell for all eternity, though it costs me to say. Now I am safe and at home. Without you, that punishment would be deserved, though I struggle to see it. Now I am safe in your nail-pierced hands.
I tried to take your place. I walked up to you, the Maker and Lord of all, and spat in your face. Or I walked up to you and, failing to even acknowledge you, gazed over your shoulder. Then I started running things my way, as if it were my right. I know I only see the smallest part of how ugly and wrong that was. But you saw the abyss waiting for me and saw that I could not - nor wished to - step aside. So, taking on the disguise of a punk or an indifferent, you jumped in to suffer an eternity of pain - the punishment of many, including me. And now there is none leftover for me. Because of you, I am safe and free.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
23
Why must the Redeemer be truly God?
That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective; and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death. (Acts 2:24) (from here)
Lord Jesus, you were a man just like us yet even more human, for you lived it perfectly. And you were also Almighty God. This is most strange - completely God, you were a man. Completely a man, you were God.
It's strange but it is very good. No mere person could suffer what you suffered - we would all die before receiving the minutest part. But you bore the punishment of all, for all time. Because of your divinity, we are saved. Thank you, Lord, for being willing to come down from your exalted place to endure this horror.
Before you came, we lived in a world where there was no longer any hope to be found in the race of man. We retained something of our ancient dignity, but ever broken and corrupted. You became our only hope; the only one who could live a perfect life and die a perfect death. Thank you, God, for giving us yourself.
Jesus, you became our perfect Mediator. You understand and sympathise with us in our weakness, and you speak to the Father on our behalf, holding up your nail-pierced hands. When Satan accuses us, we can remember this and walk confidently into your presence. Thank you, thank you, God.
That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective; and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death. (Acts 2:24) (from here)
Lord Jesus, you were a man just like us yet even more human, for you lived it perfectly. And you were also Almighty God. This is most strange - completely God, you were a man. Completely a man, you were God.
It's strange but it is very good. No mere person could suffer what you suffered - we would all die before receiving the minutest part. But you bore the punishment of all, for all time. Because of your divinity, we are saved. Thank you, Lord, for being willing to come down from your exalted place to endure this horror.
Before you came, we lived in a world where there was no longer any hope to be found in the race of man. We retained something of our ancient dignity, but ever broken and corrupted. You became our only hope; the only one who could live a perfect life and die a perfect death. Thank you, God, for giving us yourself.
Jesus, you became our perfect Mediator. You understand and sympathise with us in our weakness, and you speak to the Father on our behalf, holding up your nail-pierced hands. When Satan accuses us, we can remember this and walk confidently into your presence. Thank you, thank you, God.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
22
Why must the Redeemer be truly human?
That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses. (Hebrews 2:17) (from here)
As I write this, Lord, you know of my disappointment and frustration: these things are not foreign to you. You have been through everything we go through and you sympathise with us - which is often exactly what we long for. But you didn't come to earth just to hold our hand in our disappointments and pain, though even that would be astonishing. You came to show us true humanity - how a life can be lived, what a man can be. You did that so you would be ready to die on the cross, so you could take our place there. Each hour and second of your short and perfect life was leading there. There you took what was owing to us for having defiled the life we are given, for undoing what a man should be. You hung there as one of us, on behalf of all your brothers, and when you rose again we were free.
That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses. (Hebrews 2:17) (from here)
As I write this, Lord, you know of my disappointment and frustration: these things are not foreign to you. You have been through everything we go through and you sympathise with us - which is often exactly what we long for. But you didn't come to earth just to hold our hand in our disappointments and pain, though even that would be astonishing. You came to show us true humanity - how a life can be lived, what a man can be. You did that so you would be ready to die on the cross, so you could take our place there. Each hour and second of your short and perfect life was leading there. There you took what was owing to us for having defiled the life we are given, for undoing what a man should be. You hung there as one of us, on behalf of all your brothers, and when you rose again we were free.
Monday, February 24, 2014
21
What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God?
One who is truly human and also truly God. (Isaiah 9:6) (from here)
(Yay! Blue!)
For now I don't have to understand why this is: I have only to trust that a God-man was our one hope. You knew this and you did it, and I am grateful. You became what we are, fragile and battered by myriad things outside our control. You became subject to the things you had created. One day you were wholly, truely and only GOD, sitting and ruling over all in glory; the next you took on humanity, starting off as a voiceless, vulnerable foetus tucked inside a young mum. I don't understand it, but I know that because of your self-humbling I am lifted up, and without it I would still be wandering around in my arrogance and unhappiness, unwilling to listen to you until that day when I would be made to bow the knee and would hate you for it.
One who is truly human and also truly God. (Isaiah 9:6) (from here)
(Yay! Blue!)
For now I don't have to understand why this is: I have only to trust that a God-man was our one hope. You knew this and you did it, and I am grateful. You became what we are, fragile and battered by myriad things outside our control. You became subject to the things you had created. One day you were wholly, truely and only GOD, sitting and ruling over all in glory; the next you took on humanity, starting off as a voiceless, vulnerable foetus tucked inside a young mum. I don't understand it, but I know that because of your self-humbling I am lifted up, and without it I would still be wandering around in my arrogance and unhappiness, unwilling to listen to you until that day when I would be made to bow the knee and would hate you for it.
Friday, February 21, 2014
20
Who is the Redeemer?
The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself. (1 Timothy 2:5) (from here)
You redeemed us. We were lost and you redeemed us. You paid the price in your body so we might be released and restored. You walked into that North Korean labour camp, quietly demanding that all the prisoners be set free and that you would undergo their torture and animal labour. Except that we weren't innocent political prisoners - we deserved what we got, what was coming to us. The punishment was cruel because it was just - not a fraction less or more than what we had done.
How in a few hours you could suffer the punishment of all, I do not know. It was intense where it might have been eternal. And more intense because GOD was being punished. More intense because the SON cried to the FATHER, "Why have you forsaken me?".
This is what it took to redeem us. A few hours of the greatest evil as we killed God and as the Father looked on you as the sum of all human perversity. A few hours of the greatest love as you submitted to it all for love of your Father and of us, and after which the Father raised you singing to his side, crowning you with glory. This is what it means when we call you our Redeemer. It is no small thing. Help me never utter those words lightly.
The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself. (1 Timothy 2:5) (from here)
You redeemed us. We were lost and you redeemed us. You paid the price in your body so we might be released and restored. You walked into that North Korean labour camp, quietly demanding that all the prisoners be set free and that you would undergo their torture and animal labour. Except that we weren't innocent political prisoners - we deserved what we got, what was coming to us. The punishment was cruel because it was just - not a fraction less or more than what we had done.
How in a few hours you could suffer the punishment of all, I do not know. It was intense where it might have been eternal. And more intense because GOD was being punished. More intense because the SON cried to the FATHER, "Why have you forsaken me?".
This is what it took to redeem us. A few hours of the greatest evil as we killed God and as the Father looked on you as the sum of all human perversity. A few hours of the greatest love as you submitted to it all for love of your Father and of us, and after which the Father raised you singing to his side, crowning you with glory. This is what it means when we call you our Redeemer. It is no small thing. Help me never utter those words lightly.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
19
Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God's favour?
Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer. (Isaiah 53:10-11) (from here)
I first heard this as a child and with a child's acceptance of all things taught, it seemed natural to me. Lord, I find it hard to marvel at what you did, difficult to see how strange and utterly unlikely. Help me see this, Lord. It is not so rare to have a sense of God or to fear a final accounting - but a God of love, of compassion and mercy, a God who would humble himself and be belittled, a God who would deign to suffer injustice at the hands of his creation? That is rare, rare stuff. We would never have imagined a god like you, who is wholly just and loving and who answers that paradox by giving of himself. Never.
Without the cross we would be completely, terribly lost, and it would be better not to think on what comes after death. With it we have the possibility of being reconciled and now we are yours, unbreakably safe, unfathomably beloved.
Help me marvel at who you are and what you have done, and help others see this astonishing beauty. Thank you, Lord. You are lovely.
Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer. (Isaiah 53:10-11) (from here)
I first heard this as a child and with a child's acceptance of all things taught, it seemed natural to me. Lord, I find it hard to marvel at what you did, difficult to see how strange and utterly unlikely. Help me see this, Lord. It is not so rare to have a sense of God or to fear a final accounting - but a God of love, of compassion and mercy, a God who would humble himself and be belittled, a God who would deign to suffer injustice at the hands of his creation? That is rare, rare stuff. We would never have imagined a god like you, who is wholly just and loving and who answers that paradox by giving of himself. Never.
Without the cross we would be completely, terribly lost, and it would be better not to think on what comes after death. With it we have the possibility of being reconciled and now we are yours, unbreakably safe, unfathomably beloved.
Help me marvel at who you are and what you have done, and help others see this astonishing beauty. Thank you, Lord. You are lovely.
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