Bible League: Living His Word 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. Our God is a God who plans things. God had a plan for our salvation even before He made the world: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will" (Ephesians 1:4-5). God being God, He could have planned whatever He wanted. He chose, however, the plan that has actually been working itself out in created reality. Some may object to this. Some may think they could have done better. They may object to the whole idea of God coming up with a plan of salvation. Why not just prevent the occurrence of sin in the first place and eliminate the need for a plan of salvation? Some may object to specifics of the plan. Why not accomplish salvation through Jesus Christ immediately after the first occurrence of sin and eliminate the suffering and pain of the great masses of people that were to come? However, before anyone voices their complaint about the plan, before anyone voices their complaint that God could have done better by us, consider what God allotted to His only begotten Son in the plan. Consider Isaiah 53:5. In order for the plan to be accomplished, God determined that it was necessary for the second person of the Trinity to become a mere human and be pierced, crushed, punished, and wounded by wicked people. Before anyone complains that the plan was a raw deal for humanity, in other words, consider the humiliation God allotted to His only begotten Son. If we consider Isaiah 53:5, we can see that the plan of God was not the capricious thought of a God who was indifferent to our plight. Rather, it was the plan of a God who loved us enough to be willing to send His Son to suffer and die for us. It was the plan of a God who was willing to send His divine equal to take our place and suffer the consequences of our sin. We will never fully understand the why and wherefore of God's plan of salvation, but there is one aspect of it that we can see plainly. We can see that our God truly loves us. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingAmos 1, 2, 3 Amos 1 -- The Words of Amos: God's Judgment on Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Amos 2 -- God's Judgments on Moab, Judah and Israel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Amos 3 -- The Necessity of God's Judgment; Testimony against Israel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 5 Revelation 5 -- The Scroll with Seven Seals; Worthy is the Lamb NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.Insight James mentions the most common problems in prayer: not asking, asking for the wrong things, asking for the wrong reasons. Challenge Do you talk to God at all? When you do, what do you talk about? Do you ask only to satisfy your desires? Do you seek God's approval for what you already plan to do? Your prayers will become powerful when you allow God to change your desires so that they perfectly correspond to his will for you. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ.The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what he did as a great public representative person, and his dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all his people. Then all his saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ's chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it. He believed that by virtue of Christ's death, he had satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, "I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ." But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ's death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, "I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them." Such is the experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle, "Nevertheless I live." He is fully alive unto God. The Christian's life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them! Daily Light on the Daily Path Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. John 3:7 "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' Job 40:3,4 Then Job answered the LORD and said, • "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. Job 1:8 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Acts 13:22 "After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, 'I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.' 1 Timothy 1:13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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