Tag: blood of Jesus

Rescue from the Wrath to Come

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“Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” – I Thessalonians 1:10b (NASB)

There is a wrath to come. Oddly enough, I affirm that statement with both grief and gratefulness. God does not delight in the pouring forth of His wrath (II Peter 3:9, NASB). In fact, He delights in the demonstration of mercy (Micah 7:18, NIV). As one of His children, I also do not take joy in God’s wrath, but I imperfectly grasp its necessity.

I am aware of horrible things in this current world system: children starve to death, dictators wield unjust power, people suffer with myriad debilitating diseases, parents neglect and abuse little ones, angry people kill other humans, desperate people give up on themselves, natural disasters destroy homes and lives, people speak hateful words, humans die in loneliness, entire groups wage war on nations, and some orphans never find homes. In light of these observations, I thank God that one day He will set things right and refuse to allow sin to influence anymore. The Bible makes clear that the sinfulness of human beings has brought a curse to this world. All who choose to follow the sinful nature will have to be dealt with in order for God to bring to reality a right world. All who choose to follow Jesus and accept His righteousness in exchange for their sinfulness will abide eternally in that right world (John 3:36, NASB).

At the helm of sinful choices stands Satan. He leads those who want to follow him in rebellion against God and God’s ways. He leads the march against all that is right. Satan leads the march toward destruction, because God must pour out His holy wrath on sin and all its horror. Revelation 20:10 (NASB) declares, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” The greatest tormentor will be tormented so that horror will finally be confined. Atrocity and pain will be imprisoned with sinful rebellion in a place of God’s making. Justice will be served so that Heaven can flourish. There is wrath to come.

Following the ultimate demise of Satan, Revelation 20:14-15 (NASB) proclaims, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” And there we have it. All people who have chosen death instead of life by choosing sin instead of Jesus (Romans 6:23, NASB) will be confined to the same place of torment in which their leader will exist. The wrath of God Almighty will be poured forth on all the sinfulness that has perpetuated the horrible things of which I spoke earlier. God hates sin, and God hates what sin does. God also dignifies His human creatures. We are made in His image, with the freedom to choose. Sin, therefore, originates in the human heart (James 1:13-15, NIV). Unless Jesus is asked to stop it, sin continues to reign in the souls of those who choose it to be so. Therefore, the wrath of God must extend to those souls. In His mercy, God must one day eliminate sin and its indescribable damage.

Let us now focus on our hope found in the Scripture we are studying. I Thessalonians 1:10 (NASB, emphasis mine) describes our hope as “Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can rescue us from this wrath. He is our Way to the right world God is preparing (John 14:1-6, NIV). We have no chance of escaping God’s wrath but by divine rescue. Ours simply cannot be a mission of self-help. There is nothing we can do to change the bent of our heart from sinfulness to righteousness; for us, only one answer exists – rescue by Jesus Christ! He alone can make our whole being brand new – apt to love and serve Him (II Corinthians 5:17, NIV).

Two millennia ago, Jesus died on the cross of Calvary to suffer the wrath of God on behalf of humans He loves. The infinite, holy God bore the wrath of the infinite, holy God so that finite, failing humans who believe in Him may enjoy eternal life rather than suffer eternal wrath. God’s holiness demands justice. Jesus offered to meet the just requirement of payment for sin on our behalf by shedding His own blood. We must now run to Him and yield our hearts and lives to Him.

I have asked Him to save me from the wrath to come by re-making me so that I am fit for righteousness through Him. His sacrifice is my only hope. Please turn to Him this moment and ask Him to save you from the wrath to come. The divine rescue of Jesus – and the needed wrath of God – work together to give us the eternal hope that we will one day suffer no more!

Need a Better Word than the Word of Guilt?

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Many people are familiar with the biblical fact that Cain killed his brother, Abel. The physical act of murder being a sin most people do not commit, the story is sometimes incorrectly dismissed too quickly. This account has everything to do with me – and you.

First, God makes clear that from the start Cain did not have faith in His holy Creator. Hebrews 11:4 (NIV) declares that it was “by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain did.” For purposes of space and time, I choose not to diverge here in a detailed discussion of why Abel’s animal sacrifice was of faith, while Cain’s offering from his crops was not. However, the status of the hearts of both men is what was critical to their giving. This is always the case. Physical actions and spoken words brought from a wrongly motivated heart are ugly in the sight of God, and often in the sight of men. Clearly, of the myriad of things that might have motivated Cain, faith in God was not it. What a curious and critical insight. Many motivations of the heart stand wrong before God, and only one stands right – faith (Hebrews 11:6).

After having acted wrongly from his heart in regards to his offering, Cain was warned by God that the practice of sin leads to further practice of sin. In fact, God clearly informs, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:7). Instead of heeding God’s warning, Cain chose to focus on his discontent and the perceived reason for his discontent – Abel. Mind you, the true source of Cain’s unrest was his wrong standing with God. Had he run to God in repentance rather than to man in frustration, things would, no doubt, have turned out differently.

Standing in a field, with jealousy and the restlessness of rebellion against God in his spirit, Cain allowed sin to move from a crouched position to an all-out attack stance. Sin was no longer at the door; its damning fingers now crawl all over Cain’s back. He murders his brother.

And so do we; for, Jesus proclaims, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, . . . But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment'” (Matthew 5:21-22). The anger and discontent and jealousy in our hearts that leads to anger toward others is in the sight of God subject to spiritual judgment just as murder is.

Wow. It seems a hopeless situation. So sad is it that God said to Cain, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). And so it is with me. The blood of Abel cried out loudly about Cain, “You are guilty! You are condemned!” The results of my sin cry out loudly the same thing, “You are guilty! You are condemned!” Can you hear it? It drives us insane if we understand its implications. Hopelessness is all that stands before us if this is the final and strongest cry.

Enter Jesus! Blessed, wonderful, loving Jesus! Hear the Word of God, “But you have come to . . . Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22a, 24, emphasis mine).

Did you hear that? The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel! Abel’s blood cried out the horror of guilt and condemnation, but Jesus’ blood proclaims forgiveness! So powerful is Jesus’ blood to cleanse the human heart that the original languages tell us His blood simply “declares” its power, while Abel’s blood “cried out.” My friend, when your lack of faith, your sin, and your humanly-wrought disaster cries loudly your condemnation, let the blood Jesus shed on the Cross decisively and authoritatively declare, “You are forgiven.”

Do you need a better word than the word of sin and guilt? Jesus is the Word you need.

The Mercy Seat of An Infinite God

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A Commentary on Isaiah 66:1

“Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.” – Isaiah 66:1a (NKJV)

Listen to what God says, for what man says is of no consequence unless it aligns with the Almighty’s revelation. Quite vital to remember is that God has spoken, and His Word is distinct and above all else (Psalm 138:2). Set God’s Word at the forefront, or we risk succumbing to the relentless temptation to believe the prevalent, mundane thought that God is small and weak and not altogether different from us. “Thus says the LORD” is a phrase meant to shake our paradigm, as we are so apt to focus on anything or anyone other than the Creator from whom all things derive.

God cannot be contained, nor can He be measured; incalculable is His nature (I Kings 8:27). Yet in daily thoughts and actions, we reason that we understand how God has worked, or is working, or will work in various situations of life. With Heaven as His throne and Earth as His footstool, God’s infinite nature staggers the imagination. The visible heavens, the innumerable parts of the universe we are still completely unable to access, and the very abode of God Almighty exist as His throne. God is infinitely greater than all the heavens, able to encapsulate and harness each part for His purposes. Our Creator is the one who “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11b). His unfathomable power unceasingly pulls all aspects of life – physical, emotional, and spiritual – toward His ultimate will. The Maker of all that exists will irrefutably have the final word over all that exists!

Stunning is the truth that earth is God’s footstool. We humans have not yet explored all the depths of any particular ocean, we have barely begun the first leg of the journey into any miniscule portion of the vastness of space, and we have not yet plunged into all the depths of the mystery of the molecular; still God refers to the earth as His footstool. He means for us to know that His magnificence cannot be calculated. Metaphorically, that upon which He rests His feet is immensely more than that with which we can even commence to grapple. Therefore, it would be ridiculous for us to grow hopeless concerning circumstances of the earth, for God says of this place, “That is simply my footstool.”

How would it be to know that the God who created everything from nothing and rightfully boasts Heaven as His throne is willing to be with us? To talk with us? To hear our heart and stay with us? To carry our burdens? To share His presence in real relationship? We can know this joy because the specific footstool of God in the Old Testament is the Ark of the Covenant (I Chronicles 28:2) Our Creator desires to rest with us – to “put His feet up” if you will – that we may have a genuine relationship with Him.

This relationship seems impossible, though, given the eternal nature of God, His unfathomable power, and His holiness. This seeming impossibility steps back and disappears into the shadow of the Ark of the Covenant and its treasured mercy seat. The mercy seat marked the separation between the Law and God’s manifest presence. In the ark, below the mercy seat – or atonement cover – rested the tablets of the Law. Above the mercy seat – between the gold cherubim – God’s glorious presence came. Although every person ever born on earth ultimately longs to be in God’s presence where all is right and joyous, most try to imagine the longings and emptiness of life could be satisfied in some other manner. Hence, Isaiah 53:6 proclaims, “Each of us has turned to his own way.” Still, the only way to right and hope and peace and ultimate, coveted fulfillment is to be in God’s presence – to rest with Him.

We ask, “How will I get to God, for I am constantly dragged down by this law below?” Each time we attempt to rise up and rest with our Creator between those cherubim, the tablets full of commandments we cannot keep pull us back down beneath the atonement cover. We feel as Paul did in Romans 7 asking how he could possibly be delivered from his failure to do what he knows to be right. Do we also feel the victory Paul knew as communicated in Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” God forbid we ever forget the mercy seat lies between the law and God’s presence as a clear delineation of our hope. For, on that mercy seat, was the blood of the sacrifice applied. Symbolically – via the animal sacrifice – the blood of Jesus was sprinkled on that cover to settle the matter and forever absorb our inability to fulfill God’s law. Through the blood of Jesus, we can rise above hopelessness and enter God’s safety despite our own sinfulness. Quite literally, we rise from being pitiful creatures condemned by the law to being God’s own children, with access to His blessed presence. How does this happen? The blood of Jesus on the mercy seat opens up the way and we rise to God through the blood of His own Son.

The thought of Jesus’ blood opening up the way for sinful man to gain relationship with a holy God breeds yet another thought: there is nothing stronger than the blood of Jesus. No sin, no failure, no amount of inadequacy can stop Jesus from giving to us access to God. That mercy seat of the Old Testament was made of pure gold. Metaphorically speaking, our spirits rise from the lower compartment of the condemnation of the law to the upper space of freedom and joy, ever watched by the cherubim that long to know this miracle of salvation. How do we rise since the atonement cover of pure gold lies between the law and God’s presence? We can rise because the apostle tells us in I Peter 1:18-19 that we are “not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold …but with the precious blood of Christ…” Gold, though highly treasured and often tried by fire, is yet corruptible – a substance that ultimately succumbs to disintegration. Not so the blood of Jesus! Precious, incorruptible, just like our heavenly inheritance. That timeless, infinitely powerful blood blasts through any obstacle that hinders us from reaching God!

God, who is infinite and has spoken all things into existence with just His breath, can accurately say that this realm – this terrain – on which we live out our limited days, is so small and powerless compared to Him that He boasts it as the place to rest His feet. This same God is sure to remind us that of all the locations on this planet on which He focused for His resting place it is the Ark of the Covenant. Why? Because the personal rest and relationship all humanity needs with the God who created us can only be found completely where the blood is applied and opens up the way for sinful people to commune with holy God. The funnel representing God’s rest and communion with us narrows down to one point – the place where the blood is applied.

Sweet Waters, Sweet Life

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Following the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, God’s people travelled into the wilderness. After three long days, they had still found no water. The only refreshment discovered had been the waters of Marah, which were bitter – too bitter to drink. As thirsty people would, the Israelites complained and asked their leader, Moses, how their thirst might now possibly be quenched. Moses knew exactly what to do; he cried out to God. After all, the Savior who divided the sea that his people might cross on dry ground could surely now lead them to water.

And God did provide. However, the Lord did not take them to a new place for sustenance. Rather, he transformed the old place. God showed Moses a tree. Moses threw that tree into the bitter waters of Marah. Suddenly, the formerly unpalatable water became sweet. Thirst was quenched, and life could be lived.

The peculiar fashion in which our timeless God worked for His thirsty people thousands of years ago indicates the way in which He now works for us. When we find life bitter and intolerable, God points to a tree to make life sweet and livable.

Who of us can swallow the distress of a guilty conscience? Who of us can live vigorously while dying of thirst for peace with a holy God? Who of us can tolerate the difficulty and disaster of life without assurance that we will someday know joy unhindered? Who of us can find the sweetness of life while the bitterness of guilt gnaws at our core? None can. Not one.

God points to the tree, the tree of Calvary. He bids us throw that tree into the mess and anguish of our sin. When that tree touches my soul, the dilemma is solved because the anguish of my sin is placed square on Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:14 (NASB) proclaims, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” The blood of Jesus shed on the tree of Calvary is placed into my life to make all things well. With a clean conscience is the only way to live a sweet life.

Our lives can be transformed so that we may live in peace, just as the water of Marah could be made right to drink. God transformed the water by throwing a tree into the mix. He transforms our lives by presenting the tree of Calvary to the horror of our sin, thereby neutralizing sin’s effect with the sacrifice of His Son. What formerly seemed intolerable – our guilt-ridden life – is now a true delight.

“When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.” – Exodus 15:23-25a