Post by foxjj on Oct 7, 2022 7:40:58 GMT
Seeking Reconciliation
Isaiah foretold how Messiah would take upon Himself the iniquity of our sin by His death: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all: (Isaiah 53:4-6)
Through the atoning sacrifice of His blood, Jesus made the way for redemption onto God: “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:13-15)
In John Chapter 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that one has to be born again of The Spirit if they desired to enter the Kingdom of God. Then in verses 14 and 15, Jesus foretold His own sacrificial death on the cross when He said: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
That the atoning death of Jesus was part of God’s pre ordained plan is clearly seen in verses 16 and 17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Paul wrote these encouraging verses: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
All who have repented of their sins and accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as an atonement on their behalf are born again and have become a new creation, their old life and sins have passed away as stated in verse 17. Paul goes on to explain that as ambassadors of Christ, he and the other disciples proclaimed the Gospel of Reconciliation explaining that God was in Christ reconciling sinful humanity through the sacrifice of Jesus as verse 21 clearly teaches: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Today, let us praise our Heavenly Father for the gift of Reconciliation.
John Joseph Fox.
Isaiah foretold how Messiah would take upon Himself the iniquity of our sin by His death: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all: (Isaiah 53:4-6)
Through the atoning sacrifice of His blood, Jesus made the way for redemption onto God: “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:13-15)
In John Chapter 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that one has to be born again of The Spirit if they desired to enter the Kingdom of God. Then in verses 14 and 15, Jesus foretold His own sacrificial death on the cross when He said: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
That the atoning death of Jesus was part of God’s pre ordained plan is clearly seen in verses 16 and 17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Paul wrote these encouraging verses: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
All who have repented of their sins and accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as an atonement on their behalf are born again and have become a new creation, their old life and sins have passed away as stated in verse 17. Paul goes on to explain that as ambassadors of Christ, he and the other disciples proclaimed the Gospel of Reconciliation explaining that God was in Christ reconciling sinful humanity through the sacrifice of Jesus as verse 21 clearly teaches: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Today, let us praise our Heavenly Father for the gift of Reconciliation.
John Joseph Fox.