by Suellen | Uncategorized
It’s the time of year we focus a special celebration on the resurrection of Jesus. God’s Passover Lamb accomplished more than the most astute Jewish scholars even thought about.
His defeat of Satan and resurrection first into the earth, and then into Heaven – began a new era for mankind. If only people could believe it and walk in it.
He took what we deserve -our sin, our sorrows, our grief, our sickness, and gave us what He deserved – righteousness, joy, health, purpose.
What an exchange!
This year I purpose in my heart to walk in more of all that my Lord paid for.
More intimacy with Him. More vision and purpose. More health. More compassion for the lost. More love for others.
How shall I repay Him for all of His benefit toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. (Psalm 116:12-13)
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Road trip today! We’re taking a trip to Calvary.
It’s Good Friday, and Christians around the world are celebrating the three days of death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I thought it would be a good time to take a break from our reading schedule and delve into the subject of the cross. Why the cross? And what in the world happened there that made us call it “Good” Friday.
So let’s go to the prophecy which explains it.
Isaiah 53
There are some mysteries here for sure, but this is what we know. When God created the world and gave Adam delegated authority over it, to represent God in managing the earth, Adam blew it! He turned around and sold out to Satan, so that he lost his authority, lost his relationship with God, and set all of mankind on a path to perdition.
For some reason (and this is one of the mysteries), there had to be a second Adam to take back the authority. This man, since the world had been sold out to Satan, had to be a perfect man and had to go into Satan’s very headquarters just as Satan demanded, to pay the price for the sin of the world.
There was a dilemma, however, since there was no perfect man. Satan thought he had everything tied up forever – until Jesus appeared on the scene. He was obviously the Son of God and the son of man. He was born to a woman, but by the Holy seed of God.
Satan was nervous as he saw Jesus represent God on the earth, but he thought, “If I can just kill Him, then, I’ll win.” Little did he know that he was playing into God’s hands. It was God’s plan to have His Son crucified and go into hell. From there, God’s resurrection power would catapult Him out of hell, out of the grave, back to earth, and eventually up to Heaven.
So Satan took the bait, and God’s plan – the plan that was made before the foundation of the world – came into effect.
When we look at the cross, death, burial, and resurrection, all of the chapters we have been reading take on more clarity. God had to raise up a group of people who could bring His Son into the world. (And sometimes this took extreme measures).
He had to teach these people that He was a Mighty God and that He could be trusted. God had to teach them that He was a covenant keeping God, so that eventually we could understand the covenant we have with Him through Jesus.
He had to teach these people about the necessary sacrifice of a perfect lamb. Only then could they – and we – understand the sacrifice of His perfect Lamb, Jesus. He had to teach them that they would not be able to keep the law; only through Jesus would we have the empowerment to obey God.
Lesson after lesson, year after year, our Father led these covenant people to the culmination of all things.
As we read Isaiah 53, we see the prophecy foretelling the cross. (Especially notice verses 4-6). He took our griefs and our sorrows. He took our sin, our pain, our sickness. Oh, this is much more far-reaching than we can imagine!
Jesus paid the price not only for our sin nature, but He made the way for us to escape the result of sin. Sickness, poverty, and pain are all part of the curse which came on the earth when Adam sinned. We have been redeemed from all of that.
We’ve been talking about taking the Promised Land, and this is that! These are promises, but they don’t fall on us like the manna did in the wilderness. These promises are taken through “faith and patience.”(Hebrews 6:12)
To take the Promised Land provided by Jesus, we have to follow the rules of Joshua. “Ever place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given you.”(Joshua 1:3) We have to put our foot down to receive the abundance.
We still have an enemy who tries to trick us and rob us, but we have a Savior now. Our Savior has paid the price for an abundant life, but we do have to take it.
I am confident that when we get to heaven, we will be amazed to see what He paid for. It’s so easy to get distracted and settle for “whatever comes.” But there is more. Much, much more. If we will reach out for it.
My prayer today is that you and I will meditate on Isaiah 53 until we see beyond what we have before seen. He paid the price for us to go to heaven, and much more here on earth.
“What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.” Psalm 116:12-13.
I want my life to be a witness to the goodness of God, don’t you?
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Judges 1-3
Some sad days ahead for Israel. After Joshua and all of his generation died, “there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work He had done for Israel.”(2:10)
It’s hard to believe that a group of people could encounter the Lord in such a great way and yet not pass on their beliefs to their offspring. But we see that over and over – in scripture and in our own generation.
In my own lifetime I have seen such changes in perceptions of people. Of course, the changes in race relations have been good, but the changes in morality have been horrible. Now sexual immorality is accepted as the norm by many levels of our society. Such a shame. So many precious babies are affected.
Getting back to Judges, we see in the first three chapters that the Jews would turn away from God and lose their protection. So they would serve another king for a number of years, for they could “no longer stand against their enemies.” (2:14)
Again and again God would raise up judges who would help them be delivered from their enemies, but “when the judge died, they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers….they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.” (2:19)
God’s people had to serve the king of Mesopotamia for 8 years, until Othniel helped deliver them. They had rest for 40 years, and then Othniel died. Then back to the evil. They then served the king of Moab for 18 years, until Ehud was raised up to deliver them, giving the Jews 80 years of peace.
Without strong leadership the Israelites seemed unable – or unwilling – to follow God. They preferred the gods of the nations around them, particularly Baal, the god of prosperity.
Does that sound familiar today? We don’t call him Baal, but prosperity is worshipped by many in our society.
I pray that through God’s help we will keep our hearts pure from the worship of money. I also pray that our nation and our world will learn from the Jewish experience and turn back to the one true God.
Luke 4:1-30
When Jesus entered the wilderness for His 40 day fast, He was full of the Holy Spirit. He demonstrated to us that the warfare against the devil should be done through the spoken Word of God, which is our “sword of the Spirit.”(Ephesians 6:17). After the fast and temptations, Jesus returned to Galilee in the “power” of the Spirit.(Luke 4:14).
He was ready to begin his ministry in its fullness, with God’s supernatural gifts flowing.
Isn’t it noteworthy that as long as Jesus was the young local guy who often read the scriptures in the synagogue, He was admired and appreciated? Yet after he received the Holy Spirit baptism and was ready for His ministry, he was hated.
He announces Himself as the One mentioned in Isaiah, and true rage follows. These people who have known Him all of his life, cast Him out of the city and try to throw Him down a cliff. But he “passes through their midst.” (4:30)
How does that happen? A mob has Him in their hands, and He just “passes through their midst?” Sounds like an angelic visitation to me.
Not only was Jesus walking in supernatural power, He had supernatural protection and provision.
Jesus had no fear because He knew that God’s protection was with Him all the time. Eventually he would “lay down His life,” but not yet. Until that time, angels would keep Him from any harm.
Today God wants us to have faith for that type of protection. His angels surround us as we perform His purpose. Let’s count on that protection and be willing to trust Him at all times.
Remember the slogan, “What would Jesus do?” Well, that’s what Jesus would do. It’s one thing, at least. He would trust God for divine protection at all times.
Lord, increase our faith!
