Thursday Reminder

This morning, I awoke thinking of a similar Thursday nearly 2,000 years ago. Jesus would have His last Passover with His disciples, be betrayed by one of His own, bounce around in a Kangaroo Court, and be eventually led to His death. And He did all of this willingly, giving Himself up for the sins of the many. I considered the members of that court: the Sanhedrin either didn’t know or didn’t care what the Scriptures said of Messiah (or both), but instead wanted a Messiah THEY could control, just as they controlled their national religious identity. Pontious Pilate wanted to avoid a riot, though he knew that Jesus was innocent. King Herod wanted a show, and thus dismissed Jesus in mockery when one was not forthcoming. None of them could find Jesus’ guilt. The Lamb of God was prepared. And thus, the willing sacrifice went to His death to ransom the many.

How often do we take that for granted? None of us is innocent when compared to God’s perfection, and yet we do all we can to take advantage of His Grace. Jesus bore the wrath of God on Himself for sin, that we might avoid it for eternity. To quote the old spiritual Were You There, sometimes it makes me tremble, tremble, tremble. Even now, the tears are in my eyes knowing Jesus bore the wrath of God so that I would not have to. I will never experience a moment of the eternal justice of God that I deserve because Jesus suffered and died for me. How ought I to live, knowing this? How ought I to walk knowing this? Why do I focus on unimportant things in light of this? Eternity is at stake. We have a mission to do. The minutia can wait or be cast aside. Jesus died in my place, and I am eternally in His debt.

John 3:31-36

 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Romans 5

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.