02/17/2024
Even before God gave His only begotten Son to redeem us, He created the mold that He would use to save us, and showed us just how much He would be willing to pay to accomplish this. We can read about it in Isaiah 43, and see that He gave not only Egypt to redeem the people of Israel, but he gave Ethiopia and Seba as well. Isn’t it incredible that our God valued Israel this much, and that today He considers us even more precious, and of greater value? Today we stand testament to God’s love for us. We have been redeemed by something far more valuable… we are saved by the life and blood of God’s own Son Jesus Christ.
“Now this is what the LORD says — the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel — “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place.”
Isaiah 43:1-3 CSB
If you had to make a choice between giving up one of your own children, or letting your house burn down, in order to save the lives of the entire family that lives next door to you from a catastrophic fire, which would you choose? I dare say that you would allow your own house to be destroyed. We value our home and other physical possessions, but we love life more, and especially the lives of our children. God made a choice when it came to us, and he chose to give the life of His only begotten Son that mankind would live. He could have destroyed some portion of creation, or its entirety and started all over again, but His love for us was too deep, so He chose to offer His only Son in its place. Would we have made that same decision? Could we have made the decision to sacrifice our own son or daughter?
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17
If you haven’t chosen to believe in God nor to accept His Son Jesus Christ as your redeemer, then I beg you to consider the price that our Heavenly Father made for us, and that all He requires of us is that we would believe in Him. We are like the neighbors in my earlier example, and our house is on fire. We will surely die in the blaze unless we go to the voice that is pleading for us to run to safety. But, do you trust enough to obey the voice that beckons you? Can you overcome the fear that has frozen you in place? Are you willing to gather your family and run through the blinding smoke towards the voice of a person you can’t see? This is your choice today… run to redemption, or die in the flames of damnation.
“Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.”
John 3:18-19
“And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:15 CSB
Salvation is not a story based upon fear, but an offer of amazing love. This is not a threat of fire and brimstone because that is already the reality that awaits us if we do not accept God’s love. No, without accepting Jesus as our savior we are already lost, we are dead men and women walking in the world. So this is a loving offer of life that our merciful God makes available to all of mankind, including you, if you will simply choose to believe in Him, and His Son Jesus. This is a lifesaver’s voice calling us to safety through the dense smoke that surrounds us. The only question which remains is this… will you believe in Him, and cast aside your fear and doubt to run to His voice?
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—“
Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
Ephesians 2:8 ESV
God is not threatening us with death; that already awaits us, no, He is offering us life… eternal life in His loving presence, and this comes with peace, and joy, and so much more, all bundled together with it. I pray today for you, and your salvation… will you join me in it?
A Sinner’s Prayer:
Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to redeem the world, and thank you for drawing me to you through Him. Help me Father to believe in Him, and to have faith in you. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner, and cleanse me in the blood of Jesus, the blood of your perfect lamb. Forgive me of my sins Lord, and separate them from me; removing them as far as the east is from the west, and I thank you for choosing not to remember them. I praise your name Holy Father as you are He who gives life, and are the one who loves me more than I can begin to imagine or understand.
Jesus, I thank you for dying on Calvary so that my sins would be forgiven me, and I believe that you are the true Son of God who was crucified, died, was raised from the dead, and that now sits at the right hand of our Heavenly Father. Come into my life Jesus, and transform me. I want you to be my Lord and savior forevermore, and to lead me in righteousness into the eternal presence of our Father, God Almighty.
Amen
“Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.”
Romans 6:3-5 CSB
Rich Forbes