Jesus is Lord!

Isaiah 53:3-11
3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6 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.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.

God pulled back the curtain of time to let the people of Isaiah’s day look ahead to the suffering of the Messiah and the result of forgiveness made available to all people.  In the Old Testament people offered animals as a sacrifice for their sin.  Here, the sinless Man of God offers Himself for our sins.  He is the Lamb of God offered for the sins of all people. Christ suffered for our sake, bearing our sins to make us acceptable to God.  He suffered great pain for our weaknesses and for our healing.  He gave so much and asks so little of us in return.  He asks only that we believe.  How much is that for us to give in return for all that He has done for us.  Because of the suffering Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, we can be in the presence of God the Father.  We come before Him without sin, completely washed clean and can have a relationship with Him.  And not only in this world, but in the world to come.  During this Christmas season praise Him for His sacrifice and accept His gift of love.  Only by believing in Christ will you ever know true peace and joy.  There is no other way.  Jesus said, ” I am the Way, the truth and the life.”  Today is the day of salvation!

Have a God Day!

Ephesians 1:9-14
9 God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. 10 And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ-everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. 12 God’s purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. 13 And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Because we know that Jesus Christ came the first time, we know He will come again.  99.9% of the Bible has already happened.  There is just a small percent yet to take place.  Long ago, God gave promises to His people about things that were to happen long in the future.  Through His prophets God told us everything that was going to happen long before it did.  And everything happened just as He said it would and it happened in His time.  The Old Testament is full of the prophecies God promised His people. And today we have the promise of God that He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything on earth and in heaven.  This is yet to happen, but we can have confident peace and assurance that Jesus Christ will rule on this earth, just as He said He would. But before we get to that time, God’s purpose for each of us today is to know of His love for us through what Jesus Christ has already done.  He died on the cross for every sin ever committed.  Believing in Him and then receiving His grace is God’s purpose for every human being.  Before Christ comes to rule on earth, God wants Him to rule in our hearts.  Where are you today with the Lordship of Jesus Christ?  Does He rule in your heart?  Open up to His gift of love and receive from Him the love that is waiting for you.  Only by believing and then asking for His forgiveness will any of us rule with Christ when He does come back?  Know the peace of God by accepting Him now and rule with Him when He returns.

Have a God Day!