Rejoice in God’s forgiveness
We sometimes forget the great debt our sin caused us before God. But we have victory through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Not many people today have really heard or paid attention to the third verse of the old hymn It Is Well With My Soul. I want you to read the words and then consider some scripture.
“My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Oh, my soul.”
God didn’t forgive just one of our sins but all of them and this is a reason for Thanksgiving.
Psalm 32:1-2. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty.”
Colossians 2: 13-15 “You we’re dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”
There was so much going on that day at Calvary that no one could conceive the spiritual war that was being waged. See before the cross Jesus and Pilate had a conversation where Pilate was scared of who he was talking to. In John 19:7-11 there was spiritual warfare being played out.
“The Jewish leaders replied, ‘By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him. ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave no answer. ‘Why don’t you talk to me?’ Pilate demanded. ‘Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?’ Then Jesus said, ‘You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greatest sin.’”
At any point Jesus could’ve stopped the whole thing but because of love he still went forward with the cross to forgive not one but all of our sins. It was nailed to the cross and we bear it no more. We have somewhere to turn for forgiveness. You the reader come to the blog for hope I send you to the cross where blood was shed for your sins.
The interaction between Pilate and Christ has been on my mind for several weeks. It serves as a reminder to me the despite what appears on the surface, God is always in control. I think Pilate knew exactly what he was getting himself into and he, like many of us chose to satisfy his immediate needs. Nevertheless, God was in control the whole time!
ReplyDeleteEven when someone is sinning against us, God is still in control and He make that moment work for His glory.