GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 10
GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 10 ~ ~ Romans 5:9-10 ~ ~ “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.”
If you are a beginning Christian, or just “gathering information” for your decision, you may be grossed out by all this talk about blood. What does Paul, and many others, mean when they talk about being “washed by the blood” “justified by the blood” “Plead the blood”?
This is the most beautiful and the only real foundational teaching of the Christian faith, and of our surety of everlasting life.
After mankind sinned, and chose to disconnect from God, they would be lost forever if there wasn’t a way to get back into fellowship with Him.
God wasn’t taken by surprise by sin. He knows everything. This was all in His plan. He will not have anyone in His Kingdom that isn’t there by their choice. Every human being that was ever on this earth, and every one who is to come, WILL be tested, and MUST make the choice.
So it was from the beginning. God uses the devil to test us. Because He loves us, He will use whatever means He deems useful to help us to come to Him and to grow in our relationship with Him, in order to give us eternal life with Him……….Eternal happiness with no death or sorrow.
He had the Plan of Salvation in place before the first sin. It began right after the sin that doomed each of Adam’s descendants. That’s us.
Jesus would come at the right time to save mankind from ourselves, but in the first 2,000 or so years, the people needed something so that they could be reminded of God’s covenant, (testament) or agreement with them, that He would send the Savior.
He established the system of sacrifices. He said, (Heb. 9:22) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Sin is serious. Adam and Eve should have died on the spot. We wouldn’t even be here if that happened, thus, the blood covenant came into being to save mankind.
The very first animal to die was the animal that God killed to make clothing for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:21: “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”
That, too was a sign of the salvation through Christ that “covers” our sins, as the clothing covered our first parents.
Then He established the sign of the sacrifice.
A lamb was killed, and the blood was put on the Mercy Seat, which is the gold covering on the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark is a golden box containing items of faith used in the physical salvation of the Chosen People during the years. It represented the Presence of God. They kept it with them wherever they went.
That’s how they offered the blood to God, showing Him their sorrow for sin and asking for forgiveness. Killing the lamb could not take away their sins. But it was established by God to show them that someday the REAL sacrifice will really do that.
Many years later, in God’s perfect timing, Jesus put aside His Glory as the second member of the Trinity to become a man and to also be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
That blood was put on the real mercy seat in heaven, and it contains the Power of God, and the surety of the Covenant. The power of the blood is in knowing what Jesus has done for us.
He conquered satan by His death, because there was a perfect man on earth, and He was it. There were only two perfect men who ever lived on earth, Jesus, and Adam. The difference is, Adam’s perfection became flawed. That’s why Jesus is called the Last Adam.
Adam was our physical father, but God is our spiritual Father
1Corinthians 15:45 ~ ~ “And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
Before salvation, you are an enemy of God. The wrath of God is on you. This wrath was what the prophets prophesied all throughout the Old Testament and what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:21. “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”
Paul says that the believers will be saved from the wrath of God. Believers will not have to experience all that will happen on the earth because of the wrath of God on the sinners of the world. If you are a true Christian, you are saved from this wrath not because you were worthy of it, but because of the grace of God., if you are one of His.
You were delivered from the penalty of sin when Jesus died on the cross. You are delivered from the power of sin today when the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. You will be delivered from the presence of sin one day when you join Jesus in heaven.
The covenant with the Chosen people (Jews) has been extended to us, if we have chosen to be included. That is called the “grafting in”, just like grafting a branch onto a tree or plant. The Jews are branches of God’s cultivated olive tree, and we are branches of the wild olive tree, which are grafted in if we so choose to be a part of His Covenant. Here it is explained:
“And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,”
He uses this symbolism because He shows us by this that He is the tree with it’s strength and nourishment, and we are the branches that receive that strength and nourishment. We can do nothing on our own. He is everything.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
If you have asked Jesus to be in You and with you, and repented of your sins, then you can fully trust Him to keep you safe. This isn’t to say that nothing bad will happen to you. Jesus told us that it will:
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
But He is always with you. He will be with you even in the hard and dark times….especially then. There are over 8,800 promises that say that, and God CANNOT lie!!!!
Knowing these things, go back and read the verse of the day. Hopefully it’ll make more sense and bring out gratitude beyond measure if you have taken the step of faith to accept Christ into your whole life.
Also, please listen to this:
Live in the Light of Our Lord 