…and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem. — Luke 24:47

Lent is a time of the church year when we collectively study and meditate specifically on the events in Jesus’ life that led up to His trials, beatings, and ultimately His crucifixion. We know that the purpose of His death and resurrection was to take on Satan and defeat sin for all of creation. So we dedicate this season to soberly look on these events for our own repentance and forgiveness.

This verse in Luke reminds us that the result of Jesus’ saving works is not only that we personally repent and receive forgiveness of sins, but that we take it the step further and proclaim our redemption in His name to give Him the glory. In this verse, Jesus is giving us instruction in how we will react to His Word and works; that we not only internalize His message but that we also proclaim it to the people around us.

Let us focus for a minute, then, on what Jesus is asking us to proclaim. He states that “repentance and forgiveness of sins” is what should be proclaimed to all nations. By the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ redeeming works lead us to both. Repentance and forgiveness do completely opposite things, and Jesus displays both of them in His death and resurrection. His beatings and brutal death show us what we are deserving of; they humble us and make our hearts contrite. And at the same time, they are the core of the glorious display of God’s unconditional love. Jesus took on the weight and burden of sin in our place! Our sins are stripped away and we are made new creations through forgiveness! In Luke, Jesus instructs us to proclaim both the harsh truth of the law, which leads to repentance, and the forgiveness of sins, which leads to joy and eternal life. We cannot proclaim one without the other.

Dear Lord, You are loving and gracious. Reveal my sins to me that I may know my need for my saviour. Thank You for sending Your son Jesus to take the penalty of sin for me. Please strengthen me to speak Your love to others. In Your most holy name I pray, Amen.

Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. — 1 John 2:2

Or, as the C.E.V has it, “Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of all the world’s people.”

What is a propitiation? It is an offering made to appease an offended person. The offended person in this case is Almighty God, and He has every right to be angry with us on account of our wilful wrongdoing, our sinfulness. He is not capricious, but holy and perfect in His desire for righteousness. He lives in eternal light and nothing that is tainted can enter His presence. There is only one offering that could satisfy the requirements of the altogether Righteous One, the sacrifice of His righteous Son. Yes, Jesus Himself is that offering made on our behalf, because He alone is perfect and worthy. Through His death on the cross, He opened up the way for us to come into the presence of God as forgiven sinners. It was a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.

What do we need to do? How shall we respond to this amazing gift made on our behalf? We need to recognise our need of forgiveness and confess our sins to God, and to believe and trust in Christ and His death in our place, so that we may receive the benefits of His atoning sacrifice. We should be full of gratitude to the Lord for all that He has done for us and,with overflowing hearts, share this good news of salvation with others. We need not only to repent ourselves, but urge others to do the same. Jesus died for all. His sacrifice is sufficient for all. Everyone needs to know this.

See all your sins on Jesus laid. The Lamb of God was slain.
Because the sinless Saviour died my sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.

So let’s go out with humble, thankful, hearts to obey Jesus’ last command, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)

Thank You Lord for all Your love and grace,especially for sending Jesus to give Himself on behalf, the only perfect offering for all our sins. Amen

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. — John 10:17-18

Well into Lent and its progress toward Good Friday and Easter, this chapter tells one of our favourite stories of Jesus: of His being the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep – not just Jewish believers in Him but us Gentiles too.

His life and actions are so willingly and completely attuned to the Father’s will that all may be saved [v.16], that He is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in giving up His life in our stead. Such is the nature of His selfless love that He does this entirely voluntarily.

With God-given power and ability He bears the suffering for our sins in the cruellest of deaths, to rise again victorious over the power of sin and death.

This is the sweetest news to us, for He promises, “whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who believes in Me shall never die”. Wow!

Thank You Lord, for this extraordinary gift. Amen.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. — Romans 8:18

We are hindered, we get pecked, we are ridiculed, we suffer. But God said through Paul that all of the above will not even compare to the day that God will reveal in us. That is when God will show that love is complete in us. That is God’s glory. His unconditional love. Because “what we see in part now, we shall see [comprehend] fully, what we see as a reflection, we shall see face to face.” (1 Corinthians 13 ).

So be encouraged – what we see now, in part, of God’s unconditional love, we will see fully, we will understand fully, we will undertake fully. We will be taken up into Love Himself.

Thank You Lord for Your love through our sufferings and for letting us know the best is yet to come. Amen.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. — I John 4:1

Does it really matter?

Would you send an important document such as your passport through the post without being certain you got the address right? Imagine what could happen to you if your ID fell in the wrong hands! Someone could assume your identity, borrow money that you would have to pay and, perhaps, even implicate you in a crime. Now, imagine yourself being arrested and charged with a crime you didn’t commit, and as you are being taken before the judge you consider: How will I prove my innocence? Where is the true criminal that I might be justified?

There are many spirits out there claiming to tell the truth. They are like wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing, often trying to sell a version of God that is ‘more plausible’ than a Father sentencing His own Son for the sins of the world. Some will say that God is accessible only to a small minority of discerning people. Others say that God is all embracing and pleased if we at least try do His will. Common to all of them is the notion that God would never dare to come down to us but that we have to strive to improve our image.

On one extreme there’s a suspicious and uncomfortable wantonness with that notion; on the other a strong and even oppressive need to find out when enough is enough.

In Romans the Apostle Paul writes “for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh”. In other words, despite the fact that we are to blame for our many sins, God sent His own Son into our flesh to become our scapegoat. Jesus took our sinful identities upon Himself and died with them on the cross. Then He gave us His own identity so that God might be pleased with us and that is the end of it.

That is how much it matters to test the spirits and the Apostle John gives us the rule of thumb: “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God”. In John 5:24 Jesus himself says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.” For Jesus’ sake old sinful wolves like us have been dressed with the righteousness of the Lamb of God and received a new identity – that of children of God.

For this amazing work please make us truly grateful, Amen.

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool. — Isaiah 1:18

If you spend any time watching TV these days, it won’t take long before an advert comes on touting some amazing cleanser that will wash our clothes completely, regardless of the kind of stain. Many of these claims are exaggerated and don’t work nearly as well when we actually use the product. Quite often, deep, red stains from wine or blood never do come out completely.

Isaiah tells us of the amazing ‘cleansing power’ of our Lord. Though our sins are like deep, red stains of scarlet and crimson, Jesus has washed them completely away, and we will be glorified, as white as snow.

Martin Luther makes the point that Isaiah does not use the colour black to describe sin. Black is the colour of sadness. Red is the colour of guilt… blood guilt. Our blood guilt. How wonderful it is that the Saviour of the world has taken our punishment and made us white as snow. Now that is an amazing cleanser!

Dear Lord, thank You so much for removing the stain of our sin and purifying us through Your saving grace. Help us to lead purer lives, that we may be a bright, shining example to others. Amen.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. — Colossians 3:16

When people attend church, they listen to the word of Christ being preached so that it lies in their heart with its richness and wisdom , teaching that Christ’s words can fulfil our lives each day. The words of Christ show us that we can trust Him that we are one body. We sing praise to Jesus Christ. We are thankful to God that we grow in His Word each day. His Word cleanses our hearts from all our sin. The wisdom that Christ speaks makes us better people, as does knowing that God sent Him into this world to be our Saviour. Each one of us grows in spiritual love when we listen to the words of Christ.

Almighty Father, we pray that Your words of richness will grow in our hearts each day. Amen.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. — 1 Peter 2:24

Divine justice’s most brutal example is seen in the crucifixion of God’s only son. If anyone had room to complain it was Jesus, who was not guilty of even one sin. The most innocent person who ever lived was condemned to die a most prolonged and painful death. The value of His sacrifice is not in the extent of Jesus’ anguish on the cross but in the person who suffered. Jesus bore our sin judicially. God never made Him sinful in His character. Despite His innocence, He alone took upon Himself all the sins of the world. He did this for us. He took on His shoulders all the justice that was to fall on us and paid for it with His precious life. Jesus actually carried our sins in His own body on the tree. The sins that He carried are the sins of the entire world.

As the scapegoat carried away the sins of the Israelite, so Jesus carries away our sin on the cross. Jesus’ death freed us from both the penalty and the power of sin. He paid the penalty for our sin so that we will not have to go to hell. His death made it possible for us to “live for righteousness.”

Rome crucified tens of thousands of people in her history but only one of them was unique. Jesus was the God-man. He was undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever. This is His uniqueness. He is different from God in that He is man and He is different from man in that He is God.

Thank You, Lord God, for this extraordinary truth. Amen.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. — 2 Corinthians 8:9

Even though Jesus Christ was rich, He became poor for our sake, so that, whether we are rich or poor, we might be rich in His grace in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This does not mean that if we are rich and generously give money to charities that we are good Christians, because we may do this for selfish gain or to look good in the eyes of others. No, we learn that through the riches of Christ, we find fulfilment and the motivation for physical acts of kindness and charity. Because Jesus emptied Himself and became poor for us, we are children of God, no matter what our bank balance, no matter what our status, no matter what our colour.

Grant that we who are poor, but made rich through the grace of Jesus Christ, may live as Your children. Amen.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. — John 17:3

Have you ever heard the saying, ‘They don’t know what they don’t know’? It’s a popular phrase to describe a group of people who are so unaware of a situation they don’t even know what they should be focused on. This phrase aptly describes the disciples as Jesus prays at the Last Supper in John, chapter 17. The disciples were unaware of their own eternal life, or that Jesus was true God as well as true man. And they were certainly unaware of the events just around the corner in Jerusalem that would change the world forever as Jesus made His way to the cross. Even after His crucifixion the disciples didn’t know what to expect, though Jesus had been teaching them.

How comforting it is to realise that Jesus knew what was to come. He knew He was true God and He knew our eternal life with God depended on Him enduring suffering, shame, death and resurrection. Even knowing the anguish to come, Jesus still set His face toward Jerusalem for us.

Today,we all have non-believing friends and acquaintances who ‘don’t know what they don’t know’, just like the disciples at the Last Supper. But thanks to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, we know what they don’t know and we can share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them so they know, too!

Heavenly Father, give me the courage and the right words to speak to let others know what I know about the saving grace of Jesus Christ for our eternal life with the only true God. Amen.