Isaiah 53:4-6 (NLT)
“4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.”
“No one is righteous— not even one.” (Romans 3:10) All of us sinned. But GOD as The Father, according to His Divine Love for us, decided to adopt us to be His children. But to become His children, we should become holy first. He said in Leviticus 19:2 “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” This requirement of holiness in the Old Covenant of GOD to His people echoed the same requirement of GOD in the New Testament. (1 Peter 1:16) However, the requirement in the Old Testament is through obeying the Law, while the New Testament required our faith in Jesus Christ, by believing His Words, His suffering and Resurrection. Ephesians 1:5-6 says, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.” “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)
But why Jesus Christ, the Son of GOD needed to suffer, for us to become children of GOD?
We must first understand that there is curse in not following the Law that GOD gave through Moses to Israel in the Old Covenant. What the Law did was to point out where each one failed and fell short of GOD’s will. GOD intend to make everyone holy and righteous through the Law by obeying all of it. But the Law did not reach to pronounce anyone holy and righteous because everyone sinned. It was not the Law who failed but those who are under it. Saint Paul clearly explained this in Galatians 3:10-13. He said “ But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
The curse of the Law remain on the sinner until forgiven by GOD. But according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood of their animal sacrifice. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22) “So Christ with his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:12-15)
Not only that Jesus Christ made us become right with GOD and made us pure and holy, and freed us from sin through His suffering on the Cross, but all of us who believed Him and accepted Him, GOD gave us the right to become children of GOD. (1 Corinthians 1:30, John 1:12). GOD sent Jesus, His beloved Son whom HE is pleased, to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that HE could adopt us as His very own children. And because we are His children, GOD has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now we are no longer slaves, but GOD’s own children. And since we are His children, GOD has made us His heirs of Eternal Life with Him in Heaven. (Galatians 4:5-6)
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4)
So now, thank You GOD, our Father for Your Love for us! Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for what You have done for us on the Cross, we are now children of GOD and Thank You O’ Holy Spirit for making this mystery known to us. AMEN
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