He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). At the heart of the gospel — at the heart of what happened on the cross to Jesus Christ — is substitution. It is Jesus taking the place, and therefore the punishment, of sinners who deserved God’s wrath. At the cross, Jesus got what we deserved. Isaiah 53:5 gives us this clear insight into Jesus’ death.
Jesus
What Is Salvation, and Where Is It Found?
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Salvation means “to deliver” someone out of danger. Salvation, especially in the Bible, implies then that people need to be saved. It also implies that someone is able and willing to save the person who needs to be saved. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the only source of true salvation for any human being.
Location, Location, Location
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). There is a well-known real estate maxim that lists the three most important characteristics of any property: “Location, location, and location.” This famous real estate maxim holds true in the Bible, as well. In the Old Testament in particular leaving Israel is seen as departing from God, and returning to Israel represents one’s returning to God.
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Lead us not into temptation (Luke 11:4). (Today’s is the last in a brief series of meditations on the Lord’s Prayer.) James says no one can say God has tempted him; this request, then, is for God to keep us from situations where we might fall. It is a recognition of the dangerous, bait-riddled, sin-inducing nature of this world. If love of money doesn’t get us, perhaps the temptation to fit in with the crowd will.
Forgive Our Sins
Forgive us our sins (Luke 11:4). (We are continuing in our brief series of meditations on the Lord’s Prayer.) Jesus teaches us to pray daily (see previous post) for the forgiveness of our sins, assuming (as we ought to) that we have strayed from the mark each day. Sins are sins — they are not merely mistakes, flaws, personality, or “my truth versus your truth.” And every sin is against God ultimately, and so must be dealt with before God (Psalm 51:4)
Give Us Our Daily Bread
Give us each day our daily bread (Luke 11:3). (We continue today in our brief series on the Lord’s Prayer.) The opening requests that Jesus models for us are about God — so like God they are majestic, huge, and inspiring. A lesson Jesus clearly means for us to learn in this prayer is that God comes first, and only when God is first does everything else matter or fall into place. However, the following pleas that Jesus himself places in our mouth are about us — and like us they are daily, mundane, unspectacular.
Your Kingdom Come
Your kingdom come (Luke 11:2). In my last post I began a series of brief meditations on the Lord’s Prayer. The prayer begins with the request for God’s name to be hallowed, followed immediately with the prayer for his kingdom to come. When we ask for God’s kingdom to come, we are reminded that not only is God’s name and glory to come first — but also God’s desires, his will, his purposes, and his authority.
Hallowed Be Your Name
When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name” (Luke 11:2). It is doubtless true that the Lord’s Prayer is routinely abused around the globe every day, mouthed by people who neither think about its meaning, nor would mean it even if they did. This is why Martin Luther referred to the Lord’s Prayer as “the greatest martyr on earth.” It is, as it were, butchered by thoughtless, soulless prayer on a daily basis. However, the other extreme, into which many evangelicals today have fallen (and it’s just as bad) is this: we have largely neglected it!
You Are With Me
The psalmist famously writes: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). Francis Schaeffer, in his book The God Who Is There, references a tragic poem found with the body of a 23-year old young woman and drug addict who had committed suicide. The note read:
The Way, the Truth, the Life
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Nothing could be more purely practical than this passage, this claim by Jesus! Yes, it is a theological claim, but it should be far more than another point of orthodoxy for us as Christians.
What (or Who) Is Your Trophy?
In honor of the Academy Awards, the Hollywood Reporter some time ago revealed the surprising places stars store their statues after finally winning them. One star stores his in the refrigerator, another in the bottom of a closet gathering dust. Tom Hanks’ two best actor statues? He says, “They are on the family trophy shelf, next to the soccer trophies. I think the World’s Greatest Mom trophy from Mother’s Day is up there as well.”
I Have Other Sheep
In John 10:16 Jesus says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” When you hear these words, what is your gut reaction? Are you offended that Jesus is just as concerned about homeless people and third-world gorilla fighters as he is about you? Or do you feel unconcerned for “other” people, because they’re totally different than you, although Jesus loves them also?
How to Look Like Light, Taste Like Salt
Following the Beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says to those who are willing to be persecuted “for my sake” that you “are the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). What does it mean, and how does it happen, that people look like light and taste like salt?
God Is With Us
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us) (Matthew 1:21-23). After the long genealogy with which Matthew opens his gospel in verses 1 through 17, proving that Jesus was indeed the promised son of Abraham and of David, we finally come to the fruition of hundreds of years of prophecy: “The virgin
Behold! An Angel, a Virgin, Wise Men, a Star… and Immanuel
The command “Behold!” appears 247 times in the New Testament. Each time this imperative is used in order to call attention to what is being said, or seen, or considered. It is a powerful word that forces us to pause, reflect, and be amazed by the subject matter being described. There are some things that are simply worth taking a long and careful look at. Not surprisingly, then, the New Testament opens — in the first two chapters of Matthew — with no less than six occurrences of this command as the story of Christ’s birth is narrated.