Sunday, March 19, 2006

Ephesians 1:7-9

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
(Eph 1:7-9 NASU)


As John 3:36 showed us the incomparable stakes of believing or not believing in the Son, this verse shows that we are saved through Him. This forgiveness is of our trespasses (transgressions against God's holiness), and that this ultimately is shown by God's grace. And that grace comes from the kind intention of God.

The act of salvation is a wonderfully free gift and it shows the most unprecedented act of love...ever. This all comes from the kindness of a holy God who redeems undeserving people.

The truth of God's kindness and love is not a contradiction to the truth of God's wrath and hatred of evil. God could not be truly kind or loving if He did not hate sin and require that it be punished. He could not truly love the victim of a crime by dismissing the charges against the criminal. He cannot love Himself if he "shrugs off" the offences to His standards and not punishing lawbreakers. So, He showed His extreme wrath and love in the single act of the death of His Son.

It is unfathomable to think that all of my sins, those that I deserve to spend eternity in hell paying for (but never satisfactorily or completely paying for), were heaped upon God Himself (2 Cor 5:21). He took my eternal punishment and actually and completely satisfied God's wrath toward me.

Thanks be to God.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thanks for the reminder and focus on the sacrifice of Christ. We can never be reminded of that too often.

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