Tag Archives: Before

What God Gave Up for Lent – Day 4

4. What It Cost God

Burning Garbage2

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You lay me in the dust of death. (Psalm 22:15)

This last phrase is not simply laying someone down in the dust; it literally has to do being laid in a fire. The word dust can mean ashes, powder, debris and rubbish. But this is a death that is fiery and debasing, perhaps like being laid out in a burning garbage dump.

There’s a place just south of Jerusalem called the Valley of Hinnom, where Old Testament Israel sacrificed their children in fires to Molech and Baal. It eventually became a collection place for all the city’s refuse, and its fires were always kept burning. This became the New Testament picture for hell.

Note Who it was that has placed Christ in this situation: The LORD Himself—You lay me in the dust of death. How great the Father’s sorrow must have been to place the sins of the world upon His Son, then put Him to death, so that He would be the sacrifice offered for those same sins. Yet as great as the Father’s sorrow, how much greater is His love for us. And it was this same love that Christ Himself exhibited as He willingly went to the cross.

This love should stop us in our tracks. Just because The LORD is the Sovereign Creator, Ruler, and Sustainer of All, we must never think that His love for us cost Him nothing. It’s not like the federal government, where you simply print more to pay your debts. Our salvation cost God dearly, personally and intimately.

One more thought. The depravity of man can reach such depths. Consider what God said to Jeremiah, concerning this Valley of Hinnom: “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.” (Jeremiah 7:32)

Although there are some things that do not come into the mind (or heart) of God, embrace the wonder knowing you were on His heart and mind even before He created the foundations of the world.

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What God Gave Up for Lent – Day 1

1. It all Starts Here

Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. (1 Peter 1:18-20)

There are not many passages in Scripture which allow us to peer into eternity. And not just eternity, but what was going on in the very heart and mind of the Godhead. To gaze upon the very event when the Triune God determined the method of your salvation should stop you in your tracks. Before the world was hung in space, long before you had been born, the Lord knew you, and resolved that His Son would die for you.

Four things we should take away from this passage: Price, Payment, Person and Period.

First consider the Price: You were not redeemed, you were not purchased out of the slave market of sin, by things as common and transient as silver and gold. Another word for perishable is corruptible. In other words something like gold and silver does not last. Aren’t you thankful that your salvation is not based upon something which is temporary, and is destined to rot (or rust) away?

Next Consider the Payment: You were redeemed with the precious—very dear and very costly—blood of Jesus Christ. Your salvation cost Christ His very life. All blood is precious—at least your blood is precious to you, and it is precious to God. Imagine how precious the blood of Jesus was to His Father. A commandment to the Israelites explains this: ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ ( Lev 17:11) But we learn in Hebrews 10:4 the blood of bulls and goats was not sufficient: For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So Christ gave His life, and shed His blood for you, for your atonement.

Next consider the Person: For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. ( Isa 9:6-7)

¨In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ( John 1:14-15)

¨And He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. ( Col 1:15-20)

We could say much more about the Person of Christ: His oneness with the Father; His willingness to do the Father’s will. But, all we need to understand is Jesus was willing to lay aside His deity, and took on flesh, so He could secure your eternal salvation. And He did so by becoming the Lamb of God. When the Triune God determined the price to be paid for our sins and our redemption was to be the Son Himself, is it any wonder the payment of salvation could only be made with His own blood?

¨He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (1 Cor 5:21)

¨Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

¨And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Finally, Consider the Period: Before the foundation of the world, it was determined that Christ the Son of God would become the Lamb of God. After the end of time, and throughout all eternity, Christ is still the Lamb:

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev 5:12-14)

I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Rev 21:22-23)

Before the universe was set in place, God knew you, and set His love upon you. Before anything was created, Jesus chose to be your Savior and sacrifice. Your salvation was set in place before time began, so that you would live with Him, after time ends.

I promise this will be the only study that is this long. But I wanted you to know the unique, awesome and special privilege you own as a Child of God, for whom the Son of God Himself died. May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ be the greatest impact in your life, as you consider What God Gave Up for Lent.

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Singing with the King (1) – Introduction

The Psalms… Worship, Prayer, Songs. No matter how you explain them, categorize them, or use them, every single one will bring you in to the Presence of the LORD.

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Over the next few months you’re going to be introduced to the principle: Living Life in Context. Simply put, to live our lives in God’s Presence, we must stand before Him. When we are before the Lord, we stand in the proper context for our lives. To not be before the Lord (to be out of context) leaves us to our own devices, prejudices, misunderstandings, foolish thinking, sinful nature, bad attitude, and wrong actions. But to be in His presence, to be before Him, reveals Who He is, His attributes, His works, and His will; thereby revealing to us, who we are, what our relationship is, and what our attitude and actions should be. This is Living Life in Context—in His context. So to begin this dance through the Psalms, ironically, Being Still before Him is a great place to start.