Gospel — Jesus is calling…

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:9–12)

The Gospel is simple yet so profound and so different than human thinking that it makes no sense without the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith to understand it and believe it. Think of it; God became a man. How sci-fi that sounds. And that man was sinless, meaning He didn’t do anything according to His own will but always spoke and acted as instructed by His Father in heaven. And His Father in heaven told Him to take our place and die for our sins, which He did, again saying “Not my will but Thine be done.”

We occasionally have a parent who offers to take the punishment or pay the fine for their offspring who has committed a crime, but that is infinitely small compared to what Jesus did that day on a cross just outside Jerusalem. 

This is how Isaiah describes sin:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Consider the population even at this moment and how each person, including Christians, makes decisions  without consulting God. Then multiply that by all the people that ever lived. That is an awful lot of sin. And pain, guilt. And all children are born with this sinful way of life. The entire human race is at odds with our Creator — unless we accept Jesus and His sacrifice as our salvation. 

Further, no one can do the will of the Father without Him. That sin-nature is unable to yield without the power of the Holy Spirit who comes to live in believers. It is as Jesus said:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1–5)

Yet even as we need Him, He blesses us just as the OT prophet says:

No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:17)

For this incredible truth, the Lord calls to everyone with this invitation:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:6–9)

Yes, it is simple, but the Gospel is profound and beyond understanding to human thoughts. For this reason…

Lord Jesus, I continue to pray that You will have mercy on all who have not yet heard Your call and given their lives to You. Speak to the hearts of unsaved family and friends, to all men and women who are lost without faith in You. Do a mighty work of redemption before You come again and before it is too late.

Taking hold of His closeness . . .

 

Sleep apnea comes in two forms. One is associated with snoring, the other with the brain not telling the lungs to breathe, and it can happen even when awake. This means making a conscious choice to do something that is normally done unconsciously — breathe!

This sleep disorder reminds me of how I sometimes fail to remember that God is NEAR, always. When I forget, I need to make a conscious choice to be aware, to draw near to Him. He hasn’t gone away, but my attention is somewhere else.

This is typical. In the OT, God’s people were told many times to draw near but they failed. Did they forget that He called them to come near with clean hearts? For instance, Aaron’s two sons tried it but with sinful hearts and they died. People who offered blemished sacrifices were told not to come near, as were outsiders. Being near God has rules.

At the same time, God’s people were unique. Even though God is in all places, His relationship with Israel and the laws He gave them resulted in this understanding:

Deuteronomy 4:6–7. Keep (the laws) and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

They also were told that these commandments were not too hard or far off, but reassured that, “The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

Yet like the breathing issue, the people needed to make a choice just as God had chosen them. Psalm 73:28 explains: “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Other passages say that “His salvation is near to those who fear him” and “near to those who acknowledge His commandments are true” and “near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

This reveals their problems and they are sometimes mine. Isaiah 55:6–9 speaks to me as the prophet did to them:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

They were also told about a day that is coming. The OT prophets declared, “For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations” and “Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision” and “The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast . . . .”

The NT picks up on the “day of the Lord” theme with Jesus saying things like, “When you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates” and “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

This is a fearful event for some, but for those whose sin is forgiven and are redeemed, there is confidence.

Ephesians 2:13. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Hebrews 7:19. “(For the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.”

Hebrews 7:25. “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Because of Jesus, I can “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with my heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience . . . holding fast the confession of my hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” — meaning that I can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

He is near yet that nearness isn’t sensed or enjoyed, nor is the nearness of the ‘day of the Lord’ anticipated unless I do as James 4:8 says: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” I can be as near to God as I choose to be.