Isa 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. nkjv
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Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,.... Not for any sins of His own, but for ours, for our rebellions against God, and transgressions of his law, in order to make atonement and satisfaction for them; these were the procuring and meritorious causes of His sufferings and death, as they were taken upon Him by Him to answer for them to divine justice, which are meant by His being wounded; for not merely the wounds He received in His hands, feet, and side, made by the nails and spear, are meant, but the whole of His sufferings, and especially His being wounded to death, and which was occasionally by bearing the sins of His people; and hereby He removed the guilt from them, and freed them from the punishment due unto them:
he was bruised for our iniquities; as bread corn is bruised by threshing it, or by its being ground in the mill, as the manna was; or as spice is bruised in a mortar, he being broken and crushed to pieces under the weight of sin, and the punishment of it. The ancient Jews understood this of the Messiah; in one place they say,
"chastisements are divided into three parts, one to David and the fathers, one to our generation, and one to the King Messiah; as it is written, "he was wounded for our transgressions; and bruised for our iniquities":''
and in another place,
"at that time they shall declare to the Messiah the troubles of Israel in captivity, and the wicked which are among them, that do not mind to know the Lord; he shall lift up his voice, and weep over the wicked among them; as it is said, "he was wounded for our transgressions".
the chastisement of our peace was upon him; that is, the punishment of our sins was inflicted on him, whereby our peace and reconciliation with God was made by Him; for chastisement here does not design the chastisement of a father, and in love, such as the Lord chastises his people with; but an act of vindictive justice, and in wrath, taking vengeance on our sins, of our surety, whereby divine wrath is appeased, justice is satisfied, and peace is made:
and with His stripes we are healed; or "by His stripe" (q), or "bruise": properly the black and blue mark of it, so called from the gathering and settling of the blood where the blow is given. Sin is a disease belonging to all men, a natural, hereditary, nauseous, and incurable one, but by the blood of Christ; forgiving sin is a healing of this disease; and this is to be had, and in no other way, than through the stripes and wounds, the blood and sacrifice, of the Son of God. Christ is a wonderful physician; he heals by taking the sicknesses of his people upon himself, by bearing their sins, and being wounded and bruised for them, and by his enduring blows, and suffering death itself for them.
"when we obey his words, our sins will be forgiven us;''
but-
forgiveness is not through our obedience, but the blood of Christ.
Read Isaiah 53:4-12, While growing up, Michael Brown had no interest in spiritual things. His life revolved around being a drummer for a band, and he got mixed up with drugs. But then some friends invited him to church, where he found the love and prayers of the people to be irresistible.
After a short spiritual struggle, Michael trusted Jesus as his Saviour and Lord of his life.
This was a monumental change for a wayward Jewish teenager. One day he told his dad that he had heard about Old Testament texts describing Jesus. His dad, incredulous, asked "Where?"
When Michael exclaimed, "That's Him! That's Jesus!"
Indeed, it is Jesus. Through the help of Christians and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Brown
(today a Bible scholar and an author) came to recognize the Messiah of Isaiah 53.
He experienced the salvation that changes lives forgives sin and gives abundant life to all who trust the "Man of Sorrows" (v3), Jesus is the One who was "wounded for our transgressions"
and who died for us on the cross (v5). The Bible reveals Jesus, who alone has the power to change lives. - Dave Branon
God, I struggle with this idea of Jesus as Saviour. I know He's a good man, but I need to see that He is more than that. Please show me - through others and/or through the Bible (God's Words)
-how I can know for sure who Jesus the Christ is.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD USES THE WORD OF GOD TO CHANGE HEARTS!
know jesus.com
Hebrews 7:1-10
Heb_7:1-28. Christ’s High Priesthood after the order of Melchisedec superior to Aaron’s.
The foregoing chapter ended with a repetition of what had been cited once and again before out of Psa_110:4, Jesus, a high priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. Now this chapter is as a sermon upon that text; here the apostle sets before them some of the strong meat he had spoken of before, hoping they would by greater diligence be better prepared to digest it.
I. The great question that first offers itself is, Who was this Melchisedec? All the account we have of him in the Old Testament is in Gen_14:18, etc., and in Psa_110:4. Indeed we are much in the dark about him; God has thought fit to leave us so, that this Melchisedec might be a more lively type of him whose generation none can declare. If men will not be satisfied with what is revealed, they must rove about in the dark in endless conjectures, some fancying him to have been an angel, others the Holy Ghost; but,
1. The opinions concerning him that are best worthy our consideration are these three: -
(1.) Therabbin, and most of the Jewish writers, think he was Shem the son of Noah who was king and priest to their ancestors, after the manner of the other patriarchs; but it is not probable that he should thus change his name. Besides, we have no account of his settling in the land of Canaan.
(2.) Many Christian writers have thought him to be Jesus Christ himself, appearing by a special dispensation and privilege to Abraham in the flesh, and who was known to Abraham by the name Melchisedec, which agrees very well to Christ, and to what is said, John_8:56, Abraham saw his day and rejoiced. Much may be said for this opinion, and what is said in Heb_7:3 does not seem to agree with any mere man; but then it seems strange to make Christ a type of himself.
(3.) The most general opinion is that he was a Canaanite king, who reigned in Salem, and kept up religion and the worship of the true God; that he was raised to be a type of Christ, and was honoured by Abraham as such.
2. But we shall leave these conjectures, and labour to understand, as far as we can, what is here said of him by the apostle, and how Christ is represented thereby, Heb_7:1-3.
(1.) Melchisedec was a king, and so is the Lord Jesus - a king of God's anointing; the government is laid upon his shoulders, and he rules over all for the good of his people.
(2.) That he was king of righteousness: his name signifies the righteous king. Jesus Christ is a rightful and a righteous king - rightful in his title, righteous in his government. He is the Lord our righteousness; he has fulfilled all righteousness, and brought in an everlasting righteousness, and he loves righteousness and righteous persons, and hates iniquity.
(3.) He was king of Salem, that is, king of peace; first king of righteousness, and after that king of peace. So is our Lord Jesus; he by his righteousness made peace, the fruit of righteousness is peace. Christ speaks peace, creates peace, is our peace-maker.
(4.) He was priest of the most high God, qualified and anointed in an extraordinary manner to be his priest among the Gentiles. So is the Lord Jesus; he is the priest of the most high God, and the Gentiles must come to God by him; it is only through his priesthood that we can obtain reconciliation and remission of sin.
(5.) He was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, Heb_7:3. This must not be understood according to the letter; but the scripture has chosen to set him forth as an extraordinary person, without giving us his genealogy, that he might be a fitter type of Christ, who as man was without father, as God without mother; whose priesthood is without descent, did not descend to him from another, nor from him to another, but is personal and perpetual.
(6.) That he met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him. The incident is recorded Gen_14:18, etc. He brought forth bread and wine to refresh Abraham and his servants when they were weary; he gave as a king, and blessed as a priest. Thus our Lord Jesus meets his people in their spiritual conflicts, refreshes them, renews their strength, and blesses them. (7.) That Abraham gave him a tenth part of all (Heb_7:2), that is, as the apostle explains it, of all the spoils; and this Abraham did as an expression of his gratitude for what Melchisedec had done for him, or as a testimony of his homage and subjection to him as a king, or as an offering vowed and dedicated to God, to be presented by his priest. And thus are we obliged to make all possible returns of love and gratitude to the Lord Jesus for all the rich and royal favours we receive from him, to pay our homage and subjection to him as our King, and to put all our offerings into his hands, to be presented by him to the Father in the incense of his own sacrifice. (8.) That this Melchisedec was made like unto the Son of God, and abids a priest continually. He bore the image of God in his piety and authority, and stands upon record as an immortal high priest; the ancient type of him who is the eternal and only-begotten of the Father, who abideth a priest for ever.
II. Let us now consider (as the apostle advises) how great this Melchisedec was, and how far his priesthood was above that of the order of Aaron (Heb_7:4, Heb_7:5, etc.): Now consider how great this man was, etc. The greatness of this man and his priesthood appears,
1. From Abraham's paying the tenth of the spoils unto him; and it is well observed that Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec in Abraham, Heb_7:9. Now Levi received the office of the priesthood from God, and was to take tithes of the people, yet even Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec, as to a greater and higher priest than himself; therefore that high priest who should afterwards appear, of whom Melchisedec was a type, must be much superior to any of the Levitical priests, who paid tithes, in Abraham, to Melchisedec. And now by this argument of persons doing things that are matters of right or injury in the loins of their predecessors we have an illustration how we may be said to have sinned in Adam, and fallen with him in his first transgression. We were in Adam's loins when he sinned, and the guilt and depravity contracted by the human nature when it was in our first parents are equitably imputed and derived to the same nature as it is in all other persons naturally descended from them. They justly adhere to the nature, and it must be by an act of grace if ever they be taken away.
2. From Melchisedec's blessing of Abraham, who had the promises; and, without contradiction, the less is blessed of the greater, Heb_7:6, Heb_7:7. Here observe,
(1.) Abraham's great dignity and felicity - that he had the promises. He was one in covenant with God, to whom God had given exceedingly great and precious promises. That man is rich and happy indeed who has an estate in bills and bonds under God's own hand and seal. These promises are both of the life that now is and of that which is to come; this honour have all those who receive the Lord Jesus, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. (2.) Melchisedec's greater honour - in that it was his place and privilege to bless Abraham; and it is an uncontested maxim that the less is blessed of the greater, Heb_7:7. He who gives the blessing is greater than he who receives it; and therefore Christ, the antitype of Melchisedec, the meriter and Mediator of all blessings to the children of men, must be greater than all the priests of the order of Aaron.
“His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
- Luke_22:44
The Man Christ Jesus
The mental pressure arising from our Lord’s struggle with temptation, so forced His frame to an unnatural excitement, that his pores sent forth great drops of blood which fell down to the ground. This proves how tremendous must have been the weight of sin when it was able to crush the Saviour so that He distilled great drops of blood! This demonstrates the mighty power of his love. It is a very pretty observation of old Isaac Ambrose that the gum which exudes from the tree without cutting is always the best. This precious camphire-tree yielded most sweet spices when it was wounded under the knotty whips, and when it was pierced by the nails on the cross; but see, it giveth forth its best spice when there is no whip, no nail, no wound. This sets forth the voluntariness of Christ’s sufferings, since without a lance the blood flowed freely. No need to put on the leech, or apply the knife; it flows spontaneously. No need for the rulers to cry, “Spring up, O well;” of itself it flows in crimson torrents. If men suffer great pain of mind apparently the blood rushes to the heart. The cheeks are pale; a fainting fit comes on; the blood has gone inward as if to nourish the inner man while passing through its trial. But see our Saviour in His agony; He is so utterly oblivious of self, that instead of His agony driving His blood to the heart to nourish Himself, it drives it outward to bedew the earth. The agony of Christ, inasmuch as it pours Him out upon the ground, pictures the fullness of the offering which He made for men.
Do we not perceive how intense must have been the wrestling through which He passed, and will we not hear its voice to us? “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Behold the great Apostle and High Priest of our profession, and sweat even to blood rather than yield to the great tempter of your souls
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"
John 3:10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
John 3:11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
John 3:12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
FIVE THINGS GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW
FIRST: You need to be saved! "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,"
Romans 3:23 "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.
SECOND: You cannot save yourself!
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.." Titus 3:5.
THIRD: Jesus Has Provided For Your Salvation.
"Who (Jesus) his own self bare our sins, in His own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sins, should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
FOURTH: You must Accept Jesus Christ For Salvation.
"....Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved,"
Acts 16:31. "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12.
"That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Romans 10:9.
FIFTH: Now Is The Time To Accept Jesus As Your Saviour.
"....behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2.
"....As the Holy Ghost, said, To day if you will hear His voice, Harden not your hearts...." Hebrews 3:7-8.
NOW: If you will receive Christ as your Saviour simply pray this prayer from your heart.
Dear Lord Jesus, I do now ask you to forgive me of my sins, and come into my heart as my Lord and Saviour. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.
Signed:................................................................................................
Date: .................................. Time: ...............................................
Let us know you have received Jesus; Allow us to share your joy!
The way of the Master Course and information
The Lavishness of Jesus
And they did all eat, and were filled. and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full— Mat_14:20
Love Never Asks How Little Can I Do
One of the characteristics of our Lord was a certain glorious lavishness, an uncalculating generosity that was impatient of the less or more. This made Him very lovable. It was one of the features of His grace. He exhibited that royal largeness which always captivates the human heart. For the miser is universally condemned, and the stingy person forever unattractive, nor does the niggard, though scrupulously just, ever really draw the hearts of men. There is a lavishness which is pure thoughtlessness, and which sooner or later issues in remorse. It is far easier for shallow natures to squander than to save. But the lavishness of Jesus struck its roots into His deepest being, and was the flower of uncalculating love. Love never asks how little can I do; love always asks how much. Love does not merely go the measured mile; love travels to the uttermost. Love never haggles, never bargains, with "nicely calculated less or more." It gives up to the point of prodigality.
The Lavishness of Jesus in His Actions
We find the lavishness of Christ in every sphere, and first let us note it in His actions. "Gather up the fragments that remain, and they gathered up twelve baskets full." Men find in that a lesson in economy. Christ was careful that not a crumb be lost. And it is well we should be taught that lesson—we are so apt to be careless with life's fragments. But surely a far deeper lesson, leading us to the inmost heart of Jesus, is that of His uncalculating lavishness. He took no nice and precise measurements of what that hungry multitude required. He did not think of the minimum of need; He thought of the maximum of love. He gave so lavishly that when every man was fed, and every little whimpering child was satisfied, there yet remained twelve baskets full. That was the manner in which Jesus gave, and in such a manner is He giving still. Men come for healing, and they get pardon also. They come for a shilling and they get a sovereign. I take it that is why so many people fail to see the answers to their prayers; they have asked for a sixpence, and they get a fortune.
The Lavishness of Jesus in His Parabolic Teaching
The same uncalculating lavishness of love is witnessed in the teaching of His parables. I do not think there is a single parable in which that divine element is wanting. The sower does not nicely measure things; he sows on the beaten path and on the rock. The employer of labour, at the eleventh hour, gives a full day's pay for an hour's work. The servant who was faithful with ten pounds finds himself the ruler of ten cities, no doubt to his own intense astonishment. Men quarrel with the doctrine of rewards. They say we ought to do good for its own sake. Christ, knowing human nature, never hesitates to introduce rewards. But then His rewards are so amazing, so utterly unproportioned to our merit, that they entirely lose the aspect of reward, and shine as gifts of undeserved grace. When the poor prodigal came home again, a bare forgiveness would have contented him. But it evidently did not content the overflowing heart of Jesus. The best robe must be given to him; there must be a ring on his finger and shoes upon his feet; there must be music and dancing in the house.
Jesus Noticed the Much Found in the Little
Again, we might think a moment of the kind of thing that Jesus loved. If we are to follow Him, and take His scale of values, it is imperative that we discover that. He did not love the narrowness of Pharisees, nor had He any tenderness for lengthy prayers. He felt no sympathy with the precise exactitude that tithes the mint and the anise and the cummin. But one day He saw a widow woman lavishing her little all for God, and that caught the tendrils of His heart. Again, another day there came a woman with an alabaster box of precious ointment. And she broke the box and poured that precious ointment on the dear feet of Him whom she loved. And men were indignant at this gross extravagance—to what purpose is this waste?—but to Jesus it was incomparably fine. It was not the squandering of hysteria. To Him it was the lavishness of love. It was love, despising calculation, and giving to the very uttermost. He caught in it a spark of that same flame that had lit up every moment of His life, and was now to shine in glory on the cross.
Was Christ's Death for All a Waste Since All Do Not Accept Him?
Jesus died on the cross for every man. He died for the sins of the whole world. There was virtue in that atoning death for all the guilty sinners of mankind. Now look around and tell me, are all men being saved? Are none going down into the glen of weeping? Are none heading for the outer darkness? If so, to what purpose is this waste? Why this lavish squandering of sacrifice in the agony and dereliction of the cross? The only answer is that God is love, and love never asks how little, but how much. Love does not calculate nor nicely measure; it gives as the woman with the alabaster box did. In that lavishness our Saviour lived. In that lavishness He fed the multitude. In that lavishness He died on Calvary.
Feeding the Five Thousand
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude— Mat_14:19
The Only Miracle Recorded in All Four Gospels
This is the only miracle recorded in each of the four Gospels, and we must take that as a token of the profound impression which it made. To us, the raising of Lazarus is more astounding than this mountain feast; but had we lived in Galilee, and heard the common talk, we should have perhaps found that this miracle was graven deepest on men's hearts. Most of the other miracles had been seen by few. There was no crowd near when the Nain widow got her son again. When Lazarus awoke, there were only the village neighbours present. But here five thousand lips had eaten, and five thousand lips would talk, until in every farm house and cottage this miracle would be a household word. That deep impression is registered in the fourfold narrative.
Only a word is needed to describe the miracle. Partly to avoid the dangerous neighbourhood of Herod, and still more, to refresh His overstrained disciples—for there is nothing like a day with Christ among the hills for making a worried heart itself again—Jesus and His disciples cross the lake, and steer for the quiet hills by the north shore. Alas! there was to be little rest that day. The folk had seen them launching. They hurry round by the north end of the lake, meeting and mingling with the pilgrim-companies making for Jerusalem to keep the Passover. And as the prow of the boat grates on the beach, and Jesus and His disciples step ashore, God's great cathedral of the mountainside, whose roof is heaven and whose organ music is the sea, is thronged with a vast and eager congregation. Then Jesus heals, and teaches, and in the evening feeds them. Which done, the stars come out, and the crowds are scattered, and the disciples are rowing homeward to Capernaum, and Jesus is on the mountainside in prayer.
Christ's Compassion
Note first that this miracle had its roots in Christ's compassion. When He stepped ashore and saw much people, we read that He was moved with compassion towards them. And all the healing, and teaching, and feeding of that memorable day sprang from that pity in the heart of Christ. And that is the glory of divine compassion it is the source and spring of noble deeds. Often we pity where we cannot help. But the compassion of Jesus sprang into action always. It set Him healing, teaching, feeding hungry men, and it still draws Him to the same service. Is Christ my compassionate High Priest today? Then He will help me in my struggle to be true. He will lift me up when I have failed and fallen. He will feed me when my soul is starving.
One Food for All
Mark, too, there was but one food for all these thousands. The rich were there, journeying to Jerusalem, and the poorest of the poor were there, from the rude huts by the lakeside. Yonder were the quick merchants from the cities, here lolled the farmhands from the fields. There was a mother crooning to her babe, and here were the children romping on the green. Old men were there with the first glow of heaven about them, and young men with the first glow of earth. Yet Jesus fed them all with the same bread. The strange thing is that no one scorned the victual. All ate, and all were filled. No swift relays of courses had ever been so sweet as the single dish with Jesus on the hill.
Now the wonderful thing about Christ—the living Bread—is that He satisfies us all.
What a great gulf between the Jew of Tarsus and the ignorant fishers of Bethsaida! What a world between the gentle Lydia and the rude jailer at Philippi! Yet the power of Christ that made a man of Peter was no less mighty in the heart of Paul; and the love of God that won the love of Lydia conquered the jailor too. In all love, says a thinker, there is something levelling; and the love of God is the great leveller of the ages. It knows no social barriers. It is not powerless where temperaments differ. It comes to all, this one glorious Gospel of the grace of God, and all may feed and be satisfied.
Jesus Uses Gifts Men Bring Him
Again note, that in satisfying the needs of men Christ uses the gifts which men bring Him. Had Jesus so willed, He could have made bread out of the stones. In times past, God had called water from the rock, and brought manna from the windows of heaven, and I do not know why God in Christ might not have summoned these hidden stores again. But Jesus' miracles were acted parables, not wrought to amaze, but to instruct. And so He takes what the disciples give Him, and uses that to feed the crowd. It is often Christ's way to help the world through men.
It is His plan to bring the Kingdom in through us. And if we take our gifts, however poor and humble, and lay them freely at the feet of Jesus, He will so bless and multiply and use them that we shall be amazed, and recognise His hand.
The Bread Increased in the Breaking of It
I see, too, that it was in the breaking that the bread increased. A wonder-worker would have touched the loaves, and made them swell and multiply before the crowd. But Jesus blessed, and broke, and gave to the disciples, and as they brake the bread, it increased. It was through the blessing that the miracle was wrought, and through the breaking that it was realised. And ever, through the breaking, comes the increase, and in the using of our gifts, with God's blessing, are our gifts enlarged. Trade with your talent bravely, and it shall be five. Power springs from power, and service out of service. Never try to do good, and you will find no good to do. Do all the little good you can, and every day will bring a fresh capacity and a new opportunity, until you find that "there is that scattereth and yet increaseth."
Careful of the Fragments
And lastly, note that Jesus was very careful of the fragments. One would have thought that Jesus was too rich to trouble Himself about the fragments. Surely it was but labour lost to sweat and stoop and stumble in the dark, to fill their wicker baskets with the scraps. But Jesus is imperious. "Gather the fragments that remain," is His command. And the twelve disciples, who a little before had been sent out to heal and teach and preach the Gospel, had now, in the presence of the thousands, to set about sweeping the crumbs. It was a splendid discipline. Someone has said that if two angels came to earth, the one to rule an empire, and the other to sweep a crossing, they would never seek to interchange their tasks. And our own poet has told us that:
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine,
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine.
But was that all? I think not. It was not merely to discipline the disciples that Jesus commanded the fragments to be gathered. We cannot read the story of His life, but we detect a care for the fragments through it all. The fragment of a day, how He employed it! The fragment of a life, how He redeemed it! The fragment of a character, how He ennobled it! Yes, that is His great passion—to love and lift our fragmentary lives till they are brought into the image of His own.
RISEN WITH CHRIST
"If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God."-- Col_3:1 (R.V.).
IF SOME one will say, "Ha, there's the rub! I'm afraid that is not true of me; my life is sinful and sorrowful; there are no Easter chimes in my soul, no glad fellowship with the Risen Lord; no victory over dark and hostile powers." But if you are Christ's disciple, you may affirm that you are risen in Him! With Christ you lay in the grave, and with Christ you have gone forth, according to the thought and purpose of God, if not in your feelings and experience. This is distinctly taught in Eph_2:1-10 and Rom. 6.
The whole Church (including all who believe in our Lord Jesus) has passed into the light of the Easter dawn; and the one thing for you and me, and all of us, is to begin from this moment to act as if it were a conscious experience, and as we dare to do so we shall have the experience.
Notice how the Apostle insists on this: "You died, you were raised with Christ, your life is hid with Christ. Give yourself time to think about it and realize it."
The Cross of Jesus stands between you and the constant appeal of the world, as when the neighbours of Christian tried to induce him to return to the City of Destruction. This does not mean that we are to be indifferent to all that is fair and lovely in the life which God has given us, but that the Cross is to separate us from all that is selfish, sensual, and savouring of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1Jo_2:15-17).
Set your mind on things above (Col_3:2). "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." With many of us there is little attempt to guard our thoughts. The door of our heart stands open, with none to control the ingress or egress of the tumultuous throng of thoughts that wander in and out. If only we would ask the Holy Spirit to control our thoughts, so that we might think only the things that are true and of good report, a wonderful change would pass over our life (Phi_4:7-8).
Realize that Christ is your life--He is in you! See to it that nothing hinders the output of His glorious indwelling. Never mind if the world of men misunderstand you. Some day your motives and reasons will be manifested (Col_3:4).
PRAYER
Grant, most gracious God, that we may love and seek Thee always and everywhere, and may at length find Thee and for ever hold Thee fast in the life to come. AMEN.
