TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY - THE RAISING OF THE CROSS

 

This is one of the great paintings from the Reformation.  Notice Christ on the cross being lifted up and put in place.  Notice the man at the foot of the cross wearing the beret.  That is Rembrandt.  He is putting Christ up on the cross.  He is putting it in place.

What is Rembrandt saying in this painting?  What is his message?  He is saying I put Christ on that cross.  My sins put him up there.  Rembrandt has recognized and painted the essential truth.  It is and was our sins that put Christ on the cross.  He went there to die for us, for you and me, to cover our sins. 

Because he lives – because he died the way he did and then rose from the dead - Jesus has earned for each true believer in him eternal life with him and his father.  He has earned forgiveness for each of us.  He overcame the world, and in him we do too.  Jesus did so many things I have written about before, but this is the key one – he reconciled human beings to God.  He took our sins upon himself and removed that unsolvable burden.  He gave us our lives again.

                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                Copyright © 2021 by John Newlin

KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS!

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GOD'S GREAT FORGIVENESS OF YOU

Yesterday for a moment I thought about my mother.    I don’t know why, but I was just thinking about her and about various things over the years, especially the last several of her life which were hard for her.  And I thought about things I did, decisions I made regarding her care and her life and really all sorts of other decisions and actions over the years.  Some of them I debated at the time.  Some of them perhaps should have been handled otherwise. 

And as I was thinking about things she might not have liked, I said I hope she forgives me.

 

Almost immediately a smile broke out on my face.  Well, how ridiculous, I thought!  Of course she forgives me!  How silly!  My mother?  Of course she forgives me.  There is no question of that.  Of course she would and does.

It was not even an issue.  I know deep inside how much my mother loved me.  And I know that of course she would forgive me for anything.

Aha!  Now then the next thought.  If I can have such absolute certainly about my mother’s forgiveness that it is not even a question, what about God? What about his forgiveness?

It is the same absolute. It is there and real and absolute.  No question.  Jesus paid the price for that.  Realize it.  Take it.  Think about someone who truly loved you, like maybe your mother or father or some other family member or friend, and think about how of course they would forgive you for anything.  Then magnify that forgiveness an infinity of times to get to God’s level of forgiveness of you.

Forgiven.  That’s what you are.  You as a believer in the Lord.  Forgiven.

                                          
                                                                                                                          Copyright © 2018 by John Newlin

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Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

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