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“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; For he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11). The justice of God was satisfied by the vicarious sacrifice of Christ on the cross (cf. Rom. 3:23-26). God is just and so Christ offered Himself as the atonement (propitiation) for our sins to appease God’s wrath (cf. Zeph. 3:5; 1 John 2:1-2; 1 John 4:10; John 10:10-18). In order for one to be justified they must have knowledge of the Suffering Servant and His teachings (cf. John 6:44-45; Matt. 11:28-30; Rom. 10:13-17; 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Titus 2:11-14). This places great emphasis on our responsibility to get the Gospel message out (cf. Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47)! “There’s a message true and glad for the sinful and the sad, ring it out!” Trent Thrasher
“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:34-36). Emancipate is defined as, “to free from restraint, control, or power of another especially: to free from bondage”. The greatest emancipation event took place almost 2,000 years ago when Christ went to the cross for you, me, and the world (1 John 2:1-2; John 1:29; Heb. 9:26). When one responds to the Gospel and is buried with Christ into death via baptism, the old man is crucified destroying the body of sin and thus the enslavement (Rom. 6:1-7). Sadly, slavery to sin is still very prevalent in society but this is nothing new (cf. Gal. 1:4; 1 John 5:19; Matt. 7:13, 22-23). We should always have in our minds the high cost of slavery to sin but also the great value of the riches of Christ (Rom. 6:21-23; Rom. 11:33; Eph. 1:7). This should be a great motivation to exhort others to come to Christ in loving obedience to be free from the shackles of sin. Such is possible and must be preached (John 8:31-32; Rom. 1:14-17). Let us be those that proclaim liberty throughout the land through the Gospel (Lev. 25:10; Luke 4:14-21)! Trent Thrasher
“As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory” (1 Thes. 2:11–12). Three salient points are given to describe how a father should behave toward his children:
The purpose in this activity is so that children “walk worthy of God” (cf. Eph. 4:1-6) as a father has no greater joy than to know his children walk in truth (3 John 4; John 17:17). The beauty of Christianity is even if we do not have an earthly father that behaves this way, we have a heavenly Father that does (cf. Gen. 18:25; James 1:17-18; Eph. 1:3). Thank you to all the godly fathers and praise be to the Father whose face one day we shall see, if we remain faithful (Rev. 22:1-4)! Trent Thrasher
“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand” (Isa. 53:10).
Christ always did those things which pleased the Father (John 8:29). This included going to the cross for the sins of the world (1 John 2:1-2). Though Jesus was crucified by wicked hands, it was the plan for reconciling man back to God (cf. Acts 2:22-23; 2 Cor. 5:18-21). Christ was the ultimate trespass offering typified under the Law of Moses (cf. Num. 5:7-8; Lev. 5:18; Lev. 7:5-7; Lev. 14:12-13; Heb. 10:1-18). Three beautiful results are seen: (1) We can become the offspring (seed) of God made in the image of Christ (cf. Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:9-13; Gal. 3:16-4:7). (2) Christ would be resurrected never to die again (cf. Rom. 6:9-10). (3) Christ would overcome death and darkness and thus prosper (cf. John 16:33; Rev 3:21). We too can and must overcome! To come over to Heaven one must overcome (cf. Rev. 2:7; Rev. 2:11; Rev. 21:7). |
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