When Jesus died on the cross, the totally innocent Son of God had to suffer the ultimate injustice. Through his unjust death, Jesus took upon himself the punishment we deserved for our sins.
The only completely innocent man of all time died an agonising death so that all guilty men and women could be freed from God's judgement.
With his voluntary death, Jesus began to free people from all the curses and injustices that began with original sin.
The first injustice was foretold by God himself.
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen 3:16 NIV
It was not God's command that men should rule over women. After the original sin, the character of men was corrupted. Men's greater physical strength was used to dominate women, which was never God's intention.
But millions of men have harshly dominated their wives. For thousands of years, women have been treated as second-class human beings.
In the Bible, Jewish women were also victims of harsh discrimination, but in Christian history and also in our time, we see that many Christians still do not understand that God created us for partnership and not for the subordination of women.
In the Bible, new beginnings are of particular importance. As his first act after his resurrection, Jesus restored the equality of women.
Mary Magdalene was chosen by Jesus as the first person to proclaim his resurrection, not Peter or John, and not even Mary, his mother.
Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was the gardener. The first gardener was Adam, and Paul teaches us that Jesus is the last Adam. This means that Jesus is the beginning of the new humanity.
So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 1 Cor 15:45 NIV
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Cor 15:22 NIV
Adam was the first man and the father of all men. He was without sin until he succumbed to temptation.
Jesus came as the second man without sin and he resisted all temptations.
Jesus came to give all of us men, women and children the innocence and glory of the original creation. He came to create a wonderful new humanity, a humanity where men and women can fulfil their potential in equality, freedom and partnership.
When Mary Magdalene announced to the apostles that Jesus had risen, they did not believe.
Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. Mk 16:14 NIV
What did Jesus want to teach us? From now on, pastors and apostles must also take women seriously. The curse of male domination is over as far as God is concerned. Many Christians are slow to understand this.
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Women Redeemed from the Curse
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Reconciled with the God of Love
If you are in any kind of need, you must know that God loves you.
Because God loves you, He wants to help you. His love comes from His heart, but His help is also totally practical.
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Is 41:10 NASB95
This text is for all those who know God personally. He always stands by his children, for he is the faithful Father in heaven. He never abandons his sons and daughters.
But if you don't know God personally, then you need his help all the more. God Himself has made a way for you to find Him if you are spiritually blind and have no relationship with your Creator.
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Is 59:1–2 NIV
But despite our estrangement from Him, whereby we have become spiritually blind and like orphans, God still loves us and wants to reconcile us to Himself.
The word ‘reconcile’ means that He wants to receive us as His sons (or daughters).
Many of us have a longing for God's love.
The German poet Schiller summarised this longing beautifully.
‘Brothers above the stars must dwell a dear Father.’
Perhaps you cherish a feeling in your heart that you must be a child of the universe.
But God is not the universe. He created the universe and He loves you personally. God wants to give you something much better.
God loves you and understands you. God wants you to know Him, to know Him as a person; and for you to know that you have a heavenly home and belong to a heavenly family.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV
Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus was God in heaven, who chose to be born as a human being, to live among us humans as a human being and to sacrifice himself to death as a human being.
Why?
He was executed on the cross in order to bear the punishment we deserve for our sins. Our debt is paid!
Now you can get to know God.
You no longer need to be separated from your heavenly Father because of your guilt. Everything is forgiven if you want to receive God's wonderful grace and boundless love.
You can never earn God's love and grace.
You can never pay your debt.
No amount of virtue or repentance can persuade God to accept you. He wants to receive you as his child.
Jesus said 2000 years ago and he is still saying to you today:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Mt 11:28 NASB95
He reads your thoughts like a book, but He doesn't want to be a threatening policeman. He wants to be like your father or your mother or your best friend.
Just tell him the thoughts that are in your heart. He understands your heart and your language.
Sunday, November 10, 2024
God is at Work in Your Life
I feel so imperfect, so flawed, so flawed, but God accepts me as his son. Only because of what Jesus did on the cross, paying for all my sins.
My guilt is cancelled.
I am a half-finished work, but God sees the end product.
I am a construction site, but God is the architect and master builder. He loves to see his beautiful house taking shape.
God delights in the work He is doing in my life.
As I wrote these thoughts on my computer, I felt moved by the Spirit of God and His love. Then I felt that I was allowed to reshape these words a bit so that God Himself was speaking directly to me.
"You feel so imperfect, so flawed, so lacking, but I accept you as my son. Only because of what Jesus did on the cross, paying for all your sins.
Your guilt is cancelled.
You are a work in progress, but I see the end product.
You are a construction site, but I am the architect and builder. I love to see my beautiful house take shape.
I delight in the work I am doing in your life."
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Cor 5:17 NRSV
Friday, September 21, 2012
WHO DOES GOD LOVE?
Who does God love?
He loves His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said:The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. John 3:35 (NKJV)
God loves the world and every human being on earth.For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV)
God loves people who do not believe in Him.For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6 (NKJV)
"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' Isaiah 65:1 (NIV)
A young Jewish man in Romania did not believe in God but he had an empty place in his soul.
He was fascinated by the faith of people who believed in a Divine Being. One day he saw a church service and he went in and stood at the back.Then he spoke to God and said:
“Oh God, if you exist and I am sure you do not ... but if you do exist, I hold that it is not my duty to believe but it is your duty to show yourself to me.”
One day this young man was on a long journey in the countryside. He stopped in a village to ask for a place to sleep. An old Christian man had been praying for many years for the privilege of leading a Jew to faith in Jesus Messiah. When he recognised this young traveller as a Jew, he eagerly offered him hospitality and treated him like royalty. He gave him a Bible to read, a Bible which he had prayed over fervently.
The young atheist read the Bible and Jesus came alive to him as he read. He began to weep and became a believer as he perceived the living truth and felt the living presence of the risen Jesus Christ, Messiah of Israel.
He began to share his faith and was persecuted by the Nazi German occupation. Then the Soviet Red Army came and the persecution was worse. But Richard Wurmbrand continued to fearlessly reach out even to the officers of the Red Army.
The preacher asked a Communist officer if he believed in God and the soldier replied he had no orders to believe in such a Being. Then the preacher challenged him. “But you pray, don’t you.” The atheist looked like a naughty child caught raiding the kitchen in the night. His defences were down and he freely confessed:
When the Germans surrounded us at Stalingrad, we all prayed. We prayed: “Oh God and Spirit of Mother, save us!”
The preacher said that was a very good prayer, the cry of the heart.