Tag: only Son
Thankful for God’s Provision!
Scripture reading for January 6th: Genesis 19-22
Growing in Thanksgiving: Genesis 22:1-3, 14 “Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” “. . .”So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
God asked Abraham to do a difficult thing: sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. Abraham obeyed and at the last second, God provided a ram in place of Isaac. “Jehovah Jireh” was the name Abraham gave the place on the mountain where “God provided” the ram!
Thanksgiving: God provided His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, as the substitute for our sins. He was offered on a cross of wood he carried in the same location as Abraham’s son! “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.” (John 3:16)
God so loved!
Scripture reading for April 9th: John 3
Jesus Christ came into our world to reveal the love of His Father for all mankind. He came first to His own people, the Jews. These Jews should have been able to recognized Him because of the Scriptures shared through God’s prophets. One of these studied Jews, Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night to inquire further of Jesus about God’s kingdom. Jesus told him that he must be ‘born again’ by the Spirit to even see the kingdom of God! (John 3:5-8)
Nicodemus struggled to understand this concept so Jesus used one of Moses’ stories to illustrate how God would do this for all mankind. “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven–the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. 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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:13-17)
Jesus had come down from heaven to heal mankind of the serpent’s bite. He was the ‘Son of Man’ and ‘Son of God’. He would be lifted up on a cross bearing the judgment of God on the serpent and sin’s bites on mankind. Anyone who would look to Him and believe would be saved from perishing and receive eternal life! God loved the whole world! This was the pathway to being ‘born again’! Have you believed on Jesus Christ?