(I occasionally post something here from another web site or blog I like. The following is from Joseph Prince and his daily devotional. I like it and I like him. Click here to visit to his web site.)
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)
Do you know that it was at the cross that Jesus addressed His Father as “God” for the first time? He had always addressed His Father as “Father”. But at Calvary’s tree, He addressed His Father as “God”.
Jesus lost that Father-Son relationship when He was representing you and carrying your sins at the cross so that today, you can call God “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15) and have a loving father-son relationship with God forever. Jesus was forsaken by God and His world became very dark on that lonely hill so that in your darkest hour, God will always say to you, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” (Hebrews 13:5)
At the time when Jesus needed God most, God turned His back on Him. God had to turn His back on His Son because His eyes are too holy to behold all the sin that was in His Son’s body. And because God turned His back on Jesus, He will never turn His back on you. Instead, you will see God’s face of favor shining on you all the time!
Jesus also took your place of no protection at the cross. For the first time, He gave up divine protection so that you can have it every day of your life! And because He became sin, He took your curse at the cross so that today, as you take His gift of righteousness, you receive only blessings from God.
Jesus received the full brunt of God’s wrath in His body once and for all when He carried your sins. All of God’s anger and condemnation fell on Him, consuming all your sins until God’s wrath was exhausted.
Today, God is not angry with you. The body of Jesus absorbed everything — your sins, curses, and God’s anger and condemnation. So live life expecting to see not the judgment, but the goodness and blessings of God!
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Ralph,
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear your view on the following:
http://www.tektonics.org/whatis/whatfaith.html
The author is discussing what he calls "common misconceptions" about faith. In that context, he addresses the idea of a "personal relationship" with God:
"...the relationship between the believer and God is framed in terms of an ancient client-patron relationship."
"As God's 'clients' to whom he has shown unmerited favor (grace), our response should be... a 'constant awareness' of prescribed duties toward those in whom we are indebted (God) and the group in which we are embedded (God's kin group, the body of Christ)."
"This 'constant awareness' is the expression of our faithfulness of loyalty -- in other words, this is our pistis, or faith. 'Faith' is not a feeling, but our pledge to trust, and be reliable servants to, our patron (God), who has provided us with tangible gifts (Christ) and proof thereby of His own reliability."
"...the modern idea of a 'personal relationship with Jesus'... is the modern staple of evangelism. Given the above data, the actual description that fits an authentic faith is not a personal relationship, but a patronal relationship. Modern sentiments that call Jesus our 'friend' and suppose that we ought to talk to God as to our best buddy are, in this context, clearly misplaced."
"The casualness with which we approach a relationship to the Almighty is decidedly far from what the ancients would have perceived; indeed, the client seldom if ever spoke to or saw the patron (here, the Father) and had even limited contact with the broker (here, Jesus); thus Jesus' admonition to make requests of him hardly signifies a constant appeal for every possible need to be met as we desire!"
I'm only quoting a small part of the entire article. You probably want to read it in it's entirety to get the proper context.