Jesus Christ Paid the Price
Although a PAST TENSE REALITY, I Peter 2:24 yields some very PRESENT TENSE BENEFITS for believers! Of course it took the death, resurrection and ascension of a certain man named Jesus Christ to make them attainable.
At the time of his arrest, mock trial and crucifixion in the year 27AD, the news media of that day, not being particularly enamored with his claim to be God’s son, apparently didn’t even bother to mention it! The Roman government also turned a blind eye even though they were complicit in the whole sordid affair. The religious hierarchy regarded it as fortuitous and good riddance to a worrisome fellow that posed a genuine threat to their absolute tyrannical authority and power. While his followers scrambled to make sense of their great loss, those whom Jesus had healed rejoiced in their deliverance.
Very few people alive today KNOW or CARE that God’s WORD is actually His WILL. That means NO MORE GUESSING on our part…..all we need to do is read the Bible and do what it says! Of course it hasn’t always been that easy. Down through the ages, very few have had the access or the ability to do that. Therefore God’s great truths were shrouded in mystery. The Bible for many became a riddle and a puzzle. In many respects it was simply unknowable. In short, it was, as some have declared, a secret! The pinnacle of the unknowns has to be that Jesus Christ paid the price to save you and me from the clutches of the adversary.
In our modern world the Bible is widely distributed and most people can read. The crux of the matter today for believers of all ages is not CAN they read the Bible, but rather DO they read it? None of us can know what we have not been taught. It’s simply NOT POSSIBLE to know what you don’t know although many people continue to attempt the impossible!
As long as the Bible continues to be a mystery we will never learn the things we need to know…but that doesn’t change the truth that…
II Peter 1:3 (KJV) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
The VERY GOOD news for all of us is that…
God hasn’t made His message too terribly difficult….
I Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
This is God’s will for EVERYBODY! But religion, which consists mostly of things man thought up, will never teach you this. The simplicity, clarity and intelligibility that God originally built into His word, has over several millennia been largely lost, which is why the Bible is now viewed as a great secret!
But, suppose you were to factor religious nonsense out of the equation along with the useless creeds and traditions that aren’t biblical anyway. I am certain that our vistas of understanding would shine bright like the noonday sun. Our knowledge would be greatly enhanced! To state it another way, if you want to know God’s will, then you must know God’s Word!
God's son, Jesus Christ, is the subject of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I was once taught that he is the red thread woven throughout the scriptural narrative. If our goal and desire is an accurate knowledge of our Lord and Savior and a clear understanding of the price he paid for our redemption, we will ONLY FIND IT in the pages of God’s Word!
It is pretty much common knowledge, at least among the plethora of denominations of Christianity, that Jesus sacrificed his life to pay for our sins. To be more precise, he removed the consequences of our sinful ways by taking our sins upon himself thus making it possible for you and me to attain eternal life. That’s a pretty big deal because the Bible says (Rom 6:23) that the wages of sin is death!
Health and prosperity is also God’s desire for ALL of us! We don’t need a PhD to understand this, nor do we need any special training or equipment! All we need to do is believe it and claim it! That’s the ONLY way you’ll have it. We could also never afford to buy it because the price tag would be well beyond our means! Fortunately for us it was paid in full, long ago, by Jesus’ loving sacrifice!
We certainly do not deserve it, but God gave us the gift anyway! Our response should be to DECLARE & DEMONSTRATE His will, and we just read what His will is. So why not prove to God every day of our lives that the sacrifice of His son was not in vain!
Our grasp of that one scripture makes the Bible a bit less of a mystery and a lot more of a blessing! But why stop at only one verse? There are literally hundreds of promises that God has made, and each and every one of them is ours to claim it! Let’s take a quick look at a few more verses having to do with healing.
Psalm 103:3 Who FORGIVETH ALL thine iniquities; who HEALETH ALL thy diseases;
Psalm 30:2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast HEALED me.
Since God heals EVERYTHING WRONG WITH US….it seems to me that it would be sinful on our part to manifest sickness!
Psalm 107:20 He sent his WORD, and HEALED them, and DELIVERED [them] from their destructions.
GOD’S WORD HEALS!!!!!
TOTALLY WHOLE is the Greek word SOZO. It literally means to be completely whole in all categories. We should expect wholeness in EVERY category of life. SPIRITUAL, MENTAL, PHYSICAL, FINANCIAL, EMOTIONAL, INTELLECTUAL, SOCIAL, OCCUPATIONAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL and ANYTHING else!!
Jesus Christ was our RANSOM.
He forfeited his perfect life for your imperfect one!
He PAID the total price ONCE and for ALL nearly TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO!!
Why not Rise Up and PROCLAIM what is rightfully YOURS? Any lesser action is to call God a liar and MINIMIZE the true MAGNITUDE of Jesus Christ’s VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE for you and for me!!!