Jesus is far above all things
All powers, ev’ry name
He is the sovereign King of Kings
Forever He will reign
He is the sovereign King of Kings
Forever He will reign
So let us walk in peace today
Hope in our coming King
Submit in all we do and say
His praises ever sing
Submit in all we do and say
His praises ever sing
(To the tune of “All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name”)
Here are some good posts on doctrine:
Doctrine Matters: Eternal Life Depends Upon It – Kevin DeYoung
Christianity is much more than getting your doctrine right. But it is not less.
Take a Quiz on Christ – Tim Challies
How well do you know what the Bible teaches us about Jesus?
Your Highest Privilege – Tim Challies
Of all the privileges that are ours through the gospel, which is the greatest? According to many theologians, there is no privilege higher than adoption.
Jesus the Lord’s Anointed One
Proclaims the year of grace
A great reversal, salvation
For us, the human race
The poor receive great hope anew
The humble His mercy
The mourning find His comfort true
The captive liberty
Those ruined by their sin and shame
Once broken and hopeless
Now beautiful in Jesus’ name
Clothed in His righteousness
So go to Jesus every hour
Find grace to meet your need
In all your weakness, seek His power
Upon His favor feed
Our Lord will come, end suffering
All evil He’ll defeat
We’ll praise Him with great rejoicing
Our salvation complete
– From a sermon on Isaiah 61
(To the tune of “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing”)
In Isaiah 61, we are encouraged to go to Jesus.
Go to Jesus with your poverty and affliction and receive good news of hope for future.
Go to Jesus with your mourning and sorrow and find his comfort.
Go to Jesus with your captivity to sin and find freedom.
Go to Jesus with your sin and receive forgiveness and righteousness.
Go to Jesus with the ruins of your life and let him rebuild you into something beautiful.
Go to Jesus with your shame and dishonor and receive the honor and joy found in him.
What do you need to go to Jesus for today?
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
“May I Go In There?” – Jared Wilson
5 Resurrection Realities That Reorient Our Evangelism – Steven Lee (TGC)
5 Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution – Tim Challies
Don’t Follow Your Heart – Jon Bloom (DG)
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day following your Lord who died and rose again so you might draw near to Him!
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
– Isaiah 53:10-12
Consider Jesus Our Savior. Consider his victory. Jesus rose victoriously. It is not stated in so many words in these verses, but is everywhere implied. After he has made an offering for guilt (by dying), he yet will see his offspring, his days will be prolonged, and the will of God will prosper in his hands (v10). Again, he will see and be satisfied (v11). And then he will receive the victor’s prize in v12. All of these things require his resurrection in order to happen in any realistic meaningful way.
And yet his victory is not simply found in his resurrection, but in what he accomplished through his death and resurrection:
Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his victory in his resurrection and for our salvation.
Father, thank you for the good news of the resurrection of Jesus.
May we live in gratitude and hope as we ponder the many saving benefits
of your salvation purchased for us.
This is well worth posting again as we remember our Lord’s death and anticipate celebrating his resurrection.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
– Isaiah 53:5-6
Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his sacrifice.
Like sheep, we had all wandered away from the Shepherd to do our own thing. We chose the path of selfishness instead of loving God and people. We rebelled against our Creator and King. We chose what was evil and wicked. And all of our sins were laid on Jesus.
Jesus took our sins upon himself there on the cross. He paid the price for our sins. And consider the price for our sins. He was wounded. He was crushed. He bore our punishment, and the stripes we deserved. For us. In our place.
He bore the chastisement that we deserved to bring us peace – peace with God. In Jesus, we are reconciled to God. In Jesus, we can have a relationship with our Creator. We can draw near and commune with him as his children. We can know his daily presence in our lives, and the joy he alone can give.
And by his stripes we are healed, healed from the infection of sin and all its dire consequences. We are healed from the guilt of sin which was paid on the cross. We are healed from the power of sin, so we can live a new life with Jesus. And we will one day be healed from the presence of sin and all of its results. When Jesus returns, there will be no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more suffering, no more pain, no more death.
Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his sacrifice to pay for our sins to bring us peace with God and healing from sin.
Father, thank you for Jesus who paid the price for my sins.
Help me to live in the peace and healing that was purchased for me,
even as I look toward the day of final healing when Jesus returns.
All like sheep we’ve gone astray
Each one turned to his own way
For each sin Jesus did pay
Hallelujah what a Savior
Bore our sins upon the tree
Fully paid the penalty
Crushed and wounded all for me
Hallelujah what a Savior
My salvation He did win
Freely I may enter in
Full redemption from my sin
Hallelujah what a Savior
Fully innocent was He
Perfect Lamb of God to be
Stricken and oppressed for me
Hallelujah what a Savior
With the wicked made His grave
Buried in a rich man’s cave
All of this for me to save
Hallelujah what a Savior
– From a sermon on Isaiah 53:4-9
(To the tune of the “Hallelujah What A Savior”)
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him…
– Isaiah 52:14-15a
Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his suffering. He was beaten. A crown of thorns was pressed onto his head. He was scourged with a whip that ripped open his flesh forty times. He was hung on a cross with nails in his hands and feet. The extent of his suffering was so great that our passage tells us he didn’t even look like a man. He didn’t even look human, but rather a bloody mass of flesh hanging there on the cross. Consider his suffering.
And in his suffering, he sprinkles the nations. The high priest would sacrifice an animal and sprinkle the blood to cleanse, to purify, to make clean. And in the suffering of our Savior, his blood was spilt to be sprinkled on the nations, to cleanse us from our sins, to make us pure and clean. Consider his suffering that cleanses us from our sins.
And in his suffering, he shocks the nations. As people looked upon this suffering servant, they were astonished. They shut their mouths in shock and dismay at this spectacle of suffering. And yet the shock goes beyond the suffering to the salvation that flows from it – that we would be saved by his shed blood. How strange is this salvation!
And we ought to wonder. The cross can become so familiar to us. But stop and wonder at his sufferings on your behalf. Wonder at his incredible love that endured such suffering. Wonder at this great salvation that flows from his suffering. Stop and wonder.
Father, thank you for the suffering of Jesus that cleanses us from our sins.
May we wonder anew at his suffering and the shocking salvation
that flows from his blood.
Brian J. Mikul 