“Then he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the rule. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.” – Leviticus 5:10

The overwhelming message of the book of Leviticus is that forgiveness of sin comes at a terrible price. God is pure, perfect, holy, and righteous. He is all good and in Him is no shadow of darkness, evil, or sin. Thus when we sin – and we all do – we create a separation between us and Him bigger than the Grand Canyon!

The only way to remove that sin and close that separation is for something innocent to die. It sounds horrible to our modern sensibilities, but that’s because we don’t appreciate how horrible our sin is, whether we think it’s a “big” sin or a “little” sin. Sin is sin and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) – either for ourselves or for something innocent that atones for our sin.

The ancient system of sacrifice with all its blood and gore was intended to teach us that single lesson. That system could never truly save anyone in itself because after the sacrifice people just sinned again. The system existed to point us to an infinitely greater sacrifice that could cover all our sin, past, present, and future.

That sacrifice was made by the eternal, holy, righteous, perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ. He lived the life free of sin that we can’t and He died as an atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. By His death and resurrection, all who put their faith in Him receive forgiveness and new birth into eternal life.

“He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?”
– Psalm 27:1

We live in an anxious age. Rising numbers of people report symptoms of anxiety. We’re anxious about the past, present, and future. We’re anxious about new diseases, old hurts, environmental problems, politics, finances, terrorism, war, crime, and the list goes on and on. For people who don’t know God, that makes sense, there is truly much to be worried about.

For the people of God, those who have committed their lives to following Jesus, the Bible is clear – God doesn’t want us to be anxious and afraid. Will bad things happen in our lives? Absolutely, we live in a fallen world! There will continue to be bad things in this world and in our lives until Christ returns to make all things new. But we don’t have to be anxious about them or live in fear. Jesus came so that we would have life and have it abundantly, not anxiously!

When we are in Christ, He is in us. God is with us in all circumstances. He is with us in the storms and pain we suffer. He is with us when no one else is. He will strengthen us and guide us through rough waters. Philippians 4:6-7 teaches that as we grow in our prayer life – in our faithful commitment to God of EVERYTHING that weighs on our hearts, God gives us peace and comfort that makes no sense to the world, but makes complete sense to those who are in Christ!

“Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in your faithfulness.”
– Psalm 26:2-3

May we each come to the point where we can say these words along with David, inviting God’s scrutiny of our lives without fear! When we embrace Jesus Christ as our Savior, putting our faith in Him, we are instantly made holy in the eyes of God, because Christ’s righteousness is credited to us. In Christ, we ARE holy.

However, we’re also called to BE holy – to pursue a life increasingly like that of Jesus! We are to work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to be transformed into the image of Christ. We must fill ourselves more and more with the vision and love of our Savior through worship, study and meditation on the Bible, fellowship with other Christians, service to God, and the sharing of Christ with those who don’t know Him. We must learn to live each day in faith and obedience to all that Christ commanded.

Faithful Christian life is a constant challenge to walk with God so closely that we increasingly see and desire nothing but more of Him and we walk in step with God’s Spirit. When we do, these words of David become true of us. As we grow in Christ, we increasingly become what we already are in the eyes of God, and that is a glorious thing!

“And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” – Mark 8:31

Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to Him and He knew that it was God’s Plan A from before time began! The suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus was no accident or unfortunate turn of events. Jesus stepped out of eternity and into this world as a baby specifically to deal with the problem of human sin and to reverse the comprehensive damage it did to all creation.

By His perfect sin-free life, His sacrificial death on a cross, and His resurrection Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and set all who believe in Him free from sin and death. On the cross He carried all the righteous wrath of God for our personal sin, selfishness, and cruelty. He set us free, reconciled us to God, and established a new covenant between God and mankind in His blood.

When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, committing your life to follow Him, you enter that new covenant. The old covenant was all about laws and rules – hundreds of them – that we couldn’t hope to ever follow completely. The old covenant led to despair, because we could never measure up to the perfect holiness of God.

The new covenant is a covenant of grace – God’s gift of love, restoration, redemption, healing, and transformation that we can’t ever earn and never deserve. We don’t deserve what Christ did for us, and that’s the point. He did it out of love – for God the Father and for us – and all we must do is believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Do you believe?

“And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” – Mark 7:37

Visiting a predominantly Gentile region, Jesus performed miracles unlike anything they imagined possible. There were no words to describe their astonishment – it was beyond measure! These were not “the people of God” and would have had little familiarity with the Jewish Scriptures, yet their words of amazement unconsciously echo the prophecy of Isaiah 35.

What they saw in their midst and described with their words was the unique activity of the long-expected Messiah. By performing this miracle in their midst Jesus, the Messiah (or Christ), was making clear that He wasn’t merely a Messiah for the Jewish people. Jesus came for the Gentiles as well.

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost among all peoples – Jew and Gentile alike, every nation, every race, every language. This is an extraordinary truth: the people of God are no longer defined by ethnic heritage or nationality but by faith in Jesus alone.

This is truly good news in our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-national community, because Jesus came to be their Messiah as well. However, they need to know about Him so they can believe in Him. We can’t assume they know, because they don’t. We must be willing and eager to cross the street to share this good news with our neighbors from every part of the earth, because Jesus came to be their Lord, Savior, and Messiah too!