2. As the greatest revelation of God’s love, what picture of Jesus or Him crucified gave you assurance of salvation from today’s reading?

    Jesus, Himself, taught that He was the theme of all scripture, especially what He would accomplish for our salvation on the cross. See John 5:38-40, Luke 24:27, 32, 44-47. The apostle Paul felt so strongly about this that he said, “…I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2 NKJV. It is Jesus and Him crucified that vividly provides the greatest revelation of God’s love as Paul writes to the church in Rome, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 NKJV. What Jesus did for us on the cross justified us, or made us right with God, freely by grace, without any contribution on our part, which is what Paul meant when he said we were “…justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Romans 3:24 NKJV. It is because of this that our hearts are drawn to Jesus in confession of our sin and turning from it to His grace we receive the present assurance of our salvation in Jesus. Having thus been declared right with God through Jesus, we stand free from guilt, shame or condemnation. Therefore Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” What I love most about this verse is that no matter when you come to it, it always reads “now” to remind us that right now, in Christ, we are not condemned! Having been set free from the condemnation of sin, we are free to grow in grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not saved by our works, but rather we are saved for good works. See Ephesians 2:8-10. This wonderful Good News runs like a scarlet thread from Genesis to Revelation, often in the form of pictures that reveal this central truth in Jesus. For example, in the Old Testament, the ark by which Noah, his family and the animals were saved from the flood was a picture of Jesus & Him crucified. The various sacrificial offerings given to God by which the repentant sinner was accepted and forgiven was a picture of Jesus & Him crucified. Abraham offering his only beloved covenant son of promise, Isaac, as a sacrifice, but God stopping it as a test of Abraham’s faith, was a stunning picture of Jesus & Him crucified. David defeating Goliath on behalf of Israel was a picture of Jesus & Him crucified. Even in the New Testament within the story of Jesus’ life in the four Gospels, Jesus healing people physically by faith was a picture of Him saving us by faith through the cross. Jesus delivering people from demon possession demonstrated His power to save us from sin & Satan’s power through the cross. Jesus turning water into wine  as a symbol of His saving blood, Jesus feeding the 5000 with bread from Heaven as a symbol of His broken body given to us as a more than satisfying gracious gift and Jesus’ invitation to come to Him and find rest all vividly point to His gift of salvation accomplished for us at the cross. As you see this picture of Jesus and Him crucified every day in Scripture, I can tell you from personal experience, you WILL have the assurance of salvation in Him daily! It’s in light of this reality that you move into the next entry…