Colossians 2.13-14
You, who were dead in your trespasses
and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
God made alive together with him,
having forgiven us all our trespasses,
by canceling the record of debt
that stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
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Justification means this miracle:
that Christ takes my place
and I take His.
-Emil Brunner
Jesus took upon Himself the death that I deserved. He took on all of the wrath and fury of God against all sin, and He did this all out of His love for me, a sinful enemy (Ephesians 1.3-6, Romans 5.8). I still must stand before God, and it is true that I look at my past and I see sin all throughout, so how can I stand before God and expect to live? The answer is that through the cross, Jesus allows me to take credit for the satisfaction of the debt of sin against God (Romans 3.23-26). When Christ died on the cross, I died on the cross. That old sinful self is now dead and gone, destroyed in the eyes of God the Great Judge, because that old sinful man has been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2.20).
This is God’s mercy, but He doesn’t stop at mercy! He also gives me credit for His perfect righteousness and right standing before God. Now, today, and for the rest of eternity, I can stand before God, in faith, knowing that He sees me as He sees His own Son: perfect and spotless.
God’s Mercy Defined:
Not getting what I deserve.
God’s Grace Defined:
Getting what I don’t deserve.
The cross of Christ is incredible. To have His Son sacrificed in such brutal fashion shows me how much He hates sin; He showed no mercy, not even to His Son! And He would not have shown mercy to me, an enemy through sin! Yet the fact that He showed no mercy to His Son, all in order that He might save me, this also shows me how much He loves me!
The dying Jesus is the evidence
of God’s anger toward sin;
but the living Jesus
is the proof of God’s love
and forgiveness.
-Lorenz Eifert
Read Again Out Loud and Make it into a Prayer:
Colossians 2.13-14
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Personalize and Read or Pray Aloud:
Psalm 22.1–8
1 My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day,
but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted
and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind
and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me;
they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
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Pray Aloud:
You are my hope and salvation.
You are my life and strength.
You are my helper in troubles.
You are my defender
throughout life in all things.
God of Israel, who lives and reigns,
One God, now and forever.
Amen.
-Antiphonary of Bangor, Ireland, 7th Century
Father in Heaven,
I thank You that You have adopted me
and You call me Yours.
I am asking You to cause Your Name
to be magnified in __________,
and that this would transform ________,
causing Your will to be done in their life.
Give _______ truth that they need today,
that Your Spirit would bring
Your promises to mind,
helping _______ to repent of sin.
Lead _______ heart away from temptation,
but instead be led by Your Spirit
towards the love of Jesus.
