Tag: Redemption

  • 1 Corinthians 1:18

    “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” — 1 Corinthians 1:18

    When we share the gospel of LORD Jesus Christ, many people mock us or reject the message. Some say, “It’s not true,” or “I don’t need someone to save me, I can save myself.” Others insist there are many ways to be saved, not only through LORD Jesus Christ. Some even ask, “Why did LORD Jesus Christ have to die for us? Who asked Him to?” Some go as far as to joke that we’ll have a party in hell.

    The same kind of attitude we face today also existed in the Church of Corinth. Many sought to understand the wisdom behind the cross, yet the ways of God cannot be fully grasped by human reasoning. Paul spoke of this in his letter, saying, “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory; which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7–8). The cross was the hidden wisdom of God, a divine plan that satan could not comprehend it. satan believed that by crucifying the LORD Jesus Christ, he could end His mission. He thought that the death of Christ would stop the light from spreading and silence the voice that cast him out of those he had bound.

    From the moment the LORD Jesus Christ began His ministry the kingdom of satan started to tremble and fall. LORD Jesus Christ healed every sickness and diseases. Those who were bound by the devil were set free. He opened blind eyes, made the lame walk, and restored those who were broken in spirit. Every healing and every deliverance declared that the kingdom of God had come and that the power of darkness was being overthrown. Wherever the LORD Jesus Christ went, restoration followed. Miracles happened. Lives were transformed, chains were broken, and hope was restored. He cast out demons and stripped them of authority over mankind. He rebuked the winds and the waves, showing His dominion over all creation. satan despised this. He hated that the LORD Jesus Christ walked in authority, purity and holiness, showing us how we were meant to live as God originally created us before the fall. Unable to overcome Him in temptation or power, Satan entered the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him. He thought that by having LORD Jesus Christ beaten, spat upon, scourged, stripped naked and crucified on the cross, and counted among the notorious criminals, everything would return to his control. Yet what Satan meant for victory became his eternal defeat. The cross that Satan used as a weapon became the altar of his fall.

    In the time of the LORD Jesus Christ, the idea of a crucified Savior was not something people wanted to hear. Crucifixion was the most shameful and painful form of punishment, reserved only for the worst and most notorious criminals. To say that the God whom they served and followed had been crucified was unthinkable. To them, it sounded foolish and disgraceful. They said in their hearts, “You mean to tell me that the LORD Jesus Christ, who was crucified and counted as a criminal, is able to save me? How can He save others if He could not save Himself from the cross? You want me to follow Him and be treated as one of the condemned?”

    To the world, the cross was a symbol of defeat and shame. But to those who truly understand the message of the cross, it is the power of God to those who believe and are saved by it (1 Corinthians 1:18).

    The LORD Jesus Christ said that through the cross He would strip satan of his power and cast him out. “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:31–32). When the LORD Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross, this prophecy was fulfilled. Satan’s power over humanity was broken. His authority to accuse and condemn was taken away. Through the LORD Jesus Christ death on the cross would draw every people’s heart to Him.

    Why are we drawn to Him? The apostle Peter declares, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). Upon that cross the LORD Jesus Christ carried the full weight of our sin and guilt. He took the record of our transgressions and nailed them there. As Paul wrote, “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:14–15). Before the cross, every sin stood recorded in the book of judgment in heaven. Each offense cried out for justice, and the law condemned us to death. Yet the LORD Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God took our place. The wrath that was due to us fell upon Him. The sentence that condemned us to hell was satisfied by His sacrifice. He bore our guilt and paid our debt in full. At that cross, the LORD Jesus Christ did not only remove our sin. He also stripped authority of darkness. All of satan’s accusations, every piece of evidence he held against us, all condemnation, even the curse of the law, and every legal right the enemy claimed over our lives were completely disarmed at the cross. The accuser of the brethren was silenced. The cross became a public display of his defeat. The cross became the courtroom of Heaven where the verdict was declared once and for all, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  Through His death, the LORD Jesus Christ destroyed the one who held the power of death. As it is written, “That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

    When the LORD Jesus Christ cried out, “It is finished,” the work of redemption was complete. The debt of sin for all mankind was paid in full. The record of our transgressions was blotted out, the evidence of our guilt destroyed. Sin could no longer hold its claim over us. The righteous wrath of God was satisfied. At that moment, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, signifying that the separation between God and man was removed. Access to the Holy of Holies was opened, and through the blood of Jesus we received forgiveness and reconciliation the greatest gift of all.

    The blood of the LORD Jesus Christ, shed upon the cross and falling to the earth, speaks better things than the blood of Abel. It does not cry out for judgment, it proclaims reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration, and grace to all who believe.

    The LORD Jesus Christ endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him, knowing that through His sacrifice we would be redeemed and drawn back to Himself. He despised the shame, seeing beyond the suffering to the glory that would follow (Hebrews 12:2). To Him, the cross was not a mark of disgrace but the perfect demonstration of His great love for us.

    That cross stands as the immutable evidence of the love of the LORD Jesus Christ that transcends time, space and matter. His greatest love that no power in heaven nor on earth can separate us from. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans‬ ‭8:35, 37-39‬)

    No wonder Paul declared his unwavering faith to the Corinthians, saying, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). And to the Galatians he wrote, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). To those who are perishing, the message of the cross holds no value. They see it only through the eyes of the world, as something shameful, disgraceful, and foolish. But to Paul, and to all who believe, the cross is the greatest expression of God’s love. It is through the cross that the LORD Jesus Christ poured out His grace upon all humanity. What the world calls foolishness, God calls salvation. 


  • Romans 1:4

    “And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” — Romans 1:4

    Paul begins, before this passage, by saying that Jesus is the offspring of David according to the flesh. Paul emphasizes that Jesus came from a royal lineage the fulfillment of God’s covenant with King David that from his line would come One whose kingdom would reign forever (2 Samuel 7:12–13). Paul is declaring that Jesus is both fully human and fully God.

    Then Paul continues, “And declared to be the Son of God.” The word declared in Greek is “horizō,” meaning to ordain, determine, or appoint. Have you ever noticed this or asked the question, Why did Jesus have to be declared, ordained, or appointed to be the Son of God? Isn’t He already the eternal Son of God?

    There was no Son in heaven in the human sense before the incarnation. From the beginning, the Word of God existed eternally in the Father. John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word was in the Father, His very expression, His divine self-revelation yet not yet revealed in human form as the Son, just as your word is not separate from you but comes out from within you.

    Then, in the fullness of time, that Word stepped into His own creation. The angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. The child conceived in her womb would be called the Son of God. In that moment, the invisible Word took on visible flesh. John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” This is where we begin to understand why Jesus was determined, declared, and appointed to be the Son of God, when He took on humanity. In taking on flesh, He humbled Himself, just as Paul said in Philippians, “though He was in the form of God, He made Himself of no reputation and was made in the likeness of men.” He was born of a woman, born under the law, so that He could redeem us who were under the law and make us sons and daughters of God (Galatians 4:4–5).

    Through His incarnation, the Word was revealed as the Son, God in human form so that we, through faith in Him, might become children of God. As John writes, “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become the sons of God (John 1:12).” And Paul adds, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:2).” This is one of the most important parts of God’s redemptive plan. He had to put on human flesh for a reason. First, the earth He gave to the sons of men for dominion and authority (Psalm 115:16). Second, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22). God has no blood, but man does. This is also what we can understand in Colossians 1:18, when Paul says that Jesus is “the firstborn from the dead.” Why He is “firstborn from the dead”? Paul explains this in the book of Romans through Adam’s transgression, death came upon all men (Romans 5:12). Adam brought sin and death into the world, and because of that, we were all spiritually dead. In Luke 3:38, Adam himself is called “the son of God,” yet he died because he transgressed God’s command. His disobedience brought separation and death to all humanity.

    Then came Jesus, the second Adam who obeyed perfectly, even unto death mark a new beginning for mankind. He became “the firstborn from the dead.” This is where we begin to understand what Paul meant when he said, “Declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness.” For the Lord Jesus was not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). A body was prepared for Him by God Himself, as it is written, “Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me” (Hebrews 10:5). And Paul also declares, “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47). This is where we understand that God was preparing a holy body and a pure blood. A body not continuing the corrupted flesh of Adam who transgressed. He created a new, undefiled flesh, made from heaven, and placed it in the womb of Mary. That is why the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary because He was forming a body that would become the perfect sacrifice for sin, one that would satisfy God’s wrath against man’s transgressions. And this is where we truly understand the words of John the Baptist, who declared, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Jesus was like a Lamb that is pure, spotless, and holy prepared by God Himself to bear the sins of all mankind

    God not only prepared the body of Jesus to bear our sins, but He also declared Him to be the Son, so that through Him we all obtain sonship. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29) Through Jesus Christ, we were adopted into the family of God, redeemed by His blood and accepted in His grace. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself…” (Ephesians 1:5)

    Now we can fully understand more clearly what Paul meant when he said, “by the resurrection from the dead.” Because the power of the resurrection of the Lord destroyed the power of death, which is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23). When He rose, we rose with Him. As Paul said, As Paul said, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: [We are no longer counted under Adam’s lineage] old things are passed away [Paul refer to Adam’s transgression that brought sin and separation from God] behold, all things are become new [in Him we have obtained a new life, new nature, and restored fellowship with our Heavenly Father] (2 Corinthians 5:17).

    Jesus was declared to be the Son of God for you and me. The purpose of His sacrifice was not only to redeem us from sin, but to restore our rightful position as sons and daughters of God. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus brought us back into fellowship with our Abba Father, so that we might dwell with Him in His Kingdom forever.

    Now, because you are a child of God, you have direct access to the Father in every situation whether in need, in struggle, or in confusion. Everything you will ever need can only be found in Him, for God alone is our source, our provider, and our help. Do not be deceived into thinking you are far from God. Jesus has brought us near to the Father. We are no longer distant or separated. This right cannot be taken away from us, it is a gift, not of our works, but by the grace of God. (Ephesians 2:8)

    The only way to lose this fellowship is to reject or turn away from the truth, but for those who believe and remain in Him, our place as sons and daughters is secure forever.

  • John 1:29

    “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” – John 1:29

    What makes this moment interesting is that Jesus had already been baptized. John had already witnessed the Spirit descend upon Him like a dove. Yet now, Jesus returns exactly as John is being interrogated by the priests and Levites sent by the Pharisees. They were questioning him about his identity, asking, “Who are you? Are you the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet?”

    Right in the middle of that conversation, John sees Jesus coming toward him. Without hesitation, he points to Him and boldly proclaims, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” In other words, John is saying, “Here is the One you were asking about, your Messiah has come!”

    John the Baptist carried a priestly lineage because his father, Zechariah, served as a priest in the Temple. In a sense, John was acting as a priest himself, presenting the ultimate sacrificial Lamb, not one raised or chosen by man, but one prepared by God Himself. Scripture says,

    “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.” – Hebrews‬ ‭10:5‬ ‭

    John’s announcement was not only for the crowd but also for the priests and religious leaders who oversaw the temple sacrifices. Just as the angels announced the good news of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem to the shepherds who cared for the lambs used for temple offerings, John now makes a similar announcement.

    As a priest, he was declaring to his fellow priests, “Our work of preparing lambs for sacrifice is coming to an end because God Himself has provided the perfect Lamb. This Lamb will take away sin, not just for a day, but for the entire world, forever.”

    The Pharisees, well-versed in the Law and the Prophets immediately recognized the weight of John’s words. Lambs were required as a yearly sacrifice for all Jewish families during the celebration of Passover. This holy day looked back to the time of Moses, when the blood of the lamb was placed on the doorposts of Israel’s homes so that God’s judgment would “pass over” them. (Exodus 12). This foreshadowed the coming of the Messiah, who would be beaten, bleed, and be crucified as the sacrificial Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, so that through His blood we might be passed over from judgment and spent our eternal life in His Kingdom. The prophet Isaiah had also foretold that the Messiah would be “led like a lamb to the slaughter” and would “bear the sins of many” (Isaiah 53:7, 12).

    By calling Jesus the Lamb of God, John was declaring that Jesus is the fulfillment of all those prophecies, the perfect and sinless sacrifice who would take away the sins of the whole world. He was also publicly proclaiming to Israel that this is the long-awaited Messiah.

    Even the details of Jesus’ crucifixion mirror the sacrificial ordinances. Just as the sin offerings on the Day of Atonement were taken outside the camp, Jesus was crucified outside the city walls during Passover, bearing our sins in His body on the cross.

    Now Jesus has already sacrificed His life so that we may have abundant life, and offered an eternity with Him. And just as John once announced Him, I will do the same today. Only Jesus can take away your sins and bring you into His Kingdom.