THROUGH THE BIBLE IN THREE YEARS
"No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude. There is no such thing as an entirely free man conceivable." - Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Perennials
"Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Help us see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right."
Peter Marshall, Before the U.S. Senate
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________SCRIPTURE____________________________________________________________________
Isa 53:7-8
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
KJV
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_______THOUGHT______________________________________________________________________
For centuries, the Hebrew people brought sacrificial lambs to the temple. They would approach the priest, lay their hands upon the little lamb's head, and confess their sins to God. Then the priest would accept the lamb and slit its throat! T he lamb was quiet, passive, never emitting a sound even when being slaughtered.
Jesus never protested by yelling "UNFAIR!" He was carried away at night to an illegal trial by Hebrew law. He was kept up all night with mistreatment, physical and mental abuse. He was beaten in the morning and paraded in shame before a heartless king. Then a cruel crown of thorns was pressed over His head and he was carried away to be killed in the most inhumane death instrument ever invented.
But Jesus NEVER opened His mouth in protest. Like a "lamb" He was quiet. And, He willingly did as a genuine shepherd; He "laid down His life for the sheep."
Jesus was never afforded the privilege of waiting in prison for righteous and fair judgment. He was quite quickly put to death under Roman law for a reason not punishable by death under the same law. he was literally "ripped" from His time.
But the reason for this was not man's reason, but God's reason!
It was for "the transgression of my people," Isaiah said.
Jesus Himself, when speaking to Pilate, said, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." (John 19:11)
It was by GOD'S design that Jesus was put to death as a propitiation for our sins.
It was God's design that brought Jesus the grief and pain and death that we deserved. It was God's pleasure to come in flesh and pay the penalty for our sins. It was His joy to face that cruel death in order to provide us an equitable salvation under a just and holy God.
What a GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR WE HAVE!!!
May His power in us give us the courage to "stand fast" in the liberty He purchased with His own blood!
Love ya,
Bruce