Sure, I still understand the people who say that studying the Old Testament is tiresome, but that is no longer my experience.
Right now, I am studying Isaiah. It's awesome. God's compassion and forgiveness seeps through the pages, and each passage points to our Savior.
"Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and people in exchange for your life" (Isaiah 43:4).
Jesus gave his life in exchange for ours because of the love of God! "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
I mean, it's really exciting to see God working thousands of years ago, and to know that he is still working today.
Several weeks ago, I was just writing a jumble of thoughts in my journal, and I wrote this:
My God created the world.
He overcame the world.
And now he wants to reconcile the world to himself.
Not necessarily a really profound or unique thought, but a succinct summary of God's redeeming work in the world.
Like, did you know in chapter 45 of Isaiah, there are a few themes that come up multiple times. God asserts nine times that there is no other God besides the God of Israel. NINE times. I think someone's trying to make a point. God is contrasted with the idols that didn't create anything, that don't do anything, that cannot save. And fourteen times this chapter mentions God as Creator, Maker, Former. It lets us know that God created the world and God saves the world.
And how does God save the world?
Through his Son, our Savior, who overcame the world, who crushed death with his death on the cross, who reconciles us to God.
I want to leave you with the lyrics of "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher. Let the words, this gospel message that God has pointed us to for generations, sink into your heart and transform the way you live today.
Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
But fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to Him who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely You've bled for us
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bowed to none but heaven's will
No scheme of hell, no scoffer's crown
No burden great can hold You down
In strength You reign
Forever let Your church proclaim
O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
The glory of God has defeated the night
O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead
He's alive! He's alive!
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