Redeemed by the Blood of Jesus - Part 518

We have so much to be thankful for. We have been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus -- the lamb that was foreordained before the foundation of the world and manifest in these last times for us. He died for us even though He Himself was without blemish or spot. Manifest in these last times for you and I. Yes, it was for us in these last days that the same God who created us and knew each and every one of us before we were ever formed in the womb shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary so that we might know Him. Jesus -- the way, the truth and the life. The only mediator between God and man.

You see, God wants to fellowship with men and women. He wants to commune with us. This is why in the Garden of Eden -- from Genesis in the Bible -- we read that God created man in His own image to have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every thing that creepeth upon the earth. 

Think about this. God created us in His own image, by forming man from the dust of the ground and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. Hence, man became a living soul. And He did so knowing that the day would come when He would have to perform that good thing which He had promised. 

Indeed, when "God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them, and God blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." God saw everything that He had made and it was very good. He saw that His creation -- man and woman -- was very good. But Adam and Eve failed.

This is why we need salvation. A plan of salvation -- which allows men and women to be reconciled with God.  Indeed, God knew this and had already foreordained a plan of salvation before the foundation of the world. As the scriptures state in I Peter, this plan of salvation was manifest in these last times for you and I. What a wonderful thought. At this very moment, we have an opportunity to believe in the same God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, so that our faith and hope might be in Him.

And then, seeing that we have purified our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but rather of incorruptible -- the Word of God lives and abides in our hearts forever. Indeed, the Word of our Lord endures forever. 

I Peter 1:18-25 offers a unique analogy -- where the substance of our lives are compared to the grass. Peter states, "For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. But in time, the grass withers and the flower thereof will fall away. But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. This is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

Let the Word -- Jesus -- abide in your life. Stand in the offering plate!