Then Came The Promise Of Hope Forever; His Name JESUS - Part 2248

"But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)

But then came the promise of hope forevermore -- JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins ... Emmanuel, being interpreted, God with us. (Matthew 1:21-23)

In the Old Testament, the psalmist and prophets testified of His coming. Isaiah too, when the Lord spoke through him saying, "Come now, and let us reason together," saith the Lord, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

In the new, Jesus said, "I AM -- the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeing the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep. The hireling flees, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." (John 10:11-18) 

And so, even in the face of intense cruelty and mockery, He endured the cross for you and I. He took the beatings without saying a word -- even though He was the Lord of glory.

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:" (Isaiah 53:3-4)

Because of His love, we can have life through His mercy and kindness. When we ask Jesus to become both Lord and Christ in our life, and go onto be water baptized in His precious, holy name -- the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, He fills us with His Spirit -- the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, wherein He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Acts 2:36-41)

Now therefore, as the scriptures state, we can be "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple in the Lord." (Ephesians 2:19-21)

Similarly, "... ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on Him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe [He is] precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the Head of the corner." (I Peter 2:5-7)

And as we come to know, the risen Lord Jesus is precious indeed! 

"... whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (II Peter 1:4)

Hear ye Him! Rejoice in His goodness and grace and mercy and kindness, knowing that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten so that we might have life in Him. And if we are not yet thankful enough, note that the beloved disciple John adds ... "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen." (John 21:24-25)

Be richly blessed in His love this day! Stand in the offering plate.