Greta

Each celebration of the Lord's Supper brings us a step closer to the wonderful day when we eat the Passover Meal and the Wedding Feast, all Christians together, with Jesus. Oh! Happy Day.

Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us", ie: in the same way; to the same extent. If we do not forgive others, we ourselves will not be forgiven. As the Lord's Supper is a confirmation that we are forgiven, we cannot partake until we fulfil our part to forgive others first.

The words, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" fills us with sorrow as we think of Jesus dying a horrible death on the cross for our sins. BUT, they fill us with joy because Jesus chose this path, willingly, because He loves us so much that He wants to rescue us from sin and death, and be alive with Him, Holy, Righteous and Best Beloved.

The annual Jewish Passover celebration was a Command by God, for every Jew to participate. It was to remind them of their deliverance from Egypt and how good God had been to them - - - and still is. The Lord's Supper is an Invitation by Grace, to everyone, to remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross when He delivered us from sin and death, and made us clean and holy before the Lord.

The lambs of the first Passover were slaughtered and their blood painted on the doorposts as a covering for the Israelite families, that the angel of death would pass over their houses and not kill their first born. Christ saved us from death by dying in our place and he covers us with His blood that a righteous God does not look on our sin. Both Passover lambs seperated God's people from the people of the world.

After we have been set free, Satan continues to try and entice us back into sin. The Holy Spirit is now our guide, and guides us into righteousness step by step. When we do sin, we can repent and ask Jesus' forgiveness, and He has promiced to forgive us every time. Praise God.

I was the slave, enslaved by sin, guilt and shame. God gave His Son to be a ransom for many, so where I would have said Jesus, I think it is God who offers the ransom of Jesus' blood. The ransom would bot be paid to Satan because if it was, a contract would be signed and he would not be allowed to torment us anymore - which he does.

Knowing that I was purchased at SUCH a costly price makes me aware of how much God loves me, and makes me want to do an be my very best for Him. I am not my own, for the Holy Spirit lives in me and guides me every day of my life. He lives His life through my body, weak though it is.

The Old Testament Kinsman Redeemer would pay the debts of someone who couldn't. Buy back the land which would otherwise go out of the family or to another tribe. Marry his brother's widow to produce children so the brother's name would continue. The OT Kinsman Redeemer would be a substitute to make things right for his brother/close relative. Jesus plays the same role, but to a far greater extent. He is a substitute for our sinfulness.

Slaves could be set free by payment of a ransom - money - gold. Slaves to sin can be set free by the Blood of Jesus who came to set us free of sin.

2 Cor 5:21 'God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God'. God loved Jesus passionately but in order to draw close to sinful man, he not only got Jesus to carry our sin, but to actually BECOME sin, so that we could be righteous and walk with God.

Jesus bore my punishment when He took my place on the cross. He didn't have to, but He chose to do it for me and for all mankind. The punishment that has brought us peace, was upon Him. Because Jesus did this for us, we can walk close to him, unhampered by sin, praise God.

Jesus took our place and so was our substitute - He stood in for us. We should have suffered but He suffered instead. We gave Him our sins and He gave us His life and His righteousness. Praise God for His mercy on this sinner - Amen.

Jesus knew His own mission and destiny when He said, "The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life for the ransome of many. Matt 20:28

God removes the sins of ALL people - even unto the ends of the Earth. Jesus blood saves and cleanses us; His stripes (wounds and whip cuts) are for our healing. But we must acknowledge Him as the Son of God and receive Him as Lord and believe with all our hearts that He is able to Save and Heal us. Jesus sacrifice would be wasted on some people when they do not believe and receive His wonderful gifts.

Sometimes we tend to take sin lightly, but God showed us that this cannot be, when each time we sin, that sin must be paid for with the sacrificial blood of the best of the flock. God shows us how to be holy by asking us to give Him the best and by doing everything in the exact order and way He has shown us. God is a Holy God and must be obeyed in everything he tells us to do. Don't try to give Him second best, for it is Not acceptable.

God, in His mercy, first gave us animal sacrifice for forgiveness of sins because He knows how weak we are. He knew we could not live under the huge burden of our sin, so gave us partial relief from it. Animal sacrifices were not adequate to atone our human sin, we needed more - We Need Jesus.

The basic elements involved is a sacrifice for sin are to Bring a perfect female lamb; confess my sin; put my hand on the animal's head and cut it's throat. This transfers my sin to the animal before I kill it. Now I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all; confess my sins to the perfect Lamb of God who died once, for all of us, and receive His forgiveness.

I don't know! Some people are able to kill animals - or we would have no meat to eat, but I know that I could not do it. The Israelites sacrificed animals to remove their guilt, but I would feel extremely guilty if I had to kill any animals.

Righteous anger is an appropriate response to sin for God or someone else witnessing the sin. As I thought about this, I realised that the person sinning may not have realised he/she was doing so if they had not experianced the onlooker's anger. This type of anger enables the sinner to repent, receive foregiveness and turn away from the sin. An uncontrolled, or capricious anger is the anger that hurts and destroys both people. It is vindictive and will only add fuel to the fire.

The Old Testement shows us that the sacrifice for a sin offering is to be "A year old lamb without blemish" I think that God Himself revealed to John that Jesus was the un-blemished lamb for sacrifice, and also that as the Son of God, He would wipe out everyone's sin - not just the sin already committed, but the sins of the future too.

We are saved through faith by the Grace of God. It is neccessary to remain in faith and continue to believe that we are reconciled to God. If we don't continue to believe, we will drift away from God and be re-claimed by the world. To remain saved, we must walk side by side with Christ every day until we eventually meet Him face to face in heaven. Love from Greta

We can be presented 'holy, without blemish and free from accusation' because we are now IN Jesus, whose body covers us completely. Our imperfections are hidden away from God, IN Jesus. Love Greta

Jesus accomplished this reconciliation when He was crucified for our sakes. Blood had to be shed to pay for the sins of all mankind and only someone who had never sinned was good enough to make this sacrifice. The purpose of this reconciliation is so that we can be re-united with God, who no longer sees our sin and filth, but sees instead, His own Son Jesus our Christ, when He looks at us. We are presented to God the Father, clean, perfect and free from blemish and accusation. Love Greta

Reconcile means to make peace through Jesus blood which was shed on the cross. He forgave us and we became children of God. Before we were reconciled we were sinful beings, enemies of God. Hostile and self centered and always going our own way and having evil thoughts. Love Greta