SALVATION

“Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness; but You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back" (Isa. 38:17 NKJV).

Although a part of Hezekiah’s prayer regarding his sickness, this verse also speaks of the gospel. In it can be seen the condition for salvation, the compassion for salvation, and the character of salvation.

Condition of salvation - “Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness. . . the pit of corruption.” Four things portray the sinner’s condition and show his great need of salvation:

1. Discontentment: “No peace.” Sin does not bring peace. It brings discontent. It causes restlessness. “There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked” (Isa. 48:22).

2. Despair: “Bitterness.” Instead of peace, the sinner has bitterness. Sin causes agonizing and frustrating sorrow. It is the awful discovery that everything sin promised was a lie.

3. Defilement: “Corruption.” Sin defiles and corrupts. Where there is sin, there is defilement. The only cleansing for the stains of sin is the blood of Jesus Christ.

4. Detention: “Pit.” In Hezekiah’s day, pits were often used as prisons. Pits describe the bondage which sin brings. However, Christ can give freedom.

Compassion for salvation - “You have lovingly delivered my soul.” Divine love is prominently involved in the saving of sinners. John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world” that He provided a way of salvation for the sinner. We may not feel that God loves us because of our sin, but He does. We spurn His love by not repenting of our sin.

Character of salvation - “You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” Having our sins cast behind God’s back means when that we will not be judged for our sins when we stand before Him. We will be received into heaven as sinless. And note that it is “all” of our sins that are cast behind His back. Not one sin will be brought against us in heaven; “all” will have been forgiven and cast behind His back. This is the greatest blessing man can ever possess.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“When God pardons sin, He purges the record, erases the remembrance, and empowers the recipient!”

Anonymous Word Study

Disguise (transform)

In Phil. 3:21 we read, “Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (NKJV).

Disguise (transform) is the Greek word metaschēmatizō (μετασχηματίζω = met-askh-ay-mat-id'-zo). It is made up of two words: “meta” which means with, and schēma which means outward form, figure, and fashion. Thus the word means change, fashion, figure, transform. In classical Greek metaschēmatizō means transforming, altering or changing the outward appearance of a person or thing. It was also used in the field of astronomy to refer to the changing of the constellations.

In the Septuagint metaschēmatizō is used in reference to the disguising of King Saul. In the New Testament metaschēmatizō is used to refer to that which is changeable, the outward fashion of a person or thing. The apostle Paul is the only New Testament writer to use this word. Here in Phil. 3:21 it indicates the change that will occur in the bodies of believers upon their resurrection.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – Messiah is salvation for Israel (Isa. 49:6)

New Testament Fulfillment – Luke 2:29-32

Did You Know…

In the Bible, it states that Jesus resurrects (John 6:40, 44, 54; 11:25-26)

Bible Quiz

According to Proverbs 17, what “does good like medicine?”

**Answer to last week’s trivia: To escape from King Herod, the angel of the Lord told Jesus’ family to leave and go where? Egypt (Matt. 2:13-15).

Everyday Expressions Alluded to in the Bible

“Too much of a good thing is bad”

“It is not good to eat much honey; so to seek one’s own glory is not glory!” (Prov. 25:27 NKJV).

“Too much of a good thing is bad” - The expression "too much of a good thing is bad” carries the idea that excess is harmful. Too much of anything is not good. Even things that are good in and of themselves, like honey, cause problems when they are over-indulged. The point is a much-needed lesson: control yourself, practice moderation and be self-controlled in all things.

Did You Know – Christian History

John Cennick was born December 12, 1718 in Reading, Berkshire, England. He was an early Methodist and Moravian evangelist and hymn writer.

Cennick was born of Quaker parents and raised Anglican. He knew the value of a soul, having lived in dread of death for years. At thirteen, he had to leave school to find work. But work was not to be found. Eight times he traveled to London in search of a job, returning empty-handed each time. With nothing to do, he gambled away his small income or spent it on plays.

Cennick was converted in 1737 after coming under conviction and going into a church to pray. Later he was introduced to John Wesley. Soon Cennick was preaching for the Methodists. After several years with the Wesleyan Methodists, he broke with John Wesley and joined George Whitefield’s Calvinist Methodists. Later he left the Calvinist Methodists for the Moravian Brethren.

As a Moravian, John Cennick preached with great success in Dublin, Ireland until he attacked the honor given to the Virgin Mary. He was then mobbed by outraged Catholics. However, when he took the gospel to other cities, people ran out into the streets, offering him a drink of milk if he would just pray in their homes. When clergymen complained that their churches were empty because everyone had gone to hear John, Bishop Rider replied, “Preach Christ crucified and then the people will not have to go to Cennick to hear the Gospel.”

Cennick spent much time as an itinerant evangelist in England and Ireland, enduring great and often violent opposition. By the time of his early death, he had established over 40 churches. Although he wrote many hymns, Cennick is remembered for: Be Present at Our Table, Lord; Be with Me, Lord, Where’er I Go; Children of the Heav’nly King; Christ is Our Master, Lord, and God; Hail, Alpha and Omega, Hail; Rise, My Soul, Adore Your Maker.

Cennick died of a fever in London at only 36 years of age, leaving a wife and two children, and is buried at the Moravian cemetery in Chelsea, England.

A Little Humor

After having children, Adam and Eve started getting a lot of questions from their kids about why they no longer lived in Eden. Adam has a simple answer for this: “Your mother ate us out of house and home.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!”