Monday, November 3, 2008

Jesus's Destroy and Rescue Mission

Scripture
Galatians 1:3-5
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 John 3:8
8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

Observation
Paul starts his letter to the Galatia church with this statement,"Christ came to this earth to rescue us from the present evil age". Christ had one focus and that was to rescue ME, from this evil world.
And how would he do that? It says in 1 John 3:8 that Jesus came to destroy the devil.
So the wide picture of this mission was this: Destroy the devil thus freeing us from the evil(where the devil patrols).

Application
My application here is accepting the truth of the scripture and living in it. So how does that look? That is a very "religious" statement-"live in the truth"- yeh, go ahead live right in it.
As I picture this, Jesus DID NOT have to paint his face in camouflage when coming into this evil place. His mission was to destroy and rescue. So he went straight at Satan. He stood up to him during tempations, he defied death by raising people up, he gave himself up-straight in the devils face- to rescue all humanity. It wasn't a secret mission, but yet the enemy could not stop him. Most rescue operations are done in secret, under the cover of darkness; but the Jesus rescue plan was in your face-this is going down. What a bold move, it's courageous, its God taking back what is His. I think that is the point. I have been taken back from the evil world; I was trapped, locked in, pinned down in a cage, chained up and Jesus(The Real Terminator) blew through everyone and everything in the way and plucked me from the entrapment and FREED ME. As Paul says, to God be glory forever and ever.
I've been made free, so if I begin to feel entrapped by:
Money-I'm free-"God supplies what I need"
Status-I'm free-2 Cor 5:21 I am the righteousness of God
Depression-Joy comes from my salvation Ps 51:12
Life-You are my Salvation.

Life will bring many struggles, but the bottom line is that I have been rescued, and if I feel myself being taken captive again, I can look to my rescuer(the one who destroyed what is trying to hold me captive) and receive the freedom He brings.

Prayer
Father,
You sent Christ on a mission for me, to destroy and rescue. It was not with out sacrifice and pain, and I thank you for that. You cared and loved me enough to send a Terminator for me.
I ask that you help me to spread the word to the entrapped world, that you have brought freedom to them.
Help me to see clearly when an enemy attack comes to restrict my freedom, so I can return my
eyes to the rescuer of my life-Jesus.
Amen.

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