Day of Praise

Mo, 09/22/14, "Day of Praise"

"If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung
on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to
bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's
curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an
inheritance." - Deuteronomy 21:22-23

Oh, that's where that comes from!

Remember how all four Gospels tell us "Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent
member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went
boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body." - Mark 15:43 (also Matthew
27:57, Luke 23:51, John 19:38)

The reason that Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus' body is because of
today's verses from Deuteronomy 21. To leave Jesus' dead body on the "tree"
(the wood of the cross) overnight would have desecrated (made unclean) the
land God gave them.

Very practically, what I hope you're seeing from today's verses is the
magnitude of Jesus' sacrIficial love for us. He himself, who was without sin
against Father God, took on our capital offenses (sins, cf Romans 6:23), sat
under God's curse for us, and took on our uncleanness, which, like a
spiritual leprosy, separated us from fellowship with God and people. In
taking on these burdens that belonged to us, Jesus fulfilled, not abolished,
the Law of God (Matthew 5:17) so that we could be restored to the fellowship with God that we long for.

He did all that, and more, for you and for me...so that we, believing in Him
and His saving work, would not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson