Day of Praise

Tues, 08/16/16, "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 abundant fellowship with God both that God made us for and, therefore, also 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