You Are The Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Beloved, I hope you are having a blessed day! As I discussed in my last post, the purpose of Jesus going to the cross was to end the separation between Man and God. Sin separates us from God because of his righteousness and holiness. God cannot be in the presence of sin. It is physically impossible. Sin will be overcome by his holiness and die. The bible says, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). When sin occurs, blood must be shed as a payment. During Yom Kippur, the Jewish people would sacrifice unblemished animals and that blood would pay for their sins for one year. They always had a High Priest, who would perform the sacrifice and enter a sacred space in their temple, which was called the Holy of Holies. This is the place where God would physically dwell and only the High Priest was allowed to enter and only once per year.

This area was separated from the main part of the temple by an enormous veil. It was approximately 60 feet high, 20 feet wide, and four inches thick. The High Priest had to follow the sacrificial ritual exactly, in order to pay for the people’s sins and make it out alive. The High Priest’s clothing had bells that would jingle as he moved and the people on the outside would tie a rope around his waist to make sure they could pull him out, should he perish inside. Since they were sinners, they could not go in to get him. They would die in God’s presence. So, as long as the bells were ringing, they knew all was well. God would judge the High Priest based on the ritual he performed and if God accepted him, he also accepted everyone he represented. Everyone would rejoice once he emerged, as they knew they were accepted and forgiven by God for another year.

This was the process until our eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, sacrificed himself as a payment for sins, once and for all. God judged and accepted Jesus as our High Priest, so he also accepted everyone he represented. Beloved, that includes me and you! The best part is that the precious blood of Jesus covers our sin forevermore, not just for one year. The exact moment Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:50-51). God himself tore the veil and declared there is no more separation between Man and God! Sin cannot separate us because we are seen as righteous in the eyes of God.

Because of his son’s sacrifice, we are forgiven, we are worthy of all his blessings, and we are joint heirs with Jesus to the Kingdom of Heaven. Beloved, the Lord wants you to draw near to him. He will not judge you based on your actions, as he has already judged your High Priest. No matter what you’ve done, no matter what you will do in the future, you will never lose your righteous standing with God. His son’s sacrifice will always be bigger than your sin or mistakes. Jesus SO loves you and he wants you to take advantage of all the amazing blessings he paid for on the cross, in this life and the next. Beloved, I pray that as you read this blog, you will have a revelation of who Jesus truly is. Please feel free to reach out with prayer requests or questions. I would love to hear from you!

Jesus loves you,

Alexis

Jesus’ Finished Work

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

For my first post, I want to start at the beginning. The act of love that destroyed Satan’s plan to separate Man and God. The work that has completely erased all of our sins; past, present, and future. Jesus’ death on the cross. Beloved, the entire bible is about Jesus. He is represented in the stories and foreshadowed even before the virgin birth. In Genesis 3:15, God says to Satan, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall crush your head, and you shall strike his heel.” “He” is Jesus Christ, our savior.

The moment Man fell because of Adam’s sin, God had a plan for restoration. In the verse, he referenced the woman’s seed, even though men have seed, not women. Even in the first chapter of the bible, God is prophesying the virgin birth. This detail is very important. Since Jesus was not born of an earthly father, he did not have sin in his DNA. He was born of his mother’s egg and the holy spirit. Peter said, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). Paul said, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). John said, “And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him” (1 John 3:5).

He did no sin, he knew no sin, and no sin was in him. This made him the only sinless man in the entire world, there were none before him and none after. This also made him the perfect sacrifice and the only one with the ability to take away the sin of the world. The Jewish people used to sacrifice unblemished animals, which would cover their sins for one year. Jesus was the sacrifice that covered our sins once and for all. At the cross, God literally put all our sin and the results of that sin (sickness, disease, death) on Jesus, then rained down his fiery judgement on his mortal body. That used to be hard for me to understand. I thought, what does it mean that Jesus took all of our sin on him? Then a few years ago, Pastor Joseph Prince made a video that he titled, “What really happened at the Cross”. I strongly encourage you to check it out. It’s a great representation of what was happening in the spiritual realm, not visible to the human eye, while Jesus was hanging on the cross. Here is the link to the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ETNxBjS-gzE.

This truly represents the heart of God. He sent his one and only son to take your place because he SO loves you. This sacrifice ended the separation that sin caused between Man and God. Jesus took our place and all the sins were judged and punished. What an amazing love! What an amazing sacrifice! Beloved, I pray that every day you remember how much you are loved. Please feel free to contact me with any prayer requests or questions. I would love to hear from you!

Jesus loves you,

Alexis