Jesus Lays His Life Down That We May Live.

Isaiah 59, New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. ² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear ³ for your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity. ⁴ No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. ⁵ They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; he who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. ⁶ Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. ⁸ The way of peace they have not known,
and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace. ⁹ Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us;
we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! ¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places. ¹¹ We all growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. ¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: ¹³ In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. ¹⁴ Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. ¹⁵ So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. ¹⁶ He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. ¹⁷ For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. ¹⁸ According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; the coastlands He will fully repay. ¹⁹ So shall they fear
The name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. ²⁰ “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the Lord. ²¹ “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

Ephesians 2:8-16, (NKJV)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.¹¹ Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— ¹² that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Isaiah 60, (NKJV)

Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. ² For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. ³ The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. ⁴ “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. ⁵ Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. ⁶ The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense,
and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. ⁷ All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. ⁸ “Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? ⁹ Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God,
and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. ¹⁰ “The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you. ¹¹ Therefore your gates shall be open continually;
they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession. ¹² For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined. ¹³ “The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. ¹⁴ Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. ¹⁶ You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of kings; you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷ “Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates righteousness. ¹⁸ Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise. ¹⁹ “The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. ²⁰ Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. ²¹ Also your people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. ²² A little one shall become a thousand,
And a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”

John 10:14-18, (NKJV)

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. ¹⁵ As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.¹⁸ No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

John 11:25-26, (NKJV)

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Matthew 16:24-27, (NKJV)

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

Matthew 18:3, (NKJV)

³ and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:3, (NKJV)

³ and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 1:14-15, (NKJV)

¹⁴ Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom^[a] of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

John 3:3-7, (NKJV)

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

John 3:15-21, (NKJV)

¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but^[a] have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

My Comments: I am sure some will find this study to be long yet I would even have made it longer as I felt it was very important to salvation for all to understand why we need a Savior. We are walking, talking, thinking and acting sin machines or as you may have heard we have sin natures and as such we are separated from God the Father. In order to be His children we need a Savior and God the Father knew we would continue doing what we wanted and never be united to Him unless He sent the Messiah. Yet who would be “good enough” to remove all our sin?

The Ten Commandments could not be kept completely and time and time again people showed that. Even the greatest of the great, who loved God and whom He loved, sinned. David sinned though he repented when confronted with his sin, yet he continued to sin. Only God Almighty Himself was “good enough” to be the sacrifice for the whole world for all time. So God as man, fully God and fully man, who loved us so much, chose to come to earth. He chose to be born in a lowly birth. He suffered and died in our place on the Cross and rose again as prophesied, on the third day and rose to Heaven so we could be with Him forever. How amazing is that? We go from dooming ourselves because of our sin nature to Salvation by following Jesus.

In the Old Testament we read many of the prophecies about the Messiah and I chose these two sections (Isaiah 59 and 60) with the other verses to show our need for a Savior because of how we in sin separate ourselves from God, to Salvation through being Born Again through Jesus. This is redemption which comes through Jesus the Christ. It is ours when we choose life in Jesus. This is what He showed us in the Gospel must happen if we are to be Born Again. We serve an awesome God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are not saved by works that we may “do,” or by being the best people anyone knows or by being good, because only God our Father, is good. There are things He wants us to do when we are saved but not to be saved.

When we are saved we desire to do good works and to show the face of Jesus to glorify God in all we do. The more we walk, talk and read His words and study with the Holy Spirit the stronger our walk becomes and the more we reflect Jesus and bring God the Father glory. The more we are with Him the more we want to be like Him and be with Him even more. We are with Him when we pray, sing praise and worship songs or just listen to them, read His Word in the Bible, talk to Him, about Him and rest in Him. When we become Children of God by believing the Gospel of Jesus and being Born Again then we are filled with the Holy Spirit who works in us to bring us to Sanctification. The Work of God in us goes on until He calls us home to be with Him. Come Lord Jesus Come.

Abba Father, to be all the glory forever and ever. May we hear Your Spirit in us and follow Your Son as we grow in your love and are filled with Your presence. We are but babes, help us to grow in Your Wisdom. Feed us with Your Word. Fill us with Your Light. May Your living Waters flow through us to a dieing world so more will come out of the world and shine with Your light. Thank Your Abba Father for all You give us daily and forgive us as we stumble and fall and grow in You.

Jesus Savior, Redeemer, Messiah, thank You for all the things You undertook and endured so we might be with You and You with us eternally. Fill us with Your love for the world and all peoples and lead us where You would have us to go. Make us what You knew us to be from the beginning of the World.

Holy Spirit, thank You for coming to guide, teach and show us how to be more like Jesus. Fill us with wisdom. Give us knowledge and understanding to use the Wisdom You fill us with. Help us to strengthen in the Will of the Lord and You bring us through the lessons to grow us in our Sanctification and Relationship with the Father through the Son in union with You.

In Jesus name in union with the Holy Spirit we pray to You Father. Amen

Rebishka