IN THE BEGINNING…THE WORD
DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR TODAY, DECEMBER 16, 2012BEHOLD, AND BE WHOLE
“And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole,
and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the
serpent of brass, he lived.” Numbers 21:9
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life.” John 3:14, 15
“Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace
was upon him; and with his stripes, we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4
I often meditate on the cross. I behold it in my mind, and think on the
goodness of Jesus. We must learn to
behold Christ on the cross; for as we consider the blood of Jesus, the blessed
sacrifice that our Savior gave, we are made whole. Yes, we are healed in the beholding. Not only are we healed, Jesus will take our
grief and sorrow to himself, when we call on Him. Moreover, in a divine and supernatural way,
the body of Christ is now afforded beauty instead of regrets, joy instead of
mourning, and the ability to praise instead of the
heaviness (weariness). Scripture says it like
this: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek,; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proiclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified" (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Do you realize the power of the cross? We have a priest “after the order of
Melchisedec” (see Hebrews, Chapter 7).
Jesus' sacrifice has the “power of an endless life” (Hebrews 7:16); for Jesus “abideth a
priest continually” (Hebrew 7:3). The cross is not a
dead symbol representing a one time occurance that we are to recall on Good Friday. No, we must live in the power and the
eternality of the cross. We must receive
the newness of life that Christ purchased for us, and not only the priceless
gift of salvation, but health and wholeness. Jesus was once bruised, wounded and
chastised so that the people of God would be forever blessed,
forever whole, forever healthy, forever safe in Christ Jesus.
Today, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of
the world.
