This morning, I was meditating on the journey of Israelites through the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8).
The interesting thing is that through their 40 years of wandering and wondering, despite countless complaints raised against God, God never unleashed the full fury of His wrath on those people.
Yes, their unfaithfulness cost them their lives eventually and none of the old generation could make it into their promised land. Nonetheless, God restrained Himself every time they chose to rebel ( courtesy of Moses who never failed to initiate the reconciliation).
In Deuteronomy 9, Moses reviews the people’s rebellion and reminds them of the multiple times they “provoked the Lord your God to wrath”.
God who is slow to anger was provoked to “righteous” wrath (James 1:20) on a people who chose to worship lifeless, immoral idols. His love is a consuming fire, forever jealous for His people- stronger than death, more demanding than the grave. (Song of Solomon 8:6)
This same zeal burned in Jesus when He saw the house of His Father, the house of prayer being made into a den of thieves1.
God was right to be angry, but He was slow to anger, crediting all the wrath to be released onto Jesus’s account, until His crucifixion where He poured it all out on the son of His love, for our sake- so that we could become His righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So!
Our redemption came at a cost, the price was born by Jesus on the cross.
Never again will sin be credited to our account- neither past, present, or future- for our Savior and Lord took it all onto Himself.
The perfect lamb of God who knew no sin, who did no sin and in whom was no sin- became the ultimate sacrifice for mankind (Hebrews 9:28, Hebrews 10:10).
Through Jesus,” He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”(Colossians 1:13)
The life that we now live in this flesh is not our own, but of Christ who lives in us. (Galatians 2:20)
He loved us and gave Himself up for us, washing us in His blood, and making us kings and priests in the Kingdom of Our Father. (Revelation 1:5-6)
And by “one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14)
Because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, God no longer remembers our sins and lawless deeds. (Hebrews 10:17)
We are redeemed by the blood of the lamb.
We are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
And ” neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
In Jesus name,
Amen!
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- https://www.gotquestions.org/house-prayer-den-thieves.html ↩︎
Also read- The Cross Of Christ: Your Invitation To An Abundant Life | SeeCaptions
