Today’s Gospel

Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.

Whenever we read this verse, our hearts will be filled with gratitude to the Savior Jesus, and we will be moved by His selfless love. In order to redeem us from our sins, the Lord Jesus personally became flesh and came to the earth, endured all the pains, and was finally crucified on the cross to bear our sins. Thus, our sins are forgiven; we are no longer condemned by the law and cursed; we are qualified to come before God and pray to Him, enjoy the peace and joy of forgiveness of sin and God’s abundant grace and blessings, and see God’s disposition of mercy and love. This is God’s great love for us. God’s words say, “Without Jesus’ redemption, mankind would forever have lived in sin and become the progeny of sin, the descendants of demons. Continuing thus, the whole world would have become the land where Satan dwells, the place of its habitation. The work of redemption, however, required showing mercy and lovingkindness toward mankind; only by such means could mankind receive forgiveness and ultimately win the right to be made complete and fully gained by God. Without this stage of work, the six-thousand-year management plan would not have been able to progress. If Jesus had not been crucified, if He had only healed the sick and exorcised demons, then people could not have been completely forgiven of their sins. In the three and a half years that Jesus spent doing His work on earth, He completed only half of His work of redemption; then, by being nailed to the cross and becoming the likeness of sinful flesh, by being handed over to the evil one, He completed the work of crucifixion and mastered the destiny of mankind. Only after He was delivered into Satan’s hands did He redeem mankind. For thirty-three and a half years He suffered on earth, being ridiculed, slandered, and forsaken, even to the point where He had no place to lay His head, no place of rest, and He was later crucified, with His whole being—a holy and innocent body—nailed to the cross. He endured every kind of suffering there is. Those in power mocked and whipped Him, and the soldiers even spat in His face; yet He remained silent and endured until the end, submitting unconditionally to the point of death, whereupon He redeemed all of humanity. Only then was He permitted to rest. The work that Jesus did represents only the Age of Grace; it does not represent the Age of Law, nor is it a substitute for the work of the last days. This is the essence of Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace, the second age that mankind has passed through—the Age of Redemption.”

The Lord Jesus did the work of redemption, ushered in the Age of Grace, and ended the Age of Law. Because of the Lord’s redemption, we are forgiven of our sins, but we are still living in sin often and have not escaped the bondage of sin or achieved purification. This is a fact. Then let us think about this: After the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption, was God’s work of salvation completely finished? How can we stop sinning, achieve purification, and enter the kingdom of heaven?

If you want to get the answers to these questions, please contact us via the online chat window at the bottom of the website. Let us communicate online.