It was the love of God the Father that chose us in Christ and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10). It was the love of God the Son to take our case, our obligations and our nature (John 15:13; Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 2:13). It was Christ's love that caused Him in our nature to assume all of our responsibilities under the law, to redeem us from the curse of the law that we earned from God’s justice by our sin (Exodus 21:1-6). And it was the love of the Spirit of God (Jeremiah 31:3) that made us alive with Christ, giving us faith in Him, whom He has lifted up and magnified in the preaching of the gospel as our near-kinsman Redeemer. Christ is not ashamed to call us His brethren. He was crucified to buy us out of our sin-indebtedness and to free us from the captivity of sin's guilt, power and consequences. He, God the Son, the only begotten of the Father, truly set us free (John 8:36), bringing us to God as His sons, and doing all for us according to His eternal Suretyship engagements in the covenant of redemption (John 17; Hebrews 7:22-25; Revelation 13:8). Truly, we now find it in our hearts to cry, “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath [so] blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ!” (Ephesians 1:3).
- Pastor Rick Warta