The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Satisfied"
Only once in Scripture did the Holy Spirit inspire words that speak of God's satisfaction. But oh, what a satisfaction it is! And oh, how we must join our Heavenly Father in such contentment of heart and mind!
"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:11).
The prophet refers, of course, to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the agony of His heart, suffered when He bore our sins on the cross of Calvary. Isaiah affirms God's satisfaction in the death of His Son as the justifying atonement whereby many will be forever enrobed with Christ's righteousness as a wondrously free gift of grace. In essence, the Lord Jesus so suffered in measure - "marred more than any man" - and in mode - "It is finished! - that God can be "just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Isaiah 52:14; John 19:30; Romans 3:26).
Do we join our Heavenly Father in satisfaction regarding our Lord's redeeming Person and work? As believers, we do, at least to some degree. By definition, every Christian must affirm the truth of grace whereby we believe that "Christ died for our sins," and that "by Him all that believe are justified from all things" (I Corinthians 15:3; Acts 13:39). However, of this we can be sure: we are not nearly as satisfied with our Savior's accomplishment of "so great salvation" as is His Father, and our Father (Hebrews 2:3). God sees us as so justified that He "will not impute sin" to us. He sees us as "in Christ." He sees "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He sees the Lord Jesus at His right hand, who "ever liveth to make intercession for them." He sees the blood that was shed, the perfectly pure blood of the pristinely spotless Lamb of God. He sees the promise imprinted on His inviolable Word - "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." He sees the wounds that still mar His Son's body, and perhaps most of all, He hears the echoes of Christ's agonized cry that ring through the ages, and will doubtless, in God's heart, never cease to sound and resound - "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He sees all this, and He hears that. And He is satisfied, so much so that the redeeming and atoning work of the Lord Jesus avails forevermore for all who trust Him and Him alone for the grace of salvation and newness of life (Romans 4:8; I Corinthians 1:30; Hebrews 7:25; I Peter 1:19; Hebrews 13:5; Luke 24:39; Matthew 27:46; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2:1).
To the degree we join our Father in satisfaction regarding the saving work of the Lord Jesus will be the degree to which His peace so fills our heart that it results in genuine piety of heart and life. Only when we are distracted from such grace do we become susceptible to the temptations that would lead us away from seeking to live a life that honors our God.
"Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).
We "have grace" by heeding the Apostle Peter's mandate - "grow in grace" - and by the inevitable availing ourselves of such favor and enabling as we do. Yes, let us look into Heaven with our hearts and see the heart of God so content with His Son's redeeming work that He forever sees us through the lens of Calvary, the empty tomb, and our spirits enrobed with the Holy Spirit and the pristine righteousness of Christ. Such a vision will infuse and enliven our souls and bodies with the determined motivation to live in such a manner that the price paid for God's satisfaction and our salvation will never be forgotten or neglected. Satisfied. Satisfied with the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. Let us behold the bright light of such contentment in our Father's heart, and may it reflect ever more brightly in our own.
"Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
(I Corinthians 1:30)
Weekly Memory Verse
Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
(I Corinthians 1:30)
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