Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global church of the Nazarene for Tuesday, 12 September 2017 "Jesus: Our Savior" by Norayr Hajian - John 1:19-31

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global church of the Nazarene for Tuesday, 12 September 2017 "Jesus: Our Savior" by Norayr Hajian - John 1:19-31John 1:19 Here is Yochanan’s testimony: when the Judeans sent cohanim and L’vi’im from Yerushalayim to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 he was very straightforward and stated clearly, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 “Then who are you?” they asked him. “Are you Eliyahu?” “No, I am not,” he said. “Are you ‘the prophet,’ the one we’re expecting?” “No,” he replied. 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? — so that we can give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” 23 He answered in the words of Yesha‘yahu the prophet, “I am

voice of someone crying out:

‘In the desert make the way of Adonai straight!’”[John 1:23 Isaiah 40:3]

24 Some of those who had been sent were P’rushim. 25 They asked him, “If you are neither the Messiah nor Eliyahu nor ‘the prophet,’ then why are you immersing people?” 26 To them Yochanan replied, “I am immersing people in water, but among you is standing someone whom you don’t know. 27 He is the one coming after me — I’m not good enough even to untie his sandal!” 28 All this took place in Beit-Anyah, east of the Yarden, where Yochanan was immersing.

The next day, Yochanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, “Look! God’s lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world! 30 This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me, because he existed before me.’ 31 I myself did not know who he was, but the reason I came immersing with water was so that he might be made known to Isra’el.”

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The lamb was a significant part of Jewish religious life. During Passover, a lamb was sacrificed and its blood used to cover the doorposts of their homes, commemorating the time when they had been captives in Egypt and the angel of death spared all those in homes marked by the blood of a lamb. When Pharaoh saw the hand of God in the death of all first-born males, he finally released the Jews from their bondage.
When John saw Jesus approaching to be baptized, John recognized Him as the Lamb of God. Just as the Jewish people were delivered from death and physical bondage through the blood of a lamb, John knew that Jesus had come to set us free from spiritual death and darkness.
Jesus became that sacrifice when He died for our sins. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:25). Jesus’ sacrifice brought us the opportunity for life, but we must receive that gift through repentance–through turning away from our sins and putting our faith in Him. Only then will we be covered by the blood of the Lamb and delivered from spiritual death to life.
Hymn for Today:

"Covered by the Blood" by Nellie Edwards

1. Once in sin’s darkest night I was wand’ring alone;

A stranger to mercy I stood.

But the Savior came nigh

When he heard my faint cry,

And He put my sins under the blood.

Refrain: They are covered by the blood;

They are covered by the blood;

My sins are all covered by the blood.

Mine iniquities so vast

Have been blotted out at last,

My sins are all covered by the blood.

2. From the burden I carried now I am set free,

For Jesus has lifted my load.

O the love and the grace I received in its place

When he put my sins under the blood.

Refrain: They are covered by the blood;

They are covered by the blood;

My sins are all covered by the blood.

Mine iniquities so vast

Have been blotted out at last,

My sins are all covered by the blood.

3. I can ne’er understand why He sought even me,

Why His lifeblood on Calvary flowed.

But sufficient for me,

Since He died on the tree,

He hath put my sins under the blood.

Refrain: They are covered by the blood;

They are covered by the blood;

My sins are all covered by the blood.

Mine iniquities so vast

Have been blotted out at last,

My sins are all covered by the blood.

4. Now He comes to my heart and removes ev’ry care;

He bears all my cumbering load.

In a pathway replete

With His love are my feet,

Since He put my sins under the blood.

Refrain: They are covered by the blood;

They are covered by the blood;

My sins are all covered by the blood.

Mine iniquities so vast

Have been blotted out at last,

My sins are all covered by the blood.

Thought for Today:

Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed.(1 Corinthians 5:7b).

Please pray:

That many people in the dominican Republic will come to know Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.
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