Thursday, November 2, 2023 - CALLED AND RANSOMED

 

"I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen." (Luther's Morning Prayer)

Thursday, November 2, 2023 - Day 306  - (Today’s Bible readings: Ezra 8:24-36; Psalm 115; 1 Peter 1:13-25)

CALLED AND RANSOMED

... it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ... 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:16-19

Peter is reminding of two of life’s most crucial facts...

1) We have been called to be holy, something none of us comes even close to fulfilling.

2) Jesus has ransomed (bought back) from the consequences of our sin.

The Small Catechism’s explanation to the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed puts is so clearly:

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

(From Luther’s Small Catechism © 1986 Concordia Publishing House)

1. Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress;

Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head.

(Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness, Lutheran Service Book 563)

6. Jesus, be endless praise to Thee,

Whose boundless mercy hath for me,

For me, and all Thy hands have made,

An everlasting ransom paid. Amen.

Pastor David Paape