the Third Week after Easter
Click here to join the effort!
Daily Devotionals
Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time
“Then I restored that which I took not away.”
The speaker in HYPERLINK "javascript:" is the Lord Jesus. In verse 4 He is saying that in His glorious work of redemption, He made restitution to God for losses that had been caused by man’s sin. No doubt He is picturing Himself as the true trespass offering.
When a Jew stole from another Jew, the law of the trespass offering required him to repay the amount that was stolen and to add one-fifth of that value.
Now God was robbed through man’s sin. He was robbed of service, worship, obedience and glory. He was robbed of service because man turned to serve self, sin and Satan. He was robbed of worship because man bowed down to carved images. He was robbed of obedience because man rejected God’s authority. He was robbed of glory because man failed to give Him the honor that was His due.
The Lord Jesus came to restore what He did not take away.
Aside He threw His most divine array,
And veiled His Godhead in a robe of clay,
And in that garb did wondrous love display,
Restoring what He never took away.
He not only restored what had been stolen through man’s sin but added more. For God has received more glory through the finished work of Christ than He lost through the sin of Adam. “He lost creatures through sin, He gained sons through grace.” We may go so far as to say that God has been more glorified through the Savior’s work than He ever could have been even in an eternity of unfallen Adams.
Perhaps we have here an answer to the question, “Why did God allow sin to enter?” We know that God could have made men without the power of free moral choice. But He chose to make them with the ability to love and worship Him of their own volition. And that, of course, means that they also had the ability to disobey Him, to reject Him, to turn away from Him. Man chose to disobey Him, bringing in a great holocaust of sin. But God is not defeated by the sin of His creatures. In His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, the Lord Jesus triumphed over sin, hell and Satan. Through His work, God has received greater glory; and redeemed man has received richer blessings than if sin had never entered this world of ours.
'Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time' Copyright 2007 © William MacDonald. 'Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
