Year 2 Day 25

Year 2 Day 25

Pray (ACts)

Read - Mark 1:11, Genesis 22:2,13

Message - Alan Burke

The heavens were torn open, the Spirit descended like a dove and then a voice from heaven declared "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (ESV). This announcement from heaven confirms what Mark had told us about Jesus in verse one that this gospel is the good news about Jesus the Son of God. But before we think of this announcement we think of another beloved son. 

The son of Abraham, Issac. God tested Abraham, telling Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac whom he loved and sacrifice him (Gen 22:2). Some call it barbaric, heinous, but it was to give us a picture of what God himself would do. As they went Issac asked where is the lamb for the sacrifice and Abraham answered that God himself would provide the lamb and indeed God did. Not in the ram caught in the thicket (Gen 22:13), rather his beloved sinless Son who was sacrificed for our sin. Jesus came as the sacrificial lamb. 

He is unlike anyone else who has ever lived, many titles are used in the scripture, Abraham was a friend of God (Isa 41:8), Moses a servant of God (Deut 34:5), Aaron was a chosen one of God (Ps 105:26), David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14), and Paul was an apostle (Rom 1:1). Only Israel (Ex 4:23) and the king as Israel’s leader (Ps 2:7) had been called God’s Son before. But where Israel failed, Jesus takes Israel’s place. This announcement does not teach us that Jesus became the Son of God at baptism, for there was never a time that he was not as John’s Gospel makes clear (Jn 1:1), rather it is the announcement of what already was and is and ever more shall be.

Here in these verses all three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirt are present and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. (1 John 5:7, Matt. 28:19). All three persons all play a part in salvation that is freely offered to sinners and this inauguration event declared to those watching on and ultimately the world that Jesus the Son of God, that he had come and he was here to fulfil all righteousness to bring salvation. This was the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus Christ, that would see him die as the sacrificial lamb, making atonement for our sin. 

Pray (acTS)

Sing

WSC

Q38 What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, (1 Cor. 15:43) shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, (Matt. 25:23, Matt. 10:32) and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God, (1 John 3:2, 1 Cor. 13:12) to all eternity. (1 Thess. 4:17–18)
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