Joni And Friends 17 April 2024 Devotional Message
TOPIC: Completed, Paid For, and Nailed
“Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” – Isaiah 40:1-2
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Let’s do an inventory of our life in Christ, using Isaiah’s announcement. Our slavery to sin has ended. Check. Jesus paid for our sins. Check. God has given us double for all our sins. Che—Hey? What’s going on here? Are you saying, Lord, that you’re gonna get us back double for all the sins we’ve committed? Whatever happened to forgive and forget?
No, it’s not some scheme of God to get back at us with twice the punishment. Rather Isaiah is describing a business transaction common in those days that illustrates just how wonderful our Lord is. Whenever a person mortgaged his property, a stake was driven into the ground upon which the papers describing the terms of the loan were tacked for all the world to see. When the terms of the agreement were fulfilled, the lender took the bottom part of the note and folded it up to the top, where it was then nailed closed. Any passerby could see that the owner had paid off his debt—the agreement was “doubled over.”
Do Isaiah’s words ring a bell? Our debt for sin was paid for by Jesus, who was placed on the wooden cross and nailed there. It was a public declaration to the world that whoever looked upon Jesus and believed in him would be saved and have eternal life restored to him. Though you and I would never have been able to repay the debt of original sin, let alone the compounding interest of our daily sin, Jesus did. Praise God!
PRAYER: It’s incredible to imagine that my debt is paid. But I can’t argue with the records, Lord. You’ve doubled over my sin. Forever. Thank you. I am forever grateful.
READ MORE TOPICS: OPEN HEAVENS, OUR DAILY BREAD, IN TOUCH, SEEDS OF DESTINY, STREAMS OF JOY, JOEL OSTEEN, MOUNTAIN TOP LIFE, DCLM DAILY MANNA, UCB WORD FOR TODAY