Wetzel's Blog

Jesus is our resurrection

Verse:  1 Corinthians 15:20-22 “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep (or died).  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

Message:  What is the big deal about the resurrection of Jesus?  Why does it matter?  How does it impact my life?  The resurrection of Jesus has everything to do with victory.  There’s no doubt that we are all competitive in some way, shape or form.  We want the best, we strive to win, we work towards an end, and we want to finish what was started.  In some sense Jesus was the same way, except He was trying to win a different battle.  Through the resurrection, Jesus became the victor over the battle of death.  Jesus showed the General of Darkness, Satan, that defeat had arrived.  The day Jesus rose, Satan lost the power to hold people in the grave with death.  Death is what Jesus came to conquer and sin is what He came to defeat.  It is now, through the resurrection, that Jesus could offer victory to all who surrender their lives to Him.

Jesus showed us that He was the first to rise and someday we, who follow Him, will rise again as well.  Jesus won the battle because of His humility and submission to the will of God the Father.  He came to earth without sin, He lived perfectly, He never gave into the temptations of Satan, He experienced an earthly death, and He conquered the greatest weapon of Satan (the grave).  Sin and death is what Satan uses to take as many as possible with him to hell.  He already knows that he has been condemned, but he still uses sin and death to draw multitudes away from God.  He wants to gain some sense of satisfaction even after the loss.

It is by the grace and goodness of God that we are offered the opportunity to take part in a future resurrection.  If we know Jesus as our Savior then we do not have to view death as the end of life, but rather as a passageway to the beginning of an eternity with God.  It is a mystery of God how it all happens, but just as Jesus rose from the dead, so will those who follow Him.  We will someday reign with Him over death.  And when our resurrection comes, we will watch death and hell be cast into an eternal lake of fire.  We will receive glorified bodies and live on a newly created earth, one without sin and death.  God, in His great love, gives us a do over through Jesus.  He offers us salvation from death and hell, and gives us the chance to start over.  Believers will someday find out what it would have been like to be Adam and Eve on a perfect earth.  Except this time there will be no Angel of Darkness waiting to deceive and tempt us into sin.  There will only be Jesus as the King of Kings who will rule and reign on this new earth.  There will be no more pain, sickness or death…only life.

May the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus draw us to praise His name.  May we lift up the name of Jesus with our mouths and with our lives, proclaiming that He is the Lord over life and He is the victor over death.  Jesus suffered, died, and rose again so that we could receive eternal life with God.  Death is defeated, so don’t live as if it isn’t.  Live today to glorify God in all you do.  And live to show Him that you are grateful to Jesus for setting you free from sin, both now and in eternity.

Prayer:  “Jesus, today I praise and glorify Your name.  You are the One who suffered, died, and rose again so that I may have eternal life.  I know that I deserve eternal death because my ways are not your ways and because I am imperfect and you are perfect.  So I humbly bow before you and ask for forgiveness and new life.  I believe that you are the One who conquered sin, satisfied the wrath of God, and rose again to give me life.  I live today do your will and to serve, praise and honor you with this life.  Help me God to live the rest of my days on this earth for You.  Please be gracious to me God for I am in need of salvation from death and I so desire life.  I believe that Jesus is your Son and surrender my life to Him.  Thank you God for loving me so much and thank you for giving me new life today!”

Going Deeper:  Psalm 16:10-11, Luke 24:1-12, and 1 Corinthians 15:19-54

Jesus is our propitiation

Verse:  Hebrews 9:27-28 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Message:  Propitiation is the act of “satisfying” the wrath of God for sin on the person of Jesus Christ.  In other words, Jesus died so that God’s wrath would be “satisfied”.  When we understand the doctrine of propitiation, we can more fully appreciate the death of Jesus.  When we realize our sin, realize how it angers God, and realize that Jesus took the judgment of sin upon Himself, we cannot help but be filled with joy and gratitude.  Our barrier to receiving this joy comes when we do not believe that our sin is a big deal, when we think that we are relatively good people, and when we see the many accomplishments of life as making God happy.  Whether we believe it our not, the truth is that anything we do is as a dirty smelly rag in the eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6).  We are completely destitute apart from His grace and mercy.  Nothing we do or could ever do can justify us in His presence.

Good intentions and good works are not enough to get us to heaven.  To be in heaven, the place where God the Father dwells, would mean that we are free of all the sin and wrong doing.  We simply cannot remove our sin by what we do.  God’s hatred of sin is so great that He created a place called hell where He can fully punish those who are not holy.  Hell is where He can satisfy His wrath.  It is where He can punish all the evil that men have done in opposition to His will.  You see, God is “Loving”, and yet He is “Just”.  He will not let sin go unpunished.  He will eternally inflict pain and suffering on all those who are not perfect and holy.

Wow.  It sounds like we are doomed.  Not at all!  Because of His “Love” He made a way out, so that we would not face eternal punishment.  We are reconciled by love!  God loved us so much that took out His wrath on Jesus Christ (His Son).  The wrath of God was satisfied for all who surrender their lives to Him through faith and trust in Jesus.  It is only those who have put their lives in Jesus’ hands that can stand redeemed in the presence of God.  It is them and only them!  God’s wrath can only be satisfied through pain, death and punishment.  He is in fact “Just”.  Jesus took upon himself the justice that God required for sin.  He fully and completely satisfied the wrath of God.  He became the propitiation for our sin so that we in turn could be reconciled as holy before God the Father.  That is true love!  When we fully grasp our depravity, as a result of our willful choice to sin, then and only then will we fully appreciate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  It is then that we will begin to know what praising Jesus is all about.  It is then that we will fully appreciate the resurrection of Jesus.  It is then that we will humble ourselves enough to let go of our will in exchange for His.  His will for us is to follow the steps of Jesus and to walk the road that He walked.  It is one of love, grace, mercy, and peace…and yes it is also one of judgment, pain, and suffering.  Jesus took on the eternal wrath of God but the question is will you surrender to His plan for your life?  Take some time right now to listen to what the Holy Spirit of God is saying to your conscience.  Is He asking you to let go of the will you have for your life?  Jesus loves you and died for you, and He will not wreck your life.  Give your life back to Him and let Him make it something beautiful.

Prayer:  “God, I am so grateful for Jesus.  I cannot fully understand all that He did for me and why it all happened.  But I do realize that I am a sinner and there is nothing good within me or nothing I can do that will satisfy your justified wrath.  I do confess that Jesus and only Jesus was the one who made the propitiation for my sin.  Thank you Jesus and thank you Father for giving me a way out of eternal death and allowing me to have eternal life.  I surrender now to You and ask that by Your grace and mercy I may come before you as holy and pure because of Jesus.  I praise You Jesus for taking upon yourself every sin I have committed or ever will commit.  You truly are a loving God!”

Going Deeper:  First Read Leviticus 16:1-22, and Then Read Hebrews 9:1-28

Jesus is our death

Verse: Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Message: Death is a difficult word for many people to hear.  Some of us have experienced an incredible level of anguish when the ones we spent our life loving died.  We greatly miss those who loved us and those who’s company we so enjoyed throughout life.  We understand the finality that is associated with death.  We understand the pain associated with it as well.  We experience the loneliness that comes after death happens.  And yet intellectually we know that death is a process of life.  Why?  It is because of the sin that entered the world at the time of Adam and Eve.  It is sin that has caused the entire earth to decay.  Sin changed life on earth from what it once was created to be…perfect.  Instead of eternal life on earth, now plants began to die, animals began to kill each other for survival, and humans committed unthinkable acts of murder.  This was now the system instituted on earth.  Perfection was gone and now the cycle of life and death began.

On the Friday that Jesus died on a cross, He finished what He came to earth to do (the will of His Father).  Jesus knew the earthly process of life and death, and it was difficult even for Him.  If we believe that Jesus is God, we can sometimes get the impression that because He was God in a human shell, His death experience was easier or less scary then ours will be.  But it wasn’t.  Just like everyone else, Jesus experienced terrible pain, the stopping of His heart, gasping for His last breath and the feeling of loneliness.  Yet He knew this was the way His Father said it had to be in order to pass to eternal life.  Jesus knew that death was not the end.  He suffered death with a peace and a faith that His Fathers hands were stretched out to Him.  And He knew that the very moment He fell in death, God was right there to catch Him.  He knew that His momentary pain and loneliness would end the second He died.  He could see the light of His father shining though the tunnel of death when He passed from this earth into eternal life.

We must all face a certain death.  Are we prepared to experience it?  Have we ever paused and considered our own death?  What will we feel?  Where will we go?  In whose arms will we fall into when we take our last breath?  Jesus died, but it was not the end.  It was another step that had to be taken in order to move from this sinful world into a perfect heaven.  He was the first.  Not to die, but to enter heaven before the throne of God as a victor.  He had conquered death in perfection.  He was born into the world through the Holy Spirit, He lived a perfect life, and He entered eternal glory in victory.  Although death is inevitable, we can face it with security and peace if we have laid our life surrendered to the will of God.  Jesus showed us the way.  He surrendered His life, every step of it, to the will of God the Father.  The question is, will you?

Prayer: “Today God, I put my faith in You.  I believe that You are on the other side of this life waiting to catch those who put their faith and trust in Jesus the Messiah.  I believe God, that Your son Jesus was born of You, lived perfectly and died without sin.  I believe that He was the first to enter eternity in perfection.  I believe that through His death, I can have life.  Thank you God, for loving me so much that you would send your son to die for me and for all those who love you and follow your will.”

Going Deeper: Isaiah 53, Mark 15:22-39, and Romans 5:1-19

Jesus is our atonement

Verse:  Romans 3:25 “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.”

Message:  In this day and age we can tend to overlook the first half of the bible, the Old Testament, and place much more emphasis on the second half of the bible, the New Testament.  In order to understand the principle of “Atonement” we must spend a lot of time reading and meditating on the Old Testament.  It’s so amazing how the entire bible is tied together from creation to today.  Atonement is the process of making amends.  In a biblical sense, it is the reconciliation process of men and women to a holy God through death and blood.  God set up the process of atonement in order that forgiveness could come to sinful people.

The day before Jesus was about to die, He took his disciples to a quiet place to partake in the Passover meal, a Jewish festival that had been celebrated for centuries since the time of Moses.  There are many reasons for the Passover meal, but one is that God wanted the people to remember.  The Israelites were to remember the salvation He brought to them during their time of slavery in Egypt when the angel of death “passed over” the homes of those who had the blood of a lamb painted on their doorposts.  Jesus celebrated this festival with His disciples, just as He did every year.  Except this time, Jesus did something that had never been done.  He spoke of Himself as being the “Passover” lamb that would be slain to bring salvation from eternal death.  He told them how the unleavened bread would represent His death and how the wine would represent His blood being poured out for their sins.  This was all done to fulfill the prophecy that there would be a Messiah that would make “atonement”, once and for all, for the sins of men and women.

God wanted us to remember, to be grateful for, and to never forget that Jesus, the Messiah, came to earth, lived a perfect life, died, and rose again “For Us”!  Through His death and the shedding of His blood, we are made right and our sins are forgiven or “atoned for” in the eyes of a holy God.  He did this for the world and more importantly for those who were His children.  We must respond by believing and having faith that Jesus is the Messiah.  Will you put your faith in Him?  Will you remember Him today?  Will you come before the feet of Jesus in praise and gratitude for the punishment He took for us and for the atonement He made with His blood?  God really does love us so much that He sent His only son Jesus, to pay a debt for us that He did not owe.

Prayer:  “God, I thank You and praise You that You asked Jesus to come to this earth to atone for my sins so that I could be made holy in Your eyes.  I realize that there is nothing within myself that can be good or obedient enough to pay the price of my sins in exchange for righteousness in Your eyes.  Today I put my faith in Jesus, my Messiah, believing that He is the Lamb that You sent to die for me.  I believe God, that He is the Messiah and have faith that His blood has made the atonement for my sin.  Thank you Jesus, I live to serve You today!”

Going Deeper:  First Read Exodus 12:1-28 and Matthew 26:17-30; Then Read Romans 5:6-11 and Hebrews 9:1-15

Jesus is our substitution

Verse:  1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Message:  Would you die for someone?  We would like to think that we’d take a bullet for a friend.  We would hope that if someone had to die and it was between us or one of our loved ones, then we would take the fall.  Indeed, many brave people have done this for others and have been considered to be heroes…and they are.  This desire to preserve and protect the life of someone we love is a God given gift.  It is the gift of grace and love that God instilled into us because we were made in His image.  He is a loving and gracious God who would sacrifice Himself for His children.  And He did do this through Jesus by being our substitution.

The truth is that Jesus took our place.  He took the punishment that was meant for us to receive.  Because of our sin and because God is both holy and just, a payment had to be made.  There was no way of getting around it.  If we are to be spared everlasting death and separation from Him, then someone is going to have to pay the price.  Since it was our sin, then it is our price to pay.  The only form of payment that any of us could make for sin was that of death and eternity in hell.  That is it!  That is all we can offer and that is the most we could give.  Seems like a dead end situation for us…well yes it is.  This is the part where God shows His amazing love and justice for His creation.  He sends His one and only perfect son Jesus to the earth to make the substitutionary payment for us.  Jesus was the only one who could take our place because He is God and He is holy.  It seems odd that the punishment of death would fall on the head of someone perfect.  But only perfection was what would satisfy the wrath and justice of God.  We could not offer perfection, but Jesus could.  And in His great love and grace for us, He took our place to suffer and atone for our sins.

What is your response to this amazing love?  Does this lead you to worship Jesus?  Does it heighten your sense of gratitude towards Him?  Do you take it for granted?  Do you have a melancholy attitude towards His substitution?  Is Jesus your hero?  What exactly is your response?  Jesus paid the ultimate price for you and me.  God certainly didn’t have to send Jesus to earth to make this payment on our behalf, but He did.  Jesus became our substitute because it was the will of God, His Father.  Jesus did the will of God from the moment He was born in a manger till the moment He died on a cross.  It is the will of God that He took our place.  What an amazing love!

Prayer:  “God, I pause to tell you how grateful and thankful I am that You sent Your one and only Son to earth to bare the burden of my sin.  Jesus, I am thankful to You for choosing to follow the will of Your Father to satisfy His wrath because of my sin.  Jesus, help me to give back to You what You gave to me…this life.  I surrender to Your will for my life and ask for Your help to do exactly as you did…to follow the will of God the Father.  I admit that I can’t follow your will on my own God, so I ask for You to fill me with the power of Your Holy Spirit.  Graciously fill me God, so that I may walk today in the path you have set before me.  Help me to know Your will and walk in Your ways.”

Going Deeper:  Romans 3:21-26, 1 Peter 2:21-25, and Isaiah 53:3-12