Sunday, October 2, 2011

Sunday, October 2nd

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Isaiah 53-55 - Romans 10

Love the verses in Isaiah about Jesus.....

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
Isaiah 53:5-6, 10 (emphasis mine)

I've heard these verses time and time again (especially v5-6) and they just seem to have much deeper meaning to me now a couple years into this Bible blog journey and our quest for discernment which is beginning to change into a pursuit of holiness as well.

His love was that deep. He endured the cross because of me, for me, out of love for me. Even though I was beyond unworthy.

And this was God's plan from the beginning of time. It was God's will to crush His Son and cause Him to suffer, in order to restore relationship with us. It's mind boggling!

I also thought it was pretty neat that our NT passage quoted our OT passage!

The passage from the NT that I love too is....
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? Romans 10:14-15a
We need to be sending and we need to be preaching because they need to hear in order to believe. It's that simple. Yes, there is the doctrine of election. But there is also this command. Send. Preach. So they may believe.

Tomorrow's passage: Isaiah 56-58, Romans 11:1-18

1 comment:

Miriam said...

Those verses stood out much more clearly to me now, too, than they have before even though I've heard them many times.

It still amazes me how the Bible is so different from any other book. There are many people who don't re-read books because once they've read it once they know what happens and they don't want to read it again. I re-read books. I don't care if I already know how it ends (if I even remember), I still enjoy the rest of the book. It's about the journey, not the destination, yes? Anyway, with the Bible it seems that no matter how often you've read a passage or a book or the whole thing, there is always more there to learn with each re-reading than there was the first time.