May 24, 2017: SOAP #2729: 1Kings 9; 2Chronicles 8; Psalm 136; Romans 5

Scripture:  Romans (NIV) 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Observation:   What God has done on our behalf is fantastic!  It is beyond comprehension.  It is something for which one should rejoice. However, in this verse, we rejoice not in what God has done for us, but in God Himself. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have come into relationship with our Heavenly Father, and what a Father He is!!!

It is through the work of Jesus that we have been reconciled, not just to Jesus, but through Jesus to the Father.  Through the words of Jesus as recorded in the gospels we see how Jesus stressed His relationship to the Father, His purpose being to do the will of the Father, His actions as fulfilling the command of the Father, His desire to glorify the Father, His plan to return to the Father having glorified the Father by doing the Father’s will.  Clearly the one priority of Jesus was His Father.

The reconciliation spoken of in this verse is a reconciliation that comes through Jesus but it’s focus is the Father.  It is to the Father we have been reconciled!

Application:  In studying the life of Jesus, I should not only be asking myself what is Jesus like, but what is the Father like!

Prayer:   Heavenly Father, you loved me so much you sent your “Only Begotten Son” to die in my place for my sins.  And now through Jesus, I am reconciled to you!!!  What an amazing privilege to be your son! Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!