Thursday, April 21, 2011

Perversion of Justice into the Righteousness of God - April 21

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I stand amazed in Your Presence; I bow low in honor of Your mercy; and I draw near in response to Your love. …

“Then (Pilate) answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ For he realized it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed Him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate spoke to them again, ‘Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify Him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Why, what evil has He done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify Him!’ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed Him over to be crucified” (Mark 15:9-15).

It wasn’t right they rejected Your life and dishonored Your name.
It wasn’t right they perverted justice and condemned an innocent Man to die.
It wasn’t right they betrayed Your trust, scorned Your love and despised Your grace.
It wasn’t right they stripped Your honor, mocked Your glory and inflicted Your pain.
It wasn’t right they would receive Your mercy and grace as You hung on their cross.
… And mine.

Nothing about it was right. And yet, it was all perfectly right, because it was all within Your eternal plan to lay down Your life for us as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, once for all, that we might live forever with You. “For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).

As Your Spirit declared through the prophecy of Isaiah eight hundred years before it happened: “He was despised and rejected by others; a Man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; as One from whom others hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him of no account…. He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises we are healed…. By a perversion of justice He was taken away… although He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of God to crush Him with pain ... because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:3-12).

In Your perfect righteousness You redeemed this greatest perversion of justice. In the form of Christ, You set aside the glory of heaven to humble Yourself in human flesh and blood to bear our sins for us on the cross, so that we could be forever cleansed of all the jealousy, selfishness, and pride in our hearts that nailed You there (Philippians 2:5-8).

Pilate was wrong; the chief priests were wrong; the crowds were wrong. Yet, in the power of the blood of Jesus, their wrongs were redeemed to fulfill all righteousness. “For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

You are the King of the Jews and the King of all. You are the King who came down off Your throne to be nailed to a cross out of Your love for me and for all, longing for us to allow You to be King of our hearts. You are my King who turned this perversion of justice into the righteousness of God. And I honor You with my thanksgiving and love for You this day. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


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