Day: January 23, 2023

WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR FOCUS AND PURPOSE?

GEN 9:20-21 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.

Noah was a righteous man, a man who found favour in the sight of the Lord, a man who preached faithfully the righteousness and the wrath of God. The man who listened to the voice of the Lord and obeyed completely. A man who was sold out for the cause of God’s purposes. A man who had brought up his family in the ways of the Lord.

This man Noah had made some mistakes in his life, the consequences of which are felt even today.

1 DRANK WINE.
One of the wicked lifestyle before the flood was drinking (Matthew 24:38). Noah had seen the ill effects of drinking, but have started to do what led people away from God. Lost the zeal and passion for the things of the Lord and was pursuing pleasures of this world.

When one does not live for divine purposes, they slowly tend to get involved in aimless pursuit, which would often end in destruction and depression.

2.CURSED HIS CHILDREN:
Ham saw his father lying in the tent intoxicated and naked. In stead of apologizing for getting drunk, he misused his spiritual authority to curse his son. Many a times parents do not accept their mistakes and change their ways, rather try to justify or hide their mistakes and short comings which negatively impacts the children.

Ham was the forefather of Canaan, and the people living in Canaan became enemies of the Israelites many centuries down the line in human history.

3. DID NOT TEACH HIS CHILDREN TO LISTEN TO GOD’S VOICE AND OBEY GOD.

If all the three children of Noah and their children’s children would have been taught the ways of the Lord, how beautiful it could have been.

If Noah would have taught his children to listen to and obey the Lord, how blessed it would have been. Noah’s failure has a long lasting effect.

Even we as parents and leaders if we fail to teach, lead and guide our children, the future may be bleak, but if we would train up our children in the ways of the Lord, even the generations to come will follow the paths of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 23:14 NKJV

For the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
Glory to God

SOL.ARUN, AOJ

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Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.

John the Baptist under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). This is a very important statement. First of all, it tells us that Jesus is our Savior, because it tells us that he takes away our sins, and he does so as a lamb of sacrifice takes away sins. This is a reference to the Old Testament sacrificial system revealed to his people by God. There are a variety of sacrifices for different types of people and for different reasons.

 One of the key reasons for offering sacrifice is to have one’s sins atoned for, vicariously punished, and forgiven.

The symbolism is that a sinner puts his hand on the head of a lamb or other animal, indicating it as his representative and substitute. Then the animal is slain before the Lord to make atonement for the sinner’s sins. This is a vicarious suffering that the lamb undergoes instead of the sinner who should suffer this punishment. So his sin is punished vicariously in a substitute rather than in himself, namely in the sacrificed lamb.

Of course, an animal does not have the ability to take away our sins, when we punish him as our substitute for our sins,

“for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). 

Rather this is a symbolic sacrifice, but God accepts it from the Hebrews when they put their faith in what the lamb represents, namely the ultimate sacrifice that one day God would give his people that would truly take away their sins, namely the sacrifice of his own Son, incarnate as a man, on a cross for the sins of the world –

for “Christ died for our sins”

(1 Corinthians 15:3).

Christ died for our sins following the pattern of Old Testament sacrifices, which God revealed to his people as a preparation for the ultimate sacrifice of his Son that really would take away sins. This was done so that when his Son did sacrifice himself for our sins, the Jews would have a context within which they could understand what that sacrifice did. It did in reality what the lamb symbolized. Christ did in reality what the lamb did in symbol. Christ’s sacrifice of himself truly made vicarious reparation for our sins.

As the lamb symbolically suffered the sinner’s punishment that the sinner deserved to suffer for his sins to make atonement for them and reconcile him with God, so Christ in reality suffered on the cross what we deserve to suffer for our sins to make atonement for us, that is, to reconcile us with God.

ThankYou Father, for sending Your son Jesus Christ as a living sacrifice for the mankind and making a way for us to be with You in paradise.

SOL.PAULOSE,AOJ

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