Thanksgiving – Every Day
Jesus was subjected to the punishment, the wrath of God, for OUR sins
By Greg Holt
“1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. 5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.” Psalm 95:1-5
Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock (Jesus) of our salvation – we have much to be thankful for, even on our worst days, a fact I often need to remind myself of.
If you know Jesus, then regardless of what happens in this life, you will be in Heaven with Him, instead of an eternity in Hell, where – like it or not, that is our rightful place to be.
“23 for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23
What does the above verse mean? In short, it means that every one of us has sinned, and it only takes one sin to condemn us to Hell. Seems pretty harsh yes? In the full light of what He has done for us, it is not harsh, and one needs to remember: if God doesn’t follow His own standards in rules and punishments, then what is to prevent Him from changing the benefits of following His rule? He (God) has to have ironclad standards, or He would be no God, just another man or powerful entity – like Satan.
In Romans 3:23 we read that we all come short of God’s glory, meaning we do not measure up to His instruction to us to be perfect (Matthew 5:48), it also means that we are subject to the penalty for not being perfect/obedient, death (Romans 6:23).
This is where and what causes some people to have problems with God. Suffice it say that God is looked at by these people as an unreasonable tyrant, an unloving God who sends people to Hell (God ends NO one to Hell, we do that ourselves) for no good reason etc. All FALSE accusations!
The next verses in Romans 3 tell a different story:
“24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26
So after being told we do not measure up (the penalty being death and eternity in the Lake of Fire; Revelation 20:11-15), we are then told that we can be redeemed via God’s grace to us by Jesus Christ. We are also told that payment, a settlement of accounts – for our sins (propitiation), has been made by none other than Jesus Christ, who is none other then God in the flesh (Titus 2:13, John 1:18, John 8:58, Colossians 1:16, 2 John 7, Galatians 4:4, John 4:6, Matthew 8:10, John 11:35).
So while the penalty for sin is death, God in the form of Jesus Christ came to this earth; born as a helpless human baby (like the rest of us – how humiliating), grew up as a man, and preached to us His Gospel. After a number of years had passed, He ALLOWED (John 10:17-18) Himself to be tortured, beaten, whipped, and then crucified – and while suffering the extreme pain and agony of crucifixion, He then was subjected to the punishment, the wrath of God, for OUR sins. Jesus was and is of course sinless and perfect, and yet He paid the bill for our sins. We owe our salvation, our very selves to Him.
“31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31
Every day we should be thankful, not just at Thanksgiving. I think many believers forget to give thanks to God, we should all be doing this every day – whether we feel like it or not. Not because I said so, who cares what I said? Rather because God said so. Amen.
“16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7
“34 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34
