REFLECTIONS ON JEREMIAH 23:6 PT3

God is HOLY!

He has said "The soul who sins shall die" and "The wages of sin is death" or again ,"without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sin]".

No sin is too small for Him to just pass over for "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all". As He declared to ancient Israel, "I the Lord your God am holy".

So many people through the ages have discounted His holiness and the horribleness of sin in His sight. Even today people will say, "Well, it was just a little white lie, that's all". There is no reverential fear of God or dread of offending Him with our sins. People laugh at the idea that their sins, every one of them, no matter how small, must be paid for by blood. All sin is the transgression of His holy standard; it is the crossing over of His holy character, the crossing of boundry lines. With sin, mankind falls short of God's holiness and glory. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", "There is none righteous, no not one".

All sin is the stepping over of God's boundries.

All sin is the falling short of God's glory.

All sin must be paid for by blood.

All have sinned.

Enter the love, grace and mercy of God: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." IICor. 5:21.

Christ, the sinless one, took our sins upon Himself so that God the Father could vent His fury upon Him in payment for our sins. Christ paid for our sins as our substitute---"[Christ] committed no sin---who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree---For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God---" I Peter 1:22,24,3:18.

Our glorious Savior paid the penalty for our sins; and oh, how He suffered: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;---And the LORD has laid on Him the inquity of us all.---For the transgressions of my people He was striken.---Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin---By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities" Is. 53:5-11.

Even though it was wicked who men whipped Christ and tore out His beard, they were merely instruments in the Father's hands, for, HE was actually the One Who was punishing His Son-for OUR sins.

The whipping, the punching, the spitting, and finally the nailing to the cross was the Father venting His awesome fury upon His only Begotten Son, so that He could pay the penatly for our sins as our substitute.

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Rom. 5:9.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins---Eph. 1:7

---To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood---Rev. 1:5.

Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

To be continued...