what Jesus came to do

In the One Year Bible today, we read from John 3:22-4:3. And we see the big picture of what Jesus came to do. In yesterday's blog, we saw that God owed us death. We all stand under condemnation for our sins, and we all deserve to be separated from God in hell. But Jesus came to do several things to save us from that penalty.

He proved who He was by performing miracles. Once He had our attention, He gave us baptism so that we might be born again. He gave us the church, which the gates of hell will not prevail against. Think about that for a minute, by the way. The GATES of hell won't prevail against it. Some people erroneously think that means that hell won't be able to defeat the church. But it's the other way around. Hell won't be able to defend itself against the church's onslaught. Gates don't move or attack anything. They keep people out. But the gates of hell won't keep the church out. It will defeat them. Jesus showed us what that looks like when He went to hell after His death and before His resurrection to preach to those who were in hell.

And then He gave us the Eucharist. "Eat my flesh and drink my blood, so that you will have eternal life," He said. And He gave His disciples the Holy Spirit, and the power to forgive sins. All of those gifts He gave us so that we can escape the punishment that we're owed and come into eternal life instead.

Of course, the most important thing He did was defeat sin and death on the cross. Without that work, we would all be lost. But He DID defeat them, and then rose from the dead. Not only did HE rise, but He did so as the first of many. Those of us who follow Him in our lifetimes will also follow Him in rising from the dead.

So let's help bring the kingdom of God to earth in our day. The best way we can go about that is through prayer. Pray every day that His kingdom will come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Pray specifically for the people in your life, that God's will might be done in their lives. Prayer seems to be making a huge change in the world today - see the news regarding North Korea in the last few days. By all accounts, the prayers of many faithful Christians has brought about this 180 degree turn that Kim Jong Un has been experiencing. May it continue.

God, thank You for sending Your son to bring us the gifts we need to make the world more like heaven.