Daily Devotional

-April 5, 2021-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-Redemption And Forgiveness Through Christ-

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

(Ephesians 1:7).

The theme of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians is, “In the Heavenly Places.” He uses this phrase five times in the epistle. Paul spent over three years in Ephesus teaching the believers the Word of God.

In our verse, Paul wrote of two great blessings: redemption and forgiveness. Both come through the blood of Christ and are according to the riches of His grace. We are so blessed to be in Christ. In Ephesians 1:3, Paul wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

• In Him we have redemption through His blood – Redemption comes through the shed blood of our Savior on the cross. From early on in the book of Genesis, God established the requirement that blood is the means of man’s redemption. All the sacrifices in the OT pointed forward to the cross where Jesus’ one sacrifice would not only cover our sins but put them away forever. The word redeem means to buy back. We have been purchased with the blood of Christ.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:13, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” The hymn writer Fanny Crosby wrote, “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am.”

• The forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace – God’s grace made possible our forgiveness; Jesus died for our sins, paid our sin debt. Someone once said, “He paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.” All our sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven. Everything we have done is under the blood. The theological term is efficacy, meaning sufficiency. This word is in the news because of the COVID 19 vaccines that are being administered around the word. The difference is that Jesus’ blood is 100% efficacious!

Let us thank God we have been redeemed and forgiven through our Lord Jesus Christ and His blood and according to the riches of His grace. Good Friday recently reminded us of His death on the cross and Easter reminded us of His glorious resurrection.

Have a blessed day praising God for what we have in Christ. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean