from Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Anniston, Alabama

Here’s my devotional thought pulled from one of today’s portions of R. M. M’Cheyne’s “Daily Bread” Bible Reading Calendar.

THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST- by Jon Cardwell

“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth….”. John 18:37
Jesus Christ is King of kings. Pilate asked Him straight out and Jesus confessed, “You said it. I am a king” (John 18:37). The reason He was born was to set up His kingdom, thus fulfilling God’s prophecy in Eden for He is the Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). His kingdom was a kingdom of truth, for He is the Christ foretold to come, fulfilling all prophecies concerning God’s plans and purposes in and through Him (John 5:39).

Moreover, the method by which Jesus would establish His kingdom was through the Roman cross upon which He would be sentenced. This was the purpose for which He was born for it must be God incarnate who dwelt among sinful men to speak the words of heaven and point to the glory of God. This was the purpose for which He came for it must be a holy, perfect, sinless Man who lays down His life as a willing sacrifice to save sinners from the wretchedness of their fallen condition.

The Christ, as merely king, apart from the cross is damnable foolishness, yet this is what a corrupt world craves. This is what a sinful people savor. This is what the God-hating, Christ-rejecting world lusts after. They want Jesus Christ on man’s terms and not on God’s, whose terms are holiness, righteousness, and obedience. The fallen world loathes a bloody cross; they despise God’s judgment; they hate God’s sovereignty, desiring reward from God rather than reverence for God.

Yet, when the truth of God’s Christ shines through the darkness of our wretched lives, His death and suffering is revealed to our veiled hearts and blinded eyes and dead souls— and we see the glory of God’s incredible sacrifice in offering the most supreme treasure the universe can ever know: Jesus Christ, God’s only Son.

When Pontius Pilate ask’d the Lord
Of His kingly state;
Then Jesus spoke by God’s true Word,
Which evil men do hate.

With love in Christ Jesus, by God’s amazing grace,

Jon

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture texts marked (KJV) are from The King James Version of the Holy Bible (1769). The King James Version of the Bible is in the public domain.