Forgiven & Cleansed

Heb.4:^15-16 “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

When we get to heaven there are going to be at least three surprises. The first surprise when we get to heaven is, ‘surprise, I made it!’ Why would you be shocked? It is because you know yourself and you know that based on your own righteousness, you stand no chance. But based on the righteousness of Jesus, you have full access to heaven and that is just the truth. You are shocked that you made it to heaven despite the lies you told. You are like but I did not tithe last month, the truth is that cannot stop you. Should you tell lies or play games with your tithe? That is not what I am saying. I am saying that when you grow in God lying would leave you. The problem is that people are not growing in God, and they want to stop lying by will power. That is why people are so frustrated and  think it is impossible to live for God. And it is purely because they are trying to do it in their own strength.

The first surprise would be that you made it to heaven, even though I am telling you now, it would still be a surprise when you get to heaven because of how perfect it is and how unworthy you are. The second surprise in heaven and this would shock you is that the people you think are not in heaven would be there. There are some people you have written off that God has not written off. And for some of us, it would be our spouse; you have written him or her off and it would shock you to see him or her in heaven. For some, it is your relatives, your siblings, or even your colleague that you have written off, but God has not written them off. The third surprise is the people that you think would be in heaven but would not be in heaven. Some people insist on establishing their own righteousness and not the righteousness of Christ. Interestingly, some people are insisting on dying in sin and not coming under the covering of Jesus. But they say all the right things, they do all the right things, and that is why you think they would be in heaven. However, nothing but the Blood of Jesus.

1 Jn.1:⁹ “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (emphasis added). Jesus is a faithful High Priest to His people (Heb.2:17). He lives forever to make intercession for us, to plead for God’s mercy for us (heb.7:25). It is because of the faithfulness of our High Priest that we are able to come boldly to the throne of our gracious God to receive mercy and find grace to help us when we need it most. We are forgiven by His mercies and because of the faithfulness of our High Priest. Jesus is not just pleading for mercy when it comes to us, Jesus is pleading for justice. Very often when we think justice, we think of the sword and that is correct. But for us, justice is not the sword justice is the sponge. How come? It is unjust to punish the same sin twice. Jesus already received the full punishment for our sin on the cross of cavalry. Beautiful!

Prayer: Father, I am a sinner in need of a Saviour, please forgive and cleanse me, in Jesus Name. Amen!