MEDITATIONS
FROM DANIEL
March 26 , 2008
Reading: Daniel 6:18-23
“ Has your God, whom
you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Daniel 6:20
The King asked this question of Daniel and he was able, with confidence,
to answer him in the affirmative. How about you, my soul? How confident are you
when asked such a question about your deliverance from the ‘roaring lion’ who once held you in its grasp? Do you know what God has
done for you or are you simply satisfied to know that He has delivered you?
Much joy is gleaned from knowing the details. To remain ignorant of these
things is to rob yourself of much rejoicing and
appreciation of what God has accomplished for you and in you.
What is accomplished by the death of Jesus?
a) Reconciliation with God—this has been accomplished by removing the enmity that existed between God and us
“For
if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son”
Romans
b) Justification—the death of Christ justifies us by taking away the guilt of sins, procuring remission and pardon for them, redeeming us from their power, with the wrath and curse due to us for them.
“Even
we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in
Christ” Galatians
c) Sanctification—the death of Christ sanctifies us by the purging away of the uncleanness and pollution of our sins, renewing us in the image of God, and supplying us with the graces of the Spirit of holiness.
“How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God” Hebrews 9:14; see also 1 John 1:7; Hebrews 1:3; 13:12;
Ephesians 5:25-27.
d) Adoption—through the death of Christ we have been adopted with all the glorious privileges which appertain to the sons of God.
“Having
predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself” Ephesians
1:5; see also Galatians 4:4-5.
e) An inheritance—the effects of the death of Christ do not leave us until we are settled in heaven, in glory and immortality forever.
“Who
is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, to the praise of His glory” Ephesians
Yes, indeed, your God has been able to deliver you from the mouth of the lion. To Him be all the praise and glory.
Definitions are quotes from The
Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen.