#DailyDevotion Jesus Was Appointed To Be Slain For You Before Creation
1 Peter 120Appointed before the world was made, He was revealed in the last period of time to help you. 21And through Him you believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory; and so your faith and hope rest in God. 22Now that by obeying the truth you purified yourselves to love sincerely as brothers, love one another with a pure heart and intensely.
Apparently God the Father thought you were worth it. What do I mean? Simply this, he knew what Adam and Eve were going to do. He knew in what ways you would join them in their sin and rebellion. He knew every act of evil that mankind would ever do. Yet he went ahead and created us. Before he created the world, knowing what would happen, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit planned on sending the Son, Jesus, to redeem it and mankind. It boggles the mind. Peter testifies here, “Appointed before the world was made, He was revealed in the last period of time to help you.” It is also revealed in Rev. 13:8 “the Lamb Who was slain from the beginning of the world.”
Yes, God thought it was worth creating you with all your sins knowing how those sins would affect the world and he still created you with a plan of redemption. His son would be sacrificed. The sin of the world would be laid upon him. Jesus’ blood would make atonement. Through his blood, through faith in his blood you would be purified of all sins and be made holy. It has been revealed to us in the last period of time you would be helped by him. We should note we do not have to wait for the Last Days. Peter says we were living in them when he was living and writing this. We continue to live in them now.
It is through Jesus we believe in and know God, that is God the Father. Jesus has said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” This is most certainly true. Apart from Jesus all we can know of God is that he is wrathful because of our sins. Any thought of God the Father being merciful and kind is borrowed from Christianity, although they deny the power. It is Jesus who has revealed to us, in his suffering and death the Father is merciful, kind, loving, long-suffering and forgiving. Through God the Father raising Jesus from the dead and giving him glory we know what our own destiny is who put our faith in Christ. We share in his glory as he has shared in our humanity. Because of this our faith in hope rest in God.
Obeying the truth is trusting that such things are really so. Such obedience or rather faith in our parlance purifies us. It calls upon us to love sincerely God and to sincerely love one another as God has loved us in Christ Jesus. That is the meaning of intensely here. Jesus has left us the command to love one another as I have loved you. This calls us to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ as deserving more honor than ourselves. It calls us to sacrifice ourselves on behalf of our fellow Christians. This is not always an easy thing to do. Our flesh craves to be number one. But only Jesus is number one. He has testified how we treat our fellow Christian is how we treat him. Through faith, through obedience to the truth of his sacrifice we can and will do it.
Almighty and merciful Father, you appointed Jesus to be slain for the redemption of the created world and all who dwell in it. Give us such faith that we may live in obedience to this truth and truly, sincerely with the intensity of Jesus love our fellow Christians. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.