Discovering God’s Purposes and Great Grace of Requiring Affliction, Confession, and Discipline by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Atonement

TRUTH AND PURPOSE

God appointed the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) as a day to afflict one’s soul by fasting, confessing sins, and repenting before God.  This provided for making amends with God and reconciling one’s standing before God.

Messiah Yeshua-Jesus, however, became our greater atonement! He bore our sins, experienced ultimate judgment and discipline, and was greatly afflicted– to the point of death.

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:4-5)

We, therefore, can receive His love and the amazing grace of His redemption by appropriating His atonement. This means receiving His forgiveness of sins– and walking in the joy of the Lord.

Paul provides instruction on this subject.

In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua. 12 Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires; 13 and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under legalism but under grace. (Romans 6:11-14 JNT)

RELEVANCE

The Lord’s atonement is settled forever! He has discharged you from the debts and penalties of sin and wiped away all the spiritual requirements for righteousness that were, and could ever be, set against you. Therefore, in union with Him by faith, you are set free from all traces of guilt, condemnation, and shame!

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:11-15)

As you confess to the Lord revealed sins or ways you have fallen short of God’s best, you receive the pour of God’s love. Consequently, you receive the Lord’s atonement and reconciliation. As a result, you receive the comfort and strengthening of the Holy Spirit. Through His active presence and grace you can receive new measures of strength and discipline to help you walk in the new light you have received. Paul teaches that this is what it means to “put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:10).

God does expect you to learn from your mistakes. This means implementing discipline and walking in an intentional way to avoid things that distract and defile you. In such a way you allow the Lord to keep you in the grace of His grip; keeping you from bad decisions and harmful practices that perpetuate negative fallout and destructive cycles.

We also can’t forget that God allows trials and suffering to test or prove our faith. These things develop patience (James 1:3 and 1 Peter 1:6), discipline and strengthen us (Hebrews 12:1-17), cultivate perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:1-5 and 2 Corinthians 4:7-12). In addition, the Holy Spirit demonstrates God’s strength through us (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

REFLECT AND RELATE

How do you appropriate the Lord’s atonement in your life?

Do you know in your heart that the Lord has performed total atonement for you, exchanging His life for your death to sin?

Are there some areas where you still condemn yourself?

Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to wholly set you free?

Have you received the Lord’s work and word discharging you from the debts and penalties of sin?

What measures of discipline do you think you can apply and implement in your life to help you walk in the new light you have received?

REFERENCES

Psalm 119:57-176; Romans 1-6

NEXT STEPS

Vertical movement: As you appreciate the ultimate affliction suffered by the Lord on your behalf, the Holy Spirit draws you deeper. As a result, you can more fully appreciate the amazing grace of His ultimate sacrifice, which became the substitution sacrifice for the redemption of your soul.

Horizontal movement: The more you exchange guilt, condemnation, and shame for the comfort, peace, and consolation of the Holy Spirit, the more you experience the true rest of God. As a result, you can experience His joy by rehearsing for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and your eternal life in His presence!

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