Day 19: Jesus Is God, Redeeming Man Back To Himself

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

»  Why did God make mankind in the first place? Why do we exist?

»  Why is it not a selfish thing, that God made us and redeemed us for His own glory?

»  Every created being will give God glory one day - together. How can you give Him glory today?

»  Practice the memory verse.

QUOTE

“To be supremely loving, God must give us Himself.”

- John Piper SCRIPTURE

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.”

- Colossians 1:20 DEVOTIONAL

God made us for Himself, for His own glory. He who has all power, beauty, love, and authority, had been demonstrating these among the host of heavenly beings. He decided to exercise them again and to make man in His own image, in His own likeness, for Himself. For His own glory.

And man, as one-third of the heavenly beings had already done, chose to trust his own nite wisdom and rebel against the God
of eternal glory. God’s response to man’s rebellion is a powerful, beautiful, loving, and authoritative one - it is a response that, again, demonstrates His glory.

He who existed as the Son of God before all ages, without a beginning, decided to become the Son of Man in our time. He submitted Himself to terrible evils for our sake, though He had done no evil. He did this even though we, who were the recipients of so much good at His hands, had done nothing to deserve it. Why did He do this? For His own glory.

Jesus, the perfect and pre-existing One, lived a perfect human life to become the perfect sacrifice for sin, to redeem us perfectly to Himself. He defeated death, rebellion, and the grave and became the firstborn among many brothers and sisters, who also in Him, participate in His victory. Why did He do this? For His own glory. One day, He will wrap up human history with a beautifully powerful and resounding victory over all evil. He will do so with perfection and finality. Why? For His own glory.

And then we, who participate in Him, will join with all creation to celebrate His power, beauty, love, and authority. We will join “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13)

Why? For His own glory.