Through this One, Christ as the holy and faithful things as the sure mercies from God, forgiveness of sins is announced to us, and in this One everyone who believes is justified (see Acts 13:38-39).
Jesus Christ is the Son of God who became man through incarnation, and then He went through human living, death, and resurrection; in resurrection He was begotten by God in His humanity to be the firstborn Son of God, and we all as His believers were regenerated.
Resurrection is the second birth of Christ – He was first born of a virgin to be the Son of Man, and then in resurrection He was begotten by God to be firstborn Son of God.
To God Christ is the Firstborn Son, and to us He is our Savior, life, and Lord. God gave this Christ to be the holy and faithful things to us for our salvation and enjoyment.
Out of David’s seed God raised up Christ (Rom. 1:3-4) to be the Christ, the Son of God, and this One is the holy and faithful things to us.
These holy and faithful things are the many aspects of what Christ is, such as life, light, grace, righteousness, holiness, the bread of life, the living water, power, wisdom, glory, the depths of God, the Head, the Body, the firstfruits, and the second man.
Christ became to us the sure mercies of God; He reached out to us in His mercy, and He came to us in His mercy to first save us, redeem us, and bring us into a proper position to receive God as grace.
Now in Christ as the sure mercies, God can reach us in His grace to be our enjoyment. Christ is both the sure mercies from God and the eternal covenant that God made with us to guarantee these mercies (see Isa. 55:2-3).
All the holy and faithful things are Christ Himself as mercies to us. The fact that we are still alive, the fact that we’re in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, and the fact that we have a heart to seek the Lord, all these are actually God’s mercies to us in Christ.
At least once in our lifetime we need to realize that everything depends on God’s mercy. Everything depends on the Lord’s mercy.
When we see this, when we enjoy God’s mercies in Christ toward us, we will also be full of mercy toward others, realizing that the Lord wants them to enjoy His mercies wherever they are and whomever they are.
Enjoying the Lord’s mercy grants us to have a connection with those in need of mercy; no matter what the race, nationality, or social class, when we contact them as the reproduction of the firstborn Son of God, we will flow God’s mercies to them.
When we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the resurrected One who is the sure mercies of God to us, what we will do is simply transmit this One to others also.
Today we want to see that it is through this One that forgiveness of sins is announced to us and received by us, and it is in this One that everyone who believers is justified.
Christ is the Sure Mercies of God given to us as an All-inclusive Gift to us
How we love the Lord and appreciate Him as the sure mercies of God! The fact that we can be under the Lord’s speaking in the church life is God’s mercies to us, and the fact that we can speak the word of God is God’s mercies to us.
No matter what our ability or gift is, we all can enjoy Christ as the sure mercies of God and we can speak Christ – and this speaking of Christ is a mercy.
Though our speaking may not be eloquent, our speaking may be full of Christ; this is due to Christ being a mercy to us in the speaking of the word of God. We all need to enjoy Christ as the sure mercies of God, realizing that the resurrected Christ is all the holy and faithful things as mercies given to us by God as an all-inclusive gift.
Such a Christ was preached by Paul in Acts 13. Paul preached Christ not only from the Old Testament, but he also preached the resurrected Christ as the holy and faithful things, the sure mercies of God to us.
Actually, what Paul spoke of in this chapter requires all the Epistles written by him for its definition. We need to see more concerning Christ as the holy and faithful things by prayerfully studying the Epistles of Paul.
Then, what we will speak to others is Christ in an uplifted and rich way, for the Christ we have enjoyed is the sure mercies of God, the all-inclusive gift given to us by God.
In the Old Testament the faithful and holy things are regarded as mercies; today Christ is the reality of all the mercies of God toward us, for He is the all-inclusive gift given to us by God for our enjoyment.
Christ was given to us to be our light, our life, our holiness, our justification, and our sanctification. Christ is our pasture, He is our Shepherd, He is our door, and He is the way to God as the sure mercies of God.
Everything that God is to us is in Christ as the sure mercies of God given to us for our enjoyment. We just need to enjoy this Christ.
He became the Firstborn Son, and to us He is the Savior and the Lord; He saves us from our sins, and He transmits all the mercies of God to us.
God resurrected Christ to be the firstborn Son of God, and He gave Him to us as a gift; Christ is the holy and faithful things of God given to us by God for our enjoyment.
When we enjoy Christ and experience Him as the sure mercies of God, the holy and faithful things, we will overflow with such a Christ to others, for them to enjoy these mercies of God in Christ. Hallelujah!
Lord, we want to enjoy Christ as the sure mercies of God given to us as an all-inclusive gift. Thank You Lord Jesus for being the holy and faithful things to us for our enjoyment and experience. We open to You, Lord, to enjoy You and experience You as the all-inclusive gift God gave to us, so that we may be filled with You and may overflow You to others for their enjoyment of Christ as the sure mercies of God. Amen, Lord, may we see more concerning Christ as the holy and faithful things, and may we preach Christ in an uplifted and rich way as the sure mercies of God to others!
Through Christ as the Sure Mercies of God we have Forgiveness of Sins and Justification
In Acts 13:38-39 Paul didn’t say “now forgiveness of sins is announced to you” or “now you can be justified”; rather, he said, “through this One forgiveness of sins is announced to you”, and “in this One everyone who believes is justified”.
Hallelujah for “this One”! Through this One, through the Christ with whom we’re living in union, we can announce forgiveness of sins to others, bringing to him the good news.
What we bring to others is not a thing or a feeling but a Person, this One, Jesus Christ as the sure mercies of God. To be forgiven of sins is on the negative side and is for our release from condemnation.
To be justified is on the positive side and is for our reconciliation to God and our being accepted by Him (Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3:24-25). To be justified means that God approves us according to the standard of His righteousness, because in this One – Christ – we have righteousness.
When we receive and enjoy Christ, God sees us in Christ; He doesn’t see our past, our sins, but He sees a person enveloped by the firstborn Son of God, so He sees us justified and forgiven.
Hallelujah for “this One”, Christ! This is the One who has been resurrected to be God’s firstborn Son, our Savior, and the many holy and faithful things, the mercies of God to us.
Through Christ as the One who is the firstborn Son, the Savior, and the holy and faithful things, forgiveness of sins has been announced to us.
And through this One, Christ as the sure mercies of God, we are justified from all the things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. Praise the Lord!
The One by whom we’re forgiven and justified is not only our Savior; He Himself is our forgiveness and our justification. He is the all-inclusive gift given to us by God, and both forgiveness and justification are mercies from God to us as aspects of the resurrected Christ.
We shouldn’t consider forgiveness of sins and justification as being something apart from Christ; these are aspects of Christ as the sure mercies of God to us.
When we realize this, we will understand that forgiveness and justification are not common; rather, they are holy, and they are faithful, sure, and trustworthy.
This is the Christ we need to preach – the Firstborn Son of God, the resurrected Christ, our Savior, the holy and faithful things of God, the sure mercies of God, the One in whom we have forgiveness of sins and through whom we are justified. Hallelujah for such a Christ!
In this portion in Acts 13:32-39 we see that Christ is the Firstborn Son of God who was promised to the fathers and was begotten by God in resurrection to be His firstborn Son in His humanity.
As such a One, He is the holy and faithful things of David, and through such a One, forgiveness of sins is announced; whoever believes in Him is justified from all things.
Christ Himself is our forgiveness and justification.
We need to enjoy such a One and propagate the resurrected Christ as the firstborn Son of God so that multitudes of human beings would experience in Him forgiveness of sins and justification before God, and they would be born of God to become our brothers in the house of God, the church, for the building up of the Body of Christ!
Thank You Lord Jesus for becoming the sure mercies of God to us, and in You we have forgiveness of sins and through You we have justification. Hallelujah, the resurrected Christ is our forgiveness and justification, and in Him we’re forgiven and justified! Thank You Lord Jesus! Thank You for not only becoming the firstborn Son of God and being our Savior, but also being given to us as an all-inclusive gift, the holy and faithful things to be the sure mercies of God to us. Keep us enjoying You, Lord, and make us one with You to propagate You as the firstborn Son so that multitudes of human beings would experience forgiveness of sins and justification before God to be born of God and be part of His corporate expression!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 38, 293 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 1, Propagating the Resurrected Christ as the Firstborn Son according to the Promise Made to the Fathers.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Eternal covenant He makes / With David’s mercies sure; / The thirsty He does satisfy / With living waters pure. (Song on, Christ in Isaiah)
# All is in Christ; / God’s dear Son is Lord of all. / Blessings are imparted to us / By the shameful cross He bore. / By His suffering inglorious / We have peace forevermore. / By the Cross we have forgiveness, / Life eternal, endless mercy. / By God’s Son is freely giv’n / Everything in earth and heav’n. (Hymns #515)
# Since e’er my soul has known His love, / What mercies He has made me prove, / Mercies which do all praise excel, / My Savior has done all things well. (Hymns #168)
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