GOSPEL LIGHT #760

When God Became Our Relative

"...one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him..."  Lev 25:49

The story of the kinsman redeemer in Leviticus 25:49 highlights God's provision for a close relative to restore a family member’s freedom symbolizing God’s plan for redemption.

Only a near relative has the right to redeem someone who becomes enslaved. This right, however, is not a binding obligation. A near relative may choose whether or not to act on it, as redemption is not mandatory but voluntary. Rights can be exercised or declined, leaving the choice with the potential redeemer.

We, too, are enslaved—enslaved to sin. We are bound by its power, unable to break free on our own. The Lord Jesus had no obligation to redeem us. Nonetheless, He came down and became a Man. As Man, He is our near relative. 

The idea of a kinsman having the exclusive right to redeem an enslaved relative is the very reason why there is no redemption for angels. Unlike humans, angels were not created as relatives.

In reality, all humans are relatives; we share a common ancestry through our first parents—Adam and Eve. Angels, on the other hand, do not have this shared lineage. They were created as distinct spiritual beings, as individuals, there is no birth among angels.

Because of this, no member of the Trinity could identify with angels through birth, as angels were created as individual beings, not as part of a family line. This relational connection is key to the concept of kinsman redemption, which is why it applies uniquely to humans.

Christmas or the Incarnation is God stooping down to become our near relative because only a near relative has the right to redeem an enslaved relative.

My friend, you can trust in a relative, can you? Trust in Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer, the only One who can truly set you free.

GOSPEL LIGHT #759

I want to tell you a true story which happened in the middle of the 1800s in Webster City, Iowa, USA. 
Prairie fires were the most fearsome of all calamities that frequently struck this place. A prairie is a large, flat and treeless grassland.

When a prairie fire is ignited neither man nor horse could outrun it. Prairie fires could leap over rivers and roads; the fire's embers could easily travel across them, starting new fires on the other side. The fires could spread rapidly, racing across the land at speeds of up to 97 kilometers per hour. Imagine an angry and raging fire coming at you at 97 kilometers per hour. The fastest speed ever recorded by a human being was achieved by Olympic champion Usain Bolt who peaked at 45 kilometers per hour.

When a farmer named John saw all this happening from afar, quickly, he ran and told his wife to get all the blankets she could get and instructed her to soak them in the well. Then he proceeded to burn his own farm land. This was the only way to save themselves. There was simply no other way. His own field glowing with golden grains were all turned to black ash. Then John and his family gathered around in the middle of their burnt field and covered themselves with blankets and waited for the fire.

They could hear the fire as it closely approached them. But, when it came to their field, it went around them and they were saved simply because they stood were the fire had been. 

You know, a far more terrible quote unquote "prairie fire" is about to come and burn everything up. It's the prairie fires of God's judgment. But, God, in order to save us, started a fire at Calvary in the middle of this big field called the world and blanketed it, so to speak, with darkness for three hours. 

Now, God calls upon us to come to Calvary and stand where His fire has burned. He guarantees that for those who do, the fires of judgment will simply go around them and not harm them.

GOSPEL LIGHT #758

An Infinite Payment For An Infinite Debt Imagine being in debt to a tune of 1 trillion dollars. When do you think you would be able to pay it back? Or would you ever be able to repay it? Let’s say you were given a lifetime to labor and work to earn that amount—do you think you could make it?

Let me break this down to you in a detailed manner so that you will see how gargantuan and staggering this is:

• 1 trillion dollars is 1,000 billion dollars.
• Even if you earned 1 million dollars every single day, it would take you 1 million days—or over 2,739 years—to pay it off.

Applying this to our spiritual debt, we are heavily in debt far more than this. All the money in the world could not discharge it. Our debt is infinite.

This is how helpless we are spiritually speaking. Every sinner stands spiritually bankrupt before God, unable to pay the infinite debt of sin. No amount of effort or good works can ever clear this debt and be saved—it is beyond human capability.

The only way for this debt to be paid is for Someone to come and redeem us. Someone who is Himself infinite, capable of making an infinite sacrifice of infinite value. That Someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. He made a provisional payment for all our sins. Ours is to avail of it through faith in Him. 

GOSPEL LIGHT #757

 Be In The Man To Whom Heaven Is Open

..."Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Joh 1:51

God's holiness has locked heaven from a sinner. Yeah, sin has bolted it shut. But here's a Man to whom heaven is wide open. And the Bible says that we could be united to Him. There is such a thing as being "in Him" in the reckoning of God. And the way to it is through faith in what this Man did on the cross of Calvary.

In Him, we are as beloved by God as He is beloved by God.

MT 3:16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,

MT 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased

Ro 1:7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many times in Romans, the apostle Paul viewed the Romans here as being in Christ. Christ was and is God's beloved Son; so were the Roman Christians here "beloved of God."

So beloved that heaven opens up to them. Be in the Man to whom heaven is open.

GOSPEL LIGHT #756

The Atonement That Demands No Works 

LEV 23:28 “You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God.

LEV 23:30 “As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.

The day of atonement or Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the nation Israel. It was a day when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (and later in the Temple) to make atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel. It was a day of complete rest; no work was to be done on this very day. Absolutely no work should be done on this very day. To emphasize it, the Lord told Moses "...any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people." Let's apply this to the salvation of a sinner --- No human works should be mixed with the atonement. Salvation should be through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. It is not faith in the atonement plus works.

It is faith in the atonement of Christ...and no other.

GOSPEL LIGHT #755

Starved To Death In The Middle Of A Banquet 

In a grand hall, a man sat amidst a gathering at an extravagant feast, with an endless table overflowing with food in every direction. The air was filled with enticing aromas, revealing a banquet prepared with lavish care—everything offered freely and without limit. Yet, what a fool! He died of starvation!

Of course, this is just a made up story to highlight the tragedy of neglecting what is abundantly and freely offered. However, the following is not a made-up story; this is a true account:

Here’s a man who repeatedly heard the gospel of eternal life and free salvation preached every Sunday, yet he never acted on it. Despite the abundance of salvation truths that surrounded him, he did not appropriate what Christ had provided for him. Ultimately, he died unsaved. 

What a fool to die of drowning when the lifebuoy was just there the whole time, almost reaching out for him, tapping him every now and then to get his attention!

What a fool to succumb to a disease while the medicine sat just within reach, clearly labeled and readily available, as though it were begging to be used!

My friend, are you someone who has heard the abundant offers of the gospel many, many times already? Don't delay any longer. Every passing moment is another step closer to eternity, and the gospel—God’s free gift of salvation—is laid before you, not just once, but time and time again. 

The Lord Jesus Christ has already accomplished the all-sufficient and all-efficacious work on the cross. He offers you the bread of life and the water of life freely, without price, but you must take it. To reject or ignore this invitation is not just a mistake—it is eternal folly. You have been called to the banquet of grace, don’t starve to death in the middle of a banquet!

GOSPEL LIGHT #754

Soar Like Zoar - Little City, Great Escape 

GE 19:21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. 

GE 19:22 “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed but Zoar was spared. Why? Because of the righteousness of one man - Lot. Lot came into the lives of the people of Zoar and so they were spared from destruction. Lot was their righteousness so to speak. 

This illustrates the value of Christ for a sinner. Just as Zoar was spared from destruction because of the righteousness of one man—Lot—so too those who have Christ as their righteousness are spared from God's judgment.

Each of us is like Zoar, which means small and insignificant, confronted with impending judgment. But the moment the Lord Jesus Christ arrives in our lives, just as Lot arrived in Zoar, He becomes our righteousness, and His righteousness is a powerful request to God not to overthrow us, small and insignificant sinners as we are. 

You can make Christ as your righteousness right this moment if you trust in Him and what He did on the cross for your salvation.