FEB 22

1 Corinthians 15:22
Memorise 2 Corinthians 4:14
“…he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus…”

After the fall of Adam, God instituted a new covenant with man. God promised that in spite of man’s sin, there was yet a way to be saved. He promised to send a Saviour to redeem the lost. This is the “good news” or Gospel. The very first instance of the Gospel being given to man is found in Genesis 3:15, whereby God promised that He would send the seed of the woman (Jesus) to bruise the head of the serpent. Because of sin, man was now no longer capable of perfect obedience to God. As he could no longer be saved by obeying the law, God made a new covenant with man, whereby anyone who accepted Jesus as Saviour by faith would be saved. God did not have to do this, but chose to because of His grace and His love for man. Therefore, this covenant is known as the Covenant of Grace.

In order for the Covenant of Grace to be effective, Jesus had to live a life of perfect obedience on man’s behalf and die on the cross for sins - not of His own but for the sin of the world. Jesus, being God Himself, came to earth in human form and subjected Himself to the same trials and temptations that the rest of the human race experienced in order to be their Representative. He did all these without once sinning. Once again we see the Representative Principle at work. Though we did not contribute in any way to our own salvation, Christ, being our perfect Representative, fulfilled all that was required to earn our salvation on our behalf.

Dear Teen, while the first Adam failed his test and fell into sin, the rest of the human race together with him, Jesus the second Adam passed His test with flying colours so that we can all claim that we fulfilled God’s condition for salvation through Him (1 Corinthians 15:22). Because of what Jesus did as our Representative, we do not need to worry if we have done enough good works to be saved, or if we will be condemned the next time we commit a sin. Thus in this second covenant, Jesus alone passes the test for us, and fulfills all the conditions in the covenant. We can now confidently approach God in prayer to make our requests known to Him, serve Him and live our lives for His glory, all in the name of Jesus, for He has paid it all!

Thought: Indeed, God has dealt with us unfairly in our favour, paying the price of our sin Himself.
Prayer: Thank You Lord for loving us and for our unspeakable gift in the Lord Jesus Christ.