Luke 19:10
Verse of the Day Devotion Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” – Luke 19:10
As of today, we are three days away from Christmas. We have looked at some of the prophecies that foresaw the coming of the Messiah. In todays verse of the day, I want to look at the reasons God the Father sent His Son. And these reasons speak highly of His glory and love for us in providing the opportunity for us to live eternally with Him.
The first reason is to reveal the Father to us. In the Old Testament, we see God as the creator of all things; we see His eternal power and majesty. Paul said it this way. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:20. However, when Jesus came, we are now able to see and interact with Him at a personal level. “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” John 1:18. Jesus showed us the Father through His teachings and His ways, which was also the way of the Father. The writer of Hebrews said, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Hebrews 1:3. And Jesus also alluded to this. “Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, Show us the Father?” John 14:9.
He also came to do away with Sin, not by way of the High Priest and animal sacrifice, but in a way that it is done forever. “Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Hebrews 9:26. The sacrifices of the old Levitical system were insufficient to take away sin permanently. But Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice, once for all time. God sent Jesus not to deny the fact of sin or help us forget about our sin. Denials and cover-ups were not His purpose. God wanted to do away with sin once and for all. In Christ, God forgave sin and released us from its penalty. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1.
A third reason He came was to destroy the work of Satan. I found this writing while doing research and I like the way this was put. “It was a divine mission, executed with the precision of a well-planned military strike. Two thousand years ago, the Son of God landed on foreign soil, behind enemy lines, with a mission to demolish something, and He succeeded in His objective. He wrecked all that the devil had been doing.” Starting in the Garden of Eden, Satan had been doing all he could to cause mankind to sin and draw them away from God. Jesus came to destroy this work and turn mankind’s heart back toward the Father.
And finally, He came to save us that we may have everlasting life with Him. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.” John 3:16-17. And He did this through the death of Christ. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” Romans 5:8-9. He did what we could not do, He paid the penalty we could not pay so that our debt would be gone and we can live forever in His presence.
This is why He came into the world, and this is why we celebrate Christmas. And this needs to be remembered in our times of celebration. There is nothing wrong with exchanging gifts or anything else that is a family tradition. But let us never forget the glorious work Jesus did and the cost He paid for our redemption. There is a song named ‘He Paid a Debt’. Here is a section of lyrics to this song that clearly lays out this idea. “He paid the debt he did not owe I owe the debt I could not pay I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand-new song, Amazing Grace All day long, Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.” This is why He came, and this is why we celebrate the coming of the blessed Messiah.
William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.