"Christ has destroyed death..." - 2 Timothy 1:9-10 (GW)

God saved us to be holy, (unique and separate from anyone else) God's word calls us a peculiar people in the King James Version.

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" 

1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)

We are not called peculiar because we are weird, but because we have a specific purpose in life, which is to love the Lord Jesus. That is why we were saved that we might be a special treasure to the Lord. If you feel different than everyone else, rejoice and be glad because you are being made holy!  

 "Because you are special to Me and I love you, I gladly give up other peoples in exchange for you; They are trivial by comparison to your weighty significance." 

Isaiah 43:4 (VOICE)

But holiness isn't just about what we do; holiness is about what we become in His presence. God wants to take us into His holy presence so we can be like Him and reflect the aura and beauty of His nature. Holiness isn't given to us by way of anything that we could have done to earn God's affection; God's affection for us has always been ours, especially since the death of Jesus.

  

"It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might dare to die for a good person. But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!" 

Romans 5:7-8 (GNT)

God's own plan was enacted to show us that He loves us and that His kindness is poured out upon us. God predestined us to receive the love of Jesus before there was a world, and even before He created mankind. God in His kindness was already at work planning what He would do to make imagers who would be like Him to bring that very kindness to the ends of the earth. God's mercy would be demonstrated through Christ Jesus, who would display the Father's kindness by coming to this world and paying the ultimate price, which was giving up the most precious gift He could offer, which was His life to become our salvation.

  

 "For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life." 

John 3:16 (VOICE)

God had all of this in mind before it ever happened so that He would physically become that plan. But there was misdirection, as an attempt to hide this plan from all of God's created beings so that there would be no other plans made to foil it before it happened. This wasn't a lie to conceal what was going to happen, there were plenty of hints which were given in the Old Testament that something was going to happen, but the specific details were missing from the pages. Concealment until the time of enactment so that the salvation plan would be flawless. Jesus astounded the created beings who were in rebellion against God because they thought they had all knowledge at their fingertips. Still, they did not, because God had bested them.

  

"The rulers of this world didn't know anything about this wisdom. If they had known about it, they would not have nailed the glorious Lord to a cross." 

1 Corinthians 2:8 (CEV)

Christ Jesus came to the earth and destroyed death so that His imagers could indeed be like Him and not be bound by the curse of death, but live through Him and know the freedom of eternal life in Him. 

The message Jesus brought was that God loves you and desires to be in constant relationship with you, that He may shape and form you into an image that reflects the life and true nature of God. 

"All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory." 

2 Corinthians 3:18 (GNT)

In the presence of God is pure Joy for His creation, and He desires that we reflect the fullness of that Joy so He may be all things to us. That is the Gospel, the good news that God loves us and wants us to know life with Him eternally here and now, and not just in the future.  

Hear what God says: "When the time came for me to show you favor, I heard you; when the day arrived for me to save you, I helped you."

Listen! This is the hour to receive God's favor; today is the day to be saved! 

2 Corinthians 6:2 (GNT)

Jesus purchased our salvation free and clear with His sacrifice; it was the gift of God to offer us the Kingdom and eternal life with Him.  It is now ours for the taking through Jesus. 

We can all see it clearly now, Christ Jesus is our eternal life in God for everyone.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett