Time for Grace-December 13, 2023

Time for Grace-December 13, 2023

Isaiah 61:10-11

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation. With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry. For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up, so God the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up in the presence of all the nations.

Dear Lord Jesus,

We thank You for Your holy life and innocent death. Through them, You have placed salvation—like clothes—and righteousness—like a robe—upon us.

Your garment of salvation was when You went to the cross and covered us with Your blood; it was there You defeated sin, death, and the devil, winning for our salvation. There, as our bridegroom, You were given Your headdress, a crown of thorns. That headdress will always remind us of the suffering You endured to overcome our sins.

Your robe of righteousness was when you made us right with the heavenly Father; we were to be perfect just as He is perfect. So You lived under the law for us and kept it perfectly; so You credit us with Your perfection and have placed that upon us the royal robes of Your perfection.

Through faith, we have been covered by you not once but twice, so when the Father looks at us, He sees us covered in Your righteousness and salvation. All who believe in You have been brought into Your Church and are Your bride; we are ornamented with joy and peace that comes only through You.

Being made right with You—our Lord and Savior—comes to us only from faith. Just as the earth produces plants, so Your Word produces faith. So we pray for all who read Your word today that faith in them will spring up and strengthen them. Let us share these words with someone who does not know You so that they will also be covered in your garments and royal robes, having salvation and eternal life. Amen.

Written through Pastor Roger Emmons

When you trust in Jesus, He covers you with His holy garment and abandons your sins; He has removed them as far as the East is from the West, and He no longer remembers your sins. Jesus delivers to you your salvation and eternal life.