LETTER for FEBRUARY 1993

Dear Friends,

I find it so helpful and such an encouragement to be reminded again and again what God has done for me in Jesus Christ. This is one of the reasons that reading the Bible is such a blessing, because this theme is repeated in so many different ways throughout God's Word.

One of these places is Colossians 2:13-15. This is the substance of what I was reminded when I read these verses recently.

God has forgiven all my sins. Paul declares in verse 13 "He (God) forgave us all our sins". It is the word all that is so wonderful. I know the tremendous number of sins I have committed better than anyone else, but even I know there are so many even I have not noticed. God has forgiven all my sins, whether remembered, forgotten or not even noticed. I know how awful are some of the things I have done and thought. None are so bad that they are not covered by this forgiveness. I know there will be many more sins that I will commit daily in the future. These are included already in God's forgiveness. I am afraid that I may sin very badly sometime in the future. If I do, others may not forgive me, but God has already forgiven me, because for Christ's sake all my sins have been forgiven.

God cancelled the written code, with its regulations (v.14). This is why all our sins are forgiven. The written code is all God's commandments and holy standards he requires of me, and the record that is kept of my failure to live up to this code. God has cancelled this code in as far as it condemned me and accused me. This is the Gospel which is true of every believer in Jesus, that the written record of all our faults and sins is cancelled, and there remains no record any more for failure against our names. How has God done this? How can he justly do it? He did it by nailing the whole of our sins to the cross. He made Jesus responsible for them and caused the suffering due to us to be experienced on the cross by Jesus. In this way God met all the requirements of his written code, and so cancels the written code as far as those who trust Jesus are concerned.

God has saved me and freed me from Satan's power and authority. By my sins I have placed myself under Satan's rule. Because I have sinned Satan claims me as his own, and holds me in his power and authority, or did so until Jesus saved me.

God has disarmed Satan, and all his evil spirits. They are called in v.15 'powers and authorities'. God has disarmed them - that is taken away all their power and right to hold on to the Christian. God has done this in Christ and his cross, because the fact that Jesus has paid the price of our sins means that Satan has no more hold on us.

This is why the cross is such a triumph and victory. Satan sought to defeat Jesus by manipulating and bringing about his death. Then at the moment Satan thought would be his triumph, he found himself humiliated and totally overcome. He was defeated publicly as Jesus cried from the cross "It is finished". At that moment Satan saw that he had been overcome, because Jesus had suffered death and hell for his people, so taking away all Satan's power to hold on to them. It is our deserving of Hell that is Satan's power and hold over us. By taking that Hell and death in our place, Jesus frees us from Satan forever.

God made me alive with Christ, so says Paul in v.13. It is death to be separated from God. It is life to be in fellowship with God and loved by him. Christ has taken my death. He was separated from the Father on the cross. His agony was expressed in those dreadful words "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". Because he was forsaken I am not forsaken, but restored to life, to God's love and acceptance. I am raised to dwell in His presence. I am given eternal life. So it is for all who believe in Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

I need so much to be continually reminded of these things. Satan never leaves us alone. Having lost dominion over us, he seeks to cause us to stumble and be in misery by his constant temptations and his repeated accusings and false innuendoes. Into the midst of this evil the word of God assures us of this complete work of Jesus for us.

Satan constantly seeks to undermine our peace in Christ. He makes us feel guilty of failure, and follows this up by insinuations that we can't expect God to continue to accept us when we are like this. The Gospel, often repeated, is the antidote to all Satan's accusations. Thus in these verses before us Satan's malice can't stand against the truth that God has forgiven all our sins. Against the fact that all our sins were nailed to the cross when Jesus died. Against the victory of Jesus on the cross in disarming the devil forever.

We can never hear the Gospel enough. It always assures and comforts the soul. It is always the window through which we look upon eternal love, and see the welcoming face of God.

Your servant for Christ's sake,