Daily Journey: April 8th

Deut. 29:1-31:13, John 11:1-29

Thought from Today’s Old Testament Passage:

For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Deuteronomy xxx. 11-14

The apostle Paul, thinking of what Moses said about going up to the sky or down to the sea to find the sacred secret, says in effect, “That is right, Moses; there was a necessity for some one to come down, and an equal necessity for some one to go up: but that necessity exists no longer.”

The whole gospel lies in this—there was One in heaven at the right hand of the Father, very God of very God, and in order to save thee, poor lost and ruined sinner, this adorable Son of God came down, down, down to the manger, to the cross, to the grave, to the lowest parts of the earth; and down in grief, in rejection, in agony, in death. Because he came under the weight and curse of sin, He came down indeed! Because Jesus has come down thus, and borne the punishment of sin, He that believes in Him is justified. By that coming down of the Lord from heaven the sinner’s sin is put away, and the transgression of the believer is forgiven. (C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the Bible, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962), p. 464)