The Wednesday Word
Prepositions
and Pronouns
by D.G.
Miles McKee
1)
PREPOSITIONS
“Who
gave Himself for our sins”
-Galatians
1:4 [KJV]
Nothing
demonstrates God’s love more than Galatians 1:4. There’s a small
word in that sentence, ‘FOR.’ It has only 3 letters but it’s
mighty! But what does it mean? In this case, the
prepostion ‘FOR’ means ‘instead
of’ or
‘in
place of’
or ‘on
our behalf.’
So, our verse could be rendered,
He
gave Himself instead of us, or
He gave Himself in place of
us, or
He gave Himself on our behalf.
There
should be no confusion on the matter. This verse is clear … it
insists that Christ Jesus became our substitute at the cross. Thank
you Jesus! Your people are thrilled with this little
preposition ‘FOR.’ His was a life which was lived for us.
Everything He did, He did for us. Isn’t He wonderful? He
has gone away to prepare a place for us but mark it down, He is
returning soon to receive us unto Himself (John
14:1-3).
2) PRONOUNS
Look
again at our verse and now see the pronoun ‘OUR.’ “He
gave Himself for our sins.” It
was our sin which caused His death. He died for us. What
Christ Jesus did at the cross, He did for us. It was personal!
If you believe this, you will enjoy assurance of salvation.
Redemption, for the believer is personal. We
say a hearty amen to Paul who again, speaking of Christ, wrote, “who
loved me and gave Himself for me”
(Galatians
2:20).
It’s a personal salvation, not merely a general
one.
Consider how personal the gospel is.
“Christ
Jesus my Lord”
(Philippians
3:8).
”Son,
be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee” (Matthew
9:2).
“I
have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn you‘
(Jeremiah
31:3).
‘...thy
sins are forgiven thee”
and
‘Fear
not: for I have redeemed thee,
I have called thee
by thy
name; thou
art
Mine’
(Luke
5:20 &
Isaiah
43:1).
Look
at the gospel invitations in the Bible:
‘Come
unto Me
all you that labour and are heavy laden, I will give you rest’
(Matthew
11:28)
‘Look
unto Me
and be ye saved all the ends of the earth’
(Isaiah
45:22).
What
an amazing atonement. He reconciled us by pouring out His
blood.
Luther nailed it when He said, The sweetness
of the gospel lies mostly in pronouns, such as me, my, thy. May
every believer be able to say of Christ, “Who
loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Jesus
suffered the holy wrath of God and died for us. Many nominal
Christians (Christians in name only) deny the Atonement and paint a
picture of a non-holy God who looks at his wayward children and
smiles at their sin. These so-called Christians see Him
as an easy-going jolly grandparent who sees His
riotous grandchildren as only being slightly naughty.
But
the true and living God shows that He
cannot and will not sweep our sin under the carpet. He, the
sovereign Yahweh, believes in the death penalty for all crimes
against Him. And thus, God became a man and was executed for
the sins of His people. What a redeemer … what a
substitute!
Consider the prepositions and
pronouns.
Redemption is personal.
And that’s
the Gospel Truth!
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