In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Mark 1:9-11.
Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man (Jesus) is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Acts 13:38–39.
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:29.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I desire above all things that you may prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of My children walking in the truth. 3 John 1:2-4. Why? Because My Word is truth and the truth will set you free.
Free of what? Sin, shame, guilt, blame, and, above all, regret. Regret can gnaw you to pieces and make you easy prey for oppression by the devil. There is a regret that leads to death but there is also repentance that leads to life. You see the one that leads to death in Judas Iscariot, and you seen the one that leads to life in Peter.
When you say you believe in Jesus what are you saying? That you believe that all your sins are gone. He came as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29. That is the way I had the one I sent as his forerunner announce Him. Luke 1:17.
I told Zachariah by My messenger Gabriel that the son with whom I would bless him and Elizabeth in their old age would prepare the people for Me in the spirit and power of Elijah. What did Elijah do? He brought My people who had strayed from Me in sin back to Me. They had abandoned Me the living God to worship idols, particularly Jezebel’s “god” Baal. He showed them that I am God. In fact the name Elijah means “The LORD is God.”
So how did Elijah show the people of Israel that? The fire of divine justice fell on the burnt offering Elijah set out at the hour of the evening sacrifice and consumed it but did not harm the people. And it drew the people back to Me as they proclaimed, “The LORD is God, the LORD is God!” 1 Kings 18:39. The burnt offering was the sacrificial offering that was for all the sins in general that a sinner had committed, not just one particular sin as the sin offering was for.
But before Moses was even born and received the instructions for sacrifices set forth in the book of Leviticus, My prophet Abraham had made a declaration as he went up the hill with his son Isaac to offer him as a burnt offering upon the mountain I showed him. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac spoke to Abraham and said, “My father!” And Abraham said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:7-8.
And what did John the Baptist show the people to have them return to Me? The real burnt offering which fulfilled all the sacrifices of the old covenant under the laws set out in Leviticus and prophesied by Abraham. Do you recall Jesus came to be baptized by him at the Jordan River, how John announced Him to the people?
When he saw Jesus coming to him, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John 1:29-31. And then John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” John 1:32-34.
Let Me take you back to the showdown upon Mt. Carmel where Elijah opened the way for Me to come and to return a sinful nation to Me.
Ahab had been seeking Elijah to take his life and when Elijah revealed himself to Ahab, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” Elijah responded, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. Now then send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” 1 Kings 18:17-19.
So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people said, “That is a good idea.” 1 Kings 18:20-24.
Elijah let the prophets of Baal go first, but though they did everything they knew how to do to get fire to come down, including crying out with a loud voice and cutting themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them, nothing happened, of course, because there is no other God besides Me. So there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention. 1 Kings 18:25-29.
Now I want to show you the similarities of John and Elijah.
- Elijah appeared and showed himself to Ahab and had all the people come out into the wilderness of Mt. Carmel. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him.
Now look at John, “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Mark 1:4-5.
- And Elijah repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. Next, Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD.
My angel Gabriel told Zachariah that John would “turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:16-17.
And about the stones, “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.” Mark 3:8-9.
- Then Elijah arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water. 1 Kings 18:33-35.
Elijah poured water on the burnt offering. John poured water on Jesus, your true burnt offering. “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Mark 1:9-11.
- At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” 1 Kings 18:35-39.
My angel Gabriel told Zachariah that John would “turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:16-17.
But now comes the main point, My fire fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. But it did not fall on the people, only the burnt offering. And it was at the time of the evening sacrifice, which was done in the Temple in Jerusalem at 3:00 pm each day and it consisted of an unblemished lamb, a hin of wine, and unleavened bread.
Do you see? My wrath for the people’s sins, for the burnt offering was not targeting one specific sin but all sins the person had committed, consumed the burnt offering (Jesus), the wood (signifying His humanity, for man is like a tree, Psalm 1), the stones (Jesus is the chief cornerstone), and the dust (the condemnation: “to dust you shall return”) and licked up all the water in the trench. Blood and water poured out of My Son’s side at the crucifixion.
Complete restoration. Because of the burnt offering.
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Not counting your trespasses against you, I put them all on Him and at the hour of the evening sacrifice.
Do you see? The sign to return is the forgiveness of sins, and more than that, it is the cancelation of it in your lives. It is like you never did the sins and the wrath does not fall on you but Jesus.
Therefore, to believe in Jesus is to believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that all your sins—past, present and future—were all punished on the cross and that today all your sins and lawless deeds I remember NO MORE!
Based on the new covenant of grace, what do I want you to believe so that you can prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers? I desire you to believe with all your heart that I meant every word when I said, “…I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 10:15-17. You see, in the new covenant, there is nothing for you to do to be saved and receive eternal life than to believe! John 6:29 (Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”); Romans 10:8-10. Your part is to believe that you are completely forgiven of all your sins, and that Jesus’ blood cleanses you from all your unrighteousness and lawlessness. If you don’t believe this, it will be impossible for you to depend on and expect Me to protect, provide for and prosper you. If you don’t believe this, it will rob you of the ability to receive My goodness, blessings, favor, the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Which keeps you far from oppression.
Jesus came as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29. And that is what I told John to say when he identified Jesus for the people. Just like Elijah. The sign was the burnt offering.
I love you. Let go of the past sins that are dividing you from enjoying today and running forward with Me to the goal of your high calling in Christ. Stop regretting what you missed by what you did. You are no longer under the same sentence as the Israelites wandering in the desert till they died because they had refused to go into the Promised Land. Now it is all new for you in Christ. There are no regrets for things lost any longer, for in Christ you have gained all. In Him there is only gain. And that is where you are now. Peter regretted denying My Son and he thought he lost his chance to die for Him as he had rashly stated he would do, but it was not lost, I gave him his heart’s desire to fulfill that promise and the next time it was available he did not shrink back but seized it with joy. He did give his life for My Son and a merited crown is now his that he thought he had lost. In Christ you can recover your destiny and even make it better than it would have been had you seized it the first time. For by the action Peter so regretted that it almost destroyed him became the occasion of his growth in Me to found My church and be the first to carry the message of the resurrection to Jews (Acts 2) and gentiles (Acts 10). Selah. Stop regretting and start rejoicing in Jesus.