Israel, Russia, Europe, I want you to hear this:
"For it is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of all our ancestors who has brought glory to His servant Jesus. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate's decision to release Him. You rejected the holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised Him to life. The Name of Jesus healed this lame man. Faith in Jesus' Name has caused this healing before your very eyes. Friends, I realise that what you did to Jesus was done in ignorance; and the same can be said of your leaders. God was fulfilling what all the prophets had declared about the Messiah beforehand. Now turn from your sins and return to God, so that you can be cleansed." (Acts 3:13-19)
I want to declare the Glory of Jesus. He is the Son of God. He is the fulfilment of Isaiah 53. The Bible records in Luke 4, quoting Isaiah 53,
'The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him, and He unrolled the scroll to the place where it says:
'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has anointed Me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord's favour has come.
'Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, and He began by saying, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."'
Don't blame the Jews for the death of Jesus. I'll tell you who was responsible for the death of Jesus: I am responsible. Every Gentile is responsible, and every Jew also. For it was our sin that made Him die. The Bible says God laid on Him our punishment. Caiaphas the High Priest said, 'It is expedient that one man should die.' Even the High Priest of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem, that Second Temple, the Jew who was above all Jews, that Holy Jew, the so-called cleansed Jew, the High Priest said one man shall take away the sin of the world. What a miracle! Caiaphas was inspired to prophesy that Jesus should die not only for Israel, but for the gathering together of all the children of God scattered around the world. Under the rules of the Temple and the Old Covenant, they had to continually make sacrifices for sin, but the Bible says Jesus died once to forgive the sin of the world to set us free. What a miracle!
'Under the old covenant, the priest stands before the altar day after day, offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered Himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down at the place of highest honour at God’s right hand... Now when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.' (Hebrews 10:11-18)
'Baruch Ata Adonai' & 'I behold Your Glory' used by kind permission of Vinesong