In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
"O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.”--Psalm 147:11
As believers we come to lose all hope in ourselves, in other people, in anything in the world. We are faltering people, prone to wander, incapable of overcoming the devil or our own wrong desires.
And we have been brought to look to Jesus, to trust in Jesus, to hope in Jesus. This happened when we read that "in Him is abundant redemption"; that is, He loves to buy us back out of the worst sin traps and rescue us from them.
At the cross we see the extent to which He went to rescue us, the love with which He died to save us, and it birthed hope in our hearts. We thought, "If He could descend so low and suffer so much to pick me up, then I will trust Him with my life." And this gives us hope in Jesus! He becomes our light, our strength and our song.
"This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (Psalm 118:22).
Jesus was rejected for you that you might be accepted by God. He was put to death that you might be made alive. And in Jesus' lowering Himself so far to raise us up God made Him the cornerstone, the solid foundation for all who believe.
Have you discovered Jesus to be the Cornerstone of your life, the solid ground when everything is crashing around you? Have you seen how solid and stable, how firm and unchanging He is when you are going through hard times?
I remember the disciples out on the water during a terrible storm (Matthew 14:22-33); the wind was howling, the boat was rocking, the waves were crashing in, all was in upheaval and they were despairing of life.
But Jesus came to them in love, walking on the water, walking all over that which they were afraid of, and He calmed the water and saved their lives.
This is Jesus, friends. He's firm through the storm, He's on solid ground when He's walking on water.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
Oh the miraculous work Jesus can do in a human heart. Whereas before we were raging like the storm, all was at unrest, circumstances could topple us and we were unstable in all our ways.
But when we turn to the Lord and we look at the cross we are brought to great stability and peace. We see that Jesus was punished that we might have peace.
Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV-WS) Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Matthew 27:45-46 (NIV-WS) From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
You see Him there don't you? Lying lifeless in the grave. Crucified in darkness, having been forsaken by His Father and now buried in the grave.
He was slain by darkness, for darkness is powerful over us. Even as the sun didn't shine for 3 hours, so Jesus, the Light of the world was snuffed out on the cross.
Why?
Jesus had entered the darkness to rescue you and I from it. He hung there on that tree in the darkness to initiate the greatest rescue and release ever undertaken.
Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV-WS) For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
But Jesus was not abandoned to the grave. He had said earlier:
Psalms 16:10-11 (NIV-WS) because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
But what good did the resurrection of Jesus do for you and I?
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
Yes, Jesus was released from the curse of death and the grave and you and I are released from the curse of sin. When we turn and face the cross, seeing how Jesus died with our sin on Him, seeing how He loved us unto death, then sin loses its grip on us. And when we see Jesus risen from the dead and standing in victory we see that victory as ours too.
Romans 6:4 (NIV-WS) We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
And what is the result for us of Jesus' purchase through death and His resurrection from the dead?
No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
Oh friend, do you know that if your sin was taken off of you and put on Jesus, then your guilt is gone too?
Romans 8:1 (NIV-WS) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
John 8:11 (NIV-WS) “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Oh my how it does feel so good to be free from guilt through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's a load off! It's the lifting of the cloud of depression. It's the silencing of the accusing lips of the devil. "NO GUILT IN LIFE!" Yes!
And now we know that since Jesus went so far to save us, to the point of shedding His life's blood and breathing His last breath for us, well we know now that nothing can ever take us from His hand. He paid too much for us.
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.
John 10:28-30 (NIV-WS) I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
May I encourage you to just spend some time worshipping Jesus Christ through this wonderful song?
