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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

TUESDAY 12/24/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus

TUESDAY 12/24/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus


THE SON OF GOD APPEARED
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the 
one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as 
He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the 
devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. 
The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy 
the works of the devil. —1 John 3:7–8
When verse 8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this 
purpose, to destroy the works of the devil,” what are the 
“works of the devil” that he has in mind? The answer is 
clear from the context. 

First, verse 5 is a clear parallel: “You know that He 
appeared in order to take away sins.” The phrase “he 
appeared to…” occurs in verse 5 and verse 8. So probably 
the “works of the devil” that Jesus came to destroy are 
sins. The first part of verse 8 makes this virtually certain: 
“The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has 
sinned from the beginning.” 

The issue in this context is sinning, not sickness or bro
ken cars or messed up schedules. Jesus came into the world 
to help us stop sinning. 

Let me put it alongside the truth of 1 John 2:1: “My little 
children, I am writing these things to you so that you may 
not sin.” In other words, I am promoting the purpose of 
Christmas (3:8), the purpose of the incarnation. Then he 
adds (2:2), “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is 
the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also 
for those of the whole world.”

But now look what this means: It means that Jesus 
appeared in the world for two reasons. He came that we 
might not go on sinning; and he came to die so that there 
would be a propitiation—a substitutionary sacrifice that 
takes away the wrath of God—for our sins, if we do sin.

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