Daily Reading for Friday, July 5, 2024
Scripture: Ephesians 5:1, 2
"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour."
Meditation:
Reference(s):
1 God's Amazing Grace, p. 174.
2 The SDA Bible Commentary [E. G. White Comments], vol. 6, p. 1118.
"By His spotless life, His obedience, His death on the cross of Calvary, Christ interceded for the lost race. And now, not as a mere petitioner does the Captain of our salvation intercede for us, but as a Conqueror claiming His victory. His offering is complete, and as our Intercessor He executes His self-appointed work, holding before God the censer containing His own spotless merits and the prayers, confessions, and thanksgiving of His people. Perfumed with the fragrance of His righteousness, these ascend to God as a sweet savor. The offering is wholly acceptable, and pardon covers all transgression."1
"This is the oblation of a life-gift in our behalf, that we may be all that He desires us to be-representatives of Him, expressing the fragrance of His character, His own pure thoughts, His divine attributes as manifested in His sanctified human life, in order that others may behold Him in His human form, and, comprehending God's wonderful design, be led to desire to be like Christ-pure, undefiled, wholly acceptable to God, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."2