Good morning church,
John 1:29 (KJV)
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world
1 John 3:5 (KJV)
And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.This is a summary of Jesus' assignment on earth; dealing with sin.
Every New Testament book will more or less repeat this theme over and over. This is the crux of the gospel. For this, I insist, Christ did not die to make us rich or healthy.
Forgiveness of sins is the greatest miracle of all
Matthew 9:5-6 (KJV)
For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine houseBut this is somewhat trivialized. You won't hear believers boasting of how they were forgiven but rather how grand miracles manifested. I suppose HIV healing is more spectacular than repentance.
I have said it before, ONLY sins have a sole solution in the Calvary. The rest, wealth, health....have myriad solutions. One need not believe in Jesus to be rich, or healthy. This is why I have a problem with a gospel that majors on signs and miracle sat the expense of forgiveness of sins, reconciliation back to God.
John the Baptist, a man Jesus said to have been the greatest of all prophets did no miracles-John 10:41. He just turned Israel to Jesus- Luke 1:16-17.
The other reason is empirical evidence of poverty and sickness from the earliest. More on this coming Lord's day.
Have a fruitful week ahead as we worship the I Am (John 8:58)