Taking all the benefits Jesus has to give…

David wrote the seven-fold blessing- and urged us not to forget every good thing that the Lord provides. He writes,

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

4 Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

At this point, I studied what the Psalmist may have been saying about the various benefits- and I compared them with what I had read about the Blood of Jesus. Here is what I found:

Of course, when you change the order of each of these, placing the verses from Psalm 103 into the same order in which we see the passion narrative of Jesus unfold (see the chart on the previous post), we see that David is saying the same things that the Gospel writers have penned. In other words, each place that Jesus bled actually redeems one of these benefits for us. That is:

• Jesus bled in the Garden as He cried, “Not My will but Yours” (Luke 22:42) and bled to redeem our will. Now, our souls can submit to our Father as well (Psalm 103:1,2).

• Jesus bled as He was beaten and battered to cleanse our consciences- to heal us of the shame and guilt associated with both sinning and being sinned against.

• Jesus bled when He was scourged- when His back was shredded so much that He was unrecognizable- to heal us from our sicknesses and diseases (see Psalm 103:4a).

• Jesus bled when the crown of thorns was thrust upon Him, in order to redeem us from one of the curses of the fall, so that we could prosper in order to bless others (see Psalm 103:5a).

• Jesus bled when they pierced His hands and HIs feet, so that he might redeem our life from the pit, from the direction in which we were heading that leads straight to hell (Psalm 103:4a).

• Jesus bled when they pierced His heart, so that we might experience joy and purpose and passion- all wrapped in God’s presence, as we understand that we are accepted by Him (Psalm 103:5b).

It’s so complex- yet it’s profoundly simple at the same time. It’s so obvious that I really wondered how I had missed it for so long. If the Bible is saying the same thing in so many ways, all pointing to the great blessing and provision that Jesus offers, how had I not seen it?

The simple truth is that “the church has many items in her shop window that the Cross is no longer noticed” (Derek Prince, Bought With The Blood). The further truth is that I was one of the very ones who filled that shop window with other things- thinking that people needed clever stories, elaborate presentations, and overly relevant packaging.

The reality is that grace and redemption are always relevant to all people at all times. We never go wrong simply sticking with the simplicity of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:3).