A Look at Isaiah 59 — Does sin separate us from God?

Today we preach a gospel that says our sin separates us from God…. and that only those not in sin have a relationship or fellowship with God. We categorize believers as those not in sin and unbelievers as those still in sin. The problem with that is that there are plenty of believers who “sin” just like there are unbelievers who do not “sin” and live pretty moral, upright lives.

But Paul preached a Gospel that wasn’t based on our actions but rather on the FINISHED work of Christ. He preached a Gospel that proclaimed that all mankind had been reconciled back to God regardless of their right or wrong actions.

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; ~ 2 Cor 5:18-19

We were reconciled back to God not because of anything we believed, or anything we did. But only because God desired us… desired to be reconciled to us. So He was in Christ on the Cross and reconciled ALL men back to Himself.

Reconciling according to Webster’s Dictionary means to restore to friendship; to settle or resolve differences; It also means to change from an enemy to a friend; and to admit into a community;

2 Corinthians 5:19 also says He didn’t impute their sins against them. Actually, it says trespasses. The word trespasses in the Greek is paraptóma and means a lapse or deviation from the truth, a slip-up, an error; wrongdoing that can be unconscious or unintentional. The root of the word is parapipto meaning to fall away after being close beside; it is to descend from a higher place to a lower place; to stop flying. He reconciled ALL men without considering their sins… those that slipped up, deviated from the truth, made an error because they fell from a higher place to a lower place in their understanding of who they were as Abba’s sons.

Romans 5:10 says God did this reconciliation while we were enemies. An enemy is someone with a deep-seated hatred for another! Romans 5:8 says this is how God demonstrated His love for us, He did it while we were sinners. No repentance or confession required on our part….. it was totally His doing. It says this all happened while we were weak and ungodly (verse 6)… while we were sinners (verse 8).

HE reconciled us…. restored us back to friendship with Him, settled and resolved the differences we had with Him, changed us from an enemy to a friend and admitted us into His community of love. He did that while we (all mankind) had a deep-seated hatred for Him, while ALL mankind was powerless, ungodly, and sinners.

That verse in the Greek says “Moreover (on top of all that)… talking about verse 17, which we’ll have to save for another post! Moreover, on top of all that (talking about our identity as the new creation) ALL are of God who reconciled us to Himself! It doesn’t say “all things.” It says ALL are of God! I love that. He reconciled ALL mankind to Himself on the Cross and that same mankind is His! They are the ALL that is of God. They belong to Him…. those we label as believers, unbelievers, sinners, non-sinners…. ALL are of God! That doesn’t sound like separation to me!

And He did ALL of this on His own without requiring believing, faith, repentance, confession, a “sinner’s prayer,” etc. It was simply to demonstrate His love for us. His relentless, passionate, pursuing covenant love…. which is His chesed! In other words, to demonstrate His resolve to never let go of us, no matter how far we had gone. No matter how alienated we had become in our own minds toward Him (Colossians 1:21)!

So, if that’s Truth… if that’s the Gospel, where did we get the wrong idea of separation from God? The idea that God was too holy to have a relationship with us when we sin?

This concept of separation from God uses the verse Isaiah 59:2: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

This verse doesn’t say God has hidden His face from you and can’t hear you because of your sin. Even though for years that’s what I thought it said! I pictured God with His fingers in His ears and turning His head away from me….. because of sin. How sad! That must grieve God when we think about Him like that.

Let’s read it Isaiah 59:2 in context…..

Isaiah 59:1: Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

The word behold is not a word we use today so we tend to just read it and dismiss it. But the word behold is God waving a giant neon flag at us and saying, “Pay very close attention to what comes next, because it’s especially important!” What are we supposed to carefully give our attention to? What is so important that God does not want us to miss it? This beautiful description of God… His hand is not so short that it cannot save! And His ear is not so heavy (so burdened or dull) that it can’t hear! That’s our Daddy!! Always reaching towards us… always listening to us!

BUT until we have paid attention to that and understand Abba through this light, we will continue to misunderstand verse 2!

Verse 2 says: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you so that he will not hear.”

Yes, sin caused a separation, a hiding of God’s face, an inability to hear. But it wasn’t on God’s part… it was on man’s. Sin consciousness causes men to see and hear God through a lens of condemnation and judgment. Remember in the garden that it wasn’t God who was hiding from Adam. It was Adam hiding from God. In Genesis 3 Adam’s trespass caused sin to enter the world, but God did not turn His face from Adam, nor was He unable or unwilling to hear Adam. In fact, He showed up ready to walk with him and talk with him just like always. He didn’t hide His face and plug His ears because of sin…. He came into the garden looking for Adam, ready to spend time with him, loving on him, and having his daily conversation with him.

It was Adam who hid. God came looking for him. Genesis 3:8 says, “And they heard (shema) the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” They hid from His face, from His presence. The word hid in Hebrew is chaba and means to withdraw; to conceal. Adam withdrew from God’s face. Sin consciousness concealed God’s face from Adam.

The word we translate obey is shema in Hebrew and means hearing with understanding, attention, and with a response. God didn’t close His ears to Adam. Sin consciousness closed Adam’s ears to God… he could no longer hear with understanding. His hearing became as Isaiah described it in verse 2, dull and heavy…. burdened by sin. Not God’s!

God came looking for Adam. Asking “Adam where are you?” The English phrase where are you is in Hebrew ayeh. Some words are just do not translate well in English. When I used to read Adam, where are you in this verse, I would hear my dad calling out to me because of something I had done, “ROBIN ANN!! WHERE ARE YOU?” I would read in those verses, anger and disappointment on God’s part because Adam didn’t obey! But that’s not what ayeh means. In Hebrew, it is a mournful, sorrowful, lamenting word of grief. God is not yelling in the garden demanding for Adam to come out of his hiding and explain himself, or repent for what he’s done. He is not angry over Adam’s “sin.” He is grief stricken that sin has caused His beloved son to be fearful. One rabbi describes it as: the cry of a lover who is separated from his beloved and this beloved is hiding from the Lover’s presence because of being in agony over having betrayed him.

This is not a picture of an angry God who is looking for Adam so that he can punish his “disobedience.” This is not judgmental, condemning God who is hiding His face and closing His ears to His son. This first look at Abba’s response to sin for us is a picture of a caring Father. One who is full of grief that His son is not where he should be…. in His presence, experiencing His love. He is so very sad, that His son who can no longer see and hear Him. Adam, because of his sin, can no longer see God accurately. Sin consciousness has hidden God’s face from him.

It is not God that is hiding from Adam because He’s too holy to look on sin! Adam’s sin has hidden from Adam who God is. Sin has hidden His true nature from him. And he now sees God through a warped identity, through the lens of sin, guilt, judgment, and condemnation. Instead of seeing God as a loving Father, he sees Him as judgmental and condemning.

And it’s not God that refuses or can’t hear but it’s Adam that has a hearing problem. Oh, he still hears God, but not accurately and not by the Spirit. Now he hears Him through sin consciousness. Instead of hearing words of love and affirmation, he hears guilt and condemnation… he hears judgment. Adam became a man with an identity problem…. no longer seeing himself as a son made in Abba’s image and likeness. No longer seeing himself as loved and accepted. But instead, seeing himself separated from God because of sin. Isn’t it funny that God is the one who came into the garden asking Adam, “where are you” and yet man because of sin consciousness has been asking God “where are You” ever since?

Isaiah is not saying that God is separated from man… turning His face and plugging His ears because He is too holy to look at a sinful man. He is saying that God is displeased with the whole situation that sin has caused. And what does Isaiah tell us that God does in response to man’s sin? He doesn’t reject or abandon us. He doesn’t separate Himself from us! We must keep reading and not just stop at verse two and form a wrong opinion about God.

According to Isaiah, God springs into action. He initiates a saving act whereby he rolls up his sleeves and comes to us Himself through his Son. Through the beautiful incarnation of Jesus!!

And then he tells us that those who turn to God will find that He was ALREADY for them and toward them! In other words, our repentance does not cause God to come to us, but rather, God’s grace precedes and even generates our repentance. Isn’t that what Paul said in Romans 2:4? That it’s God’s goodness (His covenant love for us – chesed!) causes men to repent, NOT men’s repentance causes God to be good! He’s ALWAYS good… Good is just who He is.

This is how the New Covenant (announced in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea and elsewhere) works. Grace to His children who in their sin (in their false distorted fallen sense of identity) can no longer see Him for who He is or hear Him…. thinking He has hidden His face and closed His ears to them!

Response to Covid-19!

Simple truth….

When He died – YOU died
When He was buried – YOU were buried
When He rose – YOU rose
When He ascended – YOU ascended
AND where He is seated – YOU are seated!!

SPOILER ALERT — where He is seated there is no Covid-19!!! Likewise where YOU are seated is NO Covid-19!!

GOOD NEWS – Romans 6:11 we ARE (right now – present tense in this life!) dead to sin and alive to God!
Sickness and disease WERE the result of sin and death

THEREFORE – YOU are dead to sickness and disease… YOU are dead to Covid-19 AND alive to God… alive (right now – present tense in this life!) with His life and health flowing through you!! As He is SO ARE YOU IN THIS WORLD!

KEY – Just believe it and say no! NO to sickness and disease! NO to Covid-19!!

Woe unto you…..

When Jesus said “WOE” to the Pharisees and the religious leaders of His day, it wasn’t a stern warning to them or a harsh rebuke. In Greek it is a word uttered in grief. In Hebrew it is the word oy which means a lamentation (a passionate expression of grief; weeping), it is a crying out after.. and it’s ROOT is to crave or greatly desire or long after; to covet.

Then He called them hypocrites which means an actor, a pretender; one who decides, speaks and acts under a false part; — one who is walking in a false identity… not walking in their true nature, who they were created to be.

Try reading those verses and hear Jesus’ cry to them… His passionate longing after them… His desire for them to walk in who He created them to be.

Instead of hearing “judgment” and “disapproval” hear with ears of LOVE. Love that says “this is not who you are, come back to the knowledge of who you always have been IN Me — image and likeness of God”

#divinenature #identity

Christ IN you

Galatians 1:16 (God was pleased v.15) to reveal His Son IN (en) me, that I might preach Him IN (en) the gentiles….

Romans 10:20: Isaiah is very bold (courageously laying it all on the line) and says: I (God) was found IN (en) those not seeking (Hebraism meaning worshipping) Me; I manifest Myself IN those not inquiring after Me.

Colossians 1:27 tells us that the mystery of the Gospel… God’s good news is — Christ IN (en) you, the hope of glory.

God does not reveal Himself TO man… but IN man.
His Son is IN everyman… regardless of the outward behavior of the man.

Acts 9 tells us that Paul (Saul) was breathing out murder and hatred against Jesus and His followers. He was not a person sitting on the fence… He had made up his mind to be against Jesus and all He stood for.

Paul did not ask Jesus to COME INTO his heart after he repented of his sins……… God revealed that Christ was already IN Paul — in this one who hated Jesus and murdered His followers — in this one who had NOT repented, who had NOT believed or confessed that Jesus was Lord

The revelation of the Son IN Paul defined who Paul was and always had been in the Father’s eyes and so Paul began walking and living out of that reality

Will we be as bold as Isaiah and Paul… courageously laying it all on the line, or as Ellicott’s commentary says “coming forward and telling the naked truth”…… boldly preaching Christ IN all men?

#simpleGospel#reveals…. #Christ#IN-ALLmen

Ungodly

How it must grieve God when we refer to anyone as ungodly

Genesis 1:26: And God said let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….

When man left the garden he continued to be like God, he just lost his understanding of it. But he was still created in God’s image according to His likeness. And he still had dominion on the earth.

Ungodly is simply, the PERCEPTION that we are not like God. But the truth is man has ALWAYS been like God… Godly!

We ARE holy and blameless

We were not IN CHRIST when we said a prayer one day…. we have ALWAYS been in Christ.

Ephesians 1:4: Just as He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love

We should be is “hēmas einai” which means WE EXIST OR WE ARE!

We tend to condemn ourselves for falling short of the “we should.” But this is not saying we should or we need to be holy and blameless before Him… it’s saying we ALREADY ARE!

WOW!! That changes that Scripture…. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, WE ARE holy and blameless before Him in love (or in HIm because He is Love!)

#ITISFINISHED! #livingaFINISHEDlife….. IN CHRIST

Branches NOT bearing fruit….

John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away….”

takes away in the Greek is to lift up; to bear; to carry

Every branch not bearing fruit He lifts up and carries. He bears them up. He doesn’t cut them off!

No one bears fruit without Him… He is the Vine. Those who are bearing fruit, He prunes so they can bear more fruit. And those bearing no fruit He gently, lovingly, patiently, lifts up and carries… bearing them!

The Father is a good Vinedresser (Husbandman) taking care of ALL the branches.

#thesimpleGospel #gracefilledliving

Faith understands….

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.   ~ Hebrews 11:3

I love this verse!  First it tells us that faith understands.  We know through Paul’s teachings that the faith we live by is not our own but it is Jesus’ faith in us.  In Galatians 2:20 Paul says I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  Our faith is His faith.  His faith in us understands!  What does faith understand?

That the worlds were framed by the word of God.  God spoke the worlds into existence.  Genesis 1:1-2:  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.   There is so much in these verses!  Some rabbi’s spend their entire lives studying Genesis 1:1.  That’s what I love about the Hebrew language, it is a rich, meaningful language with layers and layers of meaning.

In Hebrew there are four levels of Scripture interpretation called Pardes.  Pardes in Hebrew means orchard or paradise.  It is an acroynm spelling: peshat (simple or direct meaning); remez (meaning hint — the deep, hidden meaning just beyond the literal sense); d’rash (meaning inquire or seek —  drawn out meaning of the verse, interpretive meaning; and finally sod (meaning secret — a mystery hidden and only revealed by revelation of the Spirit).  As a rule, the remez, d’rash, and sod interpretations never contradict the peshat – the simple, plain, direct meaning.

Today I don’t want to get in a deep study of it, I just want to look at the surface level of it. What I believe is the peshat of this verse.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and we know from later accounts of creation, ALL that He created is good.  But in verse 2 we are told that the earth was without form and void.  Without form and void in Hebrew is “tohu v’bohu.”    It refers to something with no shape and no definition.  Living Bible say “a shapeless chaotic mass.”  The Voice translation says it lacked shape, was totally empty and had a dark fog.   Then in the rest of Genesis 1 God takes the chaos, the dark fog, the formless and emptiness and brings order to it.  Makes it into what He purposed for it.  He takes it and makes it what He “created” in Genesis 1:1…. what He chose (bara in Hebrew).  He did that with words…. Genesis 1:3:  And God said!  He commanded, He declared.

Faith understands that!  God spoke order into the chaos, the fog and the emptiness… into the tohu v’bohu.  Speak is rhema in Hebrews 11:3.  We are speaking spirits, created in the image of our Daddy.  Co-speaking just like Him.  Forming our worlds just like Him. He formed the world to look like what He created it to look like… taking the not (the tohu v’bohu) and the dark and making them seen.  Forming them from the Light He spoke into them.

I love that the Greek word for formed in this verse is katartizo.  It is two words… kata meaning down and artizo meaning to adjust.  It is to adjust to be in good working order (which is tov in Hebrew! Everything God created He said was tov.. it was good!).  It is to adjust to make fully functioning… to mend and to restore.  The root of this word is my favorite!  It is viewed in terms of the present… the here and now! Complete, perfect, ready NOW!

Romans 10:8 connects the rhema to faith just like here in Hebrews 11.  It says the rhema is the spoken word (rhema) of faith.  Sometimes our worlds do not look like what God created them to look like.  They don’t look like what He has said about us… that in Christ we lack no good thing.  That we are saved:  healed, delivered and made whole in every area of our life (spiritual, physical, mental, social and financial.)  Sometimes, our lives look chaotic and empty.  Lacking.  It seems like we’re in a fog sometimes and can’t see the promises of God.

But faith understands!  It understands that God spoke to and formed out of nothing what we can see with our eyes.  Faith understands that just like our Daddy we are speaking spirits and can do the same thing.  Speaking His words (rhema) of faith… calling forth those things that be nought as though they were.

We don’t have to wait til someday when we get to Heaven to see the manifestation of things like healing, abundance, restored relationships, wholeness in every are of our life, etc.  Faith is NOW!  And according to Hebrews 11:3 forming our worlds by our words (like our Daddy) also results in NOW!

Our words are powerful… and faith understands that. Jesus said in Luke 6:45b out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  He said that after he just said that out of the treasure (storehouse) of your heart you will bring forth good things.  Bring forth is prophero meaning  to move something to necessary manifestation!  How do we move something to necessary manifestation?  Through our words which speak and Heb 11:3 tells us that forming is rooted in the NOW… we can see it here in our lifetime.

Our words speak forth what is stored in our hearts.  His faith is stored in our hearts!  We don’t have to rely on our own faith… we simply, like Paul, live our new lives by the faith OF the Son of God.  Resting in His faith!  Speaking forth His faith!  Saying what He knows to be true about us.  Forming our (NOW) world by speaking words of faith that say…..

I am righteous

I am holy

I am complete in Him

I have abundant life!

I am filled to the FULL with the FULLNESS of the Godhead!

He is the Health of my body!

I have ALL things that pertain to life and godliness!

I am saved – healed, delivered and whole in all the 5 areas of life… physical, spiritual, mental, social and financial!

I have NO lack!

I walk in favor!

This is what faith… His faith in you.. understands! I challenge you to go find out what God says about you and begin to speak it forth and watch the manifestation of His abundant life begin to form your world in this lifetime!

Because faith understands that just like Abba framed the worlds by His words….we also frame our world by our words!

~ Robin

In Him Scriptures

IN HIM SCRIPTURES

In Christ

Rom 3:24; Gal 2:4; Col 1:28

Rom 8:1; Gal 3:26; 1 Thess 4:16

Rom 8:2; Gal 3:28; 1 Thess 5:18

Rom 12:5;  Gal 5:6; 1 Tim 1:14

1 Cor 1:2;  Gal 6:15;  2 Tim 1:9

1 Cor 1:30; Eph 1:3;  2 Tim 1:13

1 Cor 15:22;  Eph 1:10;;  2 Tim 2:1

2 Cor 1:21;  Eph 2:6;  2 Tim 2:10

2 Cor 2:14;  Eph 2:10;  2 Tim 3:15

2 Cor 3:14;  Eph 2:13;  Philemon 1:6

2 Cor 5:17;  Eph 3:6;  2 Pe 1:8

2 Cor 5:19;  Phil 3:13-14;  2 Jn 1:9

In Him

Acts 17:28;  Col 2:6;  1 Jn 3:3

John 1:4; Col 2:7;  1 Jn 3:5

John 3:15-16;  Col 2:10;  1 Jn 3:6

2 Cor 1:20;  1 Jn 2:5;  1 Jn 3:24

2 Cor 5:21;  1 Jn 2:6;  1 Jn 4:13

Eph 1:4;  1 Jn 2:8;  1 Jn 5:14-15

Eph 1:10;  1 Jn 2:27;  1 Jn 5:20

Phil 3:9; 1 Jn 2:28

In the Beloved

Eph 1:6

In the Lord

Eph 5:8;  Eph 6:10

In Whom

Eph 1:7;  Eph 2:22;  Col 2:11

Eph 1:11;  Eph 3:12;  1 Pe 1:8

Eph 1:13; Col 1:14

Eph 2:21;  Col 2:3

By Christ

Rom 3:22;  2 Cor 5:18;  1 Pe 1:3

Rom 5:15;  Gal 2:16;  1 Pe 2:5

Rom 5:17-19;  Eph 1:5;  1 Pe 5:10

Rom 7:4; Phil 1:11

1 Cor 1:4;  Phil 4:19

By Him

1 Cor 1:5;  Col 1:17;  Heb 7:25

1 Cor 8:6;  Col 1:20;  Heb 13:15

Col 1:16;  Col 3:17;  1 Pe 1:21

By Himself

Heb 1:3;  Heb 9:26

By His Blood

Heb 9:11-15;  Heb 10:19-20;  1 Jn 1:7

Heb 9:14-15

By Whom

Rom 5:2;  Rom 5:11;  Gal 6:14

From Whom

Eph 4:16;  Col 2:19

Of Christ

2 Cor 2:15;  Col 2:17;  Col 3:24

Phil 3:12

Of Him

1 Jn 1:5;  1 Jn 2:27

Through Christ

Rom 5:1;  1 Cor 15:57;  Phil 4:6-7

Rom 5:11;  Gal 3:13-14;  Phil 4:13

Rom 6:11;  Gal 4:7;  Heb 10:10

Rom 6:23;  Eph 2:7; Heb 13:20-21

Through Him

Jn 3:17;  Rom 8:37;  1 Jn 4:9

Rom 5:9

With Christ

Rom 6:8;  Eph 2:5;  Col 3:1

Gal 2:20; Col 2:20; Col 3:3

With Him

Rom 6:4; Rom 8:32; Col 2:13-15

Rom 6:6;  2 Cor 13:4;  Col 3:4

Rom 6:8; Col 2:12;  2 Tim 2:11-12

By Me

John 6:57;  John 14:6

In Me

John 6:56;  John 15:4-5 ; John 16:33

John 14:20;  John 15:7-8

In My Love

John 15:9

In His Name

Matt 18:20;  John 14:13-14; 1 Cor 6:11

Mark 16:17-18;  John 16:23-24

These verses do not use the specific phrases In Him but they convey the message of who you  are, what you are, or what you have because of Christ (a partial listing only)

Matt 8:17;  Gal 5:1;  Heb 13:5-6

Matt 11:28-30;  Phil 2:5;  Heb 13:8

Matt 18:11;  Phil 2:13;  James 4:7

Matt 18:18-20;  Col 1:13;  1 Pet 2:9

Matt 28:18-20;  Col 1:26-27;  1 Pe 2:21

Mark 1:8;  Titus 2:14;  1 Pe 3:18

Mark 9:23;  Titus 3:7;  1 Pe 5:7

Mark 11:23-24;  Heb 2:9-11;  1 Jn 1:9

Luke 10:19;  Heb 2:14-15;  1 Jn 2:1

John 4:14;  Heb 2:18;  1 Jn 3:2

John 6:40;  Heb 4:14-16;  1 Jn 3:14

John 10:10;  Heb 7:19,22;  1 Jn 4:4

John 14:12;  Heb 8:6;  1 Jn 4:10

John 14:23;  Heb 9:24;  1 Jn 4:15

John 17:23;  Heb 9:28;  1 Jn 5:1, 4-5

Gal 3:29;  Heb 10:14;  1 Jn 5:11-12

Rev 1:5-6

God’s wrath AGAINST us….

For the wrath of God is revealed AGAINST all ungodliness and unrighteousness  ~ Romans 1:18 

The word translated against in Greek is “epi” which is a preposition. The root of the word means UPON or TOWARDS.

Against is defined in the dictionary as in opposition to. This keeps us thinking God is angry and oppposed to us.   We read it with a lens of sin consciousness.

Instead His wrath/passion (the finished work of the Cross) was toward us or upon ALL. Upon also means the response or effect of the envisioned contract – God’s vision saw us IN CHRIST and Jesus’ response to the contract or covenant He made with the Father was to take our sin and give us His righteousness

If we read Romans 1:18 and replace against with upon or toward….. “The wrath of God is revealed upon or toward all ungodliness and unrighteousness” —  when we read it through the lens of the finished work and in conjuction with v. 17 and look at the root of “epi”, then it begins to sound an awful lot like Romans 5.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. (8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him”  ~ Romans 5:6-9

 

Just a thought