The BIG Picture (Shorts)

Today’s Truth "And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim." ( 2Kings.6:6 ) In 2Kings.6:1-7 , a borrowed iron axe head flew off the handle and sank to the riverbed. By God’s power, Elisha made the heavy iron float. Whilst we do not look for physical miracles today, this Old Testament account provides three profound spiritual truths that line up beautifully with the gospel of grace. Today’s Application The Sufficiency of Grace: The worker was entirely helpless to recover the lost tool on his own strength. Similarly, we were completely helpless under the debt of sin, but God’s grace steps in to accomplish what is completely impossible for man ( Rom.5:6; Eph.2:8-9 ). The Principle of Identification: To retrieve the iron, Elisha cast a piece of wood into the very place where the axe head sank. This wood beautifully represents the cross; Christ did not rescue us from a distance, but identified with us, entering our death to lift us up through the cross...

4-Aspects of Christ's death at Calvary: crucifixion, substitution, representation, and identification. Crucifixion: execution by being nailed to a cross and left to suffer in extreme agony until death. This humiliation stands as a testament to Christ's humility and obedience unto death, even death on a cross. We cannot fully comprehend the cross unless we recognize that Christ died there as our Substitute, atoning for our sins. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, 1Cor.15:3. Christ served not only as our Substitute; He was our willing Representative at Calvary, assuming human form to stand in for humanity before God and to die as a Man for men. Identification: Christ became identified with us at Calvary, and in turn, we become identified with Him as we accept Him by faith. Paul writes, "I am crucified with Christ, yet 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...