Tag: Sent with Purpose

“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. ¹¹ “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.” — Zechariah 2:10-11 NIV

I find this to be one of the most astounding Old Testament prophecies about not only the coming Messiah, but the nature of God. Did you catch it? The Lord is sending the Lord. Read it again. Who promises twice to come and live among us? The Lord. And who is sending the Lord to live among us? The Lord Almighty. The Lord sends the Lord — the Father sends the Son — in perfect unity and with glorious purpose: to gather us from the nations and join us to Himself as His own people. And so He has. It is finished.

We often think of eternal Son’s incarnation from our own perspective — our need, our relief, and our gratitude. Today, let’s view His coming through the lenses of the Father who sent the Son and the purposes for which He sent Him.

Sent to deliver us from darkness into light. “And Jesus cried out and said . . . ‘whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.’”¹

Sent to spread good news. Jesus said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God . . . for I was sent for this purpose.”²

Sent to save the world. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”³

Sent to give us eternal life. “God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”⁴

Sent to make us His own again. “God sent forth his Son . . .  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”⁵

Sent to deliver us from evil. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”⁶

Sent to glorify the Father. Jesus prayed: “I glorified you [Father] on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”⁷

Sent to send us. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”⁸

So now we go: listening, praying; trusting, obeying. This is His plan for us; He sends us with purpose, His purpose.

Father, thank You for sending Jesus to fulfill Your plan. Be glorified in Your church, and fill us with Your Spirit, that we would be equipped for the divine plans You have for us. Send us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ John 12:44-46 ESV
² Luke 4:43 ESV
³ John 3:17 ESV
⁴ 1 John 4:9 ESV
⁵ Galatians 4:4-5 ESV
⁶ 1 John 3:8 ESV
⁷ John 7:4 ESV
⁸ John 20:21 ESV