Today's encouragement comes from Genesis 37:31, where we read these words:
"So they [Joseph's brothers] took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood."Joseph's "coat of many colors" was impressive in itself; but once it had been "defiled" by blood, it became an emblem of something much greater: the atonement of sinners, wrought by the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Like Joseph's brothers, in our fallen states, we hate the One (Christ) who is uniquely endowed with God's favor; and we willingly put Him (Jesus) on the cross.
But the very blood we shed there became for us, the church, the only means of our justification, or right standing with God. Now, the "Lamb of God,” Christ our Lord, is our highest love, and the Object of our worship and praise. Only Almighty God could effect such a remarkable transformation!
[Puritan quote of the day: "It is a sin to dwell on sin and turmoil our thoughts about it, when we are called to thankfulness.” —Richard Sibbes, in, "The Soul's Conflict with Itself"]
