I had started working on the blog post for Easter.  That entry was from March of 1991.  I had actually earmarked it for Easter six months prior because it seemed so relevant.  So, as I was writing the intro I started talking to the Lord, like I typically do in my journal, but I  was on the computer so I was typing.

From the journal .  .  .  March 2023

Lord, when watching The Chosen the other night I was struck with a freshly significant insight of Jesus’s encounter with Nicodemus.* So I went to the Bible to get the actual account from John 3:1-21.  Nicodemus was impressed, but perplexed, by the accounts that he had heard and seen concerning Jesus.   He was convinced, unlike many of the Pharisees and religious leaders, that Jesus was sent from God to teach them.  Nicodemus believed but Jesus asked for more if he wanted to see the Kingdom of God.  Jesus then spoke of being born again. What impacted me was  “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it”  John 3:17.

I realized the revelation I was getting was from the Lord, just like when I journal with pen and notebook.  So I wrote what I believe He was saying.  

And I believe God said:

My people were so conditioned to pay penance.  Do the works.  Do the right thing to right the sin they had done.  They brought the required sacrifices and that was supposed to do it.  They failed to realize that they would never be able to do enough.

Acts 13:38  ^38 [a]“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. ³⁹ Everyone who believes in Him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do. 
 
Hebrews 10:8, This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put My laws in their minds  and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,   and they will be My people. ¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

I came to earth, and My people saw a way to love more and act in a more Godly way.  I taught them by example, showing love to people and living the right way to honor God.  But that also wasn’t enough.  I emphasized Me as God so they could see that My future sacrifice of My life was the only way to pay for their sin.  The Lamb of God.  Perfect. Only God can say what price would cover their sin.  He said the price was His only son and that required My death.

John 1:29 ²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!    
Romans 5:20 ²⁰ God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. ²¹ So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 3:16-17 ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.