2004-03-16 - One Book, Three Pages, No Words

Nehemiah 9:17, "But Thou art a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness."

A certain man was reported to have carried this book with him everywhere he went. Sadly, I do not know his name. As the title says, this book had only three pages in it, and yet none of those pages had a single word on them. Still, he carried this book with him everywhere he went. The first page was pure black. The second was red like scarlet. The third was white as snow. He not only carried the book, but he would take it out and show it to people. No one knew what it was or what it meant. One day, he told someone the meaning of his book.

Page One: The black page. He said that this page was his sin, which rightly deserved the wrath of God. "I look, and look, and think it is not black enough, though it is black as black can be." Like the tax-gatherer in Luke 18:13, this man knew his sin. "But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'"

Page Two: The red page. This page is the page of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It remembers His atonement for sin by His blood. "How do I delight to look at that, and look, and look again." This man knew what 1 Peter 1:18,19 says, "Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ."

Page Three: The white page. He called the white leaf his soul, which was washed in Christ's blood. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the red page is made white as snow. "'Come now, and let us reason together,' Says the Lord, 'though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool,'" Isaiah 1:18.

So here we have the three-page book. It is a book we should all carry around, at least mentally. There really are three pages in our book. Before Christ, there is only one page, the black one. When we come to faith in the atonement of Christ for our sin, we experience the red page, which cleanses us and makes us like the white page, spotless and pure, owning for ourselves Christ's sacrifice, and saved from our sin through the shedding of His innocent blood.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

tim@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org