Psalm 120

Because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, many people all over the world are on a journey. The journey's end is the heavenly Jerusalem where Christ, our High Priest, reigns at the right hand of the Father. While we are already in the heavens in Christ, we feel the distance between our present location and the desire of our hearts very acutely. We long for the journey's end.

Psalms 120 through 134 are songs for this journey. We begin today very far from Jerusalem. But we have songs to sing as we travel. We start in the world, but we will end at the heavenly Jerusalem.

Why am I so frequently distressed?

I need to call out to the Lord again today. He will help me. My mind is racing, even though I am alone on my couch. I remember the words of others, conversations that were comprised of carefully chosen dialogue on all sides. Am I replaying those words all night long, disturbing my own sleep, or is there an adversary poking my soul? Are You wanting me to figure something out, Lord?

In my distress, I call upon the Name of Jesus. I want Him. I want heaven. I want a sound mind and a clear heart. Help me, Lord!

What if my lips are the lying lips in this psalm? What if my tongue is the deceitful tongue? What if I am too often the double-minded man, trying to say the right things with others, and then thinking it all through over and over again until I am exhausted? What if all of us in the replayed conversation have two much world in our hearts, and too little Jesus; too little heaven?

Send the arrows of Your good Word into all our hearts, O Lord, and put to death everything of the old man that is in us. Sanctify Your children in the Messiah.

I live too far from the heavenly Jerusalem, and for no good reason. Jesus has made a way for me to be very close to Him all the time. I have His Word, which is a very great aid to me in every situation. I even have His Holy Spirit dwelling within me. His Life in me is the very sure Hope of Glory. I do not have to imagine the place of perfect sanctification as being so very far away. The Word of God is in my mouth and in my heart. If I will confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead, then I will be saved from the enemy that assaults from both without and within. See Romans 10.

I have dwelt too long in lands that are way too far from the heavenly Jerusalem. I need to be on pilgrimage again, with Christ leading me, and His Word and Spirit inside me and around me guiding me home.

That's my problem. And I already feel better.

And now, may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Onward and upward in the powerful love of the Lord!

Psalm 119

[ALEPH] Bless me Lord with all obedience.
[BETH] How can I obey? Only by Your Word.
[GIMEL] Deal bountifully. Give me Your fullness.

[DALETH] Clings... My soul clings to dust. Oh Life!

[HE] Teach me Your way. I will follow You.

[WAW] Also may this come to me: eternal love.

[ZAYIN] Remember Your promise. I remember.

[HETH] My portion? You, Your Word, Your love.

[TETH] Well have you dealt with me, even in grief.

[YODH] Your hands made me. Comfort me in love.

[KAPH] Faints... My soul faints for You, Oh Lord.

[LAMEDH] Unto eternity You will be faithful.

[MEM] Oh how I love Your Word! It is my delight!

[NUN] A lamp to my feet! The joy of my heart!

[SAMEKH] The double-minded I hate. I fear You.

[AYIN] I have done what You said. I wait for You.

[PE] Wonderful! Your Word is wonderful.

[TSADHE] Righteous! Your Son is forever true.

[QOPH] I cry to You Lord Jesus! Save me!

[RESH] Look on me now and give me life.

[SIN AND SHIN] Princes hate me. I hope in You.

[TAW] Let my song come to Your ear. Rescue me!

Psalm 118

The Lord's covenant love lasts forever. We need to gather in covenant assembly and say so. First Israel needs to confess that love, then all the religious leaders of Israel need to confess that love, and finally all the worshipers of the God of Israel need to participate in the public affirmation of the steadfast covenant love of the Lord. God has not forgotten the Jews, and He will never abandon the church of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. Look at the cross and discover His love again. His steadfast love endures forever.

Through the cross of Jesus Christ this love of the Lord has become very personal. I have received Him as my King. He is my Savior. He has paid my debt. Surely He will give me all things. He will see me through every distress.

But this love of God is also communal. The community of faith throughout the ages is surrounded by a frightening array of enemies. Yet the Lord of the cross will protect His beloved bride. He will cut off these adversaries in a moment with a vast array of men and angels alongside Him in His mighty host.

When Israel and the church are persecuted, Jesus Himself is persecuted. He will finally rise up and make an end of those who trouble His beloved people. There will be glad songs of salvation in the new worldwide tabernacle of the Holy Spirit!

Look at the personification of Israel on the cross again. Look to the One who stands in the place of the many. Surely Israel is a communal suffering servant, but look to the One Suffering Servant and embrace the pattern that God has for our encouragement in our deep distress. Though He died, He lives. In Him we live, and recount the mighty deeds of the Lord in the land of the living. We have been disciplined, but we are not utterly lost.

It seemed like He was lost. He did die. Yet what happened next? Even before the resurrection, the gates of heavenly righteousness opened for Him, and in Him those gates have opened for us. He has entered through the gate of the Lord.

He was the Stone that the builders, the leaders of Israel, the guardians of the temple of God, rejected for a time. But He has become the cornerstone of a new worldwide temple consisting of Spirit-claimed Jews and Gentiles.

The cross, the opening of the heavenly gates, the resurrection, the bodily ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father; all of this is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in His eyes. This is the day that He has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

But how can it be that the Lord God made the day of such a horrible cross? How can we rejoice in that kind of brutality? Only when we see the Son of God as the necessary Passover Lamb. Only when we see that cross as the ultimate display of the steadfast love of the Lord. Then we cry out to the Son of David, “Hosanna! Save us!”

Look to the God/Man/Lamb on that cross. He has come in the Name of the Lord. We bless the Name of Jesus from the temple of the Holy Spirit. God has made His light shine on us, and now we see who Jesus is! He was the festal sacrifice in our place. He was bound with chords to the altar as the sacrificial victim.

When we see this rightly and know that our debt has been fully paid, when we embrace not only the cross, but also the resurrection, Israel and the church will worship the Lord God Almighty through our great Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus. We will sing together, “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.”

This passover psalm has a glorious fulfillment in the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the righteous Substitute. He has redeemed us from sin, death, and hell. “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!”

Joshua 9

Israel had enemies. There were people in the land already, and they were afraid. Most of the people groups formed an alliance to stop Joshua and Israel. One group had a different plan.

The Gibeonites were counting on three things that led to their successful covenant with Israel. First, they believed that the alliance of their other neighbors against the Lord's people would fail. Second, they understood that the peoples who were far away would live, but that those who were in the land of Canaan would be destroyed. Third, they hoped that Joshua would honor a covenant, even if it had been achieved through deception.

The Gibeonites also judged that it was better to live as servants to the people of God than to die at their hands in the conquest. They testified the truth about Name of the God of Israel. They had heard about what had happened to the Egyptians and to the nations on the other side of the Jordan. Their only deception was the pretense that they had come from a very far land.

Joshua and the leaders of Israel did not ask counsel from the Lord before they made this covenant. The result was life for the Gibeonites, and incorporation into Israel in the midst of the death all around them. Joshua kept his word, and the Lord honored that commitment. See 2 Samuel 21:1-2. The leaders had sworn to the Lord, the God of Israel, assuring the safety of the Gibeonites. Despite the dishonesty of their new partners, the word that they had promised before God would stand. The Gibeonites would live. They would serve Israel.

When Joshua found out the truth and confronted the Gibeonites about their deception, they testified to their fear of God. They understood that the conquest of the land was not a possibility, but a certainty. That's why they had lied about where they were from. They believed in the power of the Lord, and they saw this as the only way to live.

The Gibeonite surrender involved a serious deception. But if they had told the truth, they would have been slaughtered. The Judgment Day ethics of the conquest did not allow for mercy for the nations in the land of Canaan. Yet Rahab deceived her own people at Jericho and lived. And now the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the leaders of Israel. They too won their lives.

We live in a day when we can surrender to the Lord and tell the whole truth. Judgment Day ethics have come upon the Son of God for us. We have a fear of God, but the perfect love of the cross has cast out all our fear. We do not have to pretend to be anything. We can come to God as those who were far away from the covenants with Israel, but who have now been drawn near to God through the blood of His Son. We surrender as servants, but we are adopted as sons of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Though He died, He now lives, and through Him we have eternal life. All of this is entirely above board. There is no need for hypocrisy.

There is an enemy that would try to catch us in an unnecessary web of lies. He comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Our King is stronger than that enemy. We should turn to Christ in prayer in every situation we face, seeking His counsel, and trusting that He will lead us in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.

Joshua 8

After the Lord's people have endured a frightening moment of His discipline, it helps to hear His Word again assuring us. “Do not fear and do not be dismayed.” The conquest will continue. The Lord will lead us forward.

This time the victory will come by ambush, and not by marching around the city walls, but the battle will still be the Lord's. He will use the overconfidence of Ai to bring about that city's destruction. They would leave the city unguarded as they pursued Israel into the wilderness. But then they would look back at the Lord's destruction of their undefended homes.

At the earlier defeat of Israel by the men of Ai, the hearts of Israel's warriors had melted in fear. The sin of Achan had quickly overcome the camp. They had proudly presumed that they could easily defeat Ai with very few men. When 36 of their own had been killed, they were completely undone, and looked for the fault in the Lord.

But now that they have been brought back to Him. They have executed the Lord's civil justice over His united civil and spiritual kingdom, their trust in the Lord has returned, and they have courage in Him to go forth in judgment against His enemies. 12,000 people of Ai die, and the king of Ai is hanged on a tree.

This is the world of Israel. It was not Abraham's world, and it is not our world. In Israel's world, the kingdom of civil life was one with the kingdom of heaven. The church and the state were virtually inseparable. Joshua was the one supreme leader under the Lord God. His was a holy army that could not abide with even one covetous man if the Lord should choose to note sin among His troops. The death penalty was administered and courage returned. The army of the Lord went forth to inflict vengeance against His adversaries in Ai.

We live after our King, our Joshua, has been lifted up upon a tree for our salvation. His death for our sins has changed everything. The One Redeemer of Jew and Gentile has come. We are now sent forth to every land with the message of the cross and the resurrection. The civil and religious kingdoms have returned to their two kingdom state. Jesus is Lord of all, and decisions in both realms have moral considerations, but the church does not have the power of the sword, and the state does not have the Bible as its constitution. The civil realm is always a mixed realm now. Within its protection are those professing faith in the Lord and those who do not believe. We are commanded to follow the law of the land in civil realms in obedience to the Lord of all. See Romans 13.

The covenant that Joshua renewed with the Lord was a one kingdom covenant, where the King of heaven insisted that the Law of Moses be the law of Israel in every sense. We live in a two kingdom world now, and the law of love, the love of the cross, goes forth into all the kingdoms of the world through the church. That's the way it is supposed to work. We are to love one another, and our love for Christ should overflow everywhere in displays of order, goodness, and beauty. Wherever possible, we are to submit to all lawful authority as to the Lord. And we are to live quietly and fruitfully in all kinds of societies, with all godliness, dignity, and sincerity.

One day the King who was lifted up on the cross for our salvation will return in glory. Then the kingdoms of this world will in every sense become the kingdom of the Lord for all to see. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He will reign over that one kingdom forever and ever. There will be no more sin.

Whenever we gather together on the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection, He renews covenant with us around His table. He speaks to us again, “This is My body. This is the blood of the New Covenant.” We receive the hope again that will find its greatest fulfillment at His return. Together we believe and we know that the Kingdom will be the Lord's. This Lord, who took the curse of the Law for us, has become for us the Source of every eternal blessing.

Joshua 7

 “But the people of Israel broke faith...”

Keep the faith. That is what I want for my soul and for the church this morning. I want to believe the Lord and to grow in Him. I live in the midst of continual temptation. Pride. Self-centered thinking. Visions of glory that are not really about Jesus, but about me. Sinful worry. The Slough of Despond... When will it all be over? When will I not have to pray, “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil?” Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

The Lord's providence is mysterious. I do not understand it. But I need to trust Him. I cannot evade my responsibility for sin by claiming that it is all part of the sovereignty of God, though it is. I want to keep the faith. One man's lust for the riches of Jericho, for “the devoted things,” led to trouble for the whole nation. How much trouble comes upon the church from the lust or bitterness of even one member of the body?

When military defeat came at Ai and 36 Israelites were killed, “the hearts of the people melted and became as water.” This was God's army and God's conquest of Canaan. How could they lose like this after God had shown such great power at Jericho? What would they do now? Had God let them down? Joshua and the elders fell before the Lord. They knew Him to be the sovereign Lord of the conquest, and they immediately concluded that the problem was His.

God's response: “Get up! Israel has sinned.”

Why do we complain against the sovereignty of God? Why don't we come to Him and ask for Him to reveal to us how we might best glorify Him in every disappointment? We may not ever be able to figure out the mystery of His providence, but we can know this for certain. In the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:6, “It is not as though the Word of God has failed.”

There is never any problem that comes to us from God's failure. There is nothing wrong with God's Word. There is nothing amiss in His sovereignty. Something else is going on. We do not even need to know why disaster has come, although God reveals the root of the problem here to Joshua. What we need to know is how we can glorify God through the trial.

I do not know why God chose to show the glory of His righteousness regarding this particular garment, these pieces of silver, and this bar of gold. I do not know why He overlooks so many other offenses. I do not know why 36 fighting men had to die before the sin of Achan was exposed. I only know that the Judge of all the earth and the King and Head of the church is always right. The error or immorality is never His.

We need to give glory to God in every providence. He is just and good. We can be rightly humbled when the walls of Jericho come down, and we can be rightly brought low before Him when the sin of Achan is exposed and he is destroyed before our very eyes along with all that are named by his name.

Thou shalt not covet.

I am desperate for a substitute, not only for me, but for my household, and for the church that I serve. I am desperate for the One who can bring me peace with a just and holy God.

Thank you for a better man than Achan. Thank you for Jesus. He is not only the Captain of my salvation. He is my Guide and Friend.

“Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.”

Psalm 117

I remember hearing a story about a mother who used to sit in her kids' playpen with the young ones on the outside so that she could read her Bible and pray. I wonder if she is still alive today, and what her children are doing?

“Praise the Lord, all nations!”

My wife and I listened to that story on our way down to Atlanta in 1995. We were being evaluated as church planters. A very impressive Brazilian pastor was also being evaluated so that he could start a church in the United States. When he preached, it was the first time I heard the Word proclaimed in the duet of a language I did not know echoed by a second language I did know. I still remember the power of that experience. Two men, both loving the Lord, different in personality, proclaiming the same message from the same passage about Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross of Christ for a short distance, and about what was ahead of us all as we sought to start new churches.

“Extol him, all peoples!”

Friends of ours were watching our four kids at home. When we got back there was a little medical emergency involving running children and a door that connected with a precious little face. How many little tragedies has God carried us through in our lives? How many loved ones has He kept through challenging moments?

“For great is his steadfast love toward us.”

We did not know what we would face in the years ahead. Memories can be shocking. Who was there with us in those days? What were our first meetings like with the handful of people who wanted to serve the Lord by starting a church together? How would we grow in our love for the Lord who loved us with such a full and powerful death? What is ahead of us now as we walk with others in the worship of the God of the resurrection today?

“The faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.”

How many were there in those early years that are safe with Jesus in heaven now? What a Savior!

“Praise the LORD!”

Psalm 116

I have a God who hears me. What should I say to Him?

What do I really need today? I need mercy. He is a holy God. I am a sinner saved by His grace. I need that grace again now.

I need deliverance from the power of death. Yesterday could have been my last day on earth, but it was not. I am ready to be with the Lord in heaven. I am eager for more of heaven's society. But the Lord has life for me here for at least another morning. Once again I am healed by the God who gives resurrection life to His children. I am alive, and there is work to do for the glory of His Name.

When my final moment comes on this earth, I will need deliverance from the grave and from the powers of hell. Jesus Christ has provided that for me. He pleads for me with the Father and rescues me from eternal destruction. Though I cannot keep myself alive for even one moment, He has secured for me an unending stream of glorious moments with Him in the society of the redeemed in heaven.

The Lord is gracious, but He is also righteous. If He says that sin deserves death, then a death must be given for my sin if I am to enjoy life with Him in peace. The cross is the only way to accomplish this. Jesus was willing to suffer that for me.

I can't understand the religious systems and the philosophical movements that have shaped the world over many centuries. I am a simple person. I know that the Lord has saved me from death and despair on many occasions. I know that the Lord has given me the gift of faith, and that He has opened up my eyes to the riches of His Word. I know that He has given me the finest examples of faithful living to admire and to follow as they have followed Jesus. I know that He has allowed me to taste at least some of the joys of the life to come through His Holy Spirit. In all of this and more, I am alive, and I am walking in Him.

What can I give back to the Lord for His lavish blessings upon me? I can worship Him. I can seek Him and follow Him every day. I can be a part of the community of the blessed.

I am one of His saints, His holy ones who call upon His Name. I am not even close to perfect. Some of my weaknesses are glaring and very embarrassing. But I also have gifts and graces that have come to me from my heavenly Father.

When I was still in my mother's womb, mom was in a car accident. The Lord kept me through that trouble. When I was just a couple of months old, He rescued me from pneumonia. When I was five years old I walked through a glass door and needed emergency surgery, which happened right on our dining room table. Another deliverance.

When I was in high school, during a time of some inner despair, God showed me a new life of knowing Him, but I soon walked away from that life, and tried to walk away from Him entirely. Years later, He rescued me again together with my wife, and made us a family of faith. He has brought us through many challenges, even the worst trouble that a parent could imagine in the loss of our son.

The day that Sam was born, Psalm 116 was my devotional reading. Now Sam is with the Lord after 22 years on this earth. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

I am still alive today. But one day, I will die. When I die, Jesus will care. He will know. My death is precious in His sight.

I am just one of His saints, one of the members of His vast body throughout the world. He does not love me for this life only. He has kept me from death, both in body and in soul, on many occasions. One day He will bring me to a new life in His presence. That day will be precious in His sight, not because of the loss, but because of the gain. This is what the apostle says. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Yesterday was not the day of my death. I am alive here on earth today to serve Him and to enjoy Him for another day. I have some work to do today. Before I get going, I want to start with what matters most. I want to praise the God who has saved me time and again.

I want to praise the only Lord who is merciful enough and righteous enough to save me from eternal death through His own death. I want to receive the One who assures me that the death of even the least of His saints matters to Him. I want to place my heart in His heart. I want to live. I want to worship the Lord. I want to serve Him forever. One day He will take away every weight that hinders my forward progress toward Him. I will worship and serve Him in a society of perfect praise and love.

I have a God who hears me. What should I say to Him?

“Good morning, Lord! Blessed be Your Name! Thank you for another day of life. Have mercy on me, a sinner and a saint saved by Jesus, the Passover Lamb. Lord Jesus, I will go where you want me to go. I will do what you want me to do. I will say what you want me to say. I am Yours. My life is precious in Your sight. Even my death is precious in Your sight. Thank You for Your love. Amen.”

Psalm 115

To God be the glory!

This is the only way for us to to live in wisdom. If we live for our own glory, we live under the oppression of idolatry. I am not the highest being in the universe. The Lord is. It is right that everyone should glorify the Lord.

It is also right for the Lord to glorify Himself above everything that He has created. This does not mean that we lose out. He has abounding love and steadfast commitment to us as His people. When He magnifies His own Name, we who are called by that Name should greatly rejoice. We are blessed in Him.

We humans seem to have a preference for a God we can see and even carry around. Our God reigns from heaven's heights. He does all that He pleases. This place of highest power and authority is where Jesus went after He had sufficiently displayed the reality of His resurrection to many witnesses. He now reigns over all, and He gives gifts to the church.

You become like the god that you worship. If you worship a convenient, lifeless god, what will you become? But if you worship the I-AM, what is your destiny, together with all who call upon the Name?

The Lord will bless His Israel and His church. We are priests to Him; servants and sons. He intends to shower the richest blessing upon all who worship Him, no matter how despised they may be in the eyes of the powerful in the present age.

May the Lord grant you great increase! May He also bless your loved ones! May all those you love be blessed by the One who is most able to fill your lives with every good gift, the God who who created the heavens and the earth. Above all, may He give Himself to you and yours, not just for a brief moment, but forever in His eternal kingdom.

We will live! We will live forever! We will praise the Lord forever, together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with all the Lord's chosen ones. The Author of life has come, and through His death and resurrection, He has defeated death for us. He is the resurrection, and the life. Rejoice in the Lord, and be glad! Even the earth, which He has given to the sons of men, will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, forever and ever, Amen!

Psalm 114

God's people were once in bondage in Egypt, held captive by an oppressive nation. But the Lord delivered them from their prison.

God is able to free us from every remaining sting of the curse, and to bring us safely home to the kingdom of heaven. We do not know when that will be, but we should not think of it as very far away.

On the journey from the Red Sea to the Jordan, despite all the difficulties of disobedience that they brought upon themselves, the tribes of Israel were the Lord's holy sanctuary. The church throughout the world is now the temple of the Holy Spirit. Like Israel in the wilderness, we are not sufficiently aware that the Lord dwells in the praises of His people. But Christ in us is called by the Apostle Paul, “the Hope of Glory.” When we have the fullness of Glory in the kingdom of heaven above, we will have no doubt whatsoever that the Lord is with us.

The Lord is able to make the sea bed like a desert, so that His people can walk through the waters on completely dry land. He is able to move mountains with a word if they stand in the way of our enjoyment of Him and our service in His kingdom. If any obstacle remains with us today, it may be that the Lord is using it to form us more fully in accord with His good purposes.

One day the earth will tremble again at the presence of the Lord, and a new Jerusalem will descend from on high and the Lord will renew the earth. Those who are held in prison today by men, justly or unjustly, can even now find perfect freedom in Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sins.

We who know what it is to be forgiven through the blood of the Lamb, welcome people into the Lord's communion. This must be so. The Lord moved mountains to get them there. He parted seas in order to bring His chosen ones home again to His house. That is how we came to be a part of His worship. We were just unworthy servants, but the Lord has made us His sons in the Messiah. Now He satisfies our thirst with streams of water that flow from the Rock of our salvation at the right hand of our Father in heaven. He touches our longing hearts, but we want more of Him.

Colossians 1

Devotion on Colossians 1 from 2009

Monday, December 14, 2009

Colossians 1

It is such a great blessing that there are those servants who have brought to us a true Word from the Lord by the will of God. That word is full of the grace and peace of God which has been won for us at great cost by Jesus Christ. God uses that word as a call to our souls, doing a spiritual work that enlivens the faith of the Lord’s people and their love for Him and for all those who belong to Him. 

This Word that comes by the will of God through His messengers excites our imagination concerning the life to come as we consider the hope that is laid up for us in the present heaven. The story of heaven is a part of the good news, the truth that we have heard and believed. This good news bears fruit wherever it is proclaimed and believed. For this work of fruitfulness to grow in the best way, the message of Christ that is preached must not only be spoken, it must be understood. Specifically, the power of the word is most clear as those who receive it understand that all the blessings that are for us have come to us as a gift of God. To see this more and more clearly is to understand the grace of God in truth.

The church that receives the message of grace, hearing of the death of Jesus Christ and the life that He has given to us at such great cost, would naturally desire to speak to others of this good news. The ears can work without the engagement of the soul. What is necessary for the fruitfulness of the gospel is a spiritual work. Without a powerful work of God upon our souls, we cannot have the kind of endurance and patience with joy that is appropriate for those who have been delivered out of the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. If we have heard about the inheritance that is ours through Jesus, if we know what it is to have our sins definitively forgiven, if we are aware that we were once enslaved in a world of evil but have now been purchased back, redeemed, by the blood of Lamb of God, it makes no sense for us to be lacking in enthusiasm for this great state of affairs. We should be filled with joy and have the message of our salvation on our lips regularly. 

When we look at our lives honestly we see that the love of many has grown cold. How can we recover the warmth of the kind of faith that grows? We need to meditate on the wonder of God, and particularly the glory of the one who has given Himself for our blessing, Jesus Christ. He is the icon of God, the visible manifestation of the invisible God, and is the source of all creation. There is nothing that was made that was not made through Him. This includes not only the wide array of beautiful and orderly organisms and elements in the natural world all around us on earth; we are told that the Son of God also created all things in heaven. All things were not only created through Him, but also all things were created for Him. He is the end of all things and He is before all things, in the same eternal realms as the Father and the Spirit. He is above all unseen authorities, including all angelic hosts, and all things hold together in Him.

Now that Jesus Christ has purchased a people through His blood, He has taken His place as the head of that body that the Scriptures call the church. This is especially good news for us, since in Him we have seen our resurrection destiny. He is the firstborn from the dead, and will have complete preeminence forever over everyone and everything in the world of glorious life.

Jesus Christ is obviously not some lesser god. All the fullness of God dwells in Him, and through the cross He has accomplished what is necessary to reunite heaven and earth that was severed through the sin of mankind. If we can grasp today the wonder of what is being accomplished in Jesus Christ, how can we not bow down before Him as Lord? How can we not thank the Son of God who has given us peace through the blood of His own cross?

Do you want to have an appropriate message that would be worth sharing with others? Think of this Jesus Christ. Think of His cross, the ugliness and beauty of it, the hate that it represents and the love that it displays, the apparent weakness of it and the overwhelming power of it. Think of where you would be without this Jesus and the cross, and what kind of hope you would have when your mortal life comes to an end. 

You were not close to God, but far away. You were holy, but evil. You were not full of some good purpose for living, but were fighting against God. But now, because of Jesus Christ, you are reconciled to God, you are counted as holy and blameless in Christ, and even your suffering has great meaning. Above all, this great divine Son of God is in you, and He Himself is your confident assurance of all the glory of heavenly life. Your best days are yet to come. You can safely rejoice in Christ, and you can rightly share the message of this good news with others. This is a struggle that is worthy of your heart and your life.

John 6

Here's a devotion on John 6 I originally posted in 2009. Have a great day :)

Monday, April 27, 2009

John 6

By this time in the ministry of Jesus there were great crowds following Him, particularly because He was performing signs of the coming resurrection age, when a new life beyond the life of decay and mortality that we are so used to now will be here upon the earth. That life can be known now through the preaching of the kingdom, and will be known even more when we are in heaven. The crowds did not connect the signs that Jesus was doing to the new heavens and the new earth promised by the prophets, nor did they connect the signs to the Messiah as the key figure in bringing about the resurrection world to come. They certainly did not see the connection between the role of Jesus as the Passover Sin-Bearer and the coming of the fullness of God’s promises. What they did see is that people were being fixed now, and they wanted that. So many people wanted those blessings, and so many were following Him, that there was nothing approaching an adequate supply of food to meet everyone’s needs. Jesus cared about this, and though He knew what He would do to solve this problem, He put the question to His disciples, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat.”

Part of the correct answer to that question would be the inability of the disciples to do this task. They could not provide bread for thousands, but this is only part of the correct answer. The other part of the correct answer is that Jesus could do this, and that His performance of this miraculous feeding, providing bread from heaven, would be another confirming sign of His identity. As the Messiah would bring the Word of life to millions through the use of His disciples, He used them that day to give bread to thousands. He then instructed them to gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost. The baskets of fragments they gathered was a public display of the extent of this miracle, but His direction to gather the fragments may have had another point. The use of the imagery and vocabulary of lost bread and perishing people mentioned later in this chapter, makes us suspect that there was something more here in this surprising command after this sign of resurrection fullness. God does not like things to be permanently out of place (See Luke 15). Someone saved through the blood of Christ must not remain scattered abroad as if lost or perishing. Such a person should be gathered into God’s kingdom.

The people saw the sign that Jesus did, even though He was working through His disciples. They concluded that He was the great Prophet that they were expecting, and they determined that He should be King, and that they could make that happen their way. Therefore, He went away by Himself, which created the occasion for another miracle, this one seen only by His disciples, who were travelling by night on stormy seas. As He walked upon the rough waters with a memorable display of His sovereignty, He spoke amazing words of self-identification often translated, “It is I.” Our Lord used the words here that God used for His own name in the Old Testament, “I-AM.” Given the fact that He was walking on the water and that they quickly arrived at their destination once He came on board, it seems clear that Jesus was providing the reassurance to His disciples that would be a comfort to them through their proclamation of the Bread of Life to a world that often rejected Him and them. I-AM is with us.

The people were determined to find Him because they wanted more bread. They kept on speaking about bread, and He kept on speaking about Himself. They knew what they wanted, and God knew who they needed. They needed His Son, the Bread that came down from heaven. They did not believe this, and He knew it. He also knew two facts of salvation that are still just as true today as they were back then.1. Everyone who looks on the Son, and believes in Him, will have eternal life, raised up gloriously by Jesus on the day of His return. 2. No one can come to Jesus, unless the Father draws him. The point of this second fact is not that we should be passive or resigned about our eternal state. We are to believe in the one that the Father has sent and labor to have Him, for He is the bread from heaven, the only One with the Father’s seal of approval.

There were many who did not like the idea that Jesus was saying that He came down from heaven and Jesus knew it, but He did not back away from this important truth at all. He is the preexistent, eternal Son of God, and He holds the key to resurrection life. Those who are being drawn to Him by the Father will eventually vigorously desire Him. He spoke of them eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which then further offended those who were rejecting His Word. He said that those who want eternal life must feed on Him, and many of the larger group of His disciples were so offended by this that they no longer followed Him. The twelve remained with Him, though even one of them would eventually betray Him.

Jesus was using the imagery of eating His flesh, because He is the peace offering and the Passover Lamb. These were sacrificial offerings that the people of Israel were permitted to consume. Jesus is our peace and our rescue from certain judgment. The profit for us is not in His physical flesh, it is in His Word, which is Spirit and life to the one who will eagerly desire it and receive it. Something like this is surely happening when we rightly partake of the Lord’s Supper, which had not yet been instituted when the events of John 6 took place. Today we receive the Word from heaven gladly. There is no other place for us to go. We listen eagerly to the Word of God, knowing that this Word is alive and powerful. We long for Him, and we receive Him, for He is the bread who came down from heaven to give us life.

Joshua 6

Jericho was a city in Canaan with a king and with mighty men of valor. But God gave Jericho into the hand of Joshua and the people of Israel, and the conquest of Canaan began.

The Lord was the leader of this campaign. He was not second-guessing Himself about the events described in this chapter and in the rest of this book. Hundreds of years ago He had announced that He would give this land to Abraham.

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:18-21)

God knew the timing of this conquest, and He had His reasons. As He told Abraham, “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” It is a pleasure to follow a Leader who has such confidence and such perfect moral judgment. He is not plagued by doubts. His purposes shall be established.

We need to trust Him. We need to believe in the wisdom of His goals, and we need to follow His voice. He knows where He is going, and He knows the best way to get there.

Only the Lord could have come up with His specific plan for the defeat of Jericho. His plan was not according to the wisdom of men. It could easily be critiqued, but to be God's critic is never wise.

Even today, in the New Testament era, God has a goal for the church, and He has revealed a plan for the achievement of that goal. We need to trust and obey. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us.

We blow the trumpet of good news everywhere today. We preach Christ, the cross, the resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, and the coming of the new heavens and the new earth with the return of our victorious Lord. To some, it is an aroma of life. They are the Rahabs who have the gift of faith. The Lord will not forget His promise to them. “If you acknowledge Me before men, I will acknowledge you before my Father in heaven.” But to others, the preaching of the gospel is an aroma of death.

It is not our place to judge the Lord. It is enough for us to remember that we came from a city of destruction, and that He has gathered us and our households into His loving arms.

When we fight against the Lord, we only try to rebuild the city of destruction. Jesus, who died for us, is the Way. His goals are the right goals. His methods are the right methods.

Psalm 113

What does it mean for you and I to praise the Lord?

This is the third psalm in a row to begin with the simple words, “Praise the Lord!” But what does it mean?

Isn't it just calling us together for worship? But it cannot be just a simple going through the motions of liturgy. We want to praise Someone who we would know to be there with us. We can only praise the Lord in person if He shows up. We are desperate for Him to answer our first prayer of worship, an “invocation.”

We know that God is everywhere, but when we invoke His presence we are simply asking Him to make Himself known again in our midst. That's the way that we want to praise the Lord. We want Him to show up, and then we want to show up in Spirit and in truth. This is worth asking for. We want to serve Him with worship. We want to glorify His Name. He wants that too. We should have no doubt that if we ask, we will receive.

God is not bound by just one special place and time. His Name will be praised forever, and there is no place so dead that He cannot bring life there.

They get this right in heaven. They praise the Lord there. They know that He is with them, and they gladly come before Him without delay, excuse or challenge. He is the Lord of heavenly worship. He can grant us the desire of our hearts too today when we say, “Thy kingdom come.”

He is not stuck in the muck of sickness and sadness. He is seated on His throne. And yet He is very near to all who call upon Him in truth.

He can relate to our poverty. His Son became poor, securing our rich inheritance. He knows what it is to be thrown out by people and left on the ash heap. He was despised and rejected by men. He can make us sit with heavenly princes when we have lost all hope. He knows what it is to be utterly alone. How else can we understand His deep words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” But He will never forsake us. He will give us a mother's joy again. Praise the Lord of the resurrection!

“Be with us today, Lord. We call upon Your Name.”

Psalm 112

All of my righteousness comes from Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the one Man who had the true fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. This fear is the reverent awe of a holy worshiper of God who stands ready to hear and obey God's Word. Jesus greatly delighted in His Father's commandments, and fulfilled them all.

“His offspring will be mighty in the land.” I am counted as a son of God through faith in Him. He has gone to that Jerusalem above, the land of heaven, where all His children are blessed. They are called the generation of the upright in Him.

This great King, Jesus, has title to all the great blessings of heaven. The wealth and riches of earth are fleeting. They come and they go. But the riches of heaven come from righteousness, and His perfect righteousness endures forever.

He dwells in a realm of perfect light. That light dawns every day over my remaining darkness. He sends His gracious and merciful Holy Spirit to the church, and moves us toward the fullest blessings of His great kingdom. He is generous and just in all that He does.

The stability of heaven comes to us through Him. During His days here below, He trusted His Father through every affliction. His heart was steadfast in His great mission, which He fully accomplished on the cross. Now He has become the Source of the good news that we proclaim to the world.

Whatever battle still remains for us here below, He will win the victory for us. He will not be content until the fullness of His heavenly kingdom covers the earth.

I am poor now, but He distributes His blessings freely to the needy. He counts me as His friend.

My desire is for Him, and for the life that He has won. That life will last forever, but the desire of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 111

Teach me, O Lord, how to praise You!

The command of God to praise Him makes perfect sense. His people in the church should worship Him. All those who have been credited with the righteousness of Christ should thank Him continually with dedicated hearts. There is no good excuse to withdraw our full devotion from God.

The greatness of God compared to us is obvious, and there can be no doubt that we should thank Him and praise Him. If we find our hearts lagging behind, there is some help for us. We can begin to contemplate the Lord's great works using this acrostic poem, where every line starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

God's works can be studied. These works are everywhere, both around us and in us. They show forth His splendor and His majesty to those who want to delight in Him.

Everything that God has done, He has accomplished in perfect righteousness. There are no moral short-cuts with Him, and no compromise of His character. Especially His saving love through the gift of His Son is very worthy of our meditation. His righteousness endures forever through the cross of Christ. On the cross, the perfect justice of God and the perfect mercy of God embrace, and our sins are forever atoned for.

The Lord has made His works to be remembered forever. His acts of creation are presented for us in the Scriptures with elegant simplicity. His mysterious providence in the history of Israel are recorded for us. They continue on to the present hour. His saving plan for all the peoples of the earth through the Son of God, the King of the Jews, is a frequent, though veiled, theme throughout the Old Testament. But now this great work of God has been made manifest through the coming of His Son, and through His cross and resurrection. Now the good news of God's salvation is being published all over the world.

The Lord is gracious and merciful! This is not a mere assertion. The story of His covenant love is fully recorded for us in the Scriptures. But we also know it in our lives. Will there be food on the table today? Will the Lord's Supper be celebrated in the worship of His people again this Sunday? The Lord provides food for those who approach Him in reverent submission. He is preparing a banquet feast for His children in the heavenly assembly. He is faithful all over the world where people call upon His Name through the One Mediator between God and man.

His statutes are great, though we have not perfectly obeyed them. But now a new Law of heavenly compassion and righteousness has come in person. Now we have seen the fullness of divine love in the cross, and the way of life is clear for us. We must follow Him. He has granted us His Holy Spirit, so that we can walk as Jesus walked with faithfulness and uprightness. Even when we fail, there is strong encouragement for all who repent and believe. We are forgiven and cleansed.

He has purchased us back from sin, death, and hell. We have been brought out of the worst house of bondage by the blood of the Lamb. It is time to draw near to Him in sincere devotion. Now we have been moved to a better understanding, not just in our minds, but in our hearts. We will worship the Lord forever through the Son of God, who is the Alpha and the Omega, and every letter in between.

Psalm 110

The great I-AM, Jehovah, Yahweh, the LORD, says a Word to some other great being, called in Psalm 110:1, David's Adonai, or “Lord.”

The first LORD is the word “I-AM.” Jews did not feel it right to even say His Name. In reverence, whenever they came to that great Name in the public reading of the Hebrew Scriptures, they would say a different word, “Adonai.” When this passage was read in Hebrew, the reader would say, “The ADONAI said to my Adonai.” When the Hebrew Bible was translated into the Greek version that was commonly used in the days of Jesus and the apostles, the word for “Lord,” “kurios,” was used twice. “KURIOS says to my kurios,” or in English, “The LORD says to my lord.”

The identity of the first “LORD” who is speaking to David's “Lord” is undisputed. He is the great “I-AM,” the Lord God Almighty. But who is the One that He speaks to? To whom does He say, “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool?”

This great Messiah King was called “My Son” in Psalm 2:7, “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, 'You are my Son.'” It was everyone's understanding from the promise of God to David that there would be a “Christ” who would be David's descendant or “Son.” How could the Christ be both David's Son and David's Lord?

Now we know.

Jesus was the descendant of David according to His human nature, but in His divine nature, He was the eternal Son of God. This Christ was the One that the Father spoke to in Psalm 110. This One who came after David was also above David. He was David's Son and David's Lord.

The Father said to the Son, “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Jesus is now exalted in the heavens at the right hand of the Father. We must not resist Him.

Jesus rules from Zion above. He rules over the earth in the midst of those who oppose Him. His power is expressed in the service of a willing people who come to Him. They come to Him not to pursue their own agendas, but to joyfully give themselves to suffering love. This love was expressed perfectly in the cross. This is the life of love for God and others that the Lord calls us to live today. When we are His willing people, following Him in the love of the cross, His power is made manifest in the midst of the world.

Jesus has the holy garments of His great priesthood, and we, who follow Him, have been dressed in His righteousness. Every day He can fill us with the freshness of heaven so that we will serve Him in the power of a new life.

The great I-AM is completely and permanently committed to this: His Son will be a perfectly holy Priest forever, according to the example shown centuries before in Genesis 14 in the King-Priest Melchizedek, the King of Salem. (See Hebrews 7 for more on Jesus and Melchizedek.)

We who follow Jesus as willing servants find our identity in Him. He is our great High Priest, and we are priests to God in Him. We are not our own. We are ready to follow His will. He lives in us, and we live through Him.

Together, the Priest-King and His Kingdom of servants will be victorious in the battle of love and justice. He fought the good fight in the fullness of the Spirit. We also “drink from the brook by the way,” and we lift up our heads in wonder that the power of God would be expressed through our weakness.

This is the Christian life. There is no other way for us but this one. In our connection to Him, His kingdom comes. May His will be done through you today on earth as it is in heaven.

Joshua 5

The Lord God exalted Joshua in the eyes of Israel through a great miracle at the Jordan River. Through that same sign, He caused the kings of the Canaanites to take notice regarding the nation of Israel, and they were afraid.

This was a new beginning for Israel, and they consecrated themselves before the Lord. Joshua circumcised the conquest generation. The wilderness generation was gone. The life of Israel in Egypt was a thing of the past.

After this sacrament of covenant initiation, the people celebrated the Passover in the promised land, and they ate the food of a new world. The daily provision of manna ceased. God would provide for His people in a new way.

At this critical moment of new beginning, Joshua met a Man who identified Himself as “the Commander of the army of the Lord.” He was confronted and humbled by this Man who held a drawn sword in His hand.

Joshua met the One who was the visible manifestation of the invisible God. He met the eternal Son of God. When He came to take on our woes, this Commander was given Joshua's name.

Joshua asked Him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” His answer: “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.”

God had His purposes through the conquest that would begin soon at Jericho. He had His purposes for Israel. But He is not a tribal God who is only the possession of one ethnic group. He is over all. He rightly seeks His own glory. He will have mercy on whom He has mercy.

As mysterious as this encounter was, Joshua interpreted it rightly. He fell on his face and worshiped, and then asked for orders.

The command of the Lord was reminiscent of the Word of God to Moses at the burning bush: “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

We serve today at the pleasure of Jesus, the Commander of the army of the Lord. He came once to die. He will come again to judge. His sword is in His hand. Who can stand before Him?

Today we put away all envy, malice, bitterness, and the sin that so easily entangles us. We consecrate ourselves before the Lord. We remember that He became the Passover Lamb for us. We humbly receive His Word, and offer ourselves to Him as His blood-bought servants. We worship Him, and we look for the fullness of His kingdom.