Proverbs 4

What does it mean for us to grow in Christian maturity? We need to listen to wise instruction and to let it change us.

Maturity in the Lord is not just for young men. Paul writes in Titus 2:2, “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.” This is a worthy goal. How can we attain it unless we follow the good examples that God has set before us?

Even old men need to listen to wisdom. We especially need to listen to the Word of God and to diligently put it into practice, rather than being led by the nose according to our old habits or childish emotions.

Wisdom demands that we see the difference between good and evil, and that we stay away from bad pathways. We cannot find maturity in Jesus by joining with others in their malice and violence. That should be obvious. The pathway of wickedness leads only to darkness and death.

There is an alternative road; one that our righteous Savior walked for us. That road leads to ever clearer spiritual vision and to the bright day of healthy resurrection living, but it requires that we pick up a cross of love.

We will foolishly reject that cross if we live our life according to childish impulses. The maturity of true faith and love demands that we learn this discernment concerning our own hearts and find the courage from the Lord to reject evil.

Are we wandering from the joy of the Lord? Are we returning to old ways that will only lead to trouble? We need to see the wisdom of God again in our Savior and to run toward that light. We need to keep His cross love for us as the delight of our innermost being with all sincerity and faithfulness. Remember, He forgives and He renews. Out of our hearts will flow streams of living water; the Lord's gift to His children.

Following the Savior who loves us requires diligence. We need to pay attention not only to the meditations of our hearts, but also to the words that we speak.

A child may not yet have the discernment necessary to turn away from evil. That little one can be easily led astray. He needs constant supervision. The maturity that we seek is for those who have found out how to govern themselves by the grace that the Lord supplies. We have learned the value of listening to sound words.

We have also discovered that we cannot let our eyes gaze longingly at that which will only destroy us. We will only avoid injury if we are willing to diligently keep our eyes on the pathway that leads to life. “Lead on, O King eternal. We follow you!”

Matthew 6

In one generation after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the religious sanctuary atop Mount Zion was destroyed by Roman armies. With the end of temple life in Jerusalem came an eclipsing of the Sadducees as a powerful religious group. There remained two very important Jewish groups. One of these, the Pharisees, was especially identified with synagogues scattered all over the Mediterranean world. The other group were the Jewish followers of Jesus Christ, increasingly joined by large numbers of Gentiles who learned that they did not need to follow the Old Testament ceremonial laws in order to have peace with God, but that their righteous standing before God was due entirely to the merit of Christ their Redeemer.

This doctrine of justification by faith put the Christians at great odds with the Pharisees, who pursued their particular version of Law as if they could secure their standing with God through the performance of works. The true facts are that Jews and Gentiles can only have peace with God because of the works of the Lord. We trust in Him and are justified. Yet those who truly do trust in Him are moved from death to life and are called upon to perform good works.

While we are not saved by works, good works of humble service are an important display of the grace that is ours as those who have a living faith in the Messiah. Those works are something that God has prepared for us. They are best performed in as humble a way as possible to give all glory to God, and not to draw attention unnecessarily to ourselves. Showiness was unfortunately a big problem in the Pharisaic world. It is safe for us to add that it is not only Pharisees who are tempted to practice acts of righteousness in front of other people in order to be seen by them. The Lord assures us that there is no heavenly reward for those who seek only the applause of men.

It is a fact that giving to the needy, praying, and fasting are things that are good for us to do, but not if our goal is to look religious or generous to others. We should remain unimpressed with ourselves concerning the good things that we are privileged to be able to do. These things are best done in secret, only for the eyes of the One who knows the secrets of our hearts and is not impressed with the showiness of hypocrites.

The Lord instructs us that kingdom prayer should not be loaded with empty phrases and useless words. He gives His disciples a simple pattern of prayer that has informed the Christian church for centuries. This prayer begins with the glory of His name, the coming of His great kingdom, and the seeking of His will above our own. Then the matters of our daily provision, forgiveness for our sins, and our protection from evil are brought to the Lord as a secondary matter. There is a particular emphasis on forgiveness, for Christ has come to deal with our sins at great cost to Himself. It is unseemly when His people are pushy with their own ideas, or even worse, are unwilling to forgive others when Christ has paid such a heavy price in His life and death to secure our eternal blessedness.

There is a way of life that is so common among men in every society that we can lose track of how wrong and harmful it is. I speak here of the life of worry. This world is a place of scarcity, and many people would have us give ourselves over to fear. When we do this, we miss some of the obvious lessons of the Lord’s providence all around us. He feeds the birds, and He cares even for the flowers. Don’t we know that He will take care of us too? When our time comes to leave this world and to go to higher realms where angels dwell, are we not aware of the fact that He will take care of us in that place even more wonderfully than He takes care of us now?

All of this worry does no good for us. We are not able to keep our bodies alive even one extra hour by worrying. In fact, unnecessary fears take years off of our life expectancy and give you nothing but grief in return. This kind of anxiety betrays a lack of trust in the Lord. Through that way of life, we display an undue attachment to the things of this creation, rather than an overwhelming affection for the Lord and His heaven.

There is a better way to live. It is that life that is lived moment by moment in the awareness that God is real, that He has captivated us with the love of Christ, and that whatever miseries we may face in this age cannot follow us beyond the grave if we are in Jesus Christ. This is the way that our Savior lived. He was the One who was always seeking first God’s kingdom and God’s good definition of all righteousness. He was able to sleep well in the stern of a boat when the disciples were overwhelmed by the possibility of drowning. If we know that there is something good waiting for us beyond this life, we can greet the unnatural fact of death, though an enemy, as yet a foe who unwittingly takes us to the home of our greatest and most powerful friend. Christ suffered for us, but He put away all anxiety after His solemn request to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. There was no other way than the cross. He went there with no sinful worries. He willingly suffered for the joy that was set before Him. It was a day of great trouble for Him, yet by it He won for us a great weight of surpassing glory. Such a Savior can be fully trusted.

Matthew 5

As we begin the Sermon on the Mount, we enter into the most famous statement of the teaching ministry of the Messiah, one of several large discourses in this gospel. It is not as if the few phrases that we have received from the Lord’s mouth in the prior chapters of this gospel have been insignificant. In chapter three He indicated that it was necessary for Him to fulfill all righteousness. In chapter four we have His words against the devil in His settled determination to establish the kingdom God’s way. Towards the end of that chapter we read the powerful summary of His preaching in a call to repentance and an announcement of the kingdom of heaven. He also tells Simon and Andrew to follow Him, promising to make them fishers of men.

Each of these little statements is a weighty springboard for the display of the whole counsel of God. Yet in the extended message that begins in this chapter, we have more than a few powerful phrases. We have three chapters full of the words of Christ to us, helping us to understand the life of the gospel age for those who would be a part of the kingdom of heaven.

The opening of this message reflects on the present suffering in this age and the future reward that will be ours in the age to come. There is a glory to this, not only in the future part, but in the present trials, because of the certainty of faith. Isn’t it true that if God the Son says something is a certain way, then it is that way? He explains to us what the gospel age will be like. We should not be surprised if we feel weak and poor, if we mourn and are lowly, if we are longing for a better day of greater righteousness, if we face the challenge of seeking purity and peace in a world where these may seem rare, if we face the physical and emotional turmoil of being persecuted or just ignored.

Jesus tells us that this kind of life should not only be our expectation, we should also consider ourselves blessed when things like this happen to us and to those we love. The reason that He gives is that there is another age coming. In that age, we shall be in the kingdom of heaven. There we will be comforted. At the resurrection we will inherit the earth. We shall be satisfied with the richness of God’s provision in the age to come. Even now we experience the Lord’s mercy, and we are able to know God. But in that coming day, we shall see God, and we will be openly acknowledged to be the sons of God. Our reward will be great even in the present heaven. How wonderful will it be when we are living in the glory of the resurrection age when Christ returns?

Until that day we are to be much more interested in being imitators of our Savior than being just like the perishing world all around us. We are here now in order to be different in a good way. This holiness of life and desire for the truth and mercy of God will be good not only for us, but also for the places where we live. Though only Christ could bear the burden of our sin, He does not call us to a life of continuing in sin, but to a life of radical holiness and blessedness. He who has fulfilled the Law and the Prophets is in perfect continuity with the life of godliness summarized in the Ten Commandments. This makes Him very different from the religious leaders of His day, and we must follow in this way, or we will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

If we are using our knowledge of the grace of God as an excuse to denigrate the Law of God, then we do not understand the heart of Christ at all. Far from minimizing the common understanding of obedience to the Ten Commandments, our Lord makes it very clear that the Pharisaic way was not really a way of law-keeping, but a minimization of the true and weighty matters of the Law. Jesus was not about to overturn eternal commandments against murder, adultery, and false witness. Instead, He instructs His hearers in the fact that the Law is far more extensive and demanding upon them than they had considered. God was never impressed with perfunctory outward displays of obedience, but expected the holy motions of renewed hearts from those whom He would count to be His sons.

Not only are we required to keep the whole moral law of God summarized in the Ten Commandments, the duty of love that we have is far beyond the simple words of any statute. Does the world hate you? Love them in return. Do they slap you? They slapped Him first. Turn the other cheek. Do they make you walk a mile? They made Him carry a cross, a cross that He came willingly to bear. He says, “Follow me.” Don’t just love your friends. That is not the way of the kingdom. The King came to love us when we were His enemies.

What our Savior reveals here is that our God expects and demands from us nothing less than perfection. It is therefore a tremendous comfort for us to reflect on the fact that ultimately what God demands, God will certainly get. We first see the pleasure of God in the obedience of His Son, with whom He is well-pleased. When such a One dies a sinner’s death, we know that this death cannot be for the One who knew no sin. He must be the Lamb of God, the One who saves His people from their sins. Further, we know that the place where we are destined to go is in no way a place of sin. In that place we will truly obey in the fullest way all of the holy commandments that our Lord reveals. We will do His will by the fullness of a new power at work within us. This perfection that the Lord seeks, He will surely bring about, and we will be greatly blessed in that day when the meek in Jesus Christ shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 4

The great Son of God identified with us in our sin through His death on the cross in order to bring us eternal salvation. In His life of suffering He identified with us in all our troubles and He also fulfilled all righteousness. It was necessary for Him as the second Adam to listen to the voice of His Father above all else. For that reason He faced a horrible challenge at the outset of His public ministry as a necessary step in accomplishing all of His holy purposes. Jesus came to crush the head of the serpent. To accomplish this would eventually mean the bruising of His own heel in His death on the cross. Jesus did not merely wander into the wilderness and happen across evil and danger. He was led there by the Spirit for our salvation.

The environment of temptation for Jesus was very different than that faced by the first Adam. Adam was in a beautiful garden with his wonderful wife and everything necessary for joyful living. Jesus was in a desert land. Adam faced his test before sin entered the world. Jesus was tempted in a world of people already full of sin and misery. Yet Adam sinned, and Jesus successfully resisted temptation.

The victory of our Lord in this first battle after His baptism is displayed to us in three parts, all involving the Scriptures. The tempter begins his address to the eternal Son of God, our Immanuel King, with the word, “if.” Would this fallen angel attempt to sow the seed of doubt and unbelief in the very heart of God? Jesus displays His strength not through anything that looks like a miracle, but through the way that any of His followers could respond to the enticements of the world and the flesh. He quotes from the Scriptures. Israel had faced testing in the wilderness before. When Moses reflected on Israel's failure, he spoke these words recorded in Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus quotes this verse after the simple words, “It is written.” Here is the source of authority for us, and it is spoken by the Word of God Himself.

In the second place, Matthew tells of the devil’s misuse of the Scriptures. Taking our Lord somehow to the hotspot of God’s presence in the Old Testament world, the temple in Jerusalem, our Lord is brought to a place of precarious danger, as His adversary quotes Psalm 91:12. This seems to be an attempt to lure Jesus into proving Himself on Satan’s terms, but it may also be a more subtle temptation to lunge into an untimely fight. The reason for such a suspicion is that the devil has quoted a passage with a very provocative context. The next verse contains these words, “The serpent you will trample underfoot.” The response of our Lord puts the focus back on God in a wonderfully measured response from Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

The third temptation listed by Matthew appears to be an overreach of evil. Is it not a fact that evil men and empires throughout history have often brought about their own early demise by overreaching? Isn’t it also a fact that wicked nations cannot be counted on for honesty in their negotiations with others? Does the devil now offer the world to the One through whom it was made, and through whose divine power it is sustained moment by moment? He is sent off with another word from Deuteronomy 6, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” The serpent of old will soon be kept bound so that he will not be able to utterly deceive the nations during the gospel age. Jesus will have the world, but He will have it heaven’s way, through the gathering of the elect.

It is time now for God’s work. The gospel age has its beginnings in the preaching of the great King of the kingdom. The people who were far-off from God in all the nations of the world will soon begin to see a new light in the Word of the Messiah, preached through the agency of men, as the church that the Lord will establish will go forth to baptize and to teach. The great light of that church will be Jesus Christ, presented with a demand of surrender contained in the word “repent” and with a promise of glory contained in the phrase “the kingdom of heaven.”

The Lord of glory would bring the message of the land of angels to men, not directly through the ministry of angels, but through the agency of simple men called to preach the truth of Christ and the resurrection. They would be fishers of men. Instead of being caught in the net of God’s judgment, they would find themselves to be vessels of His mercy for eternal life.

Jesus Himself began this ministry in the land of Galilee. There He proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom and healed every disease and every affliction among the people. He spent three years with men that He called to be with Him for this great purpose. They saw tokens of His resurrection power as He healed the demon-possessed, epileptics, paralytics, and all kinds of other people touched by the sin and misery that came into the world through Adam.

At the end of those three years, the disciples that He called to Himself would be scattered. One would betray Him, another would deny Him, and the crowds would yell for His death. The victory of the kingdom would move forward through the death and resurrection of the King. Then the promise of the Father would be poured out upon the nations, and centuries of suffering love would be offered up by the Lord’s faithful ones, until the Morningstar from on high would appear in all the greatness of His eternal glory. This was the Father’s plan for the Kingdom. It has always been far superior to the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Proverbs 3

Can we trust the Lord with our sons and daughters? Can we believe today that our entreaties to God and to our young ones have not fallen on deaf ears?

There may be periods in the lives of those who are growing up in a confused generation when it would seem that all is lost. But the Lord is able to help His beloved children to remember Him and His Word. Better still, they need never forget God in the first place. That would be peace and blessing to their lives.

Both parent and child need to hear the Word of the Lord and believe. We need to know that the steadfast love and faithfulness of Jesus is not only our salvation, but also the way of life for us that is worthy of sincere imitation. Think of the love of God for His Son, Israel. He disciplines His Son, but He will not forget Him forever. The Lord has covenant love for Jew and Gentile, as many as He has called to Himself. He will not let us go.

We need to trust Him.

Our minds can come up with objections to the lifestyle of true faith, but we must not entertain unbelief as a welcomed guest in our souls. We must not let faithlessness into our hearts today. The Lord is not only the best guest in our home. He is the perfect Lord of the entire estate. He will direct our paths. We will give Him our first and our best. He deserves nothing less.

Even the day of discipline that comes from our Father's hand can lead us to honest thanksgiving. Imagine that the God of the universe, the Father of of our Savior, cares enough for us to ordain our trials. He has a good purpose behind every challenging moment. He delights in us with perfect divine faithfulness secured by the blood of the Lamb.

He is causing us, often through these sufferings, to grow in wisdom. Wisdom is a very good gift that is worth the momentary affliction that we may face today. Fear not. God has a tree of life for you in Jesus Christ in His eternal paradise on high.

The Lord made the earth in perfect wisdom. We cannot understand the events in our individual lives, but He has perfect command over the vast array of details that make up all the realms that He has made, both seen and unseen. Of course we can trust Him today. He has given us His Son. The Lord is our confidence.

Is there a good path in front of you today? Take that road, and trust in God. Stay away from all evil and unnecessary contention. Your days here below are few. Use them well, and look for the blessing that the Lord will bring on the dwelling of the righteous. Look especially for His blessing upon the temple of the Holy Spirit, and seek the perfect peace of the New Jerusalem that is coming down upon the earth from heaven. He has honors stored for you there already.

The Lord speaks to you even today. “Listen My son. Your life is in My hands. Trust Me with this day and the next. Trust me even with your sons and your daughters. Follow My Only-Begotten, Jesus.”

Proverbs 2

It is a great blessing from the Lord to have a godly father on earth who loves you and seeks to instruct you in the way to go. But will young men and women listen to instruction? How well did we appreciate the discipline that came from our fathers when we were growing up?

Despite all that can go wrong between fathers and sons in this world of sin and suffering, God is eager to address us tenderly as those who have a family relation with Him. What a blessing that the Lord of glory would address each of us in this book with the words, “My son!” Will we listen to His voice?

If we will yearn for the voice of God and follow His precepts we will find a treasure that is worth more than all the riches in this world. Are you suffering in some way today and yet God has enabled your weary soul to love His Word? If so, then you are greatly blessed. The Lord has helped you to see His glory and has granted to you heavenly wisdom. Take into your soul the joy that is yours even when you find no peace in the circumstances all around you. God loves you as a treasured son. His plans for you must be very good. Even though you face a measure of suffering now, the Lord is guiding you in the way of righteousness.

Jesus, who was perfect in holiness, suffered. He has assured us that all who desire to live a godly life in Him will have troubles. But the wisdom of our good Father, if followed, will keep us from many troubles.

If you listen to the Word of the best Father, then you will delivered from the way of evil men. They take their delight in what should disgust them. But you have been been blessed with a different heart.

Fools are led away from the good life by a band of evil brothers or by adulterous women, yet in Christ there is still hope for a son who has wasted his money on prostitutes and remembers that there is food in his Father's house. There is also hope for the woman who has sold her body to men, since she has been redeemed by a Husband who will protect her forever.

Amazing love! How can it be that God would die for prostitutes and sinners? There is still a future for us today, and there is a very powerful hope for anyone who will hear the Voice of the Lord and run away from certain destruction to God's eternal embrace for us in Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 1

 “Give me wisdom.”

That is what Solomon, the son of David asked God for as a young man who had the responsibility to govern the Lord's people as king. “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9)

In the New Testament, James assures us that we all should seek wisdom from God. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)

This book of proverbs written by Solomon and others has a purpose. These words are given to us to help us to have wisdom and insight so that we can know the right way to live before God. This collection of proverbs will help us grow in prudence and discretion if we allow the Lord to use these sayings powerfully in our lives. They are the guidance and instruction of a good Father to His sons.

How open is your heart to the One who is the Wisdom of God? How willing are you to listen to Him? We should expect Jesus, the Son of David, to speak to us through these words. We want to be like young Samuel who heard a voice from heaven coming to Him in the night and said, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

The first proverb in this book informs us of the posture that we must have before the Father who loves us. We need the fear of the Lord. It is the beginning of knowledge.

It is foolishness to forget the greatness of God and to approach Him and His Word as just one among many other voices. To think that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us! Even now Christ is in you! We should fear the Lord, trembling at His holy Word, and receiving His merciful benediction.

Listen to your Father. Don't fall for the enticement of sinners who urge evil upon you. Don't find your identity in your connection with some gang of men. Find your meaning first in God and in His Son, Jesus. Let all other associations flow from your primary union with God through Jesus Christ, your Lord.

The warning given here is solemn, and it should be sobering. People forget about God and make plans to abuse others for their own selfish gain, but they fall into their own traps.

The One who is the Wisdom of God is calling out to you now. Jesus was full of the Spirit of God, but where did that wisdom lead Him? To testing. To suffering. To the cross. But then beyond the cross, to glory. He reigns over heaven and earth as King, and He sends forth His wisdom to you as a gift. Receive His correction. Love His wisdom.

His voice is the only one that leads to life. Every other pathway leads to destruction.

Psalm 150

We exist for the glory of God. It is right for us to worship our Almighty King. Despite the sin in us and in this world, the Lord of Glory has provided a way for us to worship Him through His Son, Jesus. God's gift to us of righteousness and peace came at a great cost. We should certainly praise the Lord.

God, who has drawn near to us so closely in Christ, has a place of sacred separateness where He dwells. This is His holy heavenly sanctuary. Yet we are with the Lord God even there in Christ. Praise the Lord in that expansive realm of glorious power!

We have excellent reasons to praise Jehovah God. We praise Him for His mighty deeds. He spoke and the worlds were made. Have you considered the vastness of the universe today, or the intricacy of a single cell? God is the Lord of creation, and He upholds all that He has made by the Word of His power. His plan is beautiful, and He is bringing it to fruition even now. He has redeemed us from destruction. What mighty deeds God has done!

Praise the Lord for His excellent greatness. Allow the great works of God to move you to consider who He is, and then praise Him for His being. Think of the wonder of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all together in the one God of eternity. Perfect in all His attributes, and full of love for us; this one God in three persons is worthy of all our worship.

Yet we can be distracted from Him in a moment. Guilt, shame, worry, grief, oppression, need... How can I get rid of all this mess so near me and even within me? But this is why Jesus came. In this world you still have tribulation, but you also have humor and grace. Be of good cheer; Christ has overcome the world. Heaven is coming to renew the earth.

How should you praise the Lord? Can you play an instrument? Pick it up and play it to the glory of the Lord. Can you dance? Dance for Him who is our One Husband. Find breath for your lungs by His kind gift, and sing praise to Him!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Matthew 3

The history of the Old Testament prophets is an ancient one. It begins even before Moses, when God told Abimelech in a dream that the patriarch Abraham was a prophet. We usually expect the prophet to be the one receiving the dream from God. What made Abraham the true prophetic figure of these two men was that he, and not Abimelech, was the authoritative spokesperson of the Word of God. Prophets do not always predict things, and they do not always have dreams from the Lord, but they do always speak for God.

After several hundred years of prophetic silence, God sent John the Baptist as the final Old Testament prophet. His ministry as a spokesman for God was a ministry of preparation. In both Isaiah and in Malachi we hear of one who will prepare the way for the coming of the Son of God. At just the right time, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. His message was a call to repentance in light of the coming of the kingdom of heaven.

To repent is to turn away from evil and to turn toward God. In every generation there is a great need for repentance. The Law has revealed to us something of the character of God. If we have that Law, we should not need any messenger to remind us to stop sinning and to turn to God. Yet our sinful natures are so set upon evil and so insensitive of the way of righteousness. We need to be roused from our sinful stupor and be shown the way out of wickedness toward God.

After so many years without a true prophet of the Lord, God raised up John the Baptist for this task. He was not a man of power or influence. He was simply the one chosen by God to give the message that needed to be preached at the close of the Old Covenant era just before the dawning of a new day. His ministry was not by itself surprising. What was amazing was that so many people were made to respond to a man who did not appear to be personally appealing or to have something to say that would attract a large crowd. Yet he demanded that many take stock of their dangerous condition and change their ways, and they did. The fact that so many people were willing to come out to the wilderness and to hear John, and then to confess their sins and be baptized, can only be explained by the power of God. The time had come for the gift of the Messiah. Therefore God moved within the hearts of some to prepare the way for His arrival with a surprising movement of repentance and an expectation of the arrival of a new kingdom.

Not everyone who came to hear John was truly sincere. There were many leading religious figures who apparently came out to see the cause of the commotion, having no intention of actually turning away from sin. Some went so far as to present themselves for baptism. John spoke to them frankly about their need for a true change of life that would be displayed in the fruit of real obedience to the revealed will of God. It would not do to try to cling to their positions of influence or to their descent as children of Abraham. John identified these men as those who were in great danger, as the new King would come with the power of His kingdom.

His expectation seems to be that judgment from the new Messiah King would be swift and sure against unrepentant sinners. He knew that he was unworthy to even be the lowest servant of this great and holy King who would separate the wicked from the righteous. Imagine how surprised he was when Jesus came to be baptized by him. Our Lord insisted on the necessity of His baptism, which would fulfill all righteousness.

John would need to stand back as a perplexed Old Testament prophet and make way for a Man and a message that were well beyond his understanding. Yet there was a voice from heaven that day, representing One who did understand. This voice from the realms of heaven said what only He could say. This One Man who had presented Himself as united to sinners in His baptism by John was the true, sinless Son of God. This Jesus was announced to the assembled host as one who was well-pleasing to the Lord God Almighty.

This display from the heavens was as wonderfully impressive as John’s message could objectively be evaluated as unattractive or repellent. Why would anyone come out to the wilderness to hear that they were sinners? But to hear the voice of God and to see the manifestation of the Spirit of God come down upon the Messiah Son of God would have been an amazing thing for anyone who was permitted to see and hear such an display of glory.

We should, however, be more impressed by the facts concerning Jesus than by any spectacle that could have captured our attention that day. This One Israelite chosen by God was truly pleasing to Him. Here was one who was far above Abraham, Moses, or John the Baptist. Here was the one Man who did not need to repent of sin. Yet He came to identify Himself with those who were full of sin, as He prepared to be revealed as the sin-bearing Lamb of God and the Hope of the coming kingdom of heaven. Here is one that all of heaven and earth should rightly worship. He is more than a prophet. John was an authoritative and courageous spokesman of God’s Word, but Jesus is the Word of God incarnate and the hope of all who would repent and believe. He is our righteous Savior and our loving Lord.

Matthew 2

It was necessary that Jesus would fulfill all Old Testament prophesies concerning the coming Messiah. One of the recurring topics in prophetic oracles was the promise of a coming day when Gentiles would joyfully worship the God of Israel. There are certain hints of this even in the days of the prophets themselves, and there are more glimpses into this reality during the life of Jesus, but it is especially after His ascension into heaven that the ministry of the Word to the Gentiles begins in earnest. Even after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, it was not an easy thing for Jewish Christians to realize that the Lord Jesus had come to save not only the circumcised, but also the uncircumcised. The hints of this worldwide role of the Messiah begin to be seen from His earliest years, when wise men from powerful empires in the east saw signs of His arrival and came to worship Him.

They may have expected to find everyone sympathetic to their search for the true king of the Jews. In any case, they picked the wrong man to tell of their mission when they went directly to Herod, speaking about a star in the heavens that they believed to be a signal of His appearing. This Herod hated any thought or possibility of a supposed Messiah King.

He was troubled by these visitors and all Jerusalem with him. This city of the great king apparently did not want the real King to come at this time. Nor did the priests and the scribes. They rightly informed Herod from Scripture concerning the birthplace of the Messiah, namely the town of Bethlehem, the city of David, not far from Jerusalem. Herod summoned the wise men again to tell them the news, claiming that he too wished to worship this child. Of course, his plan was entirely different from his false declaration.

These wealthy, foreign Gentiles were soon delighted at the renewed appearance of the star that had guided them, which now the Lord used to bring them to the very house where our Savior was living. There they saw His mother Mary and they fell down and worshiped him, giving Him gifts of great worth, as one day the wealth of many Gentiles would be freely offered to this King of the Jews. The life of the Savior of the world was protected through a dream, and these men returned to their land by another route, avoiding any further encounter with Herod. At the time, a heavenly messenger warned Joseph concerning the murderous intentions of the king, and the family was kept in Egypt in safety in imitation of the flight of the family of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, where he met a different Joseph so many centuries earlier.

There this little flock of three remained until the death of Herod, when God would call His Son out of Egypt, as He had done so long ago through the ministry of Moses. The Son of God was living out the pathway of God’s covenant people, identifying with them in their need and fulfilling an amazing word from the Scriptures, now shining brightly with a more particular meaning, since it was truly the Son of God individually who was being called out of Egypt, and not just the nation spoken of as a “son” of God. In the meantime, before His death, Herod had ordered the heartless murder of all of the boys two years old and younger living near Bethlehem. Such was his hatred of the Lord’s Messiah. Here we see an antichrist spirit, and a contest between two kings. Yet the more obviously powerful king was soon dead, and the young and supposedly weak boy Messiah was kept alive. He was once again divinely protected through an angelic messenger to His stepfather, leading the family to return to the land that was the home of Mary and Joseph prior to the birth of Jesus, Nazareth in the region of Galilee.

In all of these things we see the fulfillment of Scriptural jewels tucked away in various Old Testament writings by the Lord Himself. These are blessings recorded for us who read the account of the life of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. The entire New Testament church should be strengthened by these words that assure us that the Son of Mary is truly the Son of God. This would have been a great surprise to almost every observer from that day, yet it was not a surprise to the Almighty who had planned these events and had placed markers of His faithfulness and wisdom in the words of holy men of old.

Even men from among the Gentiles knew enough to interpret the signs in the heavens that surrounded the arrival of a great King. They not only found Him—they also worshiped Him. Surely they were moved by the hand of the same Almighty God who inspired the writing of the Hebrew Scriptures. At a great cost to themselves, and at the risk of their lives, they traveled far to find the King of kings, who would one day reign over a far greater kingdom than Herod could have ever imagined.

The death of the children of Bethlehem provides us with an early glimpse of something we will see more fully in another chapter of this story, for this baby King would not enter the fullness of His reign without facing more of the hatred of many men against the Lord and against His Anointed. Even His death would be a central part of God’s good plan for the display of His glorious mercy and His wonderful justice. This King would die for us, and many Gentiles, as well as many Jews, would serve and worship Him forever.

Matthew 1

When God sent a Messiah King to atone for our sins and to be our everlasting Lord, He sent someone with a heritage. Consider for a moment all of the preparation that went into this new start for humanity. The Lord prepared us for Him through ceremonial law, performed by many priests over a number of centuries. He also gave us prophets, several of whom left a written record with important information concerning the coming Redeemer. But especially as we start Matthew’s gospel, we are captured by the fact that God sent His Son as our King, and as a man who came from a line of kings. Jesus Christ is not only the Man who fulfilled the important promises that God gave to Abraham two thousand years before the Messiah was born. He was especially the descendant of David the King of Israel, the fulfillment of a specific promise that the Lord gave to this man, that one of David’s descendants would reign forever.

This important fact is communicated to us in the organization of the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth. Like the great majority of those who called themselves Jews, Jesus was descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This Jacob had his name changed by God to “Israel.” The offspring of his twelve sons formed the tribes of Israel. Jesus was a descendant of one of those sons, Judah. At the end of Jacob’s life, when he was giving his blessings to his sons, he gave this cryptic message to Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” That was spoken long before God had even authorized the existence of a king in Israel. Not only is it an amazing revelation that the line of the kings would go through this one son, there is also an indication that there would be some terminus to the line, some final king who would receive tribute and the obedience of the peoples. The Hebrew expression in Genesis 49:10 is challenging, but there is no doubt about the use of the word “until.” There would be a line of kings until that final king who was the focus of that ancient message.

It would be several generations later in the genealogy when the great King David was given by the Lord’s own mysterious choice. We should notice that the tribe of Judah in the day of Jacob would not have been an obvious one for the ruler over his brothers. He was neither the first son nor the favorite son. The Lord chose Judah. Then centuries later, the Lord chose David. This young man was such an unlikely choice compared to his older brothers that they did not even bother to call him when the great Samuel came to anoint a king. David was God’s choice, but he had to be summoned to the occasion because he was tending the sheep. The story of David’s sons was not entirely positive. In the line between David and the deportation of the southern kingdom to Babylon, we have the amazingly capable and successful Solomon, and two especially faithful men, Hezekiah and Josiah. And yet many of the descendants in this genealogy were not said to be good kings.

After their return from exile, the Israelites longed for another king in this line, but their hopes were frustrated. None of the men in the genealogy from Shealtiel to Joseph were kings. We know so little about these individuals. It would be understandable if the people of God had lost all hope that there would yet be a descendant of Judah, a descendant of David, who would be that great king who would deliver us from our enemies, rule over us in righteousness, and subdue all potential future foes. But of all the possible descendants of David, it should be most evident that Jesus of Nazareth was a very unlikely choice, and that He was a King given at a time when no one might have been looking for any king to come at all.

To Joseph and Mary, two unknown descendents of David, a child was born. The events which led to this seem designed to end in humiliation and shame, rather than in exaltation and praise. Before they were married, Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant. Joseph knew that he was not the father of this child. The truth of this child had to be revealed to him by an angel, a messenger from heaven itself. Naturally, everyone would have assumed that this child was the illegitimate offspring of an immoral woman and an unknown father, born into a family of poverty from a part of the world that was not respected by anyone.

The truth was that this Son of Mary, who would seem to borrow the genealogy of His stepfather Joseph, was actually the long expected child of promise. This descendant of Judah, this son of David was the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was the fulfillment of the words of Isaiah the prophet, who long ago had written that a virgin would conceive and bear a son who would be God with us—Immanuel.

This great Son of David is our Prophet and our Priest, but especially here we remember that, though He was born in such a low condition, He is our King. It was necessary for this King to be born in a low condition and then to die on a cross. Yet no one should come to the erroneous conclusion that He is someone less than a King. He has come to reign over us not only for a season, but for an eternity, and not in such an insignificant place as the capital of some worldly empire, but as the sovereign over a renewed heaven and earth. He has come to save His people from their sins through His atoning death, and He has come to reign over us with perfect wisdom, power, and love as the eternal King of kings. There is a connection between these two ideas of salvation from sin and everlasting life. Remember that death entered the world through sin. When sin is truly forgiven by our Savior, we should expect that the result would be everlasting life. This is what Christ our Lord has done for us, and He shall reign forever and ever.

Psalm 149

I like to sing old songs to the Lord. There is a comfort in joining with former generations when we sing the songs that they sang, and confess the faith in words that they used. But the psalms give voice not only to ancient forms of worship. They also press us forward toward a new song that we will sing today.

The Word of God is new and fresh to us every morning. The relationship that we have with the Lord is real and alive. We expect that newness to make ancient words fresh to our souls, and even to bring forth from the community of God's people new words and new music that express the unchanging truths of our faith in ways that bring glory to Him. The theme that we sing about is infinite. We do not have to worry about running out of things to say. We will sing new songs to the Lord for all eternity.

We gather together to praise God on earth now. We will do that forever and ever. Our communion is with Him and with one another. The voices are varied, and the instrumental gifts differ among the many gifted people in the Lord's assemblies throughout the world. The result of our joining together is better than what we could accomplish by our own solos.

Our unity is not in song alone, but more fundamentally in the One to whom we sing, our God, and the One through whom we offer up our praise, the eternal son of the Father, Jesus Christ. We are glad in our Maker and our King.

Our praise of the Lord leads us not only in raising our voices with holy emotion, but in the movement of our bodies in dance, and also in the playing of various instruments. The Lord encourages us throughout the Scriptures to love Him with all that we are and all that we have. Everything can be done in a decent and orderly way. That is part of worshiping Him with the totality of our being. He is worthy of all our best.

The Lord takes pleasure in us. An amazing thought... As we approach Him in humility, He meets us with salvation. This is our attire, the righteousness of His Son who clothes us in the white robes of His sinless perfection.

The joy that we have in our God expands beyond our assemblies of worship to fill our lives. We think about our Lord in the night, and we sing. Even the soldiers of Israel in their ancient duty of conquest praised the Lord with a sword in their hands. Today we take up the conquest of love with all of the saints of God again. Let us sing and serve together. They captured enemies and put them to death by the command of God. We take every thought captive, and we ask the Lord to mortify all that is evil within us by the double-edge sword of His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us.

It is an honor to fight in this good New Testament conquest with the King of glory leading the way. He will show us how to love the unlovely, how to forgive those who wrong us, and how to live quiet and peaceful lives of worship with all godliness and sincerity.

This is a battle, but it is a battle that Christ intends to win. Even if we die in this fight, as our King did, we remember that we have already died in His death, and we are already alive in His resurrection. Each day is an adventure for the church as we walk in the glory of the Lord. Come and join the heavenly host today! Sing a new song to the Lord!

Psalm 148

I long to be in a place full of holiness where there is no hypocrisy. I yearn for the happy fellowship of heaven, where the Lord of the land is entirely trustworthy, and where love is the way of life. I want to be in God's country.

That place exists even now. It is a realm where the Lord is perfectly praised by men and angels, and where there is no rebellion against His holy will.

I cannot see heaven. I know that it is real, and that the way to get there is through Jesus Christ. He is the only way to the Father. But the Lord has given me the vast skies to consider while I live on this earth. I can look at that great dome and consider the Maker of all things.

The sun, moon, and stars do their job marvelously. They praise the Lord. They were made by God not only for day and night, and for the seasons of the year, but also for signs that declare the glory of the Lord. God made the constellations, the Milky Way, and all the amazing clusters of galaxies that comprise the universe.

God commanded, and all that can be seen by mankind in the present realm came into being. They exist according to His decree, and they point to another realm that I cannot yet see.

I know that this other realm, heaven, exists, because God has revealed it in His Word. When His Son had made atonement for sin with His blood, He not only rose from the dead; He also visibly ascended into this other invisible heavenly realm on clouds of divine glory. He rules from that other realm. He is coming from there at the day of His choosing, and He is bringing that other realm, the heaven that is invisible to me at present, upon the world that I can see now, and there will be a new heavens and earth.

This plan is His settled decree. He will not change His mind. He will unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.

This visible order of the present universe, even though it has been fatally wounded through the sin of one man, still testifies to the glory of its Maker. It is under the sovereign control of Almighty God, and every component in it exists to fulfill the purposes of the Lord. The Lord who had the power and wisdom to accomplish all of this is also the Lord of love who became man. Imagine that! The Son of God who was born of Mary and who died for me is the same Son of God who has secured for me a glorious participation in the life to come.

Everything in the present order of creation is under His control and exists to do His holy will. Are there sea creatures in the depths of the ocean? They need to praise the Lord, following the impulses that come from His great purpose for all that He has created. This is true of all the places in this world and all the peoples that fill and rule over those places. It is also true of me.

As I wait for my day in a realm of perfect love, I must do the works of truth, love, and obedience that God has prepared for my life. This is enough for now. I need not covet what has been given to anyone else. I am a part of the church, not the whole of it. Others fill out the body of Christ with their gifts and calling, but it is the Jesus Christ of creation and redemption who is the Head of the body.

There is only one God. I will be satisfied in Him. I will praise His Name today and wait for His Son from heaven. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 147

 “A new song of praise is fitting.”

I am ready this morning for a new song of praise. But what will it cost for me to sing that song? I am nervous at the prospect.

There is no good alternative for the brokenhearted but the full trust of the Lord. The Lord who is worthy of my praise is worthy of my trust. There is no trial that can come to me this day that could change the character of God or His settled determination to love me. He is building up the new Jerusalem. He is gathering the outcasts of the world far beyond the borders of Israel. He will heal me.

The Lord knows. Intelligent people may discover stars, but God determined their number long ago. He knows them by name. He did not have to pay anyone for the right to do that. That's just who He is. He settled it long ago that He would use all His power and wisdom to lift up the humble and to cast wicked oppressors out of their lofty stolen positions of honor.

I do fear the Lord. I do. I will bow before Him through the love of Christ, and join the swelling ranks of the humble throughout the world. And I will worship Him.

The Lord not only determined the starry host. He also feeds and cares for all His creatures. He does what is necessary in the skies above and in the earth below to water the land and to bring forth food from the soil. He feeds the ravens. Over all these years have I ever been lacking in food?

He is not looking for my strength today, as if he needed it. He is looking for me to be willing to be weak, since His power is perfected in my weakness, not in my strength. So He wins today. Blessed be His Name. I am weak. And I am reading here that He actually takes pleasure in those that fear Him, and who place all their hope in His steadfast love.

Now that works for me. The cross really does mean something to me. I have found it to be the perfect expression of the love of God for sinners. I have been brought low enough to see my extreme need for that kind of love, and I have received it.

If I could see His providence for His entire church with true eyes, I would rejoice more than I can even imagine. I need to trust Him in His heavenly promises. Peace, the best food, the perfect environment for the delight of my senses; all of these kind provisions are from Him.

I am not lacking in His Word. He has made my alive through it. He feeds me every day with another generous helping from His storehouse of truth.

I love You, Lord.

Perfect love casts out fear, at least the crushing kind of fear, the fear of torment. The perfect love of the cross of Christ has come. The perfect fulfillment of heaven is mine as His gift. The Word has reached me again today, and I believe. The Lord will be my Help again today. I am thankful to be alive to His goodness. Praise the Lord!

I will sing a new song of praise. I will enter into the sufferings of someone else. I will do what the Lord has for me, and by His power I will lift up another man who is low. And I will sing a new song to the Lord. It is fitting. It is right.

Psalm 146

Each day has enough trouble of its own. This is what Jesus teaches His disciples as a compelling reason to stop worrying about tomorrow. Each day is also filled with opportunity. The Lord of all glory is in charge, and we are His children. Praise the Lord! Even the trials that we face will have to turn around, for the Lord of this particular day is also the Lord of our perfect destiny.

The Lord God is the key to this kind of positive living. He does not call us to deny the evil around us and within us. He does instruct us to avoid dwelling upon yesterday's failures and tomorrow's potential mishaps. Most of all, He directs us to Himself, and we find in Him a great reason to sing.

And what is the alternative to this God-focused way of life? Don't put your trust in man. Can man save you? Man is a creature of God. His days on earth are numbered by His Creator. But the Lord is the eternal God who made the heavens and the earth.

Even the person on the earth who loves you the most does not have the power to keep you alive forever. That person may be very trustworthy, but only God can keep faith with you for all eternity.

Look at the greatness of God in the face of Jesus, who came to give us eternal life. We were bowed down under a weight of sin and He lifted our heavy load at the cost of His own life. He fed thousands with just a few loaves and fish, but much more than that, He is the Bread from heaven forever. He opened the eyes of a man born blind. Now millions sing to Him, “I was blind, but now I see.”

Who is like the Lord our God? We were brought so low by tragedy. But now a better morning has dawned, and there are other people to help and to bless with a blessing that comes from Him.

The truth is that the Lord of everything loves us! What fantastic news! And it is not wild speculation. His cross proves the point. We have found the gold of heaven, the Pearl of great price. We should sell everything else in order to buy the field that contains that One Pearl. Yet He has been given to us as a gift.

The wicked He will will bring to ruin, but our righteousness is secure, since it is in Christ alone. It is His gift to His children. Thank you, Lord!

Judges 6

God sent a prophet to Israel in the days of Gideon. That messenger told the people what they already had been told in the past. God had brought them out of Egypt. He had warned them not to fear the gods of the Amorites. But they had not obeyed His voice. This unwillingness to know what they already actually knew had led to the Lord's discipline. It was the Lord who gave them into the hand of the Midianites who were then oppressing them.

The people were starving. The angel of the Lord met Gideon when he was trying to hide what little food they had from Israel's enemies. Yet the Lord spoke to this frightened man a good word. He called him a “mighty man of valor.” In our fear, loneliness, despair, and weakness, we need to hear the Voice of the Son of God, and surrender to His good Word. “The Lord is with you.”

When people are brought low, they must be visited by God and by His people. We are to be the body of Christ to those who are weak. We must be willing to nurture others in hope. When we are weak, we need to hear the voice of the Son of God through others, and take heart. This may take some time. Even Gideon, who heard those words, “mighty man of valor” from the angel of the Lord, had a very difficult time believing.

The angel had to listen to Gideon's objections. He had to patiently show this new judge signs that it was the Word of God that he was bringing to him. The Lord is slow to anger. He will help us in our weakness, and bring out His strength from the place within us where He has His own mighty presence. He will show us that He is our peace.

When we know that God's Word is true, we can grow in our courage to do what He has for each of us to do. Gideon would have to confront his own father and a whole community of Israelites that had fallen into the slavery of idolatry. He would kill the sacred bull that was part of the system of false worship. He would tear down the altar of Baal in which his family and neighbors had placed their hopes. The root problem that Israel had was not the Midianites. It was their own surrender to false gods. That root problem had to be confronted.

Even after we have come to believe in the Word of God, we still need His strong help. God filled Gideon with His Spirit, and He gave Him more than one sign to further nurture him to be the spiritual leader of Israel that he needed to be at that moment.

We are the Lord's chosen people who have become the body of Christ. Even the Head of the body, Jesus, our great Deliverer, grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. If that is true of the human nature of the Lord, how much more will God patiently help us as we seek Him?

Jesus was very aware of timing. He would not be pushed to the cross ahead of God's schedule. He said, “My time has not yet come.” The Lord is patient. But He is also deliberate. He will accomplish His holy purposes in you and through you. You can work out your own calling with fear and trembling because God is at work within you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. He is your confidence. He will lead you to the place where you can find hope again. He will lead you on to victory.

Judges 5

Deborah, a prophetess of God, a bearer of God's Word to His people, and Barak, a soldier of the Lord, a commander among men, sang together about the great victory that the Lord gave to Israel. May all the people of God be filed with the Spirit and gather together to sing of the victory that is ours through the great work of Jesus, our Prophet, Priest, and King!

If we sing the song that He wants us to sing, it will not be about Jesus alone. He insists that while He alone is the Head, you and I are the Body of Christ. He intends not only that He would be glorified, but that His people would be with Him in glory forever. Even now, we are told that Christ is in us, the hope of glory, and that we have been made partakers of the divine nature. In the song that Deborah and Barak sang in Judges 5, the leaders of Israel and the people that fought valiantly were a part of the Lord's victory song.

The song that they sang was honest, describing the condition of the nation prior to Deborah, a mother in Israel, who rose up as the Lord's appointed judge. How did victory come? God's Voice went forth and woke up two of His leaders, Deborah and Barak. Then came the remnant of the noble who would hear and obey the Voice that rang forth from His chosen vessels. Hearing that Voice, the people of the Lord responded for battle.

This still is God's way. He works through His chosen people as His servants hear the Voice of the One who calls us to a different battle; not the conquest of the sword, but the way of the cross and the life of love. When the Spirit of God moves the church, the change that takes place can be swift and shockingly wonderful. Old strongholds are thrown off, and the King of glory is victorious over evil. This is a song that is worth singing. “All hail the power of Jesus' Name!” What a great moment! “And CROWN Him Lord of all.”

Unfortunately, not everyone responds to the Voice of God. The tribes to the east of the Jordan and Asher and Dan to the west missed that great day of victory. Some churches will not hear the Voice of the Lord today. They are filled with their own idea constructs or with the Spirit of the Age that seems so normal to them. But Jesus said, “My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Not only did many within the tribes fight against Sisera. From heaven the stars and the angelic host fought. The river became a torrent, and the chariots of the enemy were worse than useless; big pieces of steel, stuck in the mud. When Sisera himself had to flee on foot, God moved a woman to be the agent of his destruction.

The women of the enemy, the mother of Sisera and her princesses, wondered why their champion was so late in coming home. They imagined that they were delayed by the spoils of war. “A womb or two for every man...”

But not this time. This time a mother in Israel rose up by the Spirit of the Lord and spoke the Word, and another woman, the wife of Heber the Kenite, destroyed the one whom His own relatives expected to be otherwise engaged in taking women that were God's own beloved daughters.

The Lord Jesus loves His bride. He will protect her forever in glory. He will help her when she cries out to Him even today. He went to battle for her, and died for her sins. Now He lives forever as Her resurrection Husband. “Go spread your trophies at His feet, and CROWN Him Lord of all!”

Judges 4

One of the most challenging things about the present age is that each day brings with it the possibility that we will sin and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. We can go off track in a moment. That cannot be said about the age to come, where Christ reigns now with all the heavenly host. The age to come is somehow already there for us in the present heavens. We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We need help from there immediately.

God knows our needs. He is the one who brings us to the point where we will earnestly return to Him, crying out for His powerful aid.

The Lord used the enemies of Israel again and again to call His people back to Himself. In the days when Deborah was judging Israel, Jaban, a Canaanite king, and his military leader, Sisera, were pouring out their abuse upon the people of the Lord. Eventually they cried out to God and He defeated their enemies.

Deborah was a prophetess, a woman that the Lord used as the prophetic “man of God” in her day. Where were the men in Israel? God gave the Word to Deborah, and she called them to action against Sisera. She was even willing to go with them into battle. She assured Barak that the Lord would bring victory to Israel, but she also gave him the prophetic word that “the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”

That woman would not be Deborah, but Jael, who would drive a tent peg into the head of the sleeping enemy commander. The Lord did use Barak and his men in battle, but Sisera himself escaped on foot, the only survivor of his army. God used this wife of Heber the Kenite, even though Heber had peace with Jaban the Canaanite king. Sisera felt the safety of a woman's care for him as Jael gave him milk to drink and covered him up. Then she killed him as a most unexpected agent of God's judgment against this sleeping man.

Jael went out to meet the pursuing Barak who was himself seeking to kill Sisera. She said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” There he was in the tent, with the tent peg in his head.

That one action by the hand of a woman was not only the end of one brutal soldier. From that moment forward, Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin, king of Canaan, until he was destroyed.

The Lord is able to bring deliverance for His people. One humble woman from Galilee played an important part in the account of the redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ. What a strange way to bring about the victory of heaven over sin and death: through the birth of a child. Jesus alone had the righteousness necessary to win eternal life for us, but God did use Mary as His servant, and even as the mother of the Lord.

She testified prophetically by the Holy Spirit, saying, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Jael needed a Savior, as did Mary. But that Savior, who was pierced for our iniquities, was born of a woman. God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble.