2015-08-21
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we saw that our loving God heaps important blessings on all who come to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. We are justified [RO 4 :3], eternally forgiven [1 JN 1: 9], and given everlasting life [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Moreover, we are the recipients of His most excellent grace, which is defined as unmerited favor. This is favor for which we can’t take any credit, as it is not earned but freely given by our loving Covenant Partner as a gift along with the Covenant of Grace [EPH 2: 8-10]. No deed we do can earn it; and the good deeds we do are prepared in advance for us to do. RO 5 1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have gain access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” To all these other blessings we who believe can add the hope of the resurrection, mentioned also in RO 8: 29. As if that were not enough, we must add the revelation of the mystery that God has made know to both Jews and Gentiles, that is Christ in us [COL 1: 27].
It’s helpful to look at the past interaction between God and His chosen ones, the Jews. Deuteronomy, a second pronouncement of the laws, was written when the Jews were in Moab just east of the Jordan River. The purpose of the law was reiterated in DT 5: 32-33. “So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you, do not turn aside to the right or to the left. God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.” In accordance with the Abrahamic Covenant, God kept His promise of people, a land for them to live in, and a King. He multiplied the Jewish population sufficiently so that Pharaoh would eventually want the Jews to leave Egypt and the life of slavery they had there. He made it possible for the Jews to occupy and receive the Promised Land, not once, but twice [after the Babylonian/Assyrian Captivities; after the period from 70 -1948 AD]. Throughout that long latter period, there were many prophecies of the restoration of a homeland, Israel, for the Jews, and then, on May 14, 1948, Israel came into being with Chaim Weitzman as it’s president and Abba Eban as its foreign minister. As for the promise of a King, that promise was always with us, as Jesus Christ, is that King. He is prophesied to eventually establish a permanent Kingdom, His Kingship to be sovereign over all [DN 2: 34-35]. We must remember JN 1: 1-5, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him, nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” If we think about it, it is Christ that has the fullness of God in Him, thus it is He to Whom is referred by the use of “Word” here.
Now, as we read further, we find JN 1: 14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” JN 14: 9 and 11, along with COL 1: 19 express that Christ has the fullness of God, i.e. He his fully God with all God’s attributes. He took on human form, making Himself the “visible image of the invisible God” [COL 1: 15], when he served an earthly incarnation of about 33 years and then, was crucified taking our sins with Him. He is the Firstborn from among the dead, i.e. the First to be resurrected after physical death. His glory was seen by His disciples and about 500 of His followers, including Paul [1 COR 15: 6-8]. Christ is the Embodiment of love, and it is He Who teaches us to love. JN 15: 13 reveals that the greatest act of friendship is to love enough to give one’s life for his friend. This is what Jesus did for us; He made us His friends, bringing peace between us and the Father [RO 5: 9-11]. We are precious to Him and to the Father, so loved that once Christ was back at the Father’s side, we were given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us [AC 2: 2-4]. We were made a part of the family of God, and the Holy Spirit prays for us [RO 8: 14-16, 26-27]. He is our Conscience and our Guide. It is through Him that we learn God’s will and His will for our lives.
While the name, Jesus, wasn’t used in the OT, our Lord was present throughout it. PS 40: 1-2, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit and out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a Rock and give me a firm place to stand.” That Rock is Jesus Christ! PS 86: 11 is the beginning of a promise, which God keeps. “Teach me Your ways, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.” We learn the Lord’s way in the Lord’s prayer [MT 6: 9-13] and the 23rd Psalm [PS 23: 1-6], as well as many other verses and passages of the Scriptures. God’s will is revealed as early as the giving of the law [celebrated as Shavuot by Jews-EX 24: 7-11; LV 23: 15-21]. It was the law that told us what was righteous in God’s sight and what wasn’t; it was Christ’s Atonement that opened the Holy of Holies in heaven to all [HE 9: 11-12].
Our Lord protected the Jews wandering in the desert by feeding them manna [EX 16: 14-17]; it was He Who guided them as a pillar of cloud in the day and by a pillar of fire at night [EX 13: 21-22]. The Lord’s hand can be seen in the miracle of water from a Rock in EX 17: 5-7]. He is all around us on every side. How comforting is that!?
PRAYER: O Lord, You have promised so many blessings, including Your grace. Every promise You make, You keep. All we must do is to rehearse our history with You to know this is true. You protect us, provide for us, guide us, and help us. We bow our heads before Your mighty throne in utmost gratitude and reverence. Your kindness is awesome; Your caring so good. For as long as we live, we can’t thank You enough, You deserve our praise at all times. This prayer of thanksgiving and praise acknowledges Your superior wisdom, Your sovereignty over our lives, and Your dedication to the welfare of Your believing human creation. You do nothing out of evil intent, selfish considerations. There is no evil in You [1 JN 1: 5]. You sent the law to bring us knowledge of what pleases You and what doesn’t. Then, You sacrificed Your only begotten Son on the cross, so that we could enjoy eternal life. We are all sinners in need of correction, sanctification, salvation, and glorification. Through Christ, You make these things available to us. We acknowledge Your amazing attributes and deeds. We accept Your supremacy and sovereignty over our lives. Our ears strain to hear You; our eyes look to see You; our mouths utter the words You have given us. We yield our human desires in favor of Your will, knowing all the while that we are being shown by Christ the way to eternal life. Nothing matters more to us than to do Your will and to one day, in Your perfect time and way, to be at Your side in heaven, to enjoy a blissful eternal fellowship with You. You are the God of all, the Source of all that is wise and right. We say these things in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Lord led many figures mentioned in the OT to make sacrifices to be obedient to the Covenant of the Law. We’ll look at some of these next week, at the behest of the Holy Spirit. In the meanwhile, all that I have written in this week’s message should remind us of how much our God loves each of us. Since gossip about other people is not a part of this series of messages, let me give you some comments about how the Lord has blessed my own life. You already know that I grew up in a dysfunctional traditionally Jewish home. Neither of my parents spent much time at home from the time I was about 12 years old. Both worked. This left me with many household responsibilities I was too immature to want. I was also expected to carry outstanding grades in school. At this time in my life, I felt worthless and unloved, struggling as I went through all the changes of adolescence. I ran around with wrong group of friends and soon found myself in trouble from doing vandalism, an expression of anger I felt. Wisely, my father arranged for me to be put in an all-academic school which sufficiently challenged me to bring about a shift from immature, destructive behavior to a deep-seated interest in academics that has been life-long. I didn’t believe God was real until I was in my early twenties. But then, He made His presence and intervention known to me. My first marriage was a 15 year disaster which finally ended in divorce. That was my life before Jesus Christ came into it. As time went on, my Lord and Savior did come into my life. Since then, I was gradually led on the path to serving Him. My present husband is a believer and a gift from God, who has brought me enormous support and happiness over the years. And that’s only the beginning of a long list of blessings in my life. Can your discover and list all of yours? Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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