Who Is He

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just
and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Luke 2:25

It could have been worse, but then again, it could have been a whole lot better. The year Jesus was born, most of the Jewish people were living in part of the pagan Roman Empire, and those living in Jerusalem were under the control of the wicked King Herod. He was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau whom God had cursed, and not of Jewish ancestry. He had allied Himself with Marc Anthony during the Parthian war, so the Roman Senate declared him king and gave him soldiers to seize the throne. Herod was paranoid of losing his power and executed a number of his sons, whom he suspected of plotting against him. The Emperor Augustus once joked, “It is better to be Herod’s pig than his son.”

The glory years of Israel were a millennium in the past, and there hadn’t been a descendant of David on the throne for six hundred years. The Jewish people felt forsaken and forgotten by God.

But God hadn’t forgotten His people. He took note of a man named Simeon who was actively praying and waiting for the Lord’s Christ, the Consolation of Israel. He wasn’t satisfied with the status quo and was ready for God to do something. The Lord was also ready to radically change things, so He allowed Simeon to see and hold the baby Jesus, the promised Messiah.

The Savior came to His own, but He became a rejected king. Another two thousand years have gone by without the promises of God to the Jewish people being fulfilled. It is true that the nation of Israel has been reborn, but Jerusalem has no peace. Terrorism and the threat of nuclear annihilation make many still long for the Consolation of Israel.

The Jewish people cannot really be consoled or comforted until they acknowledge Jeshua (Jesus) as their Mashiach (Messiah). Christians need to be continually in prayer for the peace of Jerusalem and the salvation of the Jewish people.

September 19

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Philippians 1:6

It’s probably just me, but when I read the title and verse above, the word “circumlocution” comes to mind. That means using a whole lot of words to say something that could be said in just a few.

Now, it’s not the same as rambling, because that usually gets off-topic. Circumlocution is on-topic, but verbose.

With that said, I put a lot of thought into trying to condense the title He who has begun a good work in you and I couldn’t come up with anything that was an exact fit. The closest I got was “I.T. guy.”

An I.T. guy is a person who works with Information Technology (i.e., computers) and sets you up with all the software you need to get everything started. Once that’s done, he’s just a phone call away whenever the computer crashes or gets sick with a virus. You have confidence that he’ll be there to complete the job until the day the warranty runs out.

Christ began the good work of salvation in the lives of every believer, but His work and relationship with each continues on a daily basis. He cleans, sanctifies, and glorifies each saint as they go on in their daily walk of faith. This relationship is not only continuous, but progressively gets better until either the Christian dies and enters glory or the church is raptured.

Well, my explanation of the title He who has begun a good work in you has become somewhat circumlocutious, not to mention a little garrulous and pedantic. I should have just given my paraphrase of the verse instead: “Being confident of this very thing, that Christ’s got ya covered” (Philippians 1:6 RKV).

September 1

He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded
His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.
Psalm 111:9

Sometimes there seems to be a total disconnect between how people use a word and what it actually means. I’ve heard the term “awesome” used to describe a pizza, a football game, a sunset, a double rainbow, and a party. If I were to write a definition based on current use, it would be, “A descriptive term that acknowledges an object or experience to be distinctively better than mediocre.”

Perhaps the closest usage of the word to its actual meaning came when my son went skydiving for the first time. As I looked up at a small aircraft against the cloudless, blue, Kansas sky, I saw a tiny speck eject itself. Falling to the earth at 180 miles per hour I could clearly hear him yell, “Awesome!” However, if this really was awesome, he wouldn’t have been able to speak at all.

The truly awesome is so terrifyingly intense that someone experiencing it is unable to speak because he is awestruck. The Apostle John’s vision of Christ on the Isle of Patmos was awesome. When he saw the Son of Man who had eyes like a flame of fire, a voice like many waters, and a sharp sword coming out of His mouth, John fell down like a dead man. There was just too much to process, so the mortal yielded to the immortal.

Moses climbed up a flaming mountain alone to encounter an Awesome God. The writer to the Hebrews described it this way: “And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling’” (Hebrews 12:21).

Soon and very soon, the Lamb will break the seals of God’s judgment on the planet that crucified Him. John foresees it this way: “Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains” (Revelation 6:14-15). In that day when people experience Awesome, they’ll be fleeing from the wrath of the Lamb and not thinking about pizza.

 October 9

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
John 20:28*

The Lord Jesus Christ is God. The Bible clearly states this, giving Him this title at least seventeen times. Yet there are those who would still try to dispute this fact, ignoring the obvious. Even so, they cannot deny that Christ possesses all the attributes that are uniquely God’s.

1.     Creator – the ability to make something from nothing (Colossians 1:16)
2.     Eternal – from everlasting to everlasting (Revelation 1:4, 8)
3.     Glorified – having a supernatural radiance (Revelation 21:23)
4.     Immutable – His never-changing character (Hebrews 13:8)
5.     Infinite – without bounds or limits (Romans 8:38-39)
6.     Object of worship – God alone should be worshiped (Matthew 28:9)
7.     Omnipotent – all-powerful (Matthew 28:18)
8.     Omnipresent – all-present (Matthew 18:20)
9.     Omniscient – all-knowing (John 21:17)
10.   Self-existent – having life in Himself (John 5:26)
11.   Sinless – holy, pure, and without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21)
12.   Sovereign – the supreme ruler of all (1 Timothy 6:15)

We need to come to Christ as Thomas did, bowing the knee and confessing Him as our “Lord and God.”

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!
                          – Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

*see also John 1:1; Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 1:17, 3:16; Hebrews 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1 plus 10 other references

 July 15 

Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
John 4:42

No one would have expected anything of any importance to have come from it. After all, it was nothing more than a casual conversation with an imperfect stranger at a nondescript rest stop in the middle of nowhere after a long, tiring journey – or so it seemed. But Jesus was God and He knew the deeper, importance of all things and was actually right there on purpose and for a purpose. The Lord chose to be at that place at that time to reach out to a troubled woman with the goal of setting her free from her sin. 

The Samaritan woman not only recognized Jesus as the Messiah, but proclaimed His coming to her whole neighborhood. Conventional wisdom would not have expected any Samaritan to be a seeker of the true God, much less an entire town. Probably hundreds of people came to listen to Jesus and acknowledge Him as the Christ. The half- hour lunch break turned into two full days of special meetings. In the end, that group of non-kosher Jewish wannabes gave Christ one of His most significant titles – Savior of the World. Their understanding of who the LORD‘s Anointed was, was more insightful than anyone else’s at this time. They realized that He was the One who would not only save the pure-blooded sons of Abraham, but everyone else in this sin-cursed world that needed saving. 

The experience must have had a lasting impression on the apostle John, because he invokes the title again in his first epistle: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the World.” (1 John 4:14). 

It’s the core of the gospel: “For God so loved the world […] that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17). 

July 31

And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
John 19:37

Being pierced with a sword or a spear is not a natural way to die. Certainly in ancient times it was common during a war, but 2,000 years ago was the era of the “Pax Romana” (Roman peace). The Roman empire had conquered all its enemies, so there was no more war. Even criminals who were put to death by crucifixion died over a period of several days or had their legs broken to speed up the process. It was very unusual that Jesus of Nazareth was pierced with a spear.

However, the prophet Zachariah foretold that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would look on their Messiah “whom they pierced” (Zachariah 12:10). King David prophesied similarly when he wrote of Christ: “They pierced My hands and My feet” (Psalm 22:16).

So why is this title important? Who cares if the Lord was pierced or not? This name of Christ matters, because God saw fit to give us the details of the Savior’s death over 1,000 years before the Savior died. It proved that God foreknew what was going to happen and that Jesus wasn’t victimized because He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Jewish leaders should have known scripture and seen the manner of death of the LORD’s Anointed. After the fact, they should have repented in sackcloth and ashes, but instead they bribed the guards to lie about the resurrection.

On the final Day of Judgment, all the Christ-rejecters that ever lived will stand before the Great White Throne. As their sentences are being read, they will see the hands and feet of the Pierced One and begin to tremble. 

November 30

And again, Isaiah says: ” There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the
Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
Romans 15:12

When pioneers came to Kansas before the Civil War, they found a treeless prairie with a rugged climate. Summer days often got 110 degrees in the shade, making the ground as hard as rock and with only 20 inches of rain each year, grass was the only thing that grew there.

Today, people have transformed portions of the state into lush gardens and orchards, but to do this, ground water had to be pumped up for vegetation and the soil enriched. Even so, the land has never forgotten its roots. It will return to being grasslands again, if the gardeners ever stop their hard work.

Buffalo grass keeps creeping into cultivated areas and pushes out the flowers and vegetables. The native prairie grass sends out runners in all directions and then puts in a 10 inch woody root that goes straight down. It’s not enough to pull out the grass from the garden, the root needs to come out also. If some of that root breaks off below the surface, prairie grass will come up again just a little later.

Isaiah 11:10 prophesies that the Messiah would come from the Root of Jesse and that the Gentiles would seek Him. According to scripture, the Messiah was David’s son, but Jesse was David’s father, making the LORD’s anointed from Jesse’s root.

Not much is said about Jesse, but it is known that he had eight sons and Samuel the prophet thought that each of them had king-like characteristics. Jesse must have been a good parent and role model because he taught his children the fear of the LORD.

It’s not directly mentioned in scripture, but there must have been something in Jesse’s life that reflected a desire to have the one true God known by even the pagans. Apart from the genealogies of Jesus, the only mention of him in the New Testament is in the title of Christ, Root of Jesse, who would reign over the Gentiles. Jesse raised up good sons for the glory of God and out of that hearty root even descended the LORD of Glory.

November 29

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope.
1 Timothy 1:1

Words, like automobiles, seem to wear out and lose their value over time. The modern definition of “hope” is very different from what it used to mean when the Bible was being written. Today, the term conveys wishful thinking, the desire for a certain thing to happen or wanting circumstances to change. One could say “I hope I win the lottery” or “Let’s hope that no one is hurt in the tornado.” People today hope for things that have no guarantee and usually the odds are greatly against getting what is hoped for.

Biblical hope is practically the opposite of contemporary hope, because it’s a sure thing. It is a feeling of trust based on the promises of God and is the object of long term faith. True hope is extreme confidence that everything God said will happen, will happen. This hope allows a Christian to remain strong in his faith, even though some promises are not fulfilled in his lifetime.

“Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” (Romans 8:23-25).

Jesus Christ is Our Hope and all His promises are good as gold. Salvation from the power of sin and immediate self-destruction begins now, but much of what we have to look forward to is future (i.e. home in heaven, glorified body, beholding the glory of God, etc.). Jesus said that there will be trials and persecutions and they certainly have come and they give credence that the rest of His promises will also be fulfilled. If Christ came to this world to die in our place, all the other promises are not that hard for Him to perform (Romans 8:32), so the Lord becomes  Our Hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). 

November 28

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer…
Psalm 18:2*

Cowboys, such a big part of my childhood in the 1950’s, have almost disappeared from the American entertainment culture. If I mention such cowboy icons as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Hoppalong Cassidy to a young person today, I just get stares. Back then, television and movies were all family oriented and all the best programs were westerns.

One theme that I’ve seen repeated many times in “cowboy pictures” is the last minute rescue by the army. Story lines would vary slightly, but towards the end of the episode, the hero with a small band of companions would be surrounded and outnumbered 100 to 1 by a tribe of renegade Indians. When things were hopeless and the movie star had only two bullets in his gun, you’d hear a bugle call and hundreds of blue-shirted soldiers would ride over the hill on their horses to save the day. That led to the expression “Here comes the cavalry!” which was commonly used to apply to any unexpected solution to a difficult problem.

King David was a warrior and he could defend himself well from the top of a mighty rock or a strong fortress, but he also knew that sometimes the battle became so overwhelming that the only thing that could help was reinforcements. God was not only David’s strength and shield, He was his Deliverer.

Life gets rough and often nothing seems to go right. Smart people have insurance policies for those hard times. However, experienced people also know that sometimes even the best contingency plans don’t work and things can still continue to fall apart. It’s at those times you feel helpless and say “Lord, please help me out of this mess! –Just one more time!” The only thing that can turn hopelessness around is a Deliverer.

The Apostle Paul was referring to Christ while he was quoting from the Old Testament: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins“ (Romans 11:26-27). When troubles look their darkest, we can cry out to God and Jesus will come charging down from heaven to deliver us one more time.

*see also Psalm 40:17, 70:5, 144:2 plus five other verses

November 26

The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:5*

God is Spirit and therefore He’s invisible to His human creation. However, the presence of the Almighty was both seen and felt as the “appearance of fire” (Ezekiel 1:27). When Ezekiel was called to be a prophet, he had an encounter with living creatures that brought him to the throne of God. He saw a man on the throne with “the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD (Ezekiel 1:28). Here the pre-incarnate Christ is revealed.

The Prophet Ezekiel uses this title in his book more than any other book written in the Bible (nine times). His vision of the man on the throne of God in chapters 1 and 8 parallels the vision of the Apostle John in Revelation chapter 1 of the glorified Savior. In both cases, His thighs and feet looked like glowing metal and His face shone brightly. The one called the Glory of the LORD and the Son of God are one and the same.

The Glory of the LORD did not always have the appearance of a man but just having a visible presence qualifies Him as the second person of the Trinity. The Glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:16), filled both the Tabernacle and the Temple (Exodus 40:35; 1 Kings 8:11) and was seen by the shepherds the day Christ was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:9).

For most of His life, Jesus’ glory was hidden from view of everyone but the Father, but it did burst out at the Transfiguration: “and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2). Peter described that scene by saying “We […] were eyewitnesses of His majesty (2 Peter 1:16). The Apostle Paul wasn’t with the others to see the glorified Christ on the mountain, but he saw Him with the eyes of faith; “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the LORD, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

*see all Isaiah 35:2; 60:1 and also 34 other verses

November 25