Month: September 2024

And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.
Luke 1:69

The day John the Baptist was born, God gave his father, Zacharias the priest, a special prophesy that not only related to his son being chosen by God to be a “prophet of the highest” (Luke 1:76) but also of the coming Messiah. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the old man proclaimed that God had risen up the Horn of Salvation from the house of David.

The horn of a bull or ox was a well-established symbol of power in the Old Testament (see Deuteronomy 33:17; 1 Samuel 2:10; Psalm 75:10). The bronze altar had horns at its four corners representing God’s strength available in every direction. The false prophet Zedekiah made a set of iron horns to convince King Ahab to attack Ramoth Gilead saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘With these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed.'” (1 Kings 22:11). Truly the object lesson was impressive, but the message did not come from God, so Ahab was killed in battle just as the true prophet, Micaiah, predicted.

King David twice called the LORD the “Horn of his Salvation (2 Samuel 22:3; Psalm 18:2) because he realized that it was God who gave him his victories and delivered him from his enemies. The Horn of Salvation also refers to God’s mighty power to save a soul from sin and death and hell. Jesus, whose very name means Salvation, was God’s instrument for thrusting through and bringing down the strongholds of Satan.

Salvation seems so easy from the human viewpoint, even a little child can ask for and receive salvation. However, most people aren’t saved, because the enemies of God (the world, the flesh, and the devil) set up obstacles to faith to prevent them from ever being saved. The good news is that there is no force in the universe that can stand up to Jesus Christ when they are gored with the Horn of Salvation.

November 16

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Psalm 118:22*

Builders are professionals who make their living putting houses and other structures together, so they are confident in their abilities and know-how. Once a contractor has built over one hundred homes, an architect’s blueprint can tend to be treated more like a guideline rather than a rigid plan of action. Some new innovation or out of the ordinary design might be overlooked or even rejected outright.

When Christ began His public ministry, the religious establishment of His day was well entrenched. They built the spiritual temple of God in the minds and lives of the Jewish people by using their own tradition and interpretations for mortar. The Lord Jesus challenged the status quo, and those in charge felt threatened. The rabbi from Nazareth was first ignored and then criticized; they debated and than threatened Him. When that didn’t make Him go away, they conspired to murder Him by falsely accusing Him of a capital crime. However, even after His death, He didn’t go away. Christ rose from the grave and became the Stone which the Builders Rejected.

This was certainly part of God’s plan all along to build a new spiritual temple made up of both Jews and Gentiles that are bonded together with the cement of grace and truth. Those religious master builders rejected and cast aside the most important piece of God’s design for the salvation of Adam’s race.

Among my collection of science toys is a set of 25 hardwood blocks that demonstrate the principle of the Roman arch. When properly assembled, it makes a bridge that can hold the weight of a 200 lb. man. There are six different shapes in the model but only one stands out as unique from the rest: the keystone, which is wider on top than the bottom. When the piece is put in its proper place, it becomes an architectural marvel. When taken away, everything falls apart, because it becomes the Stone which the Builders Rejected.

*see also Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7

November 13

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

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,
1 Peter 2:4

Choosing and rejecting go hand in hand. Whether it’s a new car or a brand of deodorant, once a buyer has selected what he wants, he’s rejected all the competition. In matters of faith, it all comes down to what a person is going to do with Christ: choose Him or reject Him.

Judas Iscariot wanted money more than the Savior. The mob outside the governor’s palace held a demonstration to get a murderer released while shouting down Jesus. Pontius Pilate condemned an innocent man to death, choosing political expediency instead. That’s the way it has been throughout the centuries. Multitudes have sold the Lord short, choosing rather things of dubious value.

Making bad decisions always has consequences. Some people pay thousands of dollars more than others for the same make and model of car, because they trusted their salesman to be honest. Believing a lie is usually linked with making bad decisions. This world claims to offer more benefits than can be found in Christ Jesus, but that is a deception that keeps people out of heaven.

The only real reason that people reject the Master for something else is that they don’t see His value; they don’t know He is Precious.

The enemies of God lie to us about what really matters. They have rejected Christ and the eternal life He offers. They go about trying to deceive others, but don’t understand that they themselves have been deceived (2 Timothy 3:13). How can they refuse the most valuable gift in the universe? The answer is simple. They believed a lie and rejected the truth. The Savior continues to be Rejected by Men.

November 5

He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Isaiah 8:14

Wichita, Kansas was a wild west town that was settled in the area just north of where the Big and Little Arkansas rivers come together. Like most of Kansas, this area is flat and since it lies between two rivers, the sandy ground is about 40 ft. deep on top of the bed rock. This was great for a pioneer settlement because it meant that the water table wasn’t deep and wells could easily be dug in the soft soil.

The section of the city with these cowboy roots is called Old Town and we own a house there that is now 110 years old. It’s not on any historical register, but it is certainly on the city inspector’s radar for old buildings he wants to keep his eye on. On one such inspection, every house on the block got a notice to repair their sidewalks. Shifting sands under the surface had made them buckle and the city declared them dangerous. They were stones of stumbling and the powers in charge told us to remove them.

The Lord Jesus is and always has been a stumbling block to those who reject Him. They find Him offensive, distasteful, politically incorrect, and intolerable. They want Him gone from their sight and their hearing. They’ll use legal action if necessary to remove this nuisance.

Churches and individual Christians are being sued in record numbers, because enemies of the cross of Christ find it profitable to bring those who would desire to live godly to financial ruin. They want anything promoting the Savior removed from the public square. They won’t walk around it, they want Him totally removed, because Christ Jesus is their Stone of Stumbling.

*see also Romans 9:32,33; 1 Peter 2:8

November 4

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
2 Peter 1:19

The lights of the big cities make even basic astronomy difficult to observe. For that reason, modern man knows less about the night sky than the average person did a century ago. One thing, however, is still readily visible even for the least experienced observer – the morning star.

Although three celestial bodies will share the title at different times during the year, a morning star is the last star to be still seen shining as the sun begins to rise. The brightest star in the heavens is Sirius, found in the constellation Canis Major, but in July and August it’s hailed as the morning star. The planets Venus and Mercury also compete for the title at other times during the year.

The Lord Jesus shines in the hearts of believers and that light has gone into very dark places. Its brilliance can be seen through depression and despair. Even during divorce or the loss of a loved one the Savior can be seen. When other points of reference seem to disappear, our Morning Star still shines in His full glory.

Who is this, who comes to meet me,
On the desert way,
As the Morning Star foretelling
God’s unclouded day?
He it is who came to win me,
On the cross of shame;
In His glory well I know Him,
Evermore the same.
                       – Gerhard Tersteegen 1697

*see also Revelation 2:28 and 22:16

November 3

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
John 11:25

Words reveal the soul of a culture or civilization. The more words that you have to describe things, the deeper and more complex a society can be. Both English and ancient Greek has tens of thousands of basic non-technical words, while the language of the jungle Quichua tribe has less than one thousand. Even so, in all of these languages there is a word for “resurrection”. It would seem that rising from the dead is basic to human understanding. 

Ancient Egyptians not only had this concept, but had a god of death, the afterlife, and resurrection (Osiris). Many people recognize Baal as a renowned Canaanite god, but don’t realize that he also was a god of dying and rising again. Greek mythology describes the resurrections of Achilles, Castor, and Hercules and both Eastern and animistic religions have resurrection stories.

This is all made more interesting by the fact that none of these people groups have ever really experienced a real return from death. Jesus Christ is the one and only Resurrection and the life, so apart from Him, everything else is myth or wishful thinking.

Human beings have a spirit; animals don’t. Hardwired into that spiritual consciousness is the desire for eternal life and resurrection from the dead. Apart from the Savior there is no hope or possibility to defeat death, even though billionaires today invest their fortunes trying to do just that.

Simple faith in the only One who died and rose again can guarantee a believer’s victory over sin and death, because Christ promised: “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26).

Jesus is alive and well and living within every true believer. The Apostle Paul wanted the reality of the resurrected Christ to affect everything he said and did. His credo was “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). To know the Lord Jesus is to know the Resurrection and the Life. 

November 2

But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
Malachi 4:2

Here is an astronomical title on the order of morning star and dayspring. It makes us look to the heavens to see things we’ve seen many times before and then relate that to the character of Christ.

The sun not only radiates light and warmth, but is the source of life for everything on the green planet. Without the sun, plants would be unable to carry on photosynthesis which produces food for all living things and without global warming, all water would be ice and nothing could survive. Sunshine is so intense that it will sunburn the retinas of anyone who looks directly at it. Light also reveals the colors and patterns of everything in God’s creation.

Jesus Christ is hailed as the Sun of Righteousness. Just as Earth’s star is the source of all light, the Lord is the source of righteousness to a world of sinful men. The Bible declares, “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’” (Romans 3:10). Even the little goodness we have on our own is gross in the eyes of God: “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

In the Old Testament, God told the city of Jerusalem, “For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns” (Isaiah 62:1). In the New Testament we see the source of that righteousness; “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Natural sunlight has great therapeutic value. Depression, scabies, and even rickets greatly improve by going outside into bright light. Jesus rises as the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings for a sin-sick world, because He is able to disinfect our human nature by irradiating it with His sinless perfection. That indeed is a glorious Son Rise. 

November 1

 …of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
Romans 9:5

The Apostle Paul was hurting when he wrote this section of Romans. He realized that the Jewish people were eternally lost because they had rejected their Messiah and he was grieving the loss. They could be saved if they repented of their denial of Christ and embraced Him as Lord, but for a huge number of those who heard the gospel, it wasn’t happening. How much more serious could it be? The man they had crucified was God incarnate, the Eternally Blessed God.

Herein lies the great irony. The Eternal God came to this world to be able to bless Adam’s sinful race with everlasting life. However, to reject this gift of the Savior’s sacrifice outright is to be cursed forever with separation from God. The saddest part of all is that many of the early Jewish leaders, who handed the Savior over for torture and death, did so thinking they were doing the work of God.

As Paul preached the gospel in the pagan world, it wasn’t usually the polytheists who shouted him down, but the expatriate Jewish leaders living in the Greek speaking world. Again, they convinced themselves of their own righteousness and assumed they were doing the will of God. They were tragically wrong and sadly deceived because they were following the direction of the god of this world and not the Eternally Blessed God.

Just like Paul, Christians should feel sad and burdened that the lost are going to hell, but they should be careful not to think it is not their fault that they made bad choices. Just like ol’ Pharaoh and Judas Iscariot, Christ- rejecters don’t flip a coin and pick wrong. They go through life, refusing to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and respond repeatedly to their sinful desires even though they generally reap bad consequences from these choices. They have purposefully and methodically believed the “father of lies” throughout their lives and resist the still small voice of God.

People are saved by agreeing with the Eternally Blessed God that they are hopeless sinners, rather than trying to explain or justify their actions.

October 19

I am the living bread which came down from heaven…
John 6:51

Bread really isn’t alive. It dries out or gets moldy if you don’t take care of it; it’s a lot of work to make and you need an oven to bake it. Wouldn’t it be great if bread could just grow on trees?

Actually, breadfruit does exist and on paper is the perfect food. Its slightly yeasty odor and texture remind people of bread and it is actually very nutritious. It’s a good source of energy and high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. One tree can produce over 400 pounds of fruit a year, so it seems ideal. There is only one problem, it’s almost tasteless. The food has never really caught on, so it fails as living bread.

After the Lord Jesus fed  5,000 people, they hung around until the next day wanting Him to provide breakfast and lunch. He left that place, so they searched for Him, but when they finally found Him, the eatery was closed. He wasn’t there to make bread; He came to the world to be bread, Living Bread.

The bread He offered wasn’t the kind that filled men’s bellies; He came to feed their souls. Here again, there’s a problem with market appeal. People would rather feed their faces than satisfy a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The fast-food and grocery industries have built  multi-billion dollar businesses counting on people to make poor nutritional decisions. Food high in fats, sugars, and chemicals will kill you, but that doesn’t matter as long as it tastes good.

People walked away from Jesus on the day He offered them living bread. They wanted the kind of bread that can dry out or get moldy, the kind of loaves that get eaten up today and need to be purchased again tomorrow.

Living Bread satisfies the emptiness within a sin-sick soul. It costs no money, produces sustenance within the person, and keeps on satisfying. That’s a much better deal.

October 18