Month: September 2024

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying,
“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Matthew 16:13,14*

It was a title of unbelief spoken by those who still didn’t really know the Savior. It was a form of leveling that put Jesus on par with other well-known religious men.

Yet for all the inadequacies of the title, it was true nonetheless. He was a prophet. If they had only believed it, they could have been saved.

Christ prophesied more about hell and eternal judgment than any other preacher in the Bible. He clearly told of His death on the cross and gave the signs of His second coming.

At the great white throne, Christ can look down on those faithless ones and say, “Your ears didn’t hear the words I said. I spoke of repentance, yet you didn’t change. You know that the Messiah had to suffer, but you were unmoved at my death. I warned you that the Son of Man would come without warning, yet you were unprepared. You called me a prophet, and so I am. Out of your own mouth I will condemn you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.”

How sad! At the very least, Jesus was One of the Prophets, but people never bothered to listen to what He had to say.

*see also Mark 8:28; Luke 9:19

July 19

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

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, “These things says the Amen, the
Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God…”
Revelation 3:14

When I was a kid, I thought that “amen” was the final word in prayer. It was like a radio operator signing off by saying, “Roger; over and out.” My sister used to think it was a code word meaning, “Open your eyes.” Later, someone told me that it’s like the saying, “So be it.” I can’t help but feel how few people understand the word, much less visualize how Christ is the Amen.

The word really is an exclamation mark which the Lord would use even at the beginning of His teachings. Many times, Christ started His teaching by saying: “Assuredly, I say to you.” The same Greek word can be put at the beginning or end of a statement.

Jesus chose “Amen” as the first and most weighty of His credentials to present to the Laodicean church. Believers there had become wishy-washy in their faith and needed to refocus on the supreme authority of Christ.

Amen says it all; it is superlative. Everything Christ says is true, and by necessity the universe conforms to His utterance. No one else can possibly add anything more or dare claim this title for Himself. In being the Amen, Christ calls the world to attention and is the final word for all eternity. Assuredly, He who has ears – “Open your eyes.”

July 18

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth.
Job 19:25*

Many ideas that were readily understood centuries ago are almost entirely lost on modern man. Redemption cannot really be understood without a knowledge of slavery. In Christ’s day, with over 75% of the Roman Empire being slaves, the principle was very clear.

A slave was the possession of another. He was born without rights, power, property, or independence. He would die in that same state, and if he had children, the only inheritance he could pass onto them would be his hopelessness.

The only way out of slavery was redemption. A freeman with the cash could purchase the body and soul of a man and then release him as if the money were no big deal. This almost never happened, since the very rich are rarely concerned about those who are not their equals.

Satan was the owner, and mankind was his slave. Christ was the rich man, and since the devil had no use for the monetary units of Earth, the price was life for life (Exodus 21:23). We know that Man was purchased with the blood of the Redeemer (1 Peter 1:19), but why He would even want to do such a thing will be a mystery forever.

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child, and forever, I am.
                          – Fanny Crosby (1820- 1915)

*See also Psalm 19:14; Isaiah 41:14, 60:16; plus 14 other references

July 17

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord,
“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8*

All strength + All power + All energy = Almighty. This title focuses on the omnipotence of Christ, making every other mighty thing in our experience appear feeble by comparison.

Strength – Man has magnified his own muscular strength many millions of times through the machinery he is capable of constructing. Big earth-moving equipment can literally move mountains. The huge drag-line cranes found in open pit mines can scoop up and lift twenty tons of ore in a single bucket load. Very impressive. However, the blue whale, a creature of the Lord’s design, hurls five times that weight into the air every time it leaps from the ocean.

Power – The most powerful instrument at man’s disposal is the nuclear bomb, capable of reducing an entire city to rubble. The thousands of such weapons found in arsenals around the world can destroy human civilization many times over. However, even if every one of these big firecrackers were to go off, they could only scorch the surface of the planet. Christ has the power to melt down all the elements of earth with just the words of His mouth (2 Peter 3:10).

Energy – Every form of energy found on earth can be directly or ultimately traced back to the sun. It warms the world and energizes living things. However, there are stars that are so gigantic that they could hold one hundred million of our suns within each of them. When these finally burn out, Christ can make more. After all, He is Almighty.

*also 48 Old Testament references, including 31 in the book of Job

July 16

For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;
Hebrews 7:26

Separate from sinners – what does that mean, exactly? It can’t mean that Jesus was physically apart from sinners, because He wasn’t. He touched lepers, ate with those of dubious reputation, and graciously let a repentant prostitute wash his feet with her hair. Christ was the Spiritual Physician who did house calls for chronically sin-sick souls.

The Lord never sinned in thought or deed even though He came to a world contaminated by sin. His holiness set Him apart in glaring contrast to sinners around Him, and the closeness of His righteousness convicted them of their sin and drove them to repentance.

When my wife and I first went down to South America as missionaries, we lived in the small town of Shell Mera. There were a missionary hospital, a Christian school, two missionary aviation groups, and maybe 30 Christian workers. Five miles away was the city of Puyo, where most of the shopping was done. In between the two places were three houses of prostitution. The practice was legal there.

Since we would pass these places repeatedly in the time we lived there, my wife, Carol, became very burdened for the souls of these women. She asked around about what outreach had been done for these ladies of the night, and none ever had been. She asked several missionary ladies if they would go with her to give them literature and invite them to a Bible study, but none would. They were worried about having an appearance of evil.

Finally, an older Ecuadorian lady, who was extremely poor, agreed to go with Carol, and they met with several of the prostitutes in the Christian woman’s small wooden shack.

They met together a number of times before we received a letter from our commending church in the States advising Carol to stop her visits. However, the letter came too late; the damage was already done…to the stronghold of Satan! Five of the “ladies” got saved, left their profession, and returned to their homes. Praise God for slow international mail service!

(Very soon after that, we moved to an Indian village deep inside the jungle, so no further outreach was done.)

July 14

Who has believed our report? And to whom
has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isaiah 53:1*

Some years ago, a picture appeared on the sports page of the heavyweight boxing champion holding his newborn baby. What was impressive about this photo was the man’s arms – massive, muscular, clearly instruments of hurt. Yet with all the power they conveyed, they offered comfort and tenderness to the tiny infant cradled within them.

The Old Testament mentions both God’s “outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 26:8) and the “arm of His strength” (Isaiah 62:8). He can nurture and console as a compassionate father or fight as an invisible warrior. How the Arm of the LORD is revealed depends solely on whether an individual is a member of the family, or an enemy of God.

The gospel of John explains that Christ is the personification of this ancient title. He has the power and might to defeat the devil and all of His followers, yet He offers compassion to embrace, uphold, and heal. Only at Calvary when these lovely arms were stretched out in pain was the Arm of the LORD most fully revealed – conquering sin and death and loving mankind all at the same time.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine Arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
                              – Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

*See also Isaiah 51:9, 62:8; John 12:38

July 13

But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
Psalm 22:6

“A worm and no man” – how can this be a proper title for the Lord of lords? It seems all wrong until we realize that Christ took this title for Himself in the Old Testament prophecy. By doing so, He let us know the depth of humiliation He encountered at the cross.

Rejection by those one loves is a devastating experience. The anguish of abandonment produces a pain that is difficult to talk about for those who experience it.

Forsaken by the Father, deserted by His closest friends and ridiculed by those He came to save, Jesus felt ultimate rejection. The altogether lovely one was deemed as unattractive as a slimy worm. We esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted (Isaiah 53:4). The Creator was humiliated more than the creature will ever understand.

Is it any wonder that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble?” (1 Peter 5:5). He who called Himself a Worm and No Man can lift up the dejected soul and elevate him to heavenly places. The poor in spirit will discover that the Lord will never leave them or forsake them (Hebrews 13:5), but Christ-rejecters will be separated from God forever.

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
                                      – Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

July 12

And having been perfected, He became the
author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
Hebrews 5:9*

When it comes to salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ wrote the book. He’s its author. He thought it up. He is its source. He alone saves. Without Christ, mankind is hopelessly lost.

Read the scriptures: “I, even I, am the LORD, And besides Me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11).

“Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me; For there is no savior besides Me” (Hosea 13:4).

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

There is one Lord, one God, and one Author of Eternal Salvation.

Christ also defines the terms of salvation. It is eternal. Far from being a mere escape from punishment, it is a condition that stays in effect forever: “But Israel shall be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced Forever and ever” (Isaiah 45:17).

Oh! The height and depth of His boundless love,
And His mercy who can tell,
When He came to the cross from the throne above
To save our souls from hell!

Salvation! Salvation! Vast, full and free;
Through the precious blood of the Son of God
Who was slain on Calvary.
                     – T.D.W. Muir (1855 -1933)

*See also Hebrews 2:10

July 11

Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Luke 1:78-79

Malaria is a terrible disease. I know; I had it. Look up the symptoms in an encyclopedia: high fever, severe chills, uncontrollable shaking, and sweat so profuse that you soak the sheets, the blanket, and the mattress. However, the worst part of the illness is never on the list. No one ever mentions it.

When I had malaria, I went almost three days without sleep. One of life’s simplest comforts was denied to me by this horrible disease. By far, the worst part was enduring the nights. I heard every tick of the clock and felt every beat of my heart. My mind raced, but time stood still in the darkness and refused to move. I longed for sleep, and when that was not possible, I longed for the dawn. When an empty eternity finally passed away, morning broke on the horizon and lit up the world. I felt easy. I could rest. There was great comfort in that Dayspring.

At the birth of John the Baptist, his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy. He foretold that his son would be a prophet of the Highest. More importantly, he announced the coming of the Dayspring from on High: Jesus Christ.

The Jewish nation had passed through a long and agonizing night. Four Gentile empires had ravished the Jewish people, yet no prophet of the Lord had come forth to speak a word in over 400 years. Herod the Great was the cruel and murderous despot who ruled the land at that time. The faithful were weary from waiting for light.

The Dayspring from on High offered them peace and comfort, just as He does today to all those who are tired and weighted down with sin.

July 10