Month: September 2024

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Hebrews 13:20

The Lord Jesus gave Himself the title of “Good Shepherd” in John 10:11 saying that He gives His life for His sheep. In the last chapter of Hebrews, He is called the Great Shepherd of the Sheep. The first describes what Christ saw His job to be. The second was the opinion of the sheep concerning their caretaker.

Members of the Secret Service are required to sign a paper stating that they would be willing to sacrifice their lives in an attempt to save the President or some other V.I.P. that they were ordered to protect. I never heard of anyone willing to die for mutton on the hoof, much less requiring dying for the sheep in the job description for being a shepherd. Christ willingly gave His life so that His flock could live. The sheep were deeply grateful and voted Him Great Shepherd of the Sheep.

Sometimes we forget that the Lord didn’t have to do this. No one would begrudge a shepherd boy for not standing between a pack of ravenous wolves and his flock. To do so would mean certain death and, after all, a bunch of dumb, smelly animals wouldn’t be worth the sacrifice.

The angels in heaven must have wondered the same thing. “Why would the King of kings sacrifice himself to save those stupid, ungrateful human beings?” Probably even more perplexing was, “Why did the LORD God Almighty have to become the Lamb of God in order to be the perfect substitute for these ‘sheepeople’?”

If Christ did not die for the sins of this world, God would have still have been the God of the universe; He just wouldn’t have been the God of love and mercy that we know Him now to be. The fact remains that Jesus did give His life as a Great Shepherd of the Sheep.

October 5

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king.
For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
John 18:37

The idea of kings and kingdoms goes back a long time to the dawn of civilization. Presidents and prime ministers, in contrast, are the newbies to world history; they’ve been around for just a couple of hundred years.

Belief in the divine right of kings is also ancient in origin. People honored and obeyed the king, because they believed that either God or a pantheon of gods put him into power and to rebel against the king was to fight the will of Deity. The whole concept of monarchy was God’s, because one day Jesus Christ will be the “great king over all the earth” (Psalms 47:2).

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).

“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16).

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, ” That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth” (Jeremiah 23:5).

In the not so distant future a true new world order will transform the planet we live on. A benevolent world leader will govern all nations with equity and justice for all. No longer will billions of dollars be wasted in divisive political campaigns nor trillions lost in bureaucratic mismanagement. Politicians won’t make deals in back rooms, nor will special interest groups push through laws that exploit the majority.

The Lord Jesus Christ will bring lasting peace to earth. He won’t be a political activist, a community organizer, or career politician. He will be King.

October 4

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1

The element mercury is the only metal that is actually a liquid at room temperature. Just like other liquids it can evaporate even though the vapor is much heavier than air. Gaseous mercury is invisible but can be seen under the right conditions. To view mercury vapor, an open container of the metal is placed on a table. The lights in the room are turned off and a single goose necked lamp is pointed towards the wall. Since the gaseous form of mercury won’t let light pass through, its shadow can be seen rising slightly and then falling to the floor.

God not only is invisible, He is Spirit, so He is not bound by the laws of chemistry and physics as they are known today. However, Shadows of the Almighty are sometimes seen in nature. The intricate workings of a living cell demonstrate the complexities of the Creator and an F-5 tornado shows something of the power of the Omnipotent.

We can see the Lord Jesus with the eyes of faith and although that image isn’t crystal clear, it is a well-defined Shadow of the Almighty. Aspects of the character of God that were unfocused in the Old Testament became well defined in Christ. The grace and salvation of God are brought to whole new levels when viewing the death of the Savior as the Passover Lamb. The teachings of the Master outline to us the mind of God and His way of life shows us the form of the Father’s will.

O spotless Lamb of God, in Thee
The Father’s holiness we see;
And with delight Thy children trace,
In Thee, His wondrous love and grace.
                                                          – Mary J. Walker (1878)

October 3

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

Titles that are misunderstood, misinterpreted, or misrepresented certainly miss the mark regarding the truth that they were intended to convey. Such is the case in the verse above which is sometimes used by false witnesses to teach that Christ is a created being. Nothing could be further from the truth.

God created atoms and energy. He thought them up. They never existed before, but He brought them into existence. He owns the physical universe. He has the patent.

God is Spirit. He is before the material world and superior to it. Although God can’t be seen, He produced everything that can be, evidently using materials that are also invisible. Our finite minds have real trouble understanding this. For that reason, God manifested Himself in a physical form to reveal Himself to His creation. He is Christ, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15).

When the Lord presented His credentials to the wishy-washy church in Laodicea, He called Himself the Beginning of the Creation of God. He was trying to impress them with who He was. Jesus is before all things created; He is their Head. The NIV translates this name of Christ as “the ruler of God’s creation.”

It was true that spiritually, the Laodecians weren’t on fire for the Lord, but they weren’t stone cold either. The same can be said about many churches today. And that’s a big problem. How can anyone remain mediocre to the one who is in charge of the whole universe? The fear of God should grip every believer when they realize that one day they’ll have to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, the Beginning of the Creation of God.

 October 1 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29

Jesus could walk on water and, after His resurrection, He could even go right through a locked door. He fed 5,000 men from a little boy’s lunch box, calmed storms, cured incurable diseases, and raised the dead. With superpowers like that, you’d have expected both D.C. and Marvel to offer Jesus His own comic book series. Christ could have been the quintessential superhero, but He had one problem – marketing.

When Jesus healed the leper, He told the man not to tell anyone. He could have flown, turned rocks into bread, or jumped from tall buildings, but He wouldn’t do any of it. True, Christ fed 5,000 poor people in the desert, but He never advertised this. He could have gotten government subsidies if he fed 5,000 soldiers or bureaucrats. The Son of God lacked a public relations agent.

His power over death and disease could have made Him millions, and when you factor in His ability to bring peace to a troubled heart, He could have had the world come knocking at His door.

In the verses above, Jesus offers rest to the weary and heavy laden. He offers His yoke to pull the load and supports His claims by saying “I am gentle and lowly in heart.” What kind of self-affirmation is this? No modern faith healer or televangelist would ever come across so weak! And there you have the answer: The Savior of the World knew who He was, so He never needed to promote Himself. The miracles He did validated what He said, so that everyone who believed would receive His promises.

In a world full of make-believe superheroes and superpowers, there is still one who can do so much more – and for real – and He is Gentle and Lowly in Heart.

September 30

But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
Acts 3:14-15

After Peter and John healed the lame man at the gate of the temple, a crowd formed, so Peter saw that it was a great opportunity to preach. Only a few months had gone by since Christ’s crucifixion, and the events were on everyone’s minds. Peter clearly placed the guilt of rejecting the Messiah on those temple-goers, noting the irony that they chose a murderer to be granted life, but cursed the Prince of Life to be murdered.

Contrasting Barabbas with Jesus shows both ends of the human spectrum. Matthew called the criminal a “notorious prisoner,” and Mark said he committed “murder and rebellion,” while John just noted he was a “robber.” On the other hand, the Prince of Life was viewed by His enemies as a political threat, and they saw that as much worse than someone who just went around stirring up trouble and killing people.

Our sinful nature can justify any form of deviant behavior. Psychologists have been shocked to discover that most criminals in prison have an extremely high self-esteem. They feel pretty good about themselves and have reasons for doing the terrible things they have done. Others, of course, buy into their lies, so every year really notorious bad guys are acquitted of their crimes, if they have powerful lawyers and a high-profile case.

When the human heart rejects the Savior and justifies its evil deeds, the trial of Jesus occurs all over again with the same results. The guilty are exonerated and the Prince of Life is condemned.

September 29

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a
curse for us (for it is written,“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”).
Galatians 3:13

If there is any title of the Lord Jesus that truly belongs in the “Who’da thunk it?” file, it would have to be “Curse.” Stranger yet, this is not a title given to the Savior by His enemies; it’s one that He chose for Himself. But how is it that He who brought blessing into the world has become a Curse?

It all has to do with substitution. We were cursed, so Christ took our place in order to redeem us from the curse of the law.

When the children of Israel came into the promised land, half of the tribes stood on Mount Gerizin and the other half on Mount Ebal. A blessing and a curse were set before the nation. Those on Mt. Gerazin read from Deuteronomy about the blessings that result from obeying God. The people on Mount Ebal listed the terrible things that result from breaking the law; this is the curse of the law.

The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We’re all under the curse of the law and the only way to turn that around is to exchange our curse for His blessing. Christ was sinless, so he gave us his blessing and took on Himself our Curse.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the ground and it produced thorns and thistles. It was no coincidence that on the day of His death, Christ was given a crown of thorns.

In crucifixion, the Savior was lifted up for all to see, and so the curse of Deuteronomy 21:23 fell on Him: “ for he who is hanged is accursed of God.” While Jesus was dying, His critics came to mock Him. They spit on, taunted, and cursed the spotless Lamb of God. Even so, He blessed His enemies by saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). It’s strange, but Christ could not have blessed us if He had not first been made a Curse.

September 28

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of mny waters
and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
Revelation 19:6-7

Wow! One of the strongest and clearest titles of Christ’s deity often goes unnoticed and therefore unused by a majority of Christians. Perhaps because of laziness or not taking time to understand the context, the casual reader assumes that this name is given to God the Father when the verses clearly demonstrate that it belongs to God the Son.

The timeline falls just before the Millennial Kingdom begins. The Great Tribulation is over; Babylon the great has fallen, and there is great rejoicing in heaven because the King of kings is about to reign. The scene is reminiscent of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem just before His crucifixion. There is a huge multitude shouting praises and alleluias, and the excitement is intense. But this time the crowd is not saying “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.” Instead, they are acknowledging that the Messiah is the Lord God Omnipotent.

The rejoicing moves into the marriage of the Lamb. Here the church, the bride of Christ, has come to share in the celebration of the All-Powerful One’s victory over the devil, the world, and the beast. Millions of saints have suffered persecution, torture, and death throughout the thousands of years of church history. At this point, it all makes sense; truth and justice overcome the forces of evil. Finally, finally, Jesus Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent reigns.

September 26

To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:6*

Falling in love is a beautiful experience. It’s an exhilarating departure from the commonplace and logical into the excitement of emotional highs and the thrill of reaching out to touch someone. Besides, it’s a lot of fun. The marvel of being in love is only surpassed by the wonder of being loved by another.

Apart from being the lover of our souls and the ultimate standard by which all love is measured, Christ is the object of our love – the recipient of our devotion and desire. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We are our Beloved’s and our Beloved is ours. (Song of Solomon 6:3).

Although Christ may not need our love, He wants it and desires it as earnestly as any husband would from his wife. He is jealous and disappointed when other things crowd Him out.

Some people think that they honor Christ by putting Him first in their lives. But that isn’t what He wants at all. It would be like me coming home and telling my wife, “Carol, you’re number one for me, but Alice is number two, Susan is number three and Mary is number four.” She wouldn’t be happy until all the competition for affection was gone.

When Christ is truly our “Beloved,” He will not just be first in our lives; He will be only.

*See also Matthew 12:18; Song of Solomon 1:16, 2:10, 8:14 plus 25 other times in the book.

June 24

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know
what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all
things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15

Friendship is a mutual relationship. The idea that “If you’re my friend, I’m your friend” was a well-established concept long before Facebook. Christ calls believers friends and goes on to say that He lays His life down for His friends (John 15:13-14). Clearly, this is no ordinary friendship.

Communication, shared interests, and companionship are three aspects that bind friends together. The closer the friendship, the fewer the secrets. Jesus told His disciples that He revealed to them the whole counsel of God. He told them His plans, His schedule, and His method of doing things. Angels don’t know any of that; they’re just servants. Christ shares these things with us, because He’s our Friend.

The Savior is the “friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19). He wants to save us and we want to be saved. Faith is nothing more than agreeing with Christ that what He says is true and that we’re going along with His plan. We are not servants who earn our favor with the Master by doing work for Him. No, He’s our Friend, and we work together for a common purpose.

He is the “friend that sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24), which goes far beyond casual friendship. We can cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). He’s there when we need Him and never seems to get bored when we ramble on in prayer.

Now, we get to the part that I don’t understand. With such a Friend like Jesus, why would anyone “de-friend” Him? Yet it happens all the time. People stop praying, stop talking. They try carrying their load of sin and grief by themselves instead of putting on the Master’s yoke. It boils down to losing faith: No longer agreeing with Him that He’s right. I hear what they’re saying, but that doesn’t mean it makes sense. They just need to return to the Lord. He still wants to be their Friend.

September 21