Month: September 2024

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

To modern Americans, redemption is little more than buying back a wedding ring or set of power tools from the pawn shop. There is not a lot of risk involved, and losses are not disastrous. However, in past history, failure to pay off a debt could result in years in prison, a lifetime of slavery, or worse.

In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Antonio, a cash-poor but wealthy ship owner cosigns a loan from a businessman who holds deep resentment towards him. The loan is without interest, but if it isn’t paid back in full by a certain date, the adversary demands a “pound of flesh.” Antonio loses his ships in a storm and has nothing to pay with on the day of reckoning. Even when others offer double the original sum, the lender is not satisfied and demands that the contract be followed to the letter.

Satan wants far more than a pound of flesh from every man, woman, and child. He wants their souls to suffer the torments of hell along with him forever. Sinful man is the property, and the redemption price is unimaginable torment and suffering. When Christ was rejected by His nation, betrayed by a friend, mocked and beaten by thugs, whipped until His back was raw, and then nailed to a cross to die, He redeemed the whole human race. Our freedom from hell and the bondage of sin wasn’t cheap.

People blame God for eternal judgment in the lake of fire, but He is not the responsible one. Sinners are debtors to Satan, and he is the one who demands that the wages of sin be paid in full. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, on the other hand, who offers to be their Redemption.

 March 24 

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Hebrews 4:14

Like presidents and popes, the position of high priest was the highest station anyone could attain. Yet not everyone even had a chance at the office. They had to be a descendant of Israel, a member of the tribe of Levi and a direct descendant of Aaron. Still, out of the very few that qualified, only one was anointed high priest. 

Although the position was singular, scores of individuals have entered this confraternity of supreme Jewish clerics over the centuries. Even so, all of them together are nothing more than a copy and shadow of Him who was to come: The  Great High Priest.

There were no chairs in the temple or tabernacle for the high priest to sit down. His was the duty of serving and not the privilege of fellowship. Once a year without fail, the high priest needed to make atonement for God’s people. He would go into the Holy of Holies, sprinkle the blood, and get out. What seemed to them an end in itself was only a harbinger of better things to come.

When Christ offered His own blood to atone for the sins of the world, He did it once and for all and then, sat down on the throne on high. There would never be a successor. He is the Great High Priest.

O God, we come with singing,
Because the great High Priest
Our names to Thee is bringing,
Nor e’re forgets the least:
For us He wears the mitre,
Where holiness shines bright,
For us His robes are whiter
Than heav’ns unsullied light
                             Mary Bowley Peters (1813-1856)

April 5

Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luke 24:3

It may be just a curious piece of Bible trivia, but it is interesting that although the title Lord Jesus is used 118 times in 115 verses, it appears only once in the gospels, and that is only after the resurrection.

The realization that Jesus was Lord didn’t have its fullest impact until after He conquered sin, death, and hell. After that it was hard to say the name “Jesus” without owning Him as Lord.

When I was growing up, there were certain words that I never heard. I can’t ever remember my dad saying “Sunday.”  It was always “the Lord’s Day.”  I also can’t remember my mom ever referring to Jesus. He was always “the Lord Jesus.”

Mom slipped more quickly into Alzheimer’s after Dad passed away. The gracious lady who was known for saying “I love you” to all the attendants who cared for her in the nursing home eventually wasn’t able to recognize family or friends.  Dementia took away her sharp wit, so towards the end, Mom could say only three words: “Love,” “Lord Jesus,” and “potty.”

All the complexities of life were reduced to the bare basics: The emotional, the spiritual, and the physical. The thing that really impressed me in all of this, however, was that she called out “Lord Jesus” as if it were one word. Her simple mind got to the lowest common denominator and she could divide it no more.  In that, she taught me a great spiritual truth. Jesus is nothing if He isn’t Lord. 

  April 4

And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm.
Luke 8:24

Master: the title of a slave owner. We don’t like to think of Christ in that light, but it is what it is. Slaves obey their masters; it’s part of their job description.  When Jesus told the wind and waves to cease raging, the elements immediately obeyed Him.  He was their Master.

It is more politically correct to think of Jesus as a master teacher. The title would be more like an academic degree than the designation of a slave owner. But such is not the case. When a disciple vowed to follow his master, he voluntarily became an indentured servant, giving up his liberty; He had to obey whatever he was told to do. The master didn’t pay the disciple, but he’d provide for him and protect him.  That is why when the disciples were in a sinking ship, they cried out to their Master to take charge.

In this analogy, if Christ is the Master, His followers are His slaves. It is not a bad comparison, because everyone is a slave to something. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).

A drug addict self-destructs, not because he or she has made a wrong choice, but because s/he has no choice. Anger, bitterness, grief, and depression are all terrible task-masters. The Lord Jesus would like to buy us out and change ownership. “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).

What a wonderful truth this is! I can be enslaved by my passions, greed and pride, or I can serve Christ who gave His life for mine.  It’s a no-brainer.  I’ll go with the Master of the universe.

April 3

Have you not even read this Scripture: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?”
Mark 12: 10, 11*

Chief Cornerstone – a really important title – used eight times in scripture – Christ quoted from the Old Testament to refer to himself in this way – I need to understand this one; I need to get it right.

After Peter and John healed the lame man in the temple, they were arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin. Peter tells them that they crucified the Christ, but God raised him from the dead. He then says: “This is the stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone” (Acts 4:11). The next verse is just as significant: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The Jewish leaders rejected their Messiah, because He wasn’t like them and didn’t fit their mold. Yet God, the grand architect of the church chose the Savior to be the chief building block that pulled all the other pieces together.

The modern concept of a cornerstone isn’t exactly in the corner and is not indispensable for the design. This image not only doesn’t work, it’s confusing. A better comparison would be that of the capstone of a pyramid. It is probably made first and laid last. It can’t fit anywhere else in the structure, yet the whole blueprint was engineered so that the capstone could turn it into a Wonder of the World.

Christ’s position as the Chief Cornerstone was planned before the foundation of the world and He pulls together all the saints in every country and every age to build the church. Without this “stone that the builders rejected” everything would fall apart because He is the indispensable Chief Cornerstone.

*see also Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20; and 1 Peter 2:6,7.

April 2

But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
1 Corinthians 1:23

Have you ever noticed that many people don’t respond well to the gospel of Christ Jesus? The Apostle Paul observed “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). In other words, it’s folly, nonsense, insanity, irrationality, idiocy, foolhardiness, silliness, indiscretion, imprudence, and dumpidity! – That’s OK, they’re allowed to think about Christ that way; but they are still wrong.

The ancient Greeks were renowned for their philosophy and intellectual debate. Even Paul was invited to speak at the prestigious Areopagus when the Stoics and Epicureans got wind that he espoused a new religion (Acts 12). People who don’t know the one, true God are usually on the lookout for new and improved gods. The apostle’s dissertation was going well until he got to the part about Christ’s resurrection from the dead. At this point, some members of the intelligentsia started to mock him and others got up and left. They were too sophisticated to entertain thoughts that were illogical or supernatural. They deemed it foolishness.

God must just “roll His eyes” when He sees men and women who think that they are smarter than He is. “For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:19-22).

An awful lot of very smart people in this world believe that the only way to know anything in this world is through empirical research, deductive reasoning, or diagnostic analysis. Problem is, no one will find Christ or eternal life that way. The Savior is only experienced through faith, so He is considered as Foolishness to the academic elite. That’s too bad, because they will feel very foolish themselves at the Great White Throne of God. 

April 1

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles,
wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know.
Acts 2:22

Fifty days after Christ was crucified, the Apostle Peter preached a powerful sermon to a huge crowd right on the temple grounds. On the Jewish religious calendar, Pentecost was the next holiday after the Passover where attendance was required. So basically, all the same people were there for both. Certainly most were witnesses to the life, ministry, and death of Jesus of Nazareth.

The old fisherman made it clear that everyone knew who Jesus of Nazareth was, because He was a Man Attested by God. The Father put Christ to the test and Jesus aced the exam. Peter brought out the three major ways that Christ clearly demonstrated the power of God that declared the divine approval: Miracles, wonders, and signs.

Thousands of people experienced Christ’s miracles of healing. The lame walked, the blind could see, the dead were raised to life, and the demon-possessed were set free. Many waited for hours to touch the hem of His garment or to be touched by Him. No one had ever done the miracles that this man had done.

But Christ’s power went to a much higher level than mere miracles. He altered the laws of physics and routinely defied nature. Jesus could feed 5,000 men with a small boy’s lunch and have a dozen baskets of leftovers for later. He walked on water, calmed the waves of the sea, and made a tree dry up and wither in a matter of minutes. When people saw these, they were filled with wonder.

Supernatural signs go beyond just planet Earth. When Christ was born at Bethlehem, the sky shone bright at midnight. The last hours of the Savior’s life, the blackness of midnight filled the early afternoon, and the exact moment of Christ’s death triggered an earthquake. On top of this, that very night there was a blood moon. The Roman centurion, seeing these signs, admitted that He was the Son of God. Coincidences? Nobody thought so. Christ Jesus was the Man Attested by God.

 February 7 

I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.
1 John 2:13

One of the few perks about being old is the right to say “been there, done that.” I went to school in the 1950’s before ballpoint pens were invented and we still used fountain pens. I ate at McDonald’s restaurants before they served 50 million, and I remember the introduction of the Ford Mustang back in 1964. When young people today think these things have been around forever, I feel like him who’s been around from the beginning.

The Apostle John addressed the church fathers as the oldest and wisest men in the assembly. They had been around for a long time and could certainly teach the young people a thing or two. But John needed to remind them of their true sense of maturity; they knew Him Who is From the Beginning.

The Lord Jesus was around before the wheel and the campfire were invented. He existed before the earth was formed and before the very first star got fired up. Before time began, there were no reference points to the universe. Things still happened back then. The angels, principalities, and powers were created and God sat on His throne, but it is just called “Eternity past.” Christ was never created, so He was certainly around back then too.

When God finally got around to making matter and energy, time was invented simultaneously. The moment that happened is called “the Beginning.” Christ got the clock ticking. He was Him Who is From the Beginning.

*see also 1 John 2:14; 1:1

March 31 

But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”
Revelation 5:5

A large variety of vegetation can be transplanted with just a small piece of root. The new plant will have all the characteristics of its parent, although the size and shape might differ greatly.

The Lord Jesus was the Root of David, and the parallels between the two are remarkable.

Characteristic	David	Christ
Birthplace:	Bethlehem	Bethlehem
Gossip Material:	…for having both a prostitute and a foreigner in the family tree.	…for being thought to be conceived out of wedlock.
Early Occupation:	Shepherd of sheep.	Shepherd of Israel (Matthew 15:24).
Anointed:	…by the prophet Samuel to be King of Israel.	…by the Holy Spirit to be Christ of God.
Betrayal:	…by his own son, Absalom.	…by his disciple and close friend, Judas Iscariot.
Rejected King:	Lived through two civil wars (with Isbosheth and Absalom).	The mob in Pilate’s court shouted for their King to be crucified (Matthew 27:22).
Relationship to God:	A man after the Lord’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).	Is the well-pleasing, beloved Son of God (Matthew 17:5).

Come O Root of David and reign on the throne of the son of Jesse. *see also Revelation 22:16

April 27

So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar
of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.
Genesis 35:14*

After Jacob had a vision of a ladder to heaven, he set up a rock as a pillar and then poured oil on it as an act of worship (Genesis 28:18). More than 20 years later, Jacob returned to the same spot and again poured out oil. This was long before Moses gave instructions for drink offerings, but in every case, three aspects of sacrifice are always present.

1. Poured out – When a liquid is poured out on the ground, it never can be retrieved again for anything useful. The world would look on this as a waste, but the drink offering was a free-will offering given in gratitude to God. The Apostle Paul poured out his life in service for the gospel of Christ and considered it a sacrifice that he was joyfully willing to give (Philippians 2:17).

2. Precious – Oil and wine are not cheap. A quart and a half of wine was poured out every morning and every evening in the daily sacrifices and then much more was given on top of that for feast days and public worship. David once poured out water as a drink offering, because his three mighty men risked their lives to break into a Philistine garrison to get him a jug of water. David said that it represented the life’s blood of his men and it was too precious to drink. Instead, he poured it out in worship to God.

3. Praise – as a part of the grain offering, the drink offering was included in the sweet-smelling sacrifices that the LORD delighted in. It had nothing to do with sin and transgression and everything to do with worship and appreciation. The liquid of this sacrifice was usually wine, which was sipped and then had the rest poured out to God, as if both the creature and the Creator were making a toast together.

The Lord Jesus Christ freely gave His life as a Drink Offering to the Father. On the cross of Calvary, the Savior poured out His precious blood to save the human race of their sins, for the praise of the glory of God.

*used 66 times in various ways in scripture.

 March 29