Month: October 2024

“Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?
And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.
Mark 6:3

The folks in Christ’s hometown of Nazareth resented Him and that caused real attitude problems: “Who does he think he is anyhow? He’s just a common laborer, a woodworker. He doesn’t come from a good family. After all, he’s Mary’s son; he was born out of wedlock.”

People back then and there were judgmental just like they are today. They felt anyone who they labeled as “illegitimate” could never obtain greatness much less do anything for God. Being the Son of Mary meant “bad blood.”

The self-righteous are never so wrong as when they convince themselves that they are better than others. Mary descended from royalty and could trace her bloodline back to King David, and then even back to Adam.

Jesus has two genealogies recorded in scripture. Matthew traces Jesus’ birthright through His adopted father, Joseph, who could have had title to the throne of David if they were still doing that kind of thing at that time. One big problem with this succession of legal heirs is that it included King Jeconiah who was cursed by God in Jeremiah 22:24-28. The prophet said that “Coniah” and his descendants would be cut off, meaning that the Messiah could not come through Joseph. This presented a prophetic contradiction for the Messiah. Only the miracle of the virgin birth could solve this problem.

People assumed Jesus to be Joseph’s son, but the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3 is actually Mary’s. She was a descendant of David, but not of Jeconiah.

Christ had all the legal rights to the throne of David, because Joseph adopted Him and made him his own. He also had to have a human blood line back to David, without being Coniah’s relative. The King of Kings was able to fulfill scripture, because He was the Son of Mary. 

December 8 

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

Babies sin because it’s their nature. No one needs to teach them how to lie, steal, or destroy; they are born with that ability. In fact, one of my son’s first words was a lie. He had recently turned one and still wasn’t walking or talking, but he could crawl everywhere, stand up on his own, and understand lots of words.

As my wife was cleaning one of the bedrooms, she noticed that the house was strangely silent and the toddler was nowhere to be seen. As she moved towards the kitchen, she called out, “Stephen, are you touching the stove?”

There were very few “no-no’s” in the house, but that was definitely one of them. The one year old was defiantly touching the stove and began looking around to see if mom was near. When he couldn’t see his mother, he assumed that she also couldn’t see him, so he proudly lied, “No!”

The sin nature might raise a chuckle when seen in a small child, but it gets very ugly very quickly, and it is not a condition that cures itself. That old nature has to die and a new nature has to come in to replace it if sin is to ever lose its power over us.

Christ never had that addiction to sin. He certainly knew what sin was, but had no desire to do it. He was sinless by nature, so on the cross he swapped rap sheets with humanity. He gave mankind a clean slate and took on Himself trillions of terrible sins, which he paid for with His death.

Coming to the Lord Jesus in faith means that sin’s power over sinners is broken. Those who were trapped in a habitual cycle of self-destruction receive a new desire to live in God’s will. They are changed, all because of Him who Knew no Sin.

March 11 

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 1:18

Heads are basic equipment on animal bodies. Fleas, microscopic dust mites, and even earthworms all have heads, although they may be hard to see. The head is the controlling force in all of God’s creatures, great and small. The head is connected to the various systems by way of nerves, so it can regulate the heart, lungs, and muscles. Every second, millions of bits of information are sent back and forth between the head and different parts of the body.

The Lord Jesus is Head of the Body, the church. That certainly means that He is in charge and over the church, but the title is also used to show that the church is more like an organism (a living thing) than an organization.

The human perspective views the church more in terms of the structure and hierarchy of an institution. This concept was vividly illustrated for me in a mural painted on the back wall of the Catholic cathedral in the town of Baños in Ecuador, South America.

At the bottom of the fresco, a poor peasant farmer is seen holding a rosary and kneeing before a priest. Behind him are much bigger beads of a huge rosary that forms a circle around the enormous painting. The background rosary connects the viewer’s eyes from the priest to a bishop, and from a bishop to a cardinal, and then to the pope. As the rosary beads continue around, they connect to the saints and then to the Virgin Mary and then finally to Jesus. Viewing this made me so sad, because the lesson being taught was that there is a lot of bureaucracy needed to get to the Lord. But the worst part was that, in portraying Christ at the end of the line, He looked more like the tail than the head.

Our Savior is the Head of the Body so is connected directly to each part. In my body, if my little finger is cut, a message is sent directly to the brain. It doesn’t go to the hand, then the wrist, then the arm, then to the shoulder. The head is immediately aware of what’s happening all over the body and coordinates the parts to work together.

December 6 

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” says the LORD of hosts.
“Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.”
Zechariah 13:7

The night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed, He quoted the verse above on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:31). The urgent message that He needed to tell His disciples was that within hours, their Shepherd would be taken and all of them would be scattered. Obviously, this was the fulfillment of a Messianic prophesy, but hidden in this Old Testament verse is another title of Christ: “the Man who is My Companion.”

In context, the Shepherd knew His sheep, but was also a companion of the LORD of Hosts. Other descriptive titles of Christ are much better known: For example, Son of God, Servant of God, and Glory of God. These names emphasize the Lord’s deity and are a stark contrast to simply being a companion.

There is more to this title than initially meets the eye. The emphasis here is the humanity of Christ. The Savior’s equality with God (Philippians 2:6) is unquestionable. He is the God/Man who came to restore fellowship with His estranged creation. He reached out to multitudes, but He established a true bond of friendship with twelve special men. Jesus was more than just a rabbi, teacher, and shepherd to his disciples; He was a companion.

Christ not only taught the apostles things about God, but also demonstrated a relationship with God that was hard to even imagine. Clearly, Jesus was the companion of the Almighty, and both the Father and the Son delighted in the relationship. The Lord would be alone for hours communing with God and the disciples also experienced the reality of this relationship.

When Christ died on the cross, He reconciled the world to Himself. He restored the broken communications and communion with God, and He allowed former enemies to become friends.

The bottom line is this: The Lord Jesus Christ is not only my God and Savior, He is the Man who is My Companion.

December 5 

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they
shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Matthew 1:23*

Getting three wishes granted is the stuff fairy tales are made of. However, in the real world, only two men since time began were given the opportunity to have anything they wanted, and they had only one chance to get it right.

Solomon was the first and he requested wisdom. This choice so pleased God that the king also received power, long life, and fabulous wealth. The second didn’t expect much from God, so He turned down the offer altogether.

The year was 753 B.C. and the political situation in Jerusalem was desperate. The armies of Syria and Northern Israel had just made an alliance to invade and conquer Judah. Just as there seemed no way out of a bad situation, God sent Isaiah to the unbelieving King Ahaz with very good news. The threatened attack would never take place. In fact, the powerful Northern enemy would itself cease to exist in 65 years. To show the certainty of deliverance, Isaiah told the King that the Lord would do any miracle he desired (Isaiah 7:1-14).

“No, don’t bother, I won’t ask,” was Ahaz’s response.

“Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign,” the prophet declared “Immanuel will come.”

It was the greatest thing that anyone could ever wish for. Immanuel means, “God with us,” and that meant the distance between man and his Creator would be gone forever. Born of a virgin, the God-man would be totally unique and would come bringing deliverance for all people.

The sad thing was that Ahaz lost in every way. He never got his heart’s desire, and he never saw God’s promise. Because of spiritual apathy, even people today pass up life’s most wonderful opportunity. They miss knowing Immanuel and the deliverance from destruction He offers.

*See also Isaiah 7:14, 8:8

December 4 

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:10

For those who are not into comic books, there are lots of superheroes out there. There is Captain America, but there are also Captain Britain, Captain Canuc, and Captain Universe. You can even find Captain Atom, Captain Comet, Captain Video, and Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Shazam). Calvin and Hobbs also had their own superhero (Captain Napalm). Now we add to the list one more: The Captain of Salvation. The only difference between this one and all the others is that this superhero is real and the rest are pretend.

The Lord Jesus is a superhero in His own right. He conquered the power of sin and death and hell by dying and then rising again from the dead. He defeated His arch villain, Lucifer, crushing his demonic army. The Captain of Salvation proclaimed His power before beginning His first adventure: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).  

No one else can do what the Savior has already done “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). “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:9,10).

Who is this guy who single-handedly rescues people from the penalty of sin? He is the Captain of Salvation!

July 22

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 rain forest is big on bugs. Actually, it’s big on big bugs. I have an insect collection from the jungle of Ecuador, and several of the specimens are over three inches long. However, the granddaddy of them all is the South American Cave spider that measures 16 inches from the end of its feelers to its back legs.

The critter is terrible to behold. It looks more like a space alien than something you’d find on Planet Earth. The spider itself with its long legs is about six inches long, but it has long antennae that help it to find its prey in total darkness. This specialized arachnid is totally blind, but then, it eats albino crickets that are also sightless. When an insect trips one of the feelers, the spider springs on it and catches it in big, bear-trap-like claws that contain long, sharp spines.

Normal people never see this species of spider because it is only found far from civilization and veiled in thick darkness. They won’t come to you, so you need to go down into a cave to find them and bring with you a light that shines in a dark place. Most of these cave-dwellers go through their whole lives without ever encountering light, because they are creatures of complete darkness.

The Savior came to a world that was enveloped in spiritual blackness. When the baby Jesus was born, the glory of the LORD turned the darkness of midnight into the brightness of noonday. The ministry of the Lord healed those who were physically blind and enlightened those who spiritually were unable to see. Christ was the Light that Shines in a Dark Place, and many demanded that He die because they did not want His light to reveal the blackness of their souls. “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

August 31 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29*

Levitical law allowed that if any of the common people sinned unintentionally, he would be guilty. However, atonement could be made by sacrificing a spotless lamb as a sin offering. The sinner would lay his hand on the head of the animal and confess his sin before slaying it. He would then hand it over to the priest to be burnt outside the community. Since most families rarely had more than two or three dozen sheep, the economic impact of such an offering would be clearly felt.

The legal requirements varied according to who made the offering. A priest had to provide a young bull, a ruler a male goat. The very poor could substitute a pair of pigeons as their sacrifice. In every case, two principles always applied, no matter who brought the offering:

1. A sin offering without imperfections was necessary for all.
2. The cost would be significant for those who offered it.

If God was to provide the sin offering for fallen man, what could He give that would fulfill the law? He is not poor. He owns the universe. He could offer a million spotless lambs. If that were not enough, He could create an additional million sheep in an instant and never suffer loss.

No, the only thing that could serve as God’s lamb was His own spotless Son. The expense was so great that the banks of heaven would have broken if His life could indeed have been taken from them. The sacrifice was so sinless that it is superfluous to think that a sin offering would ever need to be made again.

When we behold Thee, Lamb of God,
Beneath our sin’s tremendous load;
Expiring on the accursed tree,
How great our guilt, with grief we see.

– Mary Walker (1878)

*see also John 1:36

June 30

Masters, give your bondservants what is just and
fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
Colossians 4:1

In this day and age, it is hard to imagine that there were ever slave owners who were true Christians. During the time of the Roman Empire, when slaves comprised 75% of the population, it would have been difficult to imagine that society could function without the practice. Christianity changes people, and from there, the civilization changes.

The Apostle Paul advocated for slaves, because many of the early believers were considered the property of others. He appealed to their Masters that they were Christ’s slaves and had a Master in Heaven. They needed to show mercy and respect to the men and women who served them, if they believed that Christ would give them mercy and forgiveness.

The applications of these verses are still valid today even though the socioeconomic structure of our culture is very different. In the modern church, there are business owners and administrators who still boss people around and can make or break those who work for them. They, too, need to be reminded that they have a Boss in Heaven who is also watching them to see how they handle their own human resources.

In the first century, sometimes slaves would be elders in the church and teach their owners spiritual truths. God wanted everyone treated with love and without partiality. The Christian boss in the last-century church needs to realize that God is more interested in just and fair treatment of employees than He is about the business’s bottom line. That employer needs to remember that he also has a Master in Heaven.

 February 1

To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He
might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:26

Many years ago, my family lived in a small Quichua village in Ecuador, South America. Our house was separated from a Christian school by a short path that ran about 500 feet through the jungle. I’d make the trip from home to school several times a day, and even our two year old son, Stephen, would often go back and forth.

Once as I was studying in my office, I heard my son give off a horrifying scream. I instantly knew what was happening. Ants!!

I ran as fast as I could and saw him standing in a swarm of army ants. I picked him up and immediately started ripping off his clothes as I ran back to the house. As soon as I touched my son, the ants started biting me too, but that didn’t matter. Those ants could kill a toddler, but I planned on hurting them more than they hurt me. We bathed my boy in cold water, and then he cried himself to sleep. That was good; he was safe.

The next day, I went out with a five-gallon can of gasoline and poured the liquid down every ant hill I could find around our house. When I lit one hill, I could hear the flames moving back and forth under the ground and then a plume of flame would shoot up from another entrance. I could hear the fire working its destruction under my feet. I know that I killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of ants that day, but I felt no remorse and no pity. Those ants had attacked and could have killed my son! They tried to hurt me! They were not going to hurt my family again. What I did was just.

My justice protected my loved ones, but nearly wiped out the offending creatures. If I had love for the ants and could speak their language, maybe I could have warned them of the fiery judgment that was coming. If I could have saved them from their destruction, I would have been their justifier because I would have given them a way to escape. Of course, that part didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean that what I did wasn’t just.

The Lord Jesus Christ is both Just and the Justifier of the believers. He not only has judged sin, but has also taken that judgment on Himself, so that His people can escape the wrath of God to come.

 January 31