Month: November 2024

 

Therefore say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Return to Me,’ says the LORD of hosts,
‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
Zechariah 1:3

Zechariah truly got it; this is an important title of God. Used 235 times in the Old Testament, it conveys power and authority. The International Standard Version translates this phrase “LORD of the heavenly armies.” This view of God sees Him backed up by an innumerable force of fighting angels. No power in the universe can stand against Him.

The title clearly belongs to God, but is it also clear that it pertains to God the Son (a.k.a the Lord Jesus Christ)? Well…yes, of course. Just examine how the name links to verses that obviously describe the Messiah.

• “Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; For the LORD of hosts will reign On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously” (Isaiah 24:23).
• “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘ I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God'” (Isaiah 44:6).
• “‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:9).
• “Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you” (Zechariah 2:11).

When Christ comes at the final day of  judgment with the assembled armies of heaven, the whole world will acknowledge that Jesus is the LORD of hosts.   

They bound the hands of Jesus, in the garden where He prayed;
They led Him thro’ the streets in shame.
They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
They said, “Crucify Him; He’s to blame.”
He could have called ten thousand angels, To destroy the world and set Him free.
He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, (alone), for you and me.
                                                                                      Ray Overholt (1924-2008)

April 8

I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire.
Daniel 7:9*

Jesus wasn’t born yesterday.  He didn’t even come into existence some 2,000 years ago.  He always was as He is now.  The Bible never speaks of the origin of Christ.  As the prophet Micah put it, His “goings forth have been from old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).

To some the phrase the Ancient of Days summons up thoughts of antiquity and being out of date, but that misses the whole thrust of the title.  The idea is not about age, but rather about the ageless character of Christ.  He never grows old, impatient, or unconcerned.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (i.e. always young and lovely).  As David said it in Psalm 110, “You have the dew of youth.”

The Lord is as fresh as the sunrise, even though that too has an ancient origin. Yet, Christ’s energy will be just as strong, long after the sun has run out of fuel. As Ancient of Days, He can remember other suns long since extinct, but His own brightness has diminished not at all.

The years are unkind to human flesh and the centuries crumble away civilizations. But, to the Lord, “one day is a thousand years and a thousand years one day” (2 Peter 3:8). Time soon will become irrelevant. When everything in this world seems to be in a state of flux, there is great comfort in knowing that the Christian can go to One who never changes – The Ancient of Days.

April 7

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…..For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things….
Hebrews 8:1, 4, 5

No one in the Old Testament got closer to God than the High Priest.  Endowed with great privilege and responsibility, he was allowed to enter into the presence of the LORD once a year and advocate for a sinful people before a most Holy God. The title is used 74 times in scripture, most often in the Old Testament, but ten of those times the reference clearly speaks of Christ and all of those occur in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Hebrews explains how Temple sacrifices and rituals were “shadows” (i.e. clues and illustrations) that help us understand what God is doing on planet earth through Christ Jesus.  So then, all seventy-four mentions of high priest shed some light on God’s Anointed and the ten direct references bring it into detailed view.  The distinction is similar to the difference of a man standing in the sunlight and the shadow that he casts.

Aaron and his high priestly descendants interceded for God’s people.  That’s what Jesus came to do.  “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.  For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens: who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (Hebrews 7:25-27).

As High Priest, Christ was given the job to atone for our sins. He did that well and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Now, He continues to stand in the gap for His people and intercedes for us before the throne of God against anyone who would bring a charge against God’s chosen people.

April 6

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