Author: rickkhol

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Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
James 2:7

 The apostle James overflowed with contempt towards rich Christians who flaunted their wealth and expected special seating in meetings of the church. He made a rhetorical question to the saints to make them realize what was going on: “Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?” (James 2:5). He concluded that such behavior blasphemed the noble name of Christ.

Often when we read in the gospels of Christ’s birth in a stable, or the fact that He didn’t even have a roof over His head during His ministry or that He was buried in a borrowed tomb, we envision the Savior in His humanity and forget that He is King of kings.

Jesus was of noble birth and could trace his lineage back to King David. His ancestry went back to Adam who at one point had dominion over all the earth. But His noble origin goes back further yet. He is God, so He is also Lord of lords, the blessed and only Potentate, and King of Glory.

The Lord came to this world to save sinners “and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:15). But of those whom He called there were “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” (1 Corinthians 1:26). Yet, it is the plan of the Savior that Christians hear “the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). In other words, He takes those whom the world esteems as lowly and brings them to share in His nobility. He elevates us to be joint heirs.

As a result, we are called on to shed the weak and beggarly elements of our human nature that we were born with and be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The Apostle Paul admonishes believers: “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble […] meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8). In doing that we’ll never forget that the King of Righteousness is Noble.

October 13

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Ephesians 5:2

In the Bible, sacrifice and offerings are often mentioned together, but there are important differences. Offerings
 compromise the broader category and refer to anything brought to the designated place of worship that is presented as a gift to God. Sacrifices are a sub-group of offerings and refer to food stuffs that are totally or partially burnt on the altar.

Christ came to earth to sacrifice His life as a substitution for mankind’s sins. This wasn’t something the Lord had to do because He owed salvation to Adam’s race but rather was a free will offering. Jesus didn’t have to save us; He chose to save us.

Since the focus was on giving a gift, all offerings are types of Christ and they come in many varieties. The many variations of sweet-smelling sacrifices were all voluntary and precious. Although a lame, blind, or sick animal could be butchered for food, it could not be given to God; it had to be without defect.

Sin and Trespass offerings fall under non-sweet-smelling sacrifices, but also are Old Testament images of Christ. These were not optional; they were required in order to atone for sins. The Lord Jesus willingly became a sin offering in order to impute our sins as His own, because we were unwilling and unable to reconcile ourselves to the Holy God.

Scriptures also link tithes and offerings. A tithe literally means 10% of one’s income and was compulsory for God’s people. Actually, there were three separate tithes required; one for the priests, one for the feasts, and one for the poor every three years. Therefore, tithing would actually come out to be between 20 and 30% any given year. Anything on top of that was considered an offering.

Since Jesus Christ gave Himself 100% to free us from our sins, He is the living embodiment of an offering.

October 10

For Moses truly said to the fathers, “The LORD your God will raise up for you
a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things,
whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear
that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.
Acts 3:22,23*

Shortly before Moses died, he prophesied that another Prophet would come after him that would be on the magnitude of Moses himself. This meant the ability to do signs and wonders at the level that Moses was able to do them, not to mention leading the people of God. Even before “the Babe” was born in Bethlehem, Jewish sages recognized that Moses was referring to the Messiah.

Synagogue leaders would have taught this in the Sabbath services, so by the time Christ taught and performed His wonders, the title “The Prophet” was generally acknowledged as a title for the Lord’s Anointed.

After Christ miraculously fed 5,000 men with only five bread rolls and two sardines many remarked, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14). On another occasion Jesus stood up to the Pharisees and chief priests so that the crowd marveled and exclaimed, “’Truly this is the Prophet‘. Others said, ‘This is the Christ'” (John 7:40-41). Even King Herod’s advisers discussed who Jesus was. The king feared Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life, but some of his counselors speculated that. “It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets” (Mark. 6:15).

The verses at the beginning of this meditation come from Peter’s sermon in the temple after the healing of the lame man. Again, a major miracle was performed and still some people argued rather than coming to the conclusion of faith in the Messiah. Peter reminded them that these very people had seen the fulfillment of the Prophet coming, but they crucified Him instead of giving Him glory.

The bottom line is that some people repented and embraced the Savior while others rejected the Prophet and were utterly condemned just like people today.

*see also Deuteronomy 18:15,18; Mark 6:15; John 6:14, 7:40

October 8

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.”
John 4:19

In English grammar, the little word “a” is an indefinite article. That means that the noun it is linked to is nothing special or in particular. When the Samaritan woman called Jesus a prophet, she was seeing Him as one among many religious professionals.

The woman at the well had never seen Christ before, and yet, He knew all about her. He knew things that only God could know, so she assumed that God had revealed the information to Him. No one in that village had ever seen a man of God before, but seeing how extraordinary this stranger was, she concluded that He must be a prophet.

The title was meant to be a compliment. After all, hundreds of years had gone by without any prophet at all so, she was putting Him into a very special category. Herein lies the whole problem; Christ is in a class by Himself. In every group that people want to put Him in, the Savior must have the preeminence.

In the minds of modern theologians, Jesus is just a prophet. He is a spiritual leader that formed a world religion and is on par with Moses, Buddha, Confucius, and Krishna. But Christ is Lord of lords and all others will bow the knee to Him.

In Islam, Christ is honored as a prophet. However, Mohammed is considered to be “the Prophet” so the Lord of Glory at best comes in second place. That’s wrong! The Lord Jesus remains the only “Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).

Whenever Christ is bundled to something else, He is esteemed as less than the God of the universe, so people reject Him for what he claimed to be. Many see Jesus as a way to God (among many others) or a savior for some people in the world, but not others. Unbelief likes to use the indefinite article. It would be like calling Him a prophet.

October 7

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Hebrews 8:6

Better is “more gooder.” It’s been improvised on, greater than, and superior to whatever it is being compared to. Here, Christ is the Mediator of a Better Covenant, so the new relationship He establishes with God out-shines anything and everything involved in the old covenant of law keeping.

The nation of Israel was a privileged people. God revealed everything He wanted them to do by giving them a written law. This included a list of moral standards which established right and wrong (the Ten Commandments) and also gave a code of social and ceremonial laws. With this spiritual contract came great benefits and responsibilities. God promised to bless the Jewish people greatly when they obeyed His laws. Through obedience they would be given military victories, exponential growth, and wealth that compounded annually.

Disobedience, on the other hand, resulted in serious consequences: military defeats, famines, plagues, climate change, poverty, captivity, exile, and after that, things really got bad.

God’s covenant of law only worked when His people heard what He said and obeyed it. Since the human heart is hard, the years of God’s blessing were few and the years of cursing many.

The New Covenant that Christ ushered in changed all areas of the contract for the better:

• God’s blessings are based on a person’s faith, not a result of works.
• Christ supplies us with grace which is His power to save and transform.
• Temporal blessings on earth are replaced with eternal life.
• God no longer seems distant. He is Immanuel, God with us.
• The emphasis isn’t inheriting the land but being joint heirs with Christ.
• Christians have the promise of victory over sin and death and hell.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being the Mediator of a Better Covenant.

October 6

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