Category: Uncategorized

But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come,
with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
Hebrews 9:11

In A.D. 70, Roman legions destroyed the Temple and burnt Jerusalem to the ground. There hasn’t been a high priest on earth since then.

Most Christians have a very limited understanding as to the office or ministry of the high priest. Many consider it an Old Testament thing with little or no importance to them, while others see the position as a type of Christ. As such, it helps those believers understand better the role the Savior has in atonement and intercession for the saints. When Christians die or are raptured, they will lose their sin nature and finally be completely conformed to the image of God’s Son. Without sin, we will no longer need Jesus to plead our case before a Holy God. We will no longer need a high priest – or at least that’s what I used to think.

Jesus is our High Priest of Good Things to Come. He did not stop being High Priest after atoning for our sins on the cross, and He doesn’t get laid off once the job of intercession is done. Clearly, Christ is “High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:20), so He’ll be doing something special up in heaven.

The book of Hebrews tells us that the Old Testament offerings and rituals were types and shadows of good things to come (Hebrews 10:1). For example, the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle was a perfect cube (with the height, length, and width all equal). New Jerusalem (the celestial city) is also a perfect cube, so in one sense, the Tabernacle in the wilderness foreshadows heaven.

No one really can imagine all the great things that will happen when we get to heaven, but two things are certain:

#1 Heaven is out of this world, and
#2 Christ will be the High Priest of Good Things to Come.

 March 2 

And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew 2:23

Believing that the Bible is the inspired Word of God means to acknowledge that it doesn’t contain errors or contradictions. It also means that there are no irrelevant details or useless information. Everything in scripture is there for a reason.

Christ was called Jesus of Nazareth, even though He wasn’t born there and Matthew makes the point that He was called a Nazarene. It wasn’t coincidence that both Joseph and Mary hailed from Nazareth, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the family relocated in Nazareth a few years later.

The Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem according to Micah 5:2, but according to Isaiah 9:1-2, He would come from “Galilee of the Gentiles.” The city of Nazareth didn’t even exist in Old Testament times, but in the first century it was a northern Roman garrison.

Herein probably lies the reason Jesus needed to be from Nazareth. Everybody disdained the place. It was the kind of town that someone who was despised and rejected by men would come from.

When I was growing up, people would tell “Polack jokes,” saying ridiculous things about folks lightly esteemed. Today, the popular put-down is about “Rednecks.” In Jesus’ day, the Jewish people probably told “Nazarene jokes.” When Nathaniel asked “Can anything good come out of Nazareth? (John 1:45), he might have been voicing a popular cliché rather than expressing personal prejudice.

In any case, Christ did what He always has done. He took that which the world puts down and then lifted it up to glory. Today, it is quite an honor to identify with the Nazarene.

 March 3 

Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great
prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.”
Luke 7:16

When Jesus and His disciples came to the town of Nain, a funeral procession passed by. The dead man was the only son of a poor widow and the Lord had compassion on her. He touched the open coffin and said, “Young man, I say to you, arise” (Luke 7:12-14). Christ then presented him alive and well to his mother.

Impressive? I should say so. A miracle of this magnitude hadn’t occurred in Israel for almost 900 years, going back to the time that Elisha raised another young man from the dead. The crowd concluded that Jesus of Nazareth was no ordinary rabbi; He was a great prophet.

Clearly Christ was a prophet, because He said the boy would come back to life and it happened exactly as He said it would. The greatness of the miracle put him up with two of the greatest prophets of Israel, but the Savior was much more than that.

Old Testament prophets saw visions of things in the future that they neither recognized nor understood. Often, short-term prophecies were superimposed on other similar prophecies that would be hundreds of years in the future. It’s common to find descriptions of Christ’s first and second comings in the same passage. Chronological order seems to be lacking with most of the major prophets, so seeing things in light of the New Testament sorts out the context and makes it understandable.

The Lord Jesus’ prophecies are not like that. He who knows the beginning from the end has given clear and understandable explanations of heaven and hell that were incomplete in Old Testament scripture. Christ’s predictions of the end times are unmistakably fulfilling themselves in the present. The last book of the Bible calls itself the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Although symbols and types are used as in all prophecy, there is a clarity and order of progression unlike anything in the Old Testament.

Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were excellent men of God, but only Christ Jesus was the really Great Prophet.

 February 16 

…one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
Ephesians 4:5

In today’s Christianity the Lord Jesus comes in many styles and sizes. There’s a black Jesus, an Asian Jesus (with almond eyes), a “cool” Jesus (with designer sunglasses), and a Catholic Jesus (still nailed to a cross). Then, there are the political varieties. Sometimes Christ is a Democrat, sometimes a Republican, but He’s always very independent. He might be opposed to any kind of war, abortion, or gay marriage, but then again, He might be fine with one or more of them.

In the beginning, God made man in His own image (Genesis 1:27). Ever since then, Man has been seeing God in his own image. Like God, people are spiritual beings; they can reason, communicate, appreciate beauty, problem solve, and know the difference between right and wrong. Unlike God, the human race is sinful, petty, boastful, nasty, and especially divisive.

God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4) and He really enjoys it when His people are one. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

Christ is the common denominator of every true Christian. Certainly, there are attributes of this One Lord that aren’t up for discussion. He is sinless, divine, almighty, and loving. Every real believer will recognize the real Jesus as soon as they see Him, but He will also be different than the stereotype that they have built in their minds.

The “distinctives” that are the bread and butter of the thousands of Christian denominations and organizations will disappear. Things that have separated blood-bought believers over the centuries will be gone forever, and they will be left with one faith, one baptism, and One Lord.

 March 4 

For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
and has become higher than the heavens;
Hebrews 7:26

Astronomy as a science has greatly developed since the time the New Testament was written. Back then, nothing was known about galaxies, quasars, or black holes, so everything was based on what could be seen with the unaided eye.

First-century conventional wisdom divided all that is celestial into three levels. The first heaven included everything within the earth’s atmosphere. Clouds, mountain tops, and the realm of birds all fell within this level.

Beyond that was the second heaven. This included the sun, moon, and stars. Technically, it would have been the visible stars of the night sky, but the category would also include everything else that could be seen with a telescope.

Above the known universe, one could encounter the third heaven, which is the throne of God (2 Corinthians 12:2). Both the Apostles John and Paul were elevated to that level, either in a vision or teleportation (they weren’t really sure how they got there). In any case, they were overwhelmed by the reality of its existence.

The Lord Jesus Christ is Higher than the Heavens. The position of Christ is exalted, elevated, and superior to everything else in both the known and unknown universes, in outer space, and even the throne of God.

It’s hard, if not impossible, to go past the limits of human knowledge and imagination, yet that’s where believers are called to spend eternity. They – and we – will enter the third heaven and gaze upward at the Savior who is Higher than the Heavens.

 February 17 

 

When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Mark 2:17*

Cancer, heart disease, and aging are as much a part of the human condition as are sin, suffering, and self-destruction. That certainly wasn’t God’s original plan for creation, but sin and sickness escalated through the years, causing the misery index to soar. Life expectancy dropped from over 900 years before the flood to somewhere between 30-40 years during the first century. It is no wonder that when the Sun of Righteousness finally arose over planet Earth that He had “healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2). The Lord Jesus was moved with compassion and healed multitudes.

Christ was able to do things that modern medicine can’t come close to achieving. Lepers were instantly healed with a touch, and high fever disappeared at His command. Muscles that had wasted away through atrophy in the body of paralytics were immediately restored. Even the dead came back to life. Such healings were proof that Christ was the Son of God and had power over the consequences of sin.

Although not officially in scripture, for centuries, His people have referred to Him as the “Great Physician.” The Lord still heals through answered prayer, and it’s always exciting to see the modern medical profession hard-pressed to give an answer for an unexplained recovery of a terminal patient.

However, this sin-cursed world continues to be in rebellion against its Creator and previously unknown diseases seem to appear every year. Sickness and death are the direct result of the human sin nature, and the main objective of Christ is (and has always been) to bring sinners to repentance. His death on the cross enables each believer to have eternal life and dwell forever with Him, free from disease and disability. He is both the Christian’s Savior and Physician.

*also see Matthew 9:12; Luke 4:23, 5:31-32

 February 18 

…but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.
Acts 13:37

It’s not hard to understand that this verse refers to the Lord Jesus, especially if it is read in context as part of a sermon that the Apostle Paul gave at Antioch in Pisidia. Even so, those who purposely choose to misunderstand something can and will do so, hoping to confuse others at the same time.

False religious witnesses have been known to twist this verse to teach what it does not say. They argue, “If Jesus is ‘He Whom God Raised Up,’ then He can’t be God, because the verse shows that they are different.” Actually, the verse doesn’t show that, and here is the reason why.

The One, True God of the Universe can reveal Himself in three distinct ways as the Father, the Son, and as the Spirit. The Bible calls each God, and each had part in Christ’s resurrection.

God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4). “Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)” (Galatians 1:1).

God the Holy Spirit resurrected the Savior. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

Christ raised Himself up from the grave. Jesus said “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again…” (John 10:17,18). “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’” (John 2:19).

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit brought back Jesus from the dead. Confusing? It shouldn’t be. Christ is He Whom God Raised Up.

 February 2 

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things…
Hebrews 1:1-2

Since the theme of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the better covenant that came through the Son of God, everything about Him exceeds all that was in the Old Testament. The prophets of old were servants of God who saw short glimpses of the glory of the LORD, but Jesus was the Heir of All Things.

As Heir, Christ inherits anything and everything that was God’s. Possessions, authority, dominion, power, abilities, attributes, and the character of the divine now belong to the Savior of the World. The promised Immanuel kept His promise, and God continued abiding with His creation. Everything that had gone on for millennia in the past was now obsolete and inadequate. What had appeared to be very real, present, and relevant was revealed to be just shadows and images of what was to come.

The term “all things” leaves nothing out. Even the unknown assets of God that we have no clue about still are Christ’s to use or lose or give away, because He is the Heir of All Things.

God, even in the Old Covenant, possessed all things, all power, and all glory. What actually changes is access to the Holy One of God. All distance, all obstacles, and all limitations are gone. Our Great High Priest now intercedes for us so that we can approach that which had been unapproachable since the lifetime of Adam.

It would have been enough to walk through heaven in the same way a tourist walks through a world class museum: Look, but don’t touch. But here’s the part of the New Covenant that boggles the imagination: He who has become Heir of All Things has also made us joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). Who’da thunk it?!!

 February 3 

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until
Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall
be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.
Daniel 9:25

The verse today comes from the famous 70 weeks prophesy in Daniel. The short explanations of this portion is that 69 weeks of years (i.e. 483 years) after King Cyrus’ declaration to rebuild Jerusalem, the Messiah would be cut off. After Christ’s resurrection, early Christians did the math and discovered that it came out to the very week the Savior was crucified. The detail and precision of this Old Testament prophesy convinced many that Jesus was, in fact, the Son of God during the early centuries of the Christian church.

By adding Prince to the Messianic title, the focus is on the Lord’s nobility. Christ came from the seed of David and the root of Jesse. Being born into that family made Him a Prince. Jesus’ genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew proved that He would have been in line to the throne of David if Romans were not in power. A king in waiting by definition is a prince.

Kings without kingdoms have no palace, army, or right of decree. As time and generations go by, those would-be kings need day jobs to survive until the political pendulum swings back in their direction. Joseph, Christ’s adoptive dad, could trace his birthright back to David, but did carpentry work to pay the bills. He and his wife Mary were so poor when they started out that their little Prince was born in a stable.

Jesus preached of His kingdom, but few bowed the knee before Him. Pilate brought him before the mob and declared, “Behold your king,” but the crowd shouted Him down screaming, “Away with Him! Crucify Him!” (John 19:14,15). The rejected king was still a Prince.

Peter reminded the chief priests of their rejection when he addressed the Sanhedrin: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior (Acts 5:30, 31).

Very soon, Christ will return to Earth with an army of mighty angels to claim His throne and kingdom. He will be hailed as the King of Glory and will lay aside the title of Prince.

 February 4 

…And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead,
and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…
Revelation 1:5

The book of Revelation is a gold mine of names for Christ. Not only does it hold many unique titles found nowhere else in scripture, but verses often contain many of them in a row. Often, these titles are very different from each other and focus on distinct aspects of the Lord. To understand them, each should be studied separately.

The last book of the Bible was written roughly 100 years after the birth of Christ and reveals not only a view of church history that has been completed, but presents a detailed account of events that are still to come. Verse one of the book states “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants — things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John.” The Lord Himself is taking the time to explain this.

It’s obvious that the Apostle John wrote the book, but it’s not his revelation. If we were getting this information from John, it would be unreliable, since the former first century fisherman would be describing the digital age with a pre-analog brain. The bias of his culture and limited worldview would misinterpret much of what still has to take place. For this reason, Jesus took charge and took over. So then, John didn’t just describe what he saw; he wrote down what his Messiah told Him to write.

The very first descriptive phrase of Christ in the book is Faithful Witness. In Revelation 3:14, He’s called the “Faithful and True Witness,” and in Revelation 19:11, He’s called simply “Faithful and True.”

So why the repetition and emphasis in Christ’s veracity? Everyone knows that the Lord doesn’t lie, right? Yes, but for centuries, people have been explaining away all the prophesies in Revelation into a gobbledygook of double-speak and figurative language. They tell us none of this means what it says. Wait a minute, I believe exactly what it says. After all, Jesus said it, and He is the Faithful Witness.

 February 5