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He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded
His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.
Psalm 111:9

Sometimes there seems to be a total disconnect between how people use a word and what it actually means. I’ve heard the term “awesome” used to describe a pizza, a football game, a sunset, a double rainbow, and a party. If I were to write a definition based on current use, it would be, “A descriptive term that acknowledges an object or experience to be distinctively better than mediocre.”

Perhaps the closest usage of the word to its actual meaning came when my son went skydiving for the first time. As I looked up at a small aircraft against the cloudless, blue, Kansas sky, I saw a tiny speck eject itself. Falling to the earth at 180 miles per hour I could clearly hear him yell, “Awesome!” However, if this really was awesome, he wouldn’t have been able to speak at all.

The truly awesome is so terrifyingly intense that someone experiencing it is unable to speak because he is awestruck. The Apostle John’s vision of Christ on the Isle of Patmos was awesome. When he saw the Son of Man who had eyes like a flame of fire, a voice like many waters, and a sharp sword coming out of His mouth, John fell down like a dead man. There was just too much to process, so the mortal yielded to the immortal.

Moses climbed up a flaming mountain alone to encounter an Awesome God. The writer to the Hebrews described it this way: “And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling’” (Hebrews 12:21).

Soon and very soon, the Lamb will break the seals of God’s judgment on the planet that crucified Him. John foresees it this way: “Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains” (Revelation 6:14-15). In that day when people experience Awesome, they’ll be fleeing from the wrath of the Lamb and not thinking about pizza.

 October 9

Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
Galatians 3:20

As Savior, Christ is the “Mediator between God and Man” (1 Timothy 2:5), but He is a lot more than that. He brings everyone together.

Politicians, educators, and advertisers spend a lot of their time disaggregating the general population. People are broken down into core groups where they can be pigeonholed and treated differently:

                   Race – Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, or Other
                   Age – Children, Teens, Middle-aged, Old, or Decrepit
                   Socioeconomic – Poor, Middle-class, Rich, or Filthy Rich
                   Gender – Male, Female, or something else

Satan has divided people since the dawn of creation, and the desire to dominate those who are different is the motivation for war, terrorism, and oppression. When someone is not like everyone else, he can be marginalized and eventually controlled. God doesn’t see divisions as a good thing.

The Lord Jesus came to break down the barriers that separate people from each other and bring peace (Ephesians 2:14). Things like gender, background, income, or education are irrelevant when people are saved and all become one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old distinctions that separated us from others should also pass away, and all that matters is being a new creation in Christ.

Sometimes, I can’t get along with people at work. Sometimes, I disagree with my wife. Sometimes, I don’t see eye to eye with fellow Christians. That’s when I could really use a good Mediator.

 January 10 

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

After reading verses like, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31), or “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” (Revelation 6:16), and then coming across a description of Christ as Harmless, I want to stop and wonder, “Where did that come from?”

It all has to do with perspective. The feeling of standing before an M-1 Abrams Tank that is coming at you at full speed is very different than if you were sitting in the passenger seat of the same tank. Likewise, there is a huge difference between standing before the great white throne and standing beside it.

Titles such as “The Judge of the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1), “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6), and “Lion of Judah” (Revelation 5:5) demonstrate that the Lord of lords is to be feared. He will come and execute judgment on this speck of a universe that crucified the King of Glory. Christ-rejecters be warned!

But Christ has many roles to fill and as High Priest, He intercedes for the saints. To believers who have been justified and sanctified by His blood, there is nothing to be afraid of; He is Harmless.

Human beings crucified Jesus, so collectively, we all have blood on our hands. But the blood that condemns also saves. The difference is faith. God’s grace is either received or rejected. A sinful life is either transformed or it isn’t. The Savior is either loved or despised. And on Judgment Day, Christ will either be terrifying or Harmless.

 January 11 

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,
“These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword.”
Revelation 2:12

This title calls to mind a terrifying vision of Christ that the Apostle John had of the Lord on the Isle of Patmos. Everything seemed on fire; His face and skin shone like the sun, and His feet glowed like molten brass. He had seven stars in His right hand, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.

I’ve seen a number of paintings trying to depict this scene, and they are all spooky. Some almost have a comic book superhero quality about them. In the end, every human illustration is distracting, because it doesn’t paralyze the viewer in awe and fear.

To me, it doesn’t matter if this description of Christ is literal or figurative. Whatever John saw brought him to his knees in submission, and that was the desired effect. When Christ dictated the letter to the church in Pergamos, He told them it was from He Who Has the Sharp Two-edged Sword. The Lord was trying to invoke the same fear and trembling from a compromising Church. They were sacrificing to idols, committing sexual immorality, and allowing false doctrine in the church. The Lord was not happy.

The next time He Who Has the Sharp Two-edged Sword appears is in Revelation 19 when He is riding on a white horse with the host of heaven behind Him to make war on the Beast and His armies. Again, the sight of Him will bring terror to the hearts of the kings, captains, and mighty men that dare oppose Him.

This battle is in the future, not very long from right now, but the certainty of the outcome has already been written down for all to see. Not to faithfully fulfill this prophesy would make God a liar, and that’s not going to happen.

He who has an ear, let him hear what He Who Has the Sharp Two-edged sword says to the churches, “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (Revelation 2:16).

 January 12 

For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one,
for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Hebrews 2:11

The one who sanctifies is a sanctifier. Common sense will tell you that, but common sense doesn’t tell you what a sanctifier does – He sets people apart for God’s service, makes them holy, and equips them for a holy work.

When the Apostle Paul gave instructions to his disciple Titus, he told him that Christ “gave Himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14 KJV). Salvation wasn’t given just to get us out of hell and into heaven; it was also with the purpose of making us Christ-like.

In both the Old and New Testament, we’re told to be holy, because God is holy. The nation Israel couldn’t do it, nor can we without a Sanctifier. In the New Covenant, Christ puts God’s laws in our hearts and writes them on our minds (Hebrews 10:16). Holiness becomes the outward result of the Lord’s sanctifying work in our lives.

In Romans 12:1 and 2, Paul exhorts the saints (those sanctified former sinners) to become a living sacrifice. Serving Christ, then, is just a holy, acceptable, reasonable response to being saved. As we agree with God and do what He wants us to do, we’ll understand that God’s will is good, acceptable, and perfect.

All around us, there are dysfunctional people with broken lives who desperately want to change. The problem is that many druggies and alcoholics spend years taking only twelve steps, instead of walking hand in hand with the Sanctifier.

 January 13 

He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Isaiah 8:14

Wichita, Kansas was a wild west town that was settled in the area just north of where the Big and Little Arkansas rivers come together. Like most of Kansas, this area is flat and since it lies between two rivers, the sandy ground is about 40 ft. deep on top of the bed rock. This was great for a pioneer settlement because it meant that the water table wasn’t deep and wells could easily be dug in the soft soil.

The section of the city with these cowboy roots is called Old Town and we own a house there that is now 110 years old. It’s not on any historical register, but it is certainly on the city inspector’s radar for old buildings he wants to keep his eye on. On one such inspection, every house on the block got a notice to repair their sidewalks. Shifting sands under the surface had made them buckle and the city declared them dangerous. They were stones of stumbling and the powers in charge told us to remove them.

The Lord Jesus is and always has been a stumbling block to those who reject Him. They find Him offensive, distasteful, politically incorrect, and intolerable. They want Him gone from their sight and their hearing. They’ll use legal action if necessary to remove this nuisance.

Churches and individual Christians are being sued in record numbers, because enemies of the cross of Christ find it profitable to bring those who would desire to live godly to financial ruin. They want anything promoting the Savior removed from the public square. They won’t walk around it, they want Him totally removed, because Christ Jesus is their Stone of Stumbling.

*see also Romans 9:32,33; 1 Peter 2:8

November 4