Revealed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

REVEALED

John 2:18-25

18 Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."  20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.   24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25 He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

NIV

So it wasn’t till after he was dead and buried and resurrected on the third day that they believed him? They too were Jews, although mostly common working class men, and they had to be aware of the scriptures. They still grew up with them and had to Bar Mitzvah at age thirteen. This meant they were required to memorize at minimum the Torah, as well as had been in temple, or rather synagogue and heard the prophets being read. They may have had a better knowledge of the scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, then we do. Yet it would seem it wasn’t till after everything happened they truly believed. Surely when Jesus told them about if the temple was destroyed he would raise it again in three days, they were just as puzzled as all the rest of the people who heard him say that, even maybe just as disbelieving. It seems we usually have this picture of the disciples as these great men of faith, who did great things for the kingdom of God. They were, but this scripture reveals to us they were not so filled with the power of God, or great men of faith yet. They had not been filled with the Spirit. Of course they have already witnessed Jesus doing miracles and were aware, or believed he was the Messiah, but as to his ministry as the Messiah, they were not fully comprehending all that implied. After the fact, they were great men of faith, and as we are completely aware of all that Jesus did, and have the full revelation of God, the completed word, we too should be great people of faith.  The other revealed truth in this passage has to do with the idea Jesus would not reveal himself to them, for he know all men. It goes on to say that he did not need the testimony of men about other men, for he know what was in a man. The idea of pride and self-aggrandizement that men have is not what Jesus was about. He wanted to please the Father. He already had the testimony of the Father on that day of his baptism by John. Jesus did teach, he did teach the truth about God, not so much about his own greatness, but about the greatness of God, the Father. He taught the truth of the scriptures, but he lived the truth. He lived a perfect life in the flesh, as it is the only way he could become the perfect Lamb of God, the complete sacrifice for the sins of the world. If people wanted to see, if they looked with their spiritual eyes, rather than physical ones they would have seen Jesus for who he was, he would have been revealed to them.  But because Jesus knew they could not see past the physical, they wanted physical signs. Are we looking for physical signs? Can we see past the physical and see the truth of scripture? This life is more than just this life, it is a life of faith, living believing Jesus, not just for our salvation, but for life. He has revealed himself to us, we only need to see.  

The Temple

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE TEMPLE

John 2:12-17

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"  17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."  

NIV

It seems we always see this in the historical setting about the temple in Jerusalem. There is attention given to the mood of Jesus, and anger being righteous indignation. This gives us the idea we can have that kind of anger, but it has to be about God being offended, not about us being offended. However, lets look at this temple. All this selling of animals for the use of sacrifices just does not seem right, Jesus made it clear he thought it was terrible. We believe the whole thing started out as a way to help the pilgrims coming to the temple who needed a sacrifice for their sin. It might have been too difficult for them to bring the animal without spot or blemish from miles away, so someone had the bright idea, and maybe it was even the priests to offer sacrificial animals right there in the colonnade of the temple. That could not have been all bad, but then it might have mushroomed into a full-fledged commerce by the time Jesus showed up. Then there is the other idea, that his knowing he was the sacrifice for sin and this was the beginning of the end of animal sacrifice. But within the context, he was upset the temple had become a place of commerce rather than a place of prayer and worship. Sometimes we wonder if we have not done, in some way, what Jesus was upset about. Have we turned our churches into a place of commerce, in some way, rather than a house of prayer and worship? We know it isn’t right to judge those mega churches, that have large coffee houses and book stores right in the church buildings, or maybe we should say on their church campus. It might be for good motives, but isn’t it a market in the church? Do we smaller churches without the book stores and coffee houses have any offenses to God going on within, that resemble some kind of market? We wonder with all our efforts of evangelism, is it a form of marketing some program. We wonder if we aren’t simply trying to market church. We know Jesus said to go out into all the world. But were talking about church here, what goes on in the temple, not what we are supposed to be doing in the streets, on the highway and byway of life. Is our church a place of prayer and worship or a place of programs? For the most part, many churches may well be a house of prayer and worship. Then we should consider seeing this on a personal level, after all we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are supposed to offer a sacrifice. We are supposed to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is our acceptable form of spiritual worship. Have we turned ourselves into a form of market, selling good deeds, or selling check lists for people to use as a method of sacrifice? Are we selling our own rules and regulations as a form of sacrifice? It is just something to think about. Maybe it has nothing to do with the temple being turned into a market at all. Maybe this is just about what happened in Israel, or maybe not. What should the temple be like?

The Best

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE BEST

John 2:1-11

2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."  5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.   7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." 11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

NIV

What a way to start. So far and we have no idea how long it has been since Jesus was baptized in the Jordon and exactly how many men he has called to follow him. We know at least some of the names. There is Andrew and his brother Simon Peter, and Phillip and he found Nathanael and we would have to believe John was the other of the two disciples of John the Baptist who followed after Jesus. So as far as we know it was Jesus and the five of them who went to the wedding feast with Mary the mother of Jesus. This third day is a bit odd. Is this the third day after his baptism in the Jordan, or is this the third day of the wedding feast? From our research of the scholars, they tell us in that culture a wedding feast typically lasted seven days. So they had been drinking for the last three days, and the guests were pretty happy by now, in fact they had been drinking so much they finished all the wine the wedding family had provided. From a social standpoint, this was a very embarrassing situation. There is another four days of celebration to go and not a drop of wine left. Either this showed ill preparation on the part of the family, or they were not sufficiently financially able to provide properly for the wedding. Either way, their reputation in the community was going to be tarnished. We would have thought Jesus would have been the one to initiated meeting their need, but it was his mother. Still, we have to wonder how she knew Jesus would be able to fix this problem. Surely she did not expect him and his disciples to run out to the local wine store and buy up all the wine and bring it back to the wedding feast. Certainly she, having pondered many things concerning Jesus, she knew he was not just an ordinary man. Was she at the Jordan that day when the Spirit descended on him and the voice of God spoke from heaven? Something more to ponder on. So she simply, believing Jesus could solve the situation, told him the problem. Sure the changing of water into wine was a big deal, revealing who he was and that many people saw this miracle. Many also spent time on the fact Jesus made the best wine. After three days of drinking, now the wine steward pulls the bridegroom aside and asked why he kept the best for last, after all the people were already drunk. The proper protocol would have to been start out with the best wine and after the guests have had too much to drink and feeling no pain, then bring out the cheap stuff. They would not know the difference. But, no, Jesus never provides cheap stuff. That is a great lesson, but what about this simple faith of Mary. She just believed Jesus could fix the problem. She did not wax on with highbrow prayers. She did not spend any time enumerating how much faith she had, or about who she thought of his majesty or holiness, or listed what she knew he could do. She just told him the need. “They have no more wine”. Maybe we need to take a lesson in faith from Mary. We might just tell him our need. No need to go through some big ordeal of prayers, just tell him our need and he will provide the best.    

Found him

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FOUND HIM

John 1:40-51

40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).

NIV

This solves the question whether the two who were with John understood the meaning of the phrase, “Lamb of God” when John used it, seeing Jesus again. They must have known what it meant or John had explained to them that Jesus, the one he called the Lamb of God was the Messiah. Which either it was, Andrew was one of those two men who left John the Baptist to follow Jesus. We cannot be sure how that all played out in the sense how long were they following him until they got to way he was staying. We don’t know how much or little conversation they have with Jesus alone the way. But what we do know is that Andrew at some point left for a moment to go find his brother, Simon and tell him they had found the Messiah. What we need to remember at this point is they had no idea what it meant that Jesus was the Messiah. For them, like all the Jews, most likely thought the Messiah was going to save Israel from the oppression of the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom. Nevertheless, it had to be an exciting time in their lives, much like the time we first found Jesus. How exciting it was to find this freedom from the life in that dark city of sin and death. We can just hear Andrew in his excitement. “Simon, Simon come on, come with me, we have found the Messiah, we have found the Christ” “Hurry, we are staying with him, come on brother, leave everything, come on, and see him” So Andrew and Simon went to where Jesus was and what happens, Jesus, being God, either being divine and all knowing, or having been revealed by the Spirit this information about Peter. We prefer to believe Jesus had to be omniscient, after all he is God in the flesh. Jesus changes Simon’s name to Peter. In the Aramaic Cephas means Rock and in Greek Peter means Rock. It is interesting that Jesus did not change any of the others names, only Simon Peter’s name. However, what we also can be certain of is all of them had been changed forever by their encountering Jesus. Just as we have been changed forever from the very first time we encountered Jesus. Our life has never been the same. Our name has been changed from sinner to saint, from a dead man, to an eternal man, from one lost to one saved. The journey of this life is anything but dull, in fact, it is exhilarating. But have we lost some of that enthusiasm? Are we still running after our brother, “hurry, come, we have found Jesus”? Let us run the race, walk the journey, follow Jesus, but at the same time look for others we can tell, “ We have found him” 

Come and You Will See

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

COME AND YOU WILL SEE

John 1:35-39

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39 "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

NIV

He will never turn us away. But first these two who were following John the Baptist had to turn from their current path of life and follow after Jesus. It is not that they changed who they were, or what they did, but they were following someone else. Of course John knew that once he announced or introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God, his task, his calling was complete and he could retire, sit back and chill out. Well, not exactly because we know he was not about to do that and because he did not quite proclaiming the truth, he ended up without his head. But while he was here, he was going to point people to Jesus. When these two heard what John said about Jesus, they left him and took out to follow Jesus. Did they know what the name, “Lamb of God” meant? Certainly that might have meant he was the sacrifice for sin. John had been preaching about this truth and we would have to believe his disciples were aware John meant this is the long awaited Messiah, the one who will restore Israel, the one who will be their salvation. Nevertheless, upon hearing who he was, they immediately began to follow him. This is the way it is supposed to be. When people hear Jesus is the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for their sin, they should immediately follow him. And, we see the first words Jesus speaks to them is to ask them what they want. Isn’t that just like Jesus? “What do you want?” we have heard those words and we responded just as those men did. We wanted to know all about him. We wanted to follow him, to know where he is staying. Jesus simply tells them, “Come and you will see”. Is that not a great word? Follow me and you will see. Once we were blind, but now we can see. Jesus did not turn them away, he invited them to see. He invited us to see. Now we can see Jesus, we can see the truth, we know he is at the right hand of the Father and that he has invited us to come and stay with him. He has invited us to see the Father. First we can see the Father through first seeing Jesus. As we learn all about his ministry, his character, his personality, his love for his people, and the image he displayed so that when Thomas asked to show them the Father, Jesus was able to say that if they saw him they saw the Father. This is the same with us. We have seen Jesus, every time we read the word, we see Jesus and thus we know what the Father is like. We have been invited to follow Jesus, not just in this life, the way we live, as he lived, but in his death and resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father. He has invited us to “Come and you will see”. We will see the truth, he will show us the way, and he will light our path through this life, and give us the direction we need. We will see the Father, once we follow him in death and resurrection, we will see the Father. Jesus will call us home. To see where he is staying. For those disciples it happened about the tenth hour, but we will not know the hour, or the day, when we will hear those words for the last time, “Come and you will see”.

What a Day

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHAT A DAY

John 1:32-34

32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

NIV

John’s testimony does not include that of others who also indicated they heard the voice of God testifying that Jesus was his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased. In another account the voice said that Jesus was his Son, listen to him. However, John leaves this out and yet he still testifies that Jesus is the Son of God because he saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Jesus. We would think the whole of all the people present would have dropped to their knees or fallen prostrate on the ground being in the presence of the Son of God. But we have no record of that happening, whether it did or didn’t. it makes is sound like the people were just sort of spectators without any personal involvement in the moment. Was it because John was this weird person, this wild short of man, garbed in camel’s hair, with a diet of locust? Maybe because of this the people thought John was off his rocker a bit. But still they must have seen the Spirit coming down from heaven and remaining on Jesus and according to the other accounts, they must have heard the voice of God. How could they not fall on the ground? And yet here we are going to church, meeting with the living God and we sit there like bumps on a log. Are we afraid someone will think us a little weird if we raise our hands, and worship the living God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Son of God? What about in our daily life? Do we live as though we are in the presence of the Son of God? Have we become too casual in our relationship with God? Have we become lazy in our relationship with him? Is our relationship sort of ho hum?

This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God himself in the flesh, who came and lived among his creation and died on the cross to take away our sin, to make us holy and blameless in the eyes of the Father. This is Jesus Christ who was buried, but on the third day was raised from the dead, and who also ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. This is Jesus, who make s intercession before the Father, all the time. How can we just sit and be still? How can we not live with the excitement that we to shall die in this body, but we too will be raised from the dead and we too will ascend into heaven to be at the right hand of God. What a day that will be, when my Jesus I will see. When I look into his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me to the Promised Land, what a day, glorious day that will be.

Lamb of God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LAMB OF GOD

John 1:24-31

24 Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." 28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

NIV

It seems a little odd the Jews through someone had to be either the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet in order to baptize, although today we think only the pastors should be the one to baptize. Is that any different? Shouldn’t anyone be able to baptize someone? Phillip baptized the Ethiopian. Nevertheless John had many people come to him to be baptized and to repent and make their lives straight for the coming of the Lord. Yet John was certainly very careful not to claim any fame for himself. He wanted to make sure he was just a voice in the wilderness preparing people for the coming of the Lord. He knew full well that the Messiah was coming soon to Israel. All his life he was preparing for this moment. From before his birth, the Spirit moved upon him, when his mother, Elizabeth was in the presence of Mary, who had Jesus within her womb. John knew something special was going to happen. John and Jesus in the natural human ways were relatives, as Elizabeth and Mary were. We are not told if John and Jesus as young boys had times together, but what we do know is John said although the one to come was before him and he did not know him. Is it he did not know Jesus, or is it he did not know Jesus was the Messiah, the one to come that John was not worthy to untie his sandals? Yet here is the moment John had lived for, the moment he could introduce the world to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have we become complacent to the fact Jesus takes away our sin? Do we try to replace him with trying to abide by rules and regulations which we think give us a form of righteousness? Sure, we should not just throw caution to the wind and just go about sinning however we please. However, the fact remains no amount of good deeds, or abiding to rules, or our lists of do’s and don’ts is going to take away our sin. We can act as holy as we want to and still our sin remains until we give it to Jesus, and then he takes it away. However we see that word, “Takes away” the Greek has exactly that meaning, to carry off, to raise up and carry it from its place. Jesus takes away our sin, we no longer have it. So then this is why we are declared by God as holy and blameless in his sight. Jesus took away our sin which would keep us from being holy and blameless in the sight of God. Does that mean we no longer sin? Doubtful. We still commit sin, we still disobey, and we still fail and fall short. The devil would want us to be filled with guilt and shame and believe we are not really saved because we have sinned. He wants us to feel shame because we failed God. But Jesus has taken, this is a presence tense taken, a constant taking away, not a one-time offer, then we are left on our own after that. If that were the case, we are doomed. But it is not, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes, present tense, away our sin. God it timeless, he is not restricted by time and so it is always the presence tense with God, with Jesus, with the carrying away of our sin. Praise be to God in the highest. His grace is awesome, Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, for being the Lamb of God, who takes away our sin.

A Voice

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

A VOICE

John 1:19-23

19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ." 21 They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." 22 Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'"  

NIV

Pride is the downfall of many, in fact the scripture says that pride comes before the fall.

 Prov 16:18 18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

NIV

It is clear, John the Baptist did not have any pride, and he quickly admits he is not the Christ. It might have been easy enough to claim he was special, maybe even the Christ. Wouldn’t that have been something, maybe the Jews would have accepted him as the Messiah and everything would have been different, except of course what was needed for the salvation of mankind. Nevertheless, John quickly confessed he was not the Christ. Well, then who are you? Obviously John the Baptist was a very unusual man. He was not like any of the other Jews, his garments were different, his diet was strange, and he kept to himself, not venturing into the cities, but staying in the open area, the wilderness as it were. How did he garner a crowd? Perhaps he did position himself along a common crossing area of the Jordon, along a trade route or path that lead up to Jerusalem. The fact is, he did attract a crowd and a reputation. So these Jews of Jerusalem sent priest and Levites to question him as to who he really was. Was he the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet? No, No and No was his answer. John was not prideful as to who he was, it was just his calling to be a voice of one calling in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord”. How easy it is for us to get caught up in some sort of pride of our position in life, in the community, in the church. We have given ourselves titles, or at least found enough titles in the Bible to apply to ourselves. “I am a deacon”, “I am an elder”, “Oh, I am on the board”. How many types of pastors can we come up with, a children’s pastor, youth pastor, college and career pastor, worship pastor, associate pastor, lead or senior pastor, administrative pastor, and whatever other type someone can image. Then we have the sound specialist, the lighting specialist and oh right the music pastor, the choir director, Christian education pastor. Titles and more titles. Do they give us a reason to be prideful? Could we not just say we are nothing more than a voice in the wilderness, calling out “Make straight the way of the Lord”? Just a voice, nothing special, nobody special. Some even make it a point to declare they are a child of God, I am special, I am a Christian. But are we better off just saying we are but a voice in the wilderness? Should we not position ourselves somewhere the people are passing by so we can call out to them, “Make straight the way for the Lord”? That is kind of difficult if we are always stuck inside our church building. Sure we should gather together so we can encourage one another, and worship together, but our calling is to be a voice in the wilderness. Jesus said to go out into the world, into the wilderness and preach the good news. So let us be just a voice.

Became Flesh

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

BECAME FLESH

John 1:14-18

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,  who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

NIV

To consider that God took on the form of man, his creation is almost mind boggling. Just the idea that a young woman could simply have a child growing within her without having any union with a man, is a miracle in itself. How can anyone deny that it was a God thing? God became flesh, He who is Spirit became flesh. No one has ever seen God, yet there was Jesus, God in the flesh right in front of everyone. In his appearance to Thomas, as we will see sometime later in this gospel, he told Thomas that if he has seen Jesus, he has seen the Father. The big question about that is in what sense was Jesus speaking. Does the Father then have a human-like form? Most scholars and theologians would say no, the Father is a Spirit. But who can know for sure? Who passed in front of Moses? When we read that account of God passing by him, God told Moses he could not see his face, but that he would put his hand in front of Moses until he passed and then allowed Moses to see his back. Was all the language metaphorical? Is seems all the scholars would say so, but we cannot be that sure. To think that God is formless, that he is only a Spirit, sort of suggests he is simply a force rather than a person. Of course that form, that person is not flesh, actually a human type being for he became that when he showed up as the Son, Jesus. When we look at the testimony of John, it is clear he understood that although Jesus appeared as a man, he was far superior to any human being. Again John says that Jesus was from the Fathers side. Does a Spirit have a side? When Jesus went back to heaven he sat at the Fathers right hand. Why would the very words of God be metaphorical? Or have men made that choice? Nevertheless, God came down in the flesh, as a fully formed human being, in the same manner all humans are born, starting as a conception in the womb of a woman and becoming an infant born in the natural way of all human births. The difference he had no DNA of a man, only that of himself and we would have to believe the DNA of his mother, Mary. But then it is possible that is not the case either, for he was fully man. John says that the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus. So we have to conclude that grace and truth are far superior to the law, that they supersede the law. But what is grace and truth? The Greek words give us that meaning. As we have known before this Greek word translated as grace is the word Charis, which is the one which means the divine influence upon our heart and how that is reflected in our lives. Is that not what Jesus did? Did he not influence the heart of man? Does he not still influence our heart, the way we think? Truth is simply just that, the reality of what is true, what is, not false or fiction. The truth is Jesus is God in the flesh who came to save us from our sin, which we could not do by any other means. God, himself, satisfied his own need for justice. He redeemed us to himself. What an awesome thought. Yet, so many Christians seem to try to live under some form of law. Do they think that makes them a better Christian? Do they think that makes them more holy? Or is it just because they think God expects a certain type of behavior? Certainly the New Testament is full of behaviors or attitudes we are to rid ourselves of. Surely there is a host of temptations we are to resist. So in some sense there is a standard for our lives. Where is the line between this standard and it becoming the law? Well, we will have to ponder on that as we move through this gospel. For now let us revel in the fact Jesus came into the world and he dwelt and is dwelling among us.

Born of God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

BORN OF GOD

John 1:10-13

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

NIV

When John make reference to the world not recognizing who Jesus was, it would seem he is just speaking about Israel. It is doubtful any other part of the world, such as Persia or China, and what is now known as the Americas had any chance at all to know or see Jesus. Jesus was born as a Jew, in the Promised Land, among the people chosen by God, the promised descendants of Abraham. It is these people who did not understand that Jesus was the Divine Messiah they had been waiting for. They had all the words of the Prophets concerning how he would come and what he would do, yet they missed it all. Some did not, but it was the leadership, the spiritual leadership that would not accept him. It is interesting to see how power corrupts, even in those days. They were in charge, they made their living being religious, but were nothing but empty tombs. Yet the good news is that whosoever believes in the name of Jesus can be known as the children of God. Because we believe, we have been born again as children of God. We have been born of human or natural descent. We have been born because of the will of a man and a woman to bring a child into the world. This is why we must be born again, as Jesus told Nicodemus. There is no way we can see the kingdom of God unless we are born again. It seems interesting when we hear people say they have been Christians all their life, being reared in a Christian home. We wonder have they ever been born again, or do they just believe they are going to see the kingdom of God because they were born of the decision of man’s will into a Christian home. Would that not be like the children of Israel being born by the decision of man’s will, even if they were the chosen people who God determined to reveal himself to the world. They still had to believe and receive and be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. We are so glad there was that moment in our life when we decided by our will, to be born of God.

The Light

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE LIGHT

John 1:6-9

6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.  

NIV

Let consider John the Baptist for a moment. We are going to come to conversations between John and people the Pharisees sent to question him as to who he was. But for now let us just consider he was sent by God and he was to be a witness to testify concerning the light. The whole purpose was so all men might believe. We know this was John’s whole purpose for living. From the time he was in his mother’s womb, he was filled with the Spirit. Although he is not consider the light, but only a witness to the true light, we have been given this light and are now consider to be the light of the world.

Matt 5:14-16

14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

NIV

When Jesus was in the world he was the light of the world as we will see John say this later in his witness about Jesus, his gospel. But Jesus ascended to be at the right hand of God and sent the Spirit to dwell within us, so that we might be the light. We are a lot light John the Baptist in that sense. We are not the true light, but we have the light within us and we are to shine that light so others might believe. Because Jesus, the true light gives light to every man, that is our calling, our purpose, our ministry among man. We are to testify concerning the light, Jesus. It might be fine to speak of God, but we are to testify concerning Jesus. The whole world needs to be able to see that light. How will they unless we allow him to shine through us and out into the world? Let the light shine.

Knowing Jesus

DEVOTION

GOSPEL OF JOHN

KNOWING JESUS

John 1:1-5

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

NIV

Well we wanted to get back to the New Testament for a while as Isaiah was not as inspiring as we need right now. So we wanted to be with Jesus more, then with Israel. Although we have done this gospel before some years ago, we thought it would be good to repeat it. When we think about the beginning, it takes us to the idea of time. Yet we know that God is not limited by time, or in fact God does not live in time. When he created, he created time as well. We live in time, we are linear beings, we have a beginning and for the most part we have an end, at least in this physical form we now occupy. So we simply accept the fact God uses the phrase “In the beginning” to indicate it was the beginning of time and the time of creation. It is almost beyond our understanding that God did not have a beginning, but here we are at our beginning. At that beginning of time, there was the logos, the Word, which in the Greek means something said, however we know in just a few more verses John makes the point the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. So we have to conclude this Word, Jesus was in the beginning. He was with God and he was God. Jesus is the Word, Jesus is God and Jesus was always God. He is not created, he is not linear, and he is eternal and was there when time and creation began. Although we mostly think about creation as the handy-work of God, it really is the hand of Jesus, as well as the Father and the Spirit. We really cannot separate the trinity. The triune Godhead is God, and so the three in one created, What John is making the point is that Jesus is God, he is divine, he is the one true God. He created all that is created. There is not a single thing in heaven or one earth that was not created by Jesus. He is the one who has the life, in him is life and he is the one, God, who breathed his life into us. He is the life, the light of men. He brought life into us. God gave us life, the Spirit gave us life, and Jesus gave us life. How blessed we are to have life, and our life is not so we can go spend it anyway we want. We can look back and see how Israel turned their back on God so many times and suffered for doing so. All of the people of the world are just as we are, having the breath of God in them, and created by God for God. But they are stepped out of the light and into the darkness. We once lived in that darkness. That darkness does not understand God as who he is, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The darkness blinds the hearts and minds of those who live in it. But praise God somehow he was able to grab me, draw me out of that darkness into his wonderful light. We lived in the city of sin and darkness and now we live in the city of light and love. The light shines into the hearts and minds of people and gives understanding. Now we know the Word, we know Jesus.

In Tune

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

IN TUNE

Isa 7:18-25

18 In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. 19 They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thorn bushes and at all the water holes. 20 In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River — the king of Assyria — to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also. 21 In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats. 22 And because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. 23 In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns. 24 Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. 25 As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.

NIV

Not sure what we can do with this. According to the scholars this is all about a large army that invades Israel. This is all metaphorical language and it is difficult to garner any understanding as to how it should be interpreted concerning the actual historic events that are related to these words. But of what value is it to us today? It seems what it all boils down to is Israel is not in a good place with the Lord, having adopted some of the ways of foreign lands. They fell to the temptations of foreign gods. This is what we could learn. Two things here, one is that we should be careful not to fall to the temptations of the ways of the world. We should not adopt the way the world, the people of the world live. All the flies could be the multitude of temptations that are always before us. Satan is not worried about those he already has, but is spends most of his time on the people who are the closest to the Lord. The closer we get to the Lord, the more the temptations fly in our face. It is so easy to yield, and difficult to resist. Why is this? We do not what to be at odds with the Lord, as Israel was. So let us keep our feet in solid ground. Let us stay in tune with the Lord, hearing his voice.

Immanuel

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

IMMANUEL

Isa 7:10-17

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."

12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test."

13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.   15 He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. 16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah — he will bring the king of Assyria."

NIV

We saw the concept of the sign and asking, but now we see that because Ahaz did not ask, God was going to give him a sign anyway. Of course this is a very popular portion of Isaiah because it is prophetic concerning Jesus. Ahaz never got to see this sign but we did. It is interesting the Lord chose to reveal this sign far in advance of the event itself. Mary, being the virgin spoken about here, becomes with child by the power of the Holy Spirit. This child is not conceived by natural means and therefore does not have the same genetic makeup as all other conceived children. He is divine, he is God in the flesh. He is fully human in the sense he started as a fetus in the womb of Mary, grew into an infant and was birthed as every other infant is. He grew up just as any child would, learning to walk, to talk. He lived exactly as any child would have lived in that time. Yet he was God, fully divine. Surely this is a mystery we may never fully be able to grasp, we merely need to accept it by faith. It is true because we have the record of his divine life and his death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Only God could do all that. Isaiah tells Ahaz this son born to a virgin will be called Immanuel, which means, God with us. What is amazing about this prophesy is we find the same idea of God with us in the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew and at the end of Matthew’s gospel.

Matt 1:22-23

 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."

NIV

Matt 28:18-20

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

NIV

Jesus is with us, Immanuel, God is with us. Although Jesus, in his glorified physical state ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, he is still with us. Because Jesus is God, and he is omnipresent, he is with us. It is also true because he ascended, he sent the Holy Spirit to execute his will, his divine purpose. The Spirit is also God, so God is with us. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one, and we are one with God, that is what Jesus said. God is with us. We can live with the assurance that what Jesus said is true, he will be with us always, to the very end of the age. We do not have to be alone, because God is with us. There may be times we might feel alone, even in a crowded room, but we are not because God is with us.

Ask

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

ASK

Isa 7:10-17

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."

12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test."

13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.   15 He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. 16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah — he will bring the king of Assyria."

NIV

It is one thing to be aware not to put God to a foolish test, but when he tells us to ask for a sign, why we would not obey him and ask for a sign is beyond understanding. God even told him that his request for a sign could be from the deepest depths to the highest heights, which means God did not put any restrictions on Ahaz in asking for a sign. He could ask for anything, any sign, it did not matter how great or small of a sign, God would give it to him.  But because he refused to ask, God offered a sign of his own. If God tells us to ask, and we do not, we are trying his patience. Although we are talking here about a sign, it reminds us of what Jesus told us.

John 14:13-14

13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

NIV

Now we also know that we cannot ask for things that are not within the will of God, such as asking for a new car, or a million dollars, or something else, unless God told us to ask for that specific thing, like he told Ahaz to ask for a sign. Yet the point is when God tells us to ask, we should ask. We can have that confidence in our asking because he will hear us and if he hears us, well we know what will happen.

1 John 5:13-15

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him.

NIV

We have enough here that we will leave the sign God did give until next time. We do need to focus on this asking thing a little more. Why do we not ask? Are we afraid he won’t answer? Maybe we are not asking according to his will? How can we know his will? He has told us his will in his word. We know that it his will that we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and he gives us eternal life. We know it is his will to fill us with the Holy Spirit. We know it is his will to heal us, to provide for us, to guide us, to love us, to protect us, and on and on the list goes. So do we ask, or do we just expect? That is the one aspect of prayer we might forget at times, to sit and just listen to what he wants us to ask for. All too often we just give him a laundry list of our needs, and pay little to no attention to what he is wanting us to ask for. How can we know unless we listen? Maybe that is why he gave us two ears and only one mouth. We know that reason, to listen twice as much as we talk in our prayers. So we ask.

Stand Firm

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

STAND FIRM

Isa 7:1-9

7:1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. 2 Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. 3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. 4 Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood — because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 "Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it." 7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

"'It will not take place, it will not happen, 8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. 9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.'"

NIV

Although there is a whole lot of historical information contained in these verses, this information only sets the time of what is happening, or rather what did not happen. Several kings formed an alliance to attack Israel, but they were not to prevail. That is it in a nutshell. What is of interest to us here is the last statement. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Isaiah said that to Ahaz who at the time was the king of Judah and was under attack, by what Isaiah said were two smoldering stubs of firewood, or by nothing worth being concerned about. Here is the truth for us. There is an enemy afoot who most likely has made an alliance with many people, in an effort to take us down, to charge against us, to destroy our city center, or soul. Even in the last days we see him allied with the Beast and the False Prophet in an effort to deceive the believers. He will present himself as the Christ, but he is nothing but the anti-Christ. However, although he knows he will lose in the end, he tries his best to destroy us in the here and now. So we are told to, “Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of this smoldering stub of firewood.” Do not fear the enemy of our soul, the devil. This Satan will not prevail against us. God has declared it so. “It will not take place, it will not happen”. However, there is this condition which requires something of us. If we do not stand firm in our faith, we will not stand at all. It reminds us of the armor of God explained to us in Eph 6. Four times the concept of standing firm is stated.

Eph 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

NIV

This is what we are told here in Isaiah, to stand firm. Those sandals of the Roman soldiers were of two types, the marching one and the battle ones. When they went into battle the sandals had sharp cleat like nails on the bottom soul so they would not slide or slip in muddy ground. This is the idea if being able to stand firm in battle. We are not to give ground to the enemy, we are not to retreat, to turn and run. We are to face him front on and lift our shield of faith against him. All his attacks, all his flaming arrows will not harm us. But if we do not have faith in God, if we do not put our complete whole-hearted trust in God, if we think we can stand up to this enemy on our own, we will not stand at all, we will fall, we will fail, we will be overrun. So we take our stand on the word of God, on God, our Almighty Lord and Savior. We stand firm in our faith.

Be Still and Know

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

BE STILL AND KNOW

Isa 6:9-13

9 He said, "Go and tell this people:

"'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered:

"Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

NIV

First we have to ponder on the idea of actually having a conversation with God. How did Isaiah hear what God was saying? Was it an audible voice, or just words heard inside his head? However, it is an awesome thing to converse with God. But then that is what prayer is supposed to be. It seem so often, even in church, prayer is offered, and we never wait to hear God’s answer. In our personal prayer time, do we wait to hear what God has to say, or do we just offer our lists of needs and get on with the day? Are we like what God told Isaiah to tell the people? Always hearing, but never understanding, ever seeing, but never perceiving? Hopefully our hearts are not calloused, but maybe it is in the sense we are not as sorrowful regarding those times we fail him. Have we just accepted the fact we commit sin and left it at that? No, we hate the fact we fail, we detest our weakness, our inability to resist certain temptations. Why can’t we be perfectly holy and righteous, pure and without sin? Maybe there are some believers that can be purer and holier than we are. We digress. The point here is that we have to make sure we are always ready to hear from the Lord, to spend time, listening, understanding what he is saying, perceiving his truth and direction for our life, seeing the path before us. If we become callous to our failures, what fate awaits us? Because we do not ascribe to the theology of Calvin, we believe it is possible to become so calloused of heart that we are no longer following God, and end up going astray. So we cannot allow that callous to form, we have to continue to have a   circumcised heart, exposing it all to God, allowing him to have full access to our inner being, and we need to be sensitive to his voice. No way can we allow our life to become a city of ruin, without inhabitant, especially the habitation of the Spirit. We cannot live in desertion, in a waste laid without God. What would life be, if it were not living it in the everlasting arms of our Lord? It would be a wasteland, a desert, without the spring of living water flowing through us and overflowing from us. Yes, we can live life with passion, with enthusiasm, with excitement and anticipation of what God is doing for us, in us and through us. Yet, we have to also remain silent, be still and know he is God.

Speaking for God

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

SPEAKING FOR GOD

Isa 6:1-9

6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" 9 He said, "Go and tell this people:

NIV

There are several significant words within this portion of prophesies of Isaiah. Although we are told of the year in which all this happened, the most important of which we should take notice is the three holies. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. Why three holies? Why not, one for the Father, one for the Son and one for the Spirit. The three in one God Almighty is due all three of those holies. What else is also interesting which bears this three in one is the question which is asked. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Although the Hebrew is difficult to make definite the “I” and the “us”, it is best put there is the context of the question. The point being the “Us”. When God spoke to Isaiah, he used a plural form, as if to say to Isaiah, “who will go for the three of us” “Who will I (the one God) send”? Another interesting idea is that the whole earth is filled with his glory. What this should me to us is that whenever we view the earth, or our little portion of the earth that we live in, we should see all the glory of the Lord. When we look at the sky, the clouds, even the rain and wind, we should see his glory. When we see all the trees and flowers, all the plants around us, we should see his glory. When we pass various animals either in pastures or pens, we should see his glory. All the earth is filled, as a glass is filled with water, with his glory. There is no empty space left in a full glass of water, and so it is with the glory of the Lord, no empty space left, all the earth is filled to overflowing with his glory, even when we look into the mirror. We are his creation, created in his image, so why would we not also be included as his glory filled all the earth? We also should not that Isaiah was beside himself being in the presence of God, and having God ask who can he send. Isaiah was not bold saying, “Send me”, I will go”. No, he was so humbled, being a man of unclean lips, but those are the men God desires the most to go and speak for him. Not the bold and brash, the prideful preachers of notoriety, but the humble servants of the Lord. Can the humble still become famous? It has happened, look how famous Isaiah is. Yet how more humbling can it be to first be made clean, cleansed from unclean lips and made holy and blameless in the sight of God. Then to be send to speak for him is even more humbling. But that does not mean we speak humbly, but rather we speak boldly, proclaiming the will of God. Because we are sent, as all of us are, being sent into all the world to proclaim the gospel, we speak for Lord, we speak for God. Let us always be aware we are speaking for God. This is not just in our words, but also in our life, being filled with his glory, we are speaking for God, being cleansed by the blood of the lamb, we are speaking for God.  

Pure Worship or Else

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

PURE WORSHIP OR ELSE

Isa 5:26-30

26 He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily! 27 Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal thong is broken. 28 Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses' hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind. 29 Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue. 30 In that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds.

NIV

Surely this is talking about how Israel was taken hostage, captive by foreign kings. How they came in and swiftly conquered the land, carrying off many captives to serve in their kingdoms. When Israel was holding fast to the ways of the Lord, he protected them, but when they embraced the gods of others, God not only allowed but instructed, commanded, lifted his hand to help the kings of nations to rise up against Israel and take the people away. How does that relate to us today? Certainly Israel is not a nation of God worshippers. Just because they are Israeli does not mean they are people who worship God, and especially accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Yet they are a mighty nation who has already been engaged in many wars and has come out on top. Their military strength and determination has made them a formidable force to be reckoned with in the Middle East. So how can we see anything that applies to us today? What we could see is the nation of Israel as a symbol of the nation of God, the church. God calls us a holy nation.

 1 Peter 2:9-10

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

NIV

We have been grafted into the nation of Israel, in fact God says through the Apostle Paul that one is not Israel because of the outward sign of circumcision, but one is Israel because of the inward circumcision of the heart.

Rom 2:28-29

28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

So then how does this all relate? There are foreign gods would come and take captive the people of God, and they are present today. In fact, all we have to do is turn on the television so see thousands of people sitting captive listening to those silver tongued purveyors of falsehood. So many good hearted believers have been carried off by these foreign gods. Even some of these so called non-churches billed as the church for the unchurched have taken true believers captive into the numbers game, the bigger the church the better it is. The Showtime crowd has gathered around to be captivated by the ringmaster and his band of performers. It appears to be worship, but who is being worshipped? Many of those words are not about the Almighty God and his worthiness to be praised. We have to be careful in our worship, not to get trapped by the crowd, by the foreign methods of the world. When we gather together it needs to be for one singular purpose, one focus, and that is to worship our Lord God Almighty. It is not a matter of building a place for the unsaved, the unchurched, to come to, it is a matter of building a place to worship God. We are to go out into the world and spread the gospel, but in church of God, we are to worship him. Let us not get distracted by all the grand schemes to draw us away from pure worship of God. We must worship him in Spirit and in truth. We either are engaged in pure worship, or else.

Where is Humility

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

WHERE IS HUMILITY

Isa 5:22-25

22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. 24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore the LORD's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

NIV

Another woe to consider. Here it is singular in nature, being prideful in how much wine one can drink without getting drunk. It is a wonder how Israel became like this. How did they become a people of feasting, drinking, carousing, a party people after all the history they had with God? They even perverted the justice system. It is most likely the rich who were able to afford the bribes to get out of being charged with a crime. At the same time they pursued the innocent denying them rightful justice, and charged them with crimes they did not commit. This was most likely the crime committed by the acquitted rich man. What a wicked people, and yet they were God’s chosen. He did so much for them and blessed them so much and still they turned their backs on him, rejecting his law, and they spurned his word, whatever scrolls they had, at the time, or the laws given to them by Moses. What Isaiah is speaking about here is what will happen to them regarding being taken from their land by some other nation. This will be the desolation of Israel, the hand of God is raised up against them. So what is the lesson for us today? We have all the Holy Scriptures, the complete Word of God. We have everything he has to say to his creation. Of course he is able to say more, through the working of the Spirit, or even through a messenger, an angel of the Lord. He could have a specific command or instruction for someone. It would be wrong to put God in a box and say we decided or limited how he can speak to us. Yet the idea is the same. We have all we need to know God, to know who he is and how he deals with his creation. We know his love, his protection, his provision, his salvation, his justice and his grace and mercy. But still do we get off track at times? Certainly as a country we have seen the rich acquitted because of brides. We have seen the powerful people get away with all sorts of crimes, while the average person stands condemned for far less, or if an average person did what those rich and powerful people did, the poor would be found guilty and sent to prison. Will our country pay the same price Israel did? How do we see this in a personal way? Surely we are not braggarts as to how much we can drink, in fact many believers are braggarts regarding the fact they do not drink at all. But what about this guilty and innocent matter? Do we try to get away with sin, by bribing God? Do we say that our sin is not so bad, because we serve him in so many ways, that our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds? And, at the same time do we judge others sin and deny them the same justice God gives to us. We are all sinners saved by grace. No one’s sin is worse than another’s. It does not matter how many or how few good deeds we do, nothing outweighs our sin, but the blood of Jesus does. Although the matter of pride about drinking or not drinking is not the issue, the fact is, pride is still at the heart of the issue, arrogance is a core issue. God will not tolerate arrogance, he might just raise his hand up against such sin. We say all sin is forgivable and covered under the blood of Jesus. But is being prideful, or arrogant, even in being so spiritual, or in the number of good deeds we do, a way of spurning the word of God? Both James and Peter quote the proverb, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. We have to be careful to always remain humble before our God and before men.