1 Christmas - Sunday

first posted 12/25/04

Isaiah 62:6-7,10-12,    Our coming salvation
Hebrews 2:10-18,     The suffering of Jesus
Matthew 1:18-25     The Birth of Jesus

The Lord has set watchmen over Jerusalem to remind the people to remember the Lord and to watch and prepare for the coming salvation. We are exhorted to enter the gates, to prepare a way for the people, to build up the highway and clear it of obstacles. We are to lift up the ensign over the people. The Lord has promised that our salvation is coming, bringing our reward. We shall be the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, sought out, a city not forsaken.

It was God’s gracious will, in bringing us to salvation, to allow Jesus to fully experience our human suffering so that he could show us the way to spiritual maturity and salvation. Having been made holy by Jesus we share the same father, God, as the scriptures declare.

Since we are flesh and blood, Jesus came in flesh and blood, subject to physical death, so that through death he might destroy Satan, who has the power of death, and deliver us from lifelong fear of death which kept us enslaved.  Jesus had to share fully in human nature so that he might be our merciful and faithful high priest in securing the forgiveness of our sins. He knows what human suffering and temptation are like, having experienced them himself.  

Mary was betrothed to Joseph but while she was still a virgin she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was a good man and didn’t want her to be put to shame, so he considered divorcing her quietly. As he considered this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told Joseph to go ahead and marry Mary, because the child she was carrying was of the Holy Spirit.

The angel told Joseph that the child would be a boy, and that they were to name him Jesus (which means Savior) because he would save his people from their sins. This was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that a virgin would conceive and bear a son who would be called Emmanuel, meaning God with us. When Joseph awoke from the dream he went ahead and married Mary, but he didn’t have marital relations with her until after Jesus’ birth.

The Lord promised to send a Savior. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but God’s Word is eternal, and the promise remains to be fulfilled again at Jesus’ return. Jesus has promised to return. Each of us will receive judgment according to what we have done. Those who have received the Savior will receive salvation and eternal life with him; those who have rejected the Savior will receive eternal punishment (Matthew 25:31-46).

Jesus is God’s only provision for our salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). In Jesus the fullness of God dwelt bodily in human flesh (Colossians 2:8-9). Jesus shared completely in our human nature so that we might share in his divine nature through his indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus experienced physical death so that we might experience spiritual life eternally. Jesus became the blood sacrifice for our sins, so that he could be our merciful and faithful high priest.

Jesus was born in human flesh by the Holy Spirit, so that we could be born in the spirit by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8). Jesus’ name, in Hebrew and Aramaic, means “Savior.”  Jesus is Emmanuel: the fulfillment of God’s promise to dwell among us, so that we could dwell with him in his eternal kingdom (Zechariah 2:10).

Is Jesus your Savior? Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

1 Christmas - January 1

first posted 12/31/04

Genesis 17:1-12a, 15-16,     The covenant with Abraham
Colossians 2:6-12,     Our circumcision in Christ
John 16:23b-30     Prayer in Jesus’ name

When Abram was ninety years old, God appeared to him and established the covenant of circumcision. God promised that if Abram followed the Lord blamelessly God would honor the covenant relationship with Abram and would multiply his descendants. Abram “fell on his face” (in worship; Genesis 17:3) before the Lord.

God changed Abram’s name (Abram means “exalted father”) to Abraham (meaning “father of a multitude”), to reflect his new covenant relationship with God. God promised that the covenant would be an everlasting covenant between God and Abraham’s descendants forever. God promised to give the land of Canaan, in which the patriarchs were merely nomads, to Abraham’s descendants as an everlasting inheritance, and that the Lord would be their God.

As a sign of the covenant and to keep the covenant in force, every male member of the people was to be circumcised. God also changed the name of Abraham’s wife from Sarai to Sarah, and God promised to bless her and give Abraham a son by her. God promised that kings of peoples would come from her.

As we receive Christ we are to live in him, rooted and growing in him, keeping on believing and keeping his teaching (trusting and obeying him), with thankfulness. “See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition,  according to the elemental spirits of the universe and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:8-9). 

Believers have been “born-again,” (John 3:3, 5-8) through the indwelling Holy Spirit, into what is truly life through Christ, who is the sovereign ruler above all authority. Believers have been “circumcised” in Christ by a “circumcision” (of the heart) not made by human hands in our flesh, but by putting off our fleshly nature. We have been “buried” with Christ in baptism so that we can share in Christ’s resurrection to eternal life through faith in God’s power.

Jesus assured his disciples that God would give them whatever they prayed for in Jesus’ name (see Conditions for Answered Prayer, sidebar, top right). Jesus promised his disciples that the time was coming when Jesus’ teachings would be made clear to them. He assured them that they could ask God directly in Jesus’ name for what they need because God loves Jesus’ disciples because they love Jesus and believe that he came from God.

Jesus told them he came into the world from God and that he was leaving the world to return to God. The disciples thought that they fully understood what Jesus was saying, and that they were fully convinced that Jesus was the Christ.

God initiated a covenant between himself and Abraham and Abraham’s descendants. Abraham and Sarah were beyond the age of childbearing, and had no children. God promised that, if Abraham and his descendants trusted and obeyed the Lord, the Lord would be their God. God promised to give them the Promised Land for an everlasting inheritance, and he promised that kings of people would come from among Abraham’s descendants. Abraham believed God’s promise, and he acted on it in faith.

God kept his promises to Abraham. Kings did come from among his descendants, climaxed by the coming of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Lord of the Universe, who is “the head of all rule and authority” (Colossians 2:10). Jesus is Emmanuel (“God with us;” Matthew 1:23), God in human flesh (Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28). Believers are to be “rooted” in Christ and growing in trust and obedience.

Jesus’ assurance that God would answer prayers in Jesus’ name was made to the disciples of Jesus. Merely adding Jesus’ name to the prayer does not obligate God to respond. God promised Abraham that if Abraham and his descendants walked in trust and obedience to the Lord, the Lord would be their God. The Lord is God, whether we obey him or not, but God has no obligation to bless us if we do not trust and obey him.

The disciples declared that they understood what Jesus was saying and that they knew that Jesus knew all things and that he was the Christ. They didn’t yet understand fully; they weren’t yet mature disciples, but they persevered through Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.  They stayed rooted and growing in Jesus.

After the resurrection Jesus opened the minds of his disciples to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45) and he told them to stay in Jerusalem until they had been filled with the indwelling Holy Spirit [Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5. Christians should be “discipled” within the Church (the New Jerusalem) until they have received the indwelling Holy Spirit, before they are sent out into the world in ministry.] This is an illustration of the difference between “professing” Christians and “Born-Again” Christians.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

1 Christmas - January 2

Genesis 12:1-7,       God’s call of Abraham
Hebrews 11:1-12,  Examples of faith
John 6:35-42, 48-51,        The bread of life

Abram, (later named Abraham by God), had gone with his father, Terah, and Abram’s nephew Lot, from Ur in Chaldea (Babylon; present-day Iraq) intending to go to Canaan, but they settled in Haran (in modern Syria). After his father’s death, Abram, Sarai (later, “Sarah”), Abram’s wife and Lot, his nephew, continued their journey to Canaan, by the call and guidance of God.

God told Abram that Abram was to go to a land God would show him, and God promised to make him the father of a great nation, and through Abram all the nations of earth would be blessed. God promised to bless those who blessed Abram’s dynasty, and curse those who cursed them.

Abram went as the Lord God commanded him, with his wife, his nephew, all the people of his household, and all his possessions.  He passed through Canaan to Shechem (midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, and west of the Jordan River) to an oak tree at Moreh.  There the Lord appeared to Abram and promised to give that land to Abram’s descendants, so Abram built an altar to the Lord there.

Faith is being certain of the fulfillment of hope (in the promises of God’s Word); being convinced about things which cannot be seen. Scripture records that people receive God’s approval through faith. The material things of this world which seem so substantial have been created by the Word of God out of “nothing.”

Abel’s sacrifice was more pleasing to God, and through it he gained God’s approval. Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24) was taken up by God without tasting death, because he had pleased God. “Without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Abraham was obedient to God’s leading through faith. He left his home to go to a strange land; he and his sons lived in tents as visitors in the land he had been promised. Abraham looked forward to the eternal city of God in Heaven. Through faith Sarah conceive when she was past the age of childbearing, and Abraham, in old age, became the father of a nation of innumerable descendants.

Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Jesus declared that not all who had seen him believed in him. God knows all who will come to Jesus, and Jesus will reject none who come to him.

Jesus came into this world, not to do his own will, but to accomplish God’s will. God’s will is that none who have trusted in Jesus Christ will be lost; they will be raised to eternal life on the last day. God’s will is that all who see that Jesus is the Son of God and believe (trust and obey) him will have eternal life, and Jesus will raise him to eternal life in the Day of Judgment.

The Jews criticized Jesus for claiming to be the “bread from heaven,” because they knew his earthly parentage. Jesus answered, saying that Jesus is the bread of life. The forefathers ate manna, but manna did not give them eternal life. Jesus is the true, living, bread from heaven which gives eternal life. If anyone accepts this bread, the fleshly body of Christ, he will live eternally.

God called Abraham to leave his home and go to a new land God promised to show him. God promised he would make Abraham the father of a great nation, and would bless Abraham so that Abraham would be a blessing to others. 

Abraham heard God’s call and did as the Lord commanded him! As he was obedient to God’s Word, God revealed himself to Abraham. God promised to give the land to Abraham’s descendants. Abraham believed God was faithful and able to do what God promised, and Abraham built an altar to the Lord and worshiped God there.

Abraham is the physical father of Israel, but he is the spiritual father of the “New Israel,” the Christian Church (Romans 4:11-12).

God is still calling people to leave their old lives to follow God’s Word and to go to a new (spiritual) place which he will show us, and as we go in obedient trust in his Word, he will reveal himself to us.

God reveals himself to us only through Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word in human flesh (John 1:1-5; 14). Jesus is the only way (John 14:6) to have forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God’s word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), salvation from eternal death, restoration to eternal life, and personal fellowship with God, beginning now in this temporal world (see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). That eternal life and personal fellowship with God is only possible by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17, 21, 23).

Faith is not like “wishing on a star;” it’s not getting whatever we believe if we believe hard enough. Faith is not like an “opinion;” it’s not like believing it will rain tomorrow. Saving faith is obedient trust in God’s Word, revealed in Jesus Christ.

True faith is revealed by action (James 2:18b). Hope in anything other than God’s Word will ultimately and eternally fail. It seemed humanly impossible that Abraham and Sarah would conceive a child, whose descendants would be a vast innumerable nation, but God is able and faithful to do what he promises, and as they trusted and obeyed, Abraham and Sarah received what God promised.

Without a faith which trusts and obeys God, one cannot please God. Although Abraham did not live to see the fulfillment of the inheritance of the earthly Promised Land, he did, through faith, receive the inheritance of the eternal Promised Land.

God’s purpose has always been to create an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly choose to trust and obey God. The meaning and purpose of this temporal lifetime is to allow us to seek and come to a personal knowledge of, and fellowship with, God (Acts 17:26-27). In order to seek and find God we must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. As we trust and obey God’s Word he will manifest himself to us.

Jesus promised that he is the “bread of (eternal) life.” Jesus promises that he will satisfy the spiritual hunger and thirst and sustain life eternally for those who trust and obey Jesus’ word, which is God’s Word (John 14:24).

Jesus is the source of “living water,” the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, that sustains eternal life (John 7:38-39). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

Jesus will save with eternal life and resurrection from physical death all who come to him and believe in him. God’s will is that all who recognize that Jesus is the Son of God will be saved from eternal death. God loves us and doesn’t want anyone to perish eternally (John 3:16-17). But not everyone will be willing to acknowledge, trust and obey Jesus.

The Jews had God’s Word, the Bible scriptures and God’s promise of a Savior. They had the physical manifestation and ministry of Jesus Christ, and yet they rejected him, fulfilling God’s Word in Jesus Christ that not everyone who saw him would believe, trust and obey Jesus.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

1 Christmas - January 3

first posted 01/02/05

Genesis 28:10-22,    Jacob’s dream
Hebrews 11:13-22,     Faith
John 10:7-17     The Good Shepherd

Jacob, grandson of Abraham through Isaac, set out to Haran (in present-day Syria) to take a wife from among his Grandfather’s relatives (since he was not to marry a Canaanite woman; Genesis 28:1-2). He left Beersheba in Southern Canaan traveling north and he came to a place where he slept overnight out in the open, since it was uninhabited. He used a rock in the place for a pillow.

During the night he had a dream of a ladder from earth to heaven, and he saw angels of God ascending and descending on it. In the dream God spoke to Jacob, identifying himself as the God of Jacob’s father and grandfather.

God promised Jacob that he would protect Jacob and provide for him on his journey and would bring him back to this land, which God would give to Jacob and his descendants. God promised that Jacobs’s descendants would be numerous beyond counting. By Jacob and his descendants all the people on earth would be blessed.

Jacob awakened from the dream and he realized that God was in this place; that it was the house of God and the gate of heaven. Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it up as a pillar marking a sanctuary, and anointed it to consecrate it to God.

Jacob named the place Bethel, meaning “House of God” (although the Canaanites had called the place Luz).Jacob made a vow to God that if God provided for him as God had promised, Jacob would worship him as his God and would give God a tenth of all that God provided.

All the Old Testament heroes of faith died believing but not having received what had been promised; they had only envisioned it from afar, having understood that they were aliens and exiles on this earth. The homeland for which they longed is not of this world; if it had been, they would have had opportunity to return, but they longed for a better one; a heavenly one. Because they longed for a better land than this world, God is not ashamed to be their God, and he has prepared a city (the heavenly Jerusalem) for them.

When Abraham was tested, he was willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, on whom God’s promise rested. He trusted that God was able even to raise the dead, and so he did, figuratively speaking, receive Isaac as back from the dead (through the substitution of the ram; Genesis 22:12-13). [Please Note: God will never ask you to do anything which will harm or endanger yourself or anyone!]

By faith Isaac blessed his sons Jacob & Esau, and by faith Jacob (Israel) blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, his grandsons by Joseph.  Joseph died in Egypt in bondage, but by faith he trusted in God to bring the Israelites out of bondage and back to the Promised Land, and gave instructions for them to carry his bones with them for burial in the Promised Land  (Genesis 50:24-25).    

Jesus declared that he is the door of the “sheep” (his followers), that allows them to enter the security of the sheep-fold (pen), and opens to allow them to find pasture. All who came before Jesus (messianic pretenders; anyone who offers salvation through any other means than by faith in Jesus Christ) are thieves and robbers. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; Jesus came to give life abundantly (beyond measure).

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep. He cares personally for each sheep as his own, not like a hired person who only cares about getting paid. The hired person abandons the sheep when he sees a wolf coming, because he cares about himself and not for the sheep. So the wolf is able to snatch and scatter the sheep. Jesus knows each of his sheep, and his sheep know Jesus, as intimately as God the Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows God his Father.

Jesus declared that he was going to lay down his life for his sheep. Jesus declared that he had other sheep (the Gentiles; not just the Jews). They will obey Jesus and Jesus will bring them together into one flock, with one shepherd, Jesus. That is the reason Jesus is going to lay down his life; and he will take it again (by rising from the dead to eternal life), because God the Father loves Jesus for being willing to be obedient unto death.

Jacob had begun his journey by obeying the command of the God of his father. As he began to walk in obedience, God manifested himself to Jacob, out in the middle of “nowhere.”

Jacob had a vision of the angels of God ascending and descending on a ladder from earth to heaven. The Lord promised to protect Jacob on his journey and bring him safely to the Promised Land. God also promised that all the people would be blessed through Jacob’s descendants.

Jacob believed God’s promise, and he made a commitment to worship the Lord as his God, and to tithe (a tenth) of all that God provided. God was no longer the God of his father; he was now Jacob’s God. Jacob was amazed to realize that God was “bigger” than he imagined; God was not confined to one geographic location.

All of these Old Testament examples of faith were descendants of Abraham, through Jacob, and heirs of the promise of a land and God’s blessing. They believed God’s promise and acted upon it in obedience, and they died in faith, not having received the fulfillment of the promise.

God’s promises are faithful and true. God did protect Jacob and bring him back to Bethel (Genesis 35:1-15). Abraham trusted and obeyed God to the point of being willing to offer, as a blood-sacrifice, his son, Isaac, the son through whom God’s promise was to be fulfilled.

They passed their faith in God’s blessing on to their children. Joseph believed God’s promise of a land so that, even though he died in Egypt, he arranged to have his body embalmed to be carried throughout the wilderness wandering and to be eventually buried in the Promised Land.

Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise of a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through whom all people of Earth will be blessed. (Matthew 1:1-2, 16). Jesus is the fulfillment of Jacob’s vision of a ladder between heaven and earth, by whom the blessings of God descend, and by which we can ascend into the eternal kingdom (John 1:51).

Jesus is the door (the only door; John 14:6; Acts 4:12) through whom his followers go to find eternal security and spiritual sustenance: bread (John 6:35), water (John 7:37-38), and light of life (John 8:12). Jesus is the Good Shepherd! Jews and Gentiles have been united in one flock (1Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:28) in Jesus Christ.

God did give his beloved only begotten Son as a blood sacrifice for our forgiveness and salvation; God only asked but did not require Abraham to so do to Isaac, to test Abraham’s faith, and as an illustration of what God was going to do for us.

Jesus laid down his life for us, in trust and obedience to God his Father, believing that God was able to raise him from death to life. The Apostles, the Bible and all “born-again” Christians can attest to the truth of Jesus’ resurrection from death to eternal life.

In a sense Christians are all, like the Old Testament patriarchs, required to walk in trust and obedience without seeing the eternal fulfillment of the promise, but if we will trust and obey Jesus during our journey through life, he will use our trust and obedience to prove his power, faithfulness and love, so that we can be sure of the Promised Land, without having seen it this side of eternity.

If we will consecrate ourselves to God in Jesus Christ by trust and obedience, he will anoint us with his indwelling Holy Spirit (compare Genesis 28:18) which is the seal and guarantee that we are in Christ and have eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16) and we can be “pillars” in God’s House.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

1 Christmas - January 4

first posted 01/03/05

Exodus 3:1-15,     The burning bush
Hebrews 11:23-31,  Faith of Moses
John 14:6-14     Jesus the way, truth and life

Moses had fled from Egypt into the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula and married the daughter of Jethro, priest of Midian. He was herding his father-in-law’s flocks at Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai), which was the Mountain of God (a Midianite holy place). There God appeared to Moses in a bush which appeared to be on fire, but which wasn’t consumed.

Moses went to have a closer look and from the bush God called to Moses by name, telling him to remove his shoes because the ground was holy. God identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses was afraid to look at God.

God told Moses that he had seen the affliction of his people in Egypt and had heard their cries.  God had come down to deliver them and lead them out of Egypt into a broad and good land, flowing with milk and honey; the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

God told Moses go to Pharaoh and bring God’s people out of Egypt. Moses didn’t think he was up to the task, but God promised to be with him to empower him, and told Moses that when he had brought the people out Moses would serve God on Mt. Horeb. Moses said that if he told the people that the God of their fathers had sent him they would want to know God’s name, and asked God what he should tell them. God said “I AM WHO I AM. …Say to this people I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14).

By faith Moses was hidden for three months by his parents in defiance of Pharaoh’s edict. When Moses was grown, in faith he chose to share ill-treatment with the people of God rather than claim the role of the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and enjoy “the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25).  By faith Moses chose suffering for Christ (pre-existent; see 1Corinthians 10:4; John 1:1-3:14) over the wealth of Egypt, because he focused on the ultimate reward. By faith Moses left Egypt, trusting in the invisible God, rather than fearing Pharaoh.

Moses believed God and followed his commands about keeping the Passover and marking the doorposts with blood, so that God’s people could avoid the destruction of their first-born. In faith God’s people passed through the Red Sea as if on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to follow they were drowned. The walls of Jericho fell because the people believed God’s Word. Faith saved Rahab the harlot because she had helped the Israelite spies.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the father, but by me” John 14:6). Jesus also said that anyone who knows Jesus knows God. Jesus is in God and God is in Jesus. Jesus does not speak on his own authority; it is God dwelling within Jesus (Colossians 2:8-9) who works and speaks through Jesus.

Both Jesus’ words and works bear witness that he is in God and God is in him. Jesus told his disciples that those who believe in Jesus will do even greater works than these, because Jesus is going to God the Father. Jesus told his disciples: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).

Moses had been raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and could have lived in luxury and privilege in Pharaoh’s house, but he chose to join God’s people even though they were ill-treated by society. As a result he was forced to flee into the wilderness, where he heard God’s call. Moses heard God's Word, believed God’s promise, and did what God commanded. As Moses obeyed God’s Word he received what God promised.

Moses had to choose between wealth, power and pleasure of this world or God’s people and God’s promise. He made the right decision by focusing on the ultimate reward.  God’s people were led out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land, “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8; a paradise compared to the austerity of the wilderness).

The people of God trusted in God’s promise, even when their backs were to the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army was closing in. As a result, they passed through the Sea as if on dry ground, but the Egyptians were swallowed up and drowned.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He is one with the Father. He is the great “I AM.” His disciples will do greater works because Jesus went to the Father, who sent his indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts chapter 2) to work in and through his disciples.  

Each of us must choose whether to pursue the wealth, power and pleasure of the “Egypt” of this world, or to join God’s people and walk in trust and obedience through the wilderness of this world, to the Promised Land of God’s eternal kingdom. Each of us must choose whether to turn aside from our daily life to hear God’s call; each must choose whether to trust and obey that call.  

God promised to deliver his people from slavery, and Moses made the  right decision by focusing on the ultimate reward, but God also promised to be with him on the way. It is in walking in daily fellowship, in trust and obedience, out of slavery to sin in the "Egypt" of this world, with the Lord through the "sea" and the "wilderness" of this world, that God’s people learn God’s power, love and faithfulness.

Christianity isn’t just “pie in the sky by-and-by.” As Moses began to respond to God’s call God demonstrated immediately (Exodus 4:2-4) and repeatedly that power, love and faithfulness. Jesus is the invisible God made visible in human flesh. Jesus promised his disciples that he would be with them on their journey as they carried out their ministry (Matthew 28:18-20; John 14:18-20). He began to fulfill that promise in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2).

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

1 Christmas - January 5

first posted 01/04/05

Joshua 1:1-9,     The Lord’s command to Joshua
Hebrews 11:32-12:2,     A cloud of witnesses
John 15:1-16     The true vine

Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Joshua had been chosen by God to succeed Moses (Deuteronomy 31:23) and lead the people into the Promised Land. After Moses’ death, the Lord told Joshua to cross the Jordan River, entering the Promised Land.

The Lord assured Joshua that everywhere they set foot would belong to them. The boundaries of the land were the wilderness in the south and east, the Lebanon Mountains in the northwest, the land of the Hittites (Syria), and the Mediterranean Sea on the west.

The Lord promised that no human could prevail over Joshua, because the Lord would be with him as he was with Moses. The Lord promised never to fail or forsake Joshua. The Lord told Joshua to be strong and courageous because the Lord promised that he would help Joshua to cause Israel to inherit the Promised Land. The Lord warned Joshua that his success was conditional upon his obedience to God’s commandments. God promised to be with Joshua wherever he went.  

The Old Testament heroes accomplished great things through faith in God. They “conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions (Daniel 6:16-22), quenched raging fire (Daniel 3:16-28), escaped the  edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (Hebrews 11:33-34). The dead were raised (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 25:37), believers endured torture for the hope of resurrection to a better life. Others were mocked, beaten, imprisoned, or executed.

The faith of all these is evident, but they all died without having received what was promised (the Savior). God had planned something better (than the Old Covenant of Law), so that they could not be spiritually perfected apart from Christ. (Christ died once for all, redeeming also the Old Testament faithful, although they had only the promise of a savior and not the fulfillment; Hebrews 9:15, 10:10).

Christians are like contestants at an athletic event; the great cloud of witnesses are the spectators. So let us put aside any hindrance and run the race with perseverance, following the example of Jesus, the pioneer (who shows us the way) and perfecter (who provides what we lack to finish successfully on our own) of our faith. Jesus endured the pain and the shame of the cross for the joy of the eternal reward at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus described himself as a “grapevine” in relation to his followers, who are the “branches.”  God is the “vinedresser.” God cuts away any branch which does not produce fruit, and he prunes the fruitful branches so that they will bear more. Those who believe Jesus have been forgiven. But we must abide in him so that we can bear the fruit we were intended to produce.

Anyone who does not abide in Jesus, will be cast off and will wither; he will be thrown into the fire and burned. “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you” (John 15: 7). God wants us to be fruitful and so prove that we are Jesus’ disciples and glorify God. 

Jesus loves us the way God loves Jesus. Believers abide in Jesus’ love by obedience to Jesus’ commandments, as Jesus set the example by obedience to God’s commandments.  Jesus has told us these things so that we can be filled with his joy and that our joy can be complete.

We are to love one another as Jesus has loved us. Jesus declared that the greatest love anyone can have for another is to give up his life for them. Believers of Jesus are more than his servants; he regards them as his friends, because believers keep Jesus’ commandments, and Jesus’ has told us everything he has heard from God the Father.

Jesus has called us to do his work (not the other way around) and his will is that we should go and bear fruit which will abide (have eternal results). Whatever disciples ask God in Jesus’ name (in fulfilling Jesus’ call) God will give them.

God called Joshua to lead the people of God into the Promised Land. God promised to be with Joshua to accomplish his call, and that no one could prevent Joshua from accomplishing his assignment, as long as Joshua was obedient to God’s commands.

The Old Testament heroes of faith trusted and obeyed God’s Word. They endured unimaginable suffering because of their faith in God’s promises and their hope of eternal life in Heaven. They died in faith, but not having seen the coming of the Messiah (Christ; the Savior).

We have the advantage of the coming of Christ who instituted the New Covenant of Grace (free gift) through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus. Jesus came to show us the way and to supply once for all the sacrifice for our sins so that we could be forgiven and restored to fellowship with God and eternal life. Jesus was willing to endure the pain and shame of the Cross for the joy of pleasing his Father and sharing in his glory in heaven.

We are called to be disciples of Jesus. We are called to trust and obey Jesus. We are called to bear fruit for his eternal kingdom. We are called to endure pruning so that we can be more fruitful.

We abide in Jesus by trusting and obeying him and by loving one another as Jesus has loved us. Jesus has promised us that if we keep his commands he will be with us wherever we go; he promised never to fail or forsake us, and he promised that we will succeed in what he gives us to do and we will enter and receive our inheritance in the Promised Land of God’s kingdom in heaven.

Jesus was willing to give up his life to die for us so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life with him. Is there anything we would be willing to give up for Jesus? 

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first believed? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?