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3 Lent - Sunday

first posted 02/26/05


This is the Church Season of Lent, forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter (not counting Sundays) of self-examination, fasting and repentance.

Jeremiah 6:9-15,         God’s judgment upon the impenitent
1 Corinthians 6:12-20,     Warning against immorality
Mark 5:1-20     The Gerasene demoniac  

The Lord declared that he was going to glean the remnant of Israel (i.e. Judah) as one gleans grapes (searching for a God-fearing person among them; punishing thoroughly each unrepentant individual). Who is listening, that they might be warned? “Behold, their ears are closed, they cannot listen; …the Word of the Lord is an object of scorn (to them), they take no pleasure in it” (Jeremiah 6:10).


The Lord is tired of restraining his anger; his wrath will be poured out upon young and old. Others will possess their houses, fields and wives. The Lord will stretch out his hand against the inhabitants of the land. Everyone is greedy for unjust gain. Everyone deals falsely, including priests and prophets. “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14). They feel no shame when they commit abomination. Therefore they will fall and be overthrown.

The Church of Corinth was surrounded by a licentious culture. Paul warned them not to abuse God’s grace (salvation as a free gift, apart from keeping the law) to excuse the indulgence of the flesh. Not all things that are lawful are helpful. We must be careful not to misuse our freedom by becoming enslaved to anything. Gluttony is not excused by the fact that God created food and stomach for each other. The human body was not created for immorality, but to serve the Lord and to be his temple.


Christians are members of Christ’s body. We must not allow our members to be joined to a prostitute (or any other immoral union outside of marriage of a man and woman), since in sexual union the two become one flesh, and we are joined in one body with Christ. Those who are united in the Lord become one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Immorality is a sin against one’s own body. Our bodies are meant to be a temple of the Holy Spirit within us. We are not our own; we have been ransomed by Jesus’ life’s blood, shed on the Cross for us. So let us glorify God in our bodies.

Jesus and his disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee to the eastern shore to the region of the Gerasenes. When they got out of the boat they encountered a demoniac who lived among tombs in the vicinity. He was a wild, violent person whom no one had been able to restrain with chains or ropes. When he saw Jesus he ran to him and worshiped him, calling Jesus by name and acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God.


Jesus commanded the demon to come out of the man, but the demon begged not to be tormented. Jesus asked the demon his name, and the demon said his name was Legion, because he was one of many possessing the man. The demon begged Jesus to allow them to enter a herd of pigs near by, and Jesus gave them permission. When the demons entered the pigs, the pigs stampeded down a steep bank into the sea and were drowned.


The herdsmen who had been tending the pigs fled and told the townsfolk what had happened, and people came to see for themselves. They found the demoniac, clothed and sane, sitting with Jesus, and they were afraid. They had been told what happened to the pigs, and they begged Jesus to leave their country.


As Jesus entered the boat to leave, the former demoniac begged to go with him, but Jesus told him to return to his own people and tell them what the Lord had done for him. He did as Jesus had told him, and began to proclaim what Jesus had done for him, and all who heard him were amazed.

The Lord punished Judah for her disobedience and unrepentance. No one feared God (respected God’s power and authority). God’s Word had become an object of scorn. Everyone was greedy for unjust gain; they committed abominations with no sense of shame. Everyone dealt falsely, including priests and prophets. Israel was gravely wounded by sin, and instead of “surgery” to save her spiritual life, the religious leaders put a “band aid” on it; they “kissed” Judah’s “owie” and told her it was “all better.”


Her spiritual leaders assured Judah that they had peace with God, while ignoring God’s warning through Jeremiah that God was about to punish Judah. God’s prophecy of punishment was fulfilled. God took away his protection, and they were carried of into exile in Babylon for seventy years (by Nebuchadnezzar, from 587-517 B.C.).

The Church at Corinth was in the midst of a licentious culture. Paul warned Christians that God’s grace is not to be abused as an excuse for disobedience and immorality. God’s grace didn’t come “cheap;” it cost Jesus a painful death on the Cross.

Jesus came to the Garasenes to offer them eternal forgiveness and salvation. He encountered a demoniac who had been suffering and had been terrorizing the surrounding area for years. Jesus freed him from his enslavement; Jesus healed his physical and spiritual malady.


This took place in a “licentious” culture: Jews considered pigs to be ritually unclean. This community made its living raising and peddling pigs. The community was not grateful that Jesus had rid them of a considerable hazard and nuisance. They couldn’t see any benefit for themselves for Jesus’ physical and spiritual healing. They were afraid Jesus would ruin their “pig” business.

The Church and America are in a very similar position today. We are living in a very “licentious” culture. God-fearing people are hard to find. For many, God’s Word is an object of scorn. Who is listening to God’s Word of warning? Many are greedy for unjust gain. Many are doing, even within the Church and within the clergy, without any sense of shame, things which are abominable to God. Many deal falsely, including religious and civic leaders.


Many Churches and religious leaders are “blessing” and validating the civil government and its social policies. Many Churches and religious leaders are preaching peace with God by “Cheap Grace*” (Grace without discipleship and obedience), instead of proclaiming a warning of God’s judgment and condemnation of sin, and calling for repentance and revival.


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)?

*See: The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., NY 1963 ISBN 0-02-083850-6


 

3 Lent - Monday

first posted 02/27/05

 

Jeremiah 7:1-15,    The temple sermon
Romans 4:1-12,     True descendents of Abraham
John 7:14-36     The Feast of Tabernacles

Jeremiah received a word from the Lord instructing Jeremiah to stand at the gate of the temple and tell the people entering the gates, ostensibly to worship the Lord, to repent and amend their ways and deeds. Jeremiah was to warn them not to be deceived into thinking that the temple was the Lord’s temple just because they called it that. The Lord promised that if Judah would truly amend their ways and become obedient to God’s Word not to oppress the alien, fatherless, or widowed, shed innocent blood or pursue idols, the Lord would allow them to dwell in the land, as he had promised their ancestors.


Judah was warned not to be deluded to think that they could do what was contrary to God’s Word and abominable to God, and then come into God’s temple, believing they have been delivered from the consequences of sin and God’s wrath. “Has this house, which is called by (God’s) name, become a den of robbers in your eyes” (Jeremiah 7:11a)? The Lord testifies that it has (Jeremiah 7:11b; compare Matthew 21:13). The Lord warns that the destruction of the former temple at Shiloh (which was destroyed around 1050 B.C. in the days of Samuel) is an example of what the Lord will do to punish the wickedness of his people.


Because Judah has lied, stolen, murdered, committed adultery and pursued idolatry, and has not heeded the warnings of God’s prophets, God will do to Judah and the temple at Jerusalem what he did at Shiloh and will cast Judah from his sight as he cast off the descendants of Ephraim (Samaria; see entry for Wednesday, 3 Lent, odd year).

Abraham is the forefather of the Jews according to human genealogy. If Abraham had been justified by works (keeping of the law; doing good deeds) he would have had something to boast about to humans, but not to God. According to Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). Paul argues that if a person earned righteousness by doing good deeds or by keeping the law, his righteousness would be payment earned, rather than a gift. But to one who trusts in God for his salvation without reliance on works, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.


God’s free gift of forgiveness and salvation is available to those who trust in Jesus instead of relying on their own righteousness. Those whose sins are forgiven are blessed, and this blessing is upon all who have faith, not just the Jews. Righteousness was attributed to Abraham by faith, before he was circumcised; circumcision was the outward symbol and guarantee of the righteousness he had by faith, before he was circumcised. God’s purpose was to make him the spiritual father of those who are judged righteous by faith in Jesus apart from circumcision and the covenant of law, as well as the father of those who are not merely circumcised but follow the example of faith which Abraham set before he was circumcised.

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. About the middle of the eight-day festival, Jesus went to the temple and taught. The religious leaders were amazed by Jesus’ teaching since he had never had formal rabbinic study. Jesus answered that his teaching was from God who had sent him. Anyone who is committed to obeying God’s will will be able to recognize that Jesus’ teaching is from God.


People speaking on their own authority are seeking their own glory, but one who speaks by the authority of another seeks the glory of the one who sent him, so what he says is credible and accurate. Jesus pointed out that the religious leaders were violating the Law of Moses by seeking to kill Jesus because he had healed on the Sabbath. The people denied that anyone was seeking to kill Jesus and suggested that Jesus had a demon. Jesus pointed out that it was legal to circumcise on the Sabbath, yet they criticized Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.


Jesus warned them not to judge by outward appearance, but to judge by real inner attitudes. The people knew and marveled that the leaders were seeking to kill Jesus, but Jesus spoke openly and no one arrested him. They wondered if that was because the authorities really knew Jesus was the Christ. Yet they discounted that possibility because they thought they knew Jesus’ origin, which seemed to rule him out as the Messiah. Jesus told them they only thought they knew Jesus’ origin; they knew his earthly parentage but not his heavenly origin, and they only thought they knew God.


Jesus knew God personally because he had come from God and had been sent by God. The authorities sought to arrest Jesus but could not, because it was not yet God’s will and timing. But many people believed in Jesus because of the signs (miracles revealing Jesus to be the Christ) he did.


The religious leaders knew that many people were believing in Jesus so they sent officers to arrest him. Jesus declared that he would be with them a little longer before returning to God who had sent him, and that they would seek Jesus but not find him; where Jesus is they will not be able to come. The leaders didn’t understand what Jesus meant, and wondered if he was going to preach to the Gentiles (“pagans”).

The Lord told Jeremiah to stand at the gate of the temple and tell the people apparently intending to worship the Lord to repent and amend their ways and deeds. Just calling it the Lord’s house didn’t make it so. If it was attended by thieves and robbers then it had become a den of robbers.


The Lord would only let his people continue to dwell in the Promised Land if they would amend their ways and deeds and become obedient to God’s Word. They were warned that they could not truly worship the Lord while doing things contrary to God’s Word and abominable to God. The Lord warned them that if they didn’t repent and return to obedience to the Lord they would suffer the same punishment which had come upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

The Northern Kingdom had not heeded God’s Word and prophets, and had not repented and amended its ways, and the result was that the Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians and ceased to exist. Samaria consisted largely of the territory of Ephraim, and the city was the capital of the Northern Kingdom. It fell in 720 B.C. to the army of Shalmaneser. The temple at Shiloh (near Bethel in the territory of Ephraim), considered heretical by Jerusalem, had been destroyed around 1050 B. C. (Psalm 78:56-72; 1 Kings 12:25-33).


God fulfilled his prophecy that Judah would suffer a similar punishment. Judah was conquered and the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and Judah was carried off into exile in Babylon for seventy years from 587-517 B.C. The Jews didn’t learn from these examples, and were consequently unprepared for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The result was the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Jews were scattered throughout the world, and only began to return to Israel following World War II. The temple has never been rebuilt.

Abraham is the forefather of the Jews by human genealogy, but the spiritual forefather of Christians, whether of Jewish or Gentile origin, through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Abraham’s circumcision is evidence of his faith, his trust and commitment to obey God’s Word, which he had before he was circumcised. Being born into the Christian faith or becoming a member of a Christian congregation through religious ritual doesn’t make one a true Christian or guarantee God’s favor and blessing, any more than circumcision made Jews truly God’s people if they did not trust and obey the Lord.

One cannot truly believe in Jesus and not trust and obey him. Anyone who is committed to trusting and obeying God will be able to recognize that Jesus’ teaching is from God. No one can truly know God apart from a personal relationship with Jesus through his indwelling Holy Spirit,  which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey him (Isaiah 42:5e; John 14:15-17).


The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that we have believed in Christ and have eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16), corresponding to circumcision for the Jews. Those who do not have the indwelling Spirit of Christ do not belong to him (Romans 8:9b). It is possible to know with certainty for oneself whether one has received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2). 


Jesus pointed out that the Jews were violating God’s laws by seeking to kill Jesus because he had healed on the Sabbath (and had called God his Father, making himself equal with God; John 5:15-18). They were in flagrant violation of the First Commandment to love God and the Fifth Commandment not to kill, but when Jesus reproached them they denied their sin and blasphemed, suggesting that the Holy Spirit was evil (John 7:20; compare Mark 3:28-30) cutting themselves off from the source of salvation and eternal life. But note that it was common knowledge among the people that the authorities were seeking to kill Jesus, as Jesus had said (John 7:25-26).

Someone needs to stand at the doors of the Churches in this land and tell the people who are supposedly coming to worship the Lord to repent and amend our ways and our deeds! Let us not suppose that we can continue to do what is contrary to God’s Word and abominable in his judgment, and then imagine that we will be delivered from the consequences of God’s wrath and condemnation.


Will we accept the Lord’s correction and discipline, or will we continue to deny our sins and blaspheme him by our conduct? The Jews kept forgetting and repeating the same mistakes, instead of learning from their experience and the Scriptures. Are we willing to learn from their history, or will we also make the same mistake? Do we imagine that the same punishment cannot be applied to us?


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)? 

 

3 Lent - Tuesday

first posted 02/28/05

 
Jeremiah 7:21-34,     Faithfulness; not sacrifice
Romans 4:13-25,     True descendants of Abraham
John 7:37-52     Living Water

The Lord declared, through Jeremiah, that Israel might as well eat their sacrifices and burnt offerings because the Lord desired trust and obedience rather than sacrifices (see Micah 6:8). The Lord had promised that if they obeyed God’s Word and God’s leading they would be his people and he would be their God, and that if they walked in obedience all would be well for them. But Israel had not obeyed God’s Word but had walked according to their own council and stubbornness. Israel had refused to heed the prophets God had sent; they refused to listen and obey.

The Lord told Jeremiah to proclaim God’s Word to them even though they would not listen, and to declare that they were a nation that did not obey God’s Word, they refused to accept God’s discipline, and that truth had perished from among them. Jeremiah was to tell them to prepare for mourning, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken that generation. Judah had done evil and defiled God’s temple by bringing abominations into it. They had pursued false gods and occult practices, contrary to God’s Word.

Because they had sacrificed their sons and daughters to idols at Topheth, in the Valley of Hinnom, God declared that Topheth and Hinnom would become a cemetery because there would be no room elsewhere. The dead would be eaten by birds, because there would be no one to scare them away. God declared that he would remove mirth, gladness and wedding celebrations from his people and their country would become a wasteland.

God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the world did not come through the Covenant of Law, but instead through the righteousness of faith. If those who obeyed the law where the heirs of the promise, faith would be pointless and the promise would be meaningless. The law brings punishment, but there is no punishment for things against which there is no law. The promise depends on faith so that it may be a free gift, guaranteed to all of Abraham’s (spiritual) descendants; to those who share the faith of Abraham as well as those who keep the law.

God’s Word declared that Abraham would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:5). The promise was made to Abraham directly by God, and Abraham believed God, who can raise the dead to life and create new things that have never previously existed, by his Word. Abraham believed what seemed to be impossible, considering that he was a hundred years old (when the promised son Isac was born; Genesis 21:5), and that his wife Sarah had been barren throughout their marriage (and she was past child-bearing age; Hebrews 11:11).

Abraham’s faith did not waver, but grew stronger as he gave glory to God, completely convinced that God was able and would be faithful to do what he promised. That is why Abraham’s faith was reckoned as righteousness (Romans 4:22; see 4:3; Genesis 15:6). God’s reckoning of Abraham’s faith as righteousness was recorded in the scriptures for our benefit. Those who truly believe God raised to life Jesus who died for our sins, will be reckoned righteous.

Jesus had gone to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (an eight-day harvest festival also commemorating Israel’s wilderness wandering). On the last day of the feast, the most important day, Jesus publicly proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39).

When the people heard this, some were convinced that Jesus was the prophet (who was expected to appear before the Messiah) and some thought Jesus was the Messiah (Christ), but others did not, because they expected the Messiah to be a descendant of David and come from Bethlehem, David’s hometown). The people were divided over Jesus’ identity, and some wanted to arrest Jesus, but no one did. Temple officers returned to the Jewish high council without having arrested Jesus and when they were asked why not, they said that no one had ever spoken like Jesus did.

The religious leaders rebuked them, asking if the officers had been led astray also. They pointed out that none of the religious experts believed in Jesus. The leaders said that the people who believed in Jesus were ignorant and unforgiven sinners. Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus by night, and was a believer as well as a member of the Jewish council, pointed out that they were violating the law by judging Jesus without a fair trial. The leaders sarcastically rebuked Nicodemus, asking if he were from Galilee also (implying that he was an ignorant provincial). They told Nicodemus to search scripture and see for himself that no prophets were predicted to arise from Galilee.  

The Lord does not desire us to worship him with religious ritual, but with trust and obedience. God’s people are not those who claim to be, but those who demonstrate that they are God’s people by trust and obedience of God’s Word. God is Sovereign God, whether we acknowledge him or not, but he is under no obligation to be all that office (God) implies (to bless, protect and provide, for example) to people who refuse to trust and obey him. If we don’t choose to be his people he will choose not to be our God.

Judah had not been obedient to God’s Word, they had refused to heed God’s prophets, and had refused to accept God’s discipline. Consequently they had lost all sense of the truth. The Lord told Jeremiah to declare that Judah was a nation that did not obey God’s Word and to prepare for mourning because God was about to punish that generation. God’s Word was fulfilled. Judah was carried off by Nebuchadnezzar’ armies into exile in Babylon for seventy years, from 587 to 517 B.C. 

They hadn’t learned from the example of the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 720 B.C., and they didn’t learn and remember from their own seventy-year exile. Consequently they were not prepared for the coming of the Messiah, and so repeated their error. Jerusalem and the temple were again destroyed, this time by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Jews were scattered throughout the world and didn’t begin to return to their Promised Land until after World War II. The temple has never been rebuilt. (See journal entry for yesterday, Monday, 3 Lent, odd year.)

Is our nation obedient to God’s Word? Are our people willing to accept God’s discipline? Are we willing to hear and obey God’s prophetic voice? Do we expect God to bless us, protect us, provide for us, hear us and answer our prayers while we disregard his Word and his prophets? Do we bring abominations into God’s house and yet imagine that we’re in God’s presence and favor? Do we imagine that we can manipulate God’s approval by participating in religious ritual? Have we lost the ability to discern the truth?

God has had a plan of salvation (see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar top right) from the very beginning of creation, which was ultimately revealed at the coming of the Messiah (Christ), Jesus. God called Abraham to be the spiritual father of God’s people. God gave the Law through Moses, to teach his people what is right and what is wrong, and to restrain them from evil until the fulfillment of his promise of a Savior, the Messiah.

Abraham trusted and obeyed God and he became the spiritual father of all who trust and obey Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. No human has ever been able to keep God’s law; sacrifices were constantly required under the Covenant of Law for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice once for all for our forgiveness and salvation, and it is Jesus, by his Spirit within us that makes it possible to be obedient to God and bridges the gap between our ability and God’s requirements. It is those who trust and obey Jesus who will be righteous in God’s judgment, as a free gift to be received by faith (obedient trust).

During the Feast of Tabernacles, water from the pool of Siloam was brought every day for seven days and poured on the altar in the temple, as a reminder of the water from the rock in Israel’s wilderness wandering (Numbers 20:2-13), and as a symbol of the hope of the coming Messiah (Isaiah 12:3). Jesus is the fulfillment of that symbolism. Christ is the rock from whom spiritual water flows to us in the desert of this earthly life (1 Corinthians 10:4).

Jesus is the only one who baptizes with the promised Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34). Those who believe in (trust and obey) Jesus will have the indwelling Holy Spirit within us, which gives us spiritual, eternal life, and which flows out of us to offer spiritual life to those around us who are spiritually dead without Jesus. The Holy Spirit wasn’t given to believers until after Jesus had been raised from the dead. The promise began to be fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts Chapter 2), and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit continues to be given only to disciples of Jesus Christ who trust and obey him (John 14:15-17).

Since Jesus made his declaration (John 7:37) people have been divided by controversy over who Jesus is. Those who trust his word and obey his teaching will receive the fulfillment of the promised Holy Spirit. Some will reject Jesus without giving him a fair hearing. Some who are civic and religious leaders, who are considered well-educated by worldly standards will dismiss Christian disciples as ignorant, uneducated and provincial. Some will tell us that we cannot be saved unless we keep Jewish laws. Some will tell us we can believe in Jesus without doing what Jesus commands. Each one of us must decide for ourselves who Jesus is, and our decision will have eternal consequences. Have you given Jesus a fair hearing?

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)?

 

3 Lent - Wednesday

first posted 03/01/05

 
Jeremiah 8:4-7, 18-9:6,     Israel’s indifference
Romans 5:1-11,      Peace with God through Jesus
John 8:12-20     Jesus is the light of life

The Lord said that when a person falls he picks himself up again; when he take a wrong path he turns back and goes in the right direction, but Israel has fallen into perpetual backsliding; they persist in deceit and refuse to repent. The Lord has listened for their apology but they make none; no one repents of his wickedness. Everyone charges ahead pursuing his own desires like a horse charges ahead into battle. The birds and the animals follow the natural laws established by their creator, but God’s people forget God’s law.

Jeremiah (and the Lord) mourns for his people. Judah cries out in suffering, asking where is her Lord; why has the Lord not delivered them? But she doesn’t acknowledge that she has provoked God’s anger because of her idolatry and disobedience. Is there no medicine or physician in the land that can heal God’s people?

The prophet mourns for his people; he sheds fountains of tears. He longs for a place of refuge and solace away from his people’s corruption. Israel is full of adulterers, liars and treacherous people. Falsehood and deception have become usual practice. Neighbors and brothers cannot trust each other. They overthrow, slander and deceive one another. They commit evil without remorse. They oppress one another. They refuse to know and acknowledge the Lord.

We have peace (reconciliation) with God when we are justified (accounted righteous) by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ. It is only through Jesus that we receive this grace (free gift; unmerited favor) and the hope of sharing in the glory of God (the glorious destiny of eternal fellowship with God in his kingdom in Heaven). We can rejoice despite suffering, knowing that suffering produces hope through endurance and character, and hope will not disappoint us, because we experience God’s love through the indwelling Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

While we were enslaved by sin and death, unable to help ourselves, Christ died for sinners. Not many people are willing to give up their lives even for a righteous person, much less a sinner. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Since we have been accounted righteous by Jesus’ blood we will be saved by him from God’s wrath. While we were enemies of God, Jesus’ death reconciled us to God, so Jesus’ immortal life will save us from eternal death. Further, Christians rejoice now in God because we have already received reconciliation through Jesus Christ.

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. On the last day of the feast, after having proclaimed that he was the source of “living water” through the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39), Jesus spoke again, saying “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

The Pharisees (the dominant, legalistic faction of Judaism) rebuked him, saying that Jesus was testifying for himself contrary to Jewish law which required testimony to be substantiated by at least two witnesses. Jesus replied that he was uniquely qualified to testify to himself because he had personal knowledge of God, Heaven and Jesus’ mission and ultimate destiny.

Jesus pointed out that it was the Pharisees who were unqualified to judge Jesus’ testimony, because they judged by worldly standards and by superficial appearance. Further, Jesus pointed out that God the Father bears witness to Jesus (through God’s Word, the scriptures), satisfying the requirement for two witnesses.

The Pharisees then asked Jesus where his Father was, and Jesus replied that they did not know Jesus or his Father. If they had known Jesus, they would have known his Father (John 8:19; compare Matthew 11:27). Jesus had said this in the treasury of the temple (which was guarded by temple guards; 2 Kings 12:9; according to the Oxford Annotated Bible*, Jesus was arrested at Gethsemane by both Roman Soldiers and Jewish temple police), but Jesus was not arrested at this time because it wasn’t yet God’s timing.

Christians are the “new people of God,” and America is in one sense the “new Israel.” How are we doing? Have we forgotten God’s Word; have we even read and known God’s Word for ourselves? Are we committed to trusting and obeying our Lord, or are we pursuing our own desires, worshiping the idols of health, wealth, power, and pleasure? Are we willing to examine ourselves, confess our sins and shortcomings and return in repentance to the Lord?

Jesus is the spiritual "balm in Gilead" (a resinous sap used for medicinal purposes, plentiful in Gilead, the northern region of Israel east of the Jordan); the healer and Great Physician, the only one who can heal the spiritual sickness of our people and our land. We can know and have fellowship with God only through Jesus Christ, who alone gives the gift of his Holy Spirit to his disciples who trust an obey him (Isaiah 42:5e; John 14:6, 15-17).

All have sinned and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). The penalty for sin is eternal death and destruction in Hell (Romans 6:22). Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice to God once for all for our forgiveness and salvation from eternal condemnation (See God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar top right). Salvation is a free gift, paid for by Jesus on the Cross. All we have to do is receive it by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus (John 1:12; Revelation 3:20).

Those who trust and obey Jesus receive the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit, through whom we have personal fellowship with our Lord and personally experience God’s love. The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that we are in Christ and have real, spiritual life, now and eternally (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). It is possible for one to know with certainty for oneself whether one has received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2).

During the Feast of Tabernacles, the temple courtyard was illuminated at night by large golden lamps (commemorating the leading of the Lord through the wilderness at night by the pillar of fire; Exodus 13:21. Also, water was carried from the pool of Siloam and poured upon the altar in the temple, commemorating the water from the rock in the wilderness; see entry for yesterday, Tuesday, 3 Lent, odd year, and it was in this context that Jesus made his declaration. 

Jesus is the source of the “living water” and the “light of the world” through the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit. It is through the indwelling Holy Spirit that our minds are opened to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45; by the risen Jesus), it is the Holy Spirit who illuminates and guides our path through the darkness of this present world, as the pillar of fire guided the Israelites through the night in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21; Acts 2:3). It is the presence of the Lord through his indwelling Holy Spirit that gives us a foretaste of eternal fellowship with our Lord in Heaven, enables us to rejoice in God now in the midst of suffering, and assures us that our hope will not be disappointed.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the gift of 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)?
*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, John 18:3n, p. 1310, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.

 

 

3 Lent - Thursday

first posted 03/02/05

 
Jeremiah 10:11-24,     Prepare for exile
Romans 5:12-21,     Adam and Christ contrasted
John 8:21-32     Know the truth

Idols, who have not created the heavens and earth, will perish from creation. The Lord God alone is creator of heaven and earth by his power, wisdom and understanding. God’s Word commands and rules the forces of nature. All humans are ignorant and stupid, compared to the Lord.

Idolaters will be put to shame by their idols, because their idols are false; there is no life or spirit within them. Idols are worthless; a delusion. The time of punishment is coming when they will perish. The Lord is totally different than the idols; he has created all things, and he is the inheritance of Israel. He is the Lord of hosts.

Those who are under siege, prepare for exile. The Lord will throw them from their land and bring distress upon them, so that they can feel it. Judah will be in great mourning because of her wound. Her affliction is great but must be endured. Her dwelling is destroyed; her children have perished. Her leaders are stupid; they have not sought the Lord’s will and guidance, and therefore have not prospered, and the people have been scattered.

A great commotion is coming out of the north (Babylon), making Judah a wasteland. Jeremiah acknowledges that mankind is not capable by his own direction of doing what is right, and Jeremiah prays for the Lord’s judicious correction [so that he may be healed by God's grace (unmerited favor) rather than destroyed by God’s wrath].

Sin came into the world through Adam, and death came through sin, spreading to all people, because all have sinned. Sin came long before God’s law was given to Moses, but sin is not counted where there is no law, yet death reigned during that period from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sin was not in defiance of God’s explicit command.

Adam is a model of earthly people as Christ is the model of Godly people. The free gift [of forgiveness and salvation through faith (obedient trust) in Christ] is the opposite of the trespass; many died by following Adam’s disobedience, but many have been saved and restored to eternal life as a free gift through the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ.

Further, God’s condemnation applied following one sin, but God’s grace (the unmerited favor of forgiveness and salvation) absolves many sins. Death reigned through the sin of one man, Adam; but the abundant free gift of righteousness and life reigns through Jesus Christ. Adam’s disobedience and trespass led to condemnation of all mankind, but Jesus’ obedience and righteousness leads to forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life for all (who are willing to accept it).

God’s Law increased sin (sin was thereafter defiance of God’s explicit commands), but God’s grace (unmerited favor; free gift) abounded even more. Sin’s power leads to eternal death, but the power of God’s grace leads to righteousness and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Jesus told the Pharisees (the dominant, legalistic faction of Jewish religious leaders) that Jesus was going to go away and that they would seek Jesus and would die in their sin, because Jesus was going where they could not come. The Jews (religious authorities) wondered if Jesus was going to commit suicide (and go to Hell, because they couldn’t imagine any other place Jesus could go that they could not follow).

Jesus then said that they were of this world but Jesus was from above (from God and Heaven). Jesus said, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he” (or "I AM;" John 8:24; Exodus 3:13-14). So they asked Jesus who he claimed to be, and Jesus said he had been telling them who he was from the beginning.

Jesus told them he had much to say about them and much to judge, but he (God the Father) who had sent Jesus is true, and Jesus was telling the world what he had received (from God), but the Jews didn’t understand that he was referring to God. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me” (John 8:28).

Jesus also said that God was with him and had not forsaken him because Jesus always did what was pleasing to God. Many who heard Jesus believed in him. Jesus told those who believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).

The Lord God is the only true God and Creator of the universe. Trusting and obeying any other thing or person, even especially ourselves, above God is idolatry. Only God can give true, eternal spiritual life (by his indwelling Holy Spirit through trust and obedience to Jesus Christ).

Following leaders who have not sought the Lord’s will and guidance will lead to disaster. No person can do what is right and pleasing to God except through faith in Jesus Christ, by his indwelling Holy Spirit. Each individual one of us must choose whether to serve the Lord or not. 

We must choose whether to accept the Lord’s discipline now, so that we can learn to be what God intended, or we will receive his eternal wrath and condemnation to eternal exile in Hell on the Day of Judgment. Jeremiah warns us to prepare now for God’s judgment. We would be wise to follow Jeremiah’s example and pray for the Lord’s judicious correction now so that we may be spiritually healed, rather than be eternally destroyed by God’s wrath on the Day of Judgment. It would be better to heed God’s Word now than to be condemned by it later.  

We must choose whether to follow Jesus Christ in obedient trust or not. We will either follow Jesus to eternal life, or we will follow Adam to eternal death. I am convinced that the meaning and purpose of this life is to seek and come to a personal fellowship with God (Acts 17:26-27) through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus, by his indwelling Holy Spirit. God is right now recruiting volunteers for eternal life with him in heaven.

Jesus was God’s only plan for our forgiveness and salvation from the very beginning of Creation (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus’ command calms the forces of nature (Mark 4:39-41, and raises the dead to life (John 11:43-44). He wants each one of us to decide for ourselves who he is, so he described himself as the Son of man, which is true and which allows us to decide whether he is the Son of God and the Messiah or not.

Jesus’ statement, “I am he” (John 8:24), allows his hearers to choose whether to believe him to be the Messiah and one with God or not.  He could command us to believe and follow him but he wants us to choose to believe and follow him. On the Day of Judgment he will command, and there will be no choice but to obey (John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46).

Jesus is God’s only plan for our salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). God was with Jesus and had not forsaken him because Jesus was obedient to God’s will even to death on the Cross as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

Those who truly believe in Jesus and thus trust and obey his teachings are Jesus’ disciples who will come to know the truth of God’s Word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a personal relationship with the Lord through his indwelling Holy Spirit. They will be set free from slavery to sin and eternal death. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

Do you know the Truth? Do you know Jesus personally? Who do you believe Jesus is? 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)?


3 Lent- Friday

first posted 03/03/05

 
Jeremiah 11:1-8, 14-17,     Broken covenant
Romans 6:1-11,      Dying and rising with Christ
John 8:33-47      Descendants of Abraham

The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, telling him to tell Judah that those who do not heed the Covenant of Law, given to Moses when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt will be cursed. Judah is commanded to listen to and obey the Lord’s voice and they will be God’s people and he will be their God and will fulfill the promise he swore to their fathers to give them the Promised Land. The Lord told Jeremiah to tell Judah to hear the commands of the covenant and obey them. When the Lord delivered them from Egypt he warned Israel to obey his commandments, but they didn’t listen or obey, pursuing instead the evil desires of their own hearts.

The Lord told Jeremiah not to pray for Judah because the Lord will refuse to listen to Judah when they cry to the Lord in their distress. Like an unfaithful wife, what rights does she have in her husband’s house? Can vows and sacrificial flesh (religious ritual) avert her doom? The Lord once considered Israel to be like a fine olive tree producing good fruit, but now the Lord will burn it with fire and its branches will be consumed. Israel and Judah were “planted” by the Lord, but now he will destroy them for the evil which they have done and their spiritual adultery.

Salvation is by grace (a free gift; unmerited favor) through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ not by works (keeping) of the law (Romans Chapter 5; Ephesians 2:8-9), but that doesn’t mean that we are free to sin. Those who are baptized into Jesus Christ have shared in Jesus’ death so that we may also share in his resurrection. In our baptism we die to sin, so that we may rise and walk in newness of life (by the Holy Spirit).

Our old sinful nature was crucified and destroyed so that we might no longer be enslaved by sin. Sin has no power over the dead. Christ died to sin in human flesh, once for all, and arose to spiritual, eternal life. He can never die again. He died to sin, and now lives to God. “So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).

Jesus had told the people that if they trusted and obeyed Jesus’ teaching, they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. They answered Jesus by saying they were descendants of Abraham and had never been in bondage to anyone.  Jesus told them that everyone who sins is a slave of sin. Comparing the spiritual realm to a worldly estate, Jesus is the Son (and heir) of the “household.” A slave doesn’t continue in the household forever. The Son has the power to set the slave free. The Jews are (physical) descendants of Abraham, but they sought to kill Jesus because they rejected Jesus’ words. Jesus was speaking what he knew from personal experience with God his Father, but the Jews (those who rejected Jesus) were doing what they had learned from their "father" (Satan).

They claimed that Abraham was their father, but in seeking to kill Jesus they were demonstrating that they were not spiritual children of Abraham, because they didn’t have his faith (obedient trust) in God. Jesus told them that their behavior demonstrated who their spiritual father was. They insisted that they were not born of fornication, but that God was their father. Jesus told them that if God were their father they would love Jesus because Jesus shared God’s nature and had come from God, by God’s authority and command.

Jesus told them that it was because their father was Satan that they could not bear to hear Jesus’ words. Satan has always been a murderer and liar, and he is the father of lies. Jesus speaks the truth, but they do not believe him, and their desire to kill Jesus and their rejection of truth proves that they share Satan’s nature and are his children. The sin is not in Jesus but in themselves. The children of God are those who hear God’s Word. The fact that they refuse Jesus’ words proves that they are not God’s children.

God’s people are commanded to listen to and obey God’s Word. Only those who know and obey God’s word are his true children. God is God and sovereign Lord of the universe, whether we acknowledge and obey him or not. But if we choose not to listen to him he is under no obligation to listen to us. God is not obligated to be our God and all that office implies unless we are willing to be his faithful people. Those who continue to disobey God’s Word or put any other thing or person ahead of their relationship to God without repentance are committing spiritual adultery, and therefore have no rights in God’s house. Making vows or participating in religious ritual is no substitute for genuine repentance and obedience.

There are two false teaching that began it the lifetime of the Apostles, and are addressed in the New Testament, which continue in "churches" today. One is “works-righteousness,” or “legalism,” teaching that we must keep the Jewish laws. The other is called “cheap grace,”* teaching salvation by grace without the requirement of discipleship and obedience (see False Teachings, sidebar, top right). Both these (and other) errors could be avoided if we read and knew the entire Bible, and understood the Old Testament from the New Testament perspective. (The average reader can easily read the entire Bible in one year. See Bible Study Tools, sidebar, top right.)

This text is one example of Apostolic teaching refuting the false teaching of “cheap grace.” Salvation is a free gift from God to be received by our faith (obedient trust) in Jesus. Real saving faith in Jesus is obedient trust in Jesus’ words (Matthew 7:21-24). Many people erroneously think that faith is like “wishing on a star;” or that whatever we believe will be true if we believe "hard enough." Christians are freed from obedience to Jewish law, provided that they trust and obey Jesus and are guided and empowered by his indwelling Holy Spirit. Only Jesus gives the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey him (Isaiah 42:5e, John 14:15-17).

Jesus is the way, truth, and life (John 14:6). Jesus is God’s only provision for our salvation (Acts 4:12; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Only Jesus can set us free from slavery to sin and death. What we do demonstrates who our spiritual father is. Jesus is the absolute “gospel” truth. Truth is not “relative;” Trust and obedience to Jesus’ word and example is the standard against which all will be judged. Jesus’ word is God’s Word; God’s children are those who trust and obey Jesus.

Jesus’ teachings will either heal us or offend and condemn us, depending on our response. Jesus’ dealing with the Jews in this text is an example of the Lord’s “judicious correction” (see entry for yesterday, Thursday, 3 Lent, odd year), which we should pray for and welcome, so that we become what the Lord created and called us to be. Those who refuse his correction will receive his wrath and condemnation. Are we willing to hear the truth? Are we willing to submit to Jesus’ discipline and correction?

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 (Matthew28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity?

 *See: The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., NY 1963 ISBN 0-02-083850-6
  

3 Lent - Saturday
first posted 03/04/05

Jeremiah 13:1-11,     Rotten girdle
Romans 6:12-23,     Serving righteousness or sin
John 8:47-59      Who does Jesus claim to be?

The Lord told Jeremiah to go and buy a linen waistcloth (girdle; an undergarment), which he was to wear without washing. Jeremiah did so, and then the Lord told him to go to the Euphrates River and hide the girdle in a cleft in a rock that the Lord would show to him. Again Jeremiah did as the Lord told him.

Many days later, the Lord told Jeremiah to go and retrieve the girdle, and when Jeremiah did so it was partially rotted and spoiled. Then the Lord told Jeremiah that the Lord was going to do to the pride of Judah and Jerusalem what he had done to the girdle. The Lord was going to punish Judah because they were evil people who pursued their own evil desires, had sought and served other gods, and had refused to hear God’s Word. They will become like the rotten girdle, good for nothing. The Lord had given them as close a personal relationship with him as a person’s underwear so that they would glorify God in their person, name and praise; but they would not listen!

Believers are not to allow sin to reign in our bodies; we’re not to obey sinful passions. Instead of yielding our members to sin, we’re to yield ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness, as people who have been raised from death to life. Sin will have no power over us because we are no longer under the Covenant of Law but rather the Covenant of Grace (if we trust and obey Jesus).

Although salvation is by God’s grace (free gift; unmerited favor) rather than by keeping the law, it is not ok to sin! We are servants of whichever master we yield to and obey, either to sin (disobedience to God) which leads to eternal death, or obedience (to God) which leads to righteousness (and life).

Thank God that believers who were once slaves of sin have become sincerely obedient to (Jesus’) teaching. We have been freed from slavery to sin so that we can serve righteousness. Once we yielded to sin, which leads to greater and greater iniquity, but now we are to yield ourselves to righteousness, so that we may grow to (spiritual maturity and) the fullness of sanctification (the process of becoming completely devoted and consecrated to God).

We had no obligation to righteousness while we were slaves to sin, but the “wages” we would receive for the shameful things we did is eternal death. But now we have been set free from sin so that we can serve God, and the “wages” for serving him is sanctification (spiritual maturity) which leads to eternal life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Jesus told the Jews who did not believe in him that those who are God’s people are those who hear God’s Word (and who recognize, trust and obey it). The reason that people do not hear, recognize, trust and obey God’s Word is because they are not of God.

The Jews responded by suggesting that Jesus was a Samaritan (racially and religiously adulterated; polluted) and that Jesus had a demon (worse than calling him “crazy”). Jesus told them he did not have a demon, but that he honored his Father (God), and they dishonored Jesus. But Jesus wasn’t seeking to be glorified by them; it is God’s will that Jesus be glorified and God will be the judge.

Jesus declared that those who keep (know, trust and obey) Jesus’ word will never see (eternal) death. The unbelievers declared that this statement proved that Jesus had a demon, because Abraham had died and the prophets had died (not entirely true: Elijah: 2 Kings 2:1-12, Enoch: Genesis 5:22-24. Also, Elijah and Moses appeared to three of Jesus' disicples at the transfiguration: Luke 9:28-36).

They asked Jesus if he claimed to be greater than Abraham. Who did Jesus claim to be?  Jesus said that if he were seeking his own glory it would be mean nothing; it is God who glorifies Jesus. The Jews claim God to be their God but they have not known God. Jesus testified that he knew God, and obeyed God’s Word, unlike the Jews who were lying by claiming to know God when they did not.

The Jews claimed to be the children of Abraham, but Abraham had rejoiced to see (prophetically and spiritually) the coming of the Messiah, but these unbelievers were physical eye-witnesses and refused to believe and rejoice. The unbelievers rejected Jesus' statement because they “knew” Jesus was less than fifty years old and could not have physically “seen” Abraham.

Jesus replied, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM (I AM is the name by which God made himself known to Moses: Exodus 3:14; Jesus' statement is "a claim of pre-existence and oneness with God;*" see John 1:1-5, 14). At this, the unbelievers picked up stones to stone Jesus to death, “but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple” (John 8:59).

Prophets of the Lord at least occasionally dramatized their prophecy with “visual aids,” at God’s inspiration (see Acts 21:10-12; Hosea 1:2-3). Judah was refusing to hear God’s Word and his prophets, so he gave them a visual illustration.

God had given them the opportunity for a close personal relationship with him, but they were pursuing their own selfish desires and idols instead of obeying and serving God. God showed them that they had become like Jeremiah’s rotten girdle, good for nothing, but they still wouldn’t listen and change their ways.

The result was that they were carried off to exile in Babylon for seventy years by Nebuchadnezzar from 587-517 B. C. Seventy years is virtually a life sentence. The people who were carried off probably died in exile. The ones who returned were not the same people; it was the new generation, born in exile.

A Christian is by definition a disciple of Jesus Christ who trusts and obeys Jesus, and who has been "born-again" (John 3:3, 5-8) to a personal relationship with Jesus and to eternal life through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Are you a Christian?

Christians have been set free from slavery to sin so that we are free to serve righteousness; free to serve the Lord. We are set free from sin by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus. Freedom implies choice; we’re free to choose whether to serve the Lord or to serve sin. We must not use that freedom to serve sin or we will loose the promise of eternal life we been given. If we persist in sin we will die eternally in sin (Romans 8:13).

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and begin to trust and obey him, he disciples us by his indwelling Holy Spirit. We’re to spend time daily in his presence as his disciples did in Jesus’ earthly ministry, through the scriptures and his Spirit, so that we can grow to spiritual maturity.

There is a “Pay Day” coming when we will receive the wages of whichever master we have served. If we have served the Lord we will receive eternal life in Heaven with him. If we have served Satan and our own sinful nature, we will receive eternal death and destruction in Hell with all evil. (Matthew 25:31-46). What we truly believe will be evident by what we do (Matthew 7:21-24).  

God’s people are not those who merely claim to be, but those who hear, recognize, trust and obey God’s Word through Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s only plan for our salvation (Acts 4:12; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). No one can come to fellowship and know God except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Those who know and believe God’s word will recognize that Jesus is God’s Son, the Messiah (Christ; Savior) and that he speaks God’s Word. Jesus is God in human flesh (John 20:28; Colossians 2:8-9; Matthew 1:23). Jesus is God’s Word made visible in human form, God’s ultimate “visual aid” and revelation of himself (John 1:1-5, 14).

God’s Word will either heal us or offend and condemn us (see also entry for yesterday, Friday, 3 Lent, odd year). The unbelievers were eyewitness to the fulfillment of God’s promised Messiah, the great hope of the Jews, but they didn’t "see" it; they refused to believe and rejoice.

The unbelievers refused to objectively (without bias or pre-conceived opinions) consider Jesus’ words. They demonstrated the human pridefulness that God had condemned through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 13:9) They thought they were educated, intelligent experts in Judaism and the scriptures, but what they thought they knew was wrong. They had exchanged the truth for a lie. They refused to listen to God’s Word.

God’s Word made them angry enough to attempt to murder Jesus, but it wasn’t in God’s will and timing. Jesus disappeared. Are you willing to hear and obey God’s Word? Are you glorifying God in your person, name and praise (and worship)? 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)?

*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, John 8:58n, p. 1298, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.