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Tag: John

  • Beyond Nations and Coastlands

    Beyond Nations and Coastlands

    The Servant of the Lord

    Is Jesus Savior of the nations, good news to the coastlands and Messiah of the elect?

    Prophets and kings of Israel have looked forward to the incarnate Son of Man. Yet the Messiah of Israel did not suffer, die and rise to glory only for Jacob. The Lord is lord of all the earth, the heavens and mankind. He IS the hope of the nations, Redeemer of Israel and God incarnate now and forever!

    Isaiah 49

    Listen to me, O coastlands,
        and give attention, you peoples from afar.
    The Lord called me from the womb,
        from the body of my mother he named my name.
    2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
        in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
    he made me a polished arrow;
        in his quiver he hid me away.
    3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
        Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

    Listen, you unbelievers of every nation

    The Messiah of God predicted by Isaiah will have to deal with a number of challenges, not least among these understanding mortality.

    [ctt title=”How does an eternal, immortal, timeless One experience life as man?” tweet=”https://ctt.ec/3d2V2+ Read John 1″ coverup=”3d2V2″]

    No man may stand before Almighty God face to Face, yet the LORD has dwelt in the womb of a virgin and endured the suffering of death on a Cross for our sake.

    If the Lord rejected all except Noah long ago, will the Lord not reject even the wicked of Israel along with those beyond the coastlands at the day of reckoning? [Matthew 24:37-38]

    John 4:22

    [ctt title=”4:22 ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν ὃ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν” tweet=”.. we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. – John 4:22″ coverup=”mHlMU”]

    Even the chosen needed witness that the LORD chose Abraham and Jacob, Moses and David for their faith. For the LORD destroyed and damned those who turned from righteousness. “Before Abraham was, I AM;” says the Lord, the God of Israel!

    Not only Messiah of Israel, but Savior of the Nations

    Isaiah 49:6

    he says:
    “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
    I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

    So difficult for a man of flesh and bone to think in terms of timeless soul and Savior before time. Moses witnessed judgment on the land and redemption of a people for the Lord’s own purpose. Yet even in one hundred twenty years Moses could not claim the covenant of Abraham. Moses led a chosen nation through the sea. He and leaders of an elect people bowed before the Lord on a mountain where we would receive the Law of God. Yet Moses who had parted the sea and brought water from the parched wilderness could not cross the Jordan into Israel.

    Judges and Kings could not rule over a stiff-necked people who believed that Abraham’s promise is fulfilled in their land land and success for their generation. From Elijah to Isaiah the elect continued in the sins of their fathers, while worshiping their ancestry over the LORD! Isaiah and Prophets of the LORD would eventually come to an end of their time, yet anticipating the lasting Redeemer the LORD did promise.

    7 Thus says the Lord,
    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
    to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
    the servant of rulers:
    “Kings shall see and arise;
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
    because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

    Who IS the Holy One of Israel?

    The Redeemer of Israel IS and was and will be Lord over those who love Him.

    Isaiah tells the chosen: 50 Thus says the Lord:

    “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
        with which I sent her away?
    Or which of my creditors is it
        to whom I have sold you?
    Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
        and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
    2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
        why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
    Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

    Isaiah foretells of a great Teacher of Israel

    Isaiah, the prophet of God tells of the Redeemer of man’s slavery to sin, a Savior sent beyond nations and coastlands; the Lord who is risen after the love of His own Sacrifice. Isaiah speaks next of the wise and loving teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Can you hear His voice?

    4 The Lord God has given me
        the tongue of those who are taught,
    that I may know how to sustain with a word
        him who is weary.

    [ctt title=”If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”” tweet=”Jesus speaks truth, love and the words of eternal life.” coverup=”f5KGc”]

    Recalling the crowds who followed and foreshadowing of a trial long past the days of Isaiah:

    Morning by morning he awakens;
    he awakens my ear
    to hear as those who are taught.
    5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious;
    I turned not backward.

    6 I gave my back to those who strike,
    and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
    I hid not my face
    from disgrace and spitting.

    The suffering servant will rise to outlive His accusers

    9 Behold, the Lord God helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
    Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.
    10 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the voice of his servant?
    Let him who walks in darkness
    and has no light
    trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on his God.

    Has Caesar prevailed? Pilate? Does one High Priest yet live?

    Do the kings who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord live? Have the false prophets of hatred risen to take the lands they plunders?

    Only Christ, Holy One, Son of the Living Father and One with the Holy Spirit rises from the Cross of sacrifice to preach once more to Israel and the Nations – His redemption for those who believe in every nation beyond time and circumstance: Jesus IS Lord!

    The Promised Messiah, Jesus

    Acts 26:22b-23

    I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.

    John 1:

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    [ctt title=”“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ” tweet=”Messiah, Christ Jesus, the pure blood sacrifice on the Cross of perfect redemption.” coverup=”GSa8o”]

    Hebrews 9:27-28

    And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” – Revelation 1:8

    Surely the Lord created the heavens and the earth and man in the beginning. The Shepherd gathers every faithful follower from every nation and generation. In these last days the Lord will count the elect and the adopted, fulfilling all prophesy. He will form the old creation into a new heaven and a new earth where the LORD will dwell among us. The faithful will rise to His glorious love and embrace a overflowing joy we have not known because of sin.

    Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

    As it was in the beginning, it will be once more and forever.

    Amen.

     

     

     

  • That Unwelcome Quiet Time

    That Unwelcome Quiet Time

    STRESS!! It consumes, divides and doubles. You would think that a little quiet time would be welcome, but that’s not always the case. In fact, for many of us quiet time may invite the most intimidating minutes of our day.

    A quiet awakening

    I should have welcomed opportunity for more sleep, for my night had been nearly sleepless. Yet after awakening to near silence before dawn I turned off the alarm and remained awake.

    What was on my mind? Everything. And I must confess that my first thought was not,

    This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

    Psalm 118:24

    We arose as usual, beginning the necessary routines of each day. The dog stretched and hurried toward the door. Routine, but required, we set out on today’s event full journey. Charlie followed his nose along previously blazed paths oblivious to my attempt of a hurried pace along a cold continuous sidewalk.

    Running from work

    A jogger ran by, buds in her ears and pulse-monitoring watch on her wrist. She tracks more than time and steps. On warmer days I sensed her daily pace, caught in her mini-marathon between school drop-off and her gym or coffee shop. A man drove by in his loud pizza-logoed car, bobbing his head to a beat of some music inside.

    Charlie walked further, but I was no different from these running to and from work. I could have been busy in some song or sense of life’s sprint, but this day all was quiet except multiplying messages of a mind caught up in my ‘what to do next’ and ‘why did I do that.”

    Once I had driven miles between accounts with my mind also cruising well above the speed limit of a time-constrained goal list. I once listened to anything louder than my passing thoughts; nostalgic classics or current upbeat songs by young musicians full of life. Yet work always approached with the day’s music fleeting to where carefree sounds, singing and smiles fade into hope of a different journey.

    As I thought ahead to work I considered a place filled with well-meaning souls, busy building barns most will never see. Eight or so hours without running to places where we have time to count the costs before the laying of foundations of futility.

    An unexpected glimpse at quiet sleep

    Unexplored paths led by tugs of long leash from long-wandered straight paths of purpose, we returned to a road taken by only a few headed to their cul-de-sac of journey’s end.

    A sight behind an open blind of dawn-lit window imprints image of both past and future. The man lay sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed, between his room’s window and rising metal tree with clear bags of liquid extending long lines dripping life into failing flesh and relief into the delay of decay.

    Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

    Psalm 144:4 KJV

    A mere breath, vapour, a fleeting shadow are the lives of mankind. Souls caught in the image of God trapped in failing flesh. What question of man precedes such astute observation though the looking-glass of life?

    יְֽהוָה מָה־אָדָם וַתֵּדָעֵהוּ בֶּן־אֱנֹושׁ וַֽתְּחַשְּׁבֵֽהוּ׃

    O LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?

    PS 144:3

    A second to last death bed

    Psalm 41:

    Blessed is the one who considers the poor!

    In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
    2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

    3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.

    Charlie had inadvertently led me to a path where in the near silence of our morning walk I had to remember our path toward a final rest. So many have passed this way before us, yet today in an unwelcome misstep I glanced briefly into my own future as well as a sudden step back into a memory of a deathbed before.

    By the sweat of your face
    You shall eat bread,
    Till you return to the ground,
    Because from it you were taken;
    For you are dust,
    And to dust you shall return.”

    Genesis 3:19 NASB

    It had been brought into my own living room. She had been sick for months and they couldn’t figure it out. Doctors were busy and work went on while family and life rushed about. A trip to the ER told more of the disruption of life to come.

    After giving up on work and her parents moving in, trips from doctor to hospital and home again… to a bed not our own…

    Once I sat by her inadvertently on her oxygen tube. It was that kind of sudden realization that the breath of life we take so granted becomes perilously cumbersome to draw in for just one more moment. She would live fully just two score and ten, one more month and one more night to say ‘Good-bye, I love you.’

    Psalm 90: 9-12 KJV

    For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:

    we spend our years as a tale that is told.

    The days of our years are threescore years and ten;

    and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,

    yet is their strength labour and sorrow;

    for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

    Who knoweth the power of thine anger?

    even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

    So teach us to number our days,

    that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

    Charlie and I turned off into home, just a short way along our temporary path of these days. I remained lost in contemplative prayer and unexpectedly fond memory, for I knew just how temporary was this life for her and for me.

    “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…

    “..and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

    John 11:25-26

  • Who are my brothers?

    Who are my brothers?

    Family! Gotta love ’em

    I have two brothers and a sister, not to mention other challenging family members who generally disagree with my considered path which seldom offers the least resistance. Lately we’ve had some ‘family disagreements.’ Has that ever happened with you?

    We’re all hard to convince on important points of life, so in general most of us just go about our own way until someone comes to us mentioning that your brother or your mother (or father or cousin) wants to see you.

    What could be so important? Interruptions by brothers or family happen to all.

    Perhaps you recall an incident like this mentioned in a couple of the Gospels about Jesus. When I first read of it, I thought that Jesus seemed rude to ignore His family members. Now, after many such interruptions of my own agenda by family members I’m not certain that ‘rude’ is the best description, though I’ll bet my family frequently thinks I’m rude.

    Matthew 12:46-48 ESV

    While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him,

    “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”

    Jesus had been teaching and had had a rough day. (More about that later.)

    Doesn’t it always seem like your brother or a family member shows up with an issue when you are busiest?

    Mark 3:31-34 BSB

    Continuing just a bit further in the same story as recorded by Mark:

    Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came and stood outside. They sent someone in to summon Him, and a crowd was sitting around Him. “Look,” He was told, “Your mother and brothers are outside, asking for You.”

    But Jesus replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”

    Looking at those seated in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

    Jesus’ Brothers Before & After the Resurrection

    We’ll visit the prior scenes and conclusion later, but moving ahead in our story here, authorities doubting the true identity of the Messiah ask:

    Is not this the carpenter’s son?

    Is not his mother called Mary?

    And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? – Matthew 13:55

    They mention Jesus’ sisters, question His wise teaching and mighty miracles and they even took offense to him.

    Once again Jesus makes a seemingly disrespectful comment about his community and family.

    “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” – Matthew 13:57b

    The world around Him is trying to disrespect the Lord, associating Him first to His brothers and sisters and mother. Have you ever experience that?

    Later John would reveal something of Jesus’ brothers and others who had witnessed the Lord’s teachings and healings. Even Jesus’ own brothers (half-brothers, really) challenged Jesus:

    “… If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” – John 7:4b

    Then John observes,

    For not even his brothers believed in him. John 7:5

    After Jesus’s resurrection and fifty days of witness on earth, observe Jesus’ brothers at Pentecost. The brothers (and sisters) of Jesus had proof. They then lived lives of witness along with the Apostles, but at first they had no faith.

    Acts 1:14

    All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers [adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings].

    True Brothers

    Brothers in a larger sense are ones connected to you closely, ones united by family and life and circumstance.

    [ctt title=”Even a prodigal brother may roam from the security and promise of those who were once inseparable.” tweet=”Are you a true brother to the Lord by your obedience to His will?” coverup=”zfRWy”]

    Some won’t change even if the Lord appears

    Some believed Jesus and they followed. He called these disciples brothers, even the many faithful who followed our Lord in addition to the Twelve. Yet looking back at Jesus’ day leading up to His half-brothers and mother beckoning the Lord from His teaching, we see the importance of His work.

    Let’s trace back the Lord’s teaching of the day He was interrupted by family.

    Matthew 12:

    46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.

    • 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none… and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
    • 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
    • 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
    • 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks… 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
    • 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
    • 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

    It had all started with Jesus doing good: powerful healings. Jesus proved to eyes which would not see and ears that refused to hear: He IS the Son of Man, the Messiah!

    Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.

    14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him…

    15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known.

    Now moving forward once more to hearing Jesus’ question, “Who are my brothers…?”

    [ctt title=” “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” – Matthew 12:48-50″ tweet=”For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”” coverup=”w41LB”]

    49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

    Do you have a brother closer than those of your own blood?

    By the Blood and Sacrifice of Christ Jesus for our sins, we are redeemed into the family of God our Father.

    As beloved sons, beloved daughters, co-heirs of our same eternal inheritance in Christ, are these not our nearest brothers and our dearest sisters?

    Who is your brother, your sister, dearly beloved one of the Lord?

    Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ invites us into His Own Royal Family of the Most High! Even unsaved family and loved ones may join the Lord. They may by believing join our true brothers?

    Won’t you allow the Lord to speak into your life? For like in this story, He will have a place for you always at the time of His joyous return.

    Pray for our dear family in Christ, beloved. Pray also for me.