A Clear and Present Expectation – Hebrews 9:26

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“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Christ has appeared at the end of the ages to sacrifice Himself once, for all, to take away the sins of many people. Christ’s sacrifice of Himself is sufficient for all His followers and for all time. The end of the ages has been inaugurated by Christ’s sacrificial death, even though it still awaits its consummation at Christ’s second return. The Hebrews writer says that to fulfill this salvation Jesus will appear a second time to gather those who are waiting for Him (vs. 28). The final judgment will take place when Christ comes again. If you are a follower of Jesus, then you should persevere expectantly. In other words, you should have a clear and present expectation of His future return because He saves all who are eagerly anticipating His return.

God’s Good Planning – Jeremiah 29:11

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“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles in Babylon to reassure them that God has not abandoned them or forgotten his purpose for them. Jeremiah told them that after 70 years God will bring the exiles back to the land of Israel. The Hebrew word for “welfare” is shalom , which covers all aspects of peace and plenty. So God plans good–shalom–for His people. God tells the exiles through Jeremiah that if they will pray and seek Him, then He will hear them and grant them shalom. God’s plans for you are good plans that give you hope for the future! So pray and seek Him to find His shalom for you!

Speaking to God with Confidence – Hebrews 4:16

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“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” The Hebrews writer encourages the Hebrew Christians to “draw near” to God’s throne because they have the privilege of a personal relationship with God. Christians can come before God confidently and without fear that they will incur God’s wrath because they have a High Priest, Jesus, Who identifies with His people because of his human experience and the sufferings he endured. Therefore, take your needs to God in prayer and speak plainly and honestly but with respect and reverence, knowing that Jesus was tempted in every area of human life just like you, yet He remained sinless, thus qualifying Him to intercede before God’s throne for you.

Who Is a True Christian? – Hebrews 3:14

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“For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” Whether you believe that Christians who are once saved are always saved or if you believe that Christians can fall away, the sober warning in this passage should be taken seriously by Christians of both views. Being a Christian means you have resolved to be faithful to God no matter what happens in your life—it is a lifetime resolution. When a Christian experiences the ups and downs of life and remains faithful to God, it builds a confidence and assurance that one does, in fact, share in the eternal life of Christ. Because being a Christian doesn’t always come easy, this verse provides a grave warning to everyone who claims to be saved to examine yourself carefully to be sure that you have the fortitude and resolve to persevere in your faith in Christ. Never mind trying to figure out who is a true believer and who is not; build up your own endurance because you belong to Christ if you hold fast your confidence to the end (vs. 5, 14).

The Thin Silence of God – 1 Kings 19:12-13

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“And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” The emphasis on Mount Carmel where Elijah had battled the prophets of Baal had been on God’s spectacular ways. Now the emphasis on Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, is on God’s quiet ways. God was not to be found in the spectacular elements of the storm outside the cave: the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, but instead He spoke in a low whisper. The Hebrew is literally a thin silence. Listen closely because God speaks and reveals Himself in quietness, a whisper, a thin silence.

The Principle of God’s Provision – 1 Kings 17:8-16

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“For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’” (vs. 14).

We sometimes think that God provides for us by giving us more of what we already have. For example, if we are experiencing financial difficulties, we pray for more money; if our home is too small, we pray for a bigger one; if our car is too old, we pray for a newer one.

In God’s Kingdom, however, God provides for us by increasing or extending our need or deficiency rather than giving us more of what we already have in abundance, especially when our deficiencies are offered totally and willingly to the Lord.

The story of Elijah and the widow of Zerapheth demonstrates this principle.

The prophet Elijah encountered a widow and her young son during a severe drought in Israel. The widow and son were about to eat their last meal using the last remaining flour and oil left in the house.

Elijah asked the widow to first feed him before feeding herself and her son. Although the widow was not herself an Israelite and a child of God’s promise, she recognized Elijah as the representative of God’s covenant and obeyed Elijah’s request to give the very little she had to feed the prophet of God.

The demand of total surrender of everything to God—even her last means of subsistence—was not given without the promise of God’s blessing and provision as stated in this verse.

God’s pattern for supplying His provision is to supply deficient resources that are offered totally and willingly to the Lord.

Identity Safeguard – Colossians 3:3-4

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“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Although resurrection is a future event, those who have been redeemed by Christ have died to their own self and have taken on a new identity in Christ. This new identity is now “hidden with Christ in God.” “Hidden” in this context means to protect, preserve, or keep secure in the sense that one might hide something valuable to keep it safe. Thus, the individual identities of the redeemed of Christ are safe with Him. Jesus guards our identity; He knows who each of His redeemed are and He is saving a place for each of us in heaven. The place we call heaven is an assurance that our new identity in Christ is sustained by God so we may obtain full possession of it when we are resurrected. So resurrection life is at work in you now! We live life in the present as those who are on their way to heaven. As each day passes our lives grow more blessed as we draw nearer to the One Who is the source of our new life and new identity. Therefore, you should “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth” (vs. 2).

I Pledge Allegiance to Jesus – Colossians 1:13-14

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“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14, ESV).

Just as God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt under the old covenant, He has now delivered us from the domain of darkness, that is, from the realm of Satan and the powers of evil.

The moral dilemma each of us must confront is not how sinful we are but whose side we are on. You are either a citizen of the evil kingdom or a citizen of God’s Kingdom (unfortunately, the default is the evil kingdom).

While this conflict between good and evil is of cosmic proportions, its legal resolution is individually transacted when one transfers citizenship from the evil kingdom to God’s Kingdom as a result of God’s redemption and the forgiveness of one’s sins through God’s Son, Jesus.

There is no middle-of-the-road, no opting out, no riding-the-fence in the matter of your eternal destination.

Your citizenship is either in the evil kingdom or God’s kingdom.

So, don’t put Kingdom citizenship off any longer. Take the pledge!

Swear allegiance to Jesus and become a citizen of God’s Kingdom today!

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return. To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. (Isaiah 45:22-24, ESV)

Turning Disobedience Into Blessing – II Samuel 24

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“So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel” (2 Samuel 24:24-25, NKJV).

In this final chapter of II Samuel, King David sent Joab, his military commander, to take a census of Israel. By numbering the people for military purposes (vs. 9).

David apparently showed a lack of trust in God to supply the necessary men when needed and wrongful pride in the hundreds of thousands of forces at his command (see vs. 10).

As a consequence of David’s sin God offered David three choices: 1) three years of famine in the land; 2) three months of fleeing from his enemies; or 3) three days of pestilence in the land.

Continue reading →

Supreme Faux Pas? – Ephesians 1:4, 9-10

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“Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:4, 9-10, ESV).

The way we usually begin the story of God’s redemption of humanity is that that God created a perfect world—a beautiful, wonderful place where communion with God was as easy as an afternoon walk through a garden.

Then Adam and Eve, who were God’s own created beings, disobeyed Him resulting in a catastrophic rift between God and His own creation. Seemingly, God’s perfect world was defiled and so He developed a plan to fix it.

When we begin the story in this way, it suggests that God made a big mistake when He created a universe that resulted in human beings falling out of fellowship with Him.

In Paul’s greeting to the Ephesians he begins the redemption story from its actual beginning. Paul makes it clear that God planned for the redemption of humanity even before the creation of the world! God wondrously and purposefully created this world and its redemption has always been God’s plan before the beginning of time.

So God is not trying to fix any supreme faux pas He made during creation. Instead, God is expressing supreme love through His creation.

And supreme love is best demonstrated through redemption: “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.” (Romans 11:32).

God’s love and the redemption of His creation and human beings has always been God’s plan–let’s tell the story that way.