DISTRACTIONS THAT MUST BE CHASED AWAY Abram had prepared the sacrifice as the Lord had commanded. Yet, as he waited on the Lord, vultures swooped down to eat it. Abram chased them away. He would not let them distract him from waiting on the Lord. He was focused on hearing from God. When we
GOD PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO ABRAHAM BEFOREHAND God called Abram to leave his country and relatives, saying “go to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). And Abram obeyed God’s call. God had selected Abram for a particular purpose. For the Messiah would come through his family line. The apostle Paul called
A NEW YEAR BEGINS!
How long did Noah, his family, and the animals live on the ark? Twelve and a half months! They spent a year cooped up together on a big boat with one window! That must have been some year. Everything they had known before was gone. Yet, everything before them was new again.
God had saved them. Their former homes and possessions were gone, but they were alive. They had the Lord and they had each other.
Have you ever had a year when the floods of life came and seemingly took away everything you had known? Where do you turn at such a time? It’s hard not to live in the past. How do we look to the Lord and to a new day, a new year to begin again? We turn our eyes to the Lord . . .
PRAYER: Dear Father, help us to turn our eyes to You, turning the page on yesterday, fully living in the present, and trusting You with the future. Yesterday had its share of suffering, loss and even shame. Yet, we know that You have put our sin and shame on Your Son Jesus, so that we no longer have to bear it. Help us to walk by faith in the freedom of the Spirit, knowing that the future is in Your hands. In Jesus name. Amen.
HOW TO FIND FAVOR WITH GOD
Out of all the peoples of the earth, Noah “found favor with the Lord.” The word “favor” might also be translated “grace” or “acceptance.” This “favor” says more about God than it does Noah. For although Noah was recorded as righteous and blameless, the most revealing attribute was that “he walked in close fellowship with God.”
Because of God’s favor, Noah and his family were saved from the floods of judgment by being found safe in the ark of God. The wrath of God was poured out on those outside and upon the ark itself, yet those within the Ark were saved.
The ark is a picture of Christ. Those within Christ have found favor with the Lord. Only those in Christ will be saved at the final judgment. For “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
PRAYER: Lord, thank you that we can find favor with You in Christ Jesus. We confess our sins to You and thank you for the forgiveness we have in Jesus. O what joy we have knowing we are safe in the ark of Christ. In Jesus name. Amen.
PRAYING AND PREACHING THE WORD
The Spirit inspired David to write these verses concerning the futility of the world’s kingdoms conspiring against the Lord and against His “anointed one” (מָשִׁיחַ, mashiyach), which is the Messiah, the Christ. Centuries later, the Spirit inspired the early Christians to pray these verses back to God after Peter and John had been jailed and warned by the Sanhedrin to stop teaching in the name of Jesus. In their prayer, they identified Pilate and Herod along with the Gentiles and Jewish leaders as conspiring against the Lord’s anointed one, Jesus, just as the Spirit had revealed to David (Acts 4:23-31). When they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they went out and preached the Word boldly.
PRAYER: Lord, help us not only to read and hear Your Word, but also to pray it and preach it. And not just in dry understanding, but empowered by the Spirit, so that we and those around us are shaken by Your presence. And let us not be afraid when the world’s kings and nations conspire and prepare for battle, knowing that their plans are futile, but Yours are perfect and eternal. Now, send us out again with Your Word and Spirit, in the name of Your Anointed One, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
THE REVELATION OF REST
God created many “signs to mark the seasons, days, and years” (Gen.1:14). But He established the seven-day-week by revelation. For God worked six days to create the heavens and earth and on the seventh day He rested. So, He declared the seventh day “holy,” which means set apart for special use–– in this case–– rest.
The interaction between the earth, sun and moon were put in motion to run like a clock and a calendar, establishing our days, months and years. But our weeks are lived by faith, for no other sign but God’s Word reveals the seven-day-week.
So, with this in mind, let us begin this year with the goal of following not only God’s rhythm of creation, but also His rhythm of revelation. Working and resting by faith in the One who made us in His image and for Himself. Our Lord Jesus leads us in this saying, “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19). Our Lord Jesus is our revelation of rest, for He is our Sabbath Rest.
THE GOD OF THE OLD IS THE GOD OF THE NEW
As the Old Testament closes with the writings of the prophet Malachi, the Lord reminded the descendants of Jacob of His immutability. People today often wonder at this. How can the God that judged the world with a devastating deluge be the same God who so loved the world that He sent His only begotten to save it?
The immutability of God is better understood when we see the Bible as a progressive revelation of God. Page by page, as we read from Genesis to Revelation, we learn more about God. Finally, the fullest revelation of God is seen in Jesus. As the author of Hebrews wrote, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son… The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Heb. 1:1-3). As Jesus told His disciples, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
The new covenant of grace, which was introduced in the New Testament, is not evidence of any change in the God who gave Moses the Law. On the contrary, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets. God gave the law to reveal His holiness and our sinfulness that we might repent. God gave us Jesus to pay for our sins that we might believe in Him and be saved.
God’s immutability is better understood when we read the Bible from back to front, rather than front to back. Indeed, God and His Word are only rightly understood by reading through the lens of Jesus. For Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). He is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb.13:8).
WHO CAN FIND A VIRTUOUS AND CAPABLE WIFE?
This is a proverb made more timely by the current culture’s low view of marriage. Neither the art of being a wife, nor a husband are held in high regard today. Yet, for those who would have a marriage as God designed, desiring to experience the joy and bliss of such a divine estate, the Proverbs 31 description of a godly wife, is well… more precious than rubies!
As a young man, I was overwhelmed by the prospect of finding a wife. How can you find the right one? As most men, my eye was attracted to outward beauty. Yet, I soon found this an uncertain indicator of inner grace (as my mother had warned). Even listening to my pastor’s sermons, who taught us not to date those outside the faith, I struggled with uncertainty. How could I be sure that I had found the right one for me? I mean, this whole “two shall become one” stuff is a pretty big deal and then you add on “till death do us part,” and I was terrified of making a mistake.
That’s when I began to pray for a Proverbs 31 wife, wherever she was out there, that God would take care of her and prepare her for me. I would go through the list of attributes and pray them for her. In the process of doing this, I began to think about whether I was worthy of having such a wife. Didn’t I need to be a Proverbs 31 husband too? “Where’s that list?” I wondered. So, I began to pray a two part prayer: “Lord, make me worthy of such a wife and help me find her when the time is right.”
This coming June will mark 40 years of marriage to my Proverbs 31 wife. This is a thing that God has done. He prepared us for each other before we ever met. He led us to find each other. And He has knit us together through many joys and sorrows along the way. I don’t think either of us would have fit the Proverbs 31 description when we first started. But in our commitment to God and to one another, the Lord has done this work in us.
If you are looking to find a Proverbs 31 wife (or husband), first learn to be satisfied in your relationship with God, asking Him to make you more and more like Jesus, which is His purpose for you. Pray for your future mate, that God is doing the same for them. Then, ask God to lead you to one another when the time is right.
WHEN CHRIST RETURNS TO STAND ON THE MOUNT
Two streams of Messianic prophecy are found in Zechariah. One, points to Christ’s first coming as humble Savior, and the other, to His second coming as righteous Judge. This passage belongs to the second stream, as the phrase “on that day” connects it to the time period known as the “Day of the Lord,” when God’s judgment will fall on planet earth during the time of the Great Tribulation.
At His first coming, Christ stood on the Mount of Olives many times. During Passion Week alone, the Bible recorded three significant times that Jesus spent on the Mount: The Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24), the Triumphal Entry (Luke 19:29-30), and the Garden Prayer and Betrayal (Mark 14:32-52).
On the day of Christ’s ascension, the disciples were with Him on the Mount when He was lifted up into the clouds. They heard the angel say, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way” (Acts 1:11). Zechariah prophesied of that day of which the angel spoke, a day when Christ will return to stand on the Mount of Olives and the saints of God with Him.
Surely old Job will be with the saints and the Lord Jesus on that day. As Job confidently prophesied, “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25).
A FUTURE SPIRITUAL AWAKENING IS COMING TO JERUSALEM
The prophet Zechariah wrote around 520 BC. This was 500 years before Christ’s first coming and over 2500 years before the present age. Here, we see a reference to “an only son,” a “firstborn” who the people of Israel will “look on” and finally acknowledge as the long awaited One whom they have “pierced.” Recognizing Him, they will “mourn” and “grieve bitterly,” in repentance.
Notice the unusual use of pronouns that point to the Divine nature of the One they have pierced. God is clearly speaking when He says, “I… will pour out” and then again when He says, “They will look on… ME …whom they have pierced,” but then changes pronouns in the same sentence saying, they will “mourn for… HIM … as for an only Son.” God told them that they would one day recognize the One they had crucified as both “ME” and “HIM.” This is the paradox of the Trinity. For the trinitarian nature of God is seen in Zechariah, as the Spirit and the Son are referenced here by God the Father.
A future day of spiritual awakening will come to the Jewish people before Christ’s return when they will recognize Jesus as Messiah. God has said it. And it will come to pass.