Don't Fight The Potter

Isaiah 64:1-9

Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, the weeks prior to Christmas, a time when Christians prepare their hearts and lives to welcome the coming Savior, Jesus Christ.  Our Old Testament reading from the first Sunday in Advent’s Lectionary reading comes from the Prophet Isaiah.  Let’s see what he has to say to us.

There are three things in these verses that we can apply to our lives today.  The first is found in verse 4 where Isaiah tells us how important it is to wait for the Lord.  We can’t imagine how God will move on our behalf, but we can know He will when we wait for Him in faith.  Waiting is never easy for most of us.  It certainly isn’t easy for me.  We are always in a hurry and impatient, but God is never in a hurry, and His timing is always right.  Just as when we plant seeds in the ground and wait, and wait, and wait for the plant to come, so we often have to wait and wait for God’s plans in our life to come to fruition.

Why not put this waiting time to good use?  While we wait, the Lord wants to teach us some of life’s greatest lessons, if we are willing to learn.  Waiting helps us to learn His will, and draw into a deeper relationship with Him.  God works all things together for our good, as promised in Romans 8:28, so we should relax and trust Him.  God also promises to reward those who wait.  Trust Him and be patient as He will produce good fruit in our life.

A second very important truth in this passage is found in verse 6.  This is that our good works cannot earn us entrance into heaven.  Isaiah tells us this very plainly and clearly in this verse.  No matter how many good works we do, they will never erase  the sins we’ve committed.  Sin makes us unclean, and because of that we cannot approach God’s presence. Can a filthy beggar in putrid, bloody rags come present himself to the King?  We are infected by sin.  Our only hope is by putting faith in what Jesus did on the cross for us.  His Blood alone cleanses us from our sin.  Our works cannot save us, only God’s grace can (Ephesians 2:8-9).  All of our supposed righteousness, or good works, are nothing compared to God’s infinite righteousness.

The third important verse is found in verse 8, where Isaiah reminds us that God is our heavenly Potter, and we are the clay in His hands.  This is a theme that the later prophet, Jeremiah, also spoke of in Jeremiah 18:1-6.  The lump of clay does not tell the potter what to do, what to make, or how to make it.  That is the potter’s decision.  God is our Potter, and we are His clay.  He decides what He wishes to do with us.  Our job as the clay is to yield ourselves into His hands, and trust Him that He will make something beautiful with us.  Don’t fight the Potter, but trust Him and yield to Him and His divine wisdom.

The final verse, verse 9, wraps up this passage of Scripture with a prayer to God to not be furious with us, nor remember our sins we’ve committed against Him.  If we’ve put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, and have claimed His Blood as payment for our sins, then we can know that our sins are forgiven and cast into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:18-19).   If we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then, and only then, are we His people.

Separating Sheep From Goats

Matthew 25:31-46

Our Gospel reading today tells of another event that will happen when the Lord Jesus returns to earth, which will be the judgment of the nations.  When Jesus returns to earth, and is seated upon His throne of glory, all of the nations will be gathered together, and they will receive their judgment from the Lord (vs. 31 - 32).   Let’s look at what Jesus says will happen on that day, and what we can learn and apply to our lives.

As Jesus describes that day, the nations are brought before Him and separated, some going to the right, some to the left, just like sheep and goats are separated.  When the flocks are brought in from the fields, sheep and goats can superficially look similar, especially if their coats are thick and heavy, and the shepherd will need to separate the two.  The group that Jesus is pleased with, who will receive the blessings of the Father, are put on the right hand.  Those with whom He is not pleased, and are not blessed by God, are put on the left side.

What determines who goes on the right or the left?  Jesus gives a very detailed account for this, which we read in verses 35 and 36.  He says they gave Him food when hungry, drink when thirsty.  They clothed Him when naked, visited Him when either sick or in prison.  They respond back to Jesus and say they never saw Jesus hungry, thirsty, naked, sick or in prison, how did they do these things for Him (vs. 37 - 39).  Jesus responds by saying that when they did it to the least of His brethren, they did it to Him (vs. 40).  The exact opposite is told to those on the left.  They are those who did not respond to the needs of the Lord.  When they also say they never saw Jesus in need, He says that when they did not give to the needs of His brethren, they did not give to Him (vs. 41 - 45).  Though this passage speaks of “nations”, a nation is made up of individuals, and we, as individuals are accountable to the Lord for how and if we help those in need.  

Who are these brethren of the Lord that Jesus is talking about?  Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew 12:46-50, Jesus Himself answers the question as to who His brethren are.  Jesus says that those who do the will of God are His brothers and sisters, so those who are true believers in Him, of any race or nationality, those who are saved.

The good deeds that the blessed of the Lord do, listed in verses 35 and 36, are the fruit, not the root, of their salvation.  These deeds are not what brings them entrance into God’s kingdom.  Good deeds do not get us into heaven.  Only accepting Jesus’ death for our sins on the cross, and trusting in His Blood will gain you entrance into heaven.  These good deeds are a manifestation of God’s grace in their lives.  These deeds are evidence of the saving faith that they have.

Giving food, drink, and clothing to those in need, and visiting the sick, lonely, and prisoners are acts of mercy that we can each do every day.  They do not depend on great wealth, ability, or intelligence.  We have no excuse to not help others in need in these ways.  Nor is this a responsibility to turn over to the government or other official agencies.  We should help where and when there is a need.

In verse 34 we read that God’s kingdom was prepared for us “from the foundation of the world”, from before time.  God’s plan of salvation, and love for us are from everlasting to everlasting.  He loves us so much that He prepared such a wonderful place for us!  How blessed are those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus as Savior!  Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  On the other hand, how disastrous it is for those who choose to reject Jesus (vs. 46).  There are eternal consequences.  These wicked are not given a second chance, nor are they eventually annihilated.  Their punishment is just as everlasting as the rewards in heaven are.  They know that their punishment is just, and they, alone, are to blame.

As believers and followers of Jesus, we should treat all people we encounter as if they were Jesus.  How well do our actions separate us from the pretenders and unbelievers?  If you have not yet accepted the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, do not hesitate.  That day of judgment is coming soon, and you do not want to hear Him say to depart into the everlasting fire.

The Conquering Of Sin And Death

I Corinthians 15:20-28

What kind of traits have you inherited from your ancestors?  Many types of physical characteristics are passed down from generation to generation, such as hair and eye color, type of build, etc.  My son got his height, slender build and blue-gray eyes from his maternal grandfather.  My daughter got her rather short stature from her paternal grandmother.  There also is something very unwelcome that we all have inherited from our common ancestor, Adam, and that is sin and death.  Our Scripture passage today talks of this, and also gives the welcome news of how Jesus destroyed this for all those who trust in Him.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and on the third day after, He rose again.  Jesus was the first fruit, the first resurrection who did not have to die again a second time, like Lazarus and others that Jesus had raised to life (vs. 20).  The first fruits were the first and best part of the harvest given as an offering to God.  Jesus’s resurrection was a first fruit.  Jesus’s resurrection is a guarantee that all believers who have died will also be resurrected.

Death and sin had spread to all humans from Adam on down through the ages because of Adam’s first sin.  Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead has brought the reality of the resurrection to new life with Him for all believers (vs. 21 - 22).

The word “all” is mentioned twice in verse 22.  The first “all” is all-encompassing, referring to everyone who has ever lived, all descendants of Adam.  The second “all” in this verse applies only to all believers.  It does not imply the salvation of everyone without faith.  It does not teach Universalism.  Throughout the Bible it is taught that there is eternal punishment of unbelievers.

Death is something that most people fear and dread.  It is a great unknown, as it is an experience people have only once.  After that, they don’t come back and tell others what it is like.  Death takes our loved ones away.  We fear it, as it is part of the curse brought to earth by Satan.  Christians can praise the Lord, though, as Jesus has destroyed death and defeated Satan, the author of death!

God the Father and God the Son are equal, but they each have a specific work to do.  Jesus is not inferior to the Father.  One of His roles is to defeat evil (vs. 24 - 28).  Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross.  At the end of the Millennial reign on earth Jesus will finally and completely defeat Satan, as any power Satan has will be destroyed.  Jesus will then present a new and perfect world to the Father.

Verse 25 illustrates an ancient custom.  When there was a battle between two warring kingdoms, the victorious monarch would put his foot on the necks of his conquered enemies to humiliate them.  This would show that defeated enemy, the conquered people of the enemy's kingdom, and his own victorious people that these people were defeated and he was conqueror.  This is what Jesus will do in the end to His enemies.  Jesus is the victorious king who has defeated Satan!  The devil, and those who refuse to submit to Jesus will be put under His feet.

Believers in Jesus have a bright and glorious future to look forward to!  No more sin!  No more death!  A glorious resurrection!

Shout Joyfully To Our Creator

Psalm 95:1-7

Our Scripture reading this day is one that is sometimes used in some churches as an opening call to worship, and that is one of the main themes of this psalm - come and worship the Lord.  The unknown psalmist entreats his fellow believers to sing out, to even shout out, their praises and worship to the Lord God.  Some people might have been brought up believing that in church, in worship services, we need to be quiet, and that worship and hushed tones go together.  That is not always the case, as we see in this psalm.  Though quiet and reverential times of worship are right and proper, shouting out one’s praise to God is equally desired by Him.  In the first two verses we are instructed to shout out joyfully our praise to the Lord.  The Book of Psalms was like a hymnbook for the believers in Bible days and in the early Church, and our psalmist urges us to shout joyfully to God with psalms.  Let it be a song of delight in God, one of exultation to Him.  He is pleased when we let out a whoop for Him!

One thing we can praise the Lord for is mentioned in verse 1, and that the Lord God is the Rock of our salvation.  One thing about a rock is that it is strong and solid.  A big, huge rock or boulder is set firmly in its place.  The psalmist would have been familiar with giant rocks or boulders, particularly in the wilderness and desert areas of the land of Israel.  They were set firmly on the ground, and weren’t going anywhere.  Many times throughout the Bible, God is called or described as a rock.  Strong, firmly set, never moving or changing.  Huge rocks or boulders were often seen as a place of shelter or protection from one’s enemies, and a cleft in a rock was also protection from storms.  Huge rocks also gave shade from the heat of the desert.  Here the psalmist describes how the salvation we have through the Lord God is as sure and solid as those strong rocks he saw out in the wilderness.  Nothing can move it or destroy it.  When we’ve placed our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus it is strong and secure as an immovable rock.

Our psalmist sought to remind the people that Yahweh is a great God, greater than any of the false gods (vs. 3).  In reality there are no other gods, besides Him.  They are false, and just figments of people’s imagination.  Many of the Israelites, though, were tempted to follow after these other gods of the nations around them, just as people today are tempted to follow after other gods and false ideologies, as well.  The psalmist urges us all to follow and worship the one and only true God.  He is far superior to anything that anyone else could ever come up with.  All of the Baals and Astartes of his day, and false gods of today, are worthless and nothing compared to Yahweh.

One of so many reasons to worship and shout out our praise to the one true God, Yahweh, is that He is the One who created the world around us (vs. 4 - 5).   The hand of the Lord God created the earth.  He didn’t just make a formless blob and throw it out into space, and somehow it formed by itself into the world we see today.  He specifically created this earth, from the lowest places on earth, around the Dead Sea, to the highest mountain, Mt. Everest (vs. 4).  These were formed by the very hand of God.  He made the oceans, lakes and rivers, from the small, rippling creeks way on the tops of the mountains, down to the deepest trenches at the dark bottoms of the oceans.  All of the dry land was created specifically by the Lord God, as well, from the mountains, to the prairies, to tropical rain forests (vs. 5).  None of this can be said of the false gods, either the ones that the Israelites kept being drawn to, or the false gods of today.  Nor is this world something that just happened as a result of random evolution.  It was created specifically, wondrously, and lovingly by our Creator God.

The psalmist gives the most important reason to praise, sing, and shout joy to God in verses 6 and 7, and that is that He is our Creator and Maker.  We are not the product of random evolution, either.  Yahweh is our Maker, and He, He alone, is worthy of our worship.  There are times when we should get down in prostrate worship before God, and verse 6 reminds us of that.  Yahweh, alone, is God.  He is our God, and He loves us enough to call those who believe in and worship Him, His people.

Our passage concludes with another theme that winds through the Bible, and that is that of God as the Shepherd of those who worship Him, and that we are His sheep.  Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd.  Those who have accepted Him as Savior are a part of His pasture, and are held close in His hand (vs. 7).  Make sure you are a part of His flock!

Bringing The Lost Sheep Home

Ezekiel 34:11-17

As young children, many of us have at some point became lost and unable to find our way back to our parents or where we needed to be.  Maybe it was our own fault that we had become lost, as we had wandered off and had not listened to or obeyed our parents.  For most of us, thankfully, there were people looking for us - our parents, other caring adults, perhaps the police, and eventually we were found, and carried home in strong, loving arms.

In our passage of Scripture today we see that God desires to seek out and rescue His lost sheep (vs. 11).  All humans since the time of Adam are like lost sheep, and He is seeking us, to bring us back into His fold.  God loves everyone, regardless of race, nationality or color, and He seeks the lost, just as a Good Shepherd will seek the lost sheep.

The people of Israel, whom God had chosen as His own, and chosen to bring His message and truth to the world, had sinned against Him, primarily by worshipping false gods and idols.  As punishment they were taken into captivity, and here Ezekiel gives the prophetic Word from God that He will bring the people of Israel back into their country.  This prophecy was fulfilled a few decades after Ezekiel prophesied, when King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland around 539 BC.

Just as God sought them out, like a Shepherd does His lost sheep, wishing to return them to His fold, so God seeks everyone out.  One of the most beloved titles for Jesus has been that of the Good Shepherd.  In John 10:11-16, in Jesus’s own words, He tells how, as the Good Shepherd, He seeks out everyone, wishing to bring them into His fold.

In his epistles, Peter also speaks of Jesus as being the Shepherd.  In I Peter 2:25, he gives Jesus the title of Shepherd and Overseer (or bishop) of our souls.  Peter says that we, both Jews and Gentiles, were going astray, but Jesus, as the Good Shepherd sought everyone out to bring them back to Himself.

Before we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we are those lost sheep, having strayed away from God.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, seeks us out, to bring us back into the fold.  If we turn to God in genuine repentance, He will forgive and restore us (vs. 16).   God will mould Hearts that are yielded to Him to become more like Himself.

Have we come to the Good Shepherd who is seeking us out?  When we hear His voice calling to us, like the lost child, do we come to His voice?  Do we run to Him like a lost child who finally sees their parents, after having been lost for awhile?  Or are we like the lost sheep who keeps wandering farther and farther away?  Are we the lost child who keeps wanting to hide and stay away when those seeking them call out their name?  Jesus is the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost.  Come to Him without delay.

Well Done Good And Faithful Servant

Matthew 25:14-30

Wasted opportunities.  How many of us can look back through our life and see a time where we had an opportunity to do something for the Lord, but failed to do so?  Today’s Gospel reading is another Kingdom parable Jesus told, and illustrates the tragedy of wasted opportunities.  The parable tells of a master who is leaving on a trip, and before he goes, he gives some talents (a monetary unit of the day) to three servants, expecting them to put it to good use and earn something for him when he returns.  The first two servants take the talents and make good use of what they were given.  The third servant hides his, doing nothing with it, and returns it to the master as is, having gained nothing for him.  He ends up receiving the master’s just judgment.  Jesus uses this story to illustrate God’s kingdom, where God is represented by the Master, and believers are represented by the servants.

As we study this parable we see in verse 15 that the master divided up the money according to the worker’s abilities, giving them not more nor less than they were capable of handling.  If they couldn’t handle it, it was their fault.  God gives us talents and gifts according to our abilities, too.  He expects us to use those abilities wisely for Him.  We should not be worried about what God has given us compared to others.  We should only concern ourselves with how well we use what we have been given.  The diligent servants put their talents to good use, and have much to give the master when he returns.  However, the lazy servant does nothing with what he was given, and has nothing to show when the master returns (vs. 16 - 19).

When the master returned, he called all of the servants and wanted to see what they did with what they were given.  The same will happen when Jesus returns.  He will ask each of us what we have done for Him with what we were given.  God wants us to use our time, our abilities, and whatever He has given us to serve Him in whatever we do in our life (vs. 20 - 21).  

The reward that the Master (Jesus) gives to the faithful servants is based on their faithfulness, not on the quantity of the results of their work for Him.  The servant who was given two talents was rewarded equally to the one who was given five talents (vs. 20 - 23).

Now let’s look at the lazy, faithless servant.  The Lord and Master gave him one talent.  Even though it was less than the others, he was still expected to do something with what he was given.  Instead he just hid his talent and returned it back to the Master when He returned, having done absolutely nothing with it.  We should not make excuses for not doing what God wants us to do.  He is the Master, and we should willingly obey Him.  He is the One who has given us all our abilities, our money, everything.  They are God’s to begin with.  When we ignore or abuse what He’s given us, we’re rebelling.

The slothful and lazy servant was condemned by his own words (vs. 24 - 28).  If he really believed that the master was the type of person that he said he was, then he really should have been more diligent in working for him.  God rewards those who invest their time and talents in serving Him.  He rewards faithfulness.  Those who squander their talents cannot be rewarded (vs. 29 - 30).  God has immeasurable blessings for those who faithfully serve Him.  Those who are lazy and bury their talents are clinging to what the world can offer them, and in the end they lose everything they have.  Jesus, the Master, calls for faithfulness from His servants.  Faithful servants are also fruitful servants.  A fruitless servant is not a true servant, but instead a hypocrite.

How are we investing for God the gifts and abilities He has given us?  The words I most want to hear from Jesus when I stand before Him one day are those in verse 21 - “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

I pray that you have enjoyed and benefited from these Bible meditations that I have written for this blog.   I hope you will prayerfully consider donating as the Lord might lead you.  This blog is not run through a large ministry with a wide funding base.  I am an individual with limited financial resources.  Thank you and God bless.

Children Of The Light

I Thessalonians 5:1-10

In our Scripture reading for today we continue the theme of The Day of the Lord that has been running through the Lectionary recently.  Paul picks this theme up by instructing the church in Thessalonica to be ready and alert, and not to be spiritually or mentally asleep, and caught off guard.  Paul also emphasizes in this passage the contrast between the two types of people in the world - those who belong to the light, and those who belong to the darkness.  Let’s take a look at this passage.

No one knows when the Lord Jesus will return, nor when the Day of the Lord will be (vs. 1-3).  There have been preachers in the past, and even now, who have tried to set the date of when Jesus will return, even though Scripture says no one will know when that will happen.  Therefore, it goes without saying that these misguided, and sometimes even charlatan, preachers are completely wrong.  What is this Day of the Lord that Paul is talking about?  The Day of the Lord is a future time when God will intervene directly and dramatically in world affairs.  This occurs when Jesus returns, and at this time He will judge sin and set up His eternal Kingdom.  Paul compared the Lord’s return to the suddenness of a thief who breaks in your home during the night.  A thief always breaks in suddenly and unexpectedly, and we never know when that will happen, otherwise we’d be ready.  Just as it pays to be prepared for thieves, it is even more important to be ready and vigilant for when Jesus returns.

The false prophets in Old Testament times all spoke of peace and a bright future for the people.  As we read in Scriptures, though, this was not the case.  There many false prophets today who say the same thing, that God will never bring judgment to people, that He is only about love.  However, the Day of the Lord will come (vs. 3), come suddenly, like labor pains.

In the next several verses Paul makes a sharp contrast between those who are the children of light and those who are children of the darkness (vs. 4 - 8).  Believers will have no part in the judgment on the Day of the Lord.  They have been delivered from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light.  When someone believes in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior they are brought out of spiritual darkness.  The Bible makes a sharp contrast between born-again believers and the lost, between light and darkness.  The unsaved are in darkness - both mental, moral, and spiritual, because of sin and unbelief.  Jesus even calls them the “children of the devil” (John 8:44).  He says that Satan has control or the power of darkness (Luke 22:53).  In contrast, Jesus is the Light of the World (John 9:5).  He lights our path, and shows us how to live for Him.  We should be prepared and waiting for Him, and walk as children of the Light (Ephesians 5:8).   The saved are children of God, who is Light, in whom is no darkness at all (I John 1:5-7).  There should always be a very distinct and noticeable difference, a total separation, between those who are children of the Light, and those who are children of the darkness.

Christians are in the light.  We should not be sleeping in spiritual indifference (vs. 6).  Thus, Paul admonishes us to be alert to spiritual issues and to be that light and witness for the Lord.

Several times in different epistles Paul uses the picture of the Christian putting on and wearing spiritual armor, just as a soldier does.  The most well known passage is in Ephesians 6:13-18.  Here in our passage, in verse 8, Paul speaks of putting on the breastplate of faith and love.  A breastplate protects the heart, lungs and other vital organs, and is very important for a soldier to wear.  Having faith in Jesus, knowing His love, and having love for others are very important in our spiritual life.  Paul also tells us to put on the helmet of the hope of salvation.  A helmet is necessary, as a significant blow or wound to the head is often fatal.  Without salvation our soul is doomed, and we need salvation, through Christ alone, to survive attacks of the Prince of Darkness, Satan.  A strong belief in God’s Word protects us from Satan’s arrows.

Paul reminds us to serve Jesus faithfully until He returns.  We should live godly lives in light of God’s coming judgment.  Knowing that Jesus will return suddenly and unexpectedly we should live each day prepared to welcome Him.