John 1:1-18
Our Gospel reading this week begins at the start of John’s Gospel. The Apostle John doesn’t begin his Gospel with stories of the birth of Jesus, like Matthew and Luke do. Rather, he goes way back to the beginning of time, as he knows, and wants his readers to know, as well, that Jesus was there from the beginning, back beyond creation (vs. 1-3). The phrase here, “the Word”, refers to Jesus. This phrase was one common and familiar to both Jews and Greeks. To the Jews it was an expression of God’s wisdom. For the Greeks it meant “reason” and “intellect”.
John states that all things were created by Jesus, so He existed before creation. The Word, Jesus, is eternal and preexistent. Before the universe began, Jesus, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, always existed. He always was. Jesus gave up His heavenly status to become a man (Philippians 2:6-8). He was also the Father’s agent, involved in creating everything (Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2). As I touched on in my previous blog study, even while Jesus took on human flesh and became a man, He never ceased to be fully God, as well. That is one mystery we cannot fully comprehend.
As John continues on, he speaks of Jesus as the Light, which is a theme throughout his Gospel. The darkness of evil has not, and will never overcome or extinguish the Light of God, Jesus (vs. 4-5). When we follow Jesus, the Light of the World, we are not walking blindly, and we can avoid walking into sin. Picture, if you will, two rooms connected by a closed door. One room is brightly lit, the other is completely dark. If you open the door, the light from the one room will stream into the dark room. You will never see the darkness of the dark room stream into the brightly lit room. Darkness cannot overcome or conquer light. Jesus is the Lord of Light, and Satan is lord of darkness and sin. Darkness and sin was overcome and conquered by Jesus on the cross.
When Jesus came into the world, He was not well received by most people (vs. 11-12). Those He created did not recognize Him as their Creator and Lord due to spiritual blindness. Even most of the Jewish people, those God had chosen to represent Him to the world, rejected Jesus, even though they had hundreds of prophecies that pointed to Him.
God did not give up on mankind, though. As we read in verse 12, those who received Jesus, the Son of God, have the right to become children of God. To receive Jesus is to acknowledge His claims, and to place one’s faith in Jesus, thereby yielding allegiance to Him. Those who receive Jesus become children of God, with all its authority and claims. Unfortunately not everyone does this, so not everyone is a child of God. Everyone is created by God, and He is their Creator, but not everyone is a child of God. As this verse says, only those who receive Jesus have the right to be children of God. Jesus even called some of the religious leaders who opposed Him children of the devil (John 8:44). One cannot be a child of God and also a child of the devil at the same time. One is either the one or the other, and this verse states how one becomes a child of God. There’s no other way.
Jesus is the Lord of Glory, yet He took human form and became human, just like us, only without sin (vs. 14). He is God’s only and unique Son. Jesus is one of a kind, and enjoys a relationship with God unlike any other. Because Jesus became a man, He knows what it is both to know joy and happiness, and also grief and sadness. Though He never sinned, because He paid the price for our sins, Jesus knows the suffering of sin’s consequences. We have a Savior who knows, first hand, what we go through.
The nature, essence, and will of God is revealed in Jesus Christ (vs. 17-18). If people want to know what God looks like, they can look at Jesus. If they want to know what Jesus is like, they should be able to look at Christians. Can people see Christ in you?
Galatians 4:4-7
Waiting. That is something most of us don’t like to do, especially in this day and age when everything is designed to be done fast - fast foods, microwaves, high-speed internet, fast this, instant that. Waiting patiently is even more difficult. God had promised the Messiah to His people many, many years before. After centuries of waiting, the Son of God was finally born. Why the long wait, many must have wondered. Why not send Him right away after the promise was made? The Apostle Paul gives us an answer here in our passage today.
In verse 4 we read “when the fullness of time had come”, which means when it was just the right time. The world needed to be in just the right condition before it was the best time, and that was when Jesus was born. At the time of His birth there was one language that was spoken and understood by a vast majority of people, and that was Greek. Approximately 300 years prior to the birth of Jesus, Alexander the Great had conquered most of the eastern Mediterranean and into central Asia, spreading the Greek language and culture throughout. Also, by the time of Jesus’s birth the Romans had conquered a large portion of Europe, North Africa, and a large portion of western Asia, bringing with them another language, Latin, which was readily understood by many. They also brought superior roads and bridges, making travel vastly improved and safer. A common language and ease of travel were necessary for the spread of the Gospel, which only a short time before the birth of Jesus would have been so much more difficult. God knew this and sent His Son at just the right time, so that the message of salvation could spread throughout the world. If sometimes we feel that God is so slow in answering our prayers, remember that God’s timing is always right!
Also of importance, verse 4 states that God sent His Son to be “born of a woman”. There are some heresies that teach that Jesus was only a man, not divine, and some others that teach that He was only a god-like being, not human. Both are wrong, as Paul teaches. Jesus was both fully divine and also fully human. Jesus had to be fully God for His sacrificial death to be of the infinite worth it needed to atone for our sins. He also needed to be fully man so that He could take on Himself the penalty of our sins as our substitute. If Jesus was not both fully divine and fully human He could never have sufficiently atoned for our sins, and we would all be lost. Unlike anyone else who lived, Jesus perfectly obeyed the Old Testament Law. Because He was perfectly sinless, He could be the unblemished sacrifice for sin. It is this perfect righteousness that is imputed to believers at salvation.
Jesus’s death on the cross brought pardon for our sins. Through it we are also adopted into God’s family forever (vs. 5). Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because, though He was fully human, He did not sin. His death brought freedom for us, who were enslaved to sin and children of the devil. Now, when we accept His salvation for ourselves personally, we are adopted into His family.
We have the great privilege to be considered God’s true sons and daughters. We are blessed as His heirs (Romans 8:15-17). Roman law at the time that Paul wrote this guaranteed a person who was adopted all of the legal rights to his adopted father’s property, even if he was once a slave. He was not a second-class person. He was equal to other biological children. We who are born-again are even more equally adopted into God’s family (vs. 6-7). We share with Jesus all rights to God’s resources. We are equal heirs, and we can claim what He has provided for us.
We can now have almighty God as our true father. Paul states here in verse 6 that we can call out to Him as our “Abba, Father”. Abba is the Aramaic word for “Daddy”, which suggests a warmth, tenderness and closeness that God wants to have with us. He wants that close, loving, tender, and approachable relationship with us. He wants to be our “daddy”!
Psalm 147
Our psalm today, to start out the New Year, is fittingly one of praise and worship to the Lord. The unknown author of this psalm calls upon us to praise God both for what He has done for us, individually, and for what He does throughout nature.
Many of us, at one time or another, have been broken hearted over something. Perhaps this past year you have suffered a blow that left you devastated. Maybe a loved one, one very dear to you, has passed away. Maybe a spouse or a good friend, one you felt you could trust, has betrayed you, turned their back on you, and walked out. These can leave you crushed, your heart broken in pieces. Being heartbroken can easily hurt just as much as any physical ailment, and can quench our spirit, leaving us in depression and despair. Our psalmist knew about this, and gives us a word of hope in verse 3. Here he tells us that God will heal the broken hearted, and will bind up or bandage their wounds. This statement is echoed by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 61:1. Jesus also quoted Isaiah’s verse in reference to Himself in Luke 4:18. Jesus heals what is broken in our lives, and forgives our sins. That is what He came for (Mark 2:17). Let us come to Him at the start of this new year with our broken hearts, our shattered dreams, and our wounded spirits, and let Him bandage them up and heal them.
In this new year would we like to please the Lord even more than we have in the past? We have a clue to what really pleases Him in verse 11. The Lord says here that He takes pleasure in those who fear Him. This is not a fear like the fear we may have walking to our car through a dark parking garage. The type of fear mentioned in the Bible as “the fear of the Lord” is a reverential awe of God. It is giving Him divine respect, obeying and submitting to Him in love and worship. We should have reverence for the Lord, and also patiently wait for Him, trusting in Him. This fear will produce a strong faith that will carry us through our trials. We can have all of the strength and ability in the world, but without God in our life, it is all worthless and meaningless (vs. 10). God desires our reverence and trust. When we give Him that, we can put all of our God-given skills to His use.
Even though God has created everything on earth and also all of the universe, His greatest joy is when we give Him genuine worship and trust. Scattered throughout the psalm we read many verses of God’s work in nature, and how He cares for everything He has made. Let’s finish by looking at some of these verses. Nobody can count all of the stars in the universe. Scientists estimate that there are over 200 billion stars in the Milky Way alone, and there are billions of galaxies in the universe, each with a large number of stars. Yet, in verse 4 we read that God knows the number of stars, and has given them each their own name!
God designs the clouds in the sky (vs. 8), and spreads them across the heavens. He makes the rain which waters the earth to bring forth all of the types of plants for us to enjoy. Verse 9 shows that God cares about each and every one of His creations, as He provides each one with the food that they need. If God cares about each humble animal, and makes sure that they have enough to eat, shouldn’t we know that He will take care of our needs?
To conclude, our psalmist gave some verses very appropriate for a very cold winter day (vs. 16-17). Though I am not a fan of winter or the cold, it is the Lord God who sends the snow, frost, and hailstones. I live in a city that gets very cold every winter, and these last few days I have felt like I might as well be living in the North Pole or in Antarctica! Just like verse 17 says, “Who can stand before His cold?”
For all of His creation, we have so many reasons to praise and worship our Lord. We can enter this new year with faith, hope and trust that He will walk through each day with us.
Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3
Do you enjoy getting new clothes, perhaps a brand new suit or nice dress? It would be especially nice if someone invites you to the store, saying they want you to pick out the best there is, and they will purchase it for you. You look around the store and then you find the most gorgeous and stunning garment you’ve ever seen. How fortunate you feel when you find that it comes in the exact color you wish, and in your exact size! No matter how costly it is, your friend has stated they will completely cover the cost.
As we read our Scripture passage for today from the Book of Isaiah, we see that this is what God has done for us. Isaiah is not talking about a brand new physical suit of clothes, though it is from the Lord God that we receive everything, including our clothes and food. As we read in verse 10, God clothes us with His righteousness. On our own, we can never have enough righteousness to be able to stand before an all-holy God. As Isaiah states a little later in his book, all of our righteousness are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The best that our good works can do is clothe us in filthy, dirty, and stained rags, before our Lord God.
Can you imagine being presented to the Queen dressed in filthy, stained, torn and stinking clothes? Yet that is how we are spiritually, coming to God in our own righteousness. God sees us naked in our sins, just like Adam and Eve, clumsily trying to cover ourselves with our own righteousness, which is no better than fig leaves. Does God leave us that way? Does He cast us out of His divine presence? No! He offers us His own righteousness as a robe. This is the righteousness of Christ that He gives us, which we urged to put on (Galatians 3:26-27).
What God gives us here is imputed righteousness, that is, all of the righteousness and goodness of Jesus Christ is treated as if it were our own. When I accept the Lord Jesus as my Savior, then that garment of salvation, that robe of righteousness is put upon me, in place of the filthy rags that I had of my own. Instead of the stained, filthy, stinking clothes I had before, now I have something fit for royalty, given to me from the Most High God, Himself! It is a perfect fit, decked with ornaments, and adorned with jewels.
Imputed righteousness is the heart of the New Covenant. It is when a repentant sinner realizes that he cannot achieve his own righteousness by his own works, he repents and calls upon God for His mercy. Then the Lord covers him with His own, divine righteousness by grace through faith. It is for this reason that Isaiah sings out that he greatly rejoices in the Lord, and that his soul is joyful in his God. It is indeed a reason to praise the Lord, for I now wear a robe fit for royalty!
One other thought that Isaiah says in this passage is found in Chapter 62 and verse 1. Here, God is saying He wants to make Jerusalem a beacon for Him, for His truth to the rest of the world. This is what He wants His children, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be. As we can all see, this world is in the darkness of sin and evil. Jesus told His believers that they are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16). We are to be like a city set on a hill, whose light is to shine forth throughout the world. Our lives, our actions, words, and works are to shine like a light, pointing others to the Lord and the truth of His Word. How well are we doing? A lighthouse that is shut off is of no use to anyone, and can even bring danger to the sailors. We are to be a bright and burning lamp.
As this year ends, have we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, and put on the robes of His righteousness that He offers us? If so, are we shining as a bright lamp, a lighthouse for the Lord, so others will be drawn to Him, and find their robe of righteousness, as well?
Titus 3:3-7
This week our New Testament reading brings us to the Epistle, or letter, that the Apostle Paul wrote to Titus. Titus was a Gentile convert of Paul’s. Later he was appointed by Paul to become the bishop of the church on the island of Crete. Paul's letter to Titus was an encouragement and help to him as he led and ministered to the church there. Let's look at this brief portion of Paul's letter to Titus.
Before any of us were saved, our life was characterized by sin (vs. 3). We did what we wanted, when we wanted to. That was the case for each of us. If it wasn't for God's grace to His own children, we would all still be in such wickedness as Paul describes here. If it wasn’t for Jesus's forgiveness and the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we would still be bound by our sins.
What did God do, then? Did He wash His hands of us, and leave us in this condition? Hallelujah, no He didn't! God showed us love, and kindness (vs. 4). In this verse, Paul is speaking of Jesus, the Son of God who came to live on earth, and who is kindness and love incarnate. Kindness is what makes God loving, yet righteous. It is what makes God’s goodness accessible to us. Kindness is the patient love of God that allowed Him to humble Himself, leave heaven, and come to us, sharing His love with us. The fruit of kindness in us will show itself in loving others who are unloving to us, and by putting the needs of others ahead of our own.
The Scriptures make it very clear all throughout that there is nothing we can ever do to earn our salvation (vs. 5). Good works do not save us. They are a sign that we love the Lord and are grateful to Him for what He’s done for us. God offers salvation through His grace, displayed on the cross. God cleanses us, He gives us a new nature, and He gives us eternal life. God has done all of this because of His love for us.
Before becoming saved, the sins that Paul mentioned at the opening of our passage, and all other sins we may have been involved in, have left us dirty and stained. When we’ve become dirty from any physical activity, we need a good bath. The same is true spiritually. It is God who washes and cleanses us from sin. When He does this, He does it head to toe, not just a spotty “bird-bath”. Born again believers are washed, cleansed, and renewed. God not only cleans born again believers, He dwells within them through the Holy Spirit (vs. 6). He puts His power within us. We are given a new Spirit-generated, Spirit-empowered, and Spirit-protected life as God’s children. When we give our life to Him, the Holy Spirit leads us from a life of sin. All of our sins are washed away. We receive eternal life and the treasures of heaven. The more we yield to the Lord God, the more our heart is renewed.
The central truth of salvation is justification by faith alone. When we repent and place our faith and trust in Jesus, God declares us just, and He imputes the righteousness of Christ to us (vs. 7). God gives us eternal life because Jesus died in our place, paying the penalty of our sins. That is justification, and because of that we become heirs of God, His adopted children. Many of us were never a part of a wealthy family who left us a big inheritance, never an heir to a multi-millionaire, but here we see that we have something even better! We are heirs of God! We are joint-heirs with Jesus!
In this short little passage Paul packed so much in for his beloved “son” in the faith, Titus, to pass on to the Christians in Crete. God pulling us out of the filth of sin, washing us clean, offering salvation to us, and making us His children and heirs. Have you allowed God to cleanse you from your sins, and accepted His gift of salvation? If not, please call upon the Lord Jesus as your Savior before we see the end of this year.
Psalm 97
Lightning, storm clouds, fire, earthquakes. These are occurrences in nature that often frighten people, which is understandable, as we need to have a proper fear and respect for the power of nature. These occurrences also show the great and terribly awesome power and might of God, as our psalmist tells in our Psalm for this week.
As our unknown psalmist opens, he is calling upon everyone throughout the earth to sing praises to God (vs. 1). Everyone, everywhere should rejoice, because Yahweh reigns! God dwells in majesty and in unapproachable holiness (vs. 2 - 6). Sometimes we forget just how holy God really is, but this psalm should give us a picture. We cannot come to Him or find Him on our own. God’s holiness and glory are so brilliant no one can stand in His presence. Only thru the Blood of Jesus are we able to approach Him.
People worship all kinds of idols - both the literal idols of false religions, and the idols of our own materialistic desires and ambitions (vs. 7). What has our highest loyalty? Those who go after false idols are ignoring or rejecting Jesus. Remember, we will all stand before God one day. At that time we will see Him in all of His glory and power, just as described in the previous verses. How foolish to be found on that day worshipping false idols and false gods of any sort! Jesus Christ will give perfectly righteous judgment on all of the peoples of the word (vs. 8-9).
When one becomes saved, and draws closer to the Lord, loving Him and being filled with His Holy Spirit, our distaste for anything that dishonors Him or displeases Him should grow (vs. 10). What we need to do is to align our desires with God’s desires. Do we love what He loves and hate what He hates? If we are devoted to the Lord, that should be the case. Those who love God will hate evil. A believer and follower of Jesus should never admire those whose lives do not please God. We are not trying to please Him if we do. We need to hate evil in every form, not just the obvious sins, but also the socially acceptable sins as well.
Verse 10 also states the eternal security of the saved children of God. He preserves our souls, and what He preserves is safe and secure. Once we have given our soul to the Lord, we are safe and secure. He will not lose a single one. The Lord guards us just surely as any animal or human parent guards and protects their young.
As our psalmist states throughout his psalm, our God is an awesome, righteous and just God. As his closing verse (vs. 12) states, “Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.”
Isaiah 9:1-7
Our Old Testament reading from the Christmas Lectionary takes a passage from the Prophet Isaiah that should be familiar to those who love Handel’s Oratorio, The Messiah. One of the most beautiful parts of that oratorio is the singing of verse 6.
As our passage opens, Isaiah speaks of how the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, both territories in the far northern part of Israel, in the area known as Galilee, are in spiritual darkness (vs. 1-2). They are also the first to be attacked from enemy nations from the north. Isaiah prophesies that to these Galilean tribes a great light will come, and they will no longer be in darkness. This would happen when God’s Son, the Lord Jesus would come to these people. Many of the people of Judah, southern Israel, in Jesus’s day, looked down on Galileans, considering them more backwards, less sophisticated. But it was to them that most of the light of Jesus’s ministry was focused. Jesus is the Light, as we read in John 1:9 and John 8:12.
Galilee certainly was not the only place that was in great darkness. The whole world is in darkness. It was back in the time of Isaiah, also at the time of Jesus, and certainly is today at the close of 2017. This darkness caused by sin and rejection of God goes down deep into the souls of all mankind. God, though, has not left us in this darkness. He sent His Son to redeem us from the darkness of sin, and bring us into His Light.
We read about this Son of God in verses 6 and 7 of our passage. Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, came to earth, born as a baby. He is God incarnate - taking on flesh and blood as a human. Verse 6 gives us some of the names that Isaiah prophesied of Him. The first is “wonderful”. The coming of God, incarnate, to redeem mankind is something wonderful and marvelous. It is a miracle of God’s love for us.
The second name given is “Counsellor”, which means an advisor, someone who gives us good guidance and direction. Jesus does that for us believers today through the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit, as One who comes alongside of us to give us aid, counsel, and help. (John 14:16-18; 15:26; and 16:7-15). We can trust that God will always give us the right advice and guidance, and lead us in the right direction.
The next name is “Mighty God”. This verse proclaims that Jesus wasn’t just a good man who lived a good life and gave philosophical advice. No, He was God Himself. The angel Gabriel told Mary that the son she would bear is Emmanuel, meaning “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Jesus told His disciples that He and the Father are one. To see Him was to see the Father (John 14:9). We read in Hebrews that Jesus is the brightness of God’s glory and the image of His person (Hebrews 1:1-3).
Another name that Isaiah gives the Messiah Jesus is “Everlasting Father”. Again, another statement in Scripture that Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus was not a created being, but was eternal, everlasting, one with the Father (Colossians 1:15-19). He was there as God in the beginning of all creation, and will remain God for all eternity.
The final name Isaiah gives is “Prince of Peace”. One of the last things Jesus said to His disciples the night before He died was that He gives us, His believers, peace (John 14:27). If we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, follow and obey Him, and turn all of our cares and troubles over to Him, Jesus gives us peace (Philippians 4:6-7).
When Jesus returns, He will rule the world, and His government and dominion will be one of justice and peace (vs. 7). Physically, Jesus was a descendant of King David, and as such, He has a right to his throne, from which He will rule.
This was the special gift that God gave to us many years ago on that first Christmas day. Have you personally accepted that gift, and asked Jesus to come into your heart as your Savior? If not, I urge you to accept that Christmas gift from God to you. That Child, who is the Son of God, was sent for you!
