A New Way of Living

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. – Colossians 3:5-11 ESV

How were the believers in Colossae supposed to set their minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth? Was Paul suggesting they be so heavenly-minded that they were no earthly good? Paul has just challenged them to adopt a Christ-focused perspective that highlights the eternal aspect of their relationship with Him. Christ is seated at the right hand of His Father in heaven, and one day He will return. His presence at His Father’s side demonstrates that He successfully completed the initial phase of His earthly mission. The apostle Peter addressed the significance of Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation when he delivered his first sermon to the crowds at Pentecost.

“God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us…” – Acts 2:32-33 NLT

Jesus’ death was efficacious. It accomplished the will of His heavenly Father and required no supplemental aids or add-ons to increase its effectiveness. Paul assured the believers in Rome that because Jesus died and rose again, they were assured of eternal life with Him.

We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. – Romans 6:9-11 NLT

Paul picks up the same theme with the believers in Colossae. He wants them to live according to their new status as spiritually transformed and fully adopted children of God. Jesus didn’t die so that they might have their best life now but so that they might enjoy glorified life forever. However, Paul knew this future-focused mindset was challenging to maintain while living in the present. That’s why he provides them with practical guidance for navigating life in a fallen world. He is expanding the theme he began back in chapter two.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith… – Colossians 2:6-7 ESV

For Paul, it was always about faith. He firmly believed and persistently taught that faith was the key to our salvation and sanctification, and Jesus Christ is to be the sole focus of that faith. It is through Christ that we have access to the Father, and it is because of Christ that we have the assurance of eternal life. As Paul stated to the believers in Rome, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit was made possible because of Christ’s resurrection. Look closely at what Paul told the Roman believers: “Consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11 NLT).

Their union with Christ gave them unprecedented power to live godly lives – even in the ungodly environment of Rome. The same thing was true for the Colossian Christians. Paul has already told them, “You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world…” (Colossians 2:20 NLT).

Paul constantly admonished believers for their tendency to regress in their faith. They seemed to have no problem believing that Jesus could save them, but they had difficulty trusting that He could keep them saved and help them grow in godliness. So, they kept reverting to their old lifestyles based on human effort and self-righteousness.

So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? – Galatians 4:9 NLT

Paul was calling for complete separation from and dependence upon the things of this world. If Jesus was to be the believer’s sole source of salvation and sustenance, why were they continually turning to the world for satisfaction, fulfillment, significance, and hope? Their actions directly conflicted with their calling and expressed commitment to Jesus Christ. Their behavior did not accurately reflect their belief in a transformed life. That is why Paul demands they do an about-face, turning their backs on their former way of life and seeking things above.

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. – Colossians 3:5 NLT

Paul was well aware that his flock in Colossae was struggling with the ongoing presence of their sinful natures. Paul was not exempt from this internal battle between godliness and wickedness. In his letter to the Romans, he divulged his own struggle with indwelling sin.

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? – Romans 7:21-24 NLT

But Paul answered his own pleading question, joyfully declaring, “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25 NLT). The solution to the problem of indwelling sin is Jesus. Because of Jesus, we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to say no to sin and yes to God. His divine presence provides us with all we need to put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within us. Peter put it this way: “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3 NLT).

Peter was addressing the power and presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Godly living wasn’t a matter of self-control, hard work, and a commitment to keeping a list of rules and religious rituals. Self-effort can only produce self-righteousness. But the kind of righteousness God demands can only be produced by the Spirit of God. That is why Paul told the Galatian church, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves” (Galatians 5:16 NLT). He went on to say, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there” (Galatians 5:24 NLT).

Because of their relationship with Christ, their former sinful habits had been nailed to the cross with Him. But every believer knows how easy it is to breathe life into those old, dead habits and “resurrect” them again. So, Paul demands that they “put to death” those things. But how? Is he suggesting that this is an ongoing, daily action? Is it the fate of every Christian to live their entire earthly existence in a daily struggle to put sin to death? The answer is found in the grammar of Paul’s statement. When he states, “put to death,” he uses the Aorist Active Imperative (AAM) tense. The action described by the verb indicates that it is a past event. In other words, it has already taken place. Paul is stating that our old sinful habits have already been put to death – on the cross. So, we must constantly return them to their rightful place: the cross. Our present action is based on a past reality.

The action Paul commands is a natural byproduct of belief. If we truly believe that Jesus “canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 NLT), then we should confidently return those sinful habits right where they belong: to the cross. They are dead to us. They no longer possess power over us. Paul is reminding the Colossians that their new life in Christ is meant to reflect a new way of living.

You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. – Colossians 3:7-8 NLT

They had been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. They were now clothed in His righteousness. Yet, metaphorically,  they were constantly going back to the closet of sin and picking out old, soiled garments to wear. That’s why Paul reminds them that they had already “put off the old self with its practices” (Colossians 3:9 ESV) and “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10 ESV). It was a past action that required constant repeating in the present. But they were guilty of putting on the old self. In a sense, they were reaching into the closet of their past life and selecting one of their old, comfortably fitting sins to wear out in public. 

In this passage, Paul describes the ongoing nature of sanctification or spiritual growth. The Christian life is not meant to be static or stagnant. Once saved, always saved doesn’t mean that there is no ongoing transformation in the believer’s life. Peter indicates believers are to “grow into a full experience of salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 NLT). Paul told the Ephesians that they were to grow “in every way more and more like Christ” (Ephesians 4:15 NLT).

Growth in Christlikeness is non-optional for the believer, but it is not a matter of hard work and determination. One of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit is to assist Christians in their knowledge of Christ and their ongoing transformation into His likeness. This transformation is for all believers, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background. Each is to individually experience the Spirit’s transformative power so that, together, we might reflect that nature of Christ and bring glory to God the Father.

…you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. – 1 Peter 2:5 NLT

Jesus made our salvation possible and ensured our ongoing sanctification. Our transformation into His likeness is a supernatural work of God that requires our participation but not our power. We must willingly cooperate with the Spirit by submitting to His will and obeying His promptings. We put off the old in His power, not our own. We live to righteousness in His strength, not our own. Our ongoing renewal and reformation is His work, not ours.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Marvelous Mystery of Spiritual Maturity

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. – Colossians 1:24-29 ESV

As a faithful minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul often found his calling to be difficult and, at times, dangerous. In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul described in excruciating detail some of the treatment he had received as a servant of Jesus.

I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. – 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 NLT

Yet, Paul was pleased to suffer for His Lord and Savior. He viewed the trials and tribulations that accompanied his mission to be in keeping with the suffering experienced by Christ as He carried out His own earthly mission. Paul was well-acquainted with the darker side of ministry life. In fact, he wrote his letter to the Colossians while under house arrest in Rome, where he awaited trial before the Emperor.

But when Paul penned his far-from-exhaustive list of trials to the Corinthians, he wasn’t complaining about his lot in life. He defended his right to be treated as a legitimate spokesman for Jesus Christ. Like His Savior, Paul had faced a barrage of persecutions and personal attacks, and, on top of all that, he had been forced to carry “the daily burden of my concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28 NLT). He was a faithful shepherd and caretaker for the flock of Jesus Christ who took his role seriously and faced persecution joyfully.

“I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake…” – Colossians 1:24 ESV

Paul saw his sufferings as an opportunity to experience in some small measure “Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24 ESV). He was eternally grateful for the pain that Jesus endured on his behalf so that he might be freed “from this life that is dominated by sin and death” (Romans 7:24 NLT). And Paul was more than willing to suffer “for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24 ESV). It was the least he could do.

Paul understood that he had been made a gospel minister and was responsible for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the Gentile world. His job, while far from easy, was accompanied by great joy because he was able to witness firsthand the transformative nature of the message of salvation. Paul states that his message to the Gentiles was a mystery to God’s chosen people, the Israelites. Their concept of the long-awaited Messiah did not include anyone outside the Jewish community unless they had converted to Judaism. They believed themselves to be God’s treasured possession because that is exactly how He had described them.

“Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.” – Exodus 19:5-6 NLT

Even Jesus’ 12 disciples found it difficult to watch Him minister to Samaritans, Syrophoenicians, and Romans. They had no category in their concept of the Messiah that accommodated a ministry to the Gentiles, and yet, Jesus told them, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:14-16 NLT).

This mystery of Gentile inclusion had remained hidden for generations and had not been revealed until after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, they began ministering to those who had gathered in Jerusalem for the annual feast. The crowd was made up of  “Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5 ESV). Luke goes on to describe them as “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians” (Acts 2:9-11 ESV).

The crowd consisted of native Jews and converts to Judaism from a wide range of nations and ethnic groups. When they heard Peter's gospel message, they responded en masse.

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. – Acts 2:41 ESV

Many who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost would return to their native countries, carrying the gospel message with them. The apostle Paul would later join their forces and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the Gentile world. On his missionary journeys, he would encounter converts to Christianity who had heard the message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone from their converted friends and neighbors. As Paul later told the believers in Ephesus, the mystery of Gentiles being grafted into the family tree of Abraham had been revealed and was making an impact on the world.

God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. – Ephesians 3:2-5 NLT

God had always intended to redeem people from every tribe, nation, and tongue. His Son was the Messiah of Israel, but as God had promised Abraham, His offspring would bless the “nations.”

“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – Genesis 12:2-3 ESV

Jesus, a son of Abraham, fulfilled that promise. Although He was a Jew, Jesus came to offer salvation to all men, a fact that Paul expressed to the Gentile believers in Galatia.

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. – Galatians 3:9-11 ESV

It was through Jesus, a Jew, that the blessing of Abraham came to the Gentiles, so that they might receive the promised Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14 ESV). Paul proudly declared that message of hope to the Gentile world and gladly endured suffering as he did so. He considered it his privilege and honor. Jesus had died to make salvation possible, so the least Paul could do was suffer to make it available and accessible.

He wanted the Colossian believers to know that their hope was based on the reality of the Spirit’s presence within them. Jesus had died, been raised to life, and was seated at the right hand of God the Father. But following His ascension, Jesus sent the Spirit of God to indwell His followers. In that sense, Jesus would not only be with them but in them.

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.” – John 14:16-17 NLT

Paul’s mission was to proclaim this life-altering mystery of  “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:28 ESV), and he did so, “struggling with all his energy,” knowing that “he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29 ESV). His ministry and message were comprised of both warnings and teachings. There were dangers to be avoided and lessons to be learned. False teachers would attempt to undermine the hope of the gospel and diminish the witness of God’s people. Paul’s goal for the Colossian believers was nothing less than spiritual maturity. He would not settle for mediocrity or partial transformation. Since glorification was the ultimate goal of salvation, Paul remained committed to the ongoing sanctification of all those under his care. His lifelong objective was to one day be able to “present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28 ESV). That lofty goal will not be achieved in the believer’s lifetime, but God has promised it will occur.

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3 NLT

According to Paul, it is inevitable and unavoidable because it is the work of God.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. – Philippians 1:6 NLT

Salvation was for Jews and Gentiles alike. This marvelous mystery was proclaimed gladly by Paul, who willingly endured suffering to do so. But for Paul, salvation was to be followed by the believer’s sanctification, their growth in Christlikeness. This was a non-optional requirement for all who believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior. It would not be easy, but it would be well worth the effort because the God-ordained result was their future glorification. That is why Paul worked hard and suffered well. One day, he would have the joy of presenting believers as “perfect in their relationship to Christ” (Colossians 1:28 NLT). They would stand before God in sinless perfection, having been transformed into the likeness of Jesus and accepted into the Father’s presence, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 BSB).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Faith, Hope, and Love

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. – Colossians 1:3-8 ESV

Paul describes the believers in Colossae using three of his favorite terms: Faith, hope, and love. He mentions their faith in Christ and their love for all the saints. He also indicates that these two qualities are based on the hope of future reward. They can love others because they have been loved by Christ.  They have a secure hope in the future salvation promised to them because of their faith in Jesus Christ. This triad of Christian character traits was near and dear to Paul’s heart. In fact, in his great “love chapter,” Paul summarizes his statements on love by writing, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT).

For Paul, faith, hope, and love were non-negotiable essentials of the Christian experience. In writing to the church in Corinth, he expressed his admiration for them and reminded them that God had blessed them with every spiritual gift.

God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 1:5-7 NLT

Yet, despite their giftedness, the Corinthians were a divided church, bickering over who had the most impressive and important spiritual gifts. They had missed the whole point and were allowing the gifts that God had given them to create a hierarchy of spiritual elitism marked by pride and arrogance.

So, as Paul wrote to the fledgling church in Colossae, he emphasized the three characteristics essential to living the Christian life and honoring the name of Christ: Faith, hope, and love. Paul had used the same trifecta of godly qualities when addressing the believers in Thessalonica.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 ESV

In Paul’s theology, faith was an ongoing experience, not a one-time, once-for-all action that ushered in one’s salvation. While faith was essential for experiencing God’s saving grace as expressed through Christ’s sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross, it did not stop at the point of salvation. Faith was to be a dynamic and ever-increasing quality in the believer's life. Paul told the Corinthians believers that “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV). He commended the believers in Thessalonica for their ever-increasing faith.

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. – 2 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV

When speaking of his own life, Paul stated, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 ESV). He no longer relied upon his own strength or his capacity to produce good works in the flesh, but instead, he trusted in the sanctifying work of Christ – by faith. He truly believed what he wrote to the church in Philippi: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 ESV).

For Paul, love was proof of a truly transformed life. According to the author of Hebrews, without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). But Paul would qualify that statement by adding, “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV). Love for others provides demonstrable proof that we have been loved by God and that our hearts have been transformed by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. As James so eloquently put it, faith that produces no tangible evidence is not really faith at all.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. – James 2:14-17 ESV

James was not inferring that we are saved by works, but he emphasized that saving faith produces godly fruit, such as love for those in need. The apostle John echoed that sentiment.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. – 1 John 4:20 ESV

According to Paul, both faith and love are founded upon the hope of our future glorification, promised to us by God and provided for us by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus was intended to provide us with proof that there is life after death; this world is not all there is. That is why Paul told the Corinthians, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV).

Paul went on to stress the essential nature of Christ’s resurrection. If He is not risen from the dead, our faith has no meaning. It’s little more than a pipe dream.

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. – 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 ESV

Ultimately, our faith is in Jesus Christ's resurrection because it assures us of our future hope of glorification. Paul went on to assure the Corinthians of the unwavering reliability of God’s plan for our future glorification.

…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”  – 1 Corinthians 15:52-55 ESV

We live by faith in the present because we have hope for the future. The God who will fulfill all He has promised regarding the hereafter is fully capable of meeting all our needs in the here and now. And because we rest in His unfailing love for us, we can express that same love to all those around us, including our enemies.

Paul commends the Colossian believers because the gospel continues to bear fruit in their lives.

…it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth… – Colossians 1:6 ESV

Their faith, hope, and love were anything but static. According to Paul, each of those characteristics was increasing daily and manifesting itself in their lives for the world to see. The missionary work of Epaphras had been productive, resulting in their salvation and ongoing sanctification. Now, Paul wanted the Colossians to know how proud he was of their perseverance and determination to continue to pursue faith, hope, and love – even amid the difficulties and distractions that come from living in a fallen world.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Much-Needed Wake-up Call

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. – Colossians 1:1-2 ESV

The ancient city of Colossae achieved its early prominence and prosperity due to its location along a major trade route that ran through the Lycus River Valley in the Roman province of Asia Minor (in today's modern-day Turkey). But in time, the nearby and newer city of Laodicea replaced Colossae as the economic engine of the region. The once-thriving metropolis of Colossae had become famous for manufacturing a much-coveted crimson-colored wool cloth known as colossinum. But by the time Paul wrote his letter, Colossae had become little more than a small village. It was in this environment that a small congregation of believers had sprung up.

The founding of the Colossian church is unclear. When Paul wrote his letter, he had not been to the city of Colossae, but his missionary journeys had taken him to nearby Ephesus where he spent an extended time spreading the gospel message and making converts. According to Acts 19:10, “This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” It could be that one of the new converts from Ephesus took the good news of Jesus Christ to Colossae or a resident from Colossae had traveled to Ephesus and heard the preaching of Paul. Whatever the case, the gospel made its way to the Colossians, and in time, a small congregation had formed.

Because of its location along a major trade route, the city of Colossae had a population comprised of Greek colonists and native Phrygians. There would have also been a large number of Jews living in the area because Antiochus the Great (223-187 B.C.) had relocated hundreds of Jewish families from Mesopotamia to this region. So, this local congregation likely comprised people from every ethnic, cultural, and religious background. This diversity of backgrounds, coupled with the influence of false teachers, had produced confusion among the church’s young congregation.

It appears that Paul received word of the situation in Colossae from Epaphras, a resident of the city. Whether Epaphras visited Paul while he was under house arrest in Rome is unclear, but the fellow minister of the gospel had somehow gotten word to the apostle about the state of affairs in his hometown. According to verses 7-8 of chapter one, Epaphras had been instrumental in spreading the gospel to his fellow Colossians.

You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave—a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf—who also told us of your love in the Spirit. – Colossians 1:7-8 NLT

However, Epaphras shared with Paul his concern for the spiritual well-being of the church. Without proper leadership and instruction, the fledgling congregation struggled to resist the temptation to syncretize their old religious ideologies with their new faith in Christ. Some of the Jewish converts to Christianity were attempting to “Judaize” the Gentile members of the congregation by demanding adherence to the rituals, traditions, and laws of Judaism. To make matters worse, some had infiltrated the church posing as doctrinal experts and propagating a dangerous brand of false teaching that stood in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles. This led Paul to open his letter with a statement establishing his apostolic credentials.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God… – Colossians 1:1 ESV

While Paul had not been one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, he had received his apostolic commission directly from the Lord Himself. In his earlier life, Paul had been a member of the Pharisees, a powerful and highly influential sect of Judaism. At one point, he described himself as the poster boy for religious extremism and dedication.

I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. – Philippians 3:5-6 NLT

He was an up-and-coming member of the Pharisees who had been given a commission by the high priest to persecute and arrest members of “the way,” the name given to the cult of followers who worshiped the dead Rabbi, Jesus. Saul, as he was known then, was a devout Pharisee and a zealous adherent to and defender of the Jewish faith. He was determined to eradicate the memory of Jesus and eliminate every one of His followers. He would later describe to the Jews how he had been given a commission to hunt down and destroy Christians.

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today. And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished.” – Acts 22:3-5 NLT

But something remarkable occurred as Paul made his way to Damascus. He came face to face with the resurrected Jesus. A blinding light stopped him in his tracks, and a voice spoke to him, saying, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting” (Acts 22:8 NLT). Struck blind by the intense light, Paul could not see, but he clearly heard Jesus’ instructions to visit a man named Ananias. The stunned Pharisee obeyed Jesus’ command and sought out Ananias, who opened his eyes and revealed his new mission:

“The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.” – Acts 22:14-16 NLT

This “Damascus Road experience” transformed Paul’s life. He went from being a persecutor of “the Way” to being a proclaimer of the good news of Jesus Christ, the One who had proclaimed Himself to be “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6 NLT). Paul was appointed an official apostle or messenger of Jesus Christ, with specific instructions to take the good news of salvation to the Gentiles. In the opening line of his letter, Paul stresses that he has divine authority to address the situation taking place within their local congregation. Because Paul was not one of the original 12 disciples, some attacked his apostolic credentials and he was forced to defend his rights to speak on behalf of Christ. He pushed back on these critics, declaring his God-given authority to serve as a spokesman for the resurrected Messiah.

I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead. – Galatians 1:1 NLT

Many of the churches Paul helped to establish were being targeted by men who claimed to be speaking on behalf of God but were teaching false doctrines and leading the people away from the simplicity and integrity of the gospel. Many of these men were eloquent and influential speakers who derided Paul’s ministry and portrayed him as a charlatan. But Paul refused to let these individuals destroy what God had built.

But I will continue doing what I have always done. This will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just like ours. These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. – 2 Corinthians 11:12-13 NLT

As Paul wrote the believers in Colossae, he opened his letter with a declaration of his apostleship. He wanted them to know that what he was about to tell them was divinely inspired and not just the thoughts of a man they had never met. He was about to divulge to them the will of God concerning their situation, and it would pay for them to listen. Paul also informed them that he was not alone in his concern for them. Timothy, his protégé and fellow minister of the gospel, stood with him in his message of encouragement and admonition.

Paul refers to his audience as “saints,” using a Greek term (hagios), which means “those set apart to God.” He wanted to remind them that they had been consecrated by God for His use. They belonged to Him and were obligated to live their lives in keeping with His will and according to His Word. They were not free to establish their own model for righteous living or to create their own system of religious rituals or creeds. They had been set apart by God and were to dedicate their lives to God. The rest of his letter addresses the specifics of their situation and the measures they must take to ensure that they continue to live faithful lives marked by God’s grace and peace.

These faithful “saints” lived in adverse conditions and faced constant threats to their spiritual growth and development. But Paul will challenge them “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him” (Colossians 1:10 ESV). His letter will serve as a much-needed wake-up call reminding them of their identity in Christ and the need to “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23 ESV). Paul, the faithful servant of Jesus Christ, will call the faithful saints in Colossae to “think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth” (Colossians 3:2 NLT) and to “live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity” (Colossians 4:4 NLT). His message will be equal parts admonition and motivation. He will refute the false teachers, expose blind spots, and encourage godly behavior, all out of passion for the gospel and his love for the flock of Jesus Christ.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New English Translation (NET)NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Make Disciples

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

One of the last things Jesus said to His disciples was His command that they “make disciples.” Matthew closes out his gospel account with this powerful and non-negotiable directive given by the resurrected Jesus to His faithful yet fledgling band of followers. He was leaving and assigning them the task of growing their number in His absence. The Greek word translated as “make disciples” is mathēteuō, a verb that conveys action and expectation. The primary methodology they would use to make disciples was teaching, a concept built into the word mathēteuō.

Jesus’ followers had benefited from the three years of instruction they received from Him, and now He was expecting them to carry on His ministry of disciple-making by passing on all they had learned. This would require them to recall all the oral lessons He had taught them – no small task. But Jesus had told them that they would have help in the form of the Holy Spirit.

“…when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” – John 14:26 NLT

Jesus also told them that this Advocate would be “the Spirit of truth” who would “come to you from the Father and…testify all about me”  (John 15:26 NLT). Upon His departure, the disciples would receive a new instructor, the Spirit of God, who would continue to mathēteuō them, transforming them into ever more faithful followers of Christ. But their growth in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding was not intended for self-enlightenment and personal improvement alone; it was to be shared. Their ongoing instruction by the Holy Spirit was to be a master’s class in pedagogical training that produced more faithful followers of Jesus.

The apostle Paul understood the weight of Jesus’ command to make disciples, even though he had not been there when Jesus spoke the words. This former Pharisee and persecutor of Christians had a one-of-kind encounter with the resurrected Jesus that left him a changed man. His unexpected, life-changing meeting with the risen Messiah had a profound impact on him and was accompanied by further instruction directly from the lips of Jesus Himself. 

Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. – Galatians 1:11-12 NLT

For nearly three years, the LORD personally discipled Paul through the presence and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This well-educated Hebrew received a PhD in personal evangelism that transformed him into a fervent disciple-maker. His passion for the gospel was unparalleled and highly infectious. He constantly shared his heart for the lost and his expectation that all believers embrace the commission Jesus had articulated. In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul prompted them with a series of probing questions.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:14-17 ESV  

Paul has just finished saying, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11 ESV), and “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13 ESV). Paul used the Old Testament Scriptures, quoting Isaiah 28:16 and Joel 2:32 to prove his point. Belief in God would lead one to call out to Him in times of need or trouble. While Paul’s audience in Rome consisted primarily of Gentile Christians, this section of his letter emphasized the Jewish people. He expressed his heart’s desire that they be saved, even suggesting that he would be willing to suffer eternal damnation if it meant that the Jews would come to faith. But Paul knew they would have to experience salvation just as the Gentiles had. They would have to call on the name of the Lord.

But at this point in his letter, Paul asks his Gentile readers, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? ” (Romans 10:15 NLT). Yes, the Jews had a responsibility to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, just like everyone else. But Paul was adamant that the believers in Rome had an even weightier responsibility to tell them about Christ.

After His death and resurrection, Jesus commanded His disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19 NLT). He even described their geographical mission field as “Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NLT). But His commission and mission field directive didn’t just apply to the eleven men He left behind. They have been the marching orders for every disciple of Jesus Christ from that point until today.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul quotes from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah.

How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” – Isaiah 52:7 ESV

The original words had been given to the people of Judah to announce that God would restore them from captivity in Babylon and return them to Jerusalem. Paul borrowed this message of comfort and joy to express what it was like when someone hears the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time. When an unbeliever learns that they can be restored to a right relationship with God, even though they are undeserving of His amazing grace, it is “good news.” When someone shares the gospel with an unbeliever, faithfully obeying Christ’s command to mathēteuō, they bring news of peace and salvation.

But Paul breaks the sad news that not everyone who hears will listen. Even when Isaiah told the people of Judah that God would set them free from captivity in the land of Babylon, not everyone received his message with open arms. Not everyone believed. God told them, “Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves” (Isaiah 52:11 NLT). Yet the prophet would ask, “Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” (Isaiah 53:1 NLT). Many of the Jews living in Babylon would refuse to return to the land of promise. Rather than believe God’s message of hope and make the long, arduous journey back to Judah, they would choose to remain in captivity.

Paul stated that, in his day, not everyone who heard the gospel received it. Both Jews and Gentiles rejected the good news regarding Jesus Christ, refusing to accept the message of salvation through faith in Christ alone. For Paul, it always came back to faith. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17 ESV). We have a responsibility to tell, but everyone who hears must express faith in what they have heard. We have a responsibility to communicate the gospel with unbelievers, but it is NOT our responsibility to convert them. They must confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). Then and only then will they experience salvation.

Ultimately, it is God who calls, justifies, and glorifies (Romans 8:30). Salvation does not depend on human will or effort but on the mercy of God (Romans 9:16). God said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Romans 9:15 ESV). Conversion is never the result of coercion. We will never debate someone into a saving relationship with Christ. Our responsibility is to share and leave the results up to God. Paul provides an interesting and important analogy in his letter to the Corinthians believers.

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. – 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NLT

Jesus’ command to “make disciples” is not a directive to coerce conversion. All we can do is share what we know and give what we have received. Paul didn’t convert anyone, but he went out of his way to tell everyone what he knew. He faithfully conveyed the message of faith in Christ alone to all who would listen—Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul was a faithful disciple who was a fervent disciple-maker. He took Christ’s command seriously and shared it constantly, telling his young protege Timothy, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Receive the Kingdom of God Like a Child

13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. – Mark 10:13-16 ESV

There are times when it appears as if the 12 disciples of Jesus are a few bricks short of a full load, and this is one of them. After reading this passage, it’s difficult not to draw one of two conclusions: Either the disciples are stubborn or simply stupid. They just don’t seem to get it. No matter how often Jesus addresses an issue with them, the disciples fail to grasp His meaning. Even all His after-class, one-on-twelve tutoring sessions don’t seem to help.

Before looking at the scene recorded in today’s passage, it’s important to visit a few earlier exchanges between Jesus and His disciples that are closely related. First, while they were back in Galilee, Jesus had overheard the disciples arguing over which of them was the greatest. This debate came fast on the heels of Jesus’ announcement that He would soon be delivered into the hands of men and be killed (Mark 9:31). So, immediately after hearing Jesus announce that He was going to lay down His life, they had gotten into a heated argument over which of them was the greatest. This led Jesus to give them an object lesson.

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” – Mark 9:36-37 ESV

Jesus used this small, seemingly insignificant child to make an important point. With the pride-filled disciples gathered around Him, Jesus stood in the midst of them holding this unidentified child in His arms. He placed the one with the least significance in the place of greatest prominence. The child had done nothing to earn this special favor extended to Him by Jesus. He was not powerful, impressive, gifted, or even capable of repaying Jesus for His kindness. But the child was trusting and willing to place his full confidence in Jesus.

Yet, immediately after witnessing this living object lesson, John had chosen to bring up what he believed to be a more pressing matter. He reported that there was an unnamed individual who had been casting out demons in Jesus’ name. The discovery of this unidentified competitor had bothered the disciples enough that they had repeatedly tried to issue him cease-and-desist orders. But their efforts had failed. And much to John’s dismay, rather than seeking to reprimand this rogue exorcist, Jesus rebuked His own disciples.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” – Mark 9:42 ESV

The Greek word Mark used is mikros, which means “small” or “least.” Jesus seems to be referring to this unknown exorcist as one of His children. This man, while not one of the 12 disciples, was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. He performed the same good deed that Jesus had commissioned His disciples to do. That’s why Jesus told John, “Don’t stop him!…No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39 NLT). This man was on their side. 

Yet Jesus refers to him as one of the “least.” He was so insignificant that the disciples didn’t even know his name. Yet, he was important to Jesus. 

This brings us back to the scene taking place in chapter 10. Jesus and His disciples are back in the region of Perea, just east of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River. Mark opened this chapter by indicating that Jesus’ arrival in the region had attracted the usual large crowds. While many hoped to see Jesus perform a miracle, others had come out of curiosity because He was a 1st-Century celebrity. But Mark indicates that some “were bringing children to him that he might touch them” (Mark 10:13 ESV). Evidently, parents were bringing their young children to Jesus so that He might bless them. But Mark states that “the disciples rebuked them” (Mark 9:13 ESV). These men took it upon themselves to restrict access to Jesus. They wrongly assumed that they had the authority to determine who was worthy to come into Jesus’ presence. This whole scene makes even more sense when you consider Luke’s account. He provides some essential details that make the disciples' actions even more egregious.

Luke records a parable that Jesus told “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (Luke 18:9 ESV). In this parable, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector” (Luke 18:10 ESV). The Pharisee stood before God and, in a blatant display of self-promotion, bragged about his superior righteousness, as evidenced by his unparalleled fasting and tithing. But the other man stood before God, eyes lowered, declaring his abject state of sinfulness and desperate need for mercy. Commenting on His own parable, Jesus said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14 ESV).

Superiority and inferiority. Pride and humility. Greatness and weakness. This parable set up the arrival of the parents and their children. It explains why Jesus became so indignant with His disciples and demanded, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14 ESV). These little ones were being brought to Jesus by their parents. Too young to come on their own, they were completely at the mercy of others and displayed complete dependency and trust. There was not an ounce of self-righteousness or moral superiority within them. But the disciples had decided that they were unworthy to come into Jesus’ presence. Had these men so quickly forgotten the scene of Jesus holding the young boy in His arms? Had the words Jesus had spoken to them simply gone in one ear and out the other?

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” – Mark9:37 ESV

Yet here was Jesus having to rebuke His disciples for their arrogant display of moral superiority. They didn’t get it. They were still harboring their own false conceptions about status in the Kingdom. In their eyes, these children were non-contributors. They had nothing to offer. They were takers, not givers. But Jesus had a completely different perspective. To the shock and dismay of the disciples, Jesus “took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them” (Mark 10:16 NLT).

The disciples had been right. These “little ones” had nothing to offer Jesus. But Jesus had something to give them: His divine blessing. They came before Jesus as helpless and hopeless children, most likely carried in the arms of their parents. Some were probably too young to walk or talk. But each one, regardless of their age, intellect, family background, or future prospects of success, received the same undeserved gift from the hand of Jesus. Each was touched and blessed by the Son of God.

The Kingdom of God will not be comprised of the successful, gifted, morally exceptional, intellectually superior, or socially acceptable. In fact, Paul reminds every Christ-follower that their adoption into the family of God had nothing to do with them. They brought nothing to the table. They had done nothing to deserve the grace and mercy shown to them by God.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NLT

Jesus repeatedly showed His disciples that He had come to minister to the weak, helpless, and hopeless. He went out of His way to heal the sick and to minister to outcasts and the socially unacceptable. He exposed the hypocrisy of the self-righteous religious leaders of Israel. He willingly associated with tax collectors and prostitutes. And yet, His disciples still struggled with thoughts of their own superiority and harbored hopes of earning a place of honor and distinction in His coming Kingdom. But the lessons would continue, right up until the end. Even in the upper room on the night Jesus was betrayed, He gave them yet another illustration of humility and service by washing their feet. And ultimately, Jesus performed the greatest act of humility by offering His life as a ransom for many. The greatest of all would become the least of all so that the foolish, powerless, despised, and unimportant might become children of God.

The disciples struggled with pride and prejudice. They saw these children as nothing more than unnecessary distractions. From their perspective, Jesus had better things to do than bless children. But Jesus wanted them to know that He was never too busy to reach out to those who came to Him in humility. As Jesus would later teach them, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 ESV). Each of the disciples was dominated by a self-serving attitude. They were in it for themselves. They had chosen to follow Jesus because they expected to get something out of it. And blessing children was not high on their list of personal priorities. But Jesus was teaching them that life in His kingdom was going to be different. Leaders would be servants. The first would be last. The meek would inherit the earth. The humble would be recognized. The hopeless would find hope.

Matthew records that immediately after this encounter with the children, a young man approached Jesus, asking Him, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:15 ESV). Matthew opens this scene with the word, “behold.” In essence, he is telling the reader to look carefully at what is about to happen. These two scenarios are closely linked together for a reason.

Notice the wording of the young man’s question. He asks, “What good deed must I do…?” The emphasis is on himself and his own self-effort. He exhibits the antithesis of childlike, humble faith. His goal was eternal life, but he wanted to know what steps he needed to take to earn it. He was looking for a to-do list to follow, a set of rules to keep.

Rather than assigning the man a task to perform, Jesus focused on his use of the word “good.”  He asked him, “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Like every other Jew, this man knew God's revealed will. He was familiar with God’s law and its non-negotiable requirements concerning obedience. But he was looking for the magic ticket—the one thing he could do that would guarantee eternal life. 

But Jesus turned the young man’s attention to the source of all that is good: God Himself. He reminded the young man, “There is only one who is good” (Matthew 19:17 ESV). And that good God had given His good, holy, and righteous law. If the young man wanted to have eternal life, he would need to keep each and every one of the commandments. God had already given His standard for righteousness or goodness.

But the young man, looking for specifics, asked, “Which ones?” This man’s question reflects a common perception held by even the religious leaders. There was constant debate among them over which of the commandments of God was the most important and, therefore, more binding.

For the young man, it was a matter of priority. He wanted to know which commandment he needed to focus on to receive the reward he sought. Accommodating the young man’s request, Jesus provided him with a shortlist of commandments. Notice that the list Jesus provided comprises laws concerning human relationships. They are horizontal in nature, dealing with how to relate to others. Jesus lists the prohibitions against murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness. But He also lists the laws requiring the honoring of parents and displaying love for others. Without batting an eye, the young man boldly and pridefully declared that he had kept them all. So, he wanted to know what was missing. What other law did he need to keep to guarantee himself eternal life?

Then, Jesus dropped a bombshell. He simply stated, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21 ESV).

The Greek word translated as “perfect” is teleios, and it refers to completeness or wholeness. The man was asking Jesus what it was that he lacked. He felt incomplete. He knew that something was missing from his life and wrestled with the fear of not measuring up. He had no assurance that his efforts would earn him the eternal reward he longed for. So, Jesus informed him that he would need to give up everything he owned in this life and follow Him. Jesus was not telling this man that his salvation could be earned through some kind of philanthropic act of selfless sacrifice. He was revealing that this man’s heart was focused on the things of this world. Matthew reveals that the young man was very wealthy and the thought of giving away all his possessions caused him to walk away. It was a sacrifice he was unwilling to make.

Selling all his possessions and following Jesus would have required great faith and humility. He was what he owned, and his reputation was tied up in his possessions. He was respected because of his great wealth. He enjoyed the comfort and conveniences that money can buy, and the thought of leaving all that behind was more than he could bear. Sacrificing present comfort for future reward was too much for him.

What a marked difference between this self-made man and the little children whom Jesus had just blessed. They brought nothing to the equation other than their innocence. They could not brag about their good deeds. They had kept no laws. And yet, Jesus had blessed them.

This whole exchange is not about what we need to do to earn eternal life. It is about the one to whom we need to come. The children were brought to Jesus and were blessed. Jesus told the young man that in order to have eternal life, he would need to follow Him. It wasn’t about doing, it was about faith in Jesus.

This is all reminiscent of another exchange that Jesus had with a crowd that had followed him after He had miraculously fed them. They were looking for another free meal. So, He told them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27 ESV). And they responded, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (John 6:28 ESV). Then, look closely at what Jesus said to them.

“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” – John 6:29 ESV

Faith in Jesus was the point. Jesus was calling this man to release his grip on his earthly possessions and position and place his hope in Him. Faith in Jesus requires that we place our full dependence upon Him and what He alone can do. Like the rich young man, we are incapable of doing anything good that might earn us favor with God. But if we will simply follow Jesus in childlike, humble faith, we will receive eternal life.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Rejoice and Be Glad

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” –  Matthew 5:11-12 ESV

This command, given at the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, must have sounded strange to His Jewish audience. He had already dropped eight other truth bombs on them that, to their Jewish sensibilities, would have made little sense and offered little in the way of comfort or hope.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – vs 3

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” – vs 4

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” – vs 5

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” – vs 6

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” – vs 7

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” – vs 8

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” – vs 9

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – vs 10

Each of these sentences contains a non sequitur, a statement that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said. Jesus was relating entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven with attitudes or actions that seemed antithetical to the Jewish way of thinking. For the average Jew, meekness was viewed as a weakness, not an attribute to be admired. Poverty in any form, whether spiritual or physical was seen as a curse, not a blessing. Mourning was associated with suffering and was to be avoided at all costs. As an overtaxed and oppressed people, the Jews were all too familiar with hunger and thirst and saw no connection between those dreaded conditions and righteousness. In their role as unwilling subjects of the Roman Empire, mercy was something they longed for but rarely received. So, the thought of extending mercy to others was not a high priority for them. They would have viewed purity of heart as impossible because they knew what the Scriptures said.

The Lord looks down from heaven
    on the entire human race;
he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,
    if anyone seeks God.
But no, all have turned away;
    all have become corrupt.
No one does good,
    not a single one! – Psalm 14:2-3 NLT

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. – Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” – Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

For the Jews in Jesus’ audience, peace was in short supply. As long as the Romans ruled over Palestine and dictated every aspect of their lives, there would be no peace. For them, the concept of peace was closely associated with a lack of trials and troubles. It was less an attitude than it was a condition of existence. So, the only way they could envision the presence of peace would be through war with and victory over the Romans. The thought of being persecuted for being righteous was nonsensical and unattractive. Righteousness was meant to bring blessings from God, but Jesus associated those blessings with persecution.

The entire opening sequence of Jesus’ message was a rapid-fire barrage of mind-blowing statements that linked the Kingdom of Heaven with ideas the Jews found far from attractive. Then Jesus ended the prologue to His sermon with a command to rejoice about all of it.

“God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” – Matthew 5:11-12 NLT

Why would Jesus command them to rejoice when being persecuted, mocked, and slandered? What blessings could come from suffering those kinds of indignities? The Greek word translated as “blessed” in this passage is makarios, and it conveys the idea of being fortunate or well-off because of God’s favor of God. But to the Jews, the blessings of God were always associated with abundance and riches, not poverty, deprivation, and persecution. Yet, Jesus was commanding them to “be happy about it!” 

It is important to remember that Jesus always spoke with His 12 disciples in mind. His messages were primarily aimed at those men who had chosen to leave everything behind and follow Him. They had committed their lives to serving as His disciples (mathētēs – learner, pupil). So, while everyone on the hillside that day heard what Jesus had to say, His words were intended for His 12 students, who would have also struggled with the content of His message.

At this early stage of Jesus’ ministry, these men were unaware of the true nature of His coming. They had suspicions that He was the long-awaited Messiah, but they had no idea that His ministry would be accompanied by poverty, suffering, persecution, sorrow, hunger, thirst, and, ultimately, death. Over the next three years, they would see Him model meekness, mercy, and purity of heart. They would witness Him pursuing peace with all men, including Gentiles, tax collectors, prostitutes, and even Romans. In time, they would watch as their Rabbi, teacher, and friend was persecuted despite living a righteous, God-honoring life.

Jesus would later warn His disciples to expect the same treatment.

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.” – John 15:18-21 NLT

Yet, Jesus expected His disciples to rejoice and be glad when they faced reviling, persecution, and slander when serving on His behalf. But what was to be the focus of their rejoicing? Was it their suffering? Jesus made it clear when He said, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 12 ESV). They were to keep their eye on the prize, that future award that awaited them in heaven.

Later in His ministry, Jesus sent 72 of His followers “two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go” (Luke 10:1 ESV). When they returned, they joyfully reported, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17 ESV). But Jesus somewhat burst their bubble when He redicted the focus of their joy. 

“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” – Luke 10:19-20 ESV

Long after Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended, the apostle Peter continued this theme of rejoicing in the reward to come.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 1:3-7 ESV

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. – 1 Peter 4:12-13 ESV

James also promoted a future-oriented perspective that focused not on the trials themselves but on the glorious outcome they would produce.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:1-4 ESV

Paul was also a proponent of living with the end in mind. He told the believers in Colossae to keep their focus on the final phase of God’s redemptive plan when Jesus returns to earth to establish His Kingdom.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. – Colossians 3:1-4 NLT

The 12 disciples expected Jesus to set up His Kingdom the first time He came, and nothing would have brought them more joy than to watch Him destroy the Roman occupiers and put Israel back on the map politically and militarily. But He was operating on a different timeline. Their hopes of a restored earthly kingdom would come in time, but not before their King suffered, died, and was raised back to life. Even after His resurrection, the disciples wondered if that was the sign He was about to inaugurate His Kingdom.

“Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” – Acts 1:6 NLT

But Jesus told them that the next phase of the plan would require work on their part. They had a job to do before the Kingdom would come.

“The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:7-8 NLT

And while they waited, they would suffer just as He did. But they could rejoice because He promised to return one day and take them to be with Him.

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” – John 14:1-3 NLT

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again.” – John 14:27-28 NLT

So, disciples of Jesus can rejoice and be glad because their future is secure. Even in the face of trials, difficulties, and persecution, Christ’s followers can find peace and motivation to rejoice in whatever comes their way in this life because the Kingdom is coming.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Repent

13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 4:13-17 ESV

Every step Jesus took and every word He spoke was in fulfillment of prophecy. His actions were premeditated and always in keeping with the plan His Father had established for Him “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV). Jesus boldly stated that He had come to fulfill every statement made about the Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures. This is what He meant when He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17 ESV). After His resurrection, He gave two of His disciples a crash course in Old Testament Studies, revealing how He had fulfilled all that was written about Him in the Scriptures.

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. – Luke 24:25-27 ESV

Matthew 4 records that Jesus’ relocation from Nazareth to Zebulun and Naphtali was in fulfillment of the writings of the prophet Isaiah. This was not a knee-jerk reaction or spur-of-the-moment decision on His part; He was following the will of His Heavenly Father. Isaiah referred to this region as “Galilee of the Gentiles” and in Jesus’ day, the Gentile population in Zebulen and Napthali was significant. His move from Jerusalem to Nazareth and then to this region was meant to foreshadow His intentions to reach all people with His message of salvation, not just the Jews.

Isaiah states that the Messiah will appear to those “dwelling in darkness” who dwell “in the region and shadow of death.” The “light” will shine and illuminate the darkness of their lives with the truth of God’s offer of salvation. The apostle John spoke of Jesus’ illuminating presence as the light that gives life to the world.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:4-5 ESV

But John also states that Jesus “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11 ESV). Most of Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries failed to accept Him as their long-awaited Messiah. Initially, they were attracted to His miracles and message but, in time, they grew disenchanted and impatient when He failed to manifest the Messianic characteristics they were expecting. 

That is why Jesus’ call to repentance is so important. After His relocation to Capernaum, Jesus “began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4:17 ESV).  This was the same message John the Baptist had proclaimed before Jesus appeared at the Jordan River to be baptized by John.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 3:1-2 ESV

But what did Jesus and John mean when they called people to repentance? What were they expecting those dwelling in darkness in the region and the shadow of death to do? The common understanding of repentance is to show remorse or regret for sin. Some have described it as turning from sin to Christ. They view it as a willing rejection of a sinful lifestyle and embracing the new life that Jesus came to offer. While these views are not inaccurate, they are incomplete.

Jesus and John had something far more radical in mind when they called people to repent. When John the Baptist first appeared on the scene, he seemed to have come out of nowhere. He was the same age as his cousin, Jesus. But for 30 years, John remained silent until he suddenly appeared in the wilderness preaching a message of repentance and offering baptism as a sign of that repentance, Everything about John was strange, from his choice of attire and lifestyle to the content of his message. But he attracted a crowd. Matthew tells us:

Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. – Matthew 3:5-6 ESV

John was calling the people of Israel to repent and it is essential to understand the meaning behind his message. His call to repentance involved a change in mind, a radical realignment of their understanding of God and His ways. The Greek word is metanoeo and it means “to change one’s mind or purpose.” It is far more than sorrow or regret for sin. It involves a radical change of attitude towards God, involving one’s spiritual and moral perspective. John was calling the people of Israel to rethink their attitude about everything, including their relationship with God, the nature of their own sin, and the reality of their so-called status as God’s chosen people. The Jews had been living under the delusion that, as descendants of Abraham, they were somehow a protected class. They were far from perfect, but they believed themselves to have some kind of get-out-of-jail-free card that allowed them to sin and always receive forgiveness. After all, they had the sacrificial system that provided them with atonement for any and all sins.

Despite the literally hundreds of years their ancestors had spent in open rebellion against God and their suffering defeat and eventual exile at the hands of God, they had never fully returned to Him. Yet God had repeatedly rescued them and restored them to the land of their inheritance.

Even at the time John began his ministry, Israel was a place of spiritual darkness. The spiritual climate of Israel was dark and John came to call the people of God back to a right relationship with God. But they were going to have to change their minds about everything. Their long-awaited Messiah was coming and they were not ready for His arrival. Their hearts were full of sin, yet they continued to view themselves as the chosen people of God. They placed a high value on their status as Israelites and on the presence of the Temple because they believed it to house God’s holy presence. They were overly confident in the forgiveness made available through the sacrificial system. But John was letting them know that all that was about to change. This was a new day. There was going to be a new plan of salvation made available that was no longer tied to the law or was not dependent upon men attempting to live in perfect obedience to that law.

John’s words were attracting huge crowds made up of all kinds of people from all walks of life, including the religious leaders of his day. But when these Pharisees and Sadducees showed up, John confronted them, saying, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:7-8 ESV). These two groups of individuals, the Pharisees and Sadducees, represent the hypocritical religious leadership of John’s day. The Pharisees were the religious rule-keepers, the experts in the law who prided themselves on their knowledge of the law and adherence to it. The Sadducees were the liberals of their day, who denied the supernatural and rejected everything from the existence of angels to the future resurrection of the body. These two groups showing up to be baptized was nothing more than a public display meant to enhance their credibility and feed their sense of spiritual superiority.

They had no intention of changing their minds about anything. They were marked by arrogance and pride and John demanded that they bear fruit that demonstrated true repentance. In other words, he called them out for their unwillingness to see themselves for what they really were: Religious hypocrites.

Their status as descendants of Abraham would not be enough to save them from the wrath of God, and John the Baptist makes that point painfully clear.

“And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” – Matthew 3:9 ESV

Their current relationship with God, which was based on obedience to the law, could not produce the kind of righteousness that was required. The apostle Paul, a former Pharisee, put it bluntly and succinctly.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:20 NLT

But while this message carried a negative connotation, Paul also provided the good news.

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.  – Romans 3:21-22 NLT

So, when John the Baptist called the Jews to repent, he was informing their Jewish heritage was not going to keep them from suffering the consequences of God’s wrath against sin. God was looking for fruit in keeping with true repentance. No more hypocrisy and play-acting. No more lip service and false professions of sorrow over sin. God was about to introduce a new way for men to be justified, or made right with Him. Self-righteousness had never worked. Religious law-keeping had never earned anyone a right standing with God, because no one could keep the law perfectly.

With the coming of the Messiah, God changed all that. While John baptized with water all those willing to come with an attitude of true repentance, he made it clear that the baptism they would receive from Jesus would be radically different. His baptism would involve the Holy Spirit and fire. It would be supernatural in scope and cleansing in nature. It would be a baptism of purification and radical transformation. It would be far more than a ritualistic act meant to symbolize a change of attitude. No, the baptism of Jesus would be completely transformational in nature, leaving the one baptized radically changed forever.

But what does the call to repentance have to do with those who are already in Christ? Once someone has placed their faith in Christ as the sole means of being made right with God, do they need to continue “changing their mind?” The answer is found in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:1-2 ESV

The Greek word for “transformed” is metamorphoō which means “to transform” or “to transfigure.” It is the source for the English word “metamorphosis.” Paul states that this transformation is accomplished by the renewal of the mind. The Greek word for “renewal” is anakainōsis and it refers to “a complete change for the better.” While the Holy Spirit is transforming the believer’s heart, He is also renewing or renovating the mind, calling for a constant change in how the believer views the world and His own life. Paul expressed his deep desire that the believers in Ephesus would have their minds constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit so that they might fully comprehend the glory of the gift they had received.

Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. – Ephesians 1:15-18 NLT

Repentance involves a changing of the mind. It requires a readiness to rethink our old positions and perceptions about life and godliness. Repentance is a willingness to have our minds renewed and renovated by the Holy Spirit over time. It involves a submission to His will and a reliance upon His power.

The mind is the battleground of the enemy. He knows if he can distort our thinking, he can destroy our faith and damage our witness. He is the accuser of the brethren (Revelatoin 12:10), who loves to wreak havoc with our minds by emphasizing our sinfulness and questioning God’s faithfulness. He wants to accentuate our faults and convince us that we are unworthy and undeserving of God’s grace. The apostle Paul would have us repent of such thoughts and rest in the promises of God. But to do so requires us to rely upon the Spirit to renew and control our minds – on a daily and ongoing basis.

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. – Romans 8:5-9 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Abide In Me

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:1-5 ESV

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” – John 15:8-10 ESV

The context of this command is essential for understanding its meaning. Jesus and His disciples have departed the upper room where they shared the Passover meal together. He is resolute in His determination to keep His providentially preordained rendezvous with the cross and death prepared for Him by His Heavenly Father. But the 11 remaining disciples are still trying to get their heads around all that Jesus has revealed to them. Even as they make their way into the night, He continues to expand their understanding and prepare them for what lies ahead.

This passage is part of Jesus’ ongoing farewell discourse and provides one of the most powerful descriptions of what it means to experience eternal life with God through the Son. Jesus borrows from the familiar imagery of the vineyard to create an extended metaphor designed to convey the non-negotiable dependency His followers must have on Him. As a result of His death, burial, and resurrection, these men will no longer be independently minded followers; they will be totally reliant reflections of God’s glory as expressed through His Son.

Over three years, these men had expressed their allegiance to Jesus by choosing to follow Him and sacrifice all else on behalf of Him. They had given up their careers, left their families, exposed themselves to ridicule, gone hungry, suffered life-threatening storms at sea, traveled countless miles, and listened to more lessons than they could even remember. They were dedicated men who loved Jesus greatly. On several occasions, they had even expressed their willingness to lay down their lives for Him. But Jesus knew that the key to their continued faithfulness and fruitfulness would be through His death and resurrection. The very thing they feared the most would be the one thing that would transform their lives and transcend all their expectations of greatness and glory.

So much of what Jesus has taught His disciples has escaped them, and His continued discussions regarding His death frightened and frustrated them. They couldn’t understand why He had to die. They couldn’t bear the thought that He was going to leave them. But Jesus had told them that His death would prove to be life-giving and fruit-bearing.

“Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.” – John 12:23-26 NLT

Extending this earlier discussion of death, life, and fruitfulness, Jesus declares, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1 ESV). This will be the last of His “I am” statements and, with it, Jesus conveys to His disciples that everything is about to change, including their relationship with Him.

The imagery of the vine would have been very familiar to the disciples, not just because they lived in an agrarian culture where vines were ubiquitous, but because the vine was a symbol of Israel’s relationship with God. Every time they passed by the temple in Jerusalem, they would have seen the golden vines that adorned its walls. But according to the prophets, the nation of Israel, planted by God to produce abundant fruit, ended up producing wild grapes.

Let me sing for my beloved
    my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes. – Isaiah 5:1-2 ESV

And Isaiah made it painfully clear that this lovingly cultivated vine that produced less-than-quality fruit represented the people of God.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
    are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
    but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
    but behold, an outcry! – Isaiah 5:7 ESV

Now, Jesus was declaring Himself to be the vine. In doing so, He let His disciples know that He had replaced Israel as the sole source of fruitfulness. He would be the fulfillment of all that Israel should have been. His life would yield abundant fruit and bring glory to God.

Israel had failed to remain faithful and refused to keep their preferred status as God’s chosen people, choosing instead to worship false gods. The prophet Jeremiah declared to them God’s displeasure.

“But I was the one who planted you,
    choosing a vine of the purest stock—the very best.
    How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine?” – Jeremiah 2:21 NLT

With this final “I am” statement, Jesus lets His disciples know that He is the true vine. He has been faithful and fully obedient to the will of God, the vinedresser. He had been “planted” by God with a purpose in mind: to bear much fruit. And by sacrificing His life, He would fulfill that purpose by producing a “plentiful harvest of new lives” (John 12:24 NLT).

The most amazing aspect of Jesus’ fruit-bearing ministry is the vital role His disciples would play. They would become the branches through which His life-giving, fruit-bearing ministry would flow. But it would require constant abiding on their part. The key to their role in producing fruit would be their ongoing dependence upon the vine.

The Greek word for “abide” is menō and it means “to remain, tarry, not to depart, to be held, kept, continually.”It is the same word the apostle John used in describing a true disciple’s relationship with Jesus.

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. – 1 John 2:4-6 ESV

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. – 1 John 2:28-29 ESV

John associates abiding with actions. There is a symbiotic relationship between the vine and the branch characterized by closeness and interdependence. Notice his emphasis on walking as Jesus walked and practicing righteousness just as Jesus did. Abiding can sometimes be confused with resting. But while rest can be a byproduct of abiding, it is not the primary goal. A branch “rests” in the vine in that it relies on the vine to produce the grapes it bears. It doesn't strain to be fruitful. It doesn't grow weary in the process of bearing fruit.

Jesus extended an invitation to follow Him that promised rest for the weary but in the context of work.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30 NLT

He extends His invitation to those who are worn out from bearing the weight of trying to produce the fruit of righteousness on their own. They have exhausted themselves with their futile attempts to earn favor with God through self-effort. But notice that Jesus invites them into a shared work relationship characterized by the yoke. Jesus’ offer of salvation is not the promise of an extended vacation or a trouble-free life. The life of a disciple is characterized by effort and demonstrated by action. Jesus told His disciples to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19 NLT). They had work to do and effort would be required. But He promised to be with them.

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20 NLT

Jesus utilizes the imagery of the vine and the branch to convey this shared work relationship between Him and the disciple. The goal is fruitfulness. But fruitfulness cannot take place without fruit-bearing. In other words, the vine is dependent upon the branches to make the fruit possible. Abiding is the process by which the branch becomes productive and beneficial.

It is important to remember that Jesus is addressing the 11 disciples who have chosen to remain with Him. They are walking with Him as He makes His way across the Kidron Valley from the city of Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane. These men represent all those who have placed their faith and hope in Jesus. But Jesus is revealing that the real key to their future fruitfulness and faithfulness will be the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. As a result of His coming death, resurrection, and ascension, they will find themselves the recipients of the gift of the Holy Spirit. He will permanently attach them to the vine, allowing them to play a vital role in the fruit-bearing plans of God.

The emphasis in this passage is on fruitfulness, not fruitlessness. It is on the vinedresser’s purpose to reap a harvest of fruit through the vine and its branches. Jesus was not threatening His disciples with a loss of salvation. He was simply conveying that their future relationship with Him would be all about fruit-bearing. To not bear fruit would be illogical and unacceptable. The very fact that He describes God as the vinedresser who “prunes” the branches so they can bear even more fruit reinforces His point.

He calls His disciples to remain or abide in Him.

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4 NLT

This had immediate application, as the disciples faced the uncertainty of the circumstances surrounding them. Jesus knew that the next few hours were going to be trying and He was calling them to remain faithful and to continue believing in who He was. In a sense, they were about to be pruned, as God cut away all their preconceived notions regarding the Messiah. In just a matter of hours, all their lofty hopes and aspirations that Jesus would establish His Kingdom on earth would be shattered. But Jesus pleads with them to remain.

From the other gospel accounts, we know that the disciples would end up deserting Jesus. When the authorities came to arrest Jesus, they fled into the night. But there is a sense in which they remained. They stayed nearby. They stayed together. They maintained a faint flicker of hope as they faced an unknown and uncertain future.

But Jesus was assuring them that their days of fruitfulness were not over. He would still use them to do great things. But the primary lesson they were going to learn from it all was their total reliance upon Jesus for all things. Without Him, they could do nothing. They could produce no fruit apart from Him, and their lives after His return to heaven would be marked by complete dependence upon Him.

Even today, the disciple’s life is one of waiting, working, resting, cooperating, and relying on the “Vine” to produce the fruit that the “Vinedresser” longs to see.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Good News of Great Joy

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
    and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
    and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
    today I declare that I will restore to you double.
13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;
    I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
    against your sons, O Greece,
    and wield you like a warrior's sword. – Zechariah 9:9-13 ESV

Any Christian who reads these verses will likely recall gospel accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. All four gospel accounts describe Jesus entering the city mounted on the foal of a donkey, but only Matthew and John quote Zechariah 9:9, inferring that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy concerning Israel’s future king.

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
    sitting on a donkey's colt!”

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. – John 12:12-16 ESV

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” – Matthew 21:1-5 ESV

In both passages, Jesus is shown to be the one who orchestrates the details of His grand entrance into the city. He gives His disciples detailed instructions for finding and procuring the donkey and its foal because He had the Zechariah 9 passage in mind. Jesus was intentionally fulfilling the declaration His Father made to Zechariah nearly 500 years earlier. But this was not a case of play-acting on Jesus’ part. The gospels make it clear that the donkey and its foal had been pre-ordained for their part in the prophecy’s fulfillment. Luke records that Jesus sent two of His men to a specific village where they would find the two animals. While donkeys were ubiquitous in Judean villages, Jesus added the important distinction, “You will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat” (Luke 19:30 ESV).  

Jesus was not sending them to find any donkey or foal. He knew the village and the location of the two animals that were preordained for use in His dramatic, prophecy-fulfilling entrance into Jerusalem. Jesus even knew that the disciples would be questioned for their apparent purloining of the beasts and told them to respond, “The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately” (Mark 11:3 ESV).

The disciples must have found Jesus’ instructions to be a bit odd. John points out that they “didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy” (John 12:16 NLT). Even as faithful Jews, they didn’t have the Scriptural knowledge to associate Jesus’ actions with the prophecy in Zechariah. But John adds, “After Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him” (John 12:16 NLT).

For Christians, reading prophetic passages like those found in Zechariah 9 provides a sense of validation and evidence for Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. Yet, for the disciples, the events unfolding around them did not meet their Messianic expectations. They believed Jesus was the Messiah but few of His actions seemed to fit their vision for how this future King of Israel would make His appearance. They were looking for a conquering king who would appear on the scene and radically restore the fortunes of the people of Israel. Their understanding of Old Testament prophecy painted the image of a descendant of David riding into Jerusalem on a white horse and prepared to lead an insurrection against the occupying forces of Rome.

But Jesus had spent most of His ministry years teaching, performing miracles, debating with the Jewish religious leaders, and telling obscure, difficult-to-understand parables concerning His kingdom. Yet the disciples kept wondering when that kingdom would actually come. Even after His death and resurrection, they questioned whether He was getting ready to fulfill His Messianic responsibilities.

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” – Acts 1:6 NLT

Jesus understood their curiosity and their eager hope that His resurrection was the sign they had been looking for, but He simply answered, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.” (Acts 1:7 NLT).

With all this in mind, it’s easy to understand how Zechariah might have had reservations about the prophecy God had given him. He would have been familiar with the prophecies of men like Zephaniah who, more than three centuries earlier, had declared the following words of encouragement from the lips of Yahweh.

“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
    shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall never again fear evil.” – Zephaniah 3:14-15 ESV

Zechariah would have been well-versed with the writings of Isaiah.

For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen! – Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT

While living in Babylon, Zechariah would have been exposed to the writings of Daniel, a fellow exile who, a century earlier, had served in the Babylonian court and as a prophet of Yahweh. It was Daniel who was given a vision of Israel’s coming king and recorded it for posterity.

As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. – Daniel 7:13-14 NLT

Zechariah would also have been exposed to the writings of Jeremiah, another fellow prophet whose ministry preceded his by at least a century.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” – Jeremiah 23:5-6 ESV

So, when Yahweh told Zechariah, “Your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9 ESV), he would not have been surprised. But it’s likely he was slow to understand or comprehend the full scope of Yahweh’s words. As Zechariah stood in the still-dilapidated surroundings of Jerusalem, it must have been difficult for him to believe what he was hearing. The walls of the city remained little more than rubble. The houses were uninhabitable and the Temple was unfinished. The enemies of Israel were numerous and their opposition to the rebuilding efforts was relentless. And to top it all off, the Persians remained firmly in control of the entire region.

But almost as if to assuage Zechariah’s doubts, Yahweh provides the following description of what He will accomplish through the coming king.

“I will remove the battle chariots from Israel
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
    and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
    and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.” – Zechariah 9:10 NLT

Little did Zechariah know that these verses formed two bookends that covered the foretold the first and second comings of the Messiah. Verse 9 predicts Jesus in His first advent, entering Jerusalem at the end of His earthly ministry to serve as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). But verse 10 prophecies Jesus’ second advent when He returns to earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16). In His first coming, Jesus was the humble servant who willingly laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:15). He came to die for the sins of men, sacrificing His life in their place and offering His righteousness in exchange for their guilt. In His second advent, Jesus will return as the victorious King and deal a death blow to both sin and death. He will conquer the rebellious nations of the earth and render judgment against the unrighteous. 

Sandwiched in-between these two verses lies the entire Church Age. From the moment of Jesus’ ascension to His eventual return, the Church will be the focus of God’s ministry. It is not that He will take His eyes off of Israel or replace them with the Church, but that the growth and spread of the bride of Christ will be His primary concern. But as verse 10 makes clear, God will one day finish what He began with Israel. He will keep every promise He has made to His covenant people, including their restoration as a nation and the revitalization of their relationship with Him.

There was so much about this prophecy that Zechariah did not understand. But Yahweh was giving His faithful prophet a glimpse of His future plans for the people of Israel. Like the shepherds who received the angelic announcement concerning the birth of Jesus, Zechariah was the recipient of Yahweh’s good news of great joy.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” – Luke 2:8-14 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God of the Impossible

1 The oracle of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach
    and Damascus is its resting place.
For the Lord has an eye on mankind
    and on all the tribes of Israel,
2 and on Hamath also, which borders on it,
    Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3 Tyre has built herself a rampart
    and heaped up silver like dust,
    and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
4 But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
    and strike down her power on the sea,
    and she shall be devoured by fire.

5 Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
    Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
    Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
    Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
6 a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod,
    and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
7 I will take away its blood from its mouth,
    and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
    it shall be like a clan in Judah,
    and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
    so that none shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again march over them,
    for now I see with my own eyes. – Zechariah 9:1-8 ESV 

Yahweh now delivers an oracle to Zechariah. The Hebrew word translated as “oracle” is maśśā', which means “to lift up” or “to bear up.” Figuratively, it could refer to a pronouncement or prophecy that had a “burden” or “weight” associated with it. In this case, Yahweh is predicting the coming destruction of Israel’s many enemies. At the same time, He is announcing the coming of Israel’s long-awaited King and Messiah. The first eight verses paint a bleak and inescapable future for the nations that have stood opposed to Israel’s well-being for centuries. Zechariah is informed that each of these pagan nations will suffer the consequences for their treatment of God’s chosen people.

Yahweh lists a variety of cities surrounding Jerusalem, from Damascus in the north to Ashkelon in the south. He begins His list in the north in the region known as Hadrach, but He focuses His oracle on the city of Damascus. From there, Yahweh moves south, listing the names of additional doomed cities as He makes His way to Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza. This north-to-south route is significant because it mirrors the path the Assyrians and Babylonians took when they conquered Israel and Judah. Earlier prophets had predicted the coming destruction of the northern and southern kingdoms by these two nations, a fate ordained by God for His people’s continued rebellion against Him.

“But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north.
From the east he will call on my name.
I will give him victory over kings and princes.
He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.” – Isaiah 41:25 NLT

“Yes,” the Lord said, “for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land. Listen! I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem. I, the Lord, have spoken!

“They will set their thrones
at the gates of the city.
They will attack its walls
and all the other towns of Judah.
I will pronounce judgment
on my people for all their evil—
for deserting me and burning incense to other gods.
Yes, they worship idols made with their own hands!” – Jeremiah 1:14-16 NLT

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon against Tyre. He is king of kings and brings his horses, chariots, charioteers, and great army. First he will destroy your mainland villages. Then he will attack you by building a siege wall, constructing a ramp, and raising a roof of shields against you.He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers. The hooves of his horses will choke the city with dust, and the noise of the charioteers and chariot wheels will shake your walls as they storm through your broken gates. His horsemen will trample through every street in the city. They will butcher your people, and your strong pillars will topple.” – Ezekiel 7:7-11 NLT

Yahweh is announcing His intention to take the same path of destruction to mete out judgment upon the enemies of His people. He will begin in the north with Damascus and work His way down the coast to the land of the Philistines.

This prophecy was partially fulfilled in 333 B.C. when Alexander the Great passed through the region on his way to Egypt. He focused his attention on the coastal cities, destroying all ports used by the Achaemenid Empire but leaving the Jews relatively undisturbed. Alexander’s march to the south left many of these same cities destroyed but they would eventually rise from the ashes and continue their mistreatment of the people of Israel. What Yahweh has in store for them will be far more destructive and permanent than anything they suffered at the hands of the Greeks.

The English Standard Version translates verse 1 as “the LORD has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel.” While it is obvious that the all-knowing, all-seeing Yahweh is always watching over the affairs of men, most translators render this verse differently.

…the eyes of humanity, including all the tribes of Israel, are on the LORD. – NLT

…the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the LORD. – BSB

…for the eyes of mankind, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the LORD. – NASB

This human-based perspective is important because it indicates that all will know and understand that this future judgment is the work of Yahweh. Everyone will comprehend the divine nature of the destruction. This won’t be the work of some world super-power, it will be the hand of Adonai, the LORD of Hosts.

…the Lord will strip away Tyre’s possessions
and hurl its fortifications into the sea,
and it will be burned to the ground.– Zechariah 9:4 NLT 

The city of Ashkelon will see Tyre fall
and will be filled with fear.
Gaza will shake with terror,
as will Ekron, for their hopes will be dashed.
Gaza’s king will be killed,
and Ashkelon will be deserted.– Zechariah 9:4 NLT

These powerful, wealthy, and influential cities will suffer fear, humiliation, and elimination at the hands of Israel’s God. Their wealth will do them no good. Their armies will be impotent and unable to defend them. The once-great Philistine empire that had plagued the people of Israel for centuries would fall, never to rise again. The oracle even predicts the conversion of any Philistines who manage to make it out alive.

Then the surviving Philistines will worship our God
    and become like a clan in Judah.
The Philistines of Ekron will join my people,
    as the ancient Jebusites once did. – Zechariah 9:7 NLT

The content of this oracle must have been difficult for Zechariah to get his head around. It was good news but it all sounded so far-fetched and impossible. It didn’t get any more believable when God claimed, “I will guard my Temple and protect it from invading armies. I am watching closely to ensure that no more foreign oppressors overrun my people’s land” (Zechariah 9:8 NLT).

God was telling Zechariah incredible news regarding Israel's future. Not only will Israel be restored, Jerusalem rebuilt, and the Temple completed, but the people of Israel will prosper, filling the land, and serving Him faithfully. Things were going to be radically different. Instead of punishing His people as He had done in the past, God was going to bless them abundantly and restore them to favor. This news had to be difficult for Zechariah to comprehend as he looked around at a partially completed foundation on the Temple, the broken-down walls, and the demoralized remnant who struggled to fulfill the task God had given them due to the scope of the project and the presence of opposition. Yet, Yahweh had assured Zechariah that He was the God of the impossible.

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies." – Zechariah 8:6 NLT

It's as if God said, "I know this doesn't look so good right now, but don't judge Me based on what you see." Yahweh wanted Zechariah to focus on His promises, not the pressing problems that seemed to never go away. 

Yahweh knew that Zechariah and the beleaguered people of Judah were struggling to keep the faith. They were growing weary and questioning whether all their hard work would be worth it. So, God pointed them to the future. He predicted a brighter tomorrow that was beyond their powers of comprehension. But He had proven Himself faithful in the past and could be trusted to fulfill His plans for the future.

Yet, God’s people have always struggled with doubt and the inability to take God at His word. Even today, those who claim to believe in an all-powerful, promise-keeping God, find themselves wondering where He is and what He is doing. They take a look at their current circumstances and make sweeping judgments regarding everything from God's faithfulness and presence to His love and power. When things don't go well, God’s people automatically assume that He is either angry or oblivious to their needs. He is upset and punishing them. He is out of touch and ignorant of them. Their prayers don't get answered, so they conclude He does not hear or does not care.

In time, their view of life begins to influence their view of God. In a sense, Yahweh tells Zechariah, "I know this all seems impossible to you right now. After all, there's just a handful of you and the job is far from complete. BUT THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU!"

The point of it all was that God could do the impossible. He knew what was going on and was well aware of the situation taking place in Jerusalem. He had a full grasp of the facts regarding the status of the Temple, the presence of opposition, the size of the workforce, and the condition of their hearts. Which explains the depth and detail of His message to Zechariah.

He told Zechariah, "Be strong and finish the task!" (Zechariah 8:9 NLT) and “Don't be afraid. Be strong, and get on with rebuilding the Temple" (Zechariah 8:13 NLT). It wasn't about their strength and ability to get things done, it was about their faith and trust in a God who could do ANYTHING. They just needed to do what He had called them to do and leave the rest up to Him. God had returned them to the promised land, provided a royal edict to secure their work, and secured the funds to pay for the entire restoration project. He had done His part but they had failed to complete theirs. It was far too easy for them to look at their relative lack of success and the overwhelming size of the task and become disillusioned.

The same thing can be true of us. We get overwhelmed by circumstances and begin to feel we are in over our heads. We start to wonder if God is with us at all. But whenever we think it's all up to us, we miss the point. Nothing is impossible for God. There is nothing He can't handle. There is nothing we face that is outside of His sovereign control and divine will. Like Zechariah and the people of Judah, we must constantly remind ourselves that nothing is impossible for God. That's the message we need to hear. There is nothing that He can't do. There is not a single circumstance that is out of His ability or power to handle. And not only that, but nothing is impossible for God. That's the message of the Bible. It is all about God, not us. It is about His power, His will, His promises, His faithfulness, His salvation, His Kingdom, and His ability to finish what He has begun and restore what is broken. Nothing is impossible for Him.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God’s Ultimate Victory Over Wickedness

5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” 6 And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” 7 And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! 8 And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.

9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He said to me, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.” – Zechariah 5:5-11 ESV

In the previous vision, Zechariah was shown a super-sized scroll containing the names of all those guilty of theft and swearing. Due to its enormous dimensions and subject matter, this scroll likely contained the names of every person living in Judah, including Zechariah, Zerubbabel, and Joshua. In a real sense, the entire nation stood condemned before Yahweh, because each of them was guilty of robbing Him of glory and failing to keep the oath they had sworn to obey His commands. Zerubbabel had led a small contingent of Judahites back to Judah for the express purpose of rebuilding the Temple and yet, the Temple remained unfinished. So God sent a message to Zerubbabel through Haggai the prophet.

“Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?” – Haggai 1:4 NLT

They had failed to keep their word. The whole reason for their return was to build a house for God, but they had stolen from Yahweh by using their time and resources to build homes for themselves. So, God warned them to change their ways or suffer the consequences. He demanded heart change that results in transformed actions. Failure to do so would bring judgment and removal.

But Zechariah's visions were far from over. With the image of the scroll still in his mind, Zechariah looks up and sees a large basket. The Hebrew word is 'êp̄â or ephah, which was a unit of measurement. This basket or receptacle was a common tool of commerce used to measure goods for sale. It served as an ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure, roughly equivalent to a bushel, or approximately 5.8 gallons. Like the scroll, the basket was probably oversized and unrecognizable to Zechariah because it didn't have the dimensions of a normal ephah. In fact, this ephah was large enough to contain “the sins of everyone throughout the land” (Zechariah 5:6 NLT).

But as Zechariah looked on, the angel ordered the leaden lid of the basket to be lifted.  Inside was a woman who the angel describes as “Wickedness.” She is meant to symbolize the iniquity of the people and represents the allure of evil that draws them away from God. Proverbs 6 contains the words of a father encouraging his son to listen to his instructions. He is attempting to prepare his son to face the temptations of the world, which he compares to an evil, adulterous woman.

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
    and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
to preserve you from the evil woman,
    from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
    and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes. – Proverbs 6:23-25 ESV

The previous Proverbs contains an equally negative description of this “wicked” woman.

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
    sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
    her steps follow the path to Sheol;
she does not ponder the path of life;
    her ways wander, and she does not know it. – Proverbs 5:3-6 ESV

This image of the seductive and sin-tempting woman is found throughout Scripture. In the Book of Deuteronomy, God warns the Israelites not to give their sons in marriage to the daughters of the Canaanites, because, “they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you” (Deuteronomy 7:4 BSB).

The Book of Ecclesiastes also paints a less-than-flattering picture of this female icon of sexual promiscuity and moral degradation.

I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare. – Ecclesiastes 7:26 NLT

It should not be overlooked that both Ecclesiastes and Proverbs were authored by Solomon, the great king of Israel. As the son of David, Solomon succeeded his father to the throne of Israel and was blessed by God with great wealth and wisdom. But he had an Achilles Heel: His love for women. God had prohibited the kings of Israel from acquiring many wives for themselves because these women would end up distracting the king from his commitment to God and his concerns for the kingdom (Deuteronomy 17:17 ESV).

The Book of 1 Kings describes what happened to Solomon.

The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. – 1 Kings 11:2-3 NLT

So when Solomon warned about the allure of the “seductive woman,” he did so from personal experience.

The Book of Revelation also provides a final, climactic warning about the allure of “wickedness.” In chapter 17, the apostle John describes a vision he was given of “the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many waters” (Revelation 17:1 NLT). John is told that this “woman,” who is obviously symbolic, has negatively impacted on the world.

“The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.” – Revelation 17:2 NLT

John is then given a vision of another woman, “sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it” (Revelation 17:3 NLT).

The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.” I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement. – Revelation 17:4-5 NLT

From the days of Solomon to the end times, the “wickedness” that allures and entices the godly will continue to spread and grow. Even before the second coming of Christ, the seductive woman will attempt to seduce and destroy all those who believe in Him.

Yet, in his vision, Zechariah watched as two divine beings flew into view, picking up the basket and carrying it away. “Wickedness,” which symbolized the iniquity of the people, was being removed, but Zechariah was curious about its destination. The angel informed him that the basket and its evil content were being taken “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base” (Zechariah 17:11 NLT). 

The land of Shinar was where Babylon was located. This imagery of the stork-like beings taking the sin-filled basket to Babylon was meant to remind Zechariah that God had punished the people of Judah for their sins by sending them into exile in Babylon. But they had returned. Their sins had been forgiven and God was giving them a second chance. But there is another sense in which this vision points to the future. Zechariah is being told that the rise of wickedness will ultimately culminate in the land of Shinar. In the end times, during the Great Tribulation, wickedness will grow rampant on the earth, and, under the reign of the Antichrist, the people of God will suffer great persecution.

In Zechariah’s day, wickedness would continue to be an ever-present problem. But God would not pour out His wrath as He did before. He would remove the penalty for wickedness, delaying its execution for a later date. Once again, John was given insight into these last-day events. God has a plan to deal with “wickedness” once and for all.

“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
    She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul spirit,
    a hideout for every foul vulture
    and every foul and dreadful animal.
For all the nations have fallen
    because of the wine of her passionate immorality.
The kings of the world
    have committed adultery with her.
Because of her desires for extravagant luxury,
    the merchants of the world have grown rich.” – Revelation 18:2-3 NLT

And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out,

“How terrible, how terrible for you,
    O Babylon, you great city!
In a single moment
    God’s judgment came on you.” – Revelation 18:9-10 NLT

Zechariah was given a vision of God’s grand plan for the sins of the world. He had no idea what it all meant but he could have confidence that God knew what He was doing. The future was secure. All Zechariah needed to do was convey God’s message to the people and ensure they kept their commitment to rebuilding the Temple. God would take care of the rest.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Day of the Lord Is Near

15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
    your deeds shall return on your own head.
16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
    so all the nations shall drink continually;
they shall drink and swallow,
    and shall be as though they had never been.
17 But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,
    and it shall be holy,
and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
    and the house of Joseph a flame,
    and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
    and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken. – Obadiah 1:15-18 ESV

The text of the prophecy now turns from Edom to Israel, with the author conveying God’s plans to redeem and restore His chosen people. While the descendants of Esau would suffer judgment for their unjust treatment of the Israelites, God would bless the descendants of Jacob. The “day of the Lord” is a common prophetic phrase that refers to God intervening in human affairs to carry out His will and enact justice on Earth.

Declaring His intent to enact the law of lex talionis, God warns all of Israel’s enemies, including the Edomites, “As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.” (Odadiah 1:15 NLT). No one will escape God’s wrath or avoid His coming judgment.

This coming day of the Lord was a future event but it would have present implications for the people of Edom. Their demise would come soon and swiftly. Because of the violence they had inflicted on Israel, they faced imminent destruction. God’s predictions concerning their fall were graphic and detailed.

“I will bring you crashing down…” – Obadiah 1:4 NLT

“…your enemies will wipe you out completely!” – Obadiah 1:5 NLT

“Every nook and cranny of Edom will be searched and looted.” – Obadiah 1:6 NLT

“Every treasure will be found and taken.” – Obadiah 1:6 NLT

“All your allies will turn against you. They will help to chase you from your land.” – Obadiah 1:7 NLT

“Your trusted friends will set traps for you…” – Obadiah 1:8 NLT

“I will destroy everyone who has understanding.” – Obadiah 1:8 NLT

God’s judgment would be complete and inescapable.

“…everyone on the mountains of Edom will be cut down in the slaughter.” – Obadiah 1:9 NLT

This devastating prediction of Edom’s fall was near rather than far away. Like all biblical prophecies, this one has a now-not-yet dimension. It is impossible to know what future event God had in mind but most biblical scholars generally agree that it has already been fulfilled. One option is the rebellion of the Edomites during the reign of King Jehoram.

During Jehoram’s reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king. So Jehoram went with all his chariots to attack the town of Zair. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he went out at night and attacked them under cover of darkness. But Jehoram’s army deserted him and fled to their homes. So Edom has been independent from Judah to this day. – 2 Kings 8:20-22

Others believe Obadiah’s prophecy concerns the Babylonian invasion of Judah in 586 B.C. As the people of Judah suffered defeat at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar’s forces, the Edomites took advantage of the confusion by attacking their blood brothers and enriching themselves with the spoils from their towns and villages. The prophet Ezekiel recorded God’s warning of the judgment they would face for their treachery.

“Your eternal hatred for the people of Israel led you to butcher them when they were helpless, when I had already punished them for all their sins. As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come! I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return. I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your ravines will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword. I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 35:5-9 NLT

Regardless of which event God had in mind, the prophecy contained in Obadiah would take place sooner rather than later. The Edomites were minor players in God’s end-times drama. They would disappear from the scene only to be replaced by other nations that would treat God’s people with the same scorn and disdain. But God warns that these nations will also “drink and stagger and disappear from history” (Obadiah 1:16 NLT).

The hatred for God’s people would continue with successive waves of attack being carried out by a seemingly endless stream of hostile forces aligned against the descendants of Jacob. This prophecy is still being fulfilled today as the nation of Israel and the Jewish people endure a never-ending onslaught of hatred and calls for genocide against them. Yet God informs His people that their elimination is not an option; He will not allow it. In His providence, He will bring about their protection and preservation as a nation. 

“But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,
    and it shall be holy,
and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.” – Obadiah 1:17 NLT

Mount Zion refers to the mountain range on which Jerusalem sits. Though the capital city of Israel will continue to come under siege and face ongoing opposition, God will spare a remnant of His people and ensure the city’s role as a refuge for the people of God. 

“But Jerusalem will become a refuge for those who escape;
    it will be a holy place.
And the people of Israel will come back
    to reclaim their inheritance.” – Obadiah 1:17 NLT

As the prophecy makes clear, the nation of Edom would eventually meet its demise. To this day, there is no nation of Edom. But their elimination would not end the persecution of God's people. Over the centuries, other nations have appeared on the scene whose goal has been the persecution and eventual eradication of God’s people. But God has promised to sustain His people and maintain His covenant commitments to them. 

“The people of Israel will be a raging fire,
    and Edom a field of dry stubble.
The descendants of Joseph will be a flame
    roaring across the field, devouring everything.
There will be no survivors in Edom.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!” – Obadiah 1:18 NLT

Edom serves as a stand-in for all the other antagonistic and godless nations that will dare to stand opposed to God’s chosen people. Their efforts will be thwarted by God Almighty. Any attempt to destroy Israel will be unsuccessful and, ultimately, futile. God has plans for His people and nothing will prevent Him from fulfilling those plans and carrying out His sovereign will. As He told the Israelites living in exile in Babylon, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 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 29:10-11 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

A Greater Love

1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. – 3 John 1:1-4 ESV

Of the three letters John penned, this one appears to be the most personal in nature. It is addressed to someone called Gaius, an individual for whom John held strong affection. He refers to him as “beloved” Gaius. The Greek word John used is agapētos, which means “well-loved.” We know nothing about the relationship between these two men, but Gaius was obviously someone John loved dearly.

This letter is considered to be one of the pastoral epistles, written by an apostle to an individual. Like the letters Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus, this letter was meant to be circulated and shared. While its message was intended for Gaius, it was meant to benefit all believers. John’s heartfelt words were written with Gaius in mind but the Holy Spirit superintended his message so that it had universal appeal and application.

During the 1st century, Gaius was a common Greek name, and there are a number of men mentioned in the New Testament who share that appellation (Acts 19:29, 20:4; 1 Corinthians 1:14; Romans 16:23) . We have no way of knowing who this particular individual was or the nature of his relationship to John. It is likely that he lived somewhere in Asia Minor and had a connection to the local congregation to whom John wrote in his second letter.

Nowhere in this letter does the author mention his name; he simply introduces himself as “the elder.” This is the same way the Book of 2 John begins. His reticence to mention his name may be due to the growing threat of persecution which had become a pressing problem for the early church.

While the letter does not explicitly state its author, church tradition has long considered it to be the work of the apostle John. This letter bears all the hallmarks of John’s unique writing style. While 2 John and 3 John are both anonymous, they were included in the canon of Scripture with the understanding that John was their author.

In his salutation to Gaius, John utilizes the same wording he used in his second letter. He describes Gaius as someone he loves “in truth” (3 John 1:1 ESV). Four times in four verses, John brings up the topic of truth; something he also addressed in his second letter. John is not simply saying, “I love you, and that’s the truth;” he is making a theological statement. In his second letter, he qualified his greeting to the local congregation to whom he wrote by adding, “because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever” (2 John 1:1 ESV).

John was letting Gaius know that his love for him was based on far more than brotherly affection. This was not phileo love but agape love. The Greek language has four basic words that can be translated into our English word “love,” but they each carry a different meaning. Storge was used to refer to the kind of affection love one might have for their spouse or child. The Greek word eros was used when referring to passionate or sexual love. Phileo was typically reserved for describing the deep-seated affection between two friends. Philadelphia means “brotherly love.”

But John specifically chose the word agape to describe his love for Gaius. In fact, he used the agapētos which means “well-beloved,” and he adds that this love was in truth. This wasn’t a self-manufactured love or a love based on Gaius’ loveable personality. It was a gift from God and solely based on God’s love for sinful humanity. John wanted his friend to know that his love for him went well beyond mere brotherly affection. It was deeper and more significant than that.

John knew that he was loved by God and he was passing that love on to his friend. God’s gracious, unmerited love, as displayed in the gift of His Son, is what made it possible for John to love others, including Gaius. He was able to love because God had first loved him (1 John 4:19). God had showered John with His unconditional love and filled him with the Holy Spirit, providing him with the capacity to love others more completely and compassionately. John’s love for Gaius was a lay-it-all-on-the-line kind of love. It was sacrificial and not superficial. It was permanent and not passing. It was the love of one redeemed and forgiven sinner for another. They shared a common faith in Jesus Christ and had been adopted into the same family by God the Father. Paul describes this unique, shared relationship this way:

…you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. – Romans 8:15-17 NLT

So, John wanted Gaius to know that their mutual love was based on the truth of God’s love for them. God had loved them enough to send His Son to die for them. John wrote about this marvelous display of God’s love in his first letter.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. – 1 John 4:7-11 ESV

John’s love for Gaius extended to his desire that his brother and friend experience health and wholeness, both physically and spiritually.

I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul… – 3 John 1:2 ESV

For John, spiritual well-being superseded physical health and prosperity. He knew that growth in godliness was not a guarantee of physical comfort and ease. As he knew from personal experience, a life of Christlikeness was often accompanied by pain and suffering. John could still recall the words of Jesus declaring the reality of hardship for those who place their faith in Him.

“Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 NLT

John was probably familiar with the words of Paul and Barnabas, spoken to the saints in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia. As these two men traveled through these regions, visiting the local churches, “they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22 NLT).

John knew suffering and sorrow were common features of the walk of faith. But he let Gaius know that he was praying for his health. He had no wish to see his friend suffer hardship, so he made it a habit to ask God to protect and prosper Gaius physically and spiritually.

But John was especially grateful to hear of Gaius’ spiritual growth. He rejoiced greatly upon receiving news that Gaius was “walking in the truth” (3 John 1:3 ESV). This young man’s life was marked by a commitment to the truth of the gospel. The love of God, as exhibited in the sacrifice of His Son for the sins of man, was making a difference in Gaius’ life. It permeated every area of his life. His faith in Christ, marked by his belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, had proven to be all-encompassing. His behavior was consistent with his professed belief in the saving work of Jesus.

And John let Gaius know just how much this pleased him.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. – 3 John 1:4 ESV

Paul expressed a similar sentiment to the believers in Philippi:

…complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:2-4 ESV

Gaius was living out his faith in tangible ways that others could see. His belief in Christ was radically altering his behavior, and this brought great joy to his friend and mentor. As an apostle of Jesus Christ and an elder with oversight for the body of Christ, John found great satisfaction in witnessing believers live out their faith in daily life. He expressed this sentiment to the local congregation to whom he wrote his second letter.

How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded. – 2 John 1:4 NLT

While John could not guarantee Gaius a life free from trouble and marked by physical health and prosperity, he could encourage his friend to continue in the faith, allowing the truth of the Gospel to saturate and sanctify his every thought and deed. His desire for Gaius’ spiritual growth echoed the sentiment of Paul for the believers in Philippi.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. – Philippians 1:27 ESV

Gaius was loving and living in the truth of the gospel and John was pleased. Like a proud father, John expressed his admiration for his young friend and encouraged him to stay the course. Life would be difficult but Gaius was headed down the right path.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

For Your Own Sake, O Lord

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. 12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” – Daniel 9:1-19 ESV

This chapter opens with a second mention of Darius the Mede ruling over the kingdom of the Chaldeans. His name first appeared in chapter six in reference to an earlier event in Daniel’s life. He is the one who made a decree that for 30 days all the citizens of his kingdom must pray to him alone. His fateful decision had been at the prompting of his counselors who were jealous of Daniel and hoping to get rid of him. They were the ones who suggested that the penalty for disobeying the king’s order would be death by being fed to the lion.

There has been much debate as to the identity of Darius because no extra-biblical records contain any mention of a Babylonian or Medo-Persian king by that name. As was stated in our discussion of the events in chapter six, the simplest solution to this problem may lie in the meaning of the name “Darius.” It is of Aramaic origin and translates as “lord.” It was likely a title rather than a proper name. It seems that the author purposefully chose to leave out the name of the king involved in the story. He also provides scant details to help determine the date of the events recorded in this chapter. It is as if Darius was intended to represent all the “lords” who ruled over the kingdom of Babylon and its successor, the Medo-Persian empire.

But regardless of who Darius was, the events recorded in this chapter most likely happened toward the end of Daniel’s life when he was in his early 80s. Even in his latter years, Daniel remains faithful to Yahweh. Somehow he had received a copy of the letters that Jeremiah the prophet had written to the exiles living in Babylon. Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem but was commissioned by God to deliver a message to all those who had been taken captive by the Babylonians at the fall of Jerusalem. The letter was intended for “the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar” (Jeremiah 29:1 NLT), and here is what it said:

This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” – Jeremiah 29:4-7 NLT

Daniel had managed to get his hands on some of the correspondence between Jeremiah and the Hebrew people living in Babylon. It also seems apparent that he had access to some of Jeremiah’s other writings. This faithful and aging servant of Yahweh remained uncompromised in his convictions despite his long tenure in the Babylonian administration. One of the reasons for his undiminished faith was that he stayed in touch with his God. He was obviously a man of prayer. But he was also a man of the Word. This chapter reveals that Daniel was reading from the writings of Jeremiah the prophet.

Under God’s direction, Jeremiah had faithfully sent letters reminding the Israelites to make the most of their time in Babylon but to never forget that there would be an end to their exile. God had told Jeremiah that their period of suffering would last 70 years and then they would be restored to the land.

When Daniel pens the words of this chapter, the people of Israel have been in captivity for about 67 years. He has spent most of his adult life in Babylon and upon reading the words of Jeremiah, he discovers that the fulfillment of God’s promise is drawing near. But rather than sit back, Daniel prays. What prompted this reaction was what he found written in Jeremiah's prophesy:

This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land." – Jeremiah 29:10-14 NLT

It seems likely that he also read Jeremiah's reaction when God commanded him to buy a field just before the Babylonians invaded Judah.

"O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field – paying good money for it before these witnesses – even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians." – Jeremiah 32:25 NLT

God’s command made no sense to Jeremiah. It was a bad time to be investing in land but Jeremiah did as the Lord commanded because he understood God's unfailing love and believed that God would fulfill His promise to restore Israel to the land one day. Jeremiah's investment was based on the integrity of God.

Daniel read the words of Jeremiah and his response was one of prayer and fasting. His prayer was full of repentance on behalf of the people, and he included himself in their guilt. He appealed to God's mercy. He praised God for His unfailing love and unwavering commitment to keep His promises. He acknowledged that their restoration would have nothing to do with their own merit; it would be for God's sake and the honor of His name. Despite their years of rebellion and sin, God would forgive and restore them.

This entire chapter is reminiscent of the words God spoke at the dedication of the Temple that Solomon built for God’s glory. Yahweh told them that if they failed to be faithful, He would bring punishment. But if they repented, He would restore them.

"Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land." – 2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

Now, centuries later, Daniel is reminded of God’s promise of restoration and challenged by the need for humility, repentance, and prayer. So, he takes it upon himself to step up and do what God commanded. Even after all the decades of living in Babylon, Daniel longed to go home to Judah. Yet, he knew that God expected a change of heart among His people. Repentance must precede restoration.

Daniel was not bitter with God. He did not shake his fist in the face of God and demand an explanation or compensation for damages done. Instead, he openly confessed the sins of his people and justified God’s actions.

“You have kept your word and done to us and our rulers exactly as you warned. Never has there been such a disaster as happened in Jerusalem. Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses has come true. Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth.” – Daniel 9:12-13 NLT

Despite their exile, the people of Israel remained defiant and unrepentant. But not Daniel. He was ready to see God work and so he was ready to confess and call out for God’s mercy. He reminds God of His previous rescue of the people from their captivity in Egypt. He believes that God can do it again but knows that God is looking for repentant hearts among His people. This leads Daniel to cry out, “O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city—the city that bears your name—lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy” (Daniel 9:18 NLT).

He knew they didn’t deserve God’s favor so he called on God to preserve the integrity of His own name. Daniel realized he was asking a lot but believed Yahweh to be a covenant-keeping God who always kept His word.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New English Translation (NET)NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Jehovah-Go’el

24 Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?
    Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go?
25 But the Lord says,
“The captives of warriors will be released,
    and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.
For I will fight those who fight you,
    and I will save your children.
26 I will feed your enemies with their own flesh.
    They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood.
All the world will know that I, the Lord,
    am your Savior and your Redeemer,
    the Mighty One of Israel.” – Isaiah 49:24-26 NLT

YHWH-Gā'al – The LORD Your Redeemer.” These verses are part of an extended section within the Book of Isaiah that reveals God’s plan to return Israel from their captivity in Babylon and restore them to the land of Canaan. Their exile as slaves in a foreign land had been the result of God’s judgment for their apostasy and spiritual adultery. He had warned them repeatedly, using prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah to carry His message of repentance. But His chosen people had proved too stubborn and unwilling to give up their love affair with false gods and the pleasures of this world. Over the centuries, they had compromised their convictions and grown complacent regarding their status as God’s treasured possession. They had violated their covenant commitment to Him and, as a result, had suffered the consequences of their disobedience.

God had made clear His intentions to bless them if they obeyed.

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God…” – Deuteronomy 28:1-2 NLT

But He had also warned them of the dire consequences of their disobedience.

“But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you…” – Deuteronomy 28:15 NLT

God provided a list of devastating outcomes for their refusal to live according to His will and in keeping with His commands, including their defeat at the hands of a foreign power and their forced removal from the Land of Promise.

“The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.” – Deuteronomy 28:36-37 NLT

By the time Isaiah penned the words found in Isaiah 49, the Babylonians had already defeated the Israelites living in the southern kingdom of Judah, destroying the capital city of Jerusalem and its glorious Temple.

But in chapters 49-52, God reveals His plans for Israel’s future redemption and restoration, and declares His intentions to do so through the aid of His “Servant.” First, He promises a day when He, Jehovah-Go'el will transform Israel’s fate.

The LORD, the Redeemer
    and Holy One of Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,
    to the one who is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.
    Princes will also bow low
because of the Lord, the faithful one,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” – Isaiah 49:7 NLT

Despite Israel’s rebellion and refusal to keep their covenant commitments, God would reject those He had chosen as His own. He had punished them justly and appropriately, but He would also restore them graciously and mercifully. They did not deserve to be saved. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel records God’s indictment of their unfaithfulness even while in exile.

“Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.” – Ezekiel 36:22-24 NLT

Yet, God was determined to keep His covenant promises and see that His people were restored to the land He had given them as their inheritance. For anyone familiar with the history of Israel, it would be easy to assume that the Isaiah 49 passage addresses Israel’s return from captivity under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. As God had promised, the exiled Israelites began returning to Judah in 538 B.C.E. Through a series of God-ordained events, a remnant of the Israelites were given permission to make the long journey home so that they might restore Jerusalem, rebuild the Temple, and repopulate the land of Judah.

But Isaiah seems to have something far more significant in mind. In chapters 49-52, he describes a restoration that exceeds anything Israel experienced under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. In chapter 52, he writes of a day when only the pure and godly will enter the gates of Jerusalem.

Wake up, wake up, O Zion!
Clothe yourself with strength.
Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem,
for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer.
Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem.
Sit in a place of honor.
Remove the chains of slavery from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
For this is what the Lord says:
“When I sold you into exile,
I received no payment.
Now I can redeem you
without having to pay for you.” – Isaiah 52:1-3 NLT

These verses describe a different restoration with far-reaching implications for Israel and the world. Isaiah describes a far-distant day when God will redeem and restore Israel once and for all.

Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song,
    for the Lord has comforted his people.
    He has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has demonstrated his holy power
    before the eyes of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth will see
    the victory of our God. – Isaiah 52:9-10 NLT

What Ezra and Nehemiah accomplished in leading the exiles back to the land of Judah cannot be overlooked. They took on the gargantuan task of rebuilding the ruins of Jerusalem under great duress and significant opposition. However, their efforts, while ultimately successful, do not match what Isaiah describes.

After their return to Judah, the Israelites were surrounded by enemies and under constant threat of annihilation. They had no king and no standing army, making them an easy target for any nation that coveted their fertile and well-watered land. It would not be long before they found themselves under the thumb of yet another world power when the Romans invaded the land and became their overlords. Their occupation began in 68 B.C.E. and was still going on when Jesus appeared on the scene.

But Jesus’ arrival adds another important element to the prophecies of Isaiah because He is the “servant” of whom Isaiah wrote. The descriptions of this coming servant mirror the life of Jesus, both in His incarnation but also in His future return.

“The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom,
    so that I know how to comfort the weary.
Morning by morning he wakens me
    and opens my understanding to his will.
The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me,
    and I have listened.
    I have not rebelled or turned away.
I offered my back to those who beat me
    and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face
    from mockery and spitting.

“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,
    I will not be disgraced.
Therefore, I have set my face like a stone,
    determined to do his will.
    And I know that I will not be put to shame.” – Isaiah 50:4-7 NLT

These verses are mirrored by the gospel writers when they describe the abuse Jesus suffered during His trials before the Sanhedrin and the Roman governor Pilate. Jesus confessed His unflinching determination to do His Father’s will when He said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38 ESV). Though He knew what would happen when He arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus set His face like a stone and made the journey anyway (Luke 9:51).

Jesus was the servant whom God promised to send. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to redeem all those who were enslaved to sin and condemned to death. He was Jehovah-Go'el, the LORD Our Redeemer. According the Isaiah, it was always God's plan to send His Servant to redeem what was lost and, as Paul states, “because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV).

But Jesus is not yet done. While He has finished His atoning work on the cross, He has not completed the mission God gave Him. He will one day return and fulfill His role as Jehovah-Go'el. the Savior and Redeemer of God’s chosen people, the Israelites. Every covenant promise God made to them will be fulfilled – in Christ.

”For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

“And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God.” – Ezekiel 36:24-28 NLT

God is a redeeming God. From the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed His divine directive in the garden, He has been on a relentless quest to restore what was damaged by the fall. But this quest is not some sort of Don Quixote-esque ill-fated hope for a non-existent future; it is based on a pre-ordained outcome that was established before the foundation of the world. In other words, the fall was not a fly in the ointment for God. It did not come as a surprise to God or require Him to formulate a Plan B to replace His obviously flawed and failed Plan A.

No, the redemption of Israel and the redemption of sinful humanity was always a part of God’s strategic plan, and you see it mapped out in these chapters of Isaiah. Redemption has always been part of God’s sovereign, providential will. Israel’s rebellion and subsequent punishment was not an unscheduled detour in God’s road map of redemption; it was a pre-planned, pre-scheduled stop along the way. God had always planned to redeem Israel because He had always intended for His “Servant” to be an Israelite. He had to be born of the seed of Abraham and come from the lineage of David so that He could one day sit on the throne of David and rule over the redeemed and restored nation of Israel. As Isaiah wrote in an earlier portion of his book, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a redeemer for His rebellious people, including both Jews and Gentiles.

For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen! – Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Jehovah-Nissi

8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” – Exodus 17;8-16 ESV

YHWH-Nissi – the LORD is my Banner. Like many of the other names of God, this one was coined by one of His servants; in this case, it was Moses. While this is one of the more familiar names of God, its meaning is sometimes difficult to grasp. Yet the context of the story recorded in Exodus provides insight into what prompted Moses had in mind when he built an altar to God and named it “The LORD is my banner.

On this occasion, Moses is leading the people of Israel to the land of Canaan. He had been used by God to deliver them from their captivity in Egypt and was in the process of guiding them across the barren Sinai peninsula to the land that God had promised to them as their inheritance. While their escape from Egypt had been divinely orchestrated by God and inaugurated with their miraculous crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground, the rest of journey had not been easy or trouble-free.

One month after leaving Egypt, this rag-tag group of former slaves arrived at the wilderness of Sin, hungry and tired. It is estimated that there were as many as one and a half million men, women, and children under Moses’ direction and this large entourage would have consumed massive quantities of food and water. Moses was likely forced to ration their resources to ensure they could make it to Canaan without starving to death. So when they arrived at Sin, the people expressed their frustration with Moses, saying, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:2-3 ESV).

As the saying goes, they were not happy campers. Their excitement at leaving Egypt had long worn off and they had run out of patience with their newfound leader. Weariness and hunger clouded their collective memory and caused them to long for the “good old days” in Egypt. Somehow they forgot that they had been slaves laboring under the heavy hand of Pharaoh. But Moses took their complaint to God, who appeared to them and said, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 16:12 ESV). And God delivered on His word. The next morning, the people woke up to find the ground covered in “a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground” (Exodus 16:14 ESV). They were commanded to gather only as much as they needed to feed their family; no hoarding was allowed. Any excess they gathered would spoil before they could eat it. God was letting them know that He would be their provider and care for their needs all the way to the land of Canaan, and He did so for more than 40 years.

The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. – Exodus 16:35 ESV

Eventually, the people moved on from the wilderness of Sin and traveled to a place called Rephidim, where they ran into another problem: There was no water for them to drink (Exodus 17:1). Once again, the people voiced their frustration to Moses.

“Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” – Exodus 17:3 ESV

They were not being melodramatic or speaking in hyperbole; they feared for their lives. Moses recognized the extent of their anger and expressed his concern to God, stating, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me” (Exodus 17:4 ESV). As their leader, he knew he would be the one to bear the brunt of their anger and frustration but, once again, God intervened.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” – Exodus 17:5-6 ESV

This point in the story is critical to understanding what happens next. God gave Moses specific instructions. He was to use the staff of Aaron to strike a rock so that it would produce fresh water. This was the same staff that God used to turn the water of the Nile into blood (Exodus 7). This time, rather than transforming the source of life into death, God caused a barren rock to produce life-giving water to nourish his people.

But Moses adds an important addendum to this story, stating, “they tested the Lord by saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ (Exodus 17:7 ESV). The people didn’t just complain, they doubted God’s presence. They questioned His faithfulness and provision. Even though He had continued to provide them with manna every morning, they doubted His willingness or ability to care for their needs.

What happens next is important. Moses used Aaron’s rod to strike the rock and a stream of fresh water poured out. God came through in a big way. But after having their thirst miraculously quenched by God, another faith-testing trial took place. With the rock continuing to provide all the water they needed, the people enjoyed their respite in Rephidim. But their comfortable oasis in the wilderness was about to get uncomfortably crowded.

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. – Exodus 17:8 ESV

This time, the problem was not a lack of food or water, but the presence of a formidable enemy. This would be their first real exposure to what the future held in store for them. Their destiny was Canaan, and when they arrived, they would find it filled with nations who would oppose their presence and resist their efforts to take up residence. If they couldn’t handle hunger and thirst, how would survive the many battles that lay ahead?

Faced with a formidable enemy, Moses instructed Joshua to form a militia. It is important to recognize that the Israelites were not a well-organized fighting force. Up until a month ago, they had been indentured servants and slaves. They would have had no weapons and little to no experience in warfare. But Joshua obeyed Moses and conscripted enough men to go into battle against the Amalekites. At the same time, Moses climbed a nearby hill carrying Aaron’s staff. The text doesn’t explain where Moses got the idea to do what he did, simply states, “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed” (Exodus 17:11 ESV). The staff that turned the water of the Nile into blood and produced water from a rock was used to bring victory in battle. As long as Moses held the staff aloft, the battle went in favor of the Israelites. But as soon as he grew weary and let his hands drop, the enemy prevailed.

Seeing the back-and-forth nature of the conflict and the obvious impact that staff was having, Aaron and Hur stepped in to provide assistance to their weary friend.

Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. – Exodus 17:12-13 ESV

Joshua and the people fought valiantly. Moses struggled to hold up the staff. Aaron and Hur provided much-needed support and encouragement. But God brought the victory. That’s the point of the story and the meaning behind the name YHWH-Nissi. Immediately after the battle, God gave Moses a message.

“Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” – Exodus 17:14 ESV

This would not be a one-time battle with a single victorious outcome, but it would result in the eventual eradication of the Amalekites. They would show up again and would continue to dog the steps of the Israelites all along the way to Canaan. Just prior to their entry into the land of Canaan, God would command the Israelites to wipe out the Amalekites once and for all.

“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.” – Deuteronomy 25:17-19 ESV

God didn’t wipe out the Amalekites at Rephidim, but He did prove to the Israelites that, with His help, they could be victorious. When Moses named the altar The LORD our Banner, he was making a statement about the ongoing presence and power of God. The staff he held in his hand throughout the battle was a symbol of God’s leadership, power, and provision. It had turned water into blood, produced water from a rock, and victory over the Amalekites.

The Hebrew word translated as “banner” is nēs and it can mean “something lifted up.” It was used to refer to a standard or banner that served to rally troops in the middle of a battle. In the case of the battle at Rephidim, Moses was lifting up the staff of Aaron that was to serve as a reminder of God’s power and provision. He was with them and He was providing for them. Whether they needed a sign to convince Pharaoh to let them go or water to help them keep going on, God could and would provide. When they needed a victory over their enemy, all they needed to do was look up and God showed up.

There is another point in the story of the Israelites when God forced the people to look up so that they could see His deliverance. On this occasion, they resorted to grumbling and complaining again, communicating their dissatisfaction with the manna and the lack of water. Angered by their lack of gratitude and absence of faith, God sent a plague of serpents to punish them. When Moses interceded on their behalf, God instructed him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8 ESV). Moses did as God instructed and when anyone was bit, all they had to do was look at the bronze serpent on the pole and they would be healed. This is a strange story that raises all kinds of questions until you read the commentary of Jesus, spoken centuries later.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” – John 3:14-15 ESV

The serpent was simply a sign or symbol of a future and greater source of healing. But in both cases, something had to be lifted up. The bronze serpent became the standard for healing. In the same way, as Jesus was lifted up on the cross, he became the standard for spiritual restoration and redemption. Later in John’s gospel he records the promise that Jesus offered to all who looked to Him for salvation from sin and deliverance from death.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. – John 12:32-33 ESV

YHWH-Nissi – the LORD is my Banner. He is my standard, the one to whom I look in my time of greatest need; for salvation, daily sustenance, victory in battle, and the provision of my future inheritance.

So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him. – John 8:28-30 ESV

Look up and let YHWH-Nissi lift you up.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Transcendence of God

Studying the attributes of God is a noble and worthy task but it must be acknowledged that man’s capacity to understand the greatness of God is limited by his inherent finiteness. The apostle Paul eloquently stated humanity’s dilemma.

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
    Who knows enough to give him advice?
And who has given him so much
    that he needs to pay it back?

For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. – Romans 11:33-36 NLT

Paul makes it clear that the human mind is incapable of fully comprehending the greatness of God. This all-powerful and incomparable Being is Invisible to the human eye and incomprehensible to the human mind and must choose to make Himself known if He is to be recognized at all. As Paul stated in the opening chapter of Romans, God displayed certain aspects of His divine nature through creation.

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. – Romans 1:20 NLT

The universe reveals His power, majesty, creativity, and sovereign control over all things. While we can’t physically see God, we can witness the work of His hands and begin to grasp the awesome nature of His power and transcendence. David was blown away by the indisputable evidence of God found in the natural world. He could see the proof of God’s existence everywhere he looked.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world. – Psalm 19:1-14 NLT

Creation declares the glory of God but it will never fully mirror the majesty of its Maker, and David seemed to understand that fact. When he became king of Israel, David voiced his growing awareness of God’s unlimited power and sovereignty over all things. God didn’t just make the universe, He ruled over it with unrivaled authority that made David’s royal power pale in comparison.

“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.” – 1 Chronicles 29:10-12 NLT

To say that God is transcendent is to confess His otherness. In other words, it is an admission that God is not like us. He is not a slightly improved version of man; a human being on steroids. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, transcendent means “being beyond the limits of all possible experience and knowledge” (“Transcendent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transcendent. Accessed 15 Aug. 2024). God is beyond our comprehension. He exists outside our scope of understanding. He is not only invisible but unknowable and, yet, He has chosen to make Himself known.

God desires for us to know Him, not just cognitively but personally and intimately. The Bible is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man. It all began in the garden where God developed an ongoing relationship with the first man and woman. In that pristine and perfect environment, Adam and Eve enjoyed the presence of the transcendent God. He spoke to them and made His presence known to them. They couldn’t see Him but they knew He was there. When they eventually disobeyed His command concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they attempted to hide from Him.

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. – Genesis 3:8 NLT

Their sin resulted in their banishment from the garden and the loss of their intimacy with God. From that point forward, mankind began its unrelenting trajectory away from God. It was not that God was somehow relegated to the garden and their travels took them further from His presence. Distance didn’t determine their separation from God, it was the spiritual state of their hearts. But the further they went, the weaker their awareness of God became. In time, they forgot about Him altogether, and the Book of Genesis records the sad result of their faithlessness and forgetfulness.

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. – Genesis 6:5 NLT

Humanity had been allowed to know and experience the transcendent God of the universe but had chosen to walk away from Him. So God started over, revealing Himself to a man named Noah. Once again, the invisible, all-powerful God made Himself known and knowable. He spoke with Noah and provided him with a plan to repopulate the world and reboot the system. The flood destroyed the rest of humanity but Noah and his family were preserved by God. They were given the privilege of salvation and the responsibility to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 

This royal reboot allowed Noah and his family to experience the personal presence of the transcendent God. He sealed them in the ark and protected them during the days of the flood. He graciously preserved them and mercifully released them to begin the process of filling the world with more of their kind. But the rest of the Book of Genesis records the less-than-stellar results of their post-flood experience. It didn’t take long for Humanity 2.0 to succumb to the same internal bugs that doomed the previous model.

But all along the way, God continued to make Himself known. He revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He displayed His glory to Moses. He showed up in a light show on the peak of Mount Sinai, displaying His majestic power to the people of Israel cowering in the valley. He gave them His Law, designed to be a further revelation of His holiness and righteousness. He provided them with the Tabernacle and the sacrificial system to accentuate His set-apartness and to ensure their own holiness. The invisible, unknowable, inaccessible God continued to make Himself known. He had made them His own people, His chosen possession. He gave them a land as their inheritance. He provided them with kings. He blessed them and prospered them. But in return, they turned their back on Him

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and I called my son out of Egypt.
But the more I called to him,
    the farther he moved from me,
offering sacrifices to the images of Baal
    and burning incense to idols.
I myself taught Israel how to walk,
    leading him along by the hand.
But he doesn’t know or even care
    that it was I who took care of him.
I led Israel along
    with my ropes of kindness and love.
I lifted the yoke from his neck,
    and I myself stooped to feed him.” – Hosea 11:1-4 NLT

The more the transcendent God made Himself known, the more comfortable and complacent the people of God became. They lost their awareness of His greatness. Their awe and wonder diminished over time. His blessings became rote and expected. They took His power for granted. Eventually, God chose to remove His hand of blessing and allow His people to experience the loss of His presence. They had lost their wonder and appreciation for God. Their undeserved access to and intimacy with Him lost its value. His persistent presence robbed them of their appreciation for His transcendence.

And so the Lord says,
    “These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
    is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.
Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
    with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
    and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.” – Isaiah 29:13-14 NLT

For centuries, the people of Israel would lose their privileged position as God’s chosen people. Their Temple would be destroyed. The sacrificial system would be eliminated. Tens of thousands of Israelites would spend their lives living in exile in foreign lands, far from their homeland and separated from their God. They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, but that was not the case for the Israelites. Even after their return to the land of Israel, they failed to reestablish their wonder and awe for God. Their hearts remained far from Him. But the transcendent God was not done revealing Himself to His people.

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. – Galatians 4:4-5 NLT

God sent His Son, and this staggering event would prove to be the greatest revelation of God that man has ever experienced. The apostle John reminds us of the staggering nature of Jesus’ incarnation.

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. – John 1:18 NLT

Jesus, the Son of God, made the invisible God visible, a fact the apostle Paul makes abundantly clear.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation… – Colossians 15 NLT

The unknowable, unapproachable, invisible God of the universe wants to be known. He desires to have a relationship with fallen humanity. As Paul makes clear, no one is seeking a relationship with God. The reality of indwelling sin makes the pursuit of God impossible for all men.

“No one is righteous—
    not even one.
No one is truly wise;
    no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
    all have become useless.
No one does good,
    not a single one.” – Romans 3:10-12 NLT

But God sought us out. He sent His Son to make Himself known and knowable. The transcendent God condescended to take on human flesh and make the fulness of the Godhead visible to fallen mankind. This fact should not only astound us but cause us to rejoice in the greatness and goodness of our gracious God.

“He is far away, in one sense, but in another He is as near as your heartbeat, for the cross has bridged the gulf. Let the blood of Jesus cleanse us from all sin. He who is God the Transcendent One says, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’” – A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Grace of God

In 1910, Julia Johnston wrote the lyrics to the hymn “Grace Great Than Our Sin” that speak of the matchless grace of God. I remember singing it as a child but the significance of the words was lost on me. It was not until later in life and long into my journey of faith that I began to understand the reality of God’s great grace and its impact on my life.

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
freely bestowed on all who believe:
you that are longing to see his face,
will you this moment his grace receive?

Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin.

– Lyrics by Julia H. Johnston and music by Daniel B. Towner

This marvelous grace is one of God's most endearing and deeply appreciated attributes.  A. W. Tozer describes grace as “the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving” (A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy). Without God’s grace, His love would be unavailable to us, because He is holy and, as sinners, we are worthy of His wrath, not His compassion and beneficence.

Yet, at the heart of the gospel message is the wonderful story of God’s grace, showered upon the undeserving.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

My grace is all you need. – 2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT

For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. – Titus 2:11 NLT

But grace is not a New Testament doctrine. From the pages of the Old Testament, we read of the eternal nature of God’s grace and mercy toward His children.

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” – Exodus 34:6-7 ESV

Tony Evans describes God’s grace as “His inexhaustible supply of goodness by which He does for us what we could never do for ourselves” (Tony Evans, Theology You Can Count On). A much older, but no less accurate definition comes from the pen of Abraham Booth: “It is the eternal and absolute free favor of God, manifested in the vouchsafement [favor] of spiritual and eternal blessings to the guilty and the unworthy” (Abraham Booth, The Reign of Grace, 1793).

Grace is a gift of God that flows from His very nature. God is gracious and makes His grace available to the undeserving because of who He is, not because of anything we have done. His grace is unmerited, unearned, and completely undeserved. No one can ever say to God: “You owe me!”

A. W. Tozer puts it this way: “Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favor of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded from them” (A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God). The apostle Paul clearly understood the amazing nature of God’s grace.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God… – Ephesians 2:8 ESV

Just as God’s love is made available through His grace, so His love makes it possible for Him to display grace. These two marvelous attributes go hand in hand and one cannot exist without the other. It is because of love that He extends His grace. The apostle  Peter reminds us, “…we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15:11 NLT). The apostle Paul expands on that thought by adding that we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24 ESV). A. W. Tozer provides us with further insight into the one-sided nature of God’s grace. It flows in one direction, from our gracious God to a world of undeserving sinners.

“…it is the favor of God shown to those who not only have no positive deserts of their own, but who are thoroughly ill-deserving and hell-deserving. It is completely unmerited and unsought, and is altogether unattracted by anything in or from or by the objects upon which it is bestowed. Grace can neither be bought, earned, nor won by the creature.” – A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God

All of this seems to run counter to our human understanding of how things should work. We have been raised to believe that you don’t get something for nothing. To put it another way, there is no such thing as a free lunch. You only get what you deserve or what you have legitimately earned. And while modern society seems to have run amuck with the idea of entitlement, we all know that earning and effort go hand in hand.

But not with God. God owes us nothing. He is beholden to no one. The apostle Paul, quoting from the book of Isaiah, asks the rhetorical question: “…who has given a gift to him [God] that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:35 ESV). Then he adds that the flow of God’s grace is one-directional. “For from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36 ESV). 

It is important to understand that the goodness of God is only accessible to fallen mankind through the grace of God. Romans 3:23 reminds us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and Romans 6:23 provides us with the non-negotiable consequences of man’s sin: “the wages of sin is death.”

God’s justice and righteousness require that He condemn and pronounce judgment against all sin. He cannot leave sin unpunished and still remain holy and just. But in His divine wisdom, God chose to provide undeserving men and women a means by which they could be made right (justified) with Him.

God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 ESV

God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. – Romans 4:24-25 NLT

Tony Evans writes, “…grace means giving a person something he doesn’t deserve” (Tony Evans, Theology You Can Count On). Because of sin, all men deserve death. But in His grace, God gives men the opportunity to experience forgiveness for their sins and eternal life in place of death and eternal separation from Him. This amazing grace is available only through faith in God’s Son. Centuries before it happened, Isaiah prophesied about this marvelous expression of God’s grace.

…he [Jesus] was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. – Isaiah 53:5 NLT

As another old hymn of the faith points out, Jesus’ death was an expression of God love and grace that made possible our right standing with Him.

Jesus paid it all,
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow – Elvina M. Hall, 1865

Without the grace of God, every man and woman who has ever lived would stand before God as “a sinner condemned, unclean.” Yet, in 1905, Charles H. Gabriel penned the words to the hymn, “My Savior’s Love,” providing us with a timeless reminder of just how amazing God’s grace really is.

I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus, the Nazarene,
and wonder how he could love me,
a sinner, condemned, unclean.

How marvelous, how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior’s love for me!

But God’s grace extends beyond the point of our salvation. It shows up in the everyday affairs of life, providing God’s children with the power to live the life He has called them to live. Each day, we must rely on His undeserved grace to experience the joy, contentment, peace, and power He has promised. At no point are we to fall back on our own strength or to live as though our spiritual growth is somehow up to us. Our salvation was based on grace and the same is true of our sanctification. We cannot grow to be more like Christ through self-effort. In fact, it requires death to self. It demands that we give up any hope of transforming our lives by our own power.  We cannot earn God’s favor. We cannot score brownie points with God. But we can rest in His amazing grace and rely upon the power of His indwelling Spirit.

The author of Hebrews would have us remember that grace is a gift from God and, if we want to enjoy it, we must always go to the source of it.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. – Hebrews 4:16 NLT

James would add that humility is a non-negotiable prerequisite for those who desire to experience the ongoing gift of God’s grace.

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. – James 4:6 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The One True King

1 Now these are the last words of David:

The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,
    the oracle of the man who was raised on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob,
    the sweet psalmist of Israel:

2 “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;
    his word is on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel has spoken;
    the Rock of Israel has said to me:
When one rules justly over men,
    ruling in the fear of God,
4 he dawns on them like the morning light,
    like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
    like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.

5 “For does not my house stand so with God?
    For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
    ordered in all things and secure.
For will he not cause to prosper
    all my help and my desire?
6 But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away,
    for they cannot be taken with the hand;
7 but the man who touches them
    arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear,
    and they are utterly consumed with fire.” – 2 Samuel 23:1-7 ESV

The Psalm of David, recorded in chapter 22, is now followed by the last words of David. The former represented the establishment of his kingdom when he was delivered from Saul and crowned king of Israel. The latter, written at the end of his life, contains David’s reflections on his unique relationship with God. His legacy as a king and his future dynasty are both directly tied to God.

In this last testament, David passes on the lessons he has learned from serving as the king of Israel, the God-appointed shepherd of His people.

David is described as the “son of Jesse,” a reflection of his humble beginnings. David had not come to the throne of Israel due to a royal birth or bearing a high pedigree. He was just a commoner, the youngest son of Jesse, and a shepherd of sheep. Yet, God called and anointed him to be the next king of Israel. He “was raised on high” by God, not because he deserved to be but because God chose to do so. It would be easy to assume that, because God referred to David as a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), this was the reason he had been chosen by God. But this would infer that God’s choice of David was based on works or merit, something that does not gel with the rest of Scripture. God’s Word makes it quite clear that no one can merit or earn God’s favor.

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. – Ecclesiastes 7:10 ESV

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. – Romans 3:10-12 ESV

David had a heart for God, but that does not mean he somehow deserved to be king. He had not earned his way into the position. As is evident from his life story, David was fully capable of committing sin, just like any other man. He was guilty of adultery and murder. He struggled with impulsiveness and demonstrated poor parenting skills. He battled with procrastination and exhibited less-than-stellar leadership skills at times. He was far from perfect and yet God had hand-picked him and placed him in the highest position in the land. This flawed and failure-prone man received the anointing of the prophet of God and was designated as God’s official spokesman.

David wrote, “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2 ESV). This rather arrogant-sounding statement should not be taken as braggadocio or a case of David tooting his own horn. He is simply expressing his amazement at being given the privilege and responsibility to speak on God’s behalf. As king, he was God’s mouthpiece, and one of the messages God gave him had to do with righteous leadership.

The one who rules righteously,
    who rules in the fear of God,
is like the light of morning at sunrise,
    like a morning without clouds,
like the gleaming of the sun
    on new grass after rain. – 2 Samuel 23:3-4 NLT

David had not always done this well. But, by the end of his life, he had learned that a king who rules righteously, in the fear of the Lord, radiates joy and blessings on his people. Through his many acts of self-inflicted harm, David discovered the very real truth that a king who rules unrighteously plunges his people into darkness and despair. His failure at times to fear God resulted in pain and suffering for the people under his care, and that truth is played out over and over again in the history of Israel’s kings. Obedience brings blessings. Disobedience brings curses. Righteous rulers bring light. Unrighteous rulers bring darkness.

David’s next statement reflects his comprehension of God’s promise.

Is it not my family God has chosen?
    Yes, he has made an everlasting covenant with me.
His agreement is arranged and guaranteed in every detail.
    He will ensure my safety and success. – 2 Samuel 23:5 NLT

David was not intended to be a flash in the pan, a one-and-done experiment on God’s part. God had made it clear that He was going to pour out blessings on future generations of David’s descendants. David was to be the beginning of a long legacy of godly leaders.

Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.…And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. – 2 Samuel 7:11-12, 16 NLT

But God expected all of His kings to rule righteously. David was to have served as the model of righteousness for future generations of Israelite kings. Solomon, his son and the heir to his throne, got off to a good start and seemed to have inherited David’s love for God. He ruled well for the majority of his reign, exhibiting a God-given wisdom and capacity for leadership that transformed Israel into a powerful nation-state. But sadly, Solomon’s reign did not end well. His great accomplishments, immense wealth, and reputation for wisdom were eclipsed by his obsession with women and his love affair with false gods. 

He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done. – 2 Kings 11:3-6 NLT

God had kept His promise and placed a descendant of David on the throne, but Solomon proved unfaithful, so God divided his kingdom. The nation of Israel was split in two, forming two nations, Israel and Judah, that ended up in a state of constant tension, marked by hostility and warfare. They would see a succession of kings, whose reigns would not be marked by a fear of God, but by wickedness and idolatry. Along the way, there would be a few good apples in the barrel, but for the most part, the kings of both nations would fail to meet God’s expectations. The result would be spiritual darkness among the people and, ultimately, the discipline of God. He would eventually send both nations into captivity for their sin and rebellion against him.

Almost prophetically, David writes:

But the godless are like thorns to be thrown away,
    for they tear the hand that touches them.
One must use iron tools to chop them down;
    they will be totally consumed by fire. – 2 Samuel 23:6-7 NLT

Godless leaders produce godless people, and in the case of the people of Judah and Israel, they found themselves living in exile because of their stubborn, rebellious hearts. Yet, despite the long list of unfaithful kings and godless people, the everlasting covenant to which David refers has not been abrogated. God has not broken His promise; He is faithful and never fails to keep His Word. What He says, He does. What He promises to do, He fulfills. God had made a covenant with David to establish his throne forever. But ever since Israel and Judah went into captivity in Assyria and Babylon, there have been no descendants of David to serve as king. Centuries passed and the throne remained empty. So has God failed to keep His word? Was His promise to David nullified by the sinful actions of the kings of Israel and Judah? No. God has kept His word. The apostle John tells us exactly what happened.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. – John 1:9-13 NLT

After hundreds of years of spiritual darkness, God broke through, sending His Son as the light of the world. Jesus, a descendant of David and God’s appointed successor to the throne of David, made His entrance into the world. The light of God penetrated the darkness. Yet, He was met with rejection by His own people. They failed to recognize Him as the Messiah, the Savior sent by God. Jesus even revealed that the people loved the darkness over the light. They preferred living in sin over the freedom they could have by placing their faith in Him.

“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” – John 3:18-21

David was a good king. Some even consider him to have been a great king. But he was not the one true King. He was not the Savior of Israel. That role was reserved for one who would come later. Jesus, a descendant of David, was God’s appointed heir to the throne. He was sent by God to do what David and the other kings of Israel and Judah could have never done. As the sinless Son of God, He provided a means for receiving freedom from slavery to sin and restoration to a right relationship with God. David could win victories over the Philistines but he could not defeat sin and death. He could provide his people with periods of relative peace and tranquility, but he could not give them peace with God.

Jesus came to battle the spiritual forces of evil. The selfless sacrifice of His sinless life on the cross broke the bonds of sin and death that had long held humanity captive. Yet, some refused His gracious offer of salvation. They preferred to live in darkness, rather than enjoy the light of freedom and the joy of God’s forgiveness.

David would eventually die. His son Solomon would ascend to the throne but his kingdom would end up divided and eventually, the people of God would end up living in captivity in foreign lands. But God was not done with Israel or with David’s throne. He would not break His promise to David. Despite the unfaithfulness of David’s successors, God would prove faithful and eventually send the one who would be the consummate man after His own heart. He would send His Son who would bring the greatest victory any king could ever hope to deliver.

“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:54-56 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.