1 Peter 1: Father, Son, and Spirit

Today’s reading is 1 Peter 1.

The Holy God, in the persons of Father, Son, and Spirit, is completely and fully involved in our salvation and election. He does not leave us on our own. Praise the Lord!

The Father

We are elect according to the Father’s foreknowledge. Note this carefully. We are not foreknown according to the Father’s election as John Calvin would claim. But the other way around. He chooses and elects based on something He foreknows about us. He doesn’t foreknow everything about us because He elected us to behave in a certain way. Paul says the same thing in Romans 8:29-30.

The Spirit

We are the elect exiles in the Holy Spirit’s sanctification. That is, we who are foreknown by the Father are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We don’t become elect and then pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and clean ourselves up. While we must, no doubt, cooperate with the work of the Spirit, we must not think we are growing spiritually because we are just so good at growing spiritually. The Holy Spirit is working in us, on us, and through us to set us apart for God’s good works. Paul says the same thing in Titus 3:3-7.

The Christ

Our connection to Jesus, the Christ, drives home the cooperative nature of our relationship to God. Taken in reverse order, we must recognize we are elect unto the sprinkled blood of Jesus Christ. In the same way Moses took the blood of sacrificed calves and goats to purify the tent, the worship vessels, and the people to sanctify them–set them apart for God’s service–Jesus sprinkles us with His blood of the covenant that we might be set apart and useful to Him. But this election based on foreknowledge and in sanctification is to produce something in us: obedience. As elect exiles, we obey. We don’t follow our own will, we have been saved to walk in a new life of submission and surrender to our King, the anointed Jesus. Paul says the same thing in Romans 6:1-4.

We are not alone. Father, Son, and Spirit are all working on our behalf. Let us rely on them and give our allegiance to our King, Jesus.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is 1 Peter 1.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does 1 Peter 1 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Psalm 136: God the Son

Today’s reading is Psalm 136.

Jesus Christ is God’s Steadfast Love

YHWH created the world alone. That is, no other separate being, divine or otherwise created the world. Certainly, He was equipped with wisdom and understanding, but wisdom is not divine. Wisdom is not a personal entity. Wisdom was the “mental” tool God used. However, John 1:1-5 draws out a conclusion.

YHWH created the world, but He did it through His “logos.” That is, He did it through His “Word.” John, however, demonstrates this “logos,” was more than simply God’s accompanying wisdom. This “logos” was with God, but also was God. Not was another god, but was/is God. I get it, trinity is a mystery. We can’t mine its depths in a simple daily blog devotional. Yet, John wants us to understand something.

Jesus is God. Jesus is the Creator. He is YHWH. He was with God. He is God. Jesus is not a second God. He is the same God. In other words, God is so far beyond our ability to comprehend, even trying to describe the nature of His existence goes beyond our ability to communicate. He must resort to presenting Himself in Oneness and in Threeness at the same time. But what we must know is the LORD whose steadfast love created the world is Jesus.

Unsurprisingly, the LORD whose steadfast love delivered Israel from bondage, led them through the wilderness, and conquered kingdoms before them is Jesus. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, the Rock which followed Israel through the wilderness and brought the nation into the Promised Land was Christ. It was Jesus.

This same Jesus came in flesh and tabernacled among us. He died on the cross to atone for our sins and cleanse our defilement away.

Let us give thanks to the Lord. Let us give thanks to Jesus. Because He Himself is the embodiment of chesed. He Himself is the God of chesed. His death on the cross is the ultimate demonstration of loyalty to every covenant the Lord made. And just as He created the world in covenant loyalty before any people had entered into covenant with Him, He planned the sacrifice of Jesus before the foundation of the world. Yet, that very steadfast love endures to us and will keep forgiving people for all time.

Praise the Lord! …for His steadfast love endures forever!

Next week’s reading is Psalm 137.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from Psalm 136?

Revelation 19: Hope

Today’s reading is Revelation 19.

PATHS of Righteousness

If you’ve followed along this week, you already know we are using the meditation prompts from our acronym PATHS of Righteousness to garner insights from Revelation 19. We’ve consider Praise, Admonition, and Trust. Today, we ask how Revelation 19 prompts or improves Hope.

The Beast and the False Prophet

In Revelation 13:1-10, we witnessed a seven-headed monster rise up out of the sea. It was a chimaera, a mixture of incredible creatures all rolled up into one. It was terrifying. It was given authority and allowed to make war on the saints and allowed even to conquer them. As if that wasn’t enough, Revelation 13:11-16 revealed another monster rising up out of the earth. Though it had horns like a lamb, it spoke like a dragon. By his authority, those who refused to worship the the first monster were slain. Those who weren’t slain were starved because they refused to bear the mark of the first monster.

Those two monsters are called The Beast and The False Prophet. And separately, they are each horrific enemies. Together, they are an overwhelmingly formidable foe. Like Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:12, we beg God to execute judgment on them and the army they have arrayed against us. “For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (ESV).

But just like that ancient enemy was destroyed by God’s power before Jehoshaphat and the Judean singers who worshiped Yahweh, the Beast, the False prophet, the kings allied with them, and the hosts who followed them in battle are conquered. The Beast and the False Prophet are thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest are slain by the sword coming from the Lamb’s mouth. And the birds gorge on their flesh.

No matter what the enemy brings against us. No matter how an enemy state governs against us. No matter how false religion attacks us. No matter what forces the dragon arrays against us, we are not hopeless. The hordes seem overwhelming, but our King is stronger.

Sometimes, as I strive to simply survive the days, I can begin to think I have no hope of making it to victory. However, Revelation 19 reminds me I’m not fighting the Beast and the False Prophet. I don’t have to defeat them. I just have to hang on to the King who will.

And that gives me hope to press on one more day. How about you? Can we help you press on? If so, let us know in the comments below.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 19.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 19 prompt or improve your hope in God?

John 5: Honor the Father by Honoring the Son

Today’s reading is John 5.

The Jews got upset at Jesus because He was performing miracles on the Sabbath and even seemed to be encouraging others to work on the Sabbath. So, Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” And this really flew all over the Jews. They moved from persecuting Him to seeking to kill Him because He “was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18, ESV).

Wait. Did you catch that? Some today tell us Jesus never claimed to be divine. However, the Jews in John 5 wanted to kill Him because when He got done talking, they thought He claimed to be divine. Why didn’t He just tell them, “No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. I didn’t mean I am divine. I didn’t mean I’m God. There’s no need to kill Me.” I don’t know about you, that’s what I would have said if folks started threatening to kill me for claiming to be divine. But Jesus didn’t. Why not? Because He did claim divinity.

In fact, after John states this desire to kill Jesus had been provoked, Jesus doubles down on the Father and Son talk. Jesus is the Son. He is the Son of Man. He is the Son of God. Because He is the Son of Man, He has the authority to judge. Because He is the Son of God, He has the power to call the dead to life. He’s the Son, so He can do nothing on His own and must abide by the authority of the Father. However, He is the Son so He has the authority of the Father.

Here is the key. Do you want to honor the Father? Honor His Son. Look, don’t tell me you love me and then tell me you want nothing to do with my kids. If you don’t love my kids, you don’t love me. I don’t care what you say. Jesus makes the same point. If we honor the Father, then we’ll honor His Son. If we don’t honor the Son, no matter what we are doing, we aren’t honoring the Father.

Certainly, we could stop here and will have made the most important point. But, perhaps we should also note where Jesus ends up in John 5:43-44. The Jews were busy receiving glory from one another. Because of that, they didn’t honor Jesus. But that also meant they were not seeking the honor or glory that comes from the Father. Do you see the point? If we want to honor the Father, we need to honor the Son. AND if we want the Father to honor us, we need to honor His Son.

How are you doing at that?

Tomorrow’s reading is John 5.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 5 prompt or improve your hope in God?

John 1: Life and Light

Today’s reading is John 1.

Do the first words of John’s gospel record sound familiar to you? Of course they do. John takes us all the way back to the beginning. The first time we read these words, we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, ESV). John takes us back, but instead of just saying, “God,” he says, “The Word.” Who is this Word? The Word was with God and the Word was God. Recall, God created through His spoken Word. John says, “I want to tell you about God’s Word, God’s creative power. But you need to know God’s creative Word was not just a sound, not a series of letters, not a series of statements. Really, that Word is a person. That Word is with God, but also that Word is God.”

Recall the first recorded words of God are, “Let there be light.” The Word, however, didn’t just create light, the Word is light. More than that, God’s words brought forth man on the sixth day. God’s Word, however, didn’t just give life to man, God’s Word is life. More than that, this Word that is light and life became flesh and dwelt among us (Oh, I wish I had time to write about this tabernacling among us. Study it. You’ll be amazed.)

But then John says, “We have seen his glory.” Wait! What?! This is no once upon a time. This is no ancient story. This is not a friend of a friend of a friend told me. This is no legend, no myth, no ancient tale. John says, “We saw it.” “We saw” glory full of grace and truth. And then he makes it clear, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

We must not minimize what John says, but can I put this very powerful intro to the book in more common language. John says, “I want to tell you about this guy I met. His name is Jesus. He’s like no man you ever knew. He wasn’t just a guy. He is the Word. He is Light. He is Life. He is the Son from the Father. He is God. Let me prove it to you.” And then he writes the rest of His book.

Praise God! This is Jesus. I can’t wait to meet Him again in John’s book.

Tomorrow’s reading is John 1.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 1 admonish you?