November 16, 2017
The Lord called Ezekiel to be a “watchman.” A watchman keeps watch, especially during the night, while the city sleeps. He warns the city when he sees trouble approaching. Ezekiel was called to be God’s watchman, warning Israel of God’s coming judgment and calling them to repentance. The Lord would not hold him accountable for Israel’s response, only for his obedience to sound the alarm. If Ezekiel warned Israel and she did not repent, he was innocent of her blood. But if Ezekiel failed to warn Israel, her blood would be on his hands. This is the weight of responsibility that goes with being God’s watchman.
Who is called to be God’s “watchman” today?
November 15, 2017
The Lord told Ezekiel to write a funeral dirge for Pharaoh. This was not meant to comfort him, but to warn him of the Lord’s coming judgment against Egypt. Why? Because Pharaoh had acted as a “young lion,” going out from Egypt in violence and troubling other nations.
God is still sovereign over men and nations. He is not absent, but He is patient. As the psalmist declared, “God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne” (Psa. 47:8). The power of nations is nothing to the Lord. They are as a “drop in the bucket” to Him (Isa. 40:15-17). Yet, Jesus has sent us to the nations, saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). For the Lord would have those from every tongue and tribe represented in the body of Christ, which He has planned from eternity past.
November 14, 2017
Don’t waste the pain. God cares more for your character than you comfort. His “chastening” may be painful, but it yields Christlikeness in you when you submit to its training. One day, you will look back on your life and see how God has disciplined you as His own child for your sanctification. He is conforming you to the image of Christ. Stop rebelling and start submitting. Pray as Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
November 13, 2017
It was not Rahab’s status, but her faith that saved her. She believed that the Lord had already given the land to the Israelites. She believed the Red Sea crossing story and all the other miracles she had heard of their wilderness journey. By faith she protected the two Israelite spies and made them promise to save her and her family. By faith she hung the scarlet cord in her window as a sign to the Israelites when they returned to attack Jericho. By faith she and her family were the only ones who did not perish when the walls of Jericho fell. By faith she was included in Israel and married into the tribe of Joshua. By faith she bore Boaz who married Ruth and was included in the line of David and mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus as recorded by Matthew. She was saved by grace, but it was through faith that she received these many blessings.
November 12, 2017
David wrote Psalm 110 as an announcement of the Messiah’s coming reign. In Hebrew, this verse is: “Yahweh” said to my “Adonai.” The name that God revealed to Moses, “Yahweh” (or “Jehovah”) was the One talking to the Messiah, whom David referred to as “my Lord” (“Adonai”). The title “Adonai” was also used for God. David had already been told by God that the Messiah would be from his lineage (2 Sam. 7:16). Yet, here the Spirit revealed to David that the Messiah would be greater than him, so that he would call him “Adonai,” a title usually reserved for God.
The Spirit revealed to David a conversation between the Father and the Son from eternity past. Yet, it described the present time. For the Lord Jesus, having already accomplished our salvation as Suffering Servant, now sits at the right hand of the Father awaiting His appearance as Victorious King (Mark 14:62).
However, the most profound revelation may be that David called Him, “my Lord.” For that is the key. Not that He is “the” Lord, but that He is “my” Lord. Have you made Jesus your Lord today?
November 11, 2017
David began his psalm with a prayer that the Lord would no longer “keep silent.” No doubt he had read the book of Job and knew how the Lord’s voice silenced Job’s accusers. David was being attacked by false accusers, yet the Lord remained seemingly silent.
When we try to defend ourselves against false accusation it usually has the opposite effect. People love the lie more than the truth. And when we sound defensive, we sound guilty. But when God speaks, the accusations are silenced because the false accusers are silenced.
Ask the Lord to speak on your behalf. Pray as the first century church did, “Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word” (Acts 4:29). In other words, “Lord, you speak to those who falsely accuse us, while we continue to speak Your Word and praise Your name!”
November 10, 2017
When we have received Christ’s “offering,” we are already “perfected forever.” We are already made whole and complete in Christ, so that we are fully accepted by the Father for eternity. Positionally, we are already at the right hand of the Father in Christ. We are already holy. We are saints.
Yet, we are still “being sanctified. We still experience the battle between the flesh and the Spirit, and sometimes give into the flesh. But all our sins are already forgiven. The Spirit empowers us to repent and walk in His power, growing in maturity. This is our experience. This tension between our position and our experience has been called the “already/not yet” of the Christian life. In Christ, we are already perfected, but not yet perfect.
But on that Day, our position and our experience will be the same, for we “shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). Those that are in Christ, will become like Christ. This is God’s purpose for those who believe.
November 9, 2017
Why is there such a longing in the human soul? Why this emptiness that no physical thing, nor human relationship can fill? We hunger and thirst, so we attempt to satisfy our craving, but to no avail. Since nothing of this world satisfies the soul, isn’t this evidence that it was made for something or someone beyond it?
Surely, the hole within our soul is a residual echo of the fallen image of God within us. And it can only be filled by Jesus Christ. Of whom the apostle Paul wrote, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God… Everything was created through him and for him” (Col. 1:15-16).
We were made by Christ and “for” Christ. The longing of the human soul will never be satisfied with anything or anyone other than Christ!
November 9, 2017
The psalmist concluded with an admonition that all people should shout “Amen,” when they hear the Lord being praised. “Amen” is more than the word we teach children to say at the end of their prayers. Some use it casually as a word of affirmation, or to say, “I agree.” It literally means, “So be it!” Yet for the Christ-follower, it takes on the further meaning of, “Let it be so in me!”
After the reading of God’s Word on Sundays, I usually say, “This is God’s Word.” To which the congregation responds, “Amen!” By doing so, they are affirming the statement’s truth, while also opening up their hearts and minds to receive it.
November 7, 2017
The old covenant, which was the law mediated through Moses, was written on stone tablets. But the new covenant, which is by the grace of God through Jesus, is written on human hearts. The purpose of the old covenant was never to save, but to prepare a people for the Savior. The new covenant supersedes the old. The problem with the old covenant was not its content, but the character of the people, for they could not keep it in the flesh. The superiority of the new covenant is evident in that it overcomes the flesh by the power of the Spirit that comes to dwell in those who receive Christ as Savior and Lord.
Has the Lord put His Word in your mind and written it upon your heart? Have you received the new covenant in Jesus Christ?