Through the centuries the Bible has been burned and banned by dictators seeking to stamp it out. It has been accused of being corrupted by copyists and filled with inconsistencies by unbelieving skeptics. Yet, while the dictators and skeptics pass away, the Word still stands. God has preserved His Word, so that we might receive the revelation of His Son. We can trust the everlasting Word of God. It stands forever.
When King Sennacherib sent a letter threatening Jerusalem, King Hezekiah put on burlap, went up to the Temple, and spread the letter out on the floor for the Lord to consider. And God heard his prayer and defended him. What threat do you fear today? Have you brought it to the Lord? Spread your trouble out before God. Let Him handle it.
We are to be like executioners, dealing cruelly with our own sin. When we see sin in others, we do not hesitate to judge, assigning it to their character. Yet, when we see it in ourselves, we make excuses for it, claiming some external cause or momentary lapse. Or we go the opposite way, and make sin our identity, calling ourselves by sin’s name (thief, liar, adulterer, addict, murderer…). Neither our tendency to condemn sin in others, nor to excuse or identify with it in ourselves is right. Those “who belong to Christ” count their sin nature dead with Christ, so that they might live in Christ. Counting sin dead, it is not excused, nor is it allowed to live and become our identity. Our identity is in Christ!
From Abraham’s time until that of Isaiah’s, the people of Israel had often looked to Egypt when they should have been looking to God. Trusting Egypt for help is a metaphor for trusting the world and human strength. Who are you trusting? Egypt or the Lord? Isaiah counsels us to look to the Lord!
Receiving Jesus we are prompted to call God by the name His Son uses, “Abba, Father.” Abba (Aramaic for “daddy.” Two simple syllables easily spoken by the youngest child- “Ab-ba.” Found in Ab-raham’s name – “Father of Nations”). In this verse we see the Trinity revealed: God sending, the Son providing, the Spirit prompting… all so that we who are distant from God may be brought near. And so, we are able to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.”
Isaiah sought the Lord. As he lay his head down at night, he searched for God’s presence. When he awoke in the morning, he listened for God’s voice. Do you have this habit? Are your last words and thoughts at the end of the day for the Lord? Do you open your eyes looking for Him and listening for His voice? If you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him (Jer. 29:13).
Christianity is not a self-improvement course. We are not called to come and do, but to come and die. For the new life follows not self-improvement, but self-denial. We consider our old self “crucified with Christ” and our new self risen with Him to new life. We die to sin and we also die to self-effort, no longer trying to please God by following some set of religious rules and regulations that we are unable to keep. Dying to self, we live by Christ, “trusting” in Him to live His life in us.
Paul was concerned that the Christians at Galatia, who had received salvation by faith in Christ, were exchanging their faith for a focus on law-keeping. Those saved by faith are to live by faith, not by works. Yet this tendency still befalls many believers today. We recognize our sin and total dependence on Jesus for salvation, but then try to live the Christian life in our own strength. A focus on law-keeping leads to self-righteousness, pride and an inordinate comparing of ourselves to others. Living by faith in Jesus, we work, but we do so only according to Christ’s power. We work out what God is working in us (Phil.2:12-13). Our righteousness is us in Christ. And our life is Christ in us.
When Paul encountered the living Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, it began his transformation from persecutor to preacher. The life of Paul is one of the great proofs of Christ’s resurrection and power. Paul’s life demonstrates that no one is beyond God’s salvation and calling. God calls whom He will. Therefore, pray for the salvation of everyone. The one persecuting Christians today, could be preaching for Christ tomorrow.
This beautiful benediction closed Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Paul’s trinitarian blessing bestowed three powerful attributes of the Godhead upon the believers at Corinth. 1) The “grace” (χάρις – charis) of Jesus. Which is Christ’s free and unmerited favor. 2) The “love” (ἀγάπη – agape) of God. Which is God’s unconditional love and chief attribute. 3) The “fellowship” (κοινωνία – koinonia) of the Spirit. Which is the abiding communion of the Spirit living in those of us who believe. May this blessing be yours today!