To 'draw' is to attract or to pull. It means that a subject at a distance, is brought near by either being pulled ( for example by a rope 'drawing' a bucket of water out of a well) or by interest (for example by the music that 'draws' people to a carnival)
In John chapter 12 verse 31 - 33, Jesus spoke these words about His impending death and the effect it would have.
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
This he said, signifying what death he should die.
Being lifted up on a cross publicly to die even though He was perfectly innocent gave Him the right to use that pedestal of death to call on the hearts of all men to believe in Him and be saved.
The book of James chapter 4 verse 8 says that the 'drawing' is a reciprocal process in the sense that the Lord will draw all men to Himself and those of us who draw near to Him, will be met by the Lord and by believing in Jesus, we are made children of God and we can then begin the sanctification for the cleansing of our hands and purification of our hearts. The passage says it this way;
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Bless our Lord who draws us to Himself.
Amen.
Friday, November 26, 2021
THE LORD'S PROVISION OF SALVATION
In the book of Romans chapter 3 verse 25, it says:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
There is no human being exempt from this maxim. All human beings have sinned and are in a state of separation from God and we have adjoined ourselves to the kingdom of darkness.
This means that because we are participants in the kingdom of darkness, we will share in the harvest of condemnation that was reserved for the devil and his angels.
Our creator and God, seeing the fate that we humans had earned for ourselves, embarked on a plan of redemption that would purchase back any of us who did not want to share in the reward due to satan.
This meant that a perfect person, who had lived in this world but who had never partaken in the sins of this world would have to suffer the penalty of death in order to pay for our sins.
God's Son, Jesus, was the person who could dwell on earth, never sin once and then surrender himself to die on the cross for us.
It is this payment that Jesus made on our behalf that has the power to save us out of darkness and bring us into the kingdom of God.
Believe on the Lord Jesus for it is believing that is counted as having invoked the salvation purchased by the blood of Jesus. It is believing that Jesus died for us and has the power to save us from our sins that causes the cost of our sin to be charged against the account that Jesus funded by His blood. Having believed in Jesus, we must say it out loud before witnesses to confirm publicly what our hearts believe.
As Romans 10 verse 10 says, For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Bless the Lord
Amen.
OUR LORD WHO ADOPTS US
Adoption in the context of the bible is the legal and spiritual inclusion of a person from outside a family into a family.
The adoption, once formalized, is a spiritual bond that links an adopting parent with an adopted child in a way that is spiritually identical to the bond between biological parents and their child.
In the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 14 - 19, the Apostle Paul explains how those who believe in Christ and are led by the Spirit of God receive a Spirit of adoption as sons whereby we were once orphans but now are sons who can refer to the Lord our God as Father. The passage reads this way.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
The adoption brings us into the household of God and we become sons with the privileges and responsibilities of the heirs of the househild. Roman chapter 8 continues with a description of the adoption process.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
- Romans 8 verse 22 - 23
We, who the first fruits of the Spirit groan within our orphaned selves. We then wait eagerly for adoption into sonship which is associated with the redemption of our bodies.
After being saved, there a period of time that we wait before we are adopted to sonship. That waiting period is a maturing out of childhood, no longer being babes in Christ but instead, being like arrows in the Lord's quiver like it says in Psalm 127 verse 4 - 5;
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
In the book of John chapter 14 verse 6, Jesus declared that there is only one way by which we might be saved. Jesus said it this way;
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
This unequivocal statement excludes any other proposed path to reach God.
In Mathew 28 verse 38 - 40, a description of what happened just before Jesus was arrested, illuminates the exclusivity of Jesus as the way to God. The passage says this:
Then He (Jesus) said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Jesus said that He was the only way to the Father and then, just before He was crucified, He tested the exclusivity of that claim in great grief.
As He agonized over undertaking the severity of dying on a cross, He asked His Father if it were possible, to let the cup of pass from Him but He, at the same time, deferred to His Father's will.
That cup that was before Him was the horrific sacrifice of His life that He would have to endure and He was testing all the knowledge reserves of God the Father to find another acceptable way that we humans could be saved but none was found.
Jesus, knowing that the will of God was that He suffer and die to provide the only path of salvation, surrendered to the soldiers who were looking for Him and He was led away for trial and execution.
If God the Father could not find another path of salvation for mankind other than the death of His Son, it is a patent lie for a mere human to suggest that they have somehow devised another way of salvation other than the one way that was paid for at so high a price.
If completing some pilgrimage and giving to the poor or meditating for long hours or self- flagellation or paying money to certain organizations were enough to save men from the kingdom of darkness, God would have spared Jesus at His request and prescribed the other viable method.
But God the Father did not offer another way and Jesus, the perfect and righteous Son of God was beaten, broken and crucified. He thus died to pay for our sins so that we could be extricated from darkness and translated to the kingdom of light.
All other suggested ways to God the Father are deceptions, for if they were viable ways, Jesus would not have had to die for us.
This way of salvation is offered freely to any who hears it for this message of the death of Jesus to pay for our sins is the power of God unto salvation and by believing this message and accepting that Jesus died to save us, we are set on the path to salvation away from darkness and towards the light of God.
Let us accept this great offer of salvation and be saved by Him who paid with His life for us.
Bless the name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
OUR LORD WHO LAUGHS
We humans are made in the image and likeness of God as it says in Genesis 1 verse 27.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Being made in the image and likeness of God means that we look like Him and we operate like Him. One of the attributes we inherited from our creator is the ability to laugh. We humans tend to laugh when we encounter absurd things and this the same response that our Lord has to absurdities as well.
An example can be found in Psalm 2 verse 2 - 4 where the kings of the earth resolve to oppose God and His anointed
The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
The absurdity of those who are from the created order vainly believing that they could successfully resist the will of the creator of all things provokes laughter from God.
Another example is found in Psalm 37 verse 12 - 13 where the wicked plot evil against the righteous and the Lord laughs for He know the end from the beginning and can see where the wicked end up.
The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth.
The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.
The Lord laughs at the devices and plots of the wicked but, as it says in James 4 verse 6, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Bless the Lord our God.
Amen
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
OUR LORD WHO IS JUDGE
The Lord Jesus, having lived humbly in our midst, having walked our dusty roads and having been tempted in every way as we are, proved Himself to be perfect in His life, death and resurrection.
God the Father thus appointed Him as the Judge over the living and the dead.
Acts 10 verse 42 says it this way;
He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
It will be before this appointed judge that we shall all appear as it says in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
It is a fearsome thing to come before the judge who is so exalted and commands the existence of all things. Revelation 19 verse 11 - 13 describes it like this;
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
The One who walked humbly with us now appears in power and judges in righteousness.
Seek Him earnestly and trust in Him now so that you may know Him before He is revealed in great glory as judge of the living and the dead.
Bless His holy name.
Amen.
Reference source: knowing-jesus.com
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
OUR LORD IS HIGHLY EXALTED
You O God art high and lifted up
You O God art highly exalted
You O God art high and lifted up
You O God art highly exalted
I will praise thy name
Forever ! Forever !
I will praise thy name
Forever ! Forever !
Monday, November 22, 2021
OUR LORD WHO SUMMONS
To be summoned is to receive a formal authoritative order to appear at a defined location at a defined time.
Psalm 50 verse 1 says that the Lord summoned the earth to its course by what He has spoken. It says it this way;
The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
On a meta scale, the Lord's formal and authoritative word commands the perpetual patterns and cycles of our universe.
On a small scale but equally important, a person can also be summoned to attend to an important event that is pivotal in the progression of the kingdom of God. An example of such is found in Acts 10 verse 22 that says this;
They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message.”
Here, the gospel of kingdom of God was about to cross the threshold from the realm of the nation of Israel into the world of the gentiles. This critical moment in history required a formal summons that a Holy angel directed the gentile Cornelius to issue to the Apostle Peter.
When Peter heeded the summons, the gigantic history-making tidal wave of gentiles entering the kingdom of God began.
As for us believers, we are invited to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus in order to be saved. This invitation is not a summons but rather an entreaty by the Lord.
However, we who believe will receive a summons to the wedding banquet of the Lamb that is illustrated in a parable told by the Lord Jesus in Mathew 22 verse 2 - 10:
The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come. Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.
“Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.
This sombre caution tells of people who did not heed the summons of the banquet of the King's Son. The king then instructed his servants to invite other people to replace the ones who ignored the summons they received.
We, as people of God, must always be ready to obey the summons of our Lord. When He calls us to duty in intersession or in ministry to others or in any function in the kingdom, we must practice our ear to listen for summons and ready our feet to attend to the summons we receive from heaven lest we become used to ignoring calls and invitations and summons from the Lord, and miss the final great summoning to the banquet that will be the commencement of the millennial reign of the Lamb of God.
Lord, teach us to hear your summons and to follow you leading.
Amen.
Sunday, November 21, 2021
THE LORD SAYS TO MY LORD
Psalms 110 verse 1 - 2 is an enigmatic passage that describes a conversation between two incredible persons.
One of the persons is promoting the other to the highest throne in heaven and is pledging to make His enemies a footstool for His feet. The first person also declares that He will extend the second person's mighty scepter from Zion and that He will rule in the midst of His enemies.
The passage puts it this way;
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies.
When confronting the religious teachers of the day, Jesus quoted this passage to challenge their understanding of scripture. He asked them whose son the Messiah was. When they replied, "the son of David", Jesus then referred to this scripture and asked them, if the Messiah was the son of David, why did David call Him Lord?
In other words, why would a progenitor of a person call his own descendant "Lord".
This is truly a difficult question to answer. Jesus was showing the Pharisees that even though they thought they knew everything in the scriptures, they actually had a lot more to understand.
By the grace of God, we in our dispensation, know why David called his own descendant "LORD".
The great mystery that was hidden through the ages was that the Son of God, Jesus, was the one who would emerge from the line of David as a descendant from the line of David but not by blood. He was born of the Spirit into a family that was from the line of David.
As such, David called the Messiah "Lord", because Jesus is the Son of God and is God but He is also the heir to the throne of David by descent.
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."