Promised Redemption

No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him – the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough. But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. (Ps 49:7-8,15)

Sin brought death into the world, and no man can do anything to change that. We have sinned and we will die. We do not have the power or the righteousness to defeat death on our own. But God! I love those two words. He is the answer to all our predicaments. I cannot defeat death. But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.

This much was known to the psalmist in ancient days. He looked ahead to a redemption he knew was coming but he could not see how or by whom. How blessed we are to be born into these latter days! We know the joy of a daily walk with Jesus, our Blessed Redeemer. He paid the debt I could not pay. The blood of Christ is sufficient for all our sins. Lord, thank you for the great joy of knowing you, of experiencing your presence every day. Thank you that I enjoy now the eternal life of which the psalmist could only dream. Even though my body will one day die, death will never separate me from you, my Lord and Savior. Amen.

Give Him Your Heart

The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being. (Pro 20:27) 

When we say that we have “given our hearts to Christ” these are not idle words. He is going to move in and take ownership, and the first order of business is spring cleaning. Sanctification is not always a pleasant process. If we continue to walk with him, drinking in his Word and seeking his will, he is going to shine the light of his truth on the dark corners of our hearts. Lord, sanctify me by your truth! (Jn 17:17) I know I often resist you, but my heart of hearts truly desires to be conformed to your image. (Rom 8:29) Forgive me when I pull back. I have given my heart to you, and it is yours forever. Amen.

The Hammer of Grace

About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. (Acts 22:6)

When God decides it is time to get your attention, he will do whatever it takes to accomplish the job. Saul needed a hammer; some need only a feather. But all of us need God to take the first step. Saul seemed as unlikely a convert as one could imagine. Going from city to city persecuting the Christians, how many deaths must he have been responsible for? I wonder how many of them were praying for Saul’s salvation. God heard their prayers.

Forty years ago God got my attention, too. There were no bright lights or voices that day, but it took more than a feather to get my attention. I felt the powerful, tangible presence of God and knew in an instant that he is real and Jesus is Lord. Many people were praying for me that day, as well. Thank you, Lord, for your incredible mercy. I pray that you would have mercy on those who are precious to me who don't know you. Make your presence real to them. Touch their hearts so they know you love them and accept them by the blood of Jesus. Please do whatever it takes to get their attention, and soften their hearts to receive you. Amen.

Whosoever Will

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Rev 22:17)

What could be sweeter, or what could set the heart more at ease than this? The free, simple, open invitation to come and enjoy the blessings of God forever and ever! The hard work has been done; all debts have been paid. Jesus has made a way for us to freely enter God’s presence with everlasting joy. What madness causes men to cling to their pride and fail to enter in? There is no greater evidence of the depravity of sin than for a man to turn down such a gift! Dear Lord, thank you that you broke through all my pride and my stubborn skepticism nearly 40 years ago so that I could see the light. It was all your doing. You saved me; I did not save myself. Thank you that I will enjoy the blessings of your Kingdom forever and ever. You paid the price. You made the offer. All I had to do was open my hand to receive it. Can it really be that simple? Yes!!

God's Family Tree

These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. (Neh 7:64)

If you set out to read the Bible cover to cover, one of the challenges you will face is plowing through the long genealogies and lists of names. They seem to go on for pages, and to the modern reader they are dry as burned toast. What accounts for this ancient obsession with names and genealogies? Simply this: for the Israelite, his connection with the family of God is his line of descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To be cut off from the people of God was to be cut off from God. For the priests and Levites it was even more important. The Levites had to prove they were descended from Levi and the priests had to prove they were sons of Aaron. I read once that one of the incalculable losses of the Holocaust was the destruction of the genealogical records which the Jews of Europe had maintained for centuries. How tragic! But now I understand why, for the Christian, such genealogies are less important. Our connection to the family of God is much simpler, and our line of descent is quite short. Each one of us is an adopted son or daughter of the King of Kings. We have each been grafted in to the family tree. (Rom 11:17) For by grace we have been saved through faith (Eph 2:8) and everyone who believes has been given the right to be called a child of God! (Jn 1:12) Praise God! Thank you, Lord, for your mercy! Amen.

Praying for the Lost

I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:1-4)

It’s bothered me for some time that I don’t see the Bible talking much about praying for the lost. I pray every day for lost loved ones. I desperately want to see them be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Verses 3 and 4 in this passage are well known, and because of them I understand that God, too, desires my loved ones to be saved. But I had never connected these verses in context to verse 1 before. People always quote verses 1 and 2 together to illustrate that we should pray for government leaders. And they quote verses 3 and 4 together to show that God doesn’t want to send anyone to hell. But verse 2 is a qualifier on verse 1; it says that not only should we pray for everyone, we should pray for rulers specifically. When you leave it out and skip straight from verse 1 to verse 3 it reads like this:

I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone... This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:1, 3-4)

Now you see the completion of the main thought, which is that we should pray for everyone because God desires that everyone be saved. So not only is it Scriptural for me to be praying for my loved ones, I should also be praying for everyone else I know who is not saved. Lord, thank you for this affirmation of my heartfelt prayers. Thank you for the reminder that you do love everyone, and have no desire to see anyone miss out on eternal life. I lift them up to you and pray they would realize that you are real and you love them unconditionally. Open their eyes so they can see that they need you and the free gift of salvation you offer to everyone. Amen.

God Yearns for the Lost

Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him, declares the Lord. (Jer 31:20)

No matter how long the children of God stray or how far, God still loves them and yearns for them. The previous verse (v19) speaks of repentance after a misspent youth. “After I came to understand, I beat my breast.” This could be my testimony, too. The fact is that God rescues many in later life who strayed when they were young. Lord, I pray for my loved ones who are lost, that they will come to understand your love for them and their need for you. I know that may take a while but I pray it will not be too long. Guard them as they stray and open their eyes to your truth. I trust them into your hands. Amen.

Plan of Redemption

He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation. They do not know his laws. (Ps 147:19-20a)

God in his wisdom chose one nation – the nation of Israel – through which to reveal himself. Actually he started with one man, Abraham, making a covenant with him that his descendents would become a great nation. Abraham is our spiritual father. God chose him, and from that humble beginning unfolded the great history of his redemptive work in the world. Lord, thank you that you revealed yourself to Abraham and made a covenant with his descendents. Thank you for Moses and all the prophets. And thank you that you chose to become incarnate in Jesus Christ to complete your revelation of yourself to us. Thank you that through the cross we can be reconciled to you and that through your Scriptures we can come to know you. Thank you that you have been working to fulfill your plan for thousands of years to gather a people to yourself. Thank you for saving me. Amen.

Rejoicing for Others

The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. (Acts 15:3)

Have you ever received a gift, an award, or a compliment, and then been upset to learn that someone else received the same thing? Did it upset you more if it was someone you didn’t like? I sure have. It seemed to cheapen it somehow, especially if I thought they didn’t deserve it. That’s pride talking. It is nothing but the desire to exalt myself above others. The Jews had spent 2000 years thinking they were better than the Gentiles, because they were chosen by God. It would have been very easy for these Jewish Christians to resent the new Gentile Christians. But the Bible says they were very glad. Lord, help me to never entertain the idea that there are some people who don’t deserve salvation, because that’s not true – NONE of us deserve salvation. Convict me, Lord, when I feel resentment about something good that happens to someone else. Remind me that I am to love them, and should rejoice when you bless them.

The Raging Tempest

Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him and around him a tempest rages. (Ps 50:2)

I am continually amazed at how dramatically the Bible portrays God’s wrath and the judgment to come. I have the sense that most Christians today tend to focus on the loving side of his character. Certainly that’s the most popular image of God in the broader culture. But if love is all we know of God, what sense can we make of a verse like this one? “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:31 ESV) We cannot fully appreciate who God is without holding in our minds at once both his wrath and his love. In his wrath we are due his judgment, but in his love he has provided a way of salvation through the sacrifice of his Son. He is a God of both justice and of mercy. When I meditate on this, I can now better appreciate his patience. Knowing of his wrath, I am amazed that he delays the day of judgment. But knowing his love, I understand why he does. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy.

The Wrath of God

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath. (Ps 2:4-5)

I think one reason many of us do not feel more compassion for the lost than we do is our failure to fully appreciate the wrath of God that Jesus saved us from. His wrath burns like a white heat. I imagine being only a few feet away from the open door of a giant blast furnace. The only reason I do not perish is that I am standing behind a small wall which shields me. But I can see all around me the effects of that brilliant heat. I know I am secure behind that wall but I experience viscerally the fearfulness of that great force of nature. Or I can imagine being in a great spaceship and approaching the sun far closer than the orbit of Mercury. At this distance it fills the entire window in front of me, even though it is still many millions of miles away. The surface boils and churns like a cauldron of incandescent gas, and only the incredible shielding of the spaceship wall and window prevents me from being incinerated.

In that situation wouldn’t you have great compassion for anyone stuck outside with only their flimsy spacesuit to protect them? The whole ship would turn and begin emergency procedures to rescue any human being trapped outside. The urgency of our efforts would be driven by the ever present thought in our minds of the intensity of that heat. I am secure in Christ and I do not fear his wrath. But I must never forget about the great danger that faces all my unsaved friends and loved ones. God withholds his wrath today, out of his great compassion and patience. Indeed he blesses all mankind with life and sustenance, “sending his rain on the just and the unjust" (Mt 5:45). But judgment is coming, and the folly of those who would continue their rebellion against Almighty God will be revealed in the Day of Judgment. That is the picture of this verse in Psalms. A day is coming when it will be too late for them. The starkness of the choice before each of us is astonishing. How can we be complacent? Lord, I do not want to be driven by simple fear, but I pray that you would remind me daily of the urgency of the Great Commission.

Legacy of Faith

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. (Gen 6:18)

To the extent that Noah’s salvation from the flood is a type (i.e., symbol) of our salvation, it is perhaps significant that Noah’s family, including his sons and their wives, were saved with him. It is reminiscent of the jailer and his family in Acts 16. In that case, not only was his whole family baptized, but it clearly says that they all believed. So clearly they were saved not by the jailer’s decision, but by their own. In the same way, Noah’s family had to be willing to actually board the ark. And yet, it does certainly indicate that a righteous man can lead his whole family to salvation. I want to leave a legacy of faith in my family. I pray they will find in me sound leadership and a good example, so that my children and grandchildren and later generations will be faithful in turn.

Sirloin Symbolism

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” (Gen 1:29)

Genesis portrays the world as a very different place before the Fall. Neither people nor animals (v30) killed for food. After the Fall, the pattern we see is that people kill animals so they can live. The picture is one of sacrifice. God killed an animal to clothe them in skins (3:21). And later, in the sacrificial system established by the Mosaic law, the animal that was killed was also eaten. The priests and the Levites received their share, as did the person who brought it. This was foreshadowed in the Passover feast. Whenever we eat meat, it should remind us that a Sacrifice was required for our salvation.

Praying for the Lost

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. (Rom 10:1)

I am struck by how few places in the Bible make any mention of praying for the lost. But here Paul prays for the salvation of the Jews. Surely we, too, can pray for our lost loved ones. Paul was willing to make any sacrifice (Rom 9:3) for the sake of his beloved fellow Israelites. Lord, may I be willing to make any sacrifice to see the salvation of my loved ones, as well.

Salvation Then and Now 2

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. (Rom 3:25)

As we saw a few days ago, salvation in the Old Testament is the same as salvation in the New Testament. This verse clearly shows that the blood of Christ also covers the sins of those who lived before the time of Jesus, but trusted God for their salvation. God did not overlook their sin, but simply withheld the punishment for it against the day Christ would become the atoning sacrifice.

Salvation Then and Now

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Is 43:25)

God is the only Savior (see v11), and he always has been – even in the Old Testament, even to the Jews. What we know, which was not revealed to them, is how he blots out our transgressions: through the blood of Christ. Nothing about the nature and manner and source of salvation has changed from Old Testament times until now. Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” (Jn 8:58) The Old Testament saints trusted God for their salvation from sin, which was coming and they knew not how. But they knew that by faith they were forgiven.

The Greatest Joy

However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Lk 10:20)

However blessed we are by any gift or power or ministry God has given us, our greatest joy must always be that our names are written in the book of life. Let us seek no greater fame or glory than that.

Saving Faith

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Lk 7:48,50)

In Luke chapter 5 Jesus told the paralytic his sins were forgiven. Here he does the same with the woman who anointed his feet with perfume. But in this case he makes explicit why her sins were forgiven. It is her faith in Christ that saved her – the same basis as our forgiveness. Scripture also says that Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Abraham didn't know the name of Jesus, but he knew he needed a Savior, and he knew God alone could save him from his sins. Whether a person lived before Jesus' lifetime, during his lifetime, or after his lifetime, there is and always has been only one basis for salvation: faith in our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

No One Is Beyond Hope

With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. (Mk 10:27)

It is harder for a rich man to be saved than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Yet Jesus says, with God this is possible! No one is beyond the reach of salvation – no one. Lord, thank you for the encouragement to keep on praying for the lost people whom you have laid on my heart.

The Miracle of New Life

Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? (Acts 26:8)

When we think about it, we realize that if God exists it is no problem for him to raise the dead. But we are deceived by the ordinariness of our daily lives. I’ve never seen anyone raised from the dead. Yesterday was much like today and tomorrow promises to be just the same. We think “everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” (2 Pet 3:4) A subtle doubt creeps into our hearts. The enemy taunts us: “Did God really say...” (Gen 3:1) To believe in miracles I must see with the eyes of faith. I must look at what is eternal, not temporal. (2 Cor 4:18)

Lord, I know that you are real, and that you are a worker of miracles. In my own heart I have experienced the miracle of salvation. Forgive me when I begin to think pessimistically about the people I am praying for. You created the universe, and you can move the hearts of the lost. Turn their hearts to you. As you indwell them and sanctify them may I once again see death overcome by life. Your life. Amen.