Passage of the Day

Friday, April 19, 2013

Passage of the Day - April 19, 2013

John 1:14-18

¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” ¹⁶For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

How God’s Word became flesh is still quite the mystery.

I find it interesting that John says that they saw His glory full of grace and truth and later says the law was given through Moses and grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. Jesus is through whom we receive God’s grace and truth. God chose to go through Moses to give us the Law and through Jesus to give us grace and truth.

We know the technical definition of grace being unmerited favor, but what does that really mean? As Pontius Pilate famously asked “What is truth?”

Truth is far more than merely what isn’t false. Truth is reality with meaning properly perceived.

Grace is the divine transformation of reality, regeneration of meaning, and corrected perception necessary to be in union with God through Christ.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Passage of the Day - April 16, 2013

John 1:6-13

⁶There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
⁹There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ¹³who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The right to become children of God. This was the entire purpose of Christ’s mission on Earth. He saved all of mankind from the penalty of sin and provided them with the right to become children of God. Having a right and exercising a right are two totally different things.

This passage shows how Jesus broke down the national and genetic barriers to God. No longer did the nation of Israel have exclusive access to God. Genetics would no longer determine who is a child of God and who is not. Rather, faith will determine this. Those who faithfully remain in the Vine will be fruitful and those who are not in the Vine or are pruned out of the Vine will be useless and thrown into the fire. The faithful at the earliest ages to the faithful starting at the eleventh hour will have the right to be and remain children of God.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Passage of the Day - April 15, 2013

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

⁴In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Today marks the beginning of a walk through the Book of John. For those of you have been with me during my erratic journeys, I thank you. It is now high-time we bring back some structure to Passage of the Day.

Understanding John chapter one is a challenge and yet essential to understanding the Bible. God is eternal and His Message, His Word was there at the beginning of time. God’s Message was with God in perfect unity because God’s Message was God’s and therefore God Himself. God spoke, and by His very Word, the heavens and the Earth and all that was within them was created. God gave us His Law, His Prophecy, and His Covenants all culminating in His Son, Jesus Christ. We are to be ruled by this very Word of God sewn into our hearts.

The pain and heartache of Man can always be traced back to Man’s desire to elevate a man above the Word of God. Adam and Eve placed themselves above God’s Word to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Israelites placed earthly kings above God’s Word given through the Judges. The Israelites placed the empty promises of other nations above God’s Word given through the Prophets. How often is our life directed by our own desires, the utopia of our version of government, or the promises of others as compared to the Word of God?

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Passage of the Day - April 9, 2013

II Corinthians 5:7

for we walk by faith, not by sight

It has been a little over a month since my last Passage of the Day. I apologize for the delay, but I was getting way way way ahead of myself, and I apologize for that as well. As we know from Scripture, we are to walk by faith, one step at a time. I veered off course and acted like the little kid saying “Daddy! Daddy! Look over there! I want to go over there!” God eventually said “NO!” What did happen over the course of the past month is that I found out I’m definitely not moving where I thought I was. I also made the final decision to change churches and start attending Light of Christ Anglican Church in Kenosha, WI. God wanted me to make the biblical step of faith He was calling our family to, not the unbiblical leap of faith He wasn’t. This has been a lesson learned about my propensity to make mountains out of molehills and suffer paralysis by analysis. I want to live my life the way God wants and that is walking with Him one step at a time.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Passage of the Day - March 8, 2013

Ezekiel 38:1

And the word of the Lord came to me saying,

And…I don’t remember what I saw in Ezekiel 38 that led me to believe it relates to what I was talking about.

Moving on from Ezekiel (still my least favorite book of the Bible) and moving on from the topic of reunification (it’s been driving me a little nuts, lately. You too, probably).

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Passage of the Day - March 5, 2013

Ezekiel 36:22-32

²²“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. ²⁵Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. ²⁸You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. ³⁰I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. ³²I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!”

Here God is telling His people that when He gathers them from the far reaches of the world, He will baptize them, grant them a new spirit, remove their hard hearts towards their Messiah Jesus Christ, give them the Holy Spirit to cause them to walk in His statutes and obey His ordinances, remembering their evil ways and grieving the consequences of their sin, to repent and never repeat.

Am I way off base here?

Monday, March 4, 2013

Passage of the Day - March 4, 2013

Ezekiel 37:24-28

²⁴“My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. ²⁵They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. ²⁷My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. ²⁸And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”

One thing is crystal clear in this portion of Ezekiel 37; Ezekiel is not talking about Benjamin Netanyahu. This is clearly talking about Jesus Christ.

When this prophecy is fulfilled, won’t it be amazing? To tangibly be involved in a unified Church with our eternal High Priest? To tangibly be a subject in Christ’s unified kingdom?

It is late as I write this, so please forgive my style.

One last thing. In case you didn’t know it, Ezekiel 37 is smack-dab between Ezekiel 36 and Ezekiel 38. This will be important in future Passages of the Day.