Precision in Strategy and Timing - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 11:8-9,

"'But Rabbi,' they said, 'a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?' Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.'"

When it came time in Jesus' ministry to raise Lazarus from the dead, he told his disciples they were going back to Judea where the leaders of the Jews were looking to kill him. His disciples protested as quoted above. Jesus responded to them with an interesting comment about daylight.

The Quest Study Bible has an interesting note about this. It says Jesus was calming their fears by pointing out that just as the day has fixed periods in it (daylight and night) so the time of Jesus' earthly ministry was preordained. All aspects of what he set himself to accomplish had their appointed times, just as walking is done in the daytime, not the nighttime (excuse me for pointing out this was before the invention of streetlights and flashlights).

John makes some interesting observations about Jesus' time on earth as a mission that was driven by exacting strategy and timing. For instance we read in John 7:6, "Therefore Jesus told them, 'My time is not yet here; for you any time will do.'" Two verses later we read, "You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come."

As I say, there are a number of clues in John's gospel that point to this precision of strategy and timing. "I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me." John 7:33.

The next time you read John's gospel, note these clues to this strategy and timing. How many can you find? It appears there was nothing during Jesus' earthly ministry that was simply happenstance.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

The Good Shepherd - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 10:16,

"I [Jesus] have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

The Quest Study Bible says, "This is one of Jesus' earliest and clearest references to Gentiles as members of his kingdom.

Jesus was talking with Pharisees that rejected his claim of being the Messiah. He used the analogy of a shepherd with his sheep. Jesus Christ is the true shepherd of all that embrace God in faith. As he makes his points, he says that he is the shepherd of the believing Jews. However, there are other sheep from another pen, and that would be Gentiles who would embrace him in faith.

What if God decided there would be only one demographic he would accept into his kingdom? Where would that leave many of us? Where would that leave you and me?

But he hasn't! Jesus Christ came to sacrifice himself for all mankind, so that all mankind has an opportunity to respond to him! "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2.

Who among mankind does he want? All of us! "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.

He wants all mankind! But he has made crystal clear that he will only be taking those who embrace him in faith to be his.

What an opportunity!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Reduced to Ad Hominems - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 9:34,

"To this they [the Pharisees] replied, 'You [a blind man healed by Jesus] were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!' And they threw him out.

Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were obligated to investigate the matter when it was brought to them. They found themselves backed into a corner because the miracle proved that Jesus had come from God. This didn't comport with their rejection of the idea that Jesus had been sent from God.

What did the Pharisees do? Just like so many leaders do when confronted about their poor decisions, they spewed ad hominems at the man when he claimed Jesus could not have healed his blindness unless he was from God.

Reduced to ad hominems! "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us?" Implied there is that the Pharisees were not steeped in sin. And, yet, here they are, eyeballs-deep in the worst sin of all: rejecting the Son of God!

I find the miracle of healing a man born blind to be very apt for the point Jesus was making. The Jewish leaders were blind themselves. Blind to the truth of Jesus Christ.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Freed From Slavery! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 8:34,

"Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.'"

Jesus taught that those who sin are enslaved to sin. This enslavement speaks to the inability of sinners to break free from their sin. Sin dominates and controls. And, we're all sinners! Paul tells us, "For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin." Romans 3:9b.

What a sorry estate! The end result of that condition is eternal death following this life, "the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23.

Here is the very purpose Jesus, the Son of God, came to live among mankind: he came to free us from sin! He says in verse 31, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." In verse 36 Jesus said, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

In Acts 13:39 Paul taught, "Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses."

Emancipation! Liberation! Manumission! All who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith are freed from the power of sin's domination as well as forgiven of every sin ever committed!

How wonderful is that?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Living Water Flowing From Within - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 7:38-39,

"'Whoever believes in me [Jesus], as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.' By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive."

What an amazing promise that was fulfilled on Pentecost!

We read this prophecy in Isaiah 44:3-4, "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams."

I recall what Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14.

Peter addressed the crowd that showed up on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers following Jesus' ascension into heaven,
"In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Peter was quoting Joel 2:28-32. We today, likewise, participate in this very same prophecy when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith. We become indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:16-18.

Just how wonderful is that?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God's Great Expression of Love: He Draws Us to Himself! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 6:65,

"This is why I [Jesus] told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them."

Here is one of the most wonderful expressions of the love of God for mankind! I find it breathtaking. God so loves mankind that he has reached out to draw us to himself! He wants to give us eternal life with him!

This statement of Jesus to his listeners follows his line of teaching in this passage. In verse 44 he told them, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day."

The fact is that we are all sinners and not disposed to embrace God within our hearts, hence, he has to provide us some enablement to get us there. We read in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Also in Romans 3:9b, "For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin."  

A big piece of that enablement is the way he draws us to himself, meeting us more than half way to finding him in our hearts. Some have confused this drawing of God to mean God only draws special ones to himself. Not at all. God draws all mankind to himself, "And I [Jesus], when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." John 12:32. God wants all mankind! "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:3-4. Likewise in 2 Peter 3:9 we read, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

As I say, God wants all mankind to come to him, but each person needs to make the personal choice to do so. Jesus died for the sins of all mankind, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2. However, after doing all the hard lifting, and drawing us to himself, enabling us to make a decision for him, some will and some will still not. "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day." John 6:40. On the other hand, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." John 3:19.

Knowing that God draws us to himself is such an expression for his love of mankind! He gave us his Son, he has given us his invitation (the gospel message), and he has drawn us to himself! What more could we possibly ask for!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.  

Do We Really Believe the Scriptures? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 5:37-40,

"And the Father who sent me [Jesus Christ] has himself testified concerning me. You [the Jewish leaders] have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."

Here is an amazing reality: people can study the Scriptures and never learn what they intend to communicate to us. What they intend to communicate, God's intention, is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to give his life as a ransom for us all, providing us a way to eternal life. All the Scriptures point to Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of all they intend. In 2 Peter 1:20-21 we read that the writers of Scripture spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit - and in the Scriptures the Holy Spirit points us to the Son of God.

Jesus accused the Jewish leaders of not believing what Moses wrote, "But since you do not believe what he [Moses] wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" Verse 47. In the previous verse we read, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me." Sincerely believing what the Scriptures say is required to get what God intends for us out of them.

Although these Jewish leaders studied their Bibles because they thought it would bring them eternal life, "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life", it did them no good because they did not believe what was written there.

While reading our Bibles is a good thing, the activity really doesn't do anything for us if we don't believe what they have to say. The most erudite theologian, the greatest biblical historian, the top Hebrew and Greek scholars will never grasp the message of the Scriptures unless they believe from the heart what they have to say.

And, neither will we.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.