Category Archives: Bible
Your Witness
Acts 2:36-37 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!” Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
John 3:2 “After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Who are the “we” that Nicodemus was referring to in this scripture? Read the rest of this entry
The Temple
John 2:16 “Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here…” (emphasis added)
Yesterday, we saw Jesus doing some very unconventional things. Jesus did not only hand make a whip, He used it on people. This is not the picture of Jesus a lot of Christians want to see. Jesus is one hundred percent grace (100%) and one hundred percent truth (100%). Read the rest of this entry
Like Mary
John 2:3-5 “The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Mary was an executionist. Yesterday we said there are four types of people around us and we are also one of these four. The pessimist, the optimist, the analyst, and the executionist. God wants us to be executionists, people that step up and get things done despite the prevailing negativity. Read the rest of this entry
Your House
John 1:38 “Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), where are you staying?’”
Yesterday, we looked at Jesus’ first words in the Book of John and how we would respond if Jesus asked us that exact question. We are confident that we would receive what we have asked for in Jesus Name. Read the rest of this entry
Paid
Gen. 22:8 “Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.” (NRSV, emphasis added)
Isaac was a type of Jesus and in today’s scripture reference, Abraham was speaking prophetically when he said, God will provide a lamb for Himself. And that was exactly what happened; even in the time of Abraham, God provided a lamb for Himself. In humanity’s case, it is not the blood of bulls and goats that can make a difference to our sin. It is the spotless Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, that makes a difference. Totally beautiful! Hesed begins to make a lot more sense; ‘when the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything.’ “Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” When the person from whom I expect to receive nothing gives me everything!
Let us shift our emphasis to what the Lamb has come to do. John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (NRSV emphasis added). The word “Sin” in this scripture is singular, not plural. It is sin – past, present, and future lumped together, nailed to the cross. Unbelievable! It means that the sin ‘from Adam till rapture’ is nailed to the cross, lumped up in one sacrifice. If this does not get you excited, I do not know what else will. ‘What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the Blood of Jesus.’ In the Old Testament, the concept of ‘atonement’ is the concept of ‘Covering’. In the Old Testament, an atoning sacrifice refers to a sacrifice to cover the sin. But when Jesus came, He became the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, not the Lamb of God that covers the sin of the world. Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
In the New Testament, atonement has the underlining foundation of propitiation. Jesus became the propitiation of our sin. Propitiation is a complex word, complex not in understanding but complex in meaning. Propitiation, on one hand, means to appease the wrath of someone that has been offended. And on the other hand, to restore in fellowship with the person that has been offended. Read the rest of this entry
By Revelation
John 1:31-32 “I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” (NRSV, emphasis added)
We kick off today with our final thought from yesterday and that is, God chose the one that had known Jesus from the womb and grew up with Him not to depend on his natural knowledge of Jesus. Why? So that God can reveal Jesus to him in a supernatural way. Read the rest of this entry
On Call
John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (NRSV).
Please read John 1:29-34 (NRSV). John the Baptist says, “He that sent me told me what to look out for” [paraphrased] and this is the first thing that jumps out at us. Meaning that John the Baptist was not just some eccentric man who went about baptizing people with water. Read the rest of this entry
