Seeing Salvation

Lk. 2:30-31  With my own eyes I've seen Your salvation; it's now out in the open for everyone to see... (MSG)

The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that he would not die without first beholding our Savior.  And being led by this same Spirit to the temple, sure enough he saw the Child Jesus.  Realizing that what had been revealed by the Spirit had now been fulfilled, Simeon (v.28) took Jesus in his arms and blessed God.  Not only did he get to see Jesus, he held and embraced Him.  I suppose at that moment Simeon must have felt inadequate or unworthy to be given such an honor and privilege.  Can you imagine holding the very Son of God in your hands?

Simeon rejoiced, acknowledging not only his Savior but the Savior of us all.  The Holy Spirit led him to Jesus and he now joyously proclaimed that this Savior was available for all to see. 

Christmas is the busiest time of the year for most of us.  Between the shopping, traveling, cooking and cleaning, in addition to our normal routine or schedule, it is very easy to lose sight of that which is most important.  So let's take time this holiday season to reflect and acknowledge that the birth of Jesus Christ provided the gift of God's salvation for us all.  By the leading and revelation of the Holy Spirit, we can see it and understand it just like Simeon did.  And may we, likewise, embrace Jesus and joyfully give thanks to the Father.  For when we behold the Child, we are seeing salvation!

Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas!


Sock Monkey Snippet:  When we behold the Child, we are seeing salvation.

Alive Day

1 Cor. 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

I watched a segment on the evening news recently about Alive Day.  For those of you (like me until now) who don't know, each seriously injured war veteran recalls the day when, involved in fatal circumstances, they didn't die but miraculously managed to stay alive.  Some even choose to celebrate it like a second birthday.  And it makes perfect sense because on that day, they were essentially (re)born.  Given a new life.  And I'm sure these individuals are thankful beyond words.  Determined that their new beginning has special purpose.

Well, most of you can probably already guess where I'm headed with this blog.

We all have an Alive Day to celebrate.  The day we accepted and confessed Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  For until that day, we were involved in the fatal circumstances of our sin (Rom. 6:23).  But by grace and through faith (Eph. 2:8), God miraculously saved us.  Our spirits were reborn.  We were given a new life.

When was your Alive Day?  How are you celebrating?  Does each day find you thankful beyond words and determined to live a life of purpose?


Sock Monkey Snippet:  Celebrate your salvation by living each day with thankfulness and purpose.

Reflecting Absence

Jn. 10:10  "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may  have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Next week, the 9/11 memorial is scheduled to open in New York City.  It's design features two square voids, where the World Trade Center Towers once stood, each carved thirty feet deep into the earth.  Surrounding these voids are bronze panels on which are inscribed the names of the 2,983 victims whose lives were tragically taken.  The memorial is appropriately named "Reflecting Absence".  Visitors are to be reminded of what once was.  They are to forever take note that something is missing.  Abundant life that was intended to be was stolen away by evil.  The sin of a few men caused the death of so many others.

Paul explains in his letter to the Romans that through one man, Adam, sin entered the world (Rom. 5:12) also causing death to all men.  To all of us.  The abundant life God originally intended for us was voided by sin.  BUT, the Father loved us so much that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).  So just as by one man's disobedience we were made sinners, so by one Man's obedience we were made righteous (Rom. 5:19).  Jesus restored to us the abundant life that was always intended to be.

Be reminded today of the abundant and eternal life once stolen away from all of us, reflect on it's absence, and then rejoice in knowing it has been forever restored through Jesus Christ our Lord.


Sock Monkey Snippet:  Jesus restored to us the abundant life that was always intended to be.

Even More Powerful

Rom. 5:20  The Law came, so that the full power of sin could be seen.  Yet where sin was powerful, God's kindness was even more powerful.  (CEV)

Laws are not made for righteous people (1 Tim. 1:9).  They are made for the unrighteous.  Think about it.  If everyone in our society, any society, behaved perfectly, laws would be completely unnecessary.  They exist only in order to identify to the unrighteous where they transgress or sin.

And so it was with the Law of Moses.  Through it an unrighteous people could see the full condemning power of their sin and the hopelessness of their situation.  Because no matter how hard they tried, they could never fully satisfy or live by it's requirements.  They could never earn their own righteousness.  Their sin was just too powerful.  And the sobering judgment due them, the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23), was death.  An eternal separation from God.

But, we are told that as powerful as the grip of sin was on their lives, God's grace (kindness) was even more powerful!  He provided, through Jesus Christ, the only perfect, sinless and righteous Man by whom we all have been made righteous (v.19)  and in whom the Law was fulfilled (Mt. 5:17).  By God's grace and through our faith (Eph. 2:8) we are saved.  We have eternal life and victory (1 Cor. 15:57) over sin and death because of something even more powerful.  God's amazing grace.


Sock Monkey Snippet:  Sin is powerful, but God's grace is even more powerful.

Into Prosperity

Ps. 68:6  ...He brings out those who are bound into prosperity...

Prisoners are bound.  They have no hope and are destined to live a life without purpose.  Everything has been taken away by their captor.

Peter found himself as a prisoner (Acts 12:6).  Chained between two soldiers in a cell guarded by even more soldiers.  He was as a restrained and hindered as one person probably could be.  It was the very night before Herod would bring him to trial.  No reason to hope.  The purpose God had for his life was certainly not being fulfilled while he was in bondage.  His freedom had been taken away.

An angel appeared next to Peter and the cell was filled with light.  Peter was raised up (v. 7) and in the process, his chains fell off without any effort or struggling.  He didn't have to work for or earn his freedom.  He was instructed to put on his garment (mantle) and follow.  Peter couldn't believe what was happening.  In fact, he thought surely he was dreaming (v. 9).  When he finally came to his senses (v. 11) he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me."

Sin imprisoned us all.  We were bound by the law which we could not keep.  Stuck in a hopeless situation and destined to live far short of God's purpose for us.  But this verse in Psalm 68 says we were brought out (freed, released) into prosperity (success, abundance, freedom).  Through Jesus Christ, we have been set free (Isa. 61:1, Jn. 8:36).  Not by our own efforts but rather by God's amazing grace (Eph. 2:8).  We have been raised up and our chains are gone.  God has a purpose (mantle) for each of us and we are free to succeed, live abundantly and to follow Him.

When you stop and think about it, what God did for us through Jesus Christ seems just too good to be true.  Certainly our God has delivered us, too.  Like Peter, we who were also once bound have been brought out.  Into prosperity!


Sock Monkey Snippet:  We who were bound have been set free.

Into His Hands

Ps. 31:5  Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

While faced with adversity, David said it (Ps. 31:5).  While being stoned to death, Stephen said it (Acts 7:59).  While breathing His last breath on the cross, Jesus said it (Lk. 23:46).  Was it a coincidence that they all said the same thing?  What was so significant or special about these words?

"Into Your hands I commit My spirit."

In each case, there was a surrendering of something special to Someone special.

First of all, a surrendering was made.  A willing act of submission.  A voluntary choice.  The spirit was never taken but always given.

Second, something special was being offered.  An eternal spirit.  That which is the most valuable and should be our primary concern even more so than our temporal bodies.  Man can kill the body but not the spirit (Mt. 10:28).

Finally, it was entrusted to Someone special.  The One most worthy to receive it.  The One who redeemed us and purchased us with the blood of His only begotten Son and who is perfectly able to care for us.  The One who fashioned us and the heavens and earth, too.

All of us have that "something special".  An eternal spirit.  And we have a free will that allows us to decide to whom we will entrust it.  It will never be forcibly taken from us but rather must be given by us.  The highest price was paid (Acts 20:28, 1Cor. 6:20) and the greatest love was shown (Jn. 15:13) by Someone special who has an eternal plan, destiny and home for us.  Someone who is most worthy and who longs to receive us.

The words of Psalm 31:5 should rightfully come from our lips as well, freely and willingly giving ourselves to the One who gave everything for us.  Giving ourselves completely and for all eternity.  Into His hands.


Sock Monkey Snippet:  Surrender something special to Someone special.

We Smell Good

2 Cor. 2:15  For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

Everyone likes to be told that they smell good.  The smell of a perfume or fragrance is meant to attract us.  But, in some cases, it can have the complete opposite effect.  Something meant to attract can actually repel or be offensive.  The same fragrance can produce entirely different results.

The Gospel is like that.  The message of truth we bring to people, like a fragrance, will be attractive to some while others will find it offensive.  In either case, however, it is still the truth.

Paul writes that God uses us to saturate and attract the world with the fragrant, sweet-smelling message of our Savior Jesus Christ.  The end result will produce literally (eternal) life or death to those who hear it.  Some will find it attractive and receive it while others will find it offensive and reject it.  It is so very important, therefore, that what we say be spoken in sincerity (v. 17), never for our own personal gain, but rather only with the purest of motives or intentions.  In a manner that is well-pleasing to God.  Always being mindful of the life-changing potential of our message.  We are not responsible for the results, God is.  We only need to willingly allow Him to work through us.  When we do, I think that we smell good!

Sock Monkey Snippet:  We are the fragrance of Christ.

Our Shining Faces

2 Cor. 3:18  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, we are told (Exod. 34:30) that his face shone.  It literally shot out rays (horns) of light like the sun.  The Israelites realized that Moses had been in communion with God Himself.  Moses was being transformed into God's image just by being in His presence and his very countenance displayed God's glory.

After Moses spoke to the people, he veiled his face.  The glory of God visible on him may have been more than they could bear.  The Bible says the people were afraid, in awe perhaps being convicted by their own sin, making the veil necessary.  Or maybe he veiled his face concealing the decreasing brightness of it since we are not told it was of constant intensity.  The fading light was foreshadowing the old covenant of the law passing away (2 Cor. 3:13).

The veil created separation and it concealed.

Nevertheless, when we turn to the Lord, in repentance and faith, the veil is taken away (2 Cor. 3:14, 16).  Jesus Christ has taken away the veil of separation between God and us that our sin necessitated and that the law, the Ten Commandments, confirmed.  He took away the veil, revealing a new and everlasting covenant of mercy and grace.

Now having restored communion with God, we are being transformed, transfigured (2 Cor. 3:18) into His image, just as Moses was.  The glory of God, increasing in brightness, is being displayed (unveiled) in us for all to see our shining faces.  Let our light shine before men (Mt. 5:16)!

Sock Monkey Snippet:  Jesus took away the veil.

Free Indeed

Jn. 8:36  Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Until the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary, we were not free.  We were dead in our sin and due it's wages, death (Rom. 6:23).  Destined to be eternally separated from God.  We were held captive, bound in slavery to our sin.

Then His death and resurrection changed everything.  It provided a freedom, a (the only) Way (Jn14:6), for us we could by no other means have obtained.  Our old, sinful man (Rom.6:6, 7) was crucified with Christ freeing us from bondage to sin.  Jesus made (set) us free.  God's gift of an eternal life to be spent with Him was (and is) provided through His Son.

As we celebrate our nation's freedom today on the Fourth of July, let's also remember the ultimate freedom from sin and death that was made available to us through the precious blood of Jesus.  We are free indeed!


Sock Monkey Snippet:  Jesus made us free.

Smitten

Exod. 17:6  "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall smite the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink."  And Moses did so in the sight of the elders.

In the desert, water is life-giving and life-sustaining.  It is a necessity.  The Israelites, having no water, quickly recognized their need for it and complained to Moses because without it they would surely die (v.3).

God told Moses to take his rod and strike or smite (nakah) the rock and water would come out of it.  Not just a few drops or a trickle, but abundant provision from God.  Water, as we read, gushed out of it (Ps. 78:15, 16).  The smiting of the rock met their need and gave them life.

Isaiah writes in (53:4) that Jesus was reckoned to be stricken and smitten (nakah) by God.  All the while it was for our sins that He was wounded (v.5).  Can you see the wonderful foreshadowing of Jesus in Exodus as the rock who would be smitten for us?  In our need, being dead in sin, God provided Jesus for us.  And as a result, we have been given life.  Not just a few drops or even a trickle, but gushing, abundant life (Jn. 10:10) that we may drink.

Thank you, Jesus, for being smitten for our sins.  You gave us life.

Sock Monkey Snippet:  Because He was smitten, we have life.