Jesus, The Savior

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

One day I drove my car off the hot pavement out into a grassy area because I knew where there was a persimmon tree. I love persimmons and I thought, “Well, this is about the time those persimmons would be ripe.” But I got impossibly stuck in the mud. I got a board and tried to dig myself out. I found a piece of carpet there in the woods and put that under the tires. My tires only sunk deeper.

I prayed, “Lord, I’m in the mud. I need your help. I’m helpless here. Lord, get me out.” And almost at the same time, a man came by in a four-wheel vehicle. With that mighty truck, he pulled me slowly out of the mud. I was back on solid ground.

I was so grateful. I hadn’t known what to do, but God sent someone in a four-wheel truck with a cable. That’s so much like salvation. We’re looking for the things of this world and sinking in the mud. We say, “Well, I can get myself out of this.” And the more we try to handle it, the deeper and deeper we sink. We need somebody who will see us, care for us, come to us, and get us out. Jesus is a Savior. He has what it takes to extricate us from the mud we’ve gotten in.

When I got home, my car was covered with mud. I got out the hose and began to get the mud off. That man got me out of the mud, but it was up to me to deal with the mud that was still on there. When I got saved, I was covered with mud. But since then, I’ve been letting Jesus, the Water of Life, clean me up.

ACTION POINT:

You can struggle all you want, but all you’re going to do is sink deeper. Stop the struggle. Surrender to Christ. You don’t have what it takes to get out unless someone takes you out. And that one is Jesus. His name is wonderful. He is the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Final Reality Is Here

Day 13 Advent

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. . . . They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8:1–2, 5)

We’ve seen it before. But there’s more. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing.

Hebrews 8:1–2, 5 is a kind of summary statement. The point is that the one priest who goes between us and God, and makes us right with God, and prays for us to God is not an ordinary, weak, sinful, dying priest as in the Old Testament days. He is the Son of God — strong, sinless, with an indestructible life.

Not only that, he is not ministering in an earthly tabernacle with all its limitations of place and size while getting worn out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned and torn and stolen. No, Hebrews 8:2 says that Christ is ministering for us in a “true tent that the Lord set up, not man.” This is not the shadow. It’s the real thing in heaven. This is the reality that cast a shadow on Mount Sinai for Moses to copy.

According to Hebrews 8:1, another great thing about the reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High Priest is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. No Old Testament priest could ever say that.

Jesus deals directly with God the Father. He has a place of honor beside God. He is loved and respected infinitely by God. He is constantly with God. This is not shadow-reality like curtains and bowls and tables and candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and pigeons. This is final, ultimate reality: God and his Son interacting in love and holiness for our eternal salvation.

Ultimate reality is the Persons of the Godhead in relationship, dealing with each other concerning how their majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness and truth shall be manifest in a redeemed people.

John Piper

The Welfare In His Name

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The thing your heart is yearning for is peace. Jesus is called “The Prince of Peace.” The Bible says, “Let the peace of God rule your heart” (Philippians 4:7). You see, God, through Jesus, came to give you peace.

Has anyone ever left you anything in a will? Jesus did. Just before He went to the cross He said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

This is the legacy Jesus left for you. Jesus willed His body to Joseph of Arimathea for burial. Jesus gave the care of His mother to the apostle John. Jesus yielded up His spirit to God the Father. But Jesus gave His peace to you. And there’s no lawyer on earth that can break that will. It is yours. It is your throne gift.

ACTION POINT:

If you don’t have peace, it’s because you don’t understand what you have in the name of Jesus. There is welfare in His name. Call upon Him today. Ask Him to help you receive the peace He has provided.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Replacing the Shadows

Day 12 Advent

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. (Hebrews 8:1–2)

The point of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has not just come to fit into the earthly system of priestly ministry as the best and final human priest, but he has come to fulfill and put an end to that system, and to orient all our attention on himself, ministering for us first on Calvary as our final Sacrifice and then in heaven as our final Priest.

The Old Testament tabernacle and priests and sacrifices were shadows. Now the reality has come, and the shadows pass away.

Here’s an Advent illustration for kids — and those of us who used to be kids and remember what it was like. Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocery store, and you start to get scared and panic and don’t know which way to go, and you run to the end of an aisle, and just before you start to cry, you see a shadow on the floor at the end of the aisle that looks just like your mom. It makes you really hopeful. But which is better? The hopefulness of seeing the shadow, or having your mom step around the corner and it’s really her?

That’s the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High Priest. That’s what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing: Mom stepping around the corner of the aisle, and all the relief and joy that gives to a little child.

John Piper

The Wisdom in His Name

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:24

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you needed a counselor at times? People come to pastors and counselors for wisdom. We can counsel from Scripture, but we can’t solve their problems.

We can try to lead them to the One who can solve their problems, the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t want them dependent upon me. I want them to know Jesus. He is the Counselor. There is wisdom in His name. Paul says in 1 Corinthians1:30, He “is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

ACTION POINT:

Are you going through a problem right now? You don’t know the way out. You don’t know what to do. Every answer seems wrong. I want to recommend my counselor to you. Call upon the true Counselor. His name is Jesus. Not only is there wonder in His name. Friend, there is wisdom in His name.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Why Jesus Came

Day 11 Advent

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14–15)

This, I think, is my favorite Advent text because I don’t know any other that expresses so clearly the connection between the beginning and the end of Jesus’s earthly life — between the incarnation and crucifixion. These two verses make clear why Jesus came; namely, to die. They would be great to use with an unbelieving friend or family member to walk them step-by-step through your Christian view of Christmas. It might go something like this, a phrase at a time:

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood . . . ”

The term “children” is taken from the previous verse and refers to the spiritual offspring of Christ, the Messiah (see Isaiah 8:18; 53:10). These are also the “children of God” (John 1:12). In other words, in sending Christ, God has the salvation of his “children” especially in view.

It is true that “God so loved the world, that he gave [Jesus]” (John 3:16). But it is also true that God was especially gathering “the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:52). God’s design was to offer Christ to the world, and to effect the salvation of his “children” (see 1 Timothy 4:10). You may experience adoption by receiving Christ (John 1:12).

“ . . . he himself likewise partook of the same things [flesh and blood] . . . ”

This means that Christ existed before the incarnation. He was spirit. He was the eternal Word. He was with God and was God (John 1:1; Colossians 2:9). But he took on flesh and blood and clothed his deity with humanity. He became fully man and remained fully God. It is a great mystery in many ways. But it is at the heart of our faith — and what the Bible teaches.

“ . . . that through death . . . ”

The reason he became man was to die. As God pure and simple, he could not die for sinners. But as man he could. His aim was to die. Therefore he had to be born human. He was born to die. Good Friday is the purpose of Christmas. This is what most people today need to hear about the meaning of Christmas.

“ . . . he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil . . . ”

In dying, Christ de-fanged the devil. How? By covering all our sin. This means that Satan has no legitimate grounds to accuse us before God. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33) — on what grounds does he justify? Through the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:9).

Satan’s ultimate weapon against us is our own sin. If the death of Jesus takes it away, the chief weapon of the devil — the one mortal weapon that he has — is taken out of his hand. He cannot make a case for our death penalty, because the Judge has acquitted us by the death of his Son!

“ . . . and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

So, we are free from the fear of death. God has justified us. Satan cannot overturn that decree. And God means for our ultimate safety to have an immediate effect on our lives. He means for the happy ending to take away the slavery and fear of the Now.

If we do not need to fear our last and greatest enemy, death, then we do not need to fear anything. We can be free. Free for joy. Free for others.

What a great Christmas present from God to us! And from us to the world!

John Piper

Revealed to Shepherds, Hidden from Herod

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into Heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” Luke 2:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What is the great need in the world today? Is it information? We’re drowning in a sea of information. If information is what we need, God would have sent an educator. Is it technology? If technology had been the need, God would have sent a scientist. Is it money? Do you think your problems would be solved if you had more money? If money were the need, God would have sent an economist. Is the need more leisure? Maybe God should have sent an entertainer.

No. Our great need is salvation. And so God sent a Savior.

I’m amazed (and blessed) that He sent the message to humble shepherds. Old Herod, the King, never did quite get it. He never did understand. But humble shepherds understood the message. Why? Because “God has hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes” (Luke 10:21).

ACTION POINT:

Do you want to understand who Jesus Christ is today? Then lay your intellectual pride in the dust, come to Him and say, “Lord, reveal this truth to me.” Sing it and follow it: “O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers