December 15

John 18:28-40

Jesus Before Pilate

[28] Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. [29] So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” [30] They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” [31] Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” [32] This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

My Kingdom Is Not of This World

[33] So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” [34] Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” [35] Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” [36] Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” [37] Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” [38] Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” 

After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.  [39] But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” [40] They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Revelation 12

The Woman and the Dragon

[1] And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. [2] She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. [3] And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. [4] His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. [5] She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, [6] and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

[7] Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, [8] but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. [11] And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. [12] Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

[13] And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. [14] But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. [15] The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. [16] But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. [17] Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Job 35

Elihu Condemns Job

[1] And Elihu answered and said:

    [2] “Do you think this to be just?

        Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’ 

    [3] that you ask, ‘What advantage have I?

        How am I better off than if I had sinned?’ 

    [4] I will answer you

        and your friends with you. 

    [5] Look at the heavens, and see;

        and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. 

    [6] If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?

        And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? 

    [7] If you are righteous, what do you give to him?

        Or what does he receive from your hand? 

    [8] Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself,

        and your righteousness a son of man.

    [9] “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;

        they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. 

    [10] But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

        who gives songs in the night, 

    [11] who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth

        and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ 

    [12] There they cry out, but he does not answer,

        because of the pride of evil men. 

    [13] Surely God does not hear an empty cry,

        nor does the Almighty regard it. 

    [14] How much less when you say that you do not see him,

        that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him! 

    [15] And now, because his anger does not punish,

        and he does not take much note of transgression, 

    [16] Job opens his mouth in empty talk;

        he multiplies words without knowledge.”

Micah 4

The Mountain of the LORD

    [1] It shall come to pass in the latter days

        that the mountain of the house of the LORD

    shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

        and it shall be lifted up above the hills;

    and peoples shall flow to it, 

    [2]     and many nations shall come, and say:

    “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

        to the house of the God of Jacob,

    that he may teach us his ways

        and that we may walk in his paths.”

    For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

        and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 

    [3] He shall judge between many peoples,

        and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;

    and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

        and their spears into pruning hooks;

    nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

        neither shall they learn war anymore; 

    [4] but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,

        and no one shall make them afraid,

        for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. 

    [5] For all the peoples walk

        each in the name of its god,

    but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God

        forever and ever.

    The LORD Shall Rescue Zion

    [6] In that day, declares the LORD,

        I will assemble the lame

    and gather those who have been driven away

        and those whom I have afflicted; 

    [7] and the lame I will make the remnant,

        and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

    and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion

        from this time forth and forevermore.

    [8] And you, O tower of the flock,

        hill of the daughter of Zion,

    to you shall it come,

        the former dominion shall come,

        kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

    [9] Now why do you cry aloud?

        Is there no king in you?

    Has your counselor perished,

        that pain seized you like a woman in labor? 

    [10] Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion,

        like a woman in labor,

    for now you shall go out from the city

        and dwell in the open country;

        you shall go to Babylon.

    There you shall be rescued;

        there the LORD will redeem you

        from the hand of your enemies.

    [11] Now many nations

        are assembled against you,

    saying, “Let her be defiled,

        and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.” 

    [12] But they do not know

        the thoughts of the LORD;

    they do not understand his plan,

        that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor. 

    [13] Arise and thresh,

        O daughter of Zion,

    for I will make your horn iron,

        and I will make your hoofs bronze;

    you shall beat in pieces many peoples;

        and shall devote their gain to the LORD,

        their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

Micah 5

The Ruler to Be Born in Bethlehem

    [1]  Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;

        siege is laid against us;

    with a rod they strike the judge of Israel

        on the cheek. 

    [2]  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

        who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

    from you shall come forth for me

        one who is to be ruler in Israel,

    whose coming forth is from of old,

        from ancient days. 

    [3] Therefore he shall give them up until the time

        when she who is in labor has given birth;

    then the rest of his brothers shall return

        to the people of Israel. 

    [4] And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD,

        in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.

    And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great

        to the ends of the earth. 

    [5] And he shall be their peace.

    When the Assyrian comes into our land

        and treads in our palaces,

    then we will raise against him seven shepherds

        and eight princes of men; 

    [6] they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

        and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;

    and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian

        when he comes into our land

        and treads within our border.

    A Remnant Shall Be Delivered

    [7] Then the remnant of Jacob shall be

        in the midst of many peoples

    like dew from the LORD,

        like showers on the grass,

    which delay not for a man

        nor wait for the children of man. 

    [8] And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,

        in the midst of many peoples,

    like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

        like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,

    which, when it goes through, treads down

        and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. 

    [9] Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,

        and all your enemies shall be cut off.

    [10] And in that day, declares the LORD,

        I will cut off your horses from among you

        and will destroy your chariots; 

    [11] and I will cut off the cities of your land

        and throw down all your strongholds; 

    [12] and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

        and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes; 

    [13] and I will cut off your carved images

        and your pillars from among you,

    and you shall bow down no more

        to the work of your hands; 

    [14] and I will root out your Asherah images from among you

        and destroy your cities. 

    [15] And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance

        on the nations that did not obey.

December 14

John 18:19-27

The High Priest Questions Jesus

[19] The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. [20] Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. [21] Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” [22] When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” [23] Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” [24] Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter Denies Jesus Again

[25] Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” [26] One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” [27] Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

Revelation 11

The Two Witnesses

[1] Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, [2] but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. [3] And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

[4] These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. [5] And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. [6] They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. [7] And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, [8] and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. [9] For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, [10] and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. [11] But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. [12] Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. [13] And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

[14] The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

[15] Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” [16] And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, [17] saying, 

    “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

        who is and who was,

    for you have taken your great power

        and begun to reign. 

    [18] The nations raged,

        but your wrath came,

        and the time for the dead to be judged,

    and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

        and those who fear your name,

        both small and great,

    and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

    [19] Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

Job 34:21-37

    [21] “For his eyes are on the ways of a man,

        and he sees all his steps. 

    [22] There is no gloom or deep darkness

        where evildoers may hide themselves. 

    [23] For God has no need to consider a man further,

        that he should go before God in judgment. 

    [24] He shatters the mighty without investigation

        and sets others in their place. 

    [25] Thus, knowing their works,

        he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed. 

    [26] He strikes them for their wickedness

        in a place for all to see, 

    [27] because they turned aside from following him

        and had no regard for any of his ways, 

    [28] so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,

        and he heard the cry of the afflicted—

    [29] When he is quiet, who can condemn?

        When he hides his face, who can behold him,

        whether it be a nation or a man?—

    [30] that a godless man should not reign,

        that he should not ensnare the people.

    [31] “For has anyone said to God,

        ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more; 

    [32] teach me what I do not see;

        if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’? 

    [33] Will he then make repayment to suit you,

        because you reject it?

    For you must choose, and not I;

        therefore declare what you know. 

    [34] Men of understanding will say to me,

        and the wise man who hears me will say: 

    [35] ‘Job speaks without knowledge;

        his words are without insight.’ 

    [36] Would that Job were tried to the end,

        because he answers like wicked men. 

    [37] For he adds rebellion to his sin;

        he claps his hands among us

        and multiplies his words against God.”

Micah 1

[1] The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

    [2] Hear, you peoples, all of you;

        pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,

    and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,

        the Lord from his holy temple. 

    [3] For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,

        and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. 

    [4] And the mountains will melt under him,

        and the valleys will split open,

    like wax before the fire,

        like waters poured down a steep place. 

    [5] All this is for the transgression of Jacob

        and for the sins of the house of Israel.

    What is the transgression of Jacob?

        Is it not Samaria?

    And what is the high place of Judah?

        Is it not Jerusalem? 

    [6] Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,

        a place for planting vineyards,

    and I will pour down her stones into the valley

        and uncover her foundations. 

    [7] All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,

        all her wages shall be burned with fire,

        and all her idols I will lay waste,

    for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,

        and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

    [8] For this I will lament and wail;

        I will go stripped and naked;

    I will make lamentation like the jackals,

        and mourning like the ostriches. 

    [9] For her wound is incurable,

        and it has come to Judah;

    it has reached to the gate of my people,

        to Jerusalem.

    [10] Tell it not in Gath;

        weep not at all;

    in Beth-le-aphrah

        roll yourselves in the dust. 

    [11] Pass on your way,

        inhabitants of Shaphir,

        in nakedness and shame;

    the inhabitants of Zaanan

        do not come out;

    the lamentation of Beth-ezel

        shall take away from you its standing place. 

    [12] For the inhabitants of Maroth

        wait anxiously for good,

    because disaster has come down from the LORD

        to the gate of Jerusalem. 

    [13] Harness the steeds to the chariots,

        inhabitants of Lachish;

    it was the beginning of sin

        to the daughter of Zion,

    for in you were found

        the transgressions of Israel. 

    [14] Therefore you shall give parting gifts

        to Moresheth-gath;

    the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing

        to the kings of Israel. 

    [15] I will again bring a conqueror to you,

        inhabitants of Mareshah;

    the glory of Israel

        shall come to Adullam. 

    [16] Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,

        for the children of your delight;

    make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

        for they shall go from you into exile.

Micah 2

Woe to the Oppressors

    [1] Woe to those who devise wickedness

        and work evil on their beds!

    When the morning dawns, they perform it,

        because it is in the power of their hand. 

    [2] They covet fields and seize them,

        and houses, and take them away;

    they oppress a man and his house,

        a man and his inheritance. 

    [3] Therefore thus says the LORD:

    behold, against this family I am devising disaster,

        from which you cannot remove your necks,

    and you shall not walk haughtily,

        for it will be a time of disaster. 

    [4] In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you

        and moan bitterly,

    and say, “We are utterly ruined;

        he changes the portion of my people;

    how he removes it from me!

        To an apostate he allots our fields.” 

    [5] Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot

        in the assembly of the LORD.

    [6] “Do not preach”—thus they preach—

        “one should not preach of such things;

        disgrace will not overtake us.” 

    [7] Should this be said, O house of Jacob?

        Has the LORD grown impatient?

        Are these his deeds?

    Do not my words do good

        to him who walks uprightly? 

    [8] But lately my people have risen up as an enemy;

    you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly

        with no thought of war. 

    [9] The women of my people you drive out

        from their delightful houses;

    from their young children you take away

        my splendor forever. 

    [10] Arise and go,

        for this is no place to rest,

    because of uncleanness that destroys

        with a grievous destruction. 

    [11] If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,

        saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”

        he would be the preacher for this people! 

    [12] I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;

        I will gather the remnant of Israel;

    I will set them together

        like sheep in a fold,

    like a flock in its pasture,

        a noisy multitude of men. 

    [13] He who opens the breach goes up before them;

        they break through and pass the gate,

        going out by it.

    Their king passes on before them,

        the LORD at their head.

Micah 3

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

    [1] And I said:

    Hear, you heads of Jacob

        and rulers of the house of Israel!

    Is it not for you to know justice?—

    [2]     you who hate the good and love the evil,

    who tear the skin from off my people

        and their flesh from off their bones, 

    [3] who eat the flesh of my people,

        and flay their skin from off them,

    and break their bones in pieces

        and chop them up like meat in a pot,

        like flesh in a cauldron.

    [4] Then they will cry to the LORD,

        but he will not answer them;

    he will hide his face from them at that time,

        because they have made their deeds evil.

    [5] Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets

        who lead my people astray,

    who cry “Peace”

        when they have something to eat,

    but declare war against him

        who puts nothing into their mouths. 

    [6] Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,

        and darkness to you, without divination.

    The sun shall go down on the prophets,

        and the day shall be black over them; 

    [7] the seers shall be disgraced,

        and the diviners put to shame;

    they shall all cover their lips,

        for there is no answer from God. 

    [8] But as for me, I am filled with power,

        with the Spirit of the LORD,

        and with justice and might,

    to declare to Jacob his transgression

        and to Israel his sin.

    [9] Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

        and rulers of the house of Israel,

    who detest justice

        and make crooked all that is straight, 

    [10] who build Zion with blood

        and Jerusalem with iniquity. 

    [11] Its heads give judgment for a bribe;

        its priests teach for a price;

        its prophets practice divination for money;

    yet they lean on the LORD and say,

        “Is not the LORD in the midst of us?

        No disaster shall come upon us.” 

    [12] Therefore because of you

        Zion shall be plowed as a field;

    Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

        and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Where Does Self-Centeredness Lead?

“‘How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.’”

ISAIAH 14:12-15

 

PONDER THIS

What is self-centeredness? At its core it is pride. Do you know what made the devil the devil? Self-centeredness. What do you see in this passage about the enemy? Over and over again he says, “I will.” What did Jesus teach us to pray? “…not my will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). What did Satan say? “Not Your will, but mine, be done.” How do you think Satan got Eve to take of the forbidden fruit? He appealed to her pride. He said, “You can be like God.” What causes unbelief in the Word of God? Pride. What made the devil the devil? Pride.

If you want what is real, you go to the Word of God; you lay your intellectual pride in the dust; and you call out to Jesus for mercy. Pride may be satisfying for a little while, but the fruit of self-centeredness is bitterness and bondage.

Did you know why so many of us have trouble? Because we are bitter and in bondage. So many of us have met religion but have never met Jesus. We may have surrendered one area of our lives to Him, but we have not given Him our all. We are not lying broken at the foot of the cross daily. We are not constantly leaving our pride in the dust. The Spirit of God is not in these people, and they are troublemakers everywhere they go because their religion has never satisfied them, and it never can.

What areas of your life have you not surrendered to God?

What would it look like to surrender those areas to God?

PRACTICE THIS

Think about where you wrestle with pride the most, pray about it, and write down some ways you can acknowledge God in those areas.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Making It Real for His People

Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, according to Hebrews 8:6. What does that mean? It means that his blood — the blood of the covenant (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 13:20) — finally and decisively purchased and secured the fulfillment of God’s promises for us.

It means that God, according to the new covenant promises, brings about our inner transformation by the Spirit of Christ.

And it means that God works this transformation in us through faith — faith in all that God is for us in Christ.

The new covenant is purchased by the blood of Christ, effected by the Spirit of Christ, and appropriated by faith in Christ.

The best place to see Christ working as the Mediator of the new covenant is in Hebrews 13:20–21:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The words “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight” describe what happens when God writes the law on our hearts in accord with the new covenant. And the words “through Jesus Christ” describe Jesus as the Mediator of this glorious work of sovereign grace.

So, the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with Reality, but also that he takes the Reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God.

John Piper 

Trust the Artist

“Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  ROMANS 8:27-28

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever watched an artist paint a picture as he puts his colors on canvas? I have seen a man who can paint a beautiful painting in a half hour. He’s just splashing the colors on that canvas and mixing them. He says, “I think it needs a little more yellow.” And I say, “Man, that guy’s so good. How does he do that?” Everything just turns out good somehow. Then the guy will get some more colors and put them across the canvas I just admired. I’ll think, “You ruined it!” He put some big old splashy thing on it, and then, it just comes together; it’s a masterpiece!

Sometimes we look at what God does, as He puts His colors on the canvas, and we say, “Lord, You’re really doing good.” And then suddenly God adds that paint stroke we didn’t expect, one we can’t make sense of. So, we say, “Lord! You have messed things up.” Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever asked, “God, how did You let this happen?”

The painting process doesn’t make sense to me when I watch the artist do it, but it makes sense to him. And just because things are not making sense to you doesn’t mean they don’t make sense. And just because you can’t see God working doesn’t mean God is not working.

What is something in your life for which you are struggling to understand God’s purpose?

Do you have faith that the masterpiece God is creating in your life and in the world is beautiful?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down the things you are struggling to make sense of in your life and in the world and bring them to God in prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Final Reality Is Here

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