What He gave up to come down

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Jesus came to a manger for you and for me. He willingly left the glories and riches of heaven to be born in a stable.

Jesus became poor so we might become rich. He lived a life of such abject poverty that when He had to pay taxes, He had to look for a coin in a fish’s mouth. When He sent out His disciples, He told them to take nothing but a staff and the power of the Holy Spirit (Mark 6:7-9). He was put to death like a common criminal so that we could wear a royal robe!

Child of God, you are rich! I am rich! Praise God!

ACTION POINT:

Read Philippians 2:6-11. It’s not the story of the Nativity, but it is the story of His incarnation. Read it as a Christmas devotional:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God; But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Share it with your family or friends today. Spend time praising God for His Son, Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Birth of the Ancient of Days

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.” (John 18:37)

This is a great Christmas text even though it comes from the very end of Jesus’s life on earth, not the beginning.

Notice: Jesus says not only that he was born, but that he “came into the world.” The uniqueness of his birth is that he did not originate at his birth. He existed before he was born in a manger. The personhood, the character, the personality of Jesus of Nazareth existed before the man Jesus of Nazareth was born.

The theological word to describe this mystery is not creation, but incarnation. The person, not the body, but the essential personhood of Jesus existed before he was born as man. His birth was not a coming into being of a new person, but a coming into the world of an infinitely old person.

Micah 5:2 puts it like this, 700 years before Jesus was born:

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.

The mystery of the birth of Jesus is not merely that he was born of a virgin. That miracle was intended by God to witness to an even greater one; namely, that the child born at Christmas was a person who existed “from of old, from ancient days.”

And, therefore, his birth was purposeful. Before he was born he thought about being born. Together with his Father there was a plan. And part of that great plan he spoke in the last hours of his life on earth: “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” (John 18:37).

He was the eternal Truth. He spoke only the truth. He acted out the greatest truth of love. And he is gathering into his eternal family all those who are born of the truth. This was the plan from ancient days.

John Piper 

Is it really the most wonderful time?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And He said, “My Presence will go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Exodus 33:14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I believe the holidays are the loneliest time of the year. Everywhere you look, people are told they’re supposed to be happy when they realize they’re not. They see everybody else acting happy, and they feel so lonely. Just walking down the mall can make you feel lonely.

When I’m discouraged, His presence sees me through. When I’m lonely His presence cheers me up.  When I’m worried, His presence calms me down. And when I am tempted, His presence will help me out. Psalm 116:8 says, “For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.”

ACTION POINT:

We need to practice the presence of Jesus this coming year. If you are lonely this holiday season, write down these words from Hebrews 13:5 and post them where you can see them. “…for He hath said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Greek scholars say that a better translation is “I will never, no never, leave you nor forsake you.” Believe it. Rely upon it.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

And The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

Do you understand the magnitude of these words? 

God came down to Earth, in human form, in the form that He created.

The Creator became the created, but why?

Because of His great mercy.

Sweet cleansing grace, unmerited gift, to unworthy sinners, like you and me.

So when you have doubt about your worth.

Know that Christ loved you enough to take your sin, nail it to the cross and cover it with His blood so that you might be reconciled to a holy Almighty God.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. - John 1:11-13

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:4-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. - 1 Peter 1:3-5

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,

11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. - Titus 3:4-11

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. - 1 John 3:5

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. - 1 John 2:2

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. - 1 John 4:14

3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 

6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 

7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'" 

8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),

9 then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds," 

17 then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." 

18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. - Hebrews 10:3-18

I will leave you with these verses, meditate on them, savor them and ask Creator Almighty God, sustainer of your life and mine, to give you wisdom.

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?  - Job 38:36

But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.  - Job 32:8

then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. - Genesis 2:7

By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.  - Job 4:9

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.  - Job 33:4

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 

9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 

10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," 

12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. 

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.  - Psalm 139:8-18

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. - 1 John 3:8

Christmas Solidarity

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

The assembly line of Satan turns out millions of sins every day. He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them to heaven and spreads them out before God and laughs and laughs and laughs.

Some people work full-time on the assembly line. Others have quit their jobs there and only now and then return.

Every minute of work on the assembly line makes God the laughingstock of Satan. Sin is Satan’s business because he hates the light and beauty and purity and glory of God. Nothing pleases him more than when creatures distrust and disobey their Maker.

Therefore, Christmas is good news for man and good news for God.

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). That’s good news for us.

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). That is also good news for God.

Christmas is good news for God because Jesus has come to lead a strike at Satan’s assembly plant. He has walked right into the plant, called for the Solidarity of the faithful, and begun a massive walkout.

Christmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant of sin. No negotiations with the management. No bargaining. Just single-minded, unswerving opposition to the product. We won’t be a part of making it anymore.

Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes. It will not use force or violence, but with relentless devotion to Truth it will expose the life-destroying conditions of the devil’s industry.

Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete shutdown has been achieved.

When sin has been destroyed, God’s name will be wholly exonerated. No one will be laughing anymore.

If you want to give a gift to God this Christmas, walk off the assembly line of sin and don’t go back. Take up your place in the picket line of love. Join Christmas Solidarity until the majestic name of God is cleared, and he stands glorious amid the accolades of the righteous.

John Piper 

What do you need today?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, 2 Corinthians 9:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When God unmistakably demonstrates His replenishing power in supernatural ways, it awakens the world. Jesus did just that: once with a crowd of 5,000, then again with a crowd of 4,000. He demonstrated that He is the God who provides (see Matthew 14:14-21, 15:32-38).

But seeing the thousands needing to be fed, some of the disciples suggested Jesus send them away to nearby towns to purchase their own food. In human terms, it seemed the most responsible thing to do. But Jesus turned to the supernatural power of God. Moved with compassion, He confidently told the disciples to begin feeding the multitudes. Jesus never wavered in His complete and utter trust in Jehovah Jireh, our Provider.

God has made you a promise in His Word, and on this you can rely: “My God shall supply all your need [need, not “wants”] according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

ACTION POINT:

Do you have needs today you fear God may not meet? Go to Him in humble submission and rest upon His promise. Ask God to fill you and your family with complete trust in Jehovah Jireh.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

All Things?

It really matters because it’s a question about what’s commonly called universalism, or the teaching that in the end, everyone, even demons, will be saved. It insists that there’s no hell and no eternal punishment. It believes that sooner or later, even if it takes a thousand years of some kind of purgatorial discipline, everybody gets saved. That’s what some people say this text, Colossians 1:20, supports.

Let me read it. “In him [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19–20). The question is, When Paul says all things — that all things will be reconciled to God through Christ — does all things mean every unbeliever who has ever lived, including Satan? My answer is no.

Rather, all things is a comprehensive term referring to the new heavens and the new earth, where absolutely everything — all things that exist in the new heavens and the new earth — will have been reconciled to God through the blood of Christ. There is a reality excluded from the creation. There is hell that’s outside God’s new creation, where impenitent believers and demons suffer justly forever. There is, over and against that new heavens and new earth, an outer darkness, an away-ness, an other.

Now, here are four passages that point me to this understanding of Colossians 1:20. These teach me that Paul just doesn’t believe in universalism.

Eternal Punishment

The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. (2 Thessalonians 1:7–9)

Now, that passage shows that Paul does not believe all will be saved. He believes that there will be an eternal destruction for those who disobey the gospel. Paul does not believe that everyone will be reconciled to God. Not everyone will be saved, and he says that they will suffer a punishment away from the presence of the Lord and of his glory. That points, I think, to what I mean by “outside of the new heavens and the new earth.” Now, I think the next text supports that.

Exiled from the Kingdom

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:11–12)

They will be thrown outside the kingdom — away. So, what Paul calls “away from the Lord’s glory,” Jesus describes as that place that will be outside of the established kingdom of God, and outside of God’s saving rule. It will be outside the place where all is reconciled — the place of outer darkness.

Under the Earth

At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. (Philippians 2:10)

Remember in Colossians 1:20 that these all things that are going to be reconciled are things on earth and things in heaven. Now, why doesn’t Paul say “all things under the earth”? He says “all things on earth or in heaven.” All things in heaven, all things on earth, all things under the earth — he uses all those three in Philippians 2:10. But that phrase under the earth is not used in Colossians 1:20.

Now, when he uses it in Philippians 2:10, he’s not saying there’s universal salvation, but universal submission. Willingly or unwillingly, every knee is going to bow, including the demons under the earth. Could it be that Paul did not use the phrase under the earth in Colossians 1:20 because those under the earth will not be reconciled to God? They’re not part of the all things. They will have to submit, but they will not be reconciled.

All Flesh

Here’s my last text, and a very, very important observation, I think. These are the very last verses of the prophet Isaiah. The point of this text is simply to illustrate how careful one has to be in taking a phrase like all things and assuming it includes what it does not include. Here’s what it says:

For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. (Isaiah 66:22–23)

Now, if we stopped right there, after verse 23, we might say, that’s Colossians 1:20, right? All things are going be reconciled; everybody’s worshiping; all flesh is worshiping.

Here’s the problem. The next verse goes like this: “And they” — that is, all flesh — “shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).

Now, I think this is clear, and what is clear is that all flesh in the new creation — like all things in Colossians 1:20 — does not include the flesh of those who have rebelled against God. What all flesh means in Isaiah 66:23 is the totality of humanity in the new heavens and the new earth.

There will be nothing and no one there who does not joyfully worship God. Rebels will be outside, away from the glory of the Lord. And that’s what I think Colossians 1:20 means as well.

Thank you John Piper!!!