Sabbath Sanctuary: Resting In His Grace

Fall has officially arrived here in Colorado. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but I do not readily welcome the winter which follows—which appeared today in 22-degree weather and snowfall. I have written about the tension between me and winter for the last couple of years and it seems to reflect where I am spiritually as well. If I am honest, I feel as though I have been stuck in winter for several years, regardless of what season the calendar reads and no matter how hot the sun blazes. I am in winter. I am tired and weary and long for a change of season in my walk with my Savior.

This season has been particularly hard. Many times, it is all I can do to awake from my slumber to face the challenges of the day. The Lord has been so good to me this week as He gently reminded me of His grace.

We know grace to be that attribute that is part of the manifold of God’s love. God deals with us not on our merit or worthiness, or on what we deserve—our lives consistently displaying our fallenness. He deals with us on the basis of His goodness and generosity. God’s grace supplies us with undeserved favor—grace is a precious, beautiful gift. We cannot earn it and we do not deserve it.

Grace, however, goes beyond undeserved favor. The New Testament book of Luke describes Jesus as having “the grace of God upon Him” {Luke 2:40} and as “growing in grace with God and man” {Luke 2:52}. Many more references to grace are found in the Book of Acts. The good Doctor Luke makes a strong association between grace and power. Grace is often linked with the power of God to create spiritual life and to sustain Christians. Grace, in the New Testament, “God’s unmerited favor,” has a new aspect added to mean power in the Spirit.[1] In many of Paul’s writings; {Rom. 1:5; 12:6; 15:15; I Cor. 3:10; Gal. 2:9; Eph. 2:2,7} it means the power and equipment for ministry.[2] Grace is the power to do what you cannot do for yourself.

I have worked so hard at trying to make things change and happen in my own strength—which explains my weariness. Working in our own strength will drain us and deplete us of any life. We must rest in Him and allow Him to do the work for us. This does mean that we become complacent waiting for Him to do something, we must abide in His presence through the Word and prayer and allow Him to fill us with His grace; remembering always to cultivate a heart of worship. Through His grace this week I have been able to face the challenges and the hard times knowing that He is my strength and is working everything according to His purpose.

Rest in His grace this sabbath weekend. He is waiting to fill you with grace to empower you to run the race. Oh, and when you rest in Him, He will refresh you to overflowing and bring you to a place of rest from the storm. 

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings {Psalm 84:6}.

Read all about Grace in the 11th edition of SHINE Magazine and you can order one here 

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[1] Walter A. Elwell ed., Baker Theological Dictionary of the Bible, s.v. “grace,” (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 314.

[2] W.E. Vine, ed., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old And New Testament Words, s.v. “grace,” (Nashville: Thomas Nelson), 500.

Sabbath Sanctuary: God Grant You Peace

The week has been long and filled with many trials. It has had its chaotic moments and its enjoyable moments. In the midst of the trials, I am so grateful to the Lord, for He proved Himself faithful yet again. He is a good God. He is a faithful God. He is a loving God. There are many things screaming at me—warning that I am going to fail or be taken by the waves of the storm.

The enemy of our soul makes these plans against you and I so that we will lose heart and faint in the way. He seeks to cause us to take our eyes of the Lord so that we will sink. Many trials and circumstances come to trample on our peace—he comes to steal our peace. But we need not succumb to his devices.  

Tucked away in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, is found a priestly blessing given to the priest from the Lord to speak over the people of Israel. It is included in the duties of the Levites in chapters 1-8.

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them” {Num. 6:22-27 NASB}.

I love this blessing. In the midst of all the chaos and fighting to enter the promised land, the Lord bestows a blessing on the people. He commands Aaron to speak these words over the people to put His glorious, holy Name on them. How magnificent is He. When their enemies come against them, they shall fear God and know that they are messing with the Lord’s people:

“So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him” {Isaiah 59:19 NKJV}.

When the enemy of our soul comes against us, the Lord is the standard over our lives to fight him off and give us the victory. The Lord is the only safe place to run. What astonishes me is that only the priest could recite this blessing over the people and they had to say exactly what the Lord commanded. It was not the words of men but of God. To fight the enemy, we must not rely on the words of men, but be equipped with the sword of the Spirit—the precious and powerful Word of God. The Word was the weapon Jesus used to battle Satan in the wilderness, and He has equipped us for battle with that same Word.

The priestly blessing includes three promises that we can rest in on this Sabbath; meditate on this promise: The Lord will bless and keep us; He will provide us with everything we need. He will go before us in battling the evil one and keep us from harm. The most kind and loving God will make His face shine on us and be gracious to us. Imagine the Great I AM’s very face will shine for our benefit and joy because of His everlasting love. The Lord will lift His countenance upon us and give us peace; God remembers His people—and He always will. In the last part of the blessing He promises peace—shalom. This doesn’t only mean that there will one day be an end to our warfare; it is also His promise that day by day we are being renewed and refreshed:

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” {2 Cor. 4:16 NASB}.

He will take us from brokenness to wholeness. No matter where we have been, He is leading us where we need to go, and He will give us shalom so that we can rest. Rest in His blessing this Sabbath. God will provide everything you need; and bring you into His rest.

School of The Bible

Preparing to teach my first class tomorrow night for the School of the Bible. I will be teaching on Women of the Bible, a survey of the lives of some spectacular women in the Bible and their personal stories. These women felt unworthy, rejected, and abused yet experienced God’s grace in miraculous ways and became witnesses to God’s restorative power.

Everyone is welcome to come out to the School of the Bible! Classes start Monday September 17, @6: 30 PM and continues every Monday through October 29th, @Word of Life Christian Center on Park Meadows Dr. In Lone Tree.


If you are interested in other classes, this is what the schedule looks like:

Session 1 6:30-7:20

Piper Green Women of the Bible

Kevin Goos The Gospel of John: The Word Made Flesh

Cynthia Jean Getting A Grip on the Basics

Session 2 7:30-8:20

Lisa Dragan: Psalm 91: Living in the Shadow of the Almighty

Pastor Mike Dragan Colossians: The Preeminence of Jesus Christ

All these teachers are amazing! This is a great way to join a community of believers and study God's Word together! See you there!

The Prayer Of Our Great High Priest John 17

Sitting outside this morning and reading the Word. This was part of my reading—it is one of my favorite portions of Scripture. I wanted to share it with you because it stirs my heart each time I read this High priestly prayer flowing from the lips of my precious Savior—the altar of incense. I pray that as you read it too, He stirs your heart and that you are overwhelmed with the Love of the Father. 

Jesus loved us so much for this prayer to leave His lips and raise straight to heaven’s throne. What is so remarkable to me is that He prayed this beautiful prayer knowing that He was leaving this holy, sacred place into the heart wrenching betrayal by one of His friends whom He had just lifted to the Father in prayer {Ps. 55:12 HCSB}. The betrayal of a friend can be the worst pain, yet Christ prayed for him before the kiss of betrayal. Jesus knew that the son of perdition was lost because of what he was about to do, but this broke His heart. May this prayer bless you today.

The High Priestly Prayer

“Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.  This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.  I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything 

You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.’”

The Disciples in the World

“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Their Future Glory

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Happy Resurrection Day! He Is Alive!

The Resurrection

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living One among the dead?  He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’” {Luke 24: 1-7 NASB}.

Sabbath Sanctuary: Holy Saturday Why did Jesus have to die?

It sits nicely tucked away in its box—the bronzed cross that hung on my wall for many years as a symbol of blessing for my home. I packed it away after redecorating the place it hung and came across it this morning.

Remembering that His hands were pierced instead of mine.

Bronze represents judgment. Jesus took upon Him the wrath due to me on the cross. A cross to bless my home came with a great price from God, who sent His Son. 

Yesterday, we remembered Christ and His crucifixion, His holy sacrifice for our filthiness and sin. Every sin I have committed, every idle word I have spoken, was nailed to the cross yesterday. There seems to be a void after the horrific crucifixion scene the previous day and the celebration of an empty grave on Sunday. Sabbath Saturday seemed quiet; the dust settling from the events and commotion of the traumatic events of the previous day, and a calm hush appeared to hold the city captive. It looked like everything was dead. Everything the disciples hoped for is gone—their dreams died and were buried with Jesus. The perceived injustice broke their hearts, and indeed, the question had to well in their minds—why did He have to die?

Many have asked this question through the centuries since He laid down His life for the world. It was foretold through the Old Testament: “They are striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod. Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; One will come from you to be the ruler over Israel for Me. His origin is from antiquity, from eternity” {Micha 5:1a–2 HCSB}. This speaks to His eternal nature, the pre-existent Christ—the Lamb that was slain {Revelation 13:7-9}came in the flesh. Jesus told His disciples that everything written about Him in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled {Lk. 24:44}.

“Christ has sinlessly borne the sins of the world. In His innocence, he has submitted first in the full waters of the Jordan and then in the bloody waters of the cross, to baptism for sin’s repentance becoming cursed for us in over us and save us from our sin.” [1]

Some argue that this sacrifice is cruel and sadistic, but they are misguided. It was a price motivated by the love and compassion of the only wise God. A Just God who could have chosen differently. He could have chosen to leave us in our sin, awaiting judgment, displaying His perfect justice. He could have chosen to save no one. But God, in His love, chose to redeem us instead of leaving us to wallow in the mire.

Because He chose to redeem, Christ’s atonement was necessary. Jesus prayed in the garden to let the cup of His death pass from Him {Matt. 26:39}, if only there was another way…but He always prayed according to Father’s will. This is evidence for us that it was not possible for Jesus to avoid His death and the cup of His suffering if He was going to fulfill the Father’s purpose and redeem mankind.

“Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Hime, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him” {Isaiah 53:1-6 NASB}.

But this is not the end of the story. Friday happened, but Sunday is coming! The Suffering Servant is now the victorious King! 

“He will divide the spoils with the strong. This means that we share in Christ’s inheritance. According to Paul, we co-heirs with Jesus cause we have been adopted into the family. We are God’s children. ‘Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if we indeed share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory’ {Rom. 8:15}.”[2]

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” {John 3:16}. But His justice required a way for our sins to be paid for, for He is a holy God and cannot allow sin to go unanswered. Paul tells us that was why God sent Christ to be the propitiation {Romans 3:25}, the only perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins. The love and justice of God were the ultimate cause of the atonement.

On this Sabbath, Passover, and Easter weekend, reflect on God’s holiness and justice and rest in His love, which chose to redeem you and make available His promises for your life. In His holiness, He saw your sin; in His justice, He provided the sacrifice for you through Christ; and because He loves you, He redeemed you.

Saturday is almost over…Sunday is Resurrection!

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[1] Alan E. Lewis, Between Cross And Resurrection: A Theology Of Holy Saturday (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), 45.

[2] R.T. Kendall, Why Jesus Died: A Meditation Of Isaiah 53 (Oxford: Monarch Books, 2011), 185.

The Passover Lamb: Behold the Lamb of God

It is Holy Week and many eloquent writers have penned beautiful prose concerning the beauty of what we remember this week. Here are my humble musings; what my heart is breathing on this Good Friday. Not only is this Good Friday for the body of Christ, it is also Passover week for the Jews, beginning at sundown. I love when Passover falls at the same time as Easter; the two are more connected than appears on the surface {I will elaborate on this in a moment}. Let’s begin at Good Friday.

 

Good Friday is a solemn day—or should be in proper reflection. Before Jesus made His way to the cross, He had a battle to overcome in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where Jesus had an intense spiritual battle and through His struggle remained obedient to God and submitted Himself to the will of the Father. He agonized as He pondered what was to come and prayed for the cup to pass. Through His love for us, He remained obedient; He saw beyond the cross to those that He loved and desired to redeem. He chose to obey the will of the Father and to endure His impending suffering. Jesus chose the way of obedience, and the Lord sent an angel to minister to Him.

“And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him” {Luke 22: 41-43 NASB}.

 Jesus received His strength from the Lord. When the Lord sent the angel unto Him, the Father strengthened Him and enabled Him to remain obedient until death.

Jesus suffered immensely on our behalf, and it is important to remember that He not only died for us, but He also died in our place and on our behalf. The brutality that Jesus experienced absorbed God’s wrath and reconciled us to the Father. He exhibited the grace and mercy of God on behalf of sinners and conquered death. He was the last and perfect sin offering.

“This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed, the sin offering shall be killed before the Lord. It is most holy” {Leviticus 6:25 NASB}.

Christ—the holiness of God, beautifully prophesied in the Old Testament, just as the high priest was adorned with the words holiness unto the Lord, Christ was holiness in the deepest and fullest sense of the word. The Old Testament tells the story that Jesus completes in the NewTestament. We would not have the New Testament without the Old.

Leviticus chapter four details the requirements for the sin offering, I encourage you to read it, it is too lengthy for the space here. Here is a brief summary;

The sacrifice for the sin offering offered at the Tabernacle had to be the first-born male, without spot or blemish. The sacrifice was required to be inspected by the priests to ensure the sacrifice satisfied God’s requirements. In the New Testament Jesus fulfilled this requirement, as He, upon inspection seven times, was found to be without fault.

1. Pilate: John 19:4; Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him” {NASB}.

2. Herod: Luke 23: 14-15; “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him” {NASB}.

3. The High Priest: John 18 says after Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas; he could find no fault with Jesus.

4. Caiaphas: Matt. 26:57-75; Could not get the witnesses to agree on any wrongdoing by Jesus.

5. Judas: Matt. 27:4; “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood” {NASB}.

6. The Centurion: Matt. 27: 54; “Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” {NASB}.

7. The thief on the cross: Luke 23:40-41; “But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” {NASB}.

Jesus is not only our sin offering, He is also our Passover Lamb. It is no accident that Christ was crucified on Passover. He was not only crucified on the day, but also at the same hour. 

“With this many lambs, it was necessary for the Jews to prepare them for sacrifice at nine o’clock in the morning…they then killed them at three o’clock that afternoon so that the Passover could be completed before six o’clock, which would begin a new day.”[1]

As Israel was slaughtering the lambs with knives, spikes were driven into the flesh of our Lord; fulfilling Isaiah’sprophecy…He was wounded for our transgressions….

“Then at three o’clock as the people were praising God and slaughtering the lambs, Jesus died. Mark was careful to note the time and wrote that it was the ninth hour (three o’clock Jewish time) when Jesus breathed His last breath (see Mark 15:33-37).”[2]

On Passover, the Israelites were to take hyssop and apply the blood of the lamb on the lintel of the doorway and on each side post. Now as Christ hanged on the cross dead, His blood is applied to humanity, and the destroyer has to Passover at the presence of the Blood.

The only way to the Father is to believe that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead for our sin; to attempt any other passageway is to negate the cross. In the Tabernacle there was only one door;

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” {John 14:6 NASB}.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it… And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” {John 1: 1-5, 14 NASB}.

“Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement” {1 John 5:5-8 NASB}.

“And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament. They which are called might receive the promises of eternal inheritance” {Hebrews 9: 15 NASB}. 

Dear Jesus, thank you for being the perfect sacrifice for sin. Thank you for loving the world so much that you died to redeem it. Father, I thank You for the many that You used to bring forth the birth of Your Son. I honor them today for obedience to You. I acknowledge Jesus Christ as my only mediator and propitiation for my sin and I give you all the glory, honor, and praise. Jesus, You are our Paschal Lamb, and we apply Your blood over the doorpost and lintels of our homes; hyssop in hand reminding us of our humanity and sin that runs rampant in the earth. Thank You for Your shed blood that marks us for You and sends the destroyer on his way. In Your precious Name, Amen. 

 Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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[1]Booker, Richard, Celebrating Jesus In The Biblical Feasts (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2009), 42-43.

[2] Ibid.