“Father of light, from whom every good gift comes, send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind, and by the flame of your wisdom open the horizons of our minds.
Loosen our tongues to sing your praise in words beyond the power of speech, for without your Spirit we could never raise our voice in words of peace or announce the truth that Jesus is Lord.”
Today is Pentecost Sunday the day we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. Pentecost is also referred to in the Bible as the Feast of Weeks, Feast of Harvest, and the Day of Firstfruits {Ex. 23:16; Num. 28}. Pentecost falls on the fiftieth day from Passover. It was a one-day feast and celebration {Ex. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 23:15,22; Num. 28}.
The Feast of Passover
was the beginning of the barley harvest and Pentecost was celebrated during the
wheat harvest. The feast was a wave offering to the Lord. It consisted of two
loaves baked with leaven. It was made with fine flour that was sifted in order
to separate the chaff from the wheat. The wave offering was a way for the Hebrews
to exhibit their dependence on God, not only for the harvest but also for their
daily bread, an offering of thanksgiving.
This is of course the first Pentecost, a foreshadow of
the Pentecost in the New Testament. God gave Moses the law on Mt. Sinai written
on tablets of stone. Yet there was a promise from the Lord of a future time
when the law would be written on the tablets of the heart {Jer.
31:31–34}. For thousands of years, people journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate
Pentecost awaiting the promise of God.
The Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled in Jesus when He was
glorified in the resurrection and seated on the throne at the right hand of the
Father. He sent the promised Helper, the Holy Spirit in the upper room to the
disciples on the Day of Pentecost which was the fulfillment of God’s promise.
Through the Holy Spirit, the Father wrote His precepts on the hearts of all who
placed their faith in Christ. He does this still today for all who come to faith in Christ.
In John’s gospel account Jesus speaks and reveals how He fulfills this feast: “But Jesus answered them by saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’” {Jn. 12:23–24}. Jesus is the seed of grain that died for our sin. He is the Bread from Heaven made with fine flour; perfect righteousness.
The feast of Pentecost marked the fifty days between Passover and Pentecost, the New Testament Pentecost was fifty days from Jesus’ resurrection to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the one hundred and twenty in the upper room.
There is so much more to say concerning the symbolism,
types, and fulfillment in Christ concerning the Feast of Pentecost, but
this is sufficient for now. I will write more in the future concerning God’s
Appointed Times because they so beautifully speak to the life, ministry,
death, and resurrection of Jesus our precious Savior.
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Day 24 Luke Chapter 24
We made it through all twenty-four chapters! Thank you for walking
through Luke’s wonderful Gospel with me. I pray that these little devotions
blessed you and helped to make your Advent season one of reflection and
dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“They said to one another, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?’” (v. 32 NASB).
This account is the first of three post-resurrection appearances Christ made in the New Testament. Two men are walking to Emmaus just a few days after the crucifixion of the Lord. Jesus came upon them, though they did not recognize Him through their sorrow. He came to comfort them in their grief. I love the rendering of the KJV, NKJV, and the ESV, which says that Jesus drew near to them.
Together, these three men walked, and they listened as He encouraged them that what the women reported was true. Yet another glimmer of
hope that the injustice from just a few short days before could be made right.
Jesus opened their spiritual eyes so they could understand all that the
Scripture spoke about Christ—His sufferings, death, and resurrection. He began
with the Old Testament—Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. He was exactly who
He claimed to be—the Christ, the Son of God, the promised Redeemer. No one was more worthy or qualified to explain the Scripture to them than the Prince of Peace—the very Word. His words were so full of power and life
that their hearts burned within them; they were like a burning fire in
them like many others who came before them who heard with joy the Words of the
Lord:
My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned {Ps. 39:3 NASB}.
“But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him Or speak
anymore in His name,’ Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut
up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot
endure it’” {Jer.
20:9 NASB}.
They tasted what John the Baptist declared about Jesus, that He would baptize with fire.
I cannot escape the language of drawing near. For that is just what God did in sending His Son. He drew near to us because we could not draw near to Him. He came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. There was no way for us to draw close to Him because of our sin. But the Lord of Glory drew near and communed so that He could have a relationship with His fallen human creation. Jesus walked the road to Emmaus, and at their bidding, He broke bread with them. As soon as He blessed the bread and ate with them, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him! He vanished before them, but they were witnesses to the Eleven that what the women proclaimed—that Jesus was indeed resurrected—and their hope was revived!
In the quiet, cold night, Christ crept into the world unnoticed, except for a few lowly shepherds. While the world slept, the long-awaited promise—the Redeemer, Deliverer, and King of Glory drew near to the world that He loved so much, in a humble stable that holy night.
He did for us what we could not do for ourselves; we now
have the privilege of drawing near to Him:
“Let us draw near with a sincere heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” {Heb.
10:22 NASB}.
Did today’s message inspire you? If
you enjoyed it, will you share it?
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Day 23 Luke Chapter 23
“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” {v.41 NASB}.
Jesus was born in a manger and died on a cross. He came to redeem mankind from our fallenness, darkness, sin, and rebellion. He was the only perfect sacrifice for sin and the only mediator we will ever need {1 Timothy 2:5-6}. He was declared innocent by seven different people that day. Seven times, Jesus was examined, judged, and found to be without sin. God is a detail-oriented God. Each sacrifice brought to the Tabernacle was to be carefully observed by the priest to ensure that the offering was without spot or blemish. Everything in the Law in Israel was observed; in Christ, they are fulfilled; in the church (believers), they are applied. Christ fulfilled every Old Testament Scripture concerning the Messiah.
Jesus’ innocence was so apparent that even a thief dying on the cross next to Him could see the truth. Though Luke’s Gospel gives the impression that one thief mocked Him and one did not, Matthew and Mark’s Gospels provide the full account. Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32 reveal that both criminals mocked Jesus.
Though both mocked Him, hours spent being crucified next to
the King of kings taught him to think better. He began to see
Jesus for who He was and put his faith and trust in the Jewish carpenter from
Nazareth. The condemned thief and criminal who was a rebel
against God became a child of God. What a difference one moment can make in one
life. He was no longer on his way to hell but rather on his way to paradise. In a moment, he was a criminal who did not deserve mercy but was welcomed into
the Lord’s bosom that very day. What mercy. What grace. What a price Christ
paid to bridge that gulf between God and man, life and death.
That is what the innocent babe in the manger came for; to seek and save the lost {Lk. 19:10}. The same mercy and grace He extended to that dying, repentant thief is available to you and me. He was innocent of sin at His birth; He was innocent of sin at His death. That is what He took on His shoulders for you and me.
I know I have made much use of Bonhoeffer in my Advent
musings, but he says it so eloquently:
The Great Turning Point Of All
Things
What kings and leaders of
nations, philosophers and artists, founders of religion and teachers of morals
have tried in vain to do—that now happens through a newborn child. Putting to
shame the most powerful human efforts and accomplishments, a child is placed
here at the midpoint of world history—a child born of human beings, a Son given
by God {Is. 9:6}. That is
the mystery of the redemption of the world; everything past and everything
future is encompassed here. The infinite mercy of the Almighty God comes to us,
descends to us in the form of a child, his Son. That this child is born for
us, this son is given to us, that this human child and Son of God
belongs to me, that I know him, have him, love him, that I am his and he is
mine—on this alone my life now depends. A child has our life in his hands.[1]
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Day 22 Luke Chapter 22
“And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation’” {vv.44-46 NASB}.
This verse touches me. It causes me to ponder the humanness of Jesus. He was truly God, but He was also truly man. You cannot diminish Jesus’ humanity, or you will never fully grasp the depths of Gethsemane or your own humanity when faced with trials. Jesus could have gone His own way and followed His own will. But thankfully, He chose to follow hard after God and to fulfill the will of the Father. Our salvation was on the cusp as He cried out in anguished prayer, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” {v. 42 NAS}. He obeyed the Father—sealing our salvation. The curse that came on Adam in the garden to toil by the sweat of his brow is broken by the Redeemer of the world in a garden by the blood sweat from His brow.
In His love for real human beings, Jesus becomes the one burdened by guilt – indeed, the one upon whom all human guilt ultimately falls and the one who does not turn it away but bears it humbly and in eternal love… As the human being who has entered reality, Jesus becomes guilty. But because His historical existence, His incarnation, has its sole basis in God’s love for human beings, it is the love of God that makes Jesus become guilty. Out of selfless love for human beings, Jesus leaves His state as the one without sin and enters into the guilt of human beings. He takes it upon Himself.[1]
Each of us will face our own hard trials. Though we do not bear the salvation of the world on our shoulders, we
each must choose in the hard places who we will follow…our fleshly desires or
the will of the Father.
Advent is about Jesus’ birth in a manger, that Holy crèche
on that Holy night, but will we make room for Him? Not just as our Savior but
also our Lord in the hard places—the hard choices—in this fallen world.
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Day 21 Luke Chapter 21
“Then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things
begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near” {vv. 27-28}.
“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with
the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to
the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him” {Daniel
7:13 NASB}.
“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye
will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth
will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen” {Revelation
1:7 NASB}.
We must remember that though Christ came as a baby, He is a grown, real person who grew in wisdom and stature before the Lord {Lk. 2:52}. Christianity does not follow a certain set of rules but a real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to us and now lives in us through His Spirit. He lived and died and rose again to redeem you and me. At the Second Advent, He will judge our mortal lives, our decisions, and whether or not we lived for Him. This is a time to reflect on our lives and consider whether any part of our life does not please Him. The One True God is holy and hates sin, but He loves us immensely, so much that He sent His Son to redeem the world. Because we are living for Him His Second Advent need not be a terror in the night. Only those who persist in their wickedness need fear His coming. If we submit our lives to Him now, we will be accepted when He appears on that Great Day.
His message is urgent: We believers on earth must be ready. The tribulation and tumult of the earth will not last forever. Just when it looks as though the anguish and despair can only worsen, Christ will be revealed in the heavens, and every eye shall see Him. And the old prophet Zechariah’s words concerning His appearance will come to pass, “they will say where did you get those marks in your hands? And he will say, ‘in the house of my friends’” {see Zech. 13:6}. Then, according to the Apostle Paul, the Jewish nation will be born in a day, and all of Israel will be saved.
Jesus will also place His precious, nail-pierced feet on the Mount of Olives. The prophet Zechariah tells us that Christ, accompanied by His raptured saints, will enter the great city of Jerusalem. The returning saints, along with believers on earth, will gather to crown Him King of kings and Lord of lords, and Christ will begin His millennial and eternal reign.
Are you ready for His return? What part of you are withholding from Him that you may offer Him as a gift this Advent season? Is there room in the inn of your heart for this precious gift of the promised Redeemer?
Let’s not deceive ourselves.
“Your redemption is drawing near” {Luke 21:28}, whether we know it or not, and
the only question is: are we going to let it come to us too, or are we going to
resist it? Are we going to join in this movement that comes down from heaven to
earth or are we going to close ourselves off? Christmas is coming—whether it is
with us or without us depends on each and every one of us. Such a true event
happening now creates something different from the anxious, petty, depressed,
feeble Christian spirit that we see again and again, and that again and again,
wants to make Christianity contemptible… Advent creates people, new people. We
too are supposed to become new people in advent.[1]
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Day 20 Luke Chapter 20
“How is it that they say the Christ
is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms,‘The
Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a
footstool for Your feet. Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his
son?’” (vv.41-44 NASB).
What they did not understand is that Jesus was telling them that this implies both the future existence of David’s throne and the authority of the Messiah over all that has been given Him by the Father, His spiritual authority as King over the nations.
The Sadducees were silenced once again by Jesus, who as fully God {the preexistent Christ} was David’s Lord, and as fully man was David’s son. This same account in Matthew’s Gospel tells us that He so confounded them that “No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question” {Matt. 22:46 NASB}. Jesus again bewildered His adversaries.
In God’s holy promise of the coming Savior into the world, it was imperative that the prophecies reveal both the true God and true man nature of the Holy Savior. The revelation of the coming Redeemer of
man-kind—this holy truth—caused the Old Testament prophecies to declare of Him,
“And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace,” as well as being the man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief {Is. 9:6; Is.
53: 1-12}.
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Day 19 Luke Chapter 19
“The whole crowd of the disciples began to praise
God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting:
‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest!’” {vv.37-38 NASB}.
Rejoice Zion! The prophecy is fulfilled in their very presence:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O
daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and
endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal
of a donkey” {Zech. 9:9}.
Advent is a season in which we look for the crèche, the babe in the manger, and rightly so. But I think that when we read about Christ’s triumphal entry, we tend to lose the seriousness of what this particular day means. This entry into Jerusalem is definitely revered on Palm Sunday, but do we understand the whole meaning of this day? What are we seeing?
We have become accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. {Dietrch Bonhoeffer, The Coming of Jesus in our Midst}.
Reflect and prayerfully seek God about what His coming truly means for this world. He is the Light in darkness that was foretold from ages past. He is the blessed King who comes in the name of the Lord, bringing Peace for those enduring this chaotic world—this weary world rejoices…the promised King is here. Yes, He was a babe in a manger, which is what we are celebrating in this hushed season of Advent—don’t let go of that holy hush. Let us also remember that He is our King and is coming again.
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Day 18 Luke Chapter 18
“‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those
who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet; but he kept crying out
all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (vv. 38-39 NASB).
These two chapters of Luke speak volumes to the pain and suffering in the world. Two accounts of hurting and sick people crying out for the mercy of God. If He does not see their pain and intervene, they have no hope.
Bartimaeus has lived in a blind existence. His world was dark and lonely. Jesus said that while He is in the world, He is the Light of the World {Jn. 4:5}. Isaiah prophesied of the coming Child that He came to give Zion a happy future;
Mary did you know that your
baby boy would give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God…
The blind will see, the deaf
will hear, the dead will live again
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the Lamb
Mary did you know that your
baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
That sleeping child you're holding is the Great I Am.
(Mary Did You Know? Mark Lowery, 1984)
“Mighty God is the name of this child. The child in the manger is none other than God himself. Nothing greater could be said: God became a child. He lies in the manger, poor like us, wretched and helpless like us, a human of flesh and blood like us, our brother. And yet He is God, yet He is strength. Where is the divinity, where is the strength of this child? In the divine love, in which he became just like us. His poverty in the manger is his strength. In the strength of love he overcomes the chasm between God and humanity.” {Bonhoeffer, The Mystery of Holy Night}
