“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after
Me cannot be My disciple”
{v. 27 NASB}.
Discipleship. It is the most important call Christians
receive. The disciples have been following Jesus for some time now. Yet, He
continues to speak to them in parables so that perhaps they will begin to
understand what He has been teaching them—what He is teaching us—that we are to
give God first place in our lives. The disciples are traveling with Him and are
caught up in all the needs of the ministry, yet, Jesus still needs them to
understand exactly what it means to be a disciple. To be a disciple is an act
of obedience, not a declaration of faith.
For the mighty ones, for the great ones of the world,
there are only two places where their courage deserts them, which they fear in
the depths of their souls, which they dodge and avoid; the manger and the cross
of Jesus Christ.[1]
The Father gave us the most incredible gift that one could
give—His only Son because of His love for us:
“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. For God did not send the Son into the
world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him”
{Jn. 3:16-17 NASB}.
The Father gave us a wonder beyond all comprehension to our
finite understanding. He endured a long path to the cross to restore all that was lost. Can we not give Him back our best? Can we not follow Him with our whole
hearts? Can we move beyond a confession of faith and follow Him in obedience? In this season, it is so easy to be caught up in the busyness of preparing for the holidays, just as the disciples were so busy with work that they—and we—forget about what Jesus is endeavoring to teach us; discipleship is the call, and it's going to cost us.
“Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of the adherence, it must take the form of discipleship. An abstract Christology, a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge on the subject of grace or on the forgiveness of sins, render discipleship superfluous.”[2]
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[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Mystery Of Holy Night (New York: Crossroad
Publishing Company, 1996), 16.
[2]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost Of Discipleship (New York: Touchstone,
1959),58.
“Now Jesus was teaching in one of the
synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who for eighteen
years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent over
double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He
called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your
sickness.’ And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made
erect again and began glorifying God” (vv. 10-13 NASB).
I have had my share of physical sickness and hurt in my life. When I read this verse, it fills me with such hope. I have rested on this Scripture more times than I can count. Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, and in the midst of His important teaching, He saw a woman who was so sick she was bent over and could not stand upright. Christ sees us in our pain and misery.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15 KJV).
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came to heal the
hurting. When you feel you are alone in your suffering, He sees you. Reach out
to Him in faith, and He will touch you. He will give you peace, strength, and endurance as you trust the Holy
Spirit to help you endure the struggle.
This is part of the hope of Advent. Hope is a part of the
promise of the coming Messiah. Those
awaiting the Christ
Child longed—hoped for deliverance. Have hope this
Advent
season that Christ came to deliver you from the
“Be dressed in readiness, and keep your
lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns
from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to
him when he comes and knocks” (vv. 35-36).
Jesus is coming again, and He warns us to be ready. I spoke about this on Day 3. It is imperative to remember that the One is coming again, a time for which we still must prepare. A time for which we must be ready. Through the parable, He taught us that He will come when we least expect Him. Several servants were waiting for their master and grew tired, weary from the wait. They lost hope that He would return. I know that many of us—myself included—have grown tired of waiting for miracles to appear and breakthroughs to come. I have grown weary of the cold, dark, lost world that seems to grow darker by the day.
We must remain constantly waiting. We must be vigilant so
that we can open up to Him when He arrives. If we wait diligently for
Him and are awake and ready, Jesus said that the master will serve those He
finds waiting.
Be thankful for Christmas, for without Christ’s coming, we would not have Christmas. All the traditions celebrated at this time of year, Santa and the like, all find their root in the birth of the Christ child. This is a beautiful and wonderful time of year, and I am thankful for the glorious Incarnation. But another time is coming for which we must be ready. Let us reflect on the hush within and focus on the wonderful truth that Christ has come into our world, but let us continue to look forward to the day that He will come again as our triumphant King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Old Testament is a wonderful and
beautiful book that contains some of the richest prose and poetry. I love the
Old Testament. I am saddened with the trend in some of today’s churches who exhort
their flocks to detach from the Old Testament. Without the Old Testament, it is
impossible to understand the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul teaches us that “All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work” {2 Tim. 3:16-17 NASB}. When Paul wrote these great words, the New Testament had not been compiled; the Scriptures were the Law and the Prophets—the Old Testament. Yet, he teaches the new church to use them to equip and build up the saints.
Jesus Himself, tells the disciples
that the Old Testament is where to find the writings concerning Him. In Luke,
we find that Jesus after the resurrection told the two weary disciples on the
road to Emmaus, “beginning with
Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning
Himself in all the Scriptures” {24:27
NASB}.Again in John’s Gospel, He spoke of the Old Testament that “It
is they that bear witness of me” {Jn.
5:39}.
The Old Testament contains nearly three hundred references to the
coming Messiah, all of which were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The chance that
Jesus is the fulfillment of all three hundred references is overwhelming. In
his classic book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner calculated the
chance of any man fulfilling just eight of the three hundred prophecies
concerning the coming Messiah to be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the
17th power) or one hundred quadrillion.[1] Yet
the Bible affirms that Jesus did fulfill the prophecies concerning Him (Lk.
24:32).
The
first Messianic prophecy or the Protoevangelium is found in Genesis
3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on
the heel.” This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew
1:18 and Galatians 3:16, 19 refers to Jesus as being the promised seed of the
woman.
The Old Testament is saturated with rich symbolism of Christ. Jesus was from the beginning; He was with the Father before all things. His beautiful High Priestly prayer in John 17: 5, reveals His preexistence, “Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed”{NASB} {Read Part One}. He is present from the very first in Genesis and through to The Revelation of Christ.
The Incarnation was predicted in the Old Testament and is the
fulfillment of prophecy. {I wrote about the fulfilled prophecies
in Jesus previously}. It was part of
God’s perfect plan. The prophet Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be both
human and God: “For a child will be born to us, a son
will be given to us; And the government will rest on His
shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6). These
names refer simultaneously with the Father, indicating that the Father and the
Son are One.
Many
years ago, there was a beautiful song recorded by Aaron Jeoffery concerning
who Jesus is in every book of the Bible {Find it here}. This is
an old song but a beautiful one that speaks to the symbolism of Christ
throughout the Old and New Testaments:
In Genesis, He’s the Breath of Life In Exodus, the Passover Lamb In Leviticus, He’s our High Priest Numbers, Fire by night Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ Voice In Joshua, He is Salvation’s Choice
Judges, Law-Giver In Ruth, the Kinsmen-Redeemer First and Second Samuel, our Trusted Prophet In Kings and Chronicles, He’s sovereign Ezra, True and Faithful Scribe Nehemiah, He’s the Rebuilder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He’s Mordecai’s Courage In Job, the timeless Redeemer In Psalms, He is our Morning Song In Proverbs, Wisdom’s Cry Ecclesiastes, the Time and Season In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover’s Dream
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Isaiah, He’s the Prince of Peace Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet In Lamentations, the Cry for Israel Ezekiel, He’s the Call from sin In Daniel, the Stranger in the fire In Hosea, He is forever Faithful In Joel, He’s the Spirit’s power In Amos, the Arms that carry us In Obadiah, He’s the Lord our Savior In Jonah, He’s the Great Missionary In Micah, the Promise of Peace In Nahum, He is our Strength and our Shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage In Zechariah, our Fountain In Malachi, He is the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God, Man, Messiah In the Book of Acts, He is Fire from Heaven In Romans, He’s the Grace of God In Corinthians, the Power of Love In Galatians, He is Freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our Glorious Treasure Philippians, the Servant’s Heart In Colossians, He’s the Godhead Trinity Thessalonians, our coming King In Timothy, Titus, Philemon, He’s our Mediator and our Faithful Pastor In Hebrews, the Everlasting Covenant In James, the One who heals the sick In First and Second Peter, He is our Shepherd In John and Jude, He is the Lover coming for His Bride In the Revelation, He is King of kings and Lord of lords
He is, He is, HE IS!
The Prince of Peace The Son of Man The Lamb of God The great I AM
He’s the Alpha and Omega Our God and our Savior He is Jesus Christ the Lord And when time is no more He is, HE IS!
Jeff Silvey
and Jeoffrey Keith Benward, He Is (Brentwood and Nashville:
Birdwing Music (Capitol Records), and Shepherd’s Fold Music (EMI),) 1995.
[1] Peter Stoner, Science
Speaks (Chicago: Moody Press., 1963), 104.
