FRIDAY May 10th
1 Corinthians 1:26–30
‘For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.’
Although I have given a few verses here, it is the last part that I want us to consider, ‘. . . so that no human being might boast in the presence of God’.
In Revelation 5 we have the scene that John saw in his revelation of Jesus Christ, most of us will know it well, a question is asked, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’, the eventual answer comes, when one of the elders says, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’ And John saw a Lamb standing, as though it has been slain.
A few verses later we read that the four and twenty elders sang a new song, it is in verses 9-10 and it is a song that rejoices that because of the Lamb being slain, there was around the throne of God people from every tribe and language and people and nation But, how did they get there? What qualified them to be found there?
Well, the answer is found in the song that was being sung, ‘for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God’ (v9). That is the ONLY answer, and it is the ONLY way that any man or woman can be found in the presence of God, by being ransomed by the blood of the Lamb that had been slain, and the name of Lamb, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in this chapter that we are looking at, that no man will be able to boast in the presence of God.
When we come to stand around the throne of God, not one person will ever be able to say ‘Well, I am here because of what I have done,’ no one will be able to say ‘I worked well and earned my salvation, that is how I am here’, no one will be able to say ‘I prayed regularly to Mary and went to confession, that is why I am here’, and no one will be able to say ‘I am here because of what (and they could list any religious figure they like) did for me’.
Every single person in the crowd around the throne, which we see later in John’s revelation is numbered a great multitude that no one could number (7:9) will only be there because of what Christ has done, and that was through the shedding of his blood and of they themselves being washed in his blood. As Paul says elsewhere, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast’, (Ephesians 2:8-9). Peter reminds us that we have been ransomed from our own futile ways, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, we have been ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).
As I was preparing this devotion I had some music playing and the song being sung was ‘I need no other argument, I need no other plea, it is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me’, I got the hymnal out to sing along with it then as I was finishing this devotion off, the song being sung was ‘Redeemed how I love to proclaim it . . . redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb’.
Paul says in verse 31 of 1 Corinthians, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’, a verse we will get to next week.