Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

SATURDAY 29^th

Genesis 1

NIV – (v1) ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’

ESV – (v1) ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.’

The name of this the first book in the Bible, ‘Genesis’ means ‘origin’ or ‘beginning’, it is the book that records for us the beginning of time.

‘In the beginning God . . .’ is not suggesting that God had a beginning as well when he created, for he is eternal, he always has been and always will be, (Exodus 3:14) it is marking the moment when time commenced, when from out of eternity, the eternal  God created the heavens and earth, and from the moment of the first act of creation, time began, for it is recorded that the evening and the morning were the first day. It records the beginning of life, God spoke, and the plant life commenced, he spoke, and animal life began, he spoke, and humankind was created. It records the beginning of era’s; it records the beginning of everything that has come into existence because of the creative and powerful voice of God.

Sadly, it also has to record the commencement of sin in humanity, the moment when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, (Genesis 3:1-7) but happily it also records for us the beginning of Gods plan of redemption, as he announced to Satan in Genesis 3:15 ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’ It is by understanding what happened in the beginning, with the fall of mankind and the promise of a redeemer that we can begin to make sense of everything else that follows in the rest of the Word of God. From the beginning to the end, God is at work, working toward the final recovery, (Romans 8:18-23) which will be a complete recovery of all that was lost in the Garden with the fulfilment of all that is prophesied to happen in the final book, Revelation 22:1-5 ‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.’ The next verse in Revelation 22, verse 6 says, ‘These words are trustworthy and true’ this is relevant not only to the book of Revelation, but to the whole of Scripture, therefore it behoves us to handle the Word of God carefully and to treat what it says with all sincerity, and with Godly fear. From the beginning to end, what we will discover is that Scripture is all about Jesus, and God’s right to rule and his plan of redemption that leads us into eternity.

I will only briefly go through the various books, sometimes making big jumps as we work through, leaving out lots but highlighting various chapters, subjects, and characters as we go along, but I pray that what I do prepare will encourage us further in our daily walk with God.

THURSDAY 27^th

Today as we continue from yesterday, we will look at some verses that remind us of the importance of the Word of God.

Yesterday we had as a reading the verses from Psalm 19 where David makes some statements about the Scripture: (re-read the verses)

Verse 7 it is perfect and sure, verse 8 it is right and pure, verse 9 it is true and righteous, verse 10 it is to be more desired than gold and in verse 11 it is a book that warns and yet also gives great reward.  Let’s be honest if we saw that as a description on the back of a book about the content within, then who wouldn’t want to read it – a book that is perfect, worth more than gold and brings with it great reward!

From the New Testament we read yesterday Hebrews 12:4 ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’ This verse reminds us that the Bible is different to every other book in that it is living and active, or as the KJV puts it ‘quick and powerful’ this Book can do what no other Book can do. There used to be an advert for a particular beer that said ‘refreshes the parts that other beers cannot reach’, now I cannot tell you whether that is true or not as I have never drank beer or any other form of alcohol and I have no intention of ever starting, but when it comes to the Word of God, it most certainly refreshes the parts that other books cannot reach, but more than that as this verse in Hebrews says, it reaches into the parts that no other book can reach, it reaches right down into the depths of the inner man.

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read concerning the Bible: ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ It is a thorough book that comes from the Creator himself, although various people were used in its compilation, it was inspired in its entirety by the Holy Spirit and is profitable for every part of our Christian life, good for teaching, good for reproving, good for correcting, good for training in righteousness, good for equipping us. It is the best and most comprehensive life manual we can have to read and to be trained by.

Then we have in 1 Peter 1:23-25 ‘. . . since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.’ It is not only a God Inspired book, it is an imperishable book, it is an eternal book, which means not only will it survive for ever but that which it teaches stands for ever, this is so important in this age in which we live, where moral issues are shifting almost on a daily basis and the verdict is given when you stand on Biblical grounds ‘Ah that’s an old fashioned book, it is so outdated’ – NO IT IS’NT it is an eternal book with eternal values, it may be centuries old yet it is more up-to-date than tomorrows newspapers!  It is and must be our moral compass as well as our spiritual compass.

And we cannot leave out Psalm 119, throughout this chapter we are reminded of the blessing of reading and keeping the law (word) of the LORD. For example, verses 105 – 112 ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word! Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your rules. I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts. Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.’

WEDNESDAY 26^th

Reading – Psalm 19:7-11

NIV Hebrews 4:12 – ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’

ESV Hebrews 4:12 – ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

At this moment as I am preparing this devotion, I am sat in what is going to be my office / study, but, as yet I can hardly move because it is yet to be sorted. I am awaiting delivery of some bookshelves, so about one third of the floor space is covered with boxes yet to be opened, one third with almost usable space. The other third is covered with some of the books that I have already unpacked but stacked in piles about 2ft 6in high ready for me to sort in order into the bookshelves. The garage is another story, boxes etc. yet to be unpacked and sorted and deciding where to put.

Moving has been a stressful time, yet at the same time it has been an exciting time, and I in particular was looking forward to unpacking and having all my books again, being able to have them and refer to them.

The Bible is a collection of books, 66 in total, and for some the Bible is a book that is packed away and forgotten about, for others it is a book that is unpacked but just lying around getting covered in dust or up on a bookshelf, never moved or opened, and for others it is a book that is either opened and looked at once in a blue moon, while for others it is a book that is considered to be important enough to be looked at and read on a regular basis. See for some it is just another book, for others it is The Book, the most important book, because it is the Living and Powerful Word of God.

As I have already said, I have been excited about having my books again, they are my favourite and most valued possessions, and I wonder what value we place upon the Book of Books, the Word of God, does it list among our most valued possessions, even more, does it list as our most valued possession? Those of us who are older can remember the period of Communism in Eastern Europe, where the Bible was a banned book (Still is in some other parts of the World) and lots of effort was made to smuggle Bibles into these countries, often leading to imprisonment if caught. I can remember subscribing to an organisation (I can’t remember the name) who sent you copies of the books of the Bible printed on very thin paper and every now and again you would post one of these to an address in the USSR to get some of the Scripture into the homes of underground believers. Today we can have the Bible in so many forms, it can be on a CD, DVD or in MP3 form with someone reading it to us, we can have it on our electrical items such as I-pad or smart phone, but I personally think there is nothing better than actually holding a printed copy, a physical copy to be able to read the Word of God. How much do we value the Word of God, how often do we take it off the shelf to read? Over the next few weeks, my devotions are going to be a little like what I have been doing recently – unpacking! I will unpack something from every book of the Bible, starting from Genesis and slowly working through to Revelation. If things return to normal before I have finished then I will continue it in some form or another, maybe not daily but weekly till we have completed the Bible.

Tomorrow we will look at some verses that help us to understand the importance of the Word of God before we commence with Genesis.

John 20 & 21

NIV (20:28) ‘Thomas said to him, My Lord and my God!’

ESV (20:28) – ‘Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God!’

Today we are coming to the end of our brief look through the gospel of John. The statement that Thomas makes in 20:28 is the statement that the whole of this gospel should lead us to be declaring as we will have discovered all that John has written ‘so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name’. (John 20:31) This was our commencing verse in these devotions back on July 5^th.

In the 21^st chapter and verse 25 we read ‘Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the  books that would be written’. Wow, what a library that would be! But more wonderful than that thought is the actual wonder that John has written sufficient in this gospel alone for us to get an understanding of who Jesus is and as to why he came and to bring us to a place where we can accept him as our Saviour and Lord, and instead of the world containing a library of books all about him, we can have a heart that contains him, as he comes to dwell in our lives! Christ in you, the hope of glory. What a wonder, the world could not contain all the books that could be written about him and yet our hearts can contain him because of Calvary! ‘What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus came into my heart . . .’

A couple of days ago I mentioned the misty gloomy morning, this morning was the same, as I looked out of the window it looked damp and misty, I couldn’t see very far, but over the last hour as I have been preparing devotions, the sun has burnt through the mist and it is now clear, I can see. John’s gospel is all about the Word who became flesh, and as we read through his gospel, and revel in the wonder and truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, John’s intention was that any doubt about him would be burnt away like the mist and we would clearly see the truth and wonder of the one who came, the Word who became flesh, the one who humbled himself, even to the point of death on a cross so that we could be lifted out of the miserable pit of sin and know such a wonderful salvation. To finish with the words of Thomas, ‘My Lord and my God’

MONDAY 24^th

John 19:30

NIV (v30) – ‘When he had received the drink, Jesus said, It is finished. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.’

ESV (v30) – ‘When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.’

When I read this verse to prepare this devotion, I thought of the words of the hymn that say, ‘’tis done the great transactions done, I am my Lords and he is mine’ there is firstly the transaction that Jesus made at Calvary where he bore our sin and shame, and there is also the transaction made when we come and kneel at the Cross, Jesus has done all that is necessary for our salvation, but we need to come by faith to receive it.

The transaction Christ made at Calvary is the greatest transaction ever made, because he who knew no sin of his own took upon himself the sin of the world, he who didn’t deserve the punishment for sin, took upon himself the punishment that we deserved, he who didn’t deserve the wrath of God bore the wrath of God on our behalf.  When we come to the Cross in repentance and acceptance, we get what we do not deserve, we receive his grace and his mercy. And extending from this is forgiveness and justification and sanctification bringing us into adoption into the family of God. Truly because of the Cross and our coming to the Man who hung on the Cross we become new creations, the old is gone and behold the new has come. What an amazing transaction and transformation. ‘I am a new creation, no more in condemnation, here in the grace of God I stand.’

‘It is finished’, all that Christ needed to do he had done, and in all our imaginations we can never comprehend what Christ went through, what he suffered on our behalf with all its horror, anguish, pain etc. but he willingly submitted himself to the will of his Father because of his love for mankind, because of his love for you, because of his love for me and for the joy that was set before him.

Oh, how He loves you and me,

Oh how He loves you and me.

He gave his life, what more could he give?

Oh, how He loves you;

Oh, how he loves me;

Oh, how he loves you and me.

Jesus to Calvary did go,

His love for sinners to show.

What He did there brought hope from despair.

Oh, how He loves you;

Oh, how he loves me;

Oh, how he loves you and me.

May we never ever not appreciate what Christ has done for us, may we never ever be silent, but may we always be abounding with praise in our hearts with gratitude and thanksgiving for the price he has paid. The ‘it is finished’ at the Cross is where it all begins for us.

SUNDAY 23^rd

John 18

NIV (vv4-5) – ‘Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, Who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. I am he, Jesus said. . . .’

ESV (vv4-5) – ‘Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, Whom do you seek? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he. . . .’

Jesus of Nazareth – and yet he was at the same time the eternal Son of God from heaven! The moment of his arrest had come, that would lead to the whole reason why he came as a man to be Jesus of Nazareth, to pay the price for our eternal redemption.

In this chapter we see the trials of Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas, (vv12-14) also before Pilate, (vv28-40) also the denials of Peter (vv15-18, 25-27). It is toward the end of the chapter the Jesus of Nazareth in verse 5 is called the King of the Jews.(v39) From what was obviously to the band of soldiers just a lowly description ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ to a name of authority, ‘King of the Jews’, and within the next 72 hours this man called Jesus of Nazareth was going to experience the horror and humiliation of all that Calvary involved, the pain, suffering, sin bearing, wrath taking, forsaken by God, a brutal death, burial and triumphant resurrection which would lead to his ascension and exaltation and as a result of his obedience he would be given a name which is above every other name, so that at that name every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He, Jesus of Nazareth in John 18 verse 5 who was about to be arrested in the garden and would stand on trial was to become more than the King of the Jews, he was to become the King of King and the Lord of Lords! And this man, Jesus of Nazareth, who humbled himself is our Saviour and Lord.

Spend some time over the day reading the next chapter, 19 and contemplate again all that Jesus of Nazareth went through to bring us our eternal redemption, so that we can come to the place of repentance and be able to acknowledge him as our Saviour and Lord. I will end this devotion with the words of a song:

Thank you for the cross Lord

Thank you for the price You paid

Bearing all my sin and shame

In love You came

And gave amazing grace

Thank you for this love Lord

Thank you for the nail pierced hands

Washed me in Your cleansing flow

Now all I know

Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb

Seated on the throne

Crown You now with many crowns

You reign victorious

High and lifted up

Jesus Son of God

The Darling of Heaven crucified

Worthy is the Lamb

Worthy is the Lamb

SATURDAY 22^nd

John 17

NIV (20) – ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, . . .’

ESV (v20) – ‘I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, . . .’

As I came to John 17 for today, I have chosen rather than to write a whole new devotion to revisit what I shared from this chapter back on April 8^th as it is a reminder again of our Great High Priest.

This is the longest prayer that we have recorded that Jesus made, it is almost the last prayer he made before he went to the Cross. Jesus was a man of prayer. He often went to a solitary place to pray, for example, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12.

In this prayer, we find that Jesus prays for himself, for his disciples and for those who would believe, that is you and me. This should be a great comfort to us that even before Jesus went to the cross, even before we even came to believe – that Jesus prayed for us.

Today I want us to be encouraged to know that Jesus is still in a place of intercession for us. After he ascended to the Father he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high and took up his High Priestly duties! The book of Hebrews covers much of this for us and it is from here we will look at what this means for us.

Hebrews 2:17-18 ‘Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

Hebrews 4:14-16 ‘Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’

Hebrews 7:23-28 ‘The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.  He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.’

Hebrews 9:28 ‘So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.’

To summarize: Our Great High Priest: Jesus,

He has been where we are – he has known temptation, he has been through suffering, therefore he knows what it is like to go through the things that we are facing, so he can intercedes for us and help us when we are tempted and tried.

He is a sympathizing Priest.

He is a merciful High Priest.

He is a faithful high Priest.

He is a sinless Priest

He is a Priest who made a once for all sacrifice for sin.

He is a Priest who offered himself for our sin.

He is an Exalted Priest.

He is a sin forgiving Priest.

He is an Eternal / Permanent Priest.

He is the Priest who has been appointed by God.

He is a welcoming Priest – we are welcome into his presence.

He is a Returning Priest – He is coming again to take us into his eternal presence.

This is far better than going and talking through a confessional to a man who himself is a sinner, who has no power or authority to forgive sin!

We come to the Great High Priest and in coming he has the power to forgive and to grant eternal life, we come to the Priest who has been appointed by God himself, we come to the Priest who has provided a better and a new and living way. We come not to a priest but to THE Priest! His name is Jesus.

And for him to become that Great High Priest he need first to go the way of the Cross and we close this devotion with what is nearly the last prayer he uttered ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done’. (Luke 22:42)

Thank God he was an obedient Priest!