Category: Devotions

TUESDAY October 8^th

 

Luke 2:38

‘And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.’

 

I have remained in Luke chapter 2, because as I have been preparing these devotions, there is a recurring them, well, two themes which I will mention.

The first is the theme of joy, which I touched on in a devotion last week.

 

The birth of Jesus brought joy! The angel had said to the shepherds, ‘I bring you good news of great joy’. Not just casual joy but GREAT joy! Imagine the joy in the stable, imagine the joy on the hillside, it was joy that led to praise and glory to God. It was joy that captured the hearts of the individuals.

 

Imagine the joy that would have suddenly erupted in the heart of Simeon when he finally saw the child Jesus. I haven’t mentioned the wise men which we read of in Matthew 2:10, but this is what it says, ‘When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy’ Why? Because it had led them to the One who alone could give real joy, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Did you know that the Bible also gives the account of an unborn baby leaping for joy! Yes, it was when Mary had received the news that she was going to have her baby and she went to tell her cousin Elizabeth who was also expecting a baby, and as Mary greeted Elizabeth, the baby leaped in her womb, she exclaimed, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ She continues to say, ‘the baby in my womb leaped for joy’.

 

The same scripture, in Luke 1:46-47 continues to tell us that Mary burst into song, singing ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.’  Well, if you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. We who have come to know Jesus should be leaping for joy!

 

Then we have the lady called Anna in our verses today, it doesn’t mention the word joy, but it is evident, for the very fact that she was in the temple at the same time as Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to Simeon. In fact, it says she lived in the temple day and night worshipping God with fasting. But this day was a special day, she also had seen Jesus, and it says that she thanked God and began to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Seeing Jesus had gripped her with such joy that she could not help but speak about him to others.

MONDAY October 7^th

 

Luke 2:29-32

‘“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”’

 

Imagine that you had been brought up in a Jewish home, had been instructed from the torah as God had instructed back in the time of Moses, ‘And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise’, Deuteronomy 6:6–7.

 

You would have also learnt what was contained in the Psalms and the books of the prophets, there is no doubt that you would have grown up waiting with eager anticipation for the One who had been promised, the One who was to be the Messiah.

 

Today’s verses reveal to us a man who had been such a person, but now, he was getting on in years, and like everyone else he had been patiently waiting for the consolation of Israel.

 

But he waited in a different way, because the scripture tells us that the Holy Sprit had revealed to this man, whose name was Simeon, that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ!

 

Imagine him waking up every morning and thinking to himself, ‘I wonder if today is going to be the day’, and he waited and waited, until one day as he was in the temple, maybe the door creaked as it opened, and as he looked, in walked Mary and Joseph with a child, to do for him according to the custom. And by the Spirit, Simeon immediately knew who this young child was, and immediately blessed God saying ‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation. . .’ He had finally seen the One who was to come, not just as the Messiah but also as the means of salvation for the world.

 

Well, for us, we are waiting for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, now, we do not know when he is coming again, but are we waiting like Simeon with eager anticipation? Maybe you are reading this devotion, and you have never accepted Jesus as your Saviour, well, allow this devotion to be a word that is to warn you that Jesus is coming again, this time not to die, but to take to himself all who have placed their faith and trust in him. Everyone else will be left behind. Make yourself ready, by coming to believe on him and to accept him.

FRIDAY October 4^th

 

Well, we need to continue our incredible story, by peeping into and looking at the scenes that happened firstly in and then around a little town in Bethlehem.

 

The little bundle of joy that Mary cradled in her arms was God in the flesh! The One who created all things is now cooing, the One who dispelled darkness and said, ‘Let there be light’, was now being carefully cared for under the light of an oil lamp in a stable, the One who had enjoyed fellowship in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit in eternity past, was now bringing delight to Mary and Joseph, what an incredible scene.

 

But a few miles away there were some shepherds tending their flock, when suddenly the dark sky was lit up, and Luke recounts for us in Luke 2, ‘And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’

 

The joy that would have filled the hearts of Mary and Joseph was not only for them, but for the shepherds, and not only them as well, but as the angel said, ‘good news of great joy that will be for all the people’, and why, because this baby was to be the Saviour, and we have some more names for him, ‘who is Christ the Lord.’

 

I love the part of this narrative that says, ‘When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.’ In this are just seven words that I love ‘And they went with haste and found’, what did they find, yes, Mary and Joseph, but more importantly they found Jesus! Oh, that men and women today would make haste to find Jesus! But, then what did they do?

 

Well, it is in verse 17 ‘And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.’ They told others about Jesus! Yes, they had seen him, and they wanted others to know all about it, that that night a Saviour had been born.

 

And we who have seen Jesus spiritually, we who have come to know him and accept him as our personal Saviour, need to be as excited as the shepherds were, so that we too will make it known to others that a Saviour has been born, a Saviour has been given and his name is Jesus.

 

A couple of final thought from the scenes around Bethlehem, it continues to say that ‘the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.’ They went with hearts full of praise, glorifying God as they had discovered that what they had been told by the angels was real, true.

 

And we who have come to a saving faith have discovered that the redemption story is true, exactly as it says in the word of God, let’s be a God glorifying and a God praising people. With our lives and from our lips.

 

Then the account continues to say that ‘at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.’  Yes, whatever names Mary and Joseph would have liked to call their baby, they were put aside, what was of the utmost importance was obedience to what the angel had told them, and they called him Jesus.

THURSDAY October 3^rd

 

Imagine as a parent, or should I say as an expectant parent being told by someone else what name you are to give to the baby when he or she arrives! I don’t think that Elaine and I would have been happy if someone else told us what we were to call them. We wanted to choose the names, and we wanted to use names which we liked. Altogether with our six children we have used 14 names, some are family names, but generally names which together we liked.

 

Well, the scenario I have started with happened to a woman who suddenly discovered she was going to have a child, and straightaway she was told what name he was to be given. Her name was Mary, and she was betrothed to a man called Joseph, and at first it was an embarrassment to them because they were not yet legally together as a man and wife and the scripture says they had not yet come together and yet she was pregnant. How on earth did it happen? Well God sent an angel to explain it all, and I take up the story from Josephs encounter and one of the key verses being in Matthew 1:20 as the angel appeared to Joseph saying, ‘Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’. I guess that took a load off the mind of Joseph, even though he may not have fully understood it all.

 

But then another bombshell. ‘Joseph’ (I am exaggerating the point to make it) ‘Don’t even start to think about choosing a name! It has already been chosen’. ‘She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.’ But then a third bombshell for it continues, this is the reason why ‘for he will save his people from their sins’.

 

In other words, choosing a name is out of your hands, it has already been decided, his name will be a name that describes exactly why he has been born, Jesus, to be the Saviour of the world. But, then in the following verses we are told that it all took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘A virgin will conceive and bear a Son’ and he was to have another name as well, Immanuel (or Emmanuel) which means ‘God with us.’ We are back again to John chapter one, The Word, who is God, became flesh and dwelt among men.

 

I have often joked about Mary and Joseph going to register his birth, the question being asked, ‘What is his name?’ and Mary and Joseph looking at each other and thinking, ‘Where do we start’, then turning to the registrar and saying, ‘How much time do you have, or more importantly how much space is there to write the names down’ and then begin to reel off, ‘Jesus, Immanuel, Mighty God, Everlasting Father . . . .’ Then imagine having to answer the question, ‘Who is the father?’

 

But let’s just jump ahead 33 years, imagine Mary having to go and to register his death! What did he do? And she would go through all the amazing things that Jesus had done, ‘He was a carpenter, then he was a preacher, oh and he healed lots of people, and he did some amazing miracles’, and the list would continue. But this is the best part, imagine a day or so later Mary having to run into the registrar’s office, out of breath and full of excitement, ‘You remember me registering the death of Jesus?’ ‘Yes’, comes the reply. ‘Well, scrap the certificate, rip it up and throw it away’, ‘Why?’ ‘Well, he is alive again’.

 

The story of this baby who was to be born and given the name Jesus is incredible and we will continue.

WEDNESDAY October 2^nd

 

Well, the Old Testament era came to an end and a period of what is called silence followed for about 400 years and then we arrive at approximately 3BC and Paul tells us what happened, ‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.’ (Galatians 4:4)

 

The birth that had been planned before the foundation of the world and prophesied 700 years earlier by the prophet Isaiah took place. The child was born, and the son was given. And John records for us why, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’, (3:16)

 

The One who existed throughout eternity past in fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one through whom and for whom all things were created, the one who upheld all things by the word of his power, had left the glory of heaven, and had been placed in the womb of a virgin called Mary, to be born in a stable in the town of Bethlehem, and was laid as a babe in a manger. We have already considered some of the verses in John chapter 1, and John after introducing Jesus to us as the Word in verse one, continues in verse 14 to say, ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’

 

And he grew up from being a baby, then from being a child into maturity and manhood (Luke 2:40, 52) for the purpose of dying, dying for your sin and my sin, dying as our substitute, dying to take upon himself the wrath of God which we deserved, taking on himself  the punishment for our sin which we deserved, and why, because the eternal God as Father loved us, the Son of God loved us and they have loved us with an everlasting love.

 

That is why taking us right back to where I started this series of devotions that I can say the words ‘Jesus, the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast’.

 

I was a sinner deserving of eternal punishment, yet Jesus to my rescue came, my soul in mercy to reclaim. I was a sinner not deserving of love, certainly not deserving of forgiveness, but Jesus was willing to leave his Fathers glory and to die such an awful death that I might be forgiven and set free, that you might be forgiven and set free.

It was such an incredible plan that has turned into an incredible story, yet the more I learn the more there seems to be to learn because it so incredible. Is this your testimony?

 

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus’, ‘Oh how sweet to trust in Jesus, yes, ‘tis sweet to trust in Jesus, I’m so glad I learned to trust thee, precious Jesus, Saviour, friend; and I know that thou art with me, wilt be with me to the end.

TUESDAY October 1^st

 

Isaiah 7:14

‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’

 

To move forward from my thoughts concerning Jesus before he came to Bethlehem, we move on to consider some of the Old Testament scriptures that promised, predicted or prophesied that he would come into the world. Again, think about how incredible this was going to be, that God would come into this world as a man.

 

And what is more, his conception and birth would be unique for never had a baby been born which hadn’t involved the union of a man and a woman, that is a birth that did not involve the seed of the man, just the egg of the woman. But with God all things are possible. That is exactly what the angel Gabriel said to Mary when the news of her impending pregnancy was announced to her in Luke 1:37.

 

Now the scripture I have used as our text is not the only OT prophecy, for we are familiar also with the verses a little later in Isaiah 9:6 that say ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given’ it continues to list what he would be called, ‘Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace’.

 

These two verses from Isaiah confirm to us again the deity of the Lord Jesus for in the first his name was to be called Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’ and in the second, he was to be given other names which can only be linked to deity, such as Mighty God and Everlasting Father.

 

We cannot go through all the verses, but there are those verses that predict where he would be born, where he would live, what he would do and even the details concerning how he would suffer and die. And it was all for the purpose of becoming the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

 

So, throughout the Old Testament period, God was at work, first with individuals, then with the nation of Israel, and it was all leading up to the moment when this promised child would be born, and the promised son would be given. And this child, this son would become our wonderful Saviour, Jesus who we have come to love and to know, the one whose name is the sweetest name.

Now, before we move forward, we need to understand why Jesus needed to come, and I know these devotions are primarily for those who already know, but because they are also found on-line, for any that might wonder what this is all about, it is because way back in the beginning when Adam and Eve were created, they disobeyed God and sin came into the world. As a result, we are all born as sinners and we are all under the judgement of death, not just physical death, but spiritual death. But God out of his great love and his incredible mercy was willing to put a plan into action whereby we could know our sins to be forgiven and the verdict of death be taken from off us, and it would all come about through his plan of redemption, a plan which involved sending Jesus into the world to die in our place and then as we come to believe on him, we will be forgiven and made right with God again. You can read more of this incredible story in the Bible, and I suggest as a good starting point to read the gospel according to John for more information.

MONDAY September 30^th

 

There is, following on from our previous devotion another answer to the question as to what did Jesus do in the time before he came into this world as a babe in Bethlehem?

 

The clue is found in some of the Old Testament accounts where we read of a particular Angel of the LORD appearing to individuals and conversing with them. It is widely accepted that these are what theologians call a ‘Theophany’ or a ‘Christophany’ where the pre-incarnate Jesus appeared in the form of a man, generally described as an angel to give a message or an instruction to an individual.

 

The following are examples, first in Genesis 16:7-10 where it says ‘The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”’

 

Then in Judges 6:11-14 where we read ‘Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

 

Then the third in Daniel 3:28 at the time when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been thrown into the fiery furnace and we read these words

 

‘Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

 

If you go back to verse 25, we read ‘He (Nebuchadnezzar) answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”’

 

The account from Daniel reads differently in the KJV compared to the NIV and the ESV, and this was a bone of contention when the NIV was first released and was one of the reasons which caused (and still causes) many to be anti any version but the KJV. Here are the other translations,

 

NIV ‘He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”’

 

KJV ‘He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’

 

What we need to learn is this. The KJV has translated the scene as to who the fourth person was in the furnace, as being ‘like the Son of God’ and is with hindsight or is  a  retrospective translation, but the modern versions translate it to exactly as it would have been seen to those who were actually there, ‘like a son of the gods’, for remember they were pagans, they believed in multiple gods in contrast to the Hebrew lads who believed in the one and only true and living God, that is why they were in the furnace! so they the pagans who didn’t believe in the One and only true God would have assumed it was a son of one of the gods. But thankfully the King soon recognised that this was no mere god, but rather an Angel sent from God, who was none other than the Son of God, for he had heard the lads say back in verse 17 ‘ If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.’

 

And save them he did. So, this was just a few thoughts over the last few devotions answering the question, ‘What was the Son of God doing before he came a babe to Bethlehem.’

FRIDAY September 27^th

 

John 1:2-3

‘He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.’

 

I have continued with the next two verses from John 1, verses 2-3 for we see here more detail concerning the Son of God, which verse 1 had referred to as the Word of God. But first a question.

 

Have you ever wondered what Jesus was doing as the Word before he came into this world in Bethlehem as a baby?

 

Well, I am going to attempt to give an answer, for firstly we can say that as the eternal Word, the eternal Son of God, or as we sometimes say as the second person in the Trinity, he would have been enjoying the eternal fellowship that would have and still does exist between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

Imagine it if you can, for they exist in perfect unity, nothing between them, in pure unspotted or untainted fellowship, total, absolute agreement.

 

I know that there are those (such as the Jehovah Witnesses) who argue that the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible and so it is a word conjured up to bolster the churches doctrine of the tri-unity of God, and those who oppose it cannot and will not accept the perfect eternal unity and eternal existence of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. But just because a word doesn’t appear in the Scripture, it doesn’t mean that what the word describes does not exist, and there is sufficient biblical evidence to use such a word, to describe the eternal co-existing and co-equality of the three persons of the Godhead.

 

In fact this takes us to the second point concerning what Jesus as the eternal Word did before he came to this world as a baby, it is found in the creation story in Genesis where we see that the three, (yes, here is a reason for the word again, the trinity), Father, Son and Holy Spirit worked together in the work of creation, and one verse in particular is found in Genesis 1:26 which says ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”’

 

Notice it is in plural, God said, ‘Let US . . . in OUR’ I like to think that because of the perfect unity in the Godhead, that they literally all three spoke the words together in unison at exactly the same time with exactly the same emphasis! and so John in our text confirms it for us, ‘All things were made through him, and without him (Jesus the Word) was not any thing made that was made.’

 

And of course, we can go to Colossians 1:15-17 where we read ‘For by him all things were created . . . all things were created through him and for him . . . And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together’. And these verses lead us to the third thing we can list that Jesus was doing before he came into this world, (and still does) he was sustaining all that had been created, or upholding it by the word of his power, (Hebrews 1:3).

THURSDAY September 26^th

 

John 1:1

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.’

 

We are all familiar with these verses, they are the opening words of the gospel that John had written and in which he says toward the end in chapter 20 that he had written it so ‘that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ John 20:31.

 

Already in just John’s opening verse (1:1) and this one (20:31), we discover so much about Jesus.

 

He was there in the beginning, he was with God in the beginning, and he is himself God, summed up, as the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal.

 

Remember he wasn’t called Jesus until he had been born—something we will come to again, he always has been the Word and as our second reference tells us, he always has been the Son of God.

 

So straightaway, when we are talking about Jesus, we are not talking about a run of the mill ordinary person or character like you and I, we are talking about One who is far superior, One who existed eternally before he entered this world as a baby in Bethlehem, One who was willing to take on flesh, become a man, not for any personal gain as such, for he already was God, (although we know that as a result he was exalted to the highest place, but again that is for another time), but for the purpose of being the means of bringing about our eternal redemption.

 

This is to me one of the incredible wonders about Jesus and about our salvation, that way back even before the beginning of time, so that is way before the creation of the world and the eventual fall of man, the Son of God was willing to become a man (and that was even before a man had ever been created) to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Is that not a perfect picture of selfless love. Peter puts it this way ‘He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God’, 1 Peter 1:20-21.

Thank God for Jesus, who was willing as God to take on flesh to become a man and to come and dwell among mankind. Is there ever a sweeter richer story? Never, no way, for this is the story of redemption, with which without we would still be lost in our sin and heading for an eternity in Hell.

 

‘Wonderful story of love, tell it to me again, wonderful story of love, wake the immortal strain! Angels with rapture announce it, shepherds with wonder receive it; Sinner, O won’t you believe it? Wonderful story of love.’

WEDNESDAY September 25^th

 

Now, as I have said, these devotions are going to be a look at Jesus our wonderful Saviour, and we have so much in scripture that tells us all about him, and then, there are so many hymns or songs, even the little choruses we used to sing that define Jesus for us in so many wonderful ways. I wonder how many or which ones would spring to your mind. Songs about his person, or about his character, maybe something of his attributes, or maybe what he has done for us and who or what he has become to us, such as our shepherd, friend, etc.

 

There is absolutely no doubt that there is no one else like Jesus, he has no equal, he is unique, he is indescribable, for we cannot fully comprehend all there is about him, he has the best name, using the same word again as the previous devotion, he has the sweetest name as we often sing, ‘Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and he’s just the same as his lovely name, that’s the reason why I love him so, for Jesus is the sweetest name I know’ or how about,

 

‘Jesus!’ oh how sweet the name! ‘Jesus!’ Every day the same! ‘Jesus!’ Let all saints proclaim its worthy praise for ever.

 

It doesn’t matter how many devotions I will write concerning Jesus, nor in whatever order I bring them, there will still be far much more to discover, but the purpose is that in the words of another song that did the rounds a few years ago that we will just keep falling in love with him, over and over and over and over again, he gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by, there’s none so happy as my Lord and I, I just keep falling in love with him, over and over and over and over again.

 

Now perhaps some of the most important verses I can remind us of concerning Jesus are found in Hebrews 1:1-4, which reminds us that God speaks to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, and it also expresses to us something of who Jesus is. As we move forward with these devotions, I will not always have the scripture to start with, but it will be included somewhere in the text of the devotion. Here is what it says in Hebrews, and as you read them, remind yourself that this is Jesus our wonderful Saviour.

 

‘Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.’