Wednesday Reading: Revelation 7 13-14
Key Verse: Revelation 7 14
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Devotion:
When God opened up the revelations to John it was a record of all that was still to come and one of those things was the washing of our sins away by the blood of the Lamb. John saw God’s mercy and forgiveness is a way that we do not see every day because we are locked into the world, here and now. Instead, God showed John that God’s forgiveness extends throughout the Old Testament, to all the righteous people that upheld God alone. This means that every person who turned their backs on the ways of the world and uplifted God’s ways instead of their own would see the forgiveness of God.
Jesus came at one point in time to pay for the sin debt of the past, the present and the future. He could not come every year or every generation to do the same again and again otherwise it would be to no effect. Christ died once for our sins. He paid for that sin debt with His life and with His blood. All the people that came before Him would see great tribulations as they tried to uphold God’s ways. People that followed Christ would have to endure tribulations as the world rejected them. These same people who were able to endure tribulation and to continue trusting God are the ones who will have their sins washed clean away.
If we were able to live a righteous life after having our sins forgiven then we may not have to face tribulation; but that is not to say that we face tribulation just because we have believed in Jesus. It is the world that rejects Christ and the world that imposes those tribulations upon us. It is the sin of the world that brings on the tribulation and not God!
Let us never forget that it is the blood that Jesus shed for us that has paid for the sin that we have committed. Those horrible and despicable things that we have done are washed clean away just because Christ wished it so and freely gave His life for us. It was the blood of the lambs before Christ that appeased God, but only the true blood of our perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ that actually washed away the sins once and for all.
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel like your garments are stained with sin?
Will you trust Christ fully to wash them away?
Tuesday Reading: Isaiah 1 16-20
Key Verse: Isaiah 1 19
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
Devotion:
We need to know that the sin that we commit is wrong. That is why God has given us His law, so that we can identify just how much we do get it wrong and then to admit that we have got it wrong. But it must not end there because admitting the sin is one thing, but changing your life so that you exclude that sin from then on is an entirely different matter. God wants us to turn our backs on that sin. He knows that we are weak and that we need help to be able to do that; that is why He stands by us and with us, giving us direction, strength and encouragement to turn away from the sin.
Saying one thing and doing another seems to be the normal practice – but it is not what God has ever done and certainly not what He wants of us. Our Lord requires that we turn our back on sin, turning toward the good as He has directed us to do. It is not that hard a directive that He has given us. God has explained it clearly to us throughout the Old Testament and those Words have not changed from the beginning of time. God has not changed the rules or the goalposts; instead He has remained the same from the beginning.
Even though we have sins that should stain us red throughout, God’s mercy and forgiveness is beyond our ability to sin. This does not mean that we have freedom to sin as we please; just that God has a love for us that does not have any bounds. God set in motion the events that would lead to us having our sins blotted out, wiped away, removed as far as the East is from the West. Only Christ is able to forgive us to that extent. Only Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, can take away those sins to the uttermost!
The Lord knows that we are weak and that we will give in and break down. He knows that we cannot stand by ourselves. He knows that we do not have the strength to stand alone. That is why He allowed Jesus Christ to come to us and to lay down His own life as a perfect sacrifice for our wilful sins. The Lord leaves us the choice before us, to follow the old sinful ways or to choose to turn our backs on them and follow the righteous ways He lays down before us. They are there for us to choose from because He has made it possible for our past sins to be forgiven as we bring them to Him. Let us therefore turn to Him, admitting our sins, turning away from them and taking on a new life with Him.
Points to Ponder:
Do you seek forgiveness?
Do you leave your sins at Christ’s feet?
Monday Reading: Luke 3 4-8
Key Verse: Luke 3 6
6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Devotion:
When John the Baptist was preaching to the people, he was preparing the way for Jesus to come and explain the law and the scriptures fully. John knew that this was his lot in life and the disciples knew that this was the same event that was prophesied so many years ago by the prophet Isaiah. They knew that big changes were in the making with the Messiah being the one to come forward and heal the sick and bring the scriptures to life.
But the verse I have highlighted was that all flesh should see the salvation of God; that being Christ Himself. This is the very same Messiah that John was preparing the way for, the same Saviour that came forward for us and gave His life for us. To be a part of those people who were able to see Jesus walking amongst them would have been quite extraordinary; but we have this all written down now so that we can know it happened and that we can have absolute faith that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and the Messiah prophesied through the scriptures that were written so many years before He came to be with us in fleshly form.
But John was not going to sit back quietly and allow people to do their own things and corrupt the scriptures; instead he upheld the truth that God originally laid down and wanted everyone to know that. He called the religious people a generation of vipers! He saw the corruption that was coming in when people wanted to rule with fear and authority taking the exact Word of God and corrupting it for their own measures, giving them cause to lift themselves up instead of God, making position of authority that others would mistake for the Word of God.
Each of us needs to come forward and present ourselves as willing servants before God, willing to lay aside our worldly ways and wants and take on His will in our lives. God wants us to be honest and bring forward what we know it right. He does not want us to corrupt the Word so that we can gain from it but to bring forward the Word in all its glory so that God will get all the glory. We need to admit that we have done things wrong, put aside our selfish ways, openly admit those facts to God and depend on God for strength to continue on in His will – that is what He wants and what He will support us through!
Points to Ponder:
Are you honest with God?
Do you really have to see Him to believe Him?
Sunday Reading: Luke 2 25-35
Key Verse: Luke 2 32
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Devotion:
We have many records of how people have showed Godly kindness to others, but this record goes a few steps past that in that Simeon was to look upon the Baby Jesus and to know that this child would grow up to be the most important human in the world. The joy that this moment brought to Simeon was eternal because he now knew that he would be going to heaven knowing he had met Jesus Christ!
Jesus was to show His love to the whole world and that seemed to start even before we are told of His loving ways and all that He would do whilst on earth. Simeon knew that the child he held in his arms at that moment would become the Saviour of the world to both Gentiles and to the people of Israel. There was nothing and nobody that would be left out of that free gift of salvation – it would be to all who would simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
What an amazingly simply look at the whole of the gospel message – believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved! Simeon believed and was bound for heaven knowing that it had been told to him beforehand. We, on the other hand, do not have angels visiting us and telling us that we are going to have a private visit with Christ that will change the world. We have God’s Word. We have the Gospel. We have all manner of proof; but we have to believe in the unseen God and in His unseen Son. That is faith!
Jesus came to seek and to save all the lost people because it is those lost people that need the help and need the message of salvation. It is the lost people who need Christ in their lives. It is the lost people who Jesus is seeking to save. It does not matter if you are a Jew, a gentile, a sinner, or even a religious nut; if we are willing to put aside our unbelief and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He came to save us from our sin, that He died on the cross, was buried and rose again to defeat the sin debt we owe… then we will be included in the number that can call Jesus Saviour and friend!
Points to Ponder:
What do you trust in life?
Will you believe on Jesus Christ?
Saturday Reading: Genesis 33 9-14
Key Verse: Genesis 33 13
13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.
Devotion:
I had never really thought too much about this passage thinking that Jacob was just being sensible and over cautious in his approach to coming home to Esau. But when you think about what Jacob was doing, it was not because of his fear for Esau at this stage. Esau had forgiven Jacob and welcomed him with open arms, Jacob had nothing to fear anymore. And yet Jacob still chose to come into the land slowly and cautiously.
His caution was no longer that of a frightened man but rather of a loving Father and Lord over what he still had as possessions. Jacob could have looked forward to the end of the journey and followed Esau quickly back to his home, but Jacob chose to look after what he had before enjoying the fruit of what he had just received. Esau probably wanted to have a big party and celebrate that they were together again, but Jacob’s heart was for the people and animals that he was in charge of.
Just like a conscientious shepherd would do, he did not want to overtax the young animals that he had in his care. Like a loving father he did not want to overtax the young children that he had in his care. All in all Jacob was showing his care for those around him over and above what he had to show for this friendship he had just rekindled. Jacob had many possessions and would not have had to worry about giving away a few things; the fact that he gave away so much this time round should not worry us because he was doing that to smooth the way forward. But after getting over that last hurdle, he still moved forward slowly to care for those around him.
God is like that with us. If we run off in the other direction, He is going to come after us to try and draw us back to Him. If we cannot cope with the pace of everything around us He will slow things down. But He is not going to slow things down just so that we can watch the flowers grow around us. Instead He is going to drive us as fast as we can cope with, and when we start to get disgruntled He may well give us more so that we can cope with the new pace rather than slowing down the rest of the world so we can catch up in our own minds. God knows how much we can take and He will try to get us to understand that limit as well.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find the world too much to cope with?
Are you listening to God to find out how to cope?