Tag: God’s plan

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Isaiah Devotionals

A Christmas song

Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you. I will praise your name,
for you have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. (Isaiah 25:1)

That song resonated with me this morning, especially as I think about Christmas.

According to his plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness, God sent his Son.

But Isaiah 24-25 seem focused not on Jesus’ first coming, but his second.

When Jesus comes again, he will make all things right, destroying all evil. And after he does so, he will conquer the final enemy: death.

Death which covers this world like a burial shroud will be taken away forever. God will remove the disgrace and shame of all our sin. And he will wipe every tear from our eyes. (Isaiah 25:7-8)

Paul and John also talk about this, so I really encourage you to read their words. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28, 51-57; Revelation 20:7-21:4)

Anyway, on that day, we will see Jesus and sing this Christmas song, a song we can sing now, but one which will have far greater meaning when he comes again.

Look, this is our God;
we have waited for him, and he has saved us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him.
Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:9)

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John Devotionals

Questioning Jesus’ love

Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. (John 11:5-6)

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?” (36-37)

One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! You’re not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”

He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God. (49-52)

Jesus loves us. But there are times he doesn’t act as we had hoped, and we struggle to understand why. During those times, it’s easy to start asking, “Does Jesus really love me?”

But the truth is, often times we know nothing at all. There are things that God knows that we are not considering.

That was most clearly seen at the cross. No one understood what God was doing. Not the priests. Not the Pharisees. Not Jesus’ disciples. Not Jesus’ mother. No one.

But the cross was the greatest expression of God’s love.

Are there questions you’re struggling with? “Why”s you can’t understand?

Let us be like Mary and Martha, who though hurting, didn’t stay away from Jesus, but ran to him. Who kept believing in him. Who kept obeying him.

And like them, the day will come when we will see the glory of God.

On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.

None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no human heart has conceived—
God has prepared these things for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:7-9)

Categories
Revelation

The one on whom all God’s plans rest

Revelation

I have to admit, until recently, I had never really thought about Revelation as being centered around the gospel.

But we saw very early on in chapter one, that Revelation starts with the gospel, and now here in this chapter we see that it is centered on the gospel. In the final chapters, we will then see the gospel consummated.

In chapter 4, we saw God the Father sitting on his throne receiving all the worship and adoration he deserves.

And now in chapter 5, John notices something new. There is a scroll in the Father’s right hand, with writing on both the front and back, and sealed with 7 seals.

It seems very reminiscent of a Roman will in which the outside writing summarizes the details within. And the only only way for the will to be executed is for someone to break the seals and to see what is in it.

In this scroll contains all God’s purposes for history. But the seals prevent them from being carried out. And so a mighty angel cries out,

Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? (Revelation 5:2)

The response? A deafening silence.

Think about this. The 24 elders sitting on their thrones were there. The 4 living creatures were there. Thousands upon thousands of angels were there.

There were wonderful Christians living on the earth. People like John.

There were wonderful Christians who had died and were now with God in heaven. People like Peter and Paul. And yet, not one was worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. (3)

And so John wept. All God’s plans were for naught. They would remain sealed in the scroll, forever dormant. (4)

But then one of the elders said,

Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. (5)

John looks up expecting to see Jesus. Or perhaps a great lion symbolizing Jesus. And he sees…a lamb. And not just a lamb, but a lamb looking as if it had been slain.

Indeed, John probably made the mistake that many Jews had made. When they thought of their triumphant Messiah, they thought of a conquering Lion.

And Jesus is a Lion. But he conquered by dying like a Lamb. He is the Lion and the Lamb.

He had 7 horns, symbolizing great power, and 7 eyes which symbolize not only his omniscience, but the Holy Spirit of God within him. The same power and Spirit that raised him from the dead in victory. (Ephesians 1:19-20, Romans 8:11)

Jesus took the scroll from the Father’s hand, and when he did, the four living creatures and the 12 elders took a break from their usual refrain (4:8, 11), and sang a new song.

You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. (9a)

Why?

…because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (9b-10)

In these words we see the fullness of the gospel, and God’s plans for eternity.

That through the blood of Jesus, we were redeemed from our sin and made his people, his kingdom, and his priests. And we will serve God forever, reigning in the new heavens and earth when he makes all things new.

And because of this, all creation in heaven and on earth cry out,

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise…

To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever…Amen. (12-14)

This is what Revelation is all about. It’s about the gospel, and the Lion and the Lamb who made it all possible.

And through this gospel, we can know that we have hope, for all God’s plans will come to fruition.

So let us sing with all God’s angels and all creation, “Worthy is the Lamb!”

Categories
Ephesians

Chosen and blessed in love, by God’s plan and for his glory

chosen and blessed

As I look at the first two chapters of Ephesians, I can’t help but marvel all over again at all that God has given you and me who have put our faith in Jesus.

Paul starts this letter to the Ephesians in worship, saying,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

How have we been blessed?

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. (Ephesians 1:4-8)

That’s a mouthful. Paul tells us that before this world was ever created God had a plan. He chose us to be a people that are holy and blameless in his sight.

This despite the fact that he knew we would be a sinful, rebellious people who would turn our backs on him.

But though he knew all this, he made a plan to save us and make us his own. He sent Jesus to die on the cross and take the punishment for our sins that we might be forgiven.

By his blood, he bought us out of slavery to sin and did not merely make us his own slaves, but adopted us as his beloved sons and daughters.

More, he has put his seal on us, guaranteeing our inheritance with him.

The Holy Spirit both protects us and holds us from anything that would tear us apart from God, and his presence and work in our lives is a foretaste of what we will have someday in heaven when we see God face to face.

All this was not because of anything we did, but rather it was entirely because of his own pleasure and will.

And when God chose us, this was by no means some random or capricious choosing of who to save and who not to save. Rather, Paul tells us that “in love” he chose us.

Though we were totally undeserving of it, he looked on us with love and lavished his grace upon us.

How and why he decided to choose us, we will never know. All we know is that for some reason, God chose to set his love upon us.

Because of this, the glory for our salvation does not at all go to us. Rather, Paul says three times that this is all for the praise of God’s glory (verses 6, 12, and 14).

In short, we are a part of God’s incredible plan, a plan to unite this rebellious, sinful, and dysfunctional world under Christ.

And while he could have done so by simply wiping us out as we deserved, he chose to set his love on us and make us a glorious part of his plan for this universe.

Honestly, I feel totally incompetent to express this all. All the superlatives in the world could adequately express how awesome God and his grace is.

So I think I’ll just stop here and take more time to wonder at it all.

Categories
Micah

God’s plans

God's plans

The thing that amazes me about God is that he’s never surprised; he’s never caught off guard by the things that happen in this world.

We, on the other hand, are often caught up short by our circumstances, and as a result we often panic.

Sometimes we see God in that way. We think that when God made Adam and Eve in the garden, he had no idea that they would fall, that he panicked, and that he suddenly had to come up with a backup plan.

Or we think that when he chose the Israelites to be his people, he was shocked that they would turn their backs on him so quickly, and that he had to readjust his plans as a result.

But God knew from the beginning the choices Adam and Eve would make. He knew what choices the Israelites would make out in the desert and after they reached the promised land. And based on this knowledge, he built his plan.

I think you can see that clearly in this passage. Here, God scathingly rebukes the Israelites for their sin, saying,

Have you no king? Has your counselor perished, that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor?

Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon… (Micah 4:9–10)

In other words, God was saying, “I should have been your king. I should have been your counselor. But you turned your back on me, and now the people you relied on are gone. All that’s left for you is exile and captivity.”

But God makes clear that even in this, he had a plan for the Israelites, adding,

There you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you out of the hands of your enemies. (Micah 4:10)

There’s no sense of panic here or of changed plans.

Rather, God knew what the Israelites would do, and how he would respond. That he would punish his people for their disobedience, but that in his grace and mercy he would bring them back.

Am I saying that our choices don’t matter then? That God’s plan will be accomplished no matter what, so it doesn’t matter what we do?

No. It makes a big difference for us personally.

For when we cooperate with God in his plan, we find his blessing in our lives. But when we fight against his plan, we end up finding only pain and suffering.

The Israelites found that out when they went into exile. And the nations that conquered Israel discovered that soon enough as well. God said of them,

But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!”

But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan. (Micah 4:11–12)

The nations around didn’t know God’s plan. As a result, they ended up fighting against God’s will and were eventually broken, just as Israel was.

But unlike the remnant of Israelites that repented and were saved, there was no salvation for these nations. They were utterly destroyed.

How about you? Are you seeking God’s will in your life? Are you cooperating with his plan?

When we do so, that’s when we truly find life. When we don’t, we will end up defeated and broken, just like Pharaoh, Babylon, and all the other people and nations that fought against God.

So as Moses once told the Israelites,

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.

For the Lord is your life. (Deuteronomy 30:19–20)