The Plan Revealed

Does anyone noticing the wonder of Christmas know where this sense of wonder comes from? Do we understand the power of the Holy Spirit who puts hearts at rest, fills us with generosity, gives us this unusual joy that begins a few weeks earlier than the day? Do we know why our hearts are more deeply grieved at the losses of loved ones now more than ever? What is it about Christmas that brings out emotions, makes us smile at excited children, or even produces a ‘bah, humbug’ in attempts to avoid the delight of it?

I know Christmas is challenging for some. Those with limited budget, or no faith, or another faith, or the loss of dear ones, yet there is this thing in the air. Some call it the spirit of the season, or related to the delights of giving and receiving, but could it be that this is the Spirit of God reminding us that love came down? That He did not want heaven without us? That we, sinful and proud of our own goodness really know nothing about goodness until that Baby was born?

The reality of Christmas is that God loves us, yet He cannot welcome us to Himself because of our sin. Sin separates. It separates relationships, married people, fathers from their children, but most seriously, us from our Creator. What is He to do about that? Christmas is the beginning of a plan created long before humanity appeared:

He (Jesus) was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you (1 Peter 1:20)

While the Jews who knew the promise did not expect a baby, nevertheless that was how the plan unfolded, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:4)

Redemption’s blueprint was drafted in love: “This is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) His plan to deal with sin removed the barrier for all who respond to this Babe who grew to manhood, and who calls as the Father sends: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” (John 6:37)

And for those who are called and who come, their lives are changed forever, and this is part of the wonder. The power of God, even is hinted to those at Christmas who know nothing or very little about the child born in a manger. For those who do, the Bible says:

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31)

And because of this, I see and feel the wonder this day, and most all other days...

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:33)

PRAY: Lord, for many this season is only about gifts and glitter, a mad rush to measure up to the expectations of others — real or imagined. It can bring headaches too, and sad memories, pressures and no joy at all. For those who hurt or even hate this time of year, I pray that they will discover the plan of God that started before the world began, and was made known beginning with a baby in a wooden straw-filled manger who eventually cried “It is finished” from a blood-stained wooden cross.

United by the Ark

By an unusual set of circumstances, I was introduced to a young Christian by email. He and his wife moved the same time as our daughter and her hubby to the same area. We decided to meet with this couple for a meal yesterday. It was as if we have known them forever. This is the grace of God. When He brings people into His family, we become just that — family.

This morning’s devotional gives a reminder of how that works. It is found in the story of Noah. This man’s life is summed up in the NT:

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

MacArthur goes on to explain that the ark is a picture of salvation by grace through faith. In the text describing its construction, an unusual word is used:

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (Genesis 6:14)

The Hebrew word for pitch is from the same root as the word for atonement or a covering, which is what Jesus does to our sin. However, this word is also translated as a protected village, which is what God does for His people. Pitch kept the waters of judgment from entering the ark, just as Christ’s atoning blood keeps judgment from the repentant sinner. Pitch, or the word for it, also surrounds and protects God’s family, speaking of our protection and hinting at our unity, just like the people in the ark were protected from judgment, together in that protected place, emphasis on together. Shared atonement gives a sense of oneness even among people of different cultures, backgrounds, education, and often varied views of many things. This “pitch” not only suggests the presence of oil in the middle east, but it speaks of the covering and uniting power of God’s grace!

Noah’s task was enormous. Some say this ark was bigger than a football field and more than four stories high. It had more than enough room for the animals and people in it. Engineers say its structure was incredibly stable . . .  just like the structure of salvation. This is why it illustrates what God has done in Christ.  

Even at that, only eight people entered it. There was room for more and God would have welcomed them because “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient . . .  not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) He also says: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37) but “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14)

The story says that Noah “was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. He walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9) That does not mean he was sinless and some of that showed up after the flood, but like every true believer, he was justified by God’s grace, his faith being counted as righteousness. That has always been the basis of salvation.

And (Abram) believed the Lord, and (God) counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (Romans 4:5)

And that faith produces a unity between people who are otherwise strangers, a blessed sense of being “in the same village” even with our many differences. Atonement, like the ark, is our covering and protection. Because of God’s grace we are saved and given the mind of Christ so when we get together we are aware of belonging together in His ‘walled city’ of unity and fellowship.

PRAY: Jesus, I see Your hand in all things, in our dinner last night with people we’d never met, in our mutual edification as brothers and sisters in You, in the saving grace and life of Noah and his family, in the power that still saves people though the atonement that is ours in You. What a lovely wonder You are, a gift from the Father that never stops giving.

PONDER: Romans 4:1–8 is the gospel but it also explains why the members of God’s family have a unity that goes beyond common interests and mutual agreement. According to this passage, what gives us the status of being covered and living together in a walled city?

 

 

The wonder of God’s grace

It seems safe to assume that most readers of a devotional book are already Christian or are very interested in becoming a child of God. The book I selected for this year focuses on how to become a Christian. If a reader has come this far in it and not done so, I’d be surprised.

The other surprise is that the author has said much about God’s part in salvation, almost to the point that if a reader was not yet saved, they might think they are not one of ‘God’s elect’ and therefore cannot be saved.

However, today the devotional writer surprises me. First he says this . . . “God has a people whom he will save. As surely as the Bible is true, God has a people whom he has chosen and who are redeemed by the blood of Christ. All of these must and will, in due time, be brought to Christ in true faith, by the sovereign will and power of God. God’s purpose will never be thwarted. His will cannot be overturned. His grace will not be frustrated.”

Then he adds this . . . “And it is equally true that whosoever comes to Christ by faith will have eternal life. The Son of God himself says that he will not refuse any sinner who comes to him in true faith! Jesus Christ is both able and willing to save to the uttermost all that come to the Father by him. If you go to hell, you will have no one to blame but yourself’ ‘You have been invited to Christ. God himself invites you. But you would not come! Nothing but your sinful will keeps you from him!”

He calls these “the twin truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility” and says both are true. A person cannot believe one without the other. I’ve been patiently hoping for this statement from this writer! It is based on the invitations in the Bible that call out to people, invitations like this made by Jesus:

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” (John 6:37)

The Lord’s words echo the words of the prophet Isaiah who uses poetic language to vivid describe the condition of those outside the kingdom of God and the loving care God has for those who accept His call to them:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant . . .  Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.’” (Isaiah 55:1–13)

We often drive from the city to the surrounding countryside, from the complexity to the simplicity, from the busyness to the relaxation of few responsibilities. These verses remind me of a spiritual transition, of the delight of ceasing from all effort to be a righteous person and entering in to the family of God. Here my Father bestows the righteousness of Christ and sets me free to be the person He intended, delighting in His care and enjoying the contentment of total forgiveness and the simplicity and freedom of faith in Christ.

^^^^^^^

Jesus, You said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30) Coming to You means leaving behind the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of the enemy’s lies, the lure of my own wants, and the cries of the crowds to conform. You called, and without Your call I would not know this life had been made available to me. I answered, and without answering, I would have missed the joy of knowing You and the wonder of being made alive in You. Even though my response is important, salvation is truly Your doing, and I’m still amazed that You called me to be part of it.