Tag Archives: Revealed

Sunday with John — Direct Access

Posted on October 9, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 16:25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”  29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?  32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
Jesus knows He’s been the physical connection to the Father’s love for these disciples for the time He’s been with them.  That purpose in His coming has impacted the words He’s chosen and the examples He’s shown them. He’s taught them how to build their own relationship with the Father. Now Jesus has a new urgency; He’s “leaving the world and going to the Father to make sure these friends know His purpose now is to confirm the reality of their direct access to the Father.  The Father’s love for them did not begin with His physical presence nor is it ending with Jesus’s withdrawal from them.  Jesus is “going” to fulfill His promise that direct access has always been the Father’s desire and despite the circumstances He will “overcome the world” and its tribulation to remind them He is the peace of their hearts.

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus has always had direct access to the Father.  The Father’s plan always included Jesus coming into the disciple’s world but now that plan is going to be fulfilled by Him withdrawing from it.  

What does it say about people?
These followers of Jesus aren’t just hearing the words He is telling them now.  They remembering the intimacy they have have shared together with Him and already experiencing the grief of that loss.

Is there truth here for me?
I wish John had spelled out the words of those “figures of speech” for His disciples.  They had Jesus Himself speaking to them and yet sometimes they only heard “figures of speech.”  The Bible has given us so many of Jesus’s words that we read and agree with but John has a caution he’s recorded for us: If the most intimate friends of Jesus could be guilty of reducing Jesus’s words to figures of speech how much greater is that a possibility for those of us who only see and hear Jesus through THE Word.  But John has also given us an example from “those” disciples to follow.  It’s an odd one to consider.  I can read what Jesus said… “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf…”  as a figure of speech and skip right over the truth.  BUT…when I follow the example of those first faithful friends and ask for Jesus to show me the “more” of the Word, my heart hears the truth of Jesus saying; [in that day when you ask in my name you will understand that what you ask prompts the Father’s desire to answer you because I have revealed to you the proof of your direct access to His heart]. ❤️

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Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Sunday

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Psalm 119:49-56 ז Zayin – Weapon

Posted on December 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

Today the section title of Psalm 119 is ז Zayin – Weapon.
49 Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
51 The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.
52 When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O Lord.
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law
54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O Lord, and keep your law.
56 This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts. ESV

>§§§>

It’s two days before Christmas and “ז Zayin – Weapon” definitely is NOT where my heart wants to be.  I want Bethlehem, a Holy baby and love, not weapons.  Mankind has provided plenty of weapons for both defense and offense and plenty of desire to use them.  Despite my reaction to it’s title, this section brims with testimony of God actively arming His people with a different kind of “weapons” to protect and defend their minds as well as their eyes and hearts long before the birth of Christ.  My challenge is to a) read and write the verse backwards as I have been doing and b) to look for evidence in them of God’s determined revelation of Himself that we celebrate this Advent, 2020.  

For my own clarification about laws and weapons:
A law is the system of rules enforced by the authority with the intention of regulating human behavior for the common good.
A statute is a legal document that declares a specific law, expressed in writing.
A precept is a rule dictating a way you should act or behave.

49 You have made me hope as you remind me of your Word.
God has reminded me through the birth of Christ of His own hope for His own creation through His own determination to place Himself in the midst of our world as a way to protect and defend our lives.

50 Your promise comforts my affliction and gives me life. 
Jesus is God’s promise of comfort revealed in human form as a newborn that Luke 2 reminds us “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” to redeem the sins of my afflictions with His love.

52 O Lord, I take comfort when I think of your rules from of old.
I don’t always feel comforted by rules but I do recognize they are a hedge of restraint around me until I come “to my senses.”   Jesus was the “Door” opened to new freedom to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

53 The wicked who forsake your law cause hot indignation to seize me.
The first Law of God to regulate human behavior is to love Him.  Hot indignation rarely affects the wicked but it’s certainly the fire that can destroy the ability to love. 

54  In this house where I sojourn your statues are my songs.
Our sojourn is the brief span of life we’re given by God for the express purpose learning the words and the music of God’s love song for us, Jesus the Christ.

55 I keep your law O Lord, and remember your name in the night.
I remember that little town of Bethlehem.  I remember the circumstances of life where your answer to regulating human behavior for the common good was revealed in Law of Love, Jesus, born in the likeness of man.

56 I have kept your precepts and this blessing has fallen on me.
I have pledged to let your Law of Love dictate my actions and behavior.  The blessing that has fallen on me this Advent, 2020 is that “God With Us,” is the Law of Love you’ve given to protect and defend my life here and now and forever.

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Posted in Advent, Old Testament, Psalms, Wednesday

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Mystery at Colossae

Posted on February 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

Colossians 1:25 …I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26  the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. [ESV]

Paul is quite clever in choosing the concept of “mystery” for his presentation of
the Gospel.  Our interest is piqued by the elements of a mystery; who, what, where,
when and why.  The Word has now been “revealed to his saints.“  That solution has made known “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is…”

Christ [the who] in you [the where], the hope of glory [the what]
now revealed [the when]
that we may present everyone mature in Christ [the why]

The puzzle pieces are all there in the Gospel. They’re the same for every believer. The blessing of the mystery is revealed in the process of assembling the pieces.  The shapes are similar because they’re designed to engage the heart, mind, soul and strength to discover the right piece that fits in the right place at the right time knowing the completed puzzle holds the reality of this promise…

Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory

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Posted in Colossians, New Testament, Wednesday

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The Red Thread

Posted on November 26, 2017 | Leave a comment

Mark 10
*36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he
*42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Here’s the cliff notes: The disciples have left their lives behind to follow Jesus. They believe he is Messiah. They’ve found security in Jesus. He’s been the assurance of their sacrifice but now the question about who can be saved, and how, has rattled them. They’ve spent this time with Jesus waiting for that revelation, learning and seeing firsthand the powers Jesus has…even over death.

Now Jesus is telling the disciples what the chief priests and teachers of the law have planned for him in Jerusalem. It’s not good but it’s also not as real to them as what they’ve been taught their whole lives that Messiah would be revealed as a conquering king. Jesus asks James and John – “What do you want me to do for you?” It’s clear from their reply they’re seeing “glory” in their future, rather than destruction. They don’t see how the final demonstration of Messiah’s power could happen any other way.

It reminded me how easy it is in life to assume we know how Jesus will reveal his power and miss the reality of seeing it happen in our lives.

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Posted in Mark, Sunday, The Red Thread

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