Righteous

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 John 2:1

Absolute zero in minus 459.67 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale - that sounds pretty precise, but no one has ever been able to ever get something that cold, because it is the total absence of all heat. It would make atoms completely stop moving. 

To be totally free from sin is to be righteous. Living in a sinful world with all the lusts and evil thoughts that abound here, righteousness is a concept that is  approached rather than obtained. The Christian life is the process of working with God to crucify the sinful human nature by working with God to live righteously (Galatians 5:24-25). This may be an impossible-to-reach goal this side of heaven, but each believer is encouraged to get as close to it as he can.

Christ is the only one who is truly Righteous. He never had a bad attitude, flew off the handle, made poor choices, nor snapped under pressure. Everything He thought, felt, or did was totally right. As God, He could not do wrong, but even in His human capacity, He chose to be sinless.

Believers become more and more righteous as they progressively conform to the image of God's Son (Romans 8:29). It's not easy to keep one's thoughts on everything that is true, noble, just, pure, and lovely (Philippians 4:8), but Jesus certainly did. When Christians have the mind of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:16), they are able to do that also. They begin to be righteous even as He is Righteous. 

Blessing

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3

           "Blessing" has been defined as God’s favor and protection, but it’s more than that, even though it’s really hard to understand in this sin-cursed world. Sometimes, when I don’t understand something well, I look at its opposite and if I can comprehend that better, I just turn it around.

          A curse is the opposite of a blessing and after the fall, all of creation was cursed. Cancer, sickness, aging, and violence didn’t exist in paradise. Plants and animals were re-created to show the effects of the curse and since then, it’s been hard to focus on blessing.

          The jungle is a beautiful place with hundreds of species of orchids and a menagerie of colorful birds, but it’s exactly where I’d go to demonstrate the effects of the curse. There, most plants are poisonous, parasites are numbered in the thousands and all the bugs are big, and bite.

          In my opinion, the Bullet Ant is the personification of the curse. These terrible predatory creatures are just under an inch long and inflict a sting that is comparable to being shot with a bullet. On the 4 point Schmidt sting pain index, they are rated 4+. Someone on the internet described it as, “Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3 inch nail in your heal.” This description is a little melodramatic, but they nailed what it feels like.

          These ants are common in the jungle and wander alone so they are really hard to spot. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I really dislike these critters. One crawled up my pants leg and bit me three times before I could kill it. I hurt so bad that I couldn’t walk and had to crawl back to my house just using my hands.

          The extreme opposite of that is blessing. It is something planned for and perfected by God for the creation He formed in His own image. This is a far cry from having good luck or good fortune; it is everything good that God has given to a repentant sinner. The bottom line is this: Jesus Christ did not come into the world to bring us blessing …He is Blessing.

Branch of Righteousness

"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, " That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.”
Jeremiah 23:5

Branches are supposed to produce fruit, but crab apples are a big disappointment for someone longing for a Red Delicious. However, horticulture has solved this problem with various grafting techniques. Hearty crab apple root stock is used to support various branches from commercial apple varieties that by themselves don't flourish well in certain environments. The top and bottom of the tree have different DNA, but the quality of fruit is what people care about. 

David was a man after God's own heart who did His will (1 Samuel 13:14), so God promised that the Messiah would come through him. Yet, most of the descendants that came from the "root of David" missed the mark concerning holiness. Even David who wrote beautiful psalms of praise to God, tuned out to be a murderer, deceiver, and adulterer.

The anointed of the Lord not only had to be a descendant of David but a Branch of Righteousness that would bring back holiness to the Davidic dynasty. Since Mary, the mother of Christ, was of David's bloodline, connection with the root was established. Being conceived of the Holy Spirit without a human father, the Righteous branch was grafted into the character of the Savior. All the promises given to both the Jewish people and to the Christian church have certainly been fulfilled.  The Lord Jesus is not only David's kin, He is God's Branch of Righteousness.

Physician

When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Mark 2:17*

Cancer, heart disease, and aging are as much a part of the human condition as are sin, suffering, and self-destruction. That certainly wasn't the case for God's original plan for creation, but sin and sickness escalated through the years causing the misery index to soar. Life expectancy dropped from over 900 years before the flood to somewhere between 30-40 years during the first century. It is no wonder that when the Sun of Righteousness finally arose over planet Earth that He had "healing in His wings" (Malachi 4:2). The Lord Jesus was moved with compassion and healed multitudes.

Christ was able to do things that modern medicine can't come close to achieving. Lepers were instantly healed with a touch and high fever disappeared at His command. Muscles that had wasted away through atrophy in the body of paralytics were immediately restored. Even the dead came back to life. Such healings were proof that Christ was the Son of God and had power over the consequences of sin.

Although not officially in scripture, for centuries His people have referred to Him as the "Great Physician." The Lord still heals through answered prayer and it's always exciting to see the modern medical profession hard pressed to give an answer for an unexplained recovery of a terminal patient.

However, this sin cursed world continues to be in rebellion against its Creator and previously unknown diseases seem to appear every year. Sickness and death are the direct result of the human sin nature and the main objective of Christ is and has always been to bring sinners to repentance. His death on the cross enables each believer to have eternal life and dwell forever with Him free from disease and disability. He is both the Christian's Savior and Physician.

*also see Matthew 9:12; Luke 4:23, 5:31-32

Higher than the Heavens

For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;
Hebrews 7:26

Astronomy as a science has greatly developed since the time the New Testament was written. Back then, nothing was known about galaxies quasars, and black holes, so everything as based on what could be seen with the unaided eye.

First century conventional wisdom divided all that is celestial into three levels. The first heaven included everything within the earth's atmosphere. Clouds, mountain tops, and the realm of birds all fell within this level.

Beyond that was the second heaven and included sun, moon, and stars. Technically, it would have been the visible stars of the night sky, but the category would also include everything else that could be seen with a telescope.

Above the known universe, one could encounter the third heaven which is the throne of God (2 Corinthians 12:2). Both the Apostles John and Paul were elevated to that level, either in a vision or tele-portation (they weren't really sure how they got there). In any case, they were overwhelmed by the reality of its existence.

The Lord Jesus Christ is Higher than the Heavens. The position of Christ is exalted, elevated, and superior to everything else in both the known and unknown universes, in outer space and even the throne of God.

It's hard, if not impossible to go past the limits of human knowledge and imagination, yet that's where believers are called to spend eternity. They and we will enter the third heaven and gaze upward at the Savior who is Higher than the Heavens.

Living Stone

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.
1 Peter 2:4

How do you tell the difference between a living stone and a non-living stone? Ask it a question and if it doesn’t respond, assume it is dead.

Earth is a living sphere with organisms abounding on every square inch of the planet’s surface. Hundreds of millions of bacteria can live in a drop of water and scores of dust mites can fit on the head of a pin. Yet, if you add the weight of every whale, elephant, and insect and all of the other living things in the world, it would still be less than 1/1000th of 1% of earth’s total mass.

Most everything around us is inert matter. Rock, sand, water, air, minerals, and magma are most of what this place is made of, and none of it is alive. Heaven is a different story. I imagine life to be everywhere, even in things that are quite dead down here. The old laws of physics and biology won’t apply in the New Jerusalem. After all, the Bible talks about living stones and living water.

Probably 99.999% of all preachers will tell you that the verse above is to be interpreted figuratively, meaning it’s an illustration to help us understand spiritual truth. Old Testament worship centered around the temple in Jerusalem that was built with massive, beautiful, quarried stones. Under the new covenant, the church is not a building or even an organization, but an organism. It’s believers are edified together as living stones on the foundation of Christ who is the principle Living Stone. The idea is to compare and contrast how things were before Christ died on the cross and the change that happened afterwards. It’s really not supposed to be taken literally.

However, if you want to have a little fun with it, think outside the box. John the Baptist preached that “God is able to rise up children of Abraham from [...] stones” (Matthew 3:9). If we’re supposed to take this power of God as literal, why can’t I, with my wild imagination, see Jesus in heaven somehow manifesting Himself as a real honest to goodness: Living Stone, with the beauty of a ruby, the luster of a diamond and the intricacies of marble. Wow!! that's no ordinary stone!

Refiner

"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.”
Malachi 3:2-3

Before the industrial revolution and mass production, everything was done in small home workshops. Every town would have had a blacksmith and all would have seen the refiner at work and would have understood the process.

Small furnaces would be dug into the earth and lined with bricks. Coal or very hard wood would fill the chamber along with silver ore. Air would constantly be pumped in at the base with to make the fire intense. In the fervent heat, impurities would be burnt off and the liquid metal would pool at the bottom of the furnace. A brick would be removed and the molten silver would pour out usually into molds. Ash floated as a powder over the glowing metal and tin or copper would separate from the precious elements.

Most people don't realize how intensive the work of the refiner was. Besides working the bellows almost non-stop, fuel would have to be added frequently to maintain the extreme temperature. Although the workshop would be hot, the refiner had to wear the ancient equivalent of long sleeves. The refining process throws off UV-radiant energy many times that of the sun. The whole process had to be repeated several times in order to get pure silver or gold.

The refining process is an illustration of God's discipline in the life of a believer. “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?” (Hebrews 12:7).

Too often we focus on what we have to suffer in order to be purified for Christ. The emphasis should be the effort, energy, and endurance the master puts into us to carry out His role of Refiner. 

Grain of Wheat

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
John 12:24

Now, is this a title, or is it a parable? It’s both. In context, this verse comes right after the triumphal entry and the Lord just told His disciples that the hour had come for Him to be glorified. He already told His disciples that He was coming to Jerusalem to die and they didn’t get it. He now tries to get through to them by saying that He is going to be like a grain of wheat.

Once a farmer sows his seed, there is no way to get it back. Wheat is just a fancy grass and there’s a lot that can go wrong. If there’s too much or too little rain, it’s too hot or too cold, or there are too many bugs, it just won't produce. That’s not even figuring in dust storms, hail, wheat rust, mildew, and rot. Hungry farmers throughout the centuries have learned not to plow the last of their grain into the ground. If they do, there’s no guarantee that they’ll have anything to eat later.

Most farmers I know are religious (I’m talking family farmers, not big corporations). They have to believe that there is a power greater than themselves that makes things to grow and they trust Him to do His job if they do theirs. It takes a lot of faith to take tomorrow's meal, bury it in the dirt, and pour water on it.

Christ somehow had to convince His disciples that the capital punishment He was about to receive was not just a senseless act of injustice. He was going to be glorified by it and they were the ones that were going to benefit.

The disciples knew that it was dangerous to go to Jerusalem, but He went anyway. He had to go; He had to die. If He didn’t go, there never would have been eternal life; He could never provide for their spiritual sustenance. He first had to become a Grain of Wheat. 

Head of the Body

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 1:18

Heads are basic equipment on animal bodies. Fleas, microscopic dust mites, and even earth worms all have heads, although they may be hard to see. The head is the controlling force in all of God’s creatures great and small. The head is connected to the various systems by way of nerves, so it can regulate the heart, lungs, and muscles. Millions of bits of information are sent back and forth from the head every second to different parts of the body.

The Lord Jesus is Head of the body, the church. That certainly means that He is in charge and over the church, but the title is used to show that the church is more like an organism (a living thing) than an organization.

The human perspective views the church more in terms of the structure and hierarchy of an institution. This concept was vividly illustrated for me in a mural painted on the back wall of the Catholic cathedral in the town of Banos in Ecuador, South America.

          At the bottom of the fresco a poor peasant farmer is seen holding a rosary and kneeling before a priest. Behind him are much bigger beads of a huge rosary that forms a circle around the enormous painting. The background rosary connects the viewer’s eyes from the priest to a bishop and from a bishop to a cardinal and then the pope. As the rosary beads continue around they connect to the saints and then to the Virgin Mary and then finally to Jesus. Viewing this made me so sad, because the lesson that was being taught was that there is a lot of bureaucracy needed to get to the Lord. But the worst part was that, in portraying Christ at the end of the line, He looked more like the tail than the head.

Our Savior is the Head of the Body so is connected directly to each part. In my human body, if my little finger is cut, a message is sent directly to the brain. It doesn’t go to the hand, then the wrist, then the arm, then to the shoulder. The head is aware of what’s happening all over the body and coordinates the parts to work together.

Light that Shines in a Dark Place

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
2 Peter 1:19

The rainforest is big on bugs. Actually it’s big on big bugs. I have an insect collection from the jungle of Ecuador and several of the specimens are over three inches long, however, the granddaddy of them all is the South American Cave spider that measures 16 inches from the end of its feelers to its back legs.

The critter is terrible to behold and looks more like a space alien than something you’d find on Planet Earth. The spider itself with its long legs is about six inches long but has long antennae that help it to find its prey in total darkness. This specialized arachnid is totally blind, but then, it eats albino crickets that are also sightless. When an insect trips one of the feelers, the spider springs on it and catches it in big bear-trap-like claws that contain long, sharp spines.

Normal people never see this species of spider, because they are found far from civilization and are veiled in thick darkness. They won’t come to you, so you need to go down into a cave to find them and bring with you a light that shines in a dark place. Most of these cave dwellers go through their whole lives without even encountering light, because they are creatures of complete darkness.

The Savior came to a world that was enveloped in spiritual blackness. When the baby Jesus was born, the glory of the Lord turned the darkness of midnight into the brightness of noonday. The ministry of the Lord healed those who were physically blind and enlightened those who spiritually were unable to see. Christ was the Light that Shines in a Dark Place and many demanded He die, because they did not want His light to reveal the blackness of their souls. “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

Root of Jesse

And again, Isaiah says: " There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope."
Romans 15:12

When pioneers came to Kansas before the Civil War, they found a treeless prairie with a rugged climate. Summer days often got 110 degrees in the shade, making the ground as hard as rock and with only 20 inches of rain each year, grass was the only thing that grew there.

Today, people have transformed portions of the state into lush gardens and orchards, but to do this, ground water had to be pumped up for vegetation and the soil enriched. Even so, the land has never forgotten its roots. What it once was will return to being grasslands again, if the gardeners ever stop their hard work.

Buffalo grass keeps creeping into cultivated areas and pushes out the flowers and vegetables. The prairie grass sends out runners in all directions and then puts in a 10 inch woody root that goes straight down. It’s not enough to pull out the grass from the garden, the root needs to come out also. If some of that root breaks off below the surface, native grass will come up again just a little later.

Isaiah 11:10 prophesies that the Messiah would come from the Root of Jesse and that the Gentiles would seek Him. According to scripture, the Messiah was David’s son, but Jesse was David’s father, making the LORD’s anointed from Jesse’s root.

Not much is said about Jesse, but it is known that he had eight sons and Samuel the prophet thought that each of them had king-like characteristics. Jesse must have been a good parent and role model, because he taught his boys the fear of the LORD.

It’s not directly mentioned in scripture, but there must have been something in Jesse’s life that reflected a desire to have the one true God known by even the pagans. Apart from the genealogies of Jesus, the only mention of him in the New Testament is in the title of Christ, Root of Jesse, who would reign over the Gentiles. Jesse raised up good sons for the glory of God and out of that hearty root even descended the LORD of glory.

Firstborn over all Creation

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Colossians 1:15

Long, long ago… there wasn’t even a galaxy far, far away. There was nothing as we know it now, not a planet, not a star, not a constellation. But there was God and He had His own separate dimension filled with Living Creatures, Cherubim, Seraphim, and a whole host of angels. There was a celestial city where the throne of God was placed, but nothing more than that has been revealed.

At the starting point of time, God invented visible light and probably the whole electromagnetic spectrum with radio waves, X-waves, and gamma radiation. Our universe then officially started. The Creator went on to make solids, liquids, and gases and formed them in a myriad of different ways, making Stars, galaxies, and nebuli. He must have had fun making whole new worlds, because He made so many.

The Almighty is not matter or energy, but He played with them. Often when He approached His creation on earth He would dress Himself in light and people would refer to that as the Glory of the LORD. After designing and constructing the male human prototype and his female companion model, God put on physical form, so He could walk and talk with mankind.

God was never created and Jesus was over all Creation long before He was born in Bethlehem. The title Firstborn refers to chronological order. By Christ “all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17). In short, the Son of God is the Firstborn of all Creation.

False witnesses try to confuse Christians by saying that this title means that Jesus was the first creature God created. Nothing can be further from the truth, because the Lord Jesus is God. His deity is obvious when the whole section is read in context (Colossians 1:9-18) and the conclusion is “that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

Before all Things

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Colossians 1:15,17

Big things, little things, fat things, skinny things, things that wiggle and squirm; the Lord Jesus made them all. Whether by chronological order or by importance, Christ is before them all.

How did God work up to creating a universe from nothing? Did He start with an atom or a star? Since neither existed before creation, the LORD might have started with the idea and then applied the physics. But gravity and laws of physics didn’t exist either, so maybe He invented those first. Did He make a rough draft of the solar systems or did he experiment with gravity to get the mass to distance ratio just right?

One thing for sure, He had plenty of time to work get it right. Eternity before creation is just as long as “forevermore” will be after the earth melts with a fervent heat.

Before the universe began, God created the angels and heavenly host, as well as establishing His eternal throne. Lucifer and a band of renegade angels rebelled against the Almighty and they were cast out of heaven. Oh yes, there’s at least one other thing that happened before all things, my name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Ephesians 1:4). Thank you, Jesus.

As firstborn over all creation, Christ was there before all things were made (Colossians 1:15). “All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). He assembled the atoms, and in Him “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17 NIV).

As the blessed and only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus outranks everyone. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a president or pope, seraph or cherub, powers or archangels, God the Son is before all things. It doesn’t matter what that something is. It can be life or death, angels or principalities or powers, things present or things to come, height or depth or any created thing (Romans 8:38-39): The Lord is Before All Things. 

Stone which the Builders Rejected

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Psalm 118:22*

Builders are professionals who make their living putting houses and other structures together, so they are confident in their abilities and know-how. Once a contractor has built over one hundred homes, an architect’s blueprint can tend to be treated more like a guideline rather than a rigid plan of action. Some new innovation or out of the ordinary design might be overlooked or even rejected outright.

When Christ began His public ministry, the religious establishment of His day was well entrenched. They built the spiritual temple of God in the minds and lives of the Jewish people by using their own tradition and interpretations for mortar. The Lord Jesus challenged the status quo, and those in charge felt threatened. The rabbi from Nazareth was first ignored and then criticized; they debated and than threatened Him. When that didn’t make Him go away, they conspired to murder Him by falsely accusing Him of a capital crime. However, even after His death, He didn’t go away. Christ rose from the grave and became the Stone which the Builders Rejected.

This was certainly part of God’s plan all along to build a new spiritual temple made up of both Jews and Gentiles that are bonded together with the cement of grace and truth. Those religious master builders rejected and cast aside the most important piece of God’s design for the salvation of Adam’s race.

Among my collection of science toys is a set of 25 hardwood blocks that demonstrate the principle of the Roman arch. When properly assembled, it makes a bridge that can hold the weight of a 200 lb. man. There are six different shapes in the model, but only one stands out as unique from the rest: the keystone, which is shaped like a “home plate” in baseball. When the piece is put in its proper place, it becomes an architectural marvel. When taken away, everything falls apart, because it becomes the Stone which the Builders Rejected.

*see also Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7

Morning Star

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
2 Peter 1:19

The lights of the big cities make even basic astronomy difficult to observe. For that reason, modern man knows less about the night sky than the average person did a century ago. One thing, however, is still readily visible even for the least experienced observer – the morning star.

Although three celestial bodies will share the title at different times during the year, a morning star is the last star to be still seen shining as the sun begins to rise. The brightest star in the heavens is Sirius, found in the constellation Canis Major, but in July and August it’s hailed as the morning star. The planets Venus and Mercury also compete for the title at other times during the year.

The Lord Jesus shines in the hearts of believers and that light has gone into very dark places. Its brilliance can be seen through depression and despair. Even during divorce or the loss of a loved one, the Savior can be seen. When other points of reference seem to disappear, our Morning Star still shines in His full glory.

Who is this, who comes to meet me,

                   On the desert way,

As the Morning Star foretelling

God’s unclouded day?

He it is who came to win me,

                   On the cross of shame;

In His glory well I know Him,

                   Evermore the same.

Gerhard Tersteegen 1697

*see also Revelation 2:28 and 22:16

Sun of Righteousness

But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.
Malachi 4:2

Here is an astronomical title on the order of morning star and dayspring. It makes us look to the heavens to see things we’ve seen many times before and then relate that to the character of Christ.

The sun not only radiates light and warmth, but is the source of life for everything on the green planet. Without the sun, plants would be unable to carry on photosynthesis which produces food for all living things, and without global warming, all water would be ice and nothing could survive. Sunshine is so intense that it will sunburn the retinas of anyone who looks directly at it. Light also reveals the colors and patterns of everything in God’s creation.

Jesus Christ is hailed as the Sun of Righteousness. Just as Earth’s star is the source of all light, the Lord is the source of righteousness to a world of sinful men. The Bible declares, “As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Even the little goodness we have on our own is gross in the eyes of God: “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

In the Old Testament, God told the city of Jerusalem, “For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns” (Isaiah 62:1). In the New Testament we see the source of that righteousness; “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God --- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Natural sunlight has great therapeutic value. Depression, scabies, and even rickets greatly improve by going outside into bright light. Jesus rises as the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings for a sin-sick world, because He is able to disinfect our human nature by irradiating it with His sinless perfection. That indeed is a glorious Son Rise. 

Most Holy

… To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.

Daniel 9:24

Sometimes in the Old Testament it is difficult to determine if a title of God is referring to God the Father or if it is actually a prophesy of the Christ who was to come. This time it’s not hard at all, because it is a part of Daniel’s seventy-weeks prophesy. This section is actually the only place in the Old Testament where the title “Messiah” is given (David 9:25,26 KJV and NKJV) and in the verse above the One who is called the Most Holy is anointed.

Conditions in an operating room must be 100% sterile. To arrive at that condition, antiseptics or antimicrobial devices are used to kill bacteria on surfaces and in the air. These things are not only 100% sterile, they also make everything around them free from germs.

Anything that is holy is 100% free from sin. Since the term Most Holy is superlative, it must be more than 100% sinless and it is able to sanctify whatever it touches. In the Old Testament, the phrase refers to things that were used to atone for sin. The inner part of the Sanctuary (1 Kings 6:16) and the bronze altar and its utensils were considered most holy (Exodus 40:10). The priests who interceded for sinners were set apart for service to God and the sin offering and other offerings made by fire were most holy before God (Leviticus 6:17).

All of these Old Testament images are nothing more than types and shadows of God’s anointed, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He is the Most Holy of all the most holy things that were ever used for atonement. With His one and only sacrifice on the cross, He was able to make an end of sins, make reconciliation of all mankind, and bring everlasting righteousness to the earth.

Living Bread

I am the living bread which came down from heaven…
John 6:51

Bread really isn’t alive. It dries out or gets moldy if you don’t take care of it; it’s a lot of work to make and you need an oven to bake it. Wouldn’t it be great if bread could just grow on trees?

Actually, breadfruit does exist and on paper is the perfect food. Its slightly yeasty odor and texture remind people of bread and it is actually very nutritious. It’s a good source of energy and high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. One tree can produce over 400 pounds of fruit a year, so it seems ideal. There is one problem, however; it’s almost tasteless. The food has never really caught on, so it fails as living bread.

After the Lord Jesus fed 5,000 people, they hung around until the next day wanting Him to provide breakfast and lunch. He left that place, so they searched for Him, but when they finally found Him, the eatery was closed. He wasn’t there to make bread; He came to the world to be bread, Living bread.

The bread He offered wasn’t the kind that filled men’s bellies; He came to feed their souls. Here again, there’s a problem with market appeal. People would rather feed their faces than satisfy a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The fast-food and grocery industries have built  multi-billion dollar businesses counting on people to make poor nutrition decisions. Food high in fats, sugars, and chemicals will kill you, but that doesn’t matter as long as it tastes good.

People walked away from Jesus on the day He offered them living bread. They wanted the kind of bread that can dry out or get moldy, the kind of loaves that get eaten up today and need to be purchased again tomorrow.

Living bread satisfies the emptiness within a sin-sick soul. It costs no money, produces sustenance within the person, and keeps on satisfying. That’s a much better deal.

  

Shadow of the Almighty

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1

 The element Mercury is the only metal that is actually a liquid at room temperature. Just like other liquids it can evaporate even though the vapor is much heavier than air. Gaseous mercury is invisible, but it can be seen under the right conditions. To view mercury vapor, an open container of the metal is placed on a table. The lights in the room are turned off and a single goose necked lamp is pointed towards the wall. Since mercury as a vapor won’t let light pass through, its shadow can be seen slightly rising and then falling to the floor.

 God not only is invisible, He is spirit, so He is not bound by the laws of chemistry and physics as they are known today. Shadows of the Almighty are sometimes seen in nature. The intricate workings of a living cell demonstrate the complexities of the Creator and an F-5 tornado shows something of the power of the Omnipotent.

 We can see the Lord Jesus with the eyes of faith and although that image isn’t crystal clear, it is a well-defined Shadow of the Almighty. Aspects of the character of God that were unfocused in the Old Testament became well defined in Christ. The grace and salvation of God are brought to whole new levels when viewing the death of the Savior as the Passover Lamb. The teachings of the Master outline to us the mind of God and His way of life shows us the form of the father’s will.

                      O spotless Lamb of God, in Thee

                      The Father’s holiness we see;

                      And with delight Thy children trace,

                      In Thee, His wondrous love and grace.

                                                  Mary J. Walker (1878)

Only Wise God

To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.

Romans 16:27 (NASB)

In Isaiah 44:6 the LORD, the King of Israel declares, “I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.” Two verses later He adds, “You are My witnesses” meaning that if people would only open their eyes, this truth would be self-evident.

The prophet then focuses on the foolishness of man-made gods “Those who make an image, all of them are useless, And their precious things shall not profit; They are their own witnesses” (Isaiah 44:9). People try to put themselves or the things they love in place of the True God. They woefully fail. If they were being honest with themselves, they would see that too.

But the general population is too proud and self-absorbed to admit that they have created for themselves a pantheon of false gods and they deny the one and only wise God.

 One of these fabricated deities is “Mother Nature.” A number of years ago I visited a science museum that had an exhibit titled “Mother Nature is the Greatest Engineer.” It showed the "intricate and remarkable designs of Mother Nature" and man’s attempts to copy “her” breakthroughs in engineering. They said “she” perfected her blueprints over 4.5 Billion years and now scientists can learn from “her achievements.”

There is even a new branch of science called Biomimicry in which researchers do reverse engineering to see what makes plants and animals able to do the marvelous things they do. Since God never patented his creation, people feel free to steal His design and then credit Mother Nature or the blind forces of evolution for the wonders of the living world.

It makes no sense that random mixing of chemicals could produce any life, but it does prove what God said: “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man --- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:22-23).

Jesus Christ is our Great Creator (Colossians 1:16-17) and the Only Wise God.