God’s forgiveness actually changes the past—from shameful tragedies into glorious triumphs of grace. “Hallelujah!” So begins the last of the 17 psalms in Book IV of the Psalter. It may surprise you, since Psalm 106 features Israel’s failures, that the psalm also ends with “Hallelujah!” (v 48). How is this possible? As Paul writes, “where sin abounded, grace abounded […]
WHAT the SON was “MADE” (ginomai) or BECAME in His RESURRECTION and EXALTATION (Part 3): “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). “Being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Heb 1:4). As well, “By so […]
“I have done justice and righteousness; do not leave me to my oppressors. Be surety for Your servant for good; do not let the proud oppress me” (Ps 119:121-122). David is unabashed in laying out his concerns to the Lord. (Would I like my prayers published in the world’s all-time best seller?) David is under […]
H.A. Ironside tells of open-air meetings in Albuquerque, NM. A gambler who had moved there for his tuberculosis had been convicted of sin, but was unsure there was mercy for him. When Ironside visited him, “he said, ‘I’m praying; I’ve made up my mind that if I have to go to hell, I’ll go praying.’” […]
“I know of nothing which so stimulates my faith…as to look back and reflect on His faithfulness.” —Phillip Keller It’s a remarkable fact—in the light of Psalm 104, the creation psalm—that God takes just a few chapters to tell the story about fashioning the whole universe, but then uses the rest of the Old Testament […]
WHAT the SON was “MADE” (ginomai) or BECAME through His CRUCIFIXION (Part 2): “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death” (Heb 2:9). Not only so, but “being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became (ginomai) obedient unto death, even the death […]
“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Ps 27:14). When circumstances seem against you, and everything within you shouts, “Do something!” that’s the time to wait on the Lord. The following is recounted in Our Daily Bread: A woman went to Andrew […]
“You have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus” (Eph 4:21). “We should always remember that God is, so to speak, his own evidence. That is to say, since he is the Creator, he is the ultimate source of everything. There is no being in the universe who […]
WHAT the SON was “MADE” (ginomai) or BECAME in His INCARNATION (Part 1): In the next three devotionals, it should be noted that when Scripture says the Lord was “made” something, it was never against His will—in fact, always with His cooperation. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld […]