We Wish to See Jesus

Next week, I am starting my last Bible study at Center Presbyterian Church.  It has been a joy and incredible privilege for me to lead the adult Bible study there for the past year and a half.  We have done studies on Philippians, Hebrews, and Colossians, and this spring we will be looking at the "I am" statements of Jesus in the book of John.  I am really, really excited about this semester, because I see this study as the culmination of everything I have been teaching the last year and a half.  Below is my introduction to our study in John:

"Life in a fallen world is a tightrope dichotomy between searing pain and seductive pleasure.  In a world full of sudden tragedy, seemingly random violence, natural disasters, cancer, illness, heartache, and tearful goodbyes, where is a rock of refuge to which we can go?  And conversely, in a materialistic culture littered with the spiritual landmines of blinding prosperity, numbing comfort, earthly treasures, and broken cisterns, where is a transcendent and satisfying reality to which we can commit ourselves?

What we are looking for is Ultimate Reality, a person and a truth and a life that transcends the problem of pain and pleasure, eclipsing both in all-consuming glory.  The Ultimate Reality that we are looking for is the person of Jesus Christ.  Colossians tells us that He is "the image of the invisible God," that "all things were created through Him and for Him," and that "in all things He has the supremacy."  Hebrews speaks of this supreme Christ when we hear that "He is the radiance of the glory of God and exact imprint of His nature, upholding the universe by the word of His power."  Philippians tells us the implications of Christ's all-satisfying supremacy: "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ."  Here, then, is the end of all things: suffering and satisfaction, gain and loss, united in the glorious Son.  To know Him will cost everything, yet knowing Him is infinite gain.

How then can we know this Glorious One?  How can we "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge?" (Ephesians 3:19)  Hosea invites us into this eternal pursuit, saying, "Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord."  We want to say with the Greeks in John 12, "We wish to see Jesus!"  But how?"

The first lesson is all about my answer to that last question: God has given us His Word so that we can see Jesus in it and be supremely satisfied in seeing Him forever.

Jacob

Today I finished reading Genesis for my Through-the-Bible reading plan, and I was looking back over what I read.  Of all the characters and stories in Genesis, I think my new favorite has become the life of Jacob.  From Genesis 25 to 49, we see Jacob transformed from a selfish, conniving person into a humble, worshipful, wise man by his many encounters with God and grief.

Jacob starts out selfish and conniving, taking his brother Esau's birthright in chapter 25, and then tricking his father and stealing Esau's blessing in chapter 27.  But chapter 28 begins a dramatic change in Jacob's life-- a series of encounters with God that leave him changed forever.  In 28:12, he sees the vision of "the angels of God ascending and descending" into heaven, and marvels, "How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God!"  Then in 32:24, he wrestles with God Himself, and insists, "I will not go unless you bless me."  God is pleased, and blesses Jacob, naming him Israel.  And then in 35:7, God reveals Himself to Jacob at Bethel, reaffirming all His promises to him.

The last case is the most interesting and encouraging, because it comes right before Jacob is about to enter the hardest period of his life.  Immediately following his encounter with God at Bethel, Jacob is struck by three close deaths in quick succession-- his mother's nurse, his beloved wife Rachel, and his father Isaac.  It is soon after this that Joseph is sold into slavery, completing Jacob's anguish.  How kind of God to appear to Jacob before he knew he needed it, right when he was about to enter a season of suffering and grief.  God appeared and strengthened Jacob for the trials that lay ahead.

Genesis 32:10 shows the transformation from the young, rebellious Jacob to a much humbler, gracious man.  Returning to meet his brother, Jacob prays a wonderful Gospel statement: "I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that You have shown to Your servant."  What a transformation from the sneaky, selfish Jacob just a few chapters before!

Towards the end of his life, in chapter 47, you can see how much Jacob has progressed in walking with God.  He meets Pharaoh himself, and Jacob's first reaction is to bless this man who has done so much for his family.  Pharaoh is impressed by Jacob's age and wisdom and humility.

Throughout Jacob's life, one way we can see his growing intimacy with God is the names that He uses to address and describe God.  Jacob has perhaps the most unique names for God in all of Scripture.  And throughout his life, these names become more and more intimate:

"The God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac" ~31:42

"The Fear of Isaac" ~31:53

"The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day" ~48:15

"The angel who has redeemed me from all evil" ~48:16

"the Mighty One of Jacob, the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel" ~49:24

And finally, the New Testament has this to say about this wonderful man of God and his amazing transformation: "By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff."  ~Hebrews 11:21

I think Jacob is my new favorite human character in the Bible.  I want to be like this man, who is such a testament of grace and the power of God to change a life.  He walked with God, believed through grief, intimately knew his Creator and Savior, and at the end of his life, it could be said of him, "He bowed in worship."  What a man!  What a transformation!  I want to be like Jacob.

Rotten Bananas and the Glory of God

This semester I am working in the GeeDunk, the on-campus student cafe here at Grove City College.  Usually I am upstairs cooking food and serving people, but today I was down in the basement cutting cookies and doing other menial tasks.  It was a little disappointing, because I like the upstairs atmosphere a lot better.

Towards the end of my shift, the task given to me was to cut up over-ripe bananas for use in smoothies.  It was gross work, and I was just trying to get done with it, until the Holy Spirit brought Colossians 3:23-24 to my mind:

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ."

This truth transformed the rest of my shift.  No longer was I just doing menial labor, cutting up cookies and bananas by myself in the basement.  Menial labor became servanthood, and rotten bananas became worship.  I love how the knowledge of God can permeate even the most mundane, infusing it with glory.  I love the fact that, in Christ, I can cut rotten bananas to the glory of God.

The Promise and Power of Missions

Today I was reading Psalm 22 for my Through-the-Bible reading plan (yeah, I know, I'm a couple days behind).  Verses 27-28 jumped out at me.

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the LORD,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before You.

For kingship belongs to the LORD,

and He rules over the nations.

This passage is a promise for missions, and power to back it up.  "Missions" is the work of the church in bringing the Gospel to unreached people.  The reason we can have confidence in doing this is promises like this one in Psalm 22.  The promise is that all the ends of the earth shall turn to the LORD and worship before Him.

But what if the promise fails?  What if people don't turn?  What if Christians don't go?  This flood of questions and doubts can threaten to undermine missionary zeal, unless the promise of missions in verse 27 is accompanied by the power of missions in verse 28.

We can be absolutely confident that all the ends of the earth will turn to the LORD, that "a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" will one day stand before the throne, because "kingship belongs to the LORD."  God is sovereign over the nations, He is sovereign over the flow of history, He is sovereign over the darkened hearts of men, He is sovereign over salvation, He is sovereign over missions.  The same God who spoke omnipotently into darkness and said, "Let there be light," still speaks with the same omnipotence into blinded, darkened hearts around the globe, saying "Let there be light" (2 Corinthians 4:4-6).  The mission will not fail, because kingship and sovereignty and wisdom and power belong to the Lord.  We can therefore obey His summons and go with confidence, knowing that there is power to back up this glorious promise.

Joy Is Coming

This will be Tuesday's Daily Verse, but I wanted to share my thoughts earlier here.

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."  ~Psalm 30:5

What a difference would it make, in the midst of sorrow or depression or discouragement, if you knew joy was coming?  And not some esoteric 'happy feeling'; no, the kind of joy that turns "mourning into dancing" and "clothes me with gladness."  Could knowing that joy is coming make a difference to you today?

Well guess what?  Joy IS coming.  We have a guarantee from our God.  Hear the promise of Isaiah: "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."  There is a day coming, we have been told, when the old order of things will pass away and God will make all things new.  And for those of us who have been ransomed by the Lord, this blood-bought promise is ours in Christ, who came to give us "the oil of gladness instead of mourning."  So take off the sackcloth of sorrow and anticipate the dawn of everlasting joy, when God will wipe every tear from the faces of those who trust Him.

Joy is coming.  Will you be ready when it gets here?

All Authority in Heaven and on Earth

I realized after my Through-The-Bible reading today that there has been a theme emerging in the last couple of readings from Matthew.  I would summarize Matthew 7:28-9:8 with these words: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."  This section of Matthew highlights the divine, omnipotent authority of Jesus.  The word "authority" actually appears 4 times in this relatively short passage.  For example:

7:28-29- "The crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority."

8:1-3- Jesus has authority to simply 'will' a healing; "I will; be clean."

8:5-13- The Romans centurion understands the nature of Jesus' authority ("I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.  And I say to one, 'Go' and he goes...)  Jesus commended his faith, and healed the man's servant.

8:14-17- Jesus has authority over all ailments and diseases.

8:18-22- Jesus has authority to command his disciples to leave all to follow Him.

8:23-27- Jesus has authority over the natural world, including the winds and waves.

8:28-34- Jesus has authority over the spiritual realm and all the forces of Satan.

9:1-8- "The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin."

In this section, we see a general progression from the more 'mundane' authority to more explicitly supernatural and surprising authority.  We first see Jesus teaching with authority, then we see Him in progressively more dramatic healings, then with control over nature, then with control over Satan, and finally with the absolute divine authority to blot out sin.  

I think that this passage is designed to make us more and more amazed at the power and authority of Jesus, so that we will say what the disciples said, yet with hearts full of faith, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and waves obey Him?"

Wondrous Sovereign of the Sea

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading, I read about Jesus calming the storm.  Matthew 8:26-27- "And He said to them, 'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?'  Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And then men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?'"

Jonathan Edwards answers their question in his phenomenal sermon, "The Diverse Excellencies of Christ:" "By His walking on the sea in a storm, when the waves were raised, He showed Himself to be the God spoken of in Job 9:8, that treadeth 'on the waves of the sea.'  By His stilling the storm and calming the rage of the sea by His powerful command, saying 'Peace, be sill,' He showed that He has the command of the universe, and that He is that God who brings things to pass by the word of His power; who speaks and it is done, who commands and it stands fast."

The disciples were amazed and afraid, because as good Jewish men, they knew their Old Testaments.  They knew Psalm 65:6-7, which speaks of "the One who by His strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples."  They knew Psalm 89:9- "You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them."  They knew Psalm 107:29- "He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed."  They knew who this One in the boat with them must be-- Yahweh Himself, the Lord of the heavens and the earth.

Taste and See

This week's Taste and See article from Desiring God is terrific.  Moving, glorious, insightful, and profound are other adjectives I could use.

It's called "The President, the Passengers, and the Patience of God."  Read it here.

Recalling the Hope of Glory

This semester, I am taking a class with Dr. Ian Duguid called "Biblical Theology of Worship."  It's looking to be a incredible, glorious class, and I am really excited about the books we're reading and the lectures we'll be hearing.  Today I started reading our first book, Recalling the Hope of Glory by Allen P. Ross.  I've only read the introduction so far, but it's so tremendous that I'm posting the first two pages here.  Hopefully that doesn't break any copyright laws or anything.  I think Dr. Ross will understand.  I know this will be a long entry, but believe me, it's worth reading:

"The words of worship flow so easily from our lips that we seldom stop to think about them: we casually talk about knowing the Lord; we say we talk to God and in one way or another hear from God.  We attend churches on Sundays to have, as we say, fellowship with God and each other.  There we celebrate the belief that he is our God with songs and hymns, but even these have become so familiar to us that our minds drift to other, more immediate concerns.  And when we approach the Lord's Table, to eat with God as it were, we often do not have enough time to appreciate what it means.  In short, our worship services have become time-bound and routine.  We have been so successful in fitting God into our important schedules that worship is often just another activity.  But it should be anything but routine and ordinary.

After all, this God we say we know is the sovereign Creator and Lord of the whole universe, the eternal and ever-living God, all wise, all powerful, and ever-present.  Our attention to the Lord must not be an ordinary part of our life; our worship of Him should be the most momentous, urgent, and glorious activity in our lives.  But we rarely see the splendor, the beauty, and the glory of worship because we are not drawn out of our world enough to comprehend this God of glory; consequently, our worship is all too frequently unexceptional and at times irrelevant.

If we could grasp the incongruity of speaking so casually about God, we would be overwhelmed and could never again worship comfortably in the same ways.  We would think it too demeaning for God and too flattering for us.  On the one hand, here we are, finite human beings, concerned chiefly with staying healthy and making a comfortable living.  We spend our days in familiar routines with an array of anxieties and uncertainties threatening our sense of security.  We genuinely would like to focus on worship and service, but more immediate concerns occupy our time.

And on the other hand, there is God, the sovereign and ever-living Lord.  He is the inconceivable and incomprehensible source of all existence; He is the invisible majesty who reigns on high.  This God we claim to know is the One before whom thousands upon thousands of angels and archangels stand, never ceasing to laud and praise Him as the holy and glorious majesty.  This Lord merely speaks, as He did at creation, and myriads of angels wait to carry out His will.  He is completely unique, truly glorious and incomparably holy-- there is no one like Him, anywhere, at any time.  And there is no measure of the magnificence and beauty of His holiness, for all His works are amazing, good, and glorious.  And we say we know Him!...

How then can we talk casually of this Lord?  How can we merely slot Him into our fully scheduled lives?  How can we think there might be more important things for us to do in life than to worship Him?  If we even begin to comprehend His glorious nature, we cannot.  We will be caught away from our worldly experience and transported in our spirits to realms of glory.  We will be overwhelmed by the thought of being in His presence, tremble at the thought of hearing what He has to say to us, and be amazed at the thought that we can speak to Him and He will listen!  How can we not desire to transcend the ordinary routine by entering His courts to praise and glorify Him above the profane things we so eagerly value?  Truly, if our worship, if our spiritual life, is going to rise above this earthly existence where our minds are fixed on mundane thoughts and our attention is given to mundane concerns, then we are going to have to begin to focus our hearts and our minds on the holiness and the glory and the beauty of the One we say we know and love."

Inauguration

Regardless of how you feel about Obama, today is truly a historic day.  The inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, the first African-American President, is certainly one for the ages.

I have mixed feelings about the event.  Certainly, the fact that we have an African-American President is a testimony to how far our nation has come in overcoming the evils of racism, and I look forward to further healing of those old wounds under an Obama administration.  But the fact that Obama is an extreme pro-abortion President grieves me and makes me fear for the cause of life in this country.

In all, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic about Obama's presidency.  I follow all the economic and political issues closely, but I don't pretend to be well-versed enough to offer up any kind of intelligent thought on big government, federal spending, isolationism, and the like (for less-than-intelligent thought on those issues, there are plenty of other blogs out there).  But I believe that if Obama governs from the middle of the political spectrum, he has the opportunity to be a great leader in a difficult time.  So far, there are hopeful signs that he intends to aim for that kind of leadership.  For that reason, I am cautiously optimistic.

But perhaps more than ever, I realize the need for God's people to pray for our leaders.  It was easy under Bush to grow complacent and self-confident, knowing that we have "one of our guys" in the White House.  But the need for God's guiding hand is much clearer now.  We must intercede for Obama to the One in whose hand "the king's heart is a stream of water... He turns it wherever He will." (Proverbs 21:1).  God "changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding." (Daniel 2:21)  This is the God to whom we appeal.  So please, pray for President Obama.

For some other thoughts on an Obama Presidency, see below:

My blog: "How Christians Should Respond to the Election"

John Piper: "Being Pro-Life Christians Under a Pro-Choice President"

Ron Jones: "An Open Letter To President-Elect Obama"

Al Mohler: "A Prayer For President Obama"

Fleeting vs. Lasting Treasure

In my Through-the-Bible readings, I came to Psalm 17 today.  Psalm 17 is a lament of David, crying for vindication against the unjust accusations of the wicked.  At the very end of the Psalm, David contrasts the hope of the wicked with the hope of the righteous:

Deliver me... from men of the world whose portion is in this life.

You fill their womb with treasure;

they are satisfied with children,

and they leave their abundance to their children.

As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness;

when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness.

~Psalm 17:14-15

The portion, treasure, and satisfaction of the ungodly is in this life.  At first glance, it doesn't seem like they've got it too bad; in fact, it looks a lot like the American dream.  Treasure, children, abundance.  A four-bedroom house, a two-car garage, and a white picket fence.  These are gifts from God (You fill...), yet their only portion is in this life, and at the end, they leave their abundance to their children.  It's treasure, yes; but it's the kind that moth and rust destroy and thieves steal.  They are satisfied, yes; but with something temporal and less than they were made for.  Even though their children are a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127:3), they are missing the One who blesses.

Contrast that to the hope of the righteous: they shall behold the very face of God in righteousness, and they will be satisfied with His likeness.  This is a better hope, an enduring satisfaction, and a glorious joy that will overflow for eternity.

This is what Jesus means when He tells us to store up treasure in heaven; we are commanded and invited to forsake earthly treasure for a better and lasting possession.

May we never get caught up with blessings, even the wonderful blessing of children, at the expense of losing sight of the One who blesses.

Valley of Vision prayer

In my devotions today, I read a Valley of Vision prayer titled "A Minister's Bible."  But it's certainly not just for ministers.  This is my prayer, and my hope is that this would be your prayer too.

O God of truth,

I thank Thee for the holy Scriptures,

their precepts, promises, directions, light.

In them may I learn more of Christ,

be enabled to retain His truth

and have grace to follow it.

Help me to lift up the gates of my soul

that He may come in

and show me Himself when I search

the Scriptures,

for I have no lines to fathom its depths,

no wings to soar to its heights.

By His aid may I be enabled to explore

all its truths,

love them with all my heart,

embrace them with all my power,

engraft them into my life.

Bless to my soul all grains of truth garnered

from Thy Word;

may they take deep root,

be refreshed by heavenly dew,

be ripened by heavenly rays,

be harvested to my joy and Thy praise.

Help me to gain profit by what I read,

as a treasure beyond all treasure,

a fountain which can replenish my dry heart,

its waters flowing through me as a perennial river

on-drawn by Thy Holy Spirit.

Enable me to distill from its pages faithful prayer

that grasps the arm of Thy omnipotence,

achieves wonders, obtains blessings,

and draws down streams of mercy.

From it show me how my words have often been

unfaithful to Thee,

injurious to my fellow-men,

empty of grace, full of folly,

dishonoring to my calling.

Then write Thy own words upon my heart

and inscribe them on my lips;

So shall all glory be to Thee

in my reading of Thy Word!

The Fear of the Lord

I'm up late tonight writing Daily Verses for next week, and I spent some time researching for help with the devotional on Acts 9:31- "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."  Now there is a good recipe for church growth-- the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit!  But as I pondered on that I started to wonder, what exactly is "the fear of the Lord?"  

Fearing God is not about being afraid.  In fact, it's often associated with lack of fear.  For example, Exodus 20:20- "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin."  And Matthew 10:28- "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Fearing God is about opening our eyes to the reality to which sin blinds us.  We are inclined to be afraid of many things-- the future, the past, enemies, insecurity, money, relationships, death.  But we are not naturally inclined to fear the One in whose hand all things fearful rest.  To fear God is to recognize Him as the holy, righteous, omnipotent, sovereign Creator and Judge before whom every knee will bow.

Fearing God, as I learned in my word study tonight, has many promised benefits.  Here is a partial list of them, just from Proverbs (I think I've stumbled across a key theme of Proverbs here):

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge."  ~1:7

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil." ~8:13

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."  ~9:10

"In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence." ~14:26

"The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life." ~14:27

"Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble without it."  ~15:16

"The fear of the LORD keeps one away from evil."  ~16:6

Can you see how awe of God's holiness and glory brings about all those promised results?  True wisdom and knowledge begin when the solar system of our lives is reoriented around God at the center.  A realization and love of God's holiness shows sin to be what it really is-- an affront to the character of our Creator.  To fear God is to see Him as the Sovereign One, in whose hands are all human events, and therefore we have a basis for a life of strong confidence.  Fear of the Lord, it turns out, is the fruit of faith, and therefore a fountain of eternal life.

Most importantly of all, fear of God doesn't just lead us to our Judge; it also leads us to our Savior.  The more we become aware of the great holiness and glory of God, the more we despise our sins and daily seek refuge at Calvary where the wrath of God was absorbed.  The fear of the Lord allows us to see our holy Judge as our glorious Savior.

"The fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure."  ~Isaiah 33:6

John Piper on the Economy

Over at the Desiring God blog, they posted a 7 minute video of John Piper responding to the difficulties of the recession and how believers should react to economic hardship.  It was such a comfort and encouragement and exhortation to me, since as a senior in college about to be married, the job market weighs heavily (a bit too heavily, I'm afraid) on my mind.  The Holy Spirit used this video to give me a welcome infusion of faith, and I'm grateful.

Watch the video here.

Quotes

For the past three years, I have been collecting quotes that I read or hear, and putting them all into one document.  Every day, there is a quote included in the Daily Verse; this one document is where I get those quotes from.  I realized recently, skimming through it, how much of a treasure of wisdom and godliness it has become.  Some of the quotes are recent, and some of the people who said them have been with Christ for centuries.  But oh how precious is the gift that they have given to us-- to go with them deep into the heart of God!  On occasion, I use my own quotes database devotionally, just reading through it as I am brought by these saints to the throne of grace.

Because I have been so blessed by all these quotes, I have decided to share them in a broader way than just by Daily Verse email.  I've posted the whole document, as it is now, on the Daily Verse Online website.  You can download it at www.dailyverseonline.org/quotes.doc.  It is currently 41 pages long, with 529 quotes in it.  They're not in any particular order, so just start reading, or try searching the document for something specific.  Feel free to download it and spread it around.  I hope that you will be blessed by it, as I am daily.

Then you shall know that I am the LORD

In the book of Ezekiel, the phrase "you shall know that I am the LORD," or "they shall know" appears a whopping 66 times.  This has to be significant.  You can't read through Ezekiel and not notice how the phrase keeps appearing over and over and over again.  The ESV study Bible says that this "recognition formula... is an indication of the book's central purpose," and I think that they are exactly right.

The phrase doesn't just appear in a redemptive sense, though.  In many cases, it is in reference to judgment, like Ezekiel 6:7- "And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD."

I think that in chapter 20, we see most clearly what this is all about.  "And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.  And you shall know that I am the LORD... And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evils ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds." (20:42,44)  God is passionate about "manifesting His holiness" and revealing Himself and His glory, both in redemption and judgment.  He does everything "for His name's sake," so that all will know that He is Yahweh.  As the ESV Study Bible says again, "Ezekiel spoke oracles that vindicate the reputation of this holy God.  This radically God-centered point of view finds it sharpest expression in 36:22-23... Thus the primary purpose of Ezekiel's message was to restore God's glory before the people who had spurned it in view of the watching nations."

See all the "you shall know that I am the LORD" passages in Ezekiel here.

11 Reasons to Love the Bible in 2009

There is perhaps nothing as valuable in the life of a believer as a steady diet of God's Word.  Throughout Scripture, God holds out indescribably wonderful promises to woo us to His Word-- promises of life and power and salvation and holiness and joy.  Below are 11 reasons to love the Bible in 2009.  I pray that they will inspire you to say with the Psalmist, "I love Your commandments above gold, above fine gold."

Holiness: Psalm 119:11- "I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You."

Enabling Ministry: 2 Timothy 3:16-17- "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

Guidance: Psalm 119:105- "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Understanding and Wisdom: Psalm 119:130- "The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple."

Spiritual Nourishment: Deuteronomy 8:3- "He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Comfort: Psalm 119:50- "This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life."

Joy: John 15:11- "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

Faith: Romans 10:17- "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

Salvation: James 1:21- "Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."

Knowing God: 1 Samuel 3:21- "The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His word."

Seeing Jesus: Luke 24:27- "And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

With those promises in mind, I am eagerly looking forward to mining the riches of the word of God this coming year.

Through the Bible

I am so excited to be starting Discipleship Journal's Through the Bible in a Year program.  I started following it in September, which plopped me in the middle of Isaiah, Proverbs, John, and Hebrews, but now I'm starting off afresh in Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, and Acts.

I've added the Through the Bible reading plan as a part of the Daily Verse Online's daily devotional tools that get sent out by email each day, and the response so far has been very encouraging.  I've gotten several emails from people who are eager to "let the word of Christ dwell in them richly" in 2009, who will be joining me and many others in this reading plan.  Hearing from people who are hungry for the meat of God's Word is so encouraging.  Praise God for the work He is doing in His people!