Category: Devotions

The Christmas Prologue 2: Jesus is God

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This is the crux of the matter. This is the central truth of Christmas. This is why the major religions hate Christianity because of who we say the WORD is. Our LOGOS, our TORAH is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is God.

The cults of Christianity may hold the same beliefs yet it is verses like this that they twist to fit their deviances.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses for example (here’s what I learned at Bible College many years ago!!), here’s how they have translated the verse:

“and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.”

They have inserted ‘a god’ signifying Christ’s exalted status but as a creature. This translation helps them argue against the deity of Christ and his equality with the Father. But the ‘a’ is not there to be translated.

But why didn’t John simply write ‘and the Word was the God.’? That would have solved everything, right? NO. If John had used ‘the’ he would have confused the person of the Trinity and supported a heresy at the time (and still exists today) that all of God (the whole Trinity) was Jesus.

My memory served me well! I left Bible College in 1992!

John is writing his gospel so “that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:21). This first verse is crucial to John. He gets it right. He has to. Jesus is Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the SON, the TORAH, the LOGOS, the WORD and yet He is also God.

It is so hard for our tiny brains to fathom this. We never fully will on this earth. Our world is centred in uniqueness. No one person can actually be the same as the other, even family members. However, God is not us. Therefore, Jesus the Son is different to the Father and the Spirit and yet they are the same.

The second verse of the carol, O Come all ye Faithful says:

God of God, Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, Begotten not created.

In our world we use this equation 1+1+1=3 and in God’s world it is 1x1x1=1.

God is a triune God. “Tri” meaning three, and “Unity” meaning one.

How exciting is this opening verse from John! He knows it and he best expresses it keeping in mind to protect from every heresy he can think of at the time.

It still serves us so well today.

Further to this we and John knew what the prophets said of the Messiah being God.

For example, in Isaiah:-

7:14 the Virgin will give birth to a child and he will be called Immanuel ‘God with us’.

9:6 A Child is born, a son is given, he will be called Mighty God.

John had seen for himself and the gospel writers have painted us the picture of Jesus who accepted worship. Even from the beginning of his life on earth we read:

Matthew 2:11 Magi saw the child with his mother Mary and they worshipped him.

In Matthew 14: 32-33, Jesus accepted worship from his disciples when they got back into the boat and the storm had died down. Jesus didn’t say, “Stop, I’m just a prophet. Stop worshipping me.”

Jesus claimed to be God himself. John would write later in his gospel:-

6:46 Jesus was referring to himself who is the one who has seen the Father and that he is the sole medium by which men may come to know the Father.

8:19 If you knew me, you would know my Father also.

14:8-9 Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father, “Have I not been with you all this time?”

And the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Thank you John!

And you?

Who do you say I am? Jesus asks.

The place you give Jesus is crucial.

I saw a nativity scene the other day and heard an onlooker shout ‘where is Jesus?’ and sure enough there was a crib but no Jesus. The nativity scene was lovely but where on earth was Jesus? Stolen? Forgotten to get out of the box?

Make sure today that you worship Jesus, love Jesus, pray to Jesus and hold on to:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus is God.

The Christmas Prologue 1 – the true meaning of life, WORD, LOGOS and the TORAH

John’s gospel was written around 80-100 AD but it was the first fourteen verses that were venerated in the Middle Ages by the Roman Catholic Church where they were worn around the neck to ward off evil spirits. They would read it over the sick and newly baptised. Putting aside such veneration I do want to elevate these powerful verses as we approach and walk through Christmas into a new year. Here is the Prologue:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

History tells us that in 500BC the Greeks were asking whether in a changing world there was an abiding principle, a reason for it all. Their conclusion was summed up in one word, ‘WORD’ which is the English translation of the actual word, ‘LOGOS’.

This was later developed by the Stoics who talked of the LOGOS as the world-soul and they began to shape their whole lives around the LOGOS.

At the time of Jesus there was an Alexandrian Jew named Philo who had a Hebrew and Greek background and he took hold of the LOGOS idea and developed it.

But what is LOGOS/WORD? Philo believed:-

1. The LOGOS has no distinct personality, it is described as a rudder to shape man’s course or an instrument to fashion the world.
2. The LOGOS is God’s first-born Son (but not as we know it) and implying a pre-existence.
3. The LOGOS bridges the gap between God and the world.

This was the Greek thought regarding the meaning of life, the LOGOS. John knew this Greek thought when he wrote his gospel but he also knew the Jewish thought found in our Old Testament:-

1. The WORD (LOGOS) had creative powers (Genesis 1; Psalm 33)
2. God offers His care through His WORD (LOGOS) (Psalm 147, 148)
3. God’s LOGOS will accomplish its purpose (Isaiah 55, Psalm 147).
4. Judgment is executed by the LOGOS (Hosea 6).
5. The LOGOS is the means of revelation in the prophets.

Further to this the Jews believe that Dabar, Hebrew for WORD is the Torah, God’s way of communicating with us.

They believe:-

1. The TORAH was created before the foundation of the world.
2. The TORAH lay on God’s bosom.
3. God created through the first-born and the first-born was the TORAH.
4. The words of the TORAH are life for the world.

Sound familiar?!

WORD, LOGOS and the TORAH, Trying to answer the meaning of life.

John is fully aware of the Greek and Jewish position regarding this meaning of life, the reason for it all, why we are here and what our purpose is. This is how he starts his gospel:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

To the Greek, John says, “this rational principle of the universe that you hold to is a personal being and has become human.”

To the Jew, John says “your thought of pre-existent DABAR is kind of correct but there is so much more and He was never created. HE has personal attributes and HE has been here and I have seen HIM. The TORAH is JESUS CHRIST!

Jesus is not only the reason for the season, He is the reason for life.

Jesus is not only the true meaning behind Christmas, He is the true meaning to everything.

From the springboard of this LOGOS and TORAH, John would go on to record Jesus’ statements that he was the bread, the light, the door, the Shepherd, the Resurrection and Life, the Way, Truth and Life and the vine and he does so with 2 simple words, ‘I AM’ that not even Moses used for God they were so holy.

The Jews reject Jesus as WORD. Our world is indifferent to the WORD but still pursue their LOGOS.

But the WORD said it and John records it.

Jesus is the WORD, the LOGOS and the TORAH, the true meaning of life. There is none other.

He is.

 

 

Are you ready for something amazing to happen?

Luke 24: 50-53

⁵⁰ When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵² Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³ And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

 

I commenced writing a devotional from Luke’s gospel on the 30^th October 2018. Here we are today closing the gospel with the disciples and the Church continually at the temple. Luke had started his gospel there. The Temple.

“Luke has commenced his gospel with a married couple, old in years, but who knew how to do the right thing. Little did they know they would be the parents of the one who was to prepare the way for the Messiah.

Zechariah was chosen that day to burn incense. In the temple he would sprinkle frankincense on the fiery coals and a fragrant cloud would rise. He would prostrate himself on the floor and pray for the peace of Israel and give thanks for previous blessings. He had studied how to do this though this was most probably his first time.

It was a special day for him. He was just a priest, not a High Priest, just an ordinary one and yet the dice rolled in his favour apparently because out of at least 20,000 other priests he had been chosen. Luck? Miracle? Or indeed chosen?

For decades, Zechariah served God in a way which was ordinary, yet he did the right thing. He and his wife had a social stigma, they were childless. But their silent God did not prevent their commitment to Him. Their God was far more than what He could give them.”

Throughout his gospel Luke has continued to point us to the Temple. Whether it be Jesus on top of the temple in his temptations or the religious praying there in competition with others or the deceitful trading, the battle for the true worship within the temple is seen.

In the last verse of his gospel Luke leaves the reader on a cliff-hanger. The Church are continually in the temple and they are praising God. Something is about to happen surely? Something does that changes the landscape forever and that comes in part 2 of Luke’s writings.

When Jesus, the Messiah, is at the centre of our lives. When our true worship is all about Him. When we acknowledge our lives are indeed the Temple and Jesus is on the throne of it. When this is in place, then we are set, we are ready, keep worshipping for something powerful is about to happen!

SIN AND THE SPIRIT

Luke 24 v 44-48

⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Over a meal of fish Jesus expounds the Scriptures and the disciples get it!

They understand and ‘finally’ we cry!

Their minds are opened and they see Jesus, the Messiah, throughout the historical story.

The death and the resurrection are there and they have witnessed it.

Now comes the direction that they are going to need. What happens now? Two thousand years later, the same instruction is before us, it still applies today. “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations”

I have been so blessed to have a heart for the nations. God gave it to me. It wasn’t naturally there. The nations are where we experience the ‘magnifying of God’ in our lives. I have found the presence of the Lord in places I never thought existed and I am a better man for it. I have spent the last 20 years in Africa and found that within its beauty lies so much division. The nations in Africa with all their ethnic, tribal and political groups struggle over each other’s ‘sins’ and lack of repentance. Forgiveness is hard to find at times when fists are raised high or being thrown in the direction of the sinner. The Bible is quoted, justice is demanded and the jihad of the Church commences to the grievous end.

But I have found in the last 18 months as I have focused on the UK that we are the same.

There are battles rising over sin, repentance and the forgiveness of it. The Church is trying to preach ‘repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name’ yet faces in-fighting and division over what it defines as sin. It seems with our own rise of tribalism found in every sector each has their own definition of sin.

What is sin to me may not be sin to you. You may be offended by my sinful ways and believe I should repent and be forgiven when I think I am not being sinful.

Of course if there is no God then sin is largely irrelevant, certainly in terms of offending Him.

So how do we progress?

We need what Jesus said he would send and what the Father promised. We need power from on high. We know that to be the Holy Spirit.

We need the Holy Spirit to move not only in the nations of the world, but in the UK.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to understand what is sinful to God.

We need the Holy Spirit to convict us of that sin.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to preach.

We need the Holy Spirit to take our words and make them full of His power.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to be able to repent and change our ways.

We need the Holy Spirit to help turn us around and turn to Him.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to forgive the sins that have hurt us.

We need the Holy Spirit to cleanse our lives so that we can see differently the lives of others.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

If the Church tries to do all the above without the Holy Spirit then we will just be fighting flesh and blood.

Jesus send the Holy Spirit again and again.

Dead but alive in Christ

Luke 24: 36-43

³⁶ While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ ³⁷ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. ³⁸ He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’ ⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he took it and ate it in their presence.

 

If you have lost a loved one then you are often wondering what they are doing now.

We know that eventually the 2 worlds, heaven and earth will come together and be re-created into something completely new that will accommodate our own post-death resurrected bodies.

What will we look like? What are our loved ones who died in Christ doing now?

1. Jesus had nothing physical limiting him.
2. Jesus could talk.
3. Jesus was not a ghost, he had a body.
4. Jesus was recognisable.
5. Jesus could eat.

It is of great comfort to know that those who have died in the Lord are continuing to live.

Turning your road of despair into a road of joy

Luke 24: 25-35

²⁵ He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. ²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’ ³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.

 

How did their road of despair change to a road of joy?

1. The Scriptures. When the Bible is opened up and when we see truths that were once hidden a fire is lit within us, a consuming one. We may not know at the time the full extent of the work of God within us but the Bible is changing our despair into joy.
2. The Invitation. Simple that it may be. An invitation to the stranger to stay. It looked like kindness but it was also their desire to be with this stranger, to possess what he had. A desire to learn, a longing for more, an inquisitive heart and a passion to pursue are all traits that lead to changing despair into joy.
3. Was it the table and the way they sat down? Was it the way he took the bread? The way he gave thanks? The way he broke it? Or the obvious: the nail prints? Whatever it was they once couldn’t understand or recognise him but now the communion table turned their despair into joy.
4. The experience of resurrection. They didn’t need an empty tomb. They didn’t need further conversations and worshipful moments. He was gone. But He had been there. The impact of His presence was still there after He had gone and it turned their despair into joy.
5. They returned. It seems they had been going home to their village but this was not the moment for retreat but for return. You can return in the darkest of nights when you have the light burning within. They retraced their steps in the dark until they found the house where they had presumably come from. Their return unravelled the road of despair and created a new road of joy.
6. ‘It is true’ exclaimed the Eleven. Finding someone who knows what you have gone through is so valuable. ‘He has appeared to Simon’. Finding someone who has also gone down a personal road of despair is also valuable. Finding the right people around you will lead to your own road of despair turning into a road of joy!

The road of despair has a beautiful stranger on it.

Luke 24: 13-24

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

It is unclear exactly where Emmaus was situated apart from it being 7 miles from Jerusalem. It is not important where it is nor why the 2 people were going there.

We may find ourselves on the long road to Emmaus. It is long because the journey is so tough. Not because of the dangers we encounter on the road. But It is what we have just left behind.

1. They were replaying the traumatic event, the death of their best friend.
2. Their walk slowed up, the story was a heavy burden and it slowed them down. (Jesus seemingly caught them up).
3. They were a picture of gloom in contrast to the face of Jesus.
4. They struggle with the fact that life goes on and this stranger doesn’t appear to have even heard of their big news story.
5. They had once been people of hope, but now it is lost.
6. They had heard of the testimonies of the women and Peter and John. It was the third day and if Jesus was going to be alive then why hasn’t anyone seen him.

Are you on the road to Emmaus?

You have gone through trauma and you are going through every moment in your mind.

Life is a drudge, getting through the day is such a slog.

You have lost your joy.

You are privately frustrated that others don’t share your gloom.

You have lost hope.

You are agitated because people are talking of spiritual experiences regarding this trauma, but what good is that to you?

The road to Emmaus is a difficult one.

But you are never alone.

Even if today you do not recognise it.

Stop the division start running

Luke 24: 9-12

“When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.”

Women were not credible witnesses in that generation. If this was a made-up story then why have the first witnesses of an empty tomb being women?

These women seemed to be speaking nonsense. If this was a made-up story then why not have the disciples believing the report straight away?

We know it is not a made-up story, it is true.

But there seems to be mayhem at Disciples HQ. The women were trying to convince them of the fact that the body was not there and the disciples dismissing their stories. As they continued to discuss 2 men have a better idea than those willing to fall-out, they set off running as fast as they could. Luke has Peter running and in the gospel of John he mentions himself outrunning him to the tomb though he doesn’t enter it. Peter on the other hand runs right into the tomb, he wants to investigate it thoroughly, he bends down over where the body had been, the linen was left behind; the body cannot have been stolen for they would have taken the expensive cloth if so.

Whilst Peter is having an empty tomb experience the other disciples are back at HQ questioning, discussing, debating the theories, caught up in the nonsense.

Where do you want to be?

You may not grasp everything there is. But you have a choice.

Are you going to get caught up with divisions and arguments over what people have experienced etc or are you going to move and have an experience yourself? Are you going to pursue God again? Are you going to run?

Revelation needs remembering.

Luke 24: 1-8

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”’ ⁸ Then they remembered his words.

 

When we misinterpret the revelation then we are often standing in places where He is not.

He had told them many times that he would rise again.

They probably either believed Jesus was meaning the Jewish thought of an end-time resurrection of all of God’s children. Or perhaps that someone would carry the spirit of Jesus on. Or maybe it was just that they had zero faith.

It is incredible to think that the disciples are not at the tomb waiting for Jesus to rise on the 3^rd day. It is also hard to believe that the women who were there had their spices with them to anoint the dead body. No one was ready for the resurrection. Even though he had told them many times.

If you find yourself absent of the presence of the Lord. Then maybe you need to think again. What are you doing at this point in your life? Go back in your mind. Retrace your steps. Get out the old promises, the ones you marked in your Bible or stuck on your fridge. Remember. You may be standing in the wrong place.

When you lose the vote …

Luke 23: 50-56

“Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, ⁵¹ who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. ⁵² Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. ⁵³ Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. ⁵⁴ It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. ⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”

 

The process of the deterioration of the dead body took some time. The bodies would be laid on ledges inside the tombs and coated with various spices to offset the smell. Once the process had been completed they bones would be placed in a box for the family, the ossuary.

But Jesus’ body was laid in a tomb where there was no one else. His was the only body in that tomb.

Luke is keen to point out that there were eyewitnesses to where Jesus had been placed, there was no confusion. It was Joseph’s tomb. Secondly, the women knew where it was, when they returned with spices after observing the Sabbath, they would not be wondering where it was, they would not get it wrong. Thirdly, something very important. Not all the Religious Council found Jesus guilty and deserving of death.

Someone had said NO. He had not consented. It means he did not vote the way of the majority. There was at least one other. John in his gospel (19:39-40) tells us that a colleague named Nicodemus was also of the same mind as Joseph. He had encountered Jesus during one amazing night some time previously and was now a believer.

But notice something profound.

Saying NO can result in you having to take responsibility for the majorities YES.

Who went courageously to Pilate to ask for the body?

Mark writes that he went boldly, he took the risk. (15:43)

Who had to lower the cross to the floor?

Who had to pull out the horrible nails in the body?

Imagine the sadness of this.

Who then wrapped the body in a linen cloth and carried it to a new tomb?

The women who followed knew.

It was the one who had lost the vote.

When you lose the vote you can be seen to do the most beautiful of acts.

You may not get what you want but you can take care of what is lost.

You can speak well.

You can stand out, take a risk and be courageous.

You can show wonderful attention.

You don’t have to wash your hands you can get them dirty.

Losing the vote can bring the best out of you.