Archives for January 2019

And he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

John 1:36

In the last two days, we saw that Jesus is full of grace andtruth. Today and tomorrow, we’re beholding Him as “the Lamb of God” and “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5). Not only is He characterized as a Lamb, but also as a Lion. We cannot hold to the one and reject the other. We must take Jesus for who He is—in all His attributes.   

As fallen human beings, we’re prone to have our own partialities. Years ago, I was part of a church that had a far greater emphasis on God’s grace than His truth. I’ve also been part of a church that primarily highlighted God’s truth and hardly emphasized His grace. Both weren’t wrong in what they preached, but there was an inordinate proportion of “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

The Old Testament sacrificial system is a shadow of Jesus’ sacrifice. God’s people would bring a lamb to the priest for a sin offering: “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering” (Lev. 4:32). That was an essential part in their relating to God.

John the Baptist referred to Jesus as “the Lamb of God.” God, so to speak, came with His own Lamb. He brought Jesus in order to sacrifice Him for our sins: “And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6).

Amazingly, God had planned and purposed His Son’s sacrifice from eternity. He’s “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8 NKJV). Behind the scenes of Jesus’ life, the Father was preparing and bringing Him to the cross, being His Lamb.

Jan Blonk
www.thecauseofchrist.com

Today’s devotional is from It’s All about Jesus, a one-year devotional about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It’s All about Jesus will be used as a fundraiser for the spread of His gospel through reputable ministries.

If you’ve been blessed by today’s devotional, will you participate and promote this fundraiser on your social media and with your church? You can share this link.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

Jesus’ immeasurable grace isn’t about being tolerant or sweeping things under the rug. Not at all! His grace isn’t an acceptance of wrong or being politically correct. Rather, it perfectly co-exists with God’s truth. Not only is He the embodiment of God’s grace, He’s also the very truth of God: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Obviously, that sounds intolerant in a pluralistic society. Truth, however, is never about being tolerant or intolerant. It’s about what’s true and false—right and wrong. It’s about factual reality. While we may deny the law of gravity, that doesn’t diminish its absolute certainty. That law has nothing to do with being tolerant or intolerant. It doesn’t operate with preferential treatment and never discriminates. It’s simply a matter of fact.

If you want to know truth, you must believe in Jesus and accept His teachings. He never said anything that was false or even slightly incorrect. That means that everything opposed to Him is part of a deception and delusion. Many live in a total lie, following “the father of lies” (John 8:44).   

What about us? Are we living in God’s truth? Do we cling to Jesus’ teachings? Or do we take His truth lightly? The way we live give evidence of what we truly believe: “Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses” (Ex. 9:20). They believed God and acted accordingly.

Jan Blonk
www.thecauseofchrist.com

Today’s devotional is from It’s All about Jesus, a one-year devotional about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It’s All about Jesus will be used as a fundraiser for the spread of His gospel through reputable ministries.

If you’ve been blessed by today’s devotional, will you participate and promote this fundraiser on your social media and with your church? You can share this link.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

When we think about Jesus, we have to do so with infinite in mind. The psalmist stated: “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Ps. 145:3). Not only is His greatness unsearchable, everything about Him is past finding out. That’s why eternity is insufficient to communicate and reveal His fullness.

Our understanding has its own point of reference, primarily based on our experiences. When it comes to Jesus, though, we should never place any restriction on who He is, especially regarding the fullness and freeness of His grace. It’s infinitely boundless, to use an appropriate redundancy. That means that no one is beyond His saving reach.

Imagine all the grace He has continuously bestowed on His children, from Adam and Eve until now. Not even considering the grace that He will bestow on them from this time forth and forevermore. Such fullness is incomprehensible. To make it more personal, what about the effectual grace He has bestowed on you?

Since our thoughts of Him are always too low of who He is, we should ask the Father to increasingly open our eyes in order to behold the grace of His Son. There can only be one response: complete and utter astonishment.

Jan Blonk
www.thecauseofchrist.com

Today’s devotional is from It’s All about Jesus, a one-year devotional about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It’s All about Jesus will be used as a fundraiser for the spread of His gospel through reputable ministries.

If you’ve been blessed by today’s devotional, will you participate and promote this fundraiser on your social media and with your church? You can share this link.

My times are in your hand.

Psalm 31:15

One of my favorite lines from In Christ Alone is: “No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.” Today’s verse declares His absolute control over every time in your life.

When Solomon wrote his famous passage, he used the same Hebrew word: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace” (Eccl. 3:1-8). Jesus holds all these times in His hand.

What if the opposite was true? What if all these events were beyond His sovereign control? He would then be dependent on our times. While we may not understand this mind-blowing reality, we must never deny it in order to make it fit our intellect.

David had many adversaries who plotted to take his life. His only comfort and hope was that his times were in God’s control. While his enemies wanted to kill him, he knew that the hour of his death wasn’t up to them. They were not in charge. Jesus was and is!  

Jan Blonk
www.thecauseofchrist.com

Today’s devotional is from It’s All about Jesus, a one-year devotional about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It’s All about Jesus will be used as a fundraiser for the spread of His gospel through reputable ministries.

If you’ve been blessed by today’s devotional, will you participate and promote this fundraiser on your social media and with your church? You can share this link.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John 14:13

What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name? Is it just a formula that we add to our prayers when we’re done? Are they mere words? If you were to ask my wife, in my name, for a $100, who would she consider as the one requesting the $100? Who would she reject if she didn’t give you the money? While you may be the beneficiary, she would do it for my sake.

What if you were to ask her something in my name that wasn’t in harmony with my wishes— something that I hadn’t said to ask her in my name? While you may say “in Jan’s name”—Jan told me to ask you—it wouldn’t be true.

To pray in Jesus’ name is to ask the Father something that Jesus wants. It means that the requests are in perfect harmony with His will. Ultimately, it means that He asks it. We’re the blessed participants and beneficiaries for His sake.

It’s no wonder that Paul wrote: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought” (Rom. 8:26). We need the Spirit of Christ in order to pray in Jesus’ name. Being His Spirit, He knows Jesus’ will. Thus, when we pray “in the Spirit” in Jesus’ name, we can have the assurance that we will receive our requests.

Today’s verse is as Christ-centered as can be. Not only are they ultimately His requests to the Father, He is also the One who fulfills those requests—“this I will do.” Here’s a good test to determine if your requests are truly in Jesus’ name: are they to the Father’s glory? That’s His goal.

Jan Blonk
www.thecauseofchrist.com

Today’s devotional is from It’s All about Jesus, a one-year devotional about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It’s All about Jesus will be used as a fundraiser for the spread of His gospel through reputable ministries.

If you’ve been blessed by today’s devotional, will you participate and promote this fundraiser on your social media and with your church? You can share this link.