Prophetic Fulfillment

Readings for today: Matthew 1-2, Psalms 81

One of the things I look most forward to when I read the Bible every year is the transition between Old and New Testaments. To finish the Old Testament after months of being immersed in the history and story and struggles of God’s chosen people and then to see it fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ is powerful. It never gets old. It never fails to hit me. I love reading through the genealogy and reflecting on all the work it took to get from the call of Abram to the birth of Christ. I think about all the different ways God orchestrated His plan, bending their often sinful, selfish decisions to His perfect will. I think about all the times the plan of God seemingly comes under threat only to have God act miraculously and powerfully to protect the line of the Messiah. I think of the four hundred year enslavement in Egypt, the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the victories and defeats, the corruption of the kings, the scattering and exile of the nation, and the glorious, unexpected return. As I’ve often said, there is no greater miracle than the preservation of God’s chosen people.

Matthew clearly has a deep appreciation what has come before as well. He speaks often of the fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophets. Everything from the genealogy to the miraculous conception of Jesus in the womb of his virgin mother to the birthplace of the Messiah to the flight into Egypt to the massacre of the innocents and the eventual settlement in Nazareth was all foretold. It was all planned. It was all sovereignly decreed by the Lord in advance. It’s a powerful witness that highlights the inextricable relationship between the Old and New Testaments. One cannot study the life of Jesus in a vacuum. We can’t pretend He came on the scene out of nowhere. As confusing and challenging as it is at times to read, we simply cannot jettison the Old Testament because it shapes the world and cultural context into which Jesus was born. He was a Jew. Born to Jewish parents. Circumcised on the eighth day. Raised among God’s covenant people. Taught the Torah and the histories and the words of the prophets from a very young age. The Old Testament was Jesus’ Bible and He Himself is the fulfillment of all the Law and Prophets.

So as we make the turn into more familiar, more comfortable territory, I want to encourage to take time to thank God for all that you have read so far this year. Thank God for the Law and the Prophets. Thank God for the history of His people. Thank God for the men and women who came before us and came before Jesus who were used by God to further His great salvation plan. Thank God for the Jewish people and how God continues to use them to further His purposes in the world. Most of all, pray for our Jewish friends to recognize their Messiah and come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 3-4, Psalms 82

The Call of the Christian

Readings for today: Psalm 106, John 1:4-14

I love how the Message version of the Bible describes the call of John the Baptist. “There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.” (John‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭MSG‬‬) John was not the Light. He was not the Christ. He was not the Messiah. As he himself will say later on, he isn’t even worthy to untie the Messiah’s sandals. John was simply a man. A man called to point the way to Jesus. A man called to prepare the way for Jesus. And there was no greater man born of a woman, Jesus says, than John the Baptist.

In a very real way, all Christians are called to be like John the Baptist. We inherit his mantle. We are called to point out the way to the Life-Light. We are called to show everyone where to look and who to believe in. We are not the Light. We are the little lights that reflect the greater light. We are like the moon that reflects the light of the sun. We don’t have light in and of ourselves. Our light comes from the presence of Christ living inside us. Our light comes from the treasure of the gospel which is deposited within us. As we live authentically and fully and completely for Jesus, the world catches yet another glimpse of the “Word become flesh” and the “one of a kind glory” which He reveals in and through us.

The Apostle John makes it clear that without the Light, the world is consigned to darkness. Without the Light, the world dwells in deep darkness with no hope of escape. Without the Light, the world is doomed to live in eternal night and this is what makes our calling so important. The world needs us to embrace our calling to be the light of Jesus in the world. To reflect His glory. To live the way He lived. To love the way He loved. To serve the way He served. As I heard a good friend of mine preach this past weekend, “It’s not enough to know what Jesus knows, we must become who He is.” Our hearts must be transformed. The image of God renewed and restored by His grace and power at work within us. We must become living, breathing, flesh and blood reflections of Jesus in the world. Only then will the world find hope. Only then will the unbelieving world find faith.

Only Christ can offer the Light we so desperately need. Listen again to how the Apostle John describes it, “The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.” (John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭13‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Friends, we are the “God-begotten!” The Born Again! The New Creation! May we live and move and have our being in Him.

Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 1, Luke 1:1-2:38