Tag: 1pe2

The Suffering Servant: Jesus our Saviour!

Jesus Described In The Old Testament

Today’s reading contains the description of a Servant. Not just any servant, but the Servant. This Servant that Isaiah describes is the Servant-Messiah, affirmed in the New Testament as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God (Matthew 8:17, Mark 15:28, Luke 22:37, John 12:38, Acts 8:27-40, 1 Peter 2:21-24). In fact, Isaiah 53 is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament more times than any other Old Testament chapter. 

The Suffering of Jesus

The heart of this prophecy is Isaiah 53:4-6. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 Yes, this Servant suffered for the guilty, though He was innocent. He took upon Himself our sins, our iniquities. He took our punishment for sin so we might have peace and healing. He kept the law perfectly and lived a sinless, spotless life that He, the perfect sacrifice, might reconcile us—bring us back to God! He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11, KJV) 

Endurance Through Jesus

What does this mean for us as believers? Among many things, let’s keep our eyes on Jesus! He’s the author and finisher of our faith. Let’s endure with patience the race before us. Let’s not grow weary in well-doing. Let’s consider Him who endured much to redeem us! (Heb 12:1-4)

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Isaiah 49-53.

A shocking ally!

Judah has allied with Egypt. Hum, wasn’t it God who delivered Israel from Pharaoh centuries ago? Didn’t he show Himself mighty in the plagues he brought against the superpower of Egypt? Didn’t God drown the Egyptian army in the Red Sea? Didn’t God deliver His people from their bondage and slavery?

In today’s reading, Judah has run to Egypt for protection against Assyria, whom God is raising to chasten his people for their sins. So God tells Judah through Isaiah, What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help, trusting their horses, chariots, and charioteers and depending on the strength of human armies instead of looking to the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. For these Egyptians are mere humans, not God! Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits!… (Isaiah 31:1, 3, NLT) Instead of repenting of their sin and turning to God for protection, Judah opts to remain in sin and ally with an old slave master. Wow! How shocking that the people once delivered from cruel bondage have run back to bondage. 

What a reminder! In the Bible, Egypt pictures the world. Before we were saved, were we not in bondage to sin, wondering hopelessly in a world that promised everything but always disappointed? Let us remember what God has done for us! But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession… “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. (1 Peter 2:9–11, NLT)

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Isaiah 31-34.

What a contrast!

Wow! The start of the book of Judges couldn’t be more opposite from the ending of the book of Joshua! Notice what Israel said to Joshua in Joshua chapter 24.

The people replied, “We would never abandon the Lord and serve other gods. For the LORD our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes. As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us. It was the Lord who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. So we, too, will serve the LORD, for he alone is our God.” (Joshua 24:16–18, NLT)

The generation speaking here in Joshua couldn’t and wouldn’t forget all the LORD their God had done for them.

Now, notice the following from the book of Judges.

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. (Judges 2:10–13, NLT)

After Joshua and the elders who outlived him had all died, the following generation thought the LORD God was not worth acknowledgment. While they enjoyed the blessing of living in a land God gave them, they were fascinated by and worshipped the gods of the people around them. Really!?

These gods that Israel went after couldn’t part a drop of water, a Red Sea, or a Jordan River! These gods couldn’t conquer an ant hill, let alone the land of Canaan! What, then, are these gods capable of? They can become as thorns in the side—and thorns they became! These are the gods for which Israel abandoned the LORD God. Wow!

There is a caution here for us as believers. Like Israel, how easily and quickly our hearts can turn away from God towards that which is not worth acknowledging! It is easy to remember less and less where God found us, the pit of sin and misery from which he lifted us up, and the rock upon which he set us. It is easy to become fascinated with the sophistication of this world and ashamed of the simplicity and power of the gospel. Thorns and distress quickly spring up because of compromise with the enemy!

How do we overcome this tendency for our hearts to turn away from God? The remedy is simple: it is the practice of remembering and being grateful to God for what Jesus has done for us! And what has He done for us that only He alone could do?

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24–25, NLT)

Oh, where would we be without God? What a contrast our lives would be! Let us love Him, the Great Shepherd of our souls!

Thank you for joining with me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Judges 1:1-2:23.

Holy!

In the reading this morning, we see an emphasis on contrasts. Moses addresses Israel with phrases like, “Since you are the people of the LORD your God…you have been set apart…chosen you from all the nations of the earth…His own special treasure.” In other words, they are the people of the LORD, set apart, chosen, and His treasure, in contrast to the other nations! This contrast, and specifically, how it sets them apart, is what it means for them to be holy!

You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure. (Deuteronomy 14:2, NLT)

…for you are set apart as holy to the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21, NLT)

This holiness is seen in Israel’s actions, thoughts, and worship, contrasting the nations around them. For example, the outward action of mourning for their dead was different (14:1). The thoughts they were not to have when helping the poor set them apart (15:10). In their worship, they were to rejoice in God! This was in contrast to nations around them that worshiped their gods in dread and fear (16:11).

What was the intended result of this holiness? It was to show God to the heathen around them! It was to glorify God in the eyes of the world! The world around them was desperate for the goodness of the one true and living God!

Believer, you and I are to be holy, too! We are to be separate. Our actions, thoughts, and worship should contrast the world. They are in a desperate situation! They are enslaved to the god of this world, blinded in their minds to God’s goodness, hopelessly wandering in the dark. Notice how the Apostle Peter explains it.

9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” 11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (1 Peter 2:9–12, NLT)

Is it our joy to show holiness to the world? Yes! May they see that our God is different! He is good, kind, patient, and desiring their repentance, that they perish not! God is life! He seeks to give life more abundantly, as He did to us! Let’s live, think, and worship with the joy of this holy contrast in mind! This holiness is precisely the difference that the world will notice. How shall they notice our God if they cannot discern our holiness?

Today’s chronological reading: Deuteronomy 14-16

God-drenched living!

While reading today’s chapters, the light bulb came on! Leviticus overwhelmingly describes a God-drenched, God-infused, God-saturated Israel! Every thread of their national fabric has God woven into it, from their priestly garments to their nationally observed festivals. Everything about Israel is about God! He rescued them from Egypt, set them apart from all other nations, and made them holy down to the last detail. They are a God-drenched people!

…I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy. It was I who rescued you from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 22:32–33, NLT)

And what is the outcome of this?

Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD… (Deuteronomy 33:29, ESV)

While that is great for Israel, how does this relate to us believers today? Using Old Testament terminology, the Apostle Peter says this about those who have come to God through Jesus Christ, the Savior.

…you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9–10, NLT)

Israel was to display God before the world; that is not hard to do when you are drenched with God! We, too, are to show the world the goodness of God, and when our identity is drenched in God, that is easy to do! Happy are we who have passed from darkness into light!

You are God’s very own possession! But does God saturate the details of your life? Are you living drenched in His identity? Do you and God go through your day, or do you try to do it alone? May the world see the goodness of God by seeing His goodness in our God-drenched lives!

Today’s reading: Leviticus 22-23 | Tomorrow’s reading: Leviticus 24-25