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Genesis 1:1

 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

 

            With the dawn of a new year, it is time to restart my annual Bible reading. I have returned to the Discipleship Journal plan, as this seems to be the best option for me. The plan draws from multiple places in Scripture—4 readings per day—thus allowing me to see Old and New Testament passages each reading. It also has only 25 readings per month, thus giving me the opportunity to catch up or to take weekend days off to read other select passages.

 

            As this day’s reading began, I found myself meditating on the first chapter of Genesis and even the first verse of the Bible. The concept of creation is something that we often skim right past. We know God made the heavens and the earth. We know that god spoke and light came into existence. We know these things, but do we really see the glory therein?

 

            Stop to consider, you cannot create. You can reshape and repurpose. You might even be able to recycle and reuse if you are feeling all environmentally responsible. But you cannot create something from nothing. You cannot make light shine in darkness with your words. You cannot make a universe come into being where there previously was none. You cannot make a planet by your will.

 

            Besides all this, you did not exist “in the beginning.” For God to have created the heavens and earth in the beginning he must exist beyond the beginning. He is before creation. HE is not created. He is not reliant on any other thing for his existence.

 

            Thus, as I consider the truths before me, I am reminded on this first day of the year that God is indeed great, holy, and beyond my comprehension. His power is matchless. He is greater than me, greater to an infinite degree. That greatness must cause me to honor him.

 

            The truth is, when we look at Genesis 1:1, we see the first and most important crisis of belief that we face. If this verse is true, if God really created all things in the beginning, then everything else in the Bible is believable. If it is true that God created all things in the beginning, then he holds the right of ownership over me. If this verse is true, God is my Lord, and I owe him my existence and my allegiance.

 

            So, as 2015 begins, I will simply declare that I believe this verse to be true. God is. God is creator. God is almighty. God is my Lord. And I pray that I will serve him faithfully in this year to come.

Colossians 1:11-12 (ESV)

 

¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

 

            There is a single word that grabbed my attention while reading these verses this morning, the word “qualified.” There are many words that I think I would happily and quickly apply to myself. However, qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints is a phrase that it takes a little courage to accept. Yet, according to God’s word, it is true of me and of all who have been found in Christ.

 

            What does it take to be qualified for the inheritance of the saints? Who is qualified for heaven? Or, put another way, who possesses the appropriate character and requirements to deserve entrance into God’s family? A quick look at Scripture would indicate that only the perfect actually qualify for heaven.

 

Psalm 24:3-4 (ESV)

 

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to what is false

and does not swear deceitfully.

 

            What that text tells us is that those who enter God’s presence must BE people of absolutely clean character. To qualify, you have to be clean. And, if any of us are honest, if that is the standard, we do not qualify.

 

            But then we see that God has qualified us in Christ. Something about knowing Jesus includes a qualification for God’s kingdom that none of us could manage on our own. Jesus qualifies the unqualified. He grants to us a record of perfection that we have never earned. This is not merely a forgiveness of our sins, but it is a legal record of being right, being perfect, being, justified.

 

 

            No, I am not foolish enough to even pretend that I have any perfection that is my own. But, I will also not be foolish enough this morning to argue with God’s word. Because of Jesus and Jesus alone, I have been called perfect by God. I have been qualified to enter his presence and be part of his family. This is grace, great and marvelous grace. And this kind of grace can change the way that any of us thinks about our own lives, our own place in God’s kingdom, and our own futures. 

Philippians 1:6

 

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

 

            Sometimes I read one of those most familiar of verses and find that it has grown in its beauty and meaning. I have no idea the first time I heard a church choir singing, “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” I know that it was a long time ago.

 

            But, I have to say that it is only over time and real life that this verse has truly grown in the beauty that it now holds for me. God is faithful. He does not fail to complete the work that he does in his people.

 

            I think that it is only when I have found myself struggling, my heart hurting, my confidence shaken, my successes minimal that I have found this verse and its promise so sweet. God will complete the work he started in me. No matter how frustrated that I can get with myself with not being perfected, there is hope, real hope. Though I fail and fall short, God will not lose me. Though I have never accomplished all that my foolish self-confidence has told me would be easy, God is not shaking his head at me and wondering if he can make something of me. No, he will complete the work that he started.

 

            Now, we need a little theology to make this beautiful. What is that work he began in his children? He began the work of ultimate redemption. This is the process from salvation, through sanctification, and to Ultimate glorification.

 

            At the cross, Jesus paid for my sins. At my salvation, that payment was applied in full. Also, Christ has traded me his righteousness for my sin, thus crediting my eternal account with the reward of perfect righteousness, a righteous alien to me since I could never live it myself.

 

            Then, from the moment of my salvation, God has been working on me. He changes me. I’m not good, not by far, but the work continues. From one degree to the next, God transforms me and conforms me to the image of his Son. There is still such a long way to go. This slow, step-by-step, 3-steps-forward-and-2-steps-back process is called sanctification. Sometimes it seems like it is working; sometimes it doesn’t. But God will not fail.

 

            Eventually, at my death or Christ’s return, God will complete the work. He will not lose me. He will not turn me away. He will not give up on me. Eventually, I say, God will transform me into a new person. Yes, I will still be me, but a me without sin. I will face no temptation. I will not fail again. He will have driven from me every vestige of sin until I can live forever with him in the state he intended from the beginning.

 

            All that theological stuff is great. It all is important. But it only becomes sweet when I realize just how much work he still has to do. Sometimes this process is wonderful. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it seems like it’s moving along swimmingly. Other times it seems like I’m not moving at all. This is simply true of the Christian life—it is not smooth or easy.

 

            And thus, I go back to my original statement. The verse above is sweet, very sweet. God will not fail. No matter how many times I fail, he will not. He is faithful. O, I want to please him. I want to experience his glory. I will not use my weakness as an excuse to live in a way that God has called sin. I will not sit back and give up and just assume that he will take care of it. I will work. But I know that only he can actually sanctify me. If I came to faith by God’s grace, I will only be sanctified by that same grace. The sweetness lies in the fact that I can remember that God will accomplish what he set out to do. He never, not ever, fails to fulfill his ultimate will. He who began a good work in me will complete it. He will complete his work in all who are his children by grace through faith in Christ.

Jeremiah 38:17-19

 

17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. 18 But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” 19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.”

 

            Here is a classic leadership dilemma. The king clearly has instructions given to him by God. At the same time, the king has every reason to expect that the people he rules will oppose his orders. What will he do?

 

            If you know the history of this nation, you know that this king will not prevent the city from being burned with fire. Thus, you already know what the king did. He feared the people more than the word of God. He sought security in public opinion more so than in the revelation of the Lord.

 

            I do not point this out to be cruel to King Zedekiah. Truly the position he was in was hard. And, were any of us in the same spot, I think we would be tempted too. It is so easy just to try to please everyone around you. It is easy to ignore the right for the sake of sparing conflict. “After all,” we rationalize, ”we are really trying to do what is good for the people as a whole.” WE do that while knowing that our goal is to save our own skin and to not lose the people in the process.

 

            But there is a greater lesson for all of us. Whether your spine is made of iron or is undetectable, there is still this truth: God has spoken. If God has spoken, then obedience to his word and his ways is the only option. Anything less, any compromise, is something that is terribly sad. It will not lead to good.

 

            Let me be honest. I know what it is like to fail to do what God says because of fear of man. I think we all do. I’m not claiming to be better than King Zedekiah. But I think we should learn from him. We should pray, asking God to fortify our character. We should plead with him to give us the inner strength to stand on his principles, regardless of the direction that our friends or our society would take us.

 

            Also, this passage and the failure of King Zedekiah reminds me of our great need for the gospel. None of us stands perfectly with the Lord. We all fail. We fail to do what is commanded. We fail to not do what is forbidden. We need grace. WE cannot stand before God without being covered by the mercy of Christ.

Isaiah 5:20 (ESV)

Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

 

            Sometimes you read a verse that rings with relevance as you come across it. Above is just such a word from God.

 

            We live in an age in which all sorts of moral questions are up for grabs in our society. Who has the power over life and death? What life is to be protected and what life is to be controlled by our volition? Who is to say what is right and wrong regarding our sexuality or our marriages?

 

            God pronounces woe on those who would dare call evil good or good evil. Woe is an important biblical term. It is an opposite or contrast to the word blessed. To be blessed is to receive spiritual life, goodness, or even happiness from God. To have woe is to receive spiritual death, badness, or sadness from God. Woe is akin to being cursed.

 

            God says that those who would flip-flop the distinctions between evil and good are under his curse. The same thing is clear in Romans 1 when Paul describes how the judgment of God arrives in his giving men over to their own evil desires. To determine our own morality apart from God is to find ourselves under his judgment.

 

            What then shall we do? The obvious things are important for starters. We need to define marriage, sexuality, and life issues as God does. We need to not call evil behaviors and godless thinking good. Instead, we need to learn to value the things that God values.

 

            But that is easy for many who are in the church. Most often we find ourselves feeling a little smug about how well our value systems line up with the things that God has said are good. And for that we need to go a little deeper. What has God called good? Do we really approve all that God approves? Do we really love all that God loves? Do we believe that God’s standards and God’s grace are the best? Or are we more the kind of people who get set in our traditions and add rules to God’s law in order to make things the way we are most comfortable?

 

            Let us learn from God. Let us love his word. Let us believe his standards are best. Let us reject the influence of any culture, no matter how vocal, as we seek to determine what is good and what is evil. Let us hear from God, trust God, and obey God in all aspects of life. Let us never approve what God calls evil. Let us never disapprove what God has not disapproved. Instead, let us love God and become more like him as we grow in Christ.

Psalm 105 24-25

 

24 And the Lord made his people very fruitful

and made them stronger than their foes.

25 He turned their hearts to hate his people,

to deal craftily with his servants.

 

            Here is a fascinating look at the way God works in his sovereignty. Psalm 105 recounts the mighty works of God through a part of Old Testament history. In it, we have a poetic look at the way God sent Joseph to Egypt and how God then rescued the people from Egypt.

 

            In the midst of the discussion of Israel’s time in Egypt we read the passage above. Notice what God did. In verse 24, we see that God gave his people success. But verse 25 shows how God worked among the Egyptians. The Bible says, “He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.” God, in his mighty and unsearchable plan, stirred up the Egyptians to hate his people in order that he might eventually bring about the salvation of the nation.

 

            If you were an Israelite of that generation, you might not think that God was doing you a favor here. I wonder how many of the people cried out to God, asking him to change the hearts of the Egyptians, especially the officials over them, so that the Egyptians would see the people of Israel with favor. But God was always working out something bigger. God was working the Egyptians up to a place where the Israelites would cry out for rescue. God was making it so that the Israelites would eventually follow Moses out of the land of Egypt. God was shaping things for the ultimate move toward Sinai, the Promised Land, and the fulfillment of covenant promises.

 

            The truth here is that God works things in much bigger ways than we might imagine and in stranger ways than we are wise enough to expect. God is wiser than us. He knows his plans His plans are good. Even if we do not understand them at the time, God is always on track. He will not fail. He will work through our circumstances, perhaps not to accomplish what we want, but always to accomplish his ultimate will for his greater glory. This is what is most important anyway.

 

            So, as you face things you do not like, be it hardship, decisions you dislike, or ugly circumstances, remember the sovereignty of God. He is always moving us to accomplish his purposes. His purposes are far bigger and better than ours. We can trust him. We can follow him. He may let us walk through hardships, but not without something that will work toward the accomplishment of something greater, whether we see that greater thing in our lifetime or not.

Revelation 16:4-7 (ESV)

4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,

“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,

for you brought these judgments.

6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,

and you have given them blood to drink.

It is what they deserve!”

7 And I heard the altar saying,

“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,

 

            God is glorified in his judgments. This is a truth that many of us fail to recognize as we talk about the mercy of God alongside is just wrath. Of course, we all want to see people saved from sin and judgment. We pray for, plan for, and work toward the salvation of the nations. We want to see people rescued.

 

            However, we do not want to be so confused about our Lord as to somehow think that he is not glorified as he judges those who have rebelled against him and who do not repent. God’s justice is good. God’s justice is perfect. God’s justice brings honor to his name.

 

            You might consider how God is glorified by judging those who oppose him. In fact, you might come up with many reasons this is true. God’s justice demonstrates that he will not let sin go unpunished. God’s justice shows that every crime that is ever committed against any person on earth will receive perfect justice—either in the judgment of the one who committed the crime or in the substitutionary atonement provided by Jesus on the cross. God’s judgment glorifies him as it displays his utter hatred for that which is evil.

 

            But the truth is, whether we naturally come up with the ways that the judgment of God honors him, and, truly, whether or not we naturally like these truths, we must first recognize that the Scripture teaches that God is praised in heaven for how he rightly judges those who oppose him. There needs to be a place in our theology to allow this truth to live. While we will do all that we can to try to protect people from the judgment of God by introducing them to the Savior, we cannot believe that rescue is the only thing that honors our Lord. God is God. God is perfect. He will be honored.

Psalm 96:5

 

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

 

            Sometimes a statement is made that is absolutely vital to how we think and behave. If that statement is true, everything changes. If that statement is false, everything changes. And Psalm 96:5 is one of those central statements.

 

            Consider that Psalm 96:5 declares 2 truths. First, it declares that all the gods worshipped by the nations who do not know the LORD are false. They are merely idols, powerless and false deifications of man’s imagination. Is this true? If it is, our entire worldview must fall in line with that fact.

 

            Then, in the appropriate poetic contrast, the verse declares that our God made the heavens. While idols are false, the LORD is God. Is this true? If so, one’s entire worldview must shift to match it.

 

            I know that we are covering elementary ground, but sometimes it helps to do so. If God is God, then all is his. If God is real, then all must come under his rule. If the gods of other nations are false, then no other religion is valid. This is not to say that we treat any with intolerance or violence, but it is to say that we know that these people are called by God to turn from their idolatry and to bow before the God who made them.

 

            So, the challenge is simple. Today, do you see that God is real? Do you see that the gods of other religions are false? Yes, this sounds politically incorrect. But, if it is true, then it must sound so.

 

            Lord, I believe that you are indeed God, the Maker of the heavens and earth. You are Lord, there is no other. All other gods are false. Only you are God. I pray that you will shift my world even this morning to help me to align myself with your purposes for your glory.

Jude 5

 

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

 

        Have you ever heard a person say to you that they believe there is a difference in “the God of the Old Testament” and “the God of the New Testament?” Or, have you ever heard people try to distinguish between the judging God of Old Testament times and the loving ways of Jesus? This is a tempting way to think at times, but it is also a completely false dichotomy.

 

        Jude, writing to the church about the love and the judgment of God, has something very interesting to say in verse 5 of his little one-chapter-book. Jude is clear that it was Jesus who rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt. Remember, of course, that Jesus has always been. God the Son has been a part of the Holy Trinity for eternity. And it was apparently the work of the Son to bring God’s people up out of Egypt.

 

        “Yes,” you say, “but that proves to us that Jesus is loving and maybe the Father is the judge.” But no, look at the end of verse 5. Jesus is also the One who, after rescuing the nation, “ from Egypt, “destroyed those who did not believe.” Jesus showed us the same pattern of both mercy and judgment that we have come to understand is part of the character of God.

 

        What are we to conclude? Jesus is God. And there is no division among the persons of the Godhead. God the Father is loving and just. God the Holy Spirit is loving and just. Jesus, God the Son, is loving and just. When you see the judgment of God on people in the Old Testament, know that this is the action of a completely unified God. When you see the mercy of Jesus in the New Testament, see that this is the action of a completely unified God. When you see Revelation picture the return of Jesus in power and judgment, know that this is the same God as we see in the Old Testament declaring himself to be the gracious and compassionate One who will not let the guilty go unpunished. God is God, perfect in his mercy and never failing in his righteous judgment. 

 

        Lord, as I see your work described here in Jude, I worship you. Jesus, you were active in rescuing Israel from Egypt. This reminds me that you are God, worthy of my praise and my life. You showed your mercy, and I am grateful. At the same time, Jesus, you judged those who tried to receive your benefits, but who had not truly trusted you. I see your justice, and I praise you for it. Help me to have a genuine trust in you so that I might always be under your mercy.