January 9, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance. Surely they will say of Me:

‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’” (Isaiah 45.22-24a)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Paul will write to the believers in Christ found in Philippi affirmation of their belief in Jesus using the prophesied promise of God to Israel by Isaiah. Their commonality is “…every knee shall bow and every tongue will profess….” Their commonality is also that it is a Word delivered to all who will believe and not just those from the House of David, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yes, in Isaiah, God reveals that He has chosen Cyrus, King of Persia and the Medes, to effect the justice of deliverance for Israel. The promise is extended to all who will believe that God has done this thing for Israel. It will be done for them as well. In the Philippian congregation, the promise is confirmed as well for the deliverance of Jews and Gentiles. Paul, a Jew, was chosen by the Resurrected and Glorified Jesus the Christ, a Jew, to share the good news of God’s favor, mercy and love. It is evidence to us that God’s will is for the salvation of His people; those who will call upon His name. We see that salutation in Isaiah 45.24a, “In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.“

In God alone! This is the measure of faith we must have. It asks of us to understand fully the nature, character and identity of God. We dare not lose sight of that measure. Jesus did not! He was always about His Father’s business. He understood His anointing to be the Christ. He chose that anointing. He chose it for us. His place in Heaven was secure. He was never going to forsake the will of His Father. We know of the story of the “one” who did forsake “the Father in Heaven” and took on his own will to be authoritative. His name was Lucifer, the Day Star. We also know the consequences of such. As if Jesus needed any reminder or inspiration to stay the course, this story speaks to us most of all. We have been shown “the way, the truth and the life,” just as we have been told of “the false way, the untruth and the unrighteous life.” How dare we limit what God can do! Our hope is in God alone. This is no slam on Jesus. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and in Him we have our hope, our righteousness and our salvation. But, if not for God we would have nothing.

This is our purpose, mighty ones of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, to bring the truth before all the world. It is not a dictate of our word but a command of God that all are given the opportunity to believe and receive the salvation of the Lord. If it were left to human beings, as we have seen evidence throughout history, this world would not be given. What would be? It would be a word of conformity. It was at the crux of the argument in the Church of Jerusalem between the Jews and the Gentile sympathizers. James, the brother of Jesus, had to lead the way in melding all believers into one people. They would not be separate by their Jewishness or the lack thereof. They would be of “one heart, one mind, one spirit.” Jesus demonstrated how that was possible. How? Because Jesus was first the Son of God. His allegiance was sworn to God who is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male or female. God did, however, reveal Himself to many nations. It was the nation that would come out of Abraham’s faithful commitment to honor God and pursue Him all the days of his life. Let us remember that Abram/Abraham was not Jewish either. He was a Chaldean from the city of Ur as his father before him. Yet, he heard the Word of God and responded faithfully to it. So are we to do the same!

In God alone! He is our strength and our salvation. We know this perfectly through Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Yes, on “that day,” when the name of Jesus is proclaimed in the Heavens, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. However, as in the days of Cyrus, as it has been in the history of Israel and the world, only those who believe it, walk by it and give their lives to it shall know the benefit and the blessing of that salvation. As for the rest, the curse of the “promise of salvation” is clear and woe to those who, as did Lucifer, forsake the call and the promise.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.