February 16, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced. Therefore I have set My face like flint. I know that I will not be put to shame. The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me! Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.” (Isaiah 50.7-9)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

Here is what Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mountainside that brings Old Testament prophecy to bear on the New Testament commissioning: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Rather, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Know this, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6.19-20) The Word is clear and the meaning is purposeful. As mighty ones of God, the choice and the call is unmistakable. We are to align ourselves with what is eternal lest we become not only a part of the world but returned to dust. Those individuals who seek to rule and reign the world on earth for the sake of doing so are bound to wear out and be devoured. Is this not the reality we see in the message of the Resurrection? Jesus aligned Himself with the eternal. Death could not devour Him and sacrilegious bitterness, jealousy and ignorance could not wear Him out. Paul’s inclusion of a part of an early Christain hymn being sung in the community of faith found in Ephesus, “Where, o death, is your victory; where, o death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (1 Corinthians 15.55) brings to mind the harmony of God’s prophetic promise and it’s fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Resurrected Christ, we see that His body, His Spirit and His ministry did not die. Though they were sorely challenged by death at the hands of both the Temple leadership and the Roman government, they were not destroyed, consumed nor overcome. The words of Hosea speak to this conjoining of Old and New Covenants. We read, “I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting?” The Apostle Paul surely knew of this prophecy as did the author of the Christian hymn. The presence of the Church already established in Ephesus was validation of the belief in God’s Word, salvation of the sinner made righteous by the death of Christ, and the trust in the One by whom righteousness had been fulfilled, Jesus of Nazareth- God’s only begotten Son.” John the beloved disciple of Jesus would become the Elder/Presbyter of Ephesus and the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. He would write in his gospel, “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son so that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He did not come into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3.16,17)

But there is more. If the discovery of the “Shroud of Turin” is truly authenticated, then that which is aligned with Christ further demonstrates an “everlasting” element. If it is not authenticated, it still bears witness to the belief in God’s prophetic word of an eternal purpose which God has provided for His people, those called by His Name according to His purposes on earth. In Isaiah (25.7-8) we read, “On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth.” What is our covering if not the banner, which we have already reflected upon in earlier chapters, of love and sovereignty of God. It is promised to be raised over us. Does this not remind us of Jesus’ teaching which John recorded (John 3.14-15) saying, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” For our spiritual healing and reconciliation in righteousness, Jesus was lifted up and we are covered by the blood of the Lamb, sealed in that covenant of blood for all eternity.

Let me invite you to consider this as I am praying and studying on it myself. In mentioning previously the covering of Adam and Eve with the lambskins so they would not be ashamed of their nakedness being from the lambs slain so that their sins would be forgiven by the “blood of the Lamb,” can we not also then believe that we, too, are covered? We may not bear the “Lamb’s skin,” that Lamb being Jesus. But, we do bear His likeness from the beginning of creation and are called to grow into His full measure and stature in body, mind and spirit. We are putting on the eternal so that we will not perish by death but be raised with Him after death having put on the imperishable as was Paul’s prelude to introducing the early hymn (1 Corinthians 15.53). This is no accident, mighty ones of God. This is the truth to which we are being led in the Spirit to know for ourselves. Those of the world will perish. They will not survive. They will have their day and then their day will come to an end. We, too, will have our day but it shall never end as long as we “keep the faith” and practice the covering of righteousness for God’s glory and the welfare of those around us. This is our discipleship as we follow the commands of Christ Jesus which He taught to His disciples and they through the generations which now come to us and through us to future generations until His glorious return. On that Day, the captives will fully be liberated and the people of God will be reconciled, reunited and restored. Let us live toward that Day believing today in the harmony of the gospel, the Law and the Prophets and our calling to be followers of Christ!

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

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free from death. So may we live by the name of Jesus our Christ. AMEN.