Jesus’ Triumphal Entry! Our Great Expectations? What About A King Paraded on the back of a Donkey? Matthew 21:1-11

Matthew 21:1-11 Amplified Bible

The Triumphal Entry

21 When they approached Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples [ahead], ²saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and at once you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. ³If anyone says anything to you, you should say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and without delay the owner will send them [with you].” ⁴This happened so that what was spoken by the prophet would be fulfilled, saying:

⁵
“Tell the daughter of Zion (the people of Jerusalem),
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Gentle and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

⁶Then the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them, ⁷and they brought the donkey and ^[a]the colt, and ^[b]placed their coats on them; and Jesus sat on the coats. ⁸Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road [as before a king], while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of Him, and those that followed Him, were shouting [in praise and adoration],

“^[c]Hosanna to the Son of David (Messiah);
Blessed [praised, glorified] is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!”

¹⁰When He entered Jerusalem, all the city was trembling [with excitement], saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Triumphal Entry? Great Expectations? A King on His Donkey?

At first observation after a few readings of this narrative account of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, I realized something about the two images disconnected.

The picture would have been perfect if Jesus had been riding a white horse, used in those days by warrior kings to symbolize conquering power, decisive victory.

But the narrator Matthew specifically highlighted: Jesus rode on the back of a donkey – the disciples celebrated and paraded their Messiah King on a donkey.

Why?

What image were they hoping, planning to project to the gathered crowds?

What were they expecting the gathering crowds to see and understand of this?

What of the gathering crowds at the gates of the city of Jerusalem?

What were their expectations of the coming of their “Messiah King?”

What were we expecting to see?

What “coming new thing” were we expecting to learn about or be reminded of?

An unarmed conquering warrior Itinerant Master Rabbi?

Long ago, prophet Zechariah said the Messiah would come in righteousness, riding on a donkey, a symbol of humility and peace (Zechariah 9:9 Amplified).

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King (Messianic King) is coming to you;
He is righteous and endowed with salvation,
^[a]Humble and unassuming [in submission to the will of the Father] and riding on a ^[b]donkey,
Upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Though most of the people would have probably seen Jesus fulfilling this prophecy as their Messiah (see also Psalm 118:25-26 Amplified),

²⁵
O Lord, save now, we beseech You;
O Lord, we beseech You, send now prosperity and give us success!
²⁶
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord [you who come into His sanctuary under His guardianship].

Jesus came in triumph into His city under God’s guardianship, they expected him to announce the arrival of a war of rebellion against Roman oppressors.

But he didn’t.

Instead he had no army behind him, nobody is waving any swords or spears.

He was not even armed with a spear or a sword nor did anyone hand him one!

Perhaps with expectations crushed that’s why the chanting crowds changed their tune from “Hosanna” to “Crucify him!” 5 days later (Matthew 27:22-23).

Matthew 27:22-23 Amplified Bible

²²Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all replied, “Let Him be crucified!” ²³And he said, “Why, what has He done that is evil?” But they continued shouting all the louder, “Let Him be crucified!”

Considering our state of current events, I don’t guess, and I wont prophesize that things will have actually changed much from then until now, have they?

People are still willing to rally around the banner of Christ if it goes along with their own interests, if their expected understanding of Christ comes to them as they always expected, approved because their expectations have been fully met.

We also desire, even to go so far as to expect we can maintain a good Christian confession while trying to avoid standing too close to the lingering shadows of the cross, or getting too close to actually running to the tomb to see emptiness.

But Jesus, the King who actually rode on an actual donkey, calls us to actually examine our much paraded walk with him as we come to the cross this Friday.

Center yourselves and dig deep and CRY,

“Am I just here for the Parade?“

Am I just coming along side of everyone else, because everyone else is here right now or everyone else is going along for the ride because it all looks so very interesting and might even be a measure of fun or something I and my business might profit from?

If I have to actually get serious about all this, to decide between God and my job, my reputation, something else in my life—will I also change my expectations?”

The celebration of Palm Sunday is about King Jesus riding to the cross in total obedience to his Father – about His grace and peace come by way of the cross.

Will we with our packed luggage of preconceived expectations receive him in the same way he was presented by the Gospel narrator Matthew in chapter 21?

Our Expectations – A Humble, Triumphant King?

Matthew 21:5-11 Amplified Bible

⁵
“Tell the daughter of Zion (the people of Jerusalem),
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Gentle and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

“^[c]Hosanna to the Son of David (Messiah);
Blessed [praised, glorified] is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!”

¹⁰When He entered Jerusalem, all the city was trembling [with excitement], saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus was getting near the end of His ministry.

He had been telling the disciples that He would be killed.

Now He comes riding into the city, sitting on donkey’s foal.

This was to fulfill a prophecy made by Zechariah.

Kings, leaders, presidents and others in high authority are known for arriving with a lot of pomp and circumstance – it is expected to show them great respect.

There is always a lot of fanfare going on to bring in someone of high leadership.

Whenever the President of the United States arrives at a building where he is going to speak, he arrives with a great fanfare and a great entourage of people.

There are multiple vehicles in front and behind him.

When he walks out into a room, there is always some music playing, people rise up for him, and He is announced.

The same goes for famous celebrities.

Standing room only crowds

There is a lot of pictures and videos being taken.

All kinds of busyness, posting and sharing activity across social media outlets.

Celebrities arrive in a large limousine.

There is flashing of jewelry and expensive clothing.

There are red carpets.

There are lots and lots of television and journalists, and paparazzi’s.

It is a show of pride and luxury, with no sign of humility.

In many countries, when their leader arrives, there is also a great show of their military power.

Soldiers, weapons, and military equipment tour d’ force go paraded before the visiting leader to show who is in control and who exactly has all the power .

Jesus did not do any of this.

He came in riding on a baby donkey.

In the biblical times, a king would arrive on a horse showing great power.

Jesus did not show any of that, even though He had more power than all the kings on the earth combined.

He created the earth and all who are in it (John 1:1-5).

John 1:1-5 Amplified Bible

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and ^[b]the Word was God Himself. ²He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. ³All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. ⁴In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. ⁵The Light shines on in the ^[c]darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

The purpose of His arriving in that way, was to show love and compassion.

He is a king who can understand where people are, so He comes in humility.

Most people do not have the grand horse to ride on, but just have the donkey.

Even today, our Savior, our King Jesus comes to you in love and compassion.

He does have the power, but will not show a force of threat to get you to follow.

Jesus wants you and me to want to follow Him.

He understands where we and our “great expectations” are and is there for you.

As we proceed through this Holy Week,

Let’s take a slightly longer look at our “great expectations,”

our Godly versus Worldly priorities;

Matthew 6:33Amplified Bible

³³But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

He is not unapproachable.

He is not unknowable.

He is not unreachable.

He is not untouchable.

Do not fear your king.

Do not fear your Savior.

He is gentle.

He is always and forever in and within our very midst …

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

1. Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

___Charles Wesley___ 1707-1788

I pray today that you will know this Jesus riding on the donkey’s back as your king; you will know Jesus is gentle and loving; that you and I will seek him as he seeks you and me to find Jesus in our life; that we will show His love and humility in your life. Lord Jesus, may we ever so lovingly and willingly obey you and joyfully follow you, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, Savior of us all, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

I Have a Testimony! Why Is the Approaching ‘Lamb of God’ So Significant to Me? John 1:29-34

John 1:29-34 Amplified Bible

²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God ^[a]who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’ ^31 [b]I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah]; but I came baptizing ^[c]in water so that He would be [publicly] revealed to Israel.” ³²John gave [further] evidence [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], saying, “I have seen the ^[d]Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ³³I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah], but He who sent me to baptize ^[e]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this One is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I myself have [actually] seen [that happen], and my testimony is that this is the Son of God!”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

The Preacher, with an inviting tone, filled the air with, “Who wants to testify about the goodness of the Lord?”

Testimonies of the goodness of God are a sure and certain motivation for the saints of God to keep going forward when the struggles in life weighed heavy.

John the Baptist had a sure, certain testimony about the goodness of God.

John 1:29-34 declares God has invaded the world in the person of Jesus Christ.

John 1:29-34 gives every Christian a sure and certain model testimony that we can draw powerful inspiration from, to learn to give about our own life journey.

First, John the Baptist knew instantaneously that in the salvation business, his ministry was decisively limited, only the perfect Lamb of God can take away sin.

Second, John the Baptist surely and certainly accepted the role of second chair.

He declared without hesitation that he absolutely was not the main thing.

John the Baptist unequivocally said, “A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”

He was a humble servant to Jesus.

Third, John the Baptist gave a testimony of what he saw and experienced.

Without hesitation, the story John the Baptist told throughout his ministry is this: “I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

On this day before Palm Sunday, we too will have a powerful and inspiring testimony: tell your family and friends the story of Jesus, the Lamb of God!

That is our Witness!

That is our Testimony

That is our Coming Story!

“BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKETH AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD”

Why Is the ‘Lamb of God’ So Significant To Us?

The Bible talks about the “Lamb of God” and often features imagery about lambs.

Spiritually, the Lamb of God is incredibly significant because it expresses the core of our faith.

In these our most contemporary of times, two thousand years after the words of John were first spoken and resoundingly declared, our learning why the Lamb of God is so significant can inspire us too with awe, to deepen our trust in Jesus.

Who is the Lamb of God?

The phrase “Lamb of God” is a name given to Jesus in the Bible.

The Bible first mentions the Lamb of God in John 1:29, John sees Jesus and declares, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”.

John the Baptist continues to testify about Jesus and concludes in John 1:34: “I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

Whenever the Lamb of God appears in the Bible, it refers to Jesus.

What Does the “Lamb of God” Mean?

Jesus as the Lamb of God expresses significant theological and symbolic meaning.

It highlights the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ mission as the world’s Savior.

Just as lambs – gentle animals who symbolize purity – were offered as sacrifices in the Old Testament to atone for sins, Jesus served as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of humanity.

The phrase “Lamb of God” refers to Jesus as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice provided by God for the single perfect atonement of all the sins of his people.

Why Is the “Lamb of God” So Significant?

Relating to Jesus as the Lamb of God shows us the heart of why our faith is important.

It is only by trusting Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins we can connect with a holy God.

Otherwise, we would perish.

John 3:16 celebrates the love behind this core sacrifice: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:17 declares God’s intent behind this core sacrifice: “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.”

It’s important for us to trust Jesus’ work as the Lamb of God in order for us to be able to enjoy relationships with God and grow in holiness and gentleness.

Apostle Paul wrote, “For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Sacrifice is necessary because, as Hebrews 9:22 says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

The entire sacrificial system established by God in the Old Testament prepares the way for Jesus coming to save the world as the Lamb of God.

In that system, lambs were often sacrificed in temples as offerings to God to atone for people’s sins.

A lamb was sacrificed for the sins of the people every morning and evening in Jerusalem (Exodus 29:38-42).

These sacrifices foreshadowed the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross that would happen later.

Interestingly, Jesus died on the cross at the same time the evening sacrifice was being made in the temple.

The Jews at that time were familiar with the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, who foretold the coming of someone who would be led “like a lamb to the slaughter” (Jeremiah 11:19 and Isaiah 53:7).

Isaiah 53:5-6 prophesies about how Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice will redeem people: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace [Isaiah 26:1-3] was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

This person was none other than Jesus, the Lamb of God.

God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb for the Passover feast (Exodus 12:1-30).

The innocent lamb represented purity, and its sacrifice was a symbol of repentance and submission to God’s will.

Similarly, Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross at Calvary to save humanity from sin shows he is the Lamb of God who makes the ultimate sacrifice necessary to ultimately and finally connect woefully sinful humanity to a perfectly holy God.

In fact, the slaying of the Passover lamb and applying its blood to the doorposts of the houses powerfully depicts Jesus’ atoning work on the cross.

If we trust Jesus as our Savior, we are spiritually covered by his blood, which protects us from spiritual death.

Romans 8:1-4 explains how Jesus’ physical sacrifice has made spiritual freedom possible for people:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Since humanity had sinned in the flesh (physically), and our holy God can’t be corrupted by sin, through Calvary, God made a way for our sins to be atoned for physically so we would no longer be separated from Him because of our sins.

Jesus’ work as the Lamb of God made it possible for all people to enjoy loving relationships with God, despite sin.

1 Peter 1:18-19 celebrates that redemptive work: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

Jesus has provided all we need to be forgiven forever for all of our sins, and he serves as our advocate for everything we need.

The entire chapter of Hebrews 10 describes the importance of Jesus’ work as the Lamb of God who takes away our sins.

As Hebrews 10:10 proclaims: “… we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Now, there is no need to sacrifice animals like lambs to God in a temple, because Jesus has provided an everlasting sacrifice on our behalf so we can enjoy relationships with God.

The chapter goes on to encourage us to persevere in our faith with confidence because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for us:

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Not only does the Bible look back to Jesus’ crucifixion as the Lamb of God, but it also looks forward to Jesus as the Lamb of God in heaven.

Revelation 5:6 describes Jesus in heaven as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain.”

This image reinforces the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ mission and emphasizes the victory he achieved through his sacrifice.

A few verses later in Revelation 5:11-13,

the Bible reveals all created beings in heaven and earth – angels, people, and other creatures – worshiping Jesus for his work as the Lamb of God:

“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’”

This passage shows the importance of our own selves learning, appreciating, the indescribable wonder of God’s work and responding to it with gratitude.

Revelation 7:9 shows Jesus in heaven as the Lamb of God, with a huge amount of people whose souls had been redeemed thanks to his sacrifice on earth:

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

An angel explains to the apostle John in Revelation 17:14 that Jesus, the Lamb of God, will defeat evil and reign victorious over the universe:

“They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings – and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

Significance of Jesus as the Lamb of God Conclusion

The Lamb of God refers to Jesus as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for sin.

The significance of the Lamb of God speaks to the core message of Christianity:

that through Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary, we can be reconciled to God and receive forgiveness for our sins.

The Lamb of God is undeniably significant and central unto the Christian faith!

Because it emphasizes Jesus’ sacrificial mission and symbolizes his innocence, purity, and victory over sin and death.

As we approach tomorrow, the umpteenth time of our “holding up our palm branches, shouting our Hosannas” celebrating Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem;

As we reflect on the meaning of the Lamb of God, may we be inspired to the utmost by the great love God has for us, the price that Jesus paid to redeem us.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Loving Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus as the true Lamb of God Who has taken away all my sins. I am so thankful that Jesus died on the Cross for me, becoming the only perfect substitute for my sins. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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A Ransom Paid in Full: Reflecting, Understanding, the Justice of God. Matthew 20:24-28

Matthew 20:24-28 Amplified Bible

²⁴And when the [other] ten heard this, they were resentful and angry with the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles have absolute power and lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them]. ²⁶It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your [willing and humble] slave; ²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [paying the price to set them free from the penalty of sin].”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Background: He Who Has Ears, Let Them Hear …

Matthew 20:17-19Amplified Bible

Death, Resurrection Foretold

¹⁷As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve [disciples] aside, and along the way He said to them, ¹⁸“Listen carefully: we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), and they will [judicially] condemn Him and sentence Him to death, ¹⁹and will hand Him over to the Gentiles (Roman authorities) to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and He will be raised [to life] on the third day.”

On the journey to Jerusalem Jesus predicts that his death will take place there.

Jesus takes his disciples aside to report to them that it will include wholesale betrayal, humiliation and condemnation by the religious leaders of his people.

Those who should be welcoming him as the promised Messiah will instead sentence him to suffering and death, thoughtlessly handing him over to to a brutal time and season of mocking, flogging, and crucifixion by the Romans.

Then Jesus also shockingly predicted that he would rise again three days after!

But it seems that after hearing the predictions about Jesus’ suffering and death, the disciples somehow tuned out.

It’s as if they missed hearing the promise that “on the third day” he would be “raised to life!”

When the time came and Jesus died on a cross, the disciples were a despondent group of followers wondering about the suddenness what had just happened.

As predicted, in the Garden of Gethsemane they scattered in fear, at the arrival of the Temple Authorities unjustly leaving the burial, preparations to others. (See Matthew 26:56; 27:45-28:10.)

In this critical moment, there was no expectation of Jesus’ coming to life again!

In our own day and age, considering the number of years which have come, and passed us by since those events transpired, is our own “hearing” any different?

As we again, for the umpteenth time approach Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, as we again come to the umpteenth recitation and those sermons of Palm Sunday, as we again try to come to realization of what we know is to come, has already transpired, has already been written and narrated – why is any of this relevant?

We have not heard with our own ears the actual voice of Jesus as the disciples.

We could not immediately begin the process of giving it our fullest attention.

We could not be stunned in the same way as the disciples were upon hearing it.

We could not be apathetic or excited or wondering or stunned or any of that.

We did not talk, or walk, hear or listen to and with Jesus in that moment – in a more contemporary colloquial sense of the moment – “walk and chew gum and do everything else (preparing ourselves for the Passover) all at the same time.

Nowadays, we do not all concern ourselves to prepare to celebrate the Passover.

We are not looking for donkeys or mules or horses to ride to be paraded about.

We are not looking for “Upper Rooms” – Just sanctuaries inside our churches.

No Gardens of Gethsemane …

It is doubtful to the utmost we are worried about our running away naked in the middle of the night with thoughts of running away, betraying our own Savior.

Jesus will not be arrested again.

He will not be betrayed, mocked and humiliated in such a horrible way again.

We will not have to subject ourselves to the sight, witnessing him dying again.

All these things have already come to pass and by faith we believe and accept it.

Now, what experiences do we have to substitute for those of what the disciples witnessed first hand, experienced to the utmost first hand, threatened by too?

We hear pandemic, dire economic warnings or a doctor’s frightening diagnosis, and we’ll soon forget Jesus’ words: “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).

We experience ridicule or rejection and forget that God’s Word warns that we may be called to share in Christ’s sufferings (John 15:18-20; Romans 8:17).

Facing them throughout the year is hard enough, but how much of that effort includes an intense time of self examination, reflection upon the Cross itself?

Facing them mutually, letting God work, let’s remember Jesus was raised to life.

We know what happened then to Jesus – three days later, as promised, he arose!

Our belief in the Resurrection of our Savior is core central to our Christian faith.

Yes! We absolutely love and live for and utmost sacrificially serve a risen Savior!

But the lingering question, the utmost intense question we probably devote so precious little of our time to study, reflecting upon: what relevance is the Cross?

A Personal Reflection: Why the Cross?

^24-28When the ten others heard about this, they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers. So Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”

Why does Jesus take his disciples aside to shock, awe them with his prophecy?

Why are such momentous words and such miraculous history transforming events still to be read and found, studied and prayed over and celebrated too?

Why is such a detailed, embarrassing account of the failure of the disciples?

Why do we celebrate ourselves being re-subjected to these terrible moments?

To give us another opportunity to run away from Jesus, recoil from them, him?

To mostly learn and then relearn to repeatedly avoid re-living the indescribable intensity of those moments, to make them our own as God repeatedly call us to?

Why the ugliness of the Cross … to learn, to relearn to hug its wondrous beauty?

Why such an intense concentration, centralized focus on the Cross at Calvary?

Why such an ugly, not so gentle, intentional, purposeful, graphic reminder?

Why didn’t God simply say, “Look, everyone, I know you have sinned against Me, but I am going to pardon you right now. It’s okay. I forgive all of you!”

God didn’t do that because it doesn’t work with His nature and character.

The justice of God requires obedience and sacrifice.

He could not accept us into fellowship with Himself unless we paid the penalty—or someone paid it on our behalf.

Romans 3:25 tells us, “For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past” (NLT).

The cross demonstrates the ultimate expression of the justice of God.

At the cross of Calvary, the love and justice of God met.

Yes, God had to satisfy His justice.

The Scriptures say, “The person who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:20 NLT), “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 NLT), and “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 NLT).

God was saying, “My righteous requirements must be met.

But I love humanity beyond their ability to acknowledge, fully measure and comprehend, and there is no way they can do it on their own.

So, I must, and I WILL help them.”

Therefore, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to bridge the gap. (John 3:16-17)

This is why Jesus Christ is the only way to God.

People like to say that all roads lead to God.

People also like to say that the road to hell is paved with our good intentions.

It really concerns me when I hear Christians parrot statements to that effect.

There is only one path.

There is only one way.

If that were not true, then why did Jesus have to die?

If all roads lead to God, then why did Jesus go through the indescribable anguish, the immeasurable humiliation, torture, and pain of the cross?

Matthew 20:26-28 Amplified Bible

²⁶It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your [willing and humble] slave; ²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [paying the price to set them free from the penalty of sin].”

The primary reason Jesus came to this earth was to save us, to die for our sins.

Paid in Full

Jesus’ mission was a matter of “search and rescue.”

He came to seek and save those who were lost (Luke 19:10).

He not come to be served but to serve, give his life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:42-45 Amplified Bible

⁴²Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their powerful men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them]. ⁴³But this is not how it is among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first and most important among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ^[a]ransom for many.”

He fulfilled that mission by giving his life at Calvary “as a ransom for many.”

As Jesus hung on the cross and spoke the words “It is finished” (John 19:30), he was announcing that his mission was now accomplished.

Because he was obedient and faithful to His Father, offered his perfect life as the sacrifice for sin, God was pleased to welcome home all his lost children!

https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/jhn/19/30/t_conc_1016030

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5055/esv/mgnt/0-1/

The brief sentence “It is finished” translates from just a single word teleō in the original Greek text.

The same word was used by shopkeepers to announce that someone’s bill was finally paid.

When the final payment was made on a purchased item, the merchant would say “Tetelestai” (“It is finished”) – in other words, the debt was paid in full.

When I made the last payment on the first car I ever bought, I remember how good it felt to see the bank teller stamp “Paid in Full” on my loan documents.

Never again would another payment be required!

As Jesus said “It is finished” on the cross, he was assuring us that his mission was complete.

He had paid in full all the costs required for our sin.

And when we faithfully focus our lives, when we centralize our lives now place our full faith-filled trust in him, our debt for sin is forever wiped off the books!

On that Hill far away, stood an Old Rugged Cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Loving Lord, I praise and thank You for Jesus, my Mighty Savior and Servant King. Lord, today I pour out my life as an offering to You. I pray that I would serve You wholeheartedly and my service would bless those around me and be a witness to bring many to the knowledge of salvation in Jesus. O God, thank you that Jesus has bought salvation for me! He has done everything needed for me to know you, love you, and serve you now and forever! Amen. Thank You that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for me and for all who would believe in His name. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Let Us All Give Thanks To God For Our Foundation of Hope! Colossians 1:3-8

Colossians 1:3-8 Amplified Bible

³We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we pray always for you, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [how you lean on Him with absolute confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness], and of the [unselfish] ^[a]love which you have for all the saints (God’s people); ⁵because of the [confident] hope [of experiencing that] which is reserved and waiting for you in heaven. You previously heard of this hope in the message of truth, the gospel [regarding salvation] ⁶which has come to you. Indeed, just as in the whole world the gospel is constantly bearing fruit and spreading [by God’s power], just as it has been doing among you ever since the day you first heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth [becoming thoroughly and deeply acquainted with it]. ⁷You learned it from [our representative] Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf ⁸and he also has told us of your love [well-grounded and nurtured] in the [Holy] Spirit.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

The Root Of Our Hope Is Our Savior Jesus

It’s wonderful when someone comes into the kingdom of God.

That person receives God’s gift of grace through faith in Jesus, and they begin a new life of walking with the Holy Spirit.

The new believer realizes that the full measure of their “sacred cow” plans for their old life of selfish pursuits offers them nothing that will ever satisfy them.

By their new hope in Christ Jesus, they have turned their back on the darkness and are enjoying the light of the world, Savior Jesus – Praise God for his love!

Paul is filled with thanks to hear that the people of Colossae have come to faith in Christ Jesus and are showing their love for all God’s people.

He even says, “We always thank God . . . when we pray for you . . .”

They have become wonderful examples of living by faith in Jesus.

They believe and trust, they love, and they hope in what God has already stored up in heaven for them.

Drawing all this together, today we can echo with great assurance with Paul that the new faith of the Colossian believers is decisively rooted in Jesus Christ.

Friends, my prayer is you will have faith in Christ Jesus; my hope for you is that in Jesus’ name you are loving others, giving yourself up for them, and growing in hope in all that God has promised and is storing up for you and me in heaven.

Stay rooted in Christ, stay united in His hope anticipating the reality of our own resurrection, the reality of God’s coming kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

The Hope of Resurrection Brings Us All Together

What is the basis for Christian unity?

What is the basis for being able to correct another believers doctrine?

What is the foundation of love and faith in the Christian life?

Paul answers these questions in the beginning of his letter to the church at Colossae.

In the beginning of Colossians, Paul teaches that the basis of Christian faith and love is hope.

We can view hope as elemental to the gospel message, proclaimed to all who believe.

This foundation of hope in the gospel unites us with other believers, for all believers share the same foundation of the message of Christ.

From those foundations proceed faith and love, essential to the character of believers.

Faith And Love As Reasons For Giving Our Thanks

Paul thanks God for the faith and love evident in the church at Colossae.

The believers at Colossae were believers in Christ Jesus, found in Him and known by Him.

Their faith set them on the side of light.

For, Christians have been rescued from darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of the Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13-14).

The Incomparable Christ

¹³For He has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption [because of His sacrifice, resulting in] the forgiveness of our sins [and the cancellation of sins’ penalty].

Faith is what made these believers dwell in a new understanding about life, truth, what matters on this earth, and what matters for times to come.

And Paul even heard about the faith of the Colossians, so completely notable was their expression of it.

Paul also heard about the love that believers had for the saints.

The believers had love for their fellow believers, and this was an outworking of the eternal truths of the gospel.

Their love is further identified in the letter as being “in the Spirit” (Colossians 1:8), the mark of its veracity.

Paul notes the rich and beautiful Christian love of the Colossian church:

Colossians 2:1-3 Amplified Bible

You Are Built Up in Christ

2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at ^[a]Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face. ²[For my hope is] that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in [unselfish] ^[b]love, so that they may have all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding [the joy of salvation], resulting in a true [and more intimate] knowledge of the ^[c]mystery of God, that is, Christ, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [regarding the word and purposes of God].

Paul will ultimately write to the church at Colossae about heresy creeping in, and with that in mind, he writes he desires the body of Christ to be encouraged together with hearts unified in love.

This is Paul’s desired way for the church to have reception of truth and correction of error: to write to a church about these matters who is knit together in the love of Christ.

Then, they would be able to further share in the genuine message of Christ, separate truth from error, and have the full experience of Christ leading and guiding in truth amidst His very own body at Colossae.

No wonder Paul thanks God for the love he sees in the saints at Colossae: it gave him genuine confidence about the message of correction he would be sharing.

That love in the context of faith was made possible by the foundation of hope in Christ and Christ alone present in the church.

The Hope of the Gospel in Us

Hope as a Foundation

Paul credits hope as the foundation for the believers’ virtues. Hope is the basis for Christian faith and love.

Hope is the basic element of the faith — that we have a future with Christ through the truth of the gospel.

And hope is the basis for Christian love — that we have a future with One who unites all believers.

Faith springs from the message of hope. Love flows through the message of hope because the message is what unites the church, one to another.

Hope from the Gospel

Hope comes from the gospel, the word of truth.

The hope of the gospel is restored union and communion with Jesus Christ, the God who made us.

Colossians 1:27 says that Jesus Christ in us is the hope of glory.

Surely this is the center of Paul’s message in the opening words of his letter.

Hope is the basis for faith and love — and the basis for this hope is that we have restored relationship with Jesus Christ.

This relationship means we have a future of even closer communion with Jesus when we are one day with Him in glory.

Hope Passed On

The word of truth is learned through the teaching of another.

The gospel is passed from person to person through teaching.

Hope becomes passed through the fellowship and instruction of other believers.

Not only had Paul and this church not met face-to-face, so it was with many believers spread throughout the world.

The gospel — the hope of Christ — spreading is an encouraging point of union between Paul and the church a Colossae.

Their shared hope is spread by Jesus Christ who would surely build His church (Matthew 16:18).

Hope is the foundation from which virtues spring and is testified to in the gospel of Christ.

The Blessed Unity of Believers’ Shared Foundation of Hope

Because Paul and his fellow believers at Colossae had a strong foundation of hope — with evidence he could hear about — he is solidified in his union with them through Christ.

Paul’s Connection with the Church at Colossae

Paul uses this expression of prayer-filled thanks to establish his unity with the church at Colossae.

He would be writing to warn against heresy creeping into the church.

But at this juncture, He is establishing truths about the faith, love, and hope that are basic to the Christian message.

He heard about this church’s faith through Epaphras, not being a church that he planted.

But he had thanksgiving-filled unity with this church nonetheless because of the message of the gospel.

Paul’s Connection with All Churches

With thanks, Paul indicates that the message of the gospel was spreading throughout the world — and not only through Paul’s ministry.

What joy that these Christians could receive a message of warning through Paul based on Christian gospel unity — and not based upon personal connection.

Many could, and indeed would, be wary to receive correction from someone not personally known, but Paul would deliver this message faithfully and with great hope that it would prayerfully be received well by those he had never even met.

Through the unity of the gospel and on the basis of broad Christian unity through Jesus Christ, Paul would be proceeding with his message of correction.

Suggested Points of Meditation and Application

As we consider Paul’s opening comments of the letter to the Colossians, we can note hope as the central theme, and basis for his commitment and unity with the church members.

This commitment and unity comes from a heart that shares the indwelling of Christ Jesus through the ministry of the Holy Spirit with fellow believers.

As you take these teachings to heart, pray over the following application points:

1. Strengthen your understanding with conviction in the hope that you have

2. Ensure that you are loving others in the church because of the hope that you share from the hope to be found only in resurrection of our Savior Christ Jesus.

3. Know that your hope means your faith is in a different world, for a different life to come. John 17:6-12 Amplified.

⁶“I have manifested Your name [and revealed Your very self, Your real self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept and obeyed Your word. ⁷Now [at last] they know [with confident assurance] that all You have given Me is from You [it is really and truly Yours]. ⁸For the words which You gave Me I have given them; and they received and accepted them and truly understood [with confident assurance] that I came from You [from Your presence], and they believed [without any doubt] that You sent Me. ⁹I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You; ¹⁰and all things that are Mine are Yours, and [all things that are] Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them. ¹¹I am no longer in the world; yet they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. ¹²While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and protected them, and not one of them was lost except ^[a]the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

4. Trust a shared foundation of hope with other believers provides a foundation for doctrinal correction—should you ever be placed in the position of giving or receiving such correction

5. Be ever more thankful to God than to humanity for the unity of the gospel being spread throughout the world.

Resurrection of Hope

It’s not the experience of hope but the object of hope that is stored up for us in heaven–and that gives rise to faith and love, says the apostle Paul.

Colossians 1:27, Paul talks about “the hope of glory,” meaning the final unveiling of our salvation, when “righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10).

This grand source of hope does not mean we ignore this present life.

Instead, this hope encourages love.

In a sermon on this text, author John Piper says,

“Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love.”

He adds, “It’s not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort that do that, and the power to sever those cords is Christian hope.”

To live in the utter certainty, centrality of the hope of His coming glory, frees us all from greed and bitterness, despair and laziness, from impatience and envy.

Being fully captivated by this future Paul says we’ve heard about in the gospel empowers, inspires, moves us forward against the tsunami’s of culture, to give us grace to live in faith and in love to become examples of God’s new creation.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

In your kingdom, Lord,
there are no favourites,
all are equal,
all carry the image
of the one who made all things,
and all are welcome in your home.
You forgive those who in humility
make the journey to repentance,
even those who now reject you.
Such love, Such faith, Such hope,
beyond our imagining.
Such love, Such faith, Such hope,
that could die for us.
Such love, Such faith, Such hope,
sown into hearts,
that we might display its beauty
through hopeful lives and hope-filled words.
Thank you Lord!

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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God’s Plan For Us All: We Should Each Come to Know God, As God Knows, Us. 2 Peter 3:8-9

2 Peter 3:8-9 Amplified Bible

⁸Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. ⁹The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Amen.

Many of God’s plans are detailed throughout the Bible.

He has plans for nations, for people groups, and for individuals.

Isaiah 46:10–11 summarizes what God wants us to know about His plans:

“My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.”

It’s one thing to recognize that God has an overarching plan for the world; it is quite another to acknowledge that God has a specific life plan for each person.

Many places in Scripture indicate that God does have a specific plan for each human being.

It starts before we are conceived.

Lord told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

God’s plan was not reactive, a response to Jeremiah’s conception.

It was preemptive, implying that God specially formed this male child to accomplish His plan.

David underscores this truth: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).

Unborn children are not and never will be accidents.

They are being formed by their Creator for His purposes.

That is one reason abortion is wrong.

We have no right to disrespect God’s plan and violate God’s workmanship by killing a child He is in the process of forming and shaping into His Image.

God’s plan for every human being is that each one comes to know Him and accept His offer of salvation (2 Peter 3:9).

He created us for fellowship with Him, and, when we reject the reconciliation He offers, we live at cross purposes with His plan for us.

Beyond salvation, God also designed good works for each of us according to our gifts, strengths, and opportunities (Ephesians 2:10).

He orchestrated the location, time into which each of us is born (Psalm 139:16).

If He knows the number of hairs on our heads, then He knows us better than we know ourselves (Luke 12:7).

He knows the gifts, talents, strengths, and weaknesses He gave us, and He knows how we could best use them to make an eternal impact.

He gives us opportunities to store up treasure in heaven so that, for all eternity, we can enjoy His reward (Mark 9:41; Matthew 10:41–42).

God’s plan for each person is generally stated in Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

His plan is for relationship over duties.

When we walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25), enjoying a loving relationship with the Lord, our actions indicate that closeness.

Pleasing Him is our delight.

His plan unfolds naturally as we grow in faith, mature in knowledge, and practice obedience with all we understand.

As we obey His general plan for His children, we discover His uniquely designed plan for us individually.

We know God’s plan for those who know Him includes reaching others with the good news of reconciliation and salvation (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 5:20).

His plan is for His children to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).

He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18).

He wants us to love other Christians the way He loves us (John 13:34).

As we diligently read, and study and follow His Word, we will discover our own spiritual gifts and abilities that specially suit us to serve Him in unique ways (2 Corinthians 12:4–11).

God’s plan unfolds in our lives as we use all we have exclusively for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).

We often become impatient in wondering what God’s plan is for our lives.

But it is not as complicated as we make it out to be.

God’s plan for us is revealed a little at a time as we follow Him, and His plan may look different in different seasons of life.

Hypothetically …

A middle aged person working hard to support the responsibilities of career and family, an older person working hard to successfully get into their retirements.

An already retired person looking to quietly move and gradually settle into their “time away” years, a young person may ask God to direct their steps to His plan for their lives and believes college or vocational training is part of that plan.

But halfway to their happiness and joy through their plans for themselves, they fall ill and must spend an extended and unknown period of time to rest, recover.

Are they now out of God’s plan?

Not if their hearts and souls are set to focus exclusively upon Him.

In that time of rest and recovery and rehabilitation, the young women meets a young man who becomes her husband.

They both love the Lord and desire to serve Him and believe that His plan for them is some ministry or mission field which they have had their hearts upon.

They begin planning and preparation, but halfway through the training, she becomes pregnant with what becomes an unplanned high-risk pregnancy.

Did they miss God’s plan?

Does the Lord have a plan to forsake them?

Has the Lord got a “plan B” to abandon them when things go awry?

Will the Lord abandon or forsake the middle aged person when plans change?

Will the Lord subtly or suddenly turn His face or His back unto the aged when their lives subtly, or suddenly become diverted by health or financial concerns?

Will the Lord change His plan for everyone to come to know Him in these times or from these times and seasons?

Not at all.

Proverbs 16:1-4 English Standard Version

16 The plans of the heart belong to man,
    but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
²All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
    but the Lord weighs the spirit.^[a]
³Commit your work to the Lord,
    and your plans will be established.
⁴The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
    even the wicked for the day of trouble.

We must recall, God guides and Shepherds us in and unto HIS plan not our own.

The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

The Lord alone is the one who weighs the spirit.

Commit your work unto the Lord and your plans will be established.

The Lord has made everything for its purpose.

The Lord alone has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:10-13 English Standard Version

¹⁰I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; ¹³also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

All this is of God, from God alone, to fulfill God’s own purpose, plan for them.

Hypothetically,

Perhaps because of their experience caring for a child with special needs, they are able to get closer to God and minister to other families with similar needs.

A person coming through the harsh reality of a Cancer diagnosis may find the need to share their experiences with treatment and surgery – to give comfort.

Whatever was “their planned mission field” will subtly, suddenly look much different from the one they had envisioned, but it is now God’s plan for them.

Hopefully, Prayerfully, Faithfully, Lovingly so …

They are able to look back and see God’s hand in every turn along their way.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 English Standard Version

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

⁹Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. ¹⁰The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

¹¹The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. ¹²My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

¹³The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.^[a] ¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment, with^[b] every secret thing, whether good or evil.

“Will God please make up His and my mind so I will know what I am to do!”

We will struggle mightily acknowledging and accepting God’s plan as rarely being a straight shot to, as much as we can tell anyway, a clearly visible goal.

Psalm 57:2 English Standard Version

²I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

His plan requires of us a journey, illustrated so well in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, and that journey may be filled with detours and diversions, sudden and slow crawls, stops, and hosts and myriad and myriads of confusing turns.

Psalm 138:8 English Standard Version

⁸The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Romans 8:28 English Standard Version

²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,^[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.

But if their hearts and their souls are genuinely set to obey Him in all that they know to do, then they will be at, in the center of His will every step of the way.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 The Message

8 God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.

²Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.

^3-4I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
    your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
    Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
    Why take a second look our way?

^5-8Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
    bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
    repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
    even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
    whales singing in the ocean deeps.

⁹God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Could Jeremiah 29:11 Have A Far, Far Deeper Meaning, Truth for Us Today? Jeremiah 29:8-14

Jeremiah 29:8-14 The Message

^8-9Yes. Believe it or not, this is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel’s God: “Don’t let all those so-called preachers and know-it-alls who are all over the place there take you in with their lies. Don’t pay any attention to the fantasies they keep coming up with to please you. They’re a bunch of liars preaching lies—and claiming I sent them! I never sent them, believe me.” God’s Decree!

^10-11This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

¹²“When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

^13-14“When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.

“I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

How rare is the Word of God today?

How rare is the genuine understanding of the Word of God today?

How rare is the genuine truth of the Word of God sought after today?

How rare is the person who seeks after the genuine truth of God’s Word?

How rare is the person who actually, diligently, genuinely, seeks to apply the wisdom and the genuine truth of the Word of God to their lives?

How rare is the person who actually, diligently, genuinely applies the genuine truth of the Word of God to their lives?

How rare is the person who then actually, diligently, genuinely, seeks with all of their heart, souls, minds and strength, to diligently, genuinely teach all others? (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

Do we genuinely want to know, love, experience God through His Word alone?

Do we really and genuinely want to surprise ourselves by seeking His Kingdom?

The True Deeper Meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 Might Surprise You

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most well-known and quoted verses in the Bible.

It’s promise is held dearly by Christians all over the world.

But despite it’s popularity the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 is often misused and misapplied.

It’s one of the most misquoted verses in the entire Bible.

While many Christians have this verse memorized and hanging on their walls, the context in which it’s written is often ignored.

The Bible passage of Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that we, as Christians, cling to in times of trials and hardships.

Whenever problems occur in our earthly lives, we always find safe refuge in the Word of God and one of those verses is Jeremiah 29:11.

Because of this,

it is essential to understand the historical as well as the literary context of the verse to give us a deeper understanding as to why Jeremiah wrote it.

When we ignore the context in which the Bible is written we can quite literally make it say anything we want.

What We Commonly Get Wrong About Jeremiah 29:11 Meaning

Jeremiah 29:11 is everywhere.

From coffee mugs to graduation speeches this verse is plastered everywhere.

Yet despite the popularity the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 is often misapplied.

Most commonly the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 is applied as a personal promise.

That God has a wonderful and perfect plan for ME.

Many take this verse and apply it specifically to them, that God has their life perfectly mapped out, and that they only have to walk in obedience to God.

Others take this verse a step further claiming this verse is a continuous promise of health and wealth.

Since we are children of the King we would, could, should only hope to expect the best from God.

With this view, anything less than that view, pain and suffering are interpreted as a sign of disobedience, being disciplined by our God for our true lack of faith.

The main problem with these interpretations of Jeremiah 29:11 is that they are very ME centered.

It’s all about what God can and is going to do for ME.

And that’s not the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11.

Or the Bible for that matter.

Where do we begin to more deeply, genuinely acknowledge, the grace of God?

When do we acknowledge the genuine authority, sovereignty, power, of God’s exclusive to God truth behind Psalm 46:10-11?

Psalm 46:10-11 The Message

^8-10Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
    He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
    breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
    loving look at me, your High God,
    above politics, above everything.”

¹¹ Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

See all of the marvels of God and God alone!

The alleged marvels of humanity are not even mentioned by the Psalmist!

The sovereignty of God and God alone is where everything remains the same.

Psalm 46:10-11 Amplified Bible

¹⁰
“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.”
¹¹
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

So, accounting for it being about God alone, what does Jeremiah 29:11 mean?

Let’s dive into the context and find out.

The Meaning Of Jeremiah 29:11 In Context Historically

Context matters. In fact, I would say context is king.

When we are reading the Bible we cannot ignore the context in which what we are reading is written in.

That means we should do three things when reading the Bible:

Look at the surrounding verses
Consider the original audience
Look at the larger narrative of the Bible

What is the history behind his words and what is the reasoning?

What is its literal meaning and how can we apply it to our daily lives, not just during tribulations, but rather, as followers of Jesus Christ and children of God?

To help us understand the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 we will focus primarily on the first two in the list above.

Let me just say this, the common ways this passage is interpreted does not fit the Biblical narrative – the Bible teaches selflessness not a ME centered faith.

When you rewind a little bit from Jeremiah 29:11 what you see is God talking to the nation of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah.

What Does ‘For I Know the Plans I Have for You’ Mean in Jeremiah 29:11

Based on the historical context of the verse and the major events that happened in the past, we can understand why Jeremiah said the words in Jeremiah 29:11.

His primary goal was to speak to God’s people amidst hardships and suffering.

The people on the long march into Babylonian captivity needed to know there was some kind of hope they could latch themselves onto to face down reality.

The people were ready to grasp onto any smidgen of reality that would reveal for them that somewhere in this national tragedy befalling them, there is hope.

The unfolding breadth, unrelenting scope of trauma in every which direction of recent events of Babylonian siege, and plunder and war, of this disaster abound.

No one was immune from the impossible to measure effects of its devastation.

National identity was being systematically, violently stripped away from them.

Even their beloved Temple, where God was always to be found – was destroyed.

The Temple where God resided, was desecrated beyond repair – God was gone.

No God in residence…the spiritual trauma behind that thought – unfathomable.

Can anyone of us identify with this feeling?

Their lifeline to God and His divine protection – violently, visibly, severed.

Can anyone of us identify with this feeling?

No lifeline to God was equated with having no Hope of seeing Hope ever again.

Can anyone of us identify ourselves with this feeling?

The people of God were asking for an immediate rescue from the suffering that they were experiencing, and the counter-cultural, against the grain, prophet Jeremiah had a huge responsibility to tell them the truth about God’s promise.

He was also tasked to rebuke a very huge and ultra convincing lie that the false prophet Hananiah had widely circulated, which was not a very easy task to do.

This verse was his message, inspired by God’s guidance, to tell the people that God’s response is not an immediate answer, rather, God has a plan to prosper His people amidst hardships, God has a promise for the future of His people.

The needed caveat to these words – being after seventy years of exile is done.

The duration of the exile would continue until God had designed it to be over.

There would be no avoiding it or getting away from its experience or its effects.

The exile was a done deal.

Praying would not end it before its anointed and appointed time.

The exile was going to have to be fully, inescapably, endured. (Psalm 137)

Considering the coming tragedy of that march to Babylon, and what the people already had to endure and bear witness to (Psalm 137:8-9), it was a bitter time!

If we reflect on the words of Jeremiah, we can see the wisdom that God gave him during those trying times.

He starts with a clear, direct message, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,”

These words can be interpreted as a direct message and an assurance that God knows their plans.

And then, the verse continues with a more profound explanation of God’s plan, “‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

These words give more detail of His plan — to inspire His people to continue on, to persevere through the very harshest of seasons, times and circumstances.

The Historical Context of ‘For I Know the Plans I Have for You’ in Jeremiah 29:11

In its context, Jeremiah is speaking to his fellow people as they were forced to exile from their home in Jerusalem to Babylon and, now, under enemy rule.

There was too much turmoil in terms of emotional and physical stress among the believers of God during this time.

To add to this, there was also a false prophet named Hananiah who gave false hope to the Jews regarding the prophecy of God.

According to Hananiah, God promises to relieve the Jews of their suffering after two years and would come back to their home.

This was a false prophecy that Jeremiah heard and rebuked. We can read this verse further in Jeremiah 28:15-17;

Jeremiah 28:15-17 Amplified Bible

¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to send you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken and have counseled rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁷So Hananiah the [false] prophet died [two months later], the same year, in the seventh month.

Imagine Jeremiah having to tell the Jews that instead of two years, they would live in Babylon for 70 years and endure it as it is written in Jeremiah 29:4-10,

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.”

Jeremiah was tasked to deliver a message that God’s people would have to live, build houses, marry, pray for peace, and prosper in a city that was not theirs.

It was an arduous, difficult task, and Jeremiah had to give the people an inspirational message and thus the words in Jeremiah 29:11 were written.

What Deeper Meaning Would, What Could, What Should, ‘For I Know the Plans I Have for You’ Genuinely Mean for Us Today?

Indeed, Jeremiah 29:11 is a great reminder amidst the longevity of suffering, God alone has a boundless God sized plan for us to prosper and hope for our future.

We should not give up. We may be experiencing different situations such as the severe health or a financial crisis or a family relationship on the brink of being torn apart, the verse tells us that these things are in passing and God has a plan.

Just as what happened in the past with the Jews in Babylon, we may experience “lets grasp for human straws” hopeful words of false prophets like Hananiah.

The much beloved verse also reminds us not to believe in human things that are too good to be true and instead, trust God alone, His Grace, His processes alone.

For it is only in trusting His process we can all be assured of hope for the future.

Lastly, this much cherished verse also reminds us that if we seek God in our hearts, we will never be weary even if we experience suffering in our lives.

Let God alone transform our mindsets of unrelenting suffering to unrelenting joy in the Lord and the Lord alone who is our strength. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

More Bible Verses about Hope

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. ~ Isaiah 40:31

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ~ Romans 8:24-25

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ~ 1 Peter 1:3

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ~ Romans 15:4

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ~ Romans 15:13

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ~ Romans 12:12

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1

2 Timothy 3:14-17 Amplified Bible

¹⁴But as for you, continue in the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced [holding tightly to the truths], knowing from whom you learned them, ¹⁵and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Hebrew Scriptures) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in His wisdom, power and goodness]. ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; ¹⁷so that the ^[a]man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Seek out the deeper meanings, immeasurable truths of the Word of God.

The entirety of our lives is a Tapestry weaved by the Grace of God by God.

In Christ Jesus, our Savior, in Him alone our hope is found (Acts 4:8-12)

Give God 100% of the Glory – saving or hoarding none of it for yourselves.

Give God 100% of the Praise – saving or hoarding none of it for yourselves.

Give God 100% of the Honor – saving or hoarding none of it for yourselves.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Majesty, worship His majesty
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise,
Majesty, kingdom authority
Flow from His throne, unto His own
His Anthem raise
Majesty, worship His majesty

Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise,
Majesty, kingdom authority
Flow from His throne, unto His own
His Anthem raise

So exalt, lift up on high, the name of Jesus
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King
Majesty, worship His majesty

Jesus who died, now glorified
King of all kings

1981 New Spring (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

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Whether We Believe It or Not, God Does Have Incredible Plans for Us! Jeremiah 29:10-14

Jeremiah 29:10-14 Amplified Bible

¹⁰“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years [of exile] have been completed for Babylon, I will visit (inspect) you and keep My good promise to you, to bring you back to this place. ¹¹For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. ¹³Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and I will [free you and] gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Some years ago the well-known author James Michener wrote a book called The Drifters.

It’s a story about young students traveling aimlessly through Asia and Europe, drifting from one day into the next, without either a plan or even any purpose.

Lots of people today are drifters too.

Even if you have everything life has to offer, you can feel unfulfilled and without purpose, drifting from one day to the next.

Or maybe you feel as if you’ve been cut adrift.

For example, maybe you’ve lost your job and you don’t see much of a future.

Or maybe you’ve lost your spouse through death, separation or divorce, and you feel as if you’ve reached the end of the road.

Perhaps you are in that place in life where you are feeling unfulfilled, at an age where perhaps you are considering a career change but you are unsure what the next career might be or you are struggling with how you are going to finance it.

Or maybe you just retired and you feel as if you’ve been put on a shelf.

Or perhaps you’re permanently disabled and you’re not sure how you can go on.

If you’re feeling adrift for one reason or another, take heart from God’s words to us through His Prophet Jeremiah: “I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and … to give you hope and a future.”

God does not want us to drift through life.

He assuredly, definitely has a purpose and plan for each one of us.

Whoever you are reading this, ask yourself, “What does God have in mind for me? And how does God want to use me today so I can have hope and a future?”

God’s Presence in Our Plans

Jeremiah 29:10-11 The Message

This quote was part of a letter God had Jeremiah write to the Jews whom King Nebuchadnezzar had been forcibly taken captive to Babylon from Jerusalem.

They had been ripped from their homeland, marched, walked, taken to a land where they were aliens and strangers.

I cannot imagine how hopeless they felt. (Psalm 137)

But God had already told them what to do when they arrived there.

What we do not know is how receptive this first generation of exiles were to the message of God, through Jeremiah, of a hope not manifesting itself for 70 years.

Jeremiah 29:4-8 Amplified Bible

⁴“So says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ⁵‘Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there and do not decrease [in number]. ⁷Seek peace and well-being for the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its peace (well-being) you will have peace.’ ⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your [false] prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you; pay no attention and attach no significance to the dreams which they dream or to yours,

He told them to build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce.

To get married and have children, then give their children in marriage to have more children, to multiply there, to not decrease in their population numbers.

And incredibly, God told them to seek the peace and well-being of Babylon where ultimately he had sent them into exile.

God even told them to pray for Babylon’s welfare.

For in Babylon’s peace and well-being, the Israelite’s would have their peace.

Then God promised that after 70 years he would bring them back to Jerusalem.

He essentially told them to take heart, a measure of solace, He had plans for them, plans for their good, plans for their future, plans to give them hope.

This is a good reminder for us.

We need to regularly remember that this world is not our home.

As the Apostle Peter would later remind his congregations of readers;

1 Peter 2:9-12 Amplified Bible

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges [those dishonorable desires] that wage war against the soul. ¹² Keep your behavior excellent among the [unsaved] Gentiles [conduct yourself honorably, with graciousness and integrity], so that ^[a]for whatever reason they may slander you as evildoers, yet by observing your good deeds they may [instead come to] glorify God ^[b]in the day of visitation [when He looks upon them with mercy].

Just as Babylon was not the Jews’ final home, neither is this our final home.

Our home is heaven.

But like the ancient Israelite’s, we are to build our lives here for now.

We’re to seek the good of our nation, our churches, our friends and neighbors.

John 14:1-6 Amplified Bible

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me. ²In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. ⁴And [to the place] where I am going, you know the way.” ⁵Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “^[a]I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

We are to settle in, have generations of family, and build homes – temporarily.

We are to pray for the welfare, the well-being of where God will settle us down.

But we mustn’t forget that after “70 years” – sooner or later – God will come back, His Son, our Savior Jesus will take us unto our ultimate home – heaven.

Those are God’s plans for us.

But he has plans for us now too.

Psalm 8 The Message

8 God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.

²Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.

⁹God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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In the Potter’s House, at the Potter’s Wheel: God, our Creator, is not even close to being finished with You and I and His Neighborhood. Jeremiah 18:1-11

God is like a potter, and we are like clay. In his work of spiritual formation, God constantly molds and shapes us. This can be a slow process of gradual growth.

Or, at times, an encounter with the living Christ through his Word will infuse us with grace that moves us quickly to a new level of devotion and commitment.

At other times, the potter must stop spinning the wheel. look carefully at their work, decide if the shape of the pot is as they had originally envisioned it fits the original purpose for which the potter originally intended. Sometimes, break the pot down and then start over again because the clay has become misshapen.

Through each effort at reshaping the vessel, our spirit, each of these types of spiritual formation shows a different way God deals with us. If I can no longer be molded, I need to repent and experience the shattering grace of God’s love.

If I somehow believe I have somehow reached a spiritual plateau, achieved a measure of spiritual maturity where I do not feel or know where my spirit can mature in God anymore, I need to begin a process of discover by God’s Spirit into the unknown and undeveloped and woefully underdeveloped areas of my personality or giftedness that God knows need his powerful touch. And if I’m then gradually growing, I need simply to rejoice and increase my thanksgiving.

A process of discovery! What concrete ways do we see the Potter at work in our lives? A new biblical perspective might have to be developed, new directions set, moral values instilled, old habits broken, positive attitudes fostered, deeper commitments chosen and cherished, a family reunited, emotional hurts healed, a serious crisis resolved, spiritual gifts utilized, and new ministries started.

As God, our Creator, continually and continuously shapes you and me, (is God ever finished?) and His neighborhood, life all around us is being transformed.

God’s neighborhood is not transformed into the vision we desire or believe is best for what greater “more politically correct” purposes we set aside for it.

It is, after all, when all is said and done, God’s neighborhood and not ours.

Jeremiah 18:1-11Amplified Bible

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” ³Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. ⁴But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. ⁷At one moment I might [suddenly] speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will uproot and break down and destroy; ⁸if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will ^[a]relent and reverse My decision concerning the devastation that I intended to do. ⁹Or at another time I might [suddenly] speak about a nation or kingdom that I will build up or establish; ¹⁰and if they do evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will reverse My decision concerning the good with which I had promised to bless them. ¹¹Now then, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am shaping a disaster and working out a plan against you. Turn back, each of you from his evil way; correct your habits and change your actions for the better.”’

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with Me Yet!

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with You Yet!

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with Anyone in HIS Neighborhood!

I’m going a bit off-script this day.

Lately, I have been spending a great deal of time reading and studying and pondering and writing these devotions from the Gospel and New Testament.

However, today, and probably for a few more days hence, my spirit felt lead to the Hebrew Testament Prophet Jeremiah.

The night before, God woke my mind up in the middle of the night again. It was with the clear message this biblical reading is meant to be timely for us today.

Pondering and praying about it throughout yesterday, I realized sometimes we need spiritual encouragement. God knew that. Jeremiah knew that, and he told the story of a potter’s wheel. I hope this devotion today can be inspiring for this coming group of readers – and that together, with God, we can all know it too.

Hear what the prophet Jeremiah said some twenty-six hundred years ago again:

The word of the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he worked on the wheel. As he worked on a piece of pottery, it crumbled in his hand. Then he made it into another piece that pleased him more.”

The prophets used analogies and images to teach essential spiritual lessons.

This text is an example of storytelling to show Israel God’s mercy.

The imagery of as a pottery maker in his house illustrates God’s patience.

I know I have read this passage dozens of times, I’ve listened pastors preach it, and I’ve preached it through the lectionary cycle before. But there’s something I have somehow missed until yesterday as I pondered, prayed, this devotional.

One scholar said that the “potter’s house” was not a single person. Rather, all of Jerusalem’s pottery came from one area considered “the house of pottery.”

That neighborhood was outside the city walls. Jerusalem rested on a hill.

To reach the potter’s house a person had to go out the gate, thorough the valley of Hinnom, and up the hillside.

The valley is where Israel burned their garbage, and they called it Gehenna.

The kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire in the valley, so the ancients believed it a cursed place.

Our notion of hell comes from this valley of burning: the abode of the dead.

The prophet walked through the people’s sin’s, their garbage, and even what they believed dead before he saw the potter.

I’m the same way: I’ve had to confront my fears, my doubts, and walk-through memories of loves and hates I thought dead before I reached the potter’s house.

After Jeremiah waded through the trash heap, he then made it to God’s pottery wheel. He saw God with dirty hands that were dried and blistered and cracked from the weight of the clay, the pottery wheel and the intensity of the fire.

The vision of the potter taught Jeremiah a lesson about Israel: God is always at work. God would continuously collect their misshapenness, continually remold and reshape it, and make them into people with hearts of flesh instead of stone.

So, my devotional writing today is along those lines: God’s not finished with us.

God didn’t give up on Israel. God will not give up on us.

Years ago, before my wife and I were married, we were looking for gifts for wedding parties. We were looking for wine goblets for our reception table.

We found a pottery shop where we introduced to the owner and the “master potter.” He took us on a tour of his classroom where he gave both children and adults of all ages both beginner, intermediate and advanced pottery lessons to.

He sat down at a pottery wheel and showed us how to mount the clay on the wheel and how to use our hands to begin forming and shaping the pottery.

At first, the force he used with the clay surprised me. Then, as he taught us that clay is not ready for the wheel until it goes through the pressure of shaping, I realized the necessity of preparation.

He carefully, but ever more forcefully, worked the wheel with his foot, worked the clay with his hands, kneaded it, squeezed it, and saturated continually with the water it to prepare it for whatever the potters’ vision was of its final shape.

It didn’t have form immediately. It needed time and water before it looked like a water pitcher. I noticed the clay would crumble if it didn’t have adequate water.

Life is a process of kneading, water – our baptismal identity, and shaping by the potter’s hands before we become “whole.”

Genesis says that God formed us in his image and molded us into his likeness.

Some of the earliest images of God in Genesis is a potter, with muddy hands, creating human beings.

God’s still working on us, shaping us toward wholeness.

God is not even close to being finished with anyone of us yet.

There were times I wanted to give up on dreams, relationships, and desires.

As I frequently take the time to reflect on my relationship with my wife, what it has been before we were married, after we were married, and what it is right now, and what I fervently pray it will be for all of our remaining tomorrows,

I see in my married life where God has been continually, continuously at work. He has been at work both with and within both of us to shape and reshape our marriage into His image and not ours. Somehow, miraculously God is at work, shaping me and my wife, pushing the mud into position to create a new vessel.

Our lives are messy at times, yet we both desire the perception that everything is okay. We know people who portray the ideal life and a perfect family on social media. But deep down inside we know something is missing. We both feel like a warped piece of bit pottery instead of the perfect piece on display in a museum.

After frequent searches through Scripture and in both individual and corporate prayer sessions, we finally accepted there’s nothing wrong with imperfection.

These days we are striving for vulnerability instead of perfection. God didn’t give up on Israel because of imperfection, and God will not give up on us either.

That leads me to another point I notice in this text:

It’s never too late to work together with God to begin being reshaped again.

In any relationship, in any covenant of marriage, there are always areas where more shared and mutual growth and maturity into God’s image are necessary.

Again, we can both envision God, in His Potter’s House, at His Potter’s Wheel.

The final thing I learned at the pottery studio was a spiritual lesson still informs my theology of my marriage to both God and to my wife who are my whole life.

“Living Life in God’s neighborhood happens because there is no perfect clay.”

Then the potter taught us what happens when ‘life happens,’ clay falls apart.

The clay pitcher he had carefully made, spun in perfect balance on the wheel until he moved his fingers ever so differently and gently into the clay. The clay gradually caved in on itself and became misshapen, spun lopsided on the wheel.

Sometimes when the pressure of life pushes us, we cave in on ourselves and spiral out of control. But then he said, as I can envision God is saying to us now; “When the piece you’re carefully making falls apart, you can always start over.”

The prophet Jeremiah saw a broken piece of pottery on God’s table.

He said God selected the moment, selected the brokenness, reformed it, and put the clay back on the potters’ wheel, created something new from broken pieces.

That should give us confidence. Even when our hearts shatter into a million pieces, God can take our pain, our fears, our guilt, and our grief, and transform the broken pieces of the self into a new creation. The prophet said the broken pottery became better than it was before the fall on the ground and shattered.

There’s never any perfect clay (relationship, family, ideal, dream, job, vocation, ministry or mission…). But it’s never too late to appreciate the beauty of flaws.

Conclusion

There’s an art in Japan, kintsugi, that is a unique way to fix pottery.

In Japan, people often inherit pottery from family members.

When a meaningful piece breaks, they do not discard it. Some cultures are like God; they do not throw things away just because of blemishes or brokenness.

They collect the pieces and repair the pottery.

But they do not use invisible glue that makes the pottery appear flawless.

They leave it with visible vulnerabilities.

They understand that scars can be signs of refinement.

The gift of imperfection is credibility.

The artist collects a special tree sap and mixes it with gold.

Then they carefully join the separated fragments together with gold.

The gold and the sap make the piece stronger at the cracks than it is elsewhere.

When they finish, the pottery is a one-of-a-kind heirloom with bright gold lines giving it a unique beauty and character it did not have before the fall.

Hear the words of the prophet again, “The first piece crumbled in the potter’s hand, but he made it into another piece that pleased him more.”

With God, our Creator, scars, imperfections, and brokenness, become inspired stories of triumph and grace.

They are stories where God turns lead to gold and things become greater than we ever dreamed possible. Remember, when we put hopes and dreams in tombs when we mourn them, and when we assume they are dead, God raises the dead.

The Tomb is STILL empty!

Jesus is STILL ALIVE ….

— God is not even close to being finished with anyone of us yet.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Pick up a lump of clay and mold it in your hands

Think about the creation of the world—

the touch of God’s hands on the very substance of the universe

As you change the appearance of the clay with the touch of your hands,

think how the world you live in has touched and changed you…

Think of how your hands have touched other people –

in love, in anger, in sorrow and in joy…

Think of the things and people who have touched your life

and molded you into the person you are today…

“Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.

We are the clay; you are the potter.

we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

Prayer

Look, Lord, on an empty vessel that needs to be filled.

In faith I am weak—strengthen me.

In love I am cold—warm me and make me fervent

so that my love may go out to my neighbour.

I doubt and am unable to trust you completely.

Lord, strengthen my faith and trust in you.

You are all the treasure I possess.

I am poor, you are rich,

and you came to have mercy on the poor.

I am a sinner, you are goodness.

From you I can receive goodness,

but I can give you nothing.

Therefore I shall stay with you.

(Martin Luther)

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