Max Lucado Daily: He Was God-man
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He Was God-man
Posted: 07 Jan 2010 10:01 PM PST
“In Christ there is all of God in a human body.” Colossians 2:9 TLB
Jesus was not a godlike man, nor a manlike God. He was God-man . . . The maker of the world with a bellybutton . . .
What do we do with such a person? We applaud men for doing good things? We enshrine God for doing great things. But when a man does God things?
One thing is certain, we can’t ignore him. Why would we want to?
2 Chronicles 7
The Dedication of the Temple
1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
"He is good;
his love endures forever."
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 6 The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the LORD's musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the LORD and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, "His love endures forever." Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.
7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, [c] because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.
8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo [d] Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the LORD had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.
The LORD Appears to Solomon
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said:
"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
17 "As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.'
19 "But if you [e] turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you [f] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' 22 People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.' "
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Revelation 15
Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
1I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God's wrath is completed. 2And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God 3and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb:
"Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the ages.
4Who will not fear you, O Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed."
5After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. 6Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. 7Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
January 8, 2010
The Final Opening Ceremony
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Revelation 15
All nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested. —Revelation 15:4
Some words used to describe the opening ceremony of the 2008 summer Olympics were awesome, breathtaking, and extravagant. One commentator observed, “This shows what happens when you give an artist an unlimited budget.”
When I heard this, I thought, That’s what God did at creation! He held nothing back. The resulting universe is stunning in beauty, staggering in complexity, extravagant in all regards.
The Olympic ceremony was perfect in its precision; but if just one drummer or dancer had decided to alter the artist’s vision, the whole ceremony would have been flawed.
That’s what happened shortly after creation. Unlike the Olympic producer, God allowed free choice, and His work of art was marred by Adam and Eve’s idea of a better way. In Isaiah’s words, “We have turned, every one, to his own way” (53:6).
God’s solution to our waywardness was unimaginable: The Artist paid the price to recreate what we ruined. One day, there will be another opening ceremony, and everyone in heaven and on earth will bow at the name of Jesus (Phil. 2:10). And those from every nation who have accepted God’s plan in Christ will worship together in the flawless New Jerusalem (Rev. 15:4). — Julie Ackerman Link
Yes, God was so great in creation,
But greater, much greater in grace!
For when man had sinned and had grieved Him,
He sent Christ to die in his place! —Bennard
We have all eternity to praise God—begin today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 8, 2010
Is My Sacrifice Living?
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Abraham built an altar . . . ; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar . . . —Genesis 22:9
This event is a picture of the mistake we make in thinking that the ultimate God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, that is, sacrifice our lives. Not— "Lord, I am ready to go with You . . . to death" (Luke 22:33 ). But— "I am willing to be identified with Your death so that I may sacrifice my life to God."
We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this error, and the same process is at work in our lives. God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. It is a matter of loosening the bands that hold back our lives. Those bands are loosened immediately by identification with the death of Jesus. Then we enter into a relationship with God whereby we may sacrifice our lives to Him.
It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a "living sacrifice"— to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
No Escape On A Dead-end Road - #6000
Friday, January 8, 2010
They were just a young fire-fighting crew, assigned to work on a relatively small brush fire in Washington State. No one could have imagined what was about to happen. Seemingly timid fires suddenly roared to life and then out of control. In the end, fourteen firefighters had to pin their hopes on those tinfoil shelters designed to be the last line of protection in a firetrap. Ultimately, four young firefighters died in the fire that day. They had tried to escape the fire by heading for a nearby road. Apparently, their superiors had not advised them that it was a dead-end road.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Escape On A Dead-end Road."
That was a horrible tragedy, made even more tragic by the fact that what they thought was a way of escape turned out to be a dead-end road. As I read about this disaster, I couldn't help but think that so many people are making that same kind of mistake when it comes to their spiritual destiny.
Most people are counting on the fact that their religion, their spirituality is going to be an escape route from whatever judgment we all get for the wrong things we've done. Well, to put it bluntly, a way to miss hell; a way to make heaven. Tragically, many sincere people may be counting on a road that won't get them there.
Actually, the Bible says that's exactly what's happening in a lot of lives. In Proverbs 14:12, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Seems right - leads to death. Those are unsettling words! Because whatever road you're on to escape judgment and get to God usually "seems right." But if it isn't God's road, it doesn't matter how right it seems. It will lead to an end we didn't expect - to spiritual death.
Thankfully, God makes the way to Him very clear throughout the Bible. One of those places is 1 Timothy 2, beginning with verse 3: "God our Savior wants all men to be saved...There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men." This isn't multiple-choice. God says the only way to Him is through His Son Jesus.
Someone might say, "But that's not fair! You mean only one religion gets you to God!" Actually, no religion gets you to God, including Christianity. Only Jesus can because only Jesus "gave Himself as a ransom" for us. That's ransom as in the price you pay to get someone back, because our sin has an eternal death penalty, actually described by Jesus as involving a place of fire. The price to be paid is death, and that's what you and I deserve for hijacking our lives from God. But Jesus loves you too much to lose you. So He went to the cross to pay that price to remove the sin that will otherwise keep you out of heaven.
If you've been depending on any other way than total trust in Jesus the Rescuer, you're on a dead-end street. But today you can, as the Bible says, "cross over from death to life" (John 5:24) by grabbing Jesus as if He is your only hope. He is.
If you want to begin your relationship with Him today, tell Him that. "Jesus, I believe that when You died, some of those sins You were dying for were mine. I believe You came back to life. You're alive; You're ready to come into my life. And beginning this day, I am Yours."
It would be my great privilege to be able to help and encourage you in making this most important crossroads choice of your life. Our website is all about that, and there's some material there called Yours For Life. I really want to direct you there and encourage you to go there right away. A lot of people have found the help and encouragement, and the answers they were looking for when they were ready to begin a relationship with Jesus. Go to YoursForLife.net.
Jesus stands ready to lead you out of the fire. Make sure that you're on the only road that will lead you to safety and to His heaven.
