Devotion.al

Tag: restoration

  • Temple by Proxy

    2 Chronicles 29:1–11, 16–19; Psalm 84; Hebrews 9:23–28 (read online ⧉)

    King Ahaz, King Hezekiah’s , destroyed utensils used in the of God, and shut the doors of the (prevention of worship), and put altars all around Jerusalem to worship other gods. King Hezekiah sought the of the temple and the right worship of God. Hezekiah knew that the priests—those charged with the care and work of the temple—had not been fulfilling their duties.

    King Hezekiah commanded the priests to properly prepare themselves and the temple for worshipping of God. The priests did so and informed the King of the completion of their tasks. They had to be directed to do what their entire tribe had been assigned by God to do.

    The temple was supposedly the of Hebrew and the heart of Jerusalem. However, just based on the kings, it really wasn’t the case but for a few. There was a lot of ritual that went with that worship, and a lot of effort. While the restoration was important, for it was a symbol of God, for a time, being the rightful center of Hebrew life, it wasn’t the .

    The writer of Hebrews takes a key element of Hebrew religious life—the temple with its rituals—and flips it on its head. The author interprets them as foreshadowing the tabernacle in Heaven. The author interprets Jesus as the true expression of the priestly rituals of . The shadows of the true temple of Heaven are important. It is the reality that Christ is both the offeror of sacrifice and the sacrifice itself that is essential to our understanding of our . It is foundational (see yesterday’s devotion). It is essential.

    1. Do you see Jesus as your sacrifice to God to atone for your sins?
    2. How does Jesus being the eternal sacrifice affect your appreciation of it?
    3. How do you understand Jesus’ sacrifice in regard to the sins you have committed since you were saved?

  • Looking for Light or Dark?

    Jeremiah 30:12–22; John 12:36–43; Psalm 105:1-11 (read online ⧉)

    The people of Israel were in turmoil. Their kings changed allegiances to the bigger powers on the world stage. They were in the middle of two warring empires. They were devastated by war and taxes. Today’s passage in Jeremiah starts as a summary of the Israel is feeling. The pain is the self-inflicted consequence of walking away from God.

    By no means did God want the Israelites to suffer, yet sometimes the best lessons are the hard ones. Despite their pain, God did not want them to . God promised , a magnificent restoration, of children, self-rule, and .

    Many people walk far away from God, ways that we may never understand. They could have done (or be doing) things that make no sense from a logical, emotional, moral, or spiritual point of view. Just as the Israelites were blind, so are so many people today. Just like the Israelites, they do not realize that they cannot see.

    called on his followers to believe in the . Belief in the light was expected to be transformative. Jesus’ followers would become children of light. Yet, even in Jesus’ day, even with the miracles, people did not believe.

    1) Is there someone in your that you feel is not walking in the light? Will you commit to pray for that person?

    2) Is there something in your life that you don’t want to be in the light? Will you bring that to a trusted person to ? If you do not have a person that you , pray that God will bring you such a trusted person into your life.

  • Trust, Truth and Restoration

    Daniel 9:16-19, Psalm 25:1-10, 2 Timothy 4:1-5

    Daniel knows that God is and righteous. Daniel knows that the people of Israel are in exile and hopeless because they chose to ignore God and the many prophets that He sent. They chose to follow their leaders who looking to earthly things to personal value and . Daniel understood that the current situation was a consequence of unfaithful behavior.

    Yet, Daniel had enough in God to know that God would listen and that God, ultimately, wanted Israel restored, not just as a or people, but as a people of God. Daniel understood that it would only by God’s mercy that Israel would be restored. He was confessing on behalf of an entire people that they had missed the mark, yet he still asked.

    1) In Psalm 25:6-7 (NIV), the psalmist writes, “, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.”
    Just like Daniel, the psalmist was appealing the consequences based upon God’s mercy and love, knowing that both preexisted the errors of the psalmist. Daniel, too, that God’s mercy and love existed long before he did, or the tribe and nation of Israel existed. The underlying thought here is that there was something that needed to be forgiven; there was something that needed to be repented of. Is there something that you think could be a problem, but aren’t certain that it is a problem that God is concern about? Bring it to God, anyways! That small thing could very well help you heal in other areas in your , or God may use it to show you what is really hampering your with Him.

    2) In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul is warning Timothy that people will get to a point where they will not listen because they don’t want to. It is no different than what the people of Israel had done for generations prior to their exile. The very things Daniel was repenting of. We are often quick to say that there is false teaching all around us, even in our !

    Have you thought there was false teaching? What did you do?

    Do we ever something false teaching that does not conflict with scripture, but appears to conflict with our understanding or traditions?

  • The Simplest Thing

    Matthew 21:28–32, John 6:28–36 (read online ⧉)

    It’s too easy. What do I have to do? There must be something that has to be done to earn my way. Perhaps I need to be wealthy. Perhaps I have to be powerful. Perhaps I to take a series of convoluted steps, and of course start from zero if I mess up.

    Nope, it doesn’t work that way. Whew! Yet, for some reason, the simplest way oddly seems to be the hardest.

    called on people to believe. He pointed to John the Baptist, first. John the Baptist came with a message of and repentance. That was always part of God’s to those he originally called…the Israelites. The Law effectively revolved around a constant cycle of repentance and to righteousness. The Israelites (now the remnant) didn’t understand and didn’t to God’s messenger. It was the people that were not “in” that responded. It was the ones who were “outcasts” who responded to the message.

    When confronted by Jesus, the people asked what they had to do to receive . While Jesus said, “believe,” the parable the accompanied that was about doing the will of God, even when that’s not the desire, and not telling God that it will be done, and then going one’s own way. Belief without action ends up being like the who said he would do but didn’t. The son who said no, but did still missed the ‘s .

    Actions louder than words. Actions, however, should be motivated by belief.

    1) What is the hardest thing you’ve had to believe? What made it hard?

    2) What action has been the hardest to do? Why?

    3) Which requires greater commitment, belief or action? Why?

  • Do Black Sheep Stay Black?

    Genesis 49:1–2 and 49:8–12, 2 Samuel 7:12–16, Luke 1:67–79, Revelation 5:2–14 (read online ⧉)

    You might have gathered from all the scriptures that this is about the lineage of Judah. The lineage of the same guy from yesterday’s devotion who seem to not particularly care about those of his lineage that followed him. Despite that, his father made a pronouncement that Judah had the scepter and the staff. The scepter represents the ability and position of rule. In other words, kingship was the domain of Judah. In addition, the same also can be translated as branch or offshoot, which are also words that were applied to the Messiah. The staff probably mentioned in the translation you likely read is troublesome. The KJV is closest with ruler (and that is the way it is often translated elsewhere with Judah). In Hebrew, it also means engraved. Where does this lead us? Combining ruler and engraved is similar to a seal, so going out on a limb…authority. Kings, rulers, presidents have . Authority is the right to use power.*

    David’s eventual rule over the Kingdom of Israel seemed to begin the fulfillment of Jacob’s prophesy. Then Nathan delivered the Lord’s message. What a message that was! What an amazing way to fulfill an old prophetic message from Jacob the patriarch of Israel. What seems odd is that there does not appear to be a direct acknowledgment of Jacob’s message. It’s there, but it is more implied than directly stated. It seems a reverse of Judah’s perspective. This also shows that despite Judah’s behavior, good can still come from bad. It all depends on what we do with it when we turn to God.

    During Zechariah’s over his John (the Baptist), ‘ lineage is tied to David. This sees a deliberate tie to the message from God about David’s specific line having the authority. This same line is still the line of Judah. The Israelite concept of a Messianic figure comes long after Judah dies (though it is easily argued that there was plenty of foreshadowing). There is no way that Jacob or Judah could have imagined that God would have become man through their lineage. It would have been far beyond their imagining.

    When Jesus walked the earth, his lineage was predominantly tied to David. After his and resurrection, however, the name of Judah regained some prominence in all that surrounded Jesus the Christ. We see this in Revelation where it all gets tied : Judah, David, Messiah, salvation, eternity. What beautiful symmetry.

    1) Does your family or social circle have a “black ” (i.e., the person all avoid)? What makes that person a black sheep?

    2) Judah was a black sheep insofar as his behavior (remember yesterday, plus other things). The Messiah, your savior, came from a line of the black sheep. What does that tell you about the potential of your family’s (again, or social circle’s) black sheep?

    3) Why is understanding God’s of black sheep important for our lives and others?

    Action: Look for a way to begin the restoration of a black sheep.

    *This is not a statement on whether current people in power have authority (that can be argued multiple ways with multiple bases), just to be clear. That there was a perceived need to make this statement should also cause each of us to pause and wonder what is really going on in our hearts.

  • Bridal Restoration

    Psalm 51, John 3:27–29 (read online ⧉)

    This Psalm is the result of a person’s sin. This is not to say that the Psalm is about the sin per se, but about a person standing before God after being confronted about the sin. While there is a lot of symbolism in the Psalm the symbols reflect a that recognizes the wrong done. Note there are no excuses. It is what it is. How many times have you confessed a sin and then surrounded it with excuses? What is interesting here is that a request to joy is made. This is not a request to be able to make a joyful noise. This is a request—a plea—to hear God’s joy in , and the joy of those who surround God. The Psalm makes a turn from repentance and sorrow to, basically, asking to not be cast away from God’s .

    While there is a penalty that goes along with what was done, was still completed. There was joy again. Often we cannot find joy because there is something in our hearts that keeps out of the presence of God. Whether that something resulted in shame or sin or what have you, something may indeed be keeping you from even going toward the presence of God.

    John the Baptist alludes to and his in this short passage from the Gospel of John. Who is Jesus’ bride? The church. Who is the church? We all are. John is filled with joy that the (whom John calls his friend) gets the bride! Jesus’ marriage as the joyful culmination of his ministry. What makes this interesting, too, is that the marriage is a “not yet” scenario. That means that while John the Baptist is speaking in the present, John (the writer of the Gospel) is looking toward the , when Jesus returns.

    1) Why does John the Baptist tie joy to the marriage of the groom (Jesus)?

    2) How can we say that joy is or complete in marriage in the light of the tensions in our own marriages, and the divorces that ravage the church and the world?

    3) How could being or not being in God’s presence affect your joy?

  • God Seeks Everyone

    Job 33:14–30, Nehemiah 12:31–43, Luke 15:3–7 (read online ⧉)

    Elihu (from Job) is probably the most enigmatic person in the Book of Job. He just appears and disappears. It is almost as if there is something more going on than just a tirade. Now, Elihu definitely said things that were wrong, but many of his words are the . Just like any of us, we cannot take all of his words and reject or accept, we must take his words wisely. Most of the words we read today are not, ultimately, in line with God’s heart. However, the underlying Truth is that God seeks to keep everyone from eternal separation from God (or Hell). God will sometimes use extreme measures that we can see this, while we often willingly maintain our blindness.

    of our right relationship with God is pictured in Nehemiah. Finally, the Jews get it (even if only for a time). Thanksgiving processions of hearts and tears, plus and offerings. The people had rediscovered , and their neighbors heard it. God had never given up on the Jews…ever. God just understood that they didn’t understand where real joy was. He had to, as much as it pained him, them space to learn it.

    This is part of ‘ constant frustration with many people. They categorized people into the redeemed and unredeemable categories. There wasn’t a “not yet” in their thinking. They forgot that God is in the business, and never stops redeeming. So many stories that the Jews shared (and gifted to Christianity) are about God’s redemptive work in the world, specifically in the Israelite (now Jewish) people. Yet it was forgotten.
    We should always be aligning ourselves with the ways of Heaven. Rejoicing in the redemption of is an essential practice. In fact, even if we are the 99, we should be just as loud as Heaven for the 1, for we, at one point, were the 1, too.

    1) How are your redemption categories? Do they need to be realigned with Jesus’?

    2) Redemption results in rejoicing. The , full of humans, often struggles with rejoicing for the redemption of “certain” people. Why do you think that is? How should the church to redemption in comparison to the world?

    3) Why is it important to realize that to God no one is unredeemable?

  • Anticipatory Expectation

    Romans 8:18–25, Revelation 5:1–10 (read online ⧉)

    What are we expecting? What are we anticipating? and anticipation are not always positive, as we often “” for the other shoe to drop. It is in this mindset that anxiety can step in and take over us.

    Creation is personified in ‘s text. This anthropomorphic thinking of Creation puts a different spin on things. We could then get in line with those that say things link, “Mother Nature is angry at humanity.” Almost. Environmental degradation was not a strong concern in Paul’s era. However, people did experience hurricanes, cyclones, severe storms, ice, hail, volcanoes, earthquakes, etcetera. When we think of these severe events, we can sympathize with Paul’s thinking.

    What is more interesting is the implication of Paul’s words. You see, it is not just about us. We finite creations are not all that are affected by . All of creation was affected. The Fall of humanity was not just about humanity, but the consequence that was then delivered to all of creation. In the carol, Joy to the World, we sing:
       No more let sins and sorrows ,
         Nor thorns infest the ground;
    He comes to make his flow
    Far as the is found.

    The infestation of thorns (and weeds), plus the sweat now required of humanity to farm, and even the fact that creatures eat one another, are all signs of fallen creation. All of Creation waits to be restored, too.

    That restoration is at the core of John’s vision of Heaven. The Seven-Sealed Scroll was the fulfillment of all hope from Heaven to Earth. We can understand that in John’s vision, the scroll not being opened meant that God’s plan wouldn’t/couldn’t be fulfilled for just the brief moment. That brief moment is all that it takes to get that “drop in the stomach” feeling of . If all were truly based on a scroll, then hope would be pointless. True hope relies not on the scroll, but on . Heaven and Earth rejoice, indeed.

    1) Are you constantly waiting for the “other shoe to drop”? If no, how do you plan for and thrive beyond things to go bad? If yes, how do you move under all that emotional weight?

    2) Do you think it is important that Creation is waiting, too? Why or why not?