Category: Year C

Revelation 21:5-27

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Things will not always be this way.  Life will not always consist of heartache, suffering, and tears.  The world, as we now know it, will eventually pass away with its constant barrage of war, famine, hunger, sickness, misunderstanding, conflict, and pain.  There is a coming a day when Jesus will return and make everything new.  The vision of this next-to-last chapter of the Bible portrays a Lord who is in charge, and whose authority will, in the end, be seen for what it is.  Everything wrong will be made right; all that is crooked shall be made straight; and, the endless struggle to do what is right and just will prevail once and for all.
 
            Whenever we get caught in seemingly endless cycles of addiction, insecurity, and fear; whenever we find ourselves having to endure yet another day of undeserved backtalk; and, whenever we see that perseverance has become our abiding companion; it is in such times, like the original recipients of John’s vision of the final apocalypse, that we are to be strengthened and encouraged with the truth that Jesus is Lord.  Christ reigns as Supreme, and his rule will be shown and revealed to all nations.  In our Lord’s benevolent kingdom, everyone who is thirsty for justice will receive from a life-giving fountain; and, all who hunger for righteousness will be filled and satisfied.
 
            But until that time comes, we are to hold onto the hope that Jesus shall return to judge the living and the dead.  For the righteous this is truly good news, but for the wicked, this is anything but.  Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will be in the celestial city.  So, let’s put on words and deeds that are appropriate for the light of Christ our King, and eschew the works of darkness, utilizing all the tools of faith, hope, and love given to us by our Sovereign Lord.
 

 

            Lord Jesus, you are making everything new.  You are the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  All things hinge on your gracious rule in this world.  Help me to so embrace your kingdom ethics that every word and each deed is done consistent with your divine justice and mercy through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 18:15-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


            Current Western society has experienced a juvenilization of culture in recent decades, and perhaps the past two hundred years, in ways that would seem strange to ancient people.  In the biblical world, children had no rights.  Life did not revolve around them whatsoever.  They were looked upon more as potential adults, and were expected to conform to family, synagogue, and society.  So, it was quite understandable, within such a society, that Christ’s disciples were perturbed with people bringing their children to Jesus – this was adult business, and not for kids.
             But Jesus would have none of this from his disciples, and he said something which was a jaw-dropping shock to them:  “Let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”  The upwardly-minded disciples did not have this as their strategy for taking over the world.  It was not even close to being on their radar because the worldly tools of power, influence, and position were their ambition.
             Citizens of the kingdom of God, in-other-words, enter through sheer humility and remain through complete dependence.  Like little children, they have nothing to offer and no rights to claim.  It would all have to be given to them.  Ah, now we are not far from the kingdom!  A life of faith and entrance to God’s kingdom is a gift of grace.  We cannot enter through superior skill or intelligence and not by hard work or savvy insight to the system.  None of that stuff neither impresses nor influences Jesus in the slightest.  Rather, the subjects of his kingdom need the king, and the realm of King Jesus is wherever the will of God is done.  And the will of God cannot be done apart from the spiritual virtues of humility and trust.  Will you become a little child and embrace a life of humility and dependence?
             King Jesus, I forsake all pride and selfish ambition and come to you with all the humility I can muster.  I need you for all things, and trust in your grace and compassion to gently and mercifully guide me into a life of faith that pleases you and blesses the world.  Amen.

1 Peter 1:3-9

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Christians ought to expect suffering.  Yes, you heard that one right.  In our litigious age of claiming rights and avoiding pain at all cost, the biblical teaching can seem like some antiquated throw-back to an age we can’t relate to very well.  But Peter’s letter to the churches was all about facing and dealing with suffering.  Unfair treatment was happening, and was going to happen.  Peter would think it weird if believers were not undergoing suffering of some type.
 
            But it is not random meaningless suffering.  It is a testing of faith.  “Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire.  And these trials will prove that your faith is worth more than gold.”  Because faith is much like a muscle, it needs to be flexed, used, and exercised so that it develops and grows strong.  An absence of adversity will only lead to faith-muscle atrophy.  So, how do we endure such adverse situations of suffering?
 
            Christians deal in the currency of hope.  God has “given us new life and a hope that lives on.  God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.”  The path forward through suffering is to know that we are being trained and developed for eternal life with Jesus.  We learn to put our hope in things which are permanent, instead of putting too much investment and stock into the temporary.  Our strengthened faith will not decay, will never be ruined, and shall not disappear.  It only makes solid spiritual sense to develop a robust life of faith in this life, since eternity awaits us.
 

 

            I praise you God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  You are so good by raising Jesus from death and giving us a permanent inheritance which can never perish, spoil, or fade.  I entrust myself to you and seek spiritual growth by means of the trials you bring into my life.  May they be used for your glory.  Amen.

Luke 1:68-79

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            When I was in graduate school at a public university some years back, I was describing for my class a New Testament view of Jesus and the church’s consistent historic teaching about him.  One of my classmates spoke up and said to me, “But you don’t really believe all that, right?”  Well, actually, I really do believe all the things concerning Jesus accounted for us in the Gospels.  Why?  Because I have found the historicity of Jesus from an objective ground of evidence as reliable, as well as a subjective witness within that resonates as true.  Christians call this witness within the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
 
            Old Zechariah experienced this firsthand.  The Holy Spirit came upon him and he uttered some objective prophecy over his newborn son, John that rang exultingly true within his subjective hopeful soul:  “You, my son, will go ahead of the Lord to get everything ready for him.  You will tell his people that they can be saved when their sins are forgiven.  God’s love and kindness will shine upon us like the sun that rises in the sky.  On us who live in the dark shadow of death this light will shine to guide us into a life of peace.”
 
            Indeed, this is exactly what John the Baptist did in his ministry.  When the Spirit resonates with us and testifies to the truth of Jesus, we can find genuine deliverance from sin, death, and hell, as well as have the confidence to proclaim the name of Jesus as Savior and King.  The objective and subjective aspects are both needed:  objective evidence alone is really nothing more than facts; subjective witness alone without evidence is just gut feeling; but the objective and subjective together presents the person and work of Christ with truth and grace, fact and flavor, mind and heart, in a compelling blend of Christianity for all people.
 

 

            Praise to you, Almighty God, because you have come to save your people.  Thank you for delivering me through your Son, the Lord Jesus, and giving me your Holy Spirit.  May the confidence I have with faith, hope, and love be used for your glory and honor.  Amen.