Stand Firm - By Greg Laurie -
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. -Ephesians 6:12
Wouldn't it be nice if the devil took some time off? Imagine if we found out he was taking the month of August off. The sad thing is that we would still get ourselves into trouble.
Satan doesn't take a month off. He doesn't take a day off. He doesn't take an hour off. He doesn't even take five minutes off. He is always on duty, looking for lives to ruin. That is why we need to keep our guard up and keep the armor of God on. Ephesians 6 says, "Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil" (verse 11 NLT).
The phrase "put on" means to do it once and for all. It speaks of permanence. The full armor of God is not something that we put on and take off every night. It's something to be put on permanently. We keep the armor of God on throughout our entire lives. The temptations and attacks will not stop until we get to Heaven.
Unlike God, Satan can only be in one place at one time. God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. God is omnipresent. Though the devil is more powerful than any person, he is not anywhere near to being the equal of God. Satan can only be in one place at one time. He is limited in what he knows. He has limited power. So when you're tempted, it is probably one of his demons doing his dirty work and tempting you. That is what we face when we encounter these "strategies of the devil" that the apostle Paul wrote about.
We're in a life-and-death conflict with the devil. So recognize it's a spiritual battle that must be fought with spiritual weapons.
The Purpose of Hardship - By Greg Laurie -
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. -James 1:2-4
I have a little bird feeder hanging outside of our kitchen, where I like to watch the little birds come and get their birdseed. We have invited them. They're our guests. But then there are birds that don't ask to be invited. They just come and take what they want. They're called seagulls.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus talked about a sower who went out and scattered seed, some of which fell on the roadside, and the birds came and ate it. Like those birds, Satan comes immediately to take away the Word that is sown in our hearts.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, "Therefore we wanted to come to you-even I, Paul, time and again-but Satan hindered us" (1 Thessalonians 2:18 NKJV). Satan wants to stop us.
Paul also talked about having the glorious privilege of going to Heaven. He said, "I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell" (2 Corinthians 12:4 NLT). Then he was called back to Earth to live out his life. He said, "To keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh. . . . Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away" (verses 7, 8 NLT).
One reason God allows us to go through hardship is to keep us close to Him. Another reason is to strengthen us. James 1:3 says, "For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow" (NLT).
Know this: God will never give you more than you can handle. When God allows His children to go through fiery trials, He always keeps one eye on us and one finger on the thermostat.
Divine order or male privilege
www.dailyjot.com
- Bill Wilson -
The whole "privilege" narrative these days is somewhat alarming. It was once explained to me that a man walking through a crowded room could go from one end to another and people would move out of his way. If a woman, however, tried to do that, people wouldn't move out of the way. This was labeled an example of male privilege-essentially blaming a lack of common courtesy by those in the room on a man who knew how to move through a crowd. This doesn't set well with my spirit. In this example, a sociological term is assigned to convince others that their right of equality is being violated. It made me think a bit. What is God's order and what does that mean to a people?
In a fallen world, one that would deny God, those who are the deniers and the deceived are always trying to cause separation from God. They are attempting to use their intellect to pit people against people using esoteric ideas and expressions that cause confusion and division. There is a God-given order for those who believe. And, while believers are not perfect in its implementation, God's order is intrinsically balanced and, at the same time, liberty-oriented. It protects both male and female. As Galatians 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."
Privilege, in the sense of those who use it to try to ascribe some sort of guilt or wrongdoing on people, may be better defined as a human condition of entitlement. Those who use the term are often guilty of envy, blame, and strife, wanting to assign a reason to paint an entire group of people with the same brush to justify their own prejudices-or their agenda. This way of thinking is not healthy, but then what can be healthy if it goes against God's order? A society that continuously attacks men and confuses masculinity with labels like "privilege" will eventually reduce itself to a population of base, leaderless, godless sleepwalkers controlled by the very ones who are pointing the finger of privilege. That is their agenda.
There is a Godly order. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:3, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman [is] the man; and the head of Christ [is] God." This is not about man-assigned privilege. It is divine order. With that comes responsibility. Ephesians 5:33 says, "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she honors her husband." Ephesians 6:1 says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." Verse 6:4 says, "And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath." You see, if the world followed God's order, it would be considered an honorable privilege to be a man. And men need to be men-as defined by God, not by men.
An Unearthly Love by Max Lucado
Your goodness can’t win God’s love. Nor can your badness lose it. But you can resist it. We tend to do so honestly. Having been rejected so often, we fear God may reject us as well. Rejections have left us skittish and jumpy. Like my dog Salty. He sleeps next to me on the couch as I write. He’s a cranky cuss, but I like him. We’ve aged together over the last fifteen years, and he seems worse for the wear. He’s a wiry canine by nature; shave his salt-and-pepper mop, and he’d pass for a bulimic Chihuahua. He didn’t have much to start with; now the seasons have taken his energy, teeth, hearing, and all but eighteen inches’ worth of eyesight.
Toss him a dog treat, and he just stares at the floor through cloudy cataracts. (Or, in his case, dogaracts?) He’s nervous and edgy, quick to growl and slow to trust. As I reach out to pet him, he yanks back. Still, I pet the old coot. I know he can’t see, and I can only wonder how dark his world has become.Your goodness can’t win God’s love. Nor can your badness lose it. But you can resist it. We tend to do so honestly. Having been rejected so often, we fear God may reject us as well. Rejections have left us skittish and jumpy. Like my dog Salty. He sleeps next to me on the couch as I write. He’s a cranky cuss, but I like him. We’ve aged together over the last fifteen years, and he seems worse for the wear. He’s a wiry canine by nature; shave his salt-and-pepper mop, and he’d pass for a bulimic Chihuahua. He didn’t have much to start with; now the seasons have taken his energy, teeth, hearing, and all but eighteen inches’ worth of eyesight.
We are a lot like Salty. I have a feeling that most people who defy and deny God do so more out of fear than conviction. For all our chest pumping and braggadocio, we are anxious folk--can’t see a step into the future, can’t hear the one who owns us. No wonder we try to gum the hand that feeds us.
Mark it down: God loves you with an unearthly love. You can’t win it by being winsome. You can’t lose it by being a loser. But you can be blind enough to resist it.
Don’t. For heaven’s sake, don’t. For your sake, don’t.
“Take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19).
Breaking Down the Faith Barrier
Exodus 4:1-13
A faith barrier is made up of attitudes that short-circuit our trust and prevent us from obeying the Lord's will. A negative self-image can hinder us in this way, as can ignorance of God's character and promises. Three other attitudes can also trip us up: doubt, feelings of inadequacy, and fear of failure.
Moses doubted that the Israelites would believe he had been chosen by the Lord to lead them. But God graciously provided reassurance--in the form of evidence that He could accomplish everything He'd promised (Ex. 4:1-5). When doubt invades our minds, it can be overcome with diligent study of Scripture and persistent prayer, which will dislodge uncertainty and replace it with biblical truth.
Moses wasn't eloquent, and a perceived lack of skill left him feeling inadequate for the job--he was afraid trying to speak would make him stumble. God patiently reassured him of divine help in that task. The Lord often chooses unlikely people to carry out His plan because He looks at the heart, not human qualifications (1 Sam. 16:7). He can overcome all our inadequacies.
Sadly, Moses did not embrace what God promised but instead asked to be relieved of the assignment. A fear of failure can prevent us from saying yes to the Lord.
Carrying out God's will requires a heart that trusts Him, a soul that steps out in obedience, and a mind that leaves success or failure to Him. As we break down the faith barrier, we will be able to see the evidence of God's presence and power--and experience the joy of obedience.
He Understands by Max Lucado
Cries of loneliness. Tune out the traffic and turn down the TV. The cry is there. You can hear their cries. You can hear them in the convalescent home among the sighs and the shuffling feet. You can hear them in the prisons among the moans of shame and the calls for mercy. You can hear them if you walk the manicured streets of suburban America, among the aborted ambitions and aging homecoming queens. Listen for it in the halls of our high schools where peer pressure weeds out the “have-nots” from the “haves.”
Many of you have been spared this cruel cry. Oh, you have been homesick or upset a time or two. But despair? Far from it. Suicide? Of course not. Be thankful that it hasn’t knocked on your door. Pray that it never will. If you have yet to fight this battle, you are welcome to read on if you wish, but I’m really writing to someone else.
I am writing to those who know this cry firsthand. I’m writing to those of you whose days are bookended with broken hearts and long evenings. I’m writing to those of you who can find a lonely person simply by looking in the mirror.
For you, loneliness is a way of life. The sleepless nights. The lonely bed. The distrust. The fear of tomorrow. The unending hurt.
When did it begin? In your childhood? At the divorce? At retirement? At the cemetery? When the kids left home?
Maybe you have fooled everyone. No one knows that you are lonely. On the outside you are packaged perfectly. Your smile is quick. Your job is stable. Your clothes are sharp. Your waist is thin. Your calendar is full. Your walk brisk. Your talk impressive. But when you look in the mirror, you fool no one. When you are alone, the duplicity ceases and the pain surfaces.
Or maybe you don’t try to hide it. Maybe you have always been outside the circle looking in, and everyone knows it. Your conversation is a bit awkward. Your companionship is seldom requested. Your clothes are dull. Your looks are common. Ziggy is your hero and Charlie Brown is your mentor.
Am I striking a chord? If I am, if you have nodded or sighed in understanding, I have an important message for you.
The most gut-wrenching cry of loneliness in history came not from a prisoner or a widow or a patient. It came from a hill, from a cross, from a Messiah.
“My God, my God,” he screamed, “why did you abandon me!” (Matthew 27:46)
Never have words carried so much hurt. Never has one being been so lonely.
Out of the silent sky come the words screamed by all who walk in the desert of loneliness. “Why? Why did you abandon me?”
I keep thinking of all the people who cast despairing eyes toward the dark heavens and cry “Why?”
And I imagine him. I imagine him listening. I picture his eyes misting and a pierced hand brushing away a tear. And although he may offer no answer, although he may solve no dilemma, although the question may freeze painfully in midair, he who also was once alone, understands.
Catastrophe or Cataclysm
“[God] spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:5-6)
These two verses speak graphically of two different kinds of terrible physical convulsions, both of which were divine judgments. The volcanic upheaval that sent fire from heaven pouring over the wicked cities of the plains was called an “overthrow” (Greek katastrophe, from which, obviously, we get our English word “catastrophe”). Great upheavals such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and hurricanes are rightly called catastrophes.
But such events are only local or regional in extent and occur relatively often. There was one event, however, that was unique in all history. When God brought the “flood” upon the ungodly antediluvian world, the word used to describe it was the Greek kataklusmos, and this word is never applied in Scripture to any event except the terrible Genesis Flood, when “the world that then was, being overflowed [Greek katakluzo] with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6). From these Greek words we derive the English word “cataclysm.”
There was never any flood like this flood! It covered all the world’s mountains, and everything on the land died, leaving great fossil deposits and great beds of lithified sediments all over the world.
There has been only one worldwide cataclysm in the past, but another is coming—global fire instead of global water. Jesus said, “For as in the days that were before the flood [i.e., kataklusmos] they . . . knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:38-39). HMM
Saints and Sinners
“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” (Job 40:3-4)
It is remarkable how the saintliest of men often confess to being the worst of sinners. The patriarch Job was said by God Himself to be “a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil” (Job 1:8). Yet, when Job saw God, he could only say, “Behold, I am vile.”
And consider Abraham, who is called “the father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11). When he presumed to talk to God, however, Abraham said that he was “but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27).
David, “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1), and “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), said: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). Isaiah, the greatest of the prophets, testified when he came into God’s presence: “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).
The angel recognized Daniel the prophet as “a man greatly beloved” by God (Daniel 10:11). Yet, when Daniel saw God, he fell on his face and said: “My comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength” (Daniel 10:8).
In the New Testament, the apostle Peter said: “I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8), and Paul called himself the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). God dwells “in the light which no man can approach unto” (1 Timothy 6:16).
The closer one comes to the Lord, the more clearly one sees his own sinfulness and the more wonderful becomes God’s amazing grace. No one who is satisfied with his or her own state of holiness has yet come to know the Lord in His state of holiness! None dare face the Lord except by His grace through the mediator Jesus Christ. HMM
Resisting the Devil
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
The devil is far more powerful and intelligent (as well as subtle and seductive in his malignant purposes) than any combination of human enemies we could ever face, and we would be utterly unable to defeat him with our own human resources. Yet, God’s Word makes it plain that we are neither to yield to him nor flee from him. Instead, the admonition is: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
But how can we resist such a mighty foe? As in our text, we must constantly maintain sobriety and vigilance against his enticements, and be careful to remain “steadfast in the faith.” Otherwise, the pseudo-intellectualism and social peer pressure to which we are subjected daily could quickly persuade us to compromise the faith, or even to depart from the faith.
We are commanded not to yield and not to compromise. Instead, we must “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” We have “the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the [wicked one],” and also “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11, 16-17).
This mighty sword with which we can make Satan flee from us is literally “the saying of God”—that is, an appropriate individual word from the complete Word of God. This was the instrument with which the Lord Jesus Himself resisted the devil, parrying each temptation with an incisive thrust of Scripture. The result then—as it will be now with us also—was that the devil “departed from him for a season” (Luke 4:13). HMM
Savor of Life or Death
“For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)
It is remarkable how the very same testimony can have such dramatically opposite effects on its recipients. A lecture on the scientific evidences of creation, for example, or on the inspiration of the Bible will be received with great joy and understanding by some, provoke furious hostility in some, and generate utter indifference in others. This seems to be true of any message—written, or verbal, or simply demonstrated in behavior—which has any kind of biblically spiritual dimension to it. It is like the pillar of cloud in the wilderness, which “came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night” (Exodus 14:20). A Christian testimony draws and wins the one, repels and condemns the other. Some there are who “loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:17).
Thus, the wonderful message of the gospel yields two diametrically opposite results. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). Christ came to bring both unity and division. “Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. . . . Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient. . . . a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word” (1 Peter 2:6-8).
But the wonderful thing is this: Whether a true testimony generates life or condemns to death, it is still “unto God a sweet savor of Christ.” HMM
Dividing Light from Darkness
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3-4)
Initially, the created cosmos was in darkness—a darkness that God Himself had to create (“I form the light, and create darkness”—Isaiah 45:7). But then the dark cosmos was energized by the Spirit’s moving, and God’s light appeared. The darkness was not dispelled, however, but only divided from the light, and the day/night sequence began, which has continued ever since.
This sequence of events in the physical creation is a beautiful type of the spiritual creation, “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Each individual is born in spiritual darkness, but “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). We are now “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,” because He “hath delivered us from the power of darkness” (Colossians 1:12-13).
However, the light in the primeval darkness resulted only in a division of night and day. The night still comes, but God has promised that in the coming Holy City, “there shall be no night there” (Revelation 22:5).
Just so, even though we have been given a new nature of light, the old nature of darkness is still striving within, and we have to be exhorted: “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Nevertheless, “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18). When we reach that city of everlasting light, all spiritual darkness will vanish as well, for “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth” (Revelation 21:27), and we shall be like Christ. HMM
The Holy Spirit’s Dwelling Place
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Every time the news programs report a story about vandalism at a church, believers cringe. It’s hard for us to bear the thought of anyone spray-painting graffiti on sanctuary walls or damaging the stained glass windows, let alone setting fire to a place of worship. It’s a desecration! The church is a sacred place.
I’m saddened by the fact that many Christians don’t have the same qualms when it comes to harming the temple of the Holy Spirit--their own bodies. Some put junk into their stomachs, their veins, or their lungs. Others wear themselves down under a weight of stress or exhaustion. Some folks justify these abuses as their right: It’s my body, I can do what I want. But that isn't true.
First Corinthians 6 says that believers are the Lord’s possession (v. 19). He has fashioned these earthen vessels to serve Him and carry out the work He’s planned for us to accomplish. God created us with a mind, body, and spirit--of the three aspects, the body is the one that allows us to interact with our environment. People cannot reach their full potential while neglecting the proper care of their bodies. What good are education, talent, and gifts if we’re too tired or sick to complete tasks well?
Here in the world, we can do nothing apart from our physical body. Since it is the only one we’ll have in this life, we should do our best to keep it in good condition. Believersshould also recognize their responsibility to treat the earthly frame like the sacred and special dwelling place that it is.
The Pathway of Spiritual Growth
Romans 8:29
God predestined us to grow into His likeness, but this doesn't happen at the moment we are saved. While we are redeemed by the Savior's precious blood and immediately have a new heart, our transformation is a lifelong process.
The Holy Spirit enables this journey. Growth is impossible without Him, regardless of our efforts. Yet we can welcome or hinder His transforming hand.
One way we give God willing access to our lives is by obeying this mandate in Romans 12:2: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."
Everyone chooses either a biblical or worldly philosophy as his or her source of truth--and that choice shapes the mind and spirit. Therefore, the Lord tells us to immerse our mind in Scripture, allowing Him to mold us into His beautiful image.
The Bible story about the Israelites wandering in the wilderness illustrates this principle. After saving them from Pharaoh's abuse, God did not bring them immediately to the Promised Land. The Lord knew doing so would bring sinful ways with them. Instead, He led them to the wilderness and gave the Ten Commandments. Only after they learned to obey and turn to almighty God were they ready for the next step.
The process of sanctification isn't always pleasant. In fact, it's often painful for us, just as it was for the Israelites. In God's amazing wisdom and love, however, He knows what we need to leave our old ways that lead to death. And He builds new character in us--full of life and joy.
What It Means to Walk with God - By Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org
He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? -Micah 6:8
I like to walk, but I don't like to run. In fact, I hate running. My wife and I will be out walking together, and sometimes she'll try to trick me into running. She says, "Let's run!"
"I hate running."
"Let's just run to the end of the block."
But I already know it will go beyond that. We'll run to the end of the block, and sure enough, she says, "Let's run to the end of the next block."
When I'm walking, I'm happy. But the moment I go into even a slow jog, I move from relative happiness to pure misery.
Ephesians 4:1 tells us to "walk worthy of the calling with which you were called" (NKJV). The term walking that is used in the Bible is an interesting one. Galatians 5:16 says, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (NKJV), and Colossians 2:6 tells us, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him" (NKJV).
When you walk with someone, you talk with them. Sometimes my wife will take walks with some of her friends, and these so-called walks will last for three hours. So when she tells me that she's going on a walk with her friends, I'll say, "Don't call it a walk. Call it what it is. You're going on a talk." They walk together, and they talk forever-in a good way.
When the Bible refers to walking with God, it's the same idea. It's not as though we're trying to beat God in a race. Rather, we want to keep pace with Him. We don't want to lag behind, and we don't want to run ahead of Him. We want to stay in sync with Him. That is walking with God.
He Became Poor
�For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.� (2 Corinthians 8:9)
The doctrine of Christ�s kenosis, or self-emptying, is one of the most amazing of all biblical truths. The extent to which He who was not only �in the form of God� but also �equal with God� condescended to �make himself of no reputation� (the translation of kenoo in Philippians 2:6-7) is utterly beyond human comprehension.
He who once sat on the throne of the universe came to Earth �lying in a manger� (Luke 2:12). Throughout His public ministry, He had �not where to lay his head� (Matthew 8:20). Because He had no money to pay the tax, He had to catch a fish with the necessary coin in its mouth (Matthew 17:27). In His agony at Gethsemane, none of His friends would pray with Him, and when He was arrested they all �forsook him and fled� (Matthew 26:40, 56). No one defended Him at His trial.
On the cross, the soldiers stripped away His only personal possessions�the clothes on His back�and then �parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take� (Mark 15:24). When He died, His body had to be buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:59-60). No home, no money, no possessions, no defenders, not even a tomb of His own in which to lie.
But He had a cross on which to die, and because He was obedient to the death of the cross, �God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name� (Philippians 2:9). Through His poverty we become rich, through His homelessness we have a mansion in heaven, and through His terrible death on Calvary we have everlasting life. Yes, we do know the grace of Christ! HMM
�For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.� (2 Corinthians 8:9)
The doctrine of Christ�s kenosis, or self-emptying, is one of the most amazing of all biblical truths. The extent to which He who was not only �in the form of God� but also �equal with God� condescended to �make himself of no reputation� (the translation of kenoo in Philippians 2:6-7) is utterly beyond human comprehension.
He who once sat on the throne of the universe came to Earth �lying in a manger� (Luke 2:12). Throughout His public ministry, He had �not where to lay his head� (Matthew 8:20). Because He had no money to pay the tax, He had to catch a fish with the necessary coin in its mouth (Matthew 17:27). In His agony at Gethsemane, none of His friends would pray with Him, and when He was arrested they all �forsook him and fled� (Matthew 26:40, 56). No one defended Him at His trial.
On the cross, the soldiers stripped away His only personal possessions�the clothes on His back�and then �parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take� (Mark 15:24). When He died, His body had to be buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:59-60). No home, no money, no possessions, no defenders, not even a tomb of His own in which to lie.
But He had a cross on which to die, and because He was obedient to the death of the cross, �God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name� (Philippians 2:9). Through His poverty we become rich, through His homelessness we have a mansion in heaven, and through His terrible death on Calvary we have everlasting life. Yes, we do know the grace of Christ! HMM
Son of Man
�And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.� (Revelation 14:14)
This is the last of some 87 New Testament references (84 in the four gospels, one in Acts, none in the epistles, two in Revelation) to Christ as the Son of man. Here we see the Son of man coming on a white cloud from heaven (just as He had ascended into heaven after His resurrection) as the conquering King of all the earth.
What a contrast is this to the first New Testament reference to the Son of man. �The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head� (Matthew 8:20). From humility and poverty on Earth to power and riches in heaven, and for all eternity�this was His journey when Christ left His heavenly glory to join the human family.
In between the poverty and the power lay the whole human experience, for He �was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin� (Hebrews 4:15). Finally, as Son of man He must die for man�s sin, for �the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again� (Luke 24:7). Even in heaven He is still the Son of man, for Stephen saw Him thus: �Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God� (Acts 7:56).
There is, indeed, a great man in the glory! Christ called Himself �the Son of man� much more often than �the Son of God,� though He will eternally be both, the God/man. He delights to identify with those whom He has redeemed, for He �is not ashamed to call them brethren� (Hebrews 2:11). �Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?� asked Jesus. Then we say with Peter, �Thou art . . . the Son of the living God� (Matthew 16:13, 16). HMM
�And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.� (Revelation 14:14)
This is the last of some 87 New Testament references (84 in the four gospels, one in Acts, none in the epistles, two in Revelation) to Christ as the Son of man. Here we see the Son of man coming on a white cloud from heaven (just as He had ascended into heaven after His resurrection) as the conquering King of all the earth.
What a contrast is this to the first New Testament reference to the Son of man. �The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head� (Matthew 8:20). From humility and poverty on Earth to power and riches in heaven, and for all eternity�this was His journey when Christ left His heavenly glory to join the human family.
In between the poverty and the power lay the whole human experience, for He �was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin� (Hebrews 4:15). Finally, as Son of man He must die for man�s sin, for �the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again� (Luke 24:7). Even in heaven He is still the Son of man, for Stephen saw Him thus: �Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God� (Acts 7:56).
There is, indeed, a great man in the glory! Christ called Himself �the Son of man� much more often than �the Son of God,� though He will eternally be both, the God/man. He delights to identify with those whom He has redeemed, for He �is not ashamed to call them brethren� (Hebrews 2:11). �Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?� asked Jesus. Then we say with Peter, �Thou art . . . the Son of the living God� (Matthew 16:13, 16). HMM
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