The Great Divider - Day 87 Month 3-28 Week 13-3
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
Leviticus 27 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2027&version=NASB1995
Psalm 71 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2071&version=NASB1995
Isaiah 61 passage
Luke 6:1-19 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206%3A1-19&version=NASB1995
The Great Divider
1. In Isaiah 61, Isaiah speaks this prophecy.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord”(NASB1995)
This may sound familiar because after repeating this in Luke 4, Jesus sets the book down and makes the following statement: “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Shortly afterward, the people of His town tried to throw Him off a cliff. We’ll get more direct clarification on this as we read on in the new testament, but here is an indication that Jesus either is the Messiah or He is not. We can’t call him a great teacher or godly man or prophet if His claim that He is the Messiah is false. In today’s reading of Luke, we see one of the pieces of evidence where Jesus brings good news to a man and heals his withered hand. Throughout the first 4 books of the New Testament, we see many examples of Jesus fulfilling this messianic prophecy.
A long time ago, I came to a point where I realized that a person can’t refer to Jesus as a good teacher or prophet if they don’t accept Jesus for who He says He is. When I was in my youth, I hung out with 3 guys. It was 4 guys until Jeff moved away (as teenagers, we were not impressed that Jeff moved away). We used to go bowling a few times a week just to hang out and then go to McDonalds afterwards for what was once a low cost hamburger! None of us had girlfriends because we were considered the “losers.” I remember with a smile the number of times we laughed ourselves silly because we knew how to have simple fun and one of these friends was a real comic. Two of us were Jesus followers but neither of us really acted like it during that time (I found out 20 years later, that Jeff was also a Jesus follower but like I said, none of us acted like it). On the odd occasion we’d get into spiritual talks (usually for a short duration of time). One of the guys, Mike, said to me one time, “I think Jesus is great. He was a wonderful teacher.” In my lack of knowledge of Jesus (though I grew up with a Bible sticking out of my head) I thought, Mike is practically a Jesus follower. He just hadn’t made the final decision. Later on in life, I was hearing a preacher talk about Jesus and he plainly explained, Jesus is either “the Son of God, a liar (Devil of Hell), or a lunatic” (I later came to realize that this is actually a quote from C.S. Lewis and the pastor didn’t come up with it himself). I realized how far off Mike was from really knowing Jesus.
We can’t mix Jesus in with other religions. He stands alone! In many ways, it would be easier if Jesus was just one of the ways to heaven, but then He would not be who He says He is.
2. Some hymns and worship choruses have been written based on Psalm 71. It speaks of the greatness of ‘I AM.” I’m going to write some of the quotes down. Maybe consider these quotes as you go through your day!
“In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed.”
“You are my rock and my fortress.”
“For You are my hope; O Lord God”
“You are He who took me from my mother’s womb”
“For You are my strong refuge”
“For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens”
“O God, who is like You?”
Have a great day!
Steve
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