-
Alpha and Omega
I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. – Revelation 1:8 This name, the Alpha and the Omega, only occurs in the last book of the Bible. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the beginning and the end. And even though the name is used only in the last book, it’s used both at the beginning and the end of the book. Maybe that’s a Godwink. John started his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word.” How appropriate that Jesus would tell John He’s not just the Word, He’s the letters. That’s another wink.…
-
You are My Friends If . . .
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 -John 15:12-17 In John 15, Jesus is giving His final words of encouragement and instruction to His friends before He goes to the cross to lay down His life for His friends. Who are His friends? You…
-
You Are My Friends . . .
This week’s name, Friend, is a 180-degree turn from last week–Lord. He is – Lord of All. ALL. Every knee WILL bow, and every tongue WILL confess it. But the Lord of All Creation is not some overbearing tyrant. He calls us “Friend.” Isaiah tells us Abraham was God’s friend. But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend – Isaiah 41:8 That’s not all. God visited Abraham and Sarah, sharing a meal with them. I think we can infer from Genesis 18 that it happened more than once. He wrestled with Jacob. He sought out Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day. He…
-
No Cheap Grace
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. – Romans 10:9 I grew up in a faith tradition that taught you could never be sure of your salvation. We did our best to follow the rules. When we messed up, we did what we could to make things right, and we hoped for the best. We believed no one got a free pass to heaven. Even if you lived a really good life, you’d have things you needed to set right when you die. So you’d go to a heavenly penitentiary for a…
-
Jesus is Lord
For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:9-11 In Praying the Names of God in 52 Weeks, Ann Spangler notes that Christianity’s earliest confession is profound in its simplicity. Just three powerful words: Jesus is Lord. In Greek, it’s only two. Iesous Kyrios. (The present tense “is” is understood making Jesus Lord a complete thought.) You can’t get simpler than that!…
