"Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John... he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
~ Luke 1:13,16-17 (NKJV)
And they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, "No; he shall be called John."
Luke 1:59-60 (NKJV)
"No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
~ Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJV)
Zacharias (Zechariah) means "YHWH remembers." John (Yochanan) means "YHWH is gracious / shows favor." John the Baptist's ministry of turning hearts toward the Lord to prepare people for the Gospel is often characterized as preaching fiery condemnation of sin. Though he was martyred for that part of his message, his calling was as herald for the Gospel of grace.
Know the Lord. Know His grace. He does condemn sin. And He sets us free, from both sin's penalty and sin's power. The two go together. One cannot sincerely say "be my Savior and set me free from sin's penalty" without "be my Lord and keep on setting me free from sin power."
God's grace does not forget sin, but rather chooses to not remember sin because we know relationship with God. To know the Lord is to be united to Him. To know the Lord is to share His hatred for sin, to trust Him and His will, to believe He uses all for good and glorify Him for it.
To know the Lord, read the Bible more. Then some more. Then lots more.
Lord, You are good. Your ways bring peace. You give light to us in the shadow of death which occupies this world. You allow mortal man to know You—to be united with You through Your Spirit within us. To know You is to love You. Draw us to Yourself and fill us with more of You.
On a personal note: Today begins a walk through Luke, the Gospel with the stated intent "that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed." Chapter 1 has 80 (!) verses I could write a dozen posts on. It is rich. You'll be blessed if you take time to read it all.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
God is so very good.
ReplyDeleteShalom Anne:)
ReplyDeleteBrowsing here in the back forty again. A bit restless here and came back to re-read two posts that come to mind often which in turn causes me to wander back and read them again. Specifically. Nov. 12, 2009 and as to the other it's in the "Forgiveness" catagory but deals with grace. This post caught my attention though. Especially your little personal note at the bottom. I will read Luke chapter 1 and hopefully someday you will write a dozen posts about it:) great post to chew on, though! now i need to go find that other post regarding grace/truth post or was it grace and mercy?
A few things standing out to me here in this. One was "when we stand down from opposition to Him..." i push/take His grace to such an extreme at times and it's so difficult to not struggle against Him on some issues.
One more thing, a scripture that snagged me in the past week related to this post.
ReplyDelete1 Corinthians 2:10-12
New Living Translation (NLT)
10 But[a] it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
He's ringing the bell here. The other post was Dec. 21, 2008. Mercy and Truth. When He's prodding me to come and look again at these posts it always seems like He throws in a few extras. The term/verse(?) confirmation by two or three witnesses comes to mind.
Just so you know, i have never felt as though i needed to question anything you have ever written in your blog. there are some things that sound too good to be true at times. some things really boggle my mind. then i need to pray/ask Him to help me with my unbelief. i trust your words(His Word) here. a couple of things i might not agree with now and then but even when that happens i'm not afraid to speak up about them.
Shalom, Bud. I love that you take the time to comment on these old posts, giving me cause to re-read them. They strangely minister to me, on several levels.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes read my previous words and am astounded at their confidence. I still believe all these things. But as I become increasingly aware of how very much about God I have yet to comprehend, I feel even less capable to be so bold about the things of which I am confident. I pray that God renews such boldness.
I am likewise encouraged to know that words which are to me flung out into the vast domain of the internet still find a soul in which to land, where the Holy Spirit might use them. Praise God! \o/
And my words minister to me by the Holy Spirit speaking freshly to even me through them, if that makes sense. Sometimes the Christian life isn't learning something new, but simply being reminded and encouraged about what we already know.
As always, I trust you to remember that whether or not I give you reason to question the words offered by me, they must ALWAYS be confirmed by God's Word and Spirit. Your confidence can never be in fallible man, Bud, but only in Him Who can NEVER fail us! <><
Shalom, Bud. Thank you. : )
Shalom. and your welcome. On an interesting note i found another post today titled "Know the Lord."
ReplyDelete(June 20, 2009) Decided to chase out mercy and truth beginning with mercy. Somehow I ended up in June 09 and now I'm reading the whole thing....comments included. Lot of gold in some really great scripture!!! A lot to chew on,for sure! Okay...back to mercy!:)
: )
ReplyDeleteShalom, Bud ~