An Apron of Figs

Genesis 3:7-10

Upon seeing their nakedness for the first time, Adam and Eve clothed themselves in an apron made of fig leaves. They had always been naked, but the glory of God shined both on and in them. Now that sin had entered, the glory had departed, and the long journey towards the cross had begun. Frightened at their own mortality, and afraid of the wrath of God, this First Couple hides their nakedness from their own eyes with fig leaves, and from the eyes of God by hiding in the bushes.

The fig leaf is very large, and it no doubt made sense to Adam to use it for cover. What he did not realize is that when it is separated from the vine and exposed to sunlight, it dries out rather quickly, causing it to shrivel and die. It probably did not take long for Adam to notice that his covering wasn’t covering so much after all.

Fig leaves henceforth and forever become a symbol of self-righteousness. Adam puts these on as men put on works; to cover our failures. Adam is not only the father of all races, giving them sin and death through his sin, but he is also the father of religion. It is Adam’s attempt to cover-up his failure that is the basis for all works righteousness in the world today. Any time that man does something to make up for his faults, or to hide his short-comings, he is taking a cue from Adam, and fashioning an apron of leaves.

All of our works can never bring us righteousness, for if they could, then there was no need for Christ to die (Galatians 2:21). In fact, Christ’s finished work at the cross frees us from the merry-go-round of works to achieve right standing with God (Romans 3:21-22, 27-28). Because of the work of Christ’s cross, you and I are justified simply by faith, and we now wear a different robe. Look at Isaiah’s prophecy concerning those who accept Christ:

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).

No longer do we wear garments of figs, fashioned by our good works or our religion, but we wear His garments of salvation, and we have been covered with a robe of His righteousness. This robe cannot be made of our works, for look at what Isaiah says about our own righteousness: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’ are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). The prophet is reminding us of the faded leaves of Adam’s apron of figs. No works of our hands will ever survive.

The Father gave the Prodigal Son, “the best robe” (Luke 15:22). He never wanted His son to forget that he was a son, and the robe would remind him of that. Joseph wore his coat of many colors with pride, always assured of the simple knowledge that his father loved him. The acknowledgment of son ship was enough to bring righteousness out in these, and it is enough to bring Jesus out in us also.

Put on “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). No more figs!

Work to Rest

Hebrews 4:9-11

When you enter into the rest of God, you cease from your own works (Hebrews 4:10), in the same manner that God ceased from His own works on the 7th day, and rested. Entering into that rest is one of the hardest things that the believer will ever do, for we are hard wired due to our first father Adam, to “do”, and not to rest.

Adam’s sin in the Garden brought sweat to the brow and a curse to man that he would live by the sweat of his face all of his life. Where Adam had simply tended to the Garden prior to the fall, he now had to work the land to bring forth fruit. When Jesus travailed in His own Garden, prior to the cross, He sweat as it were great drops of blood. The mingling of the precious blood of the Savior with the sweat of the curse would forever free man from having to live by his work again. Any man who accepts Christ by faith can enter into the rest that Jesus paid such a steep price to achieve.

Now this certainly does not mean that man can quit his job and lay on the couch all day and Christ will provide. If a man does not work, he does not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but it does mean that Christ has redeemed us from being a slave to our work. In fact, the work that is encouraged in Hebrews 4 is the constant labor, to stop laboring!

Hebrews 4 is the “rest” chapter, with the word being used some 9 times in that chapter alone. The framework is built around the children of Israel failing to enter into the rest of the Promised Land when 10 spies said that they couldn’t take it. Paul says that they failed to enter into rest because of “unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6), and that there is a better rest than the Promised Land anyhow, since David prophesied of a day of rest after Joshua had crossed the Jordan (4:5-8).

If they failed because of unbelief, then we fail because of the same thing. We must labor to enter into the finished work of Christ, not by our works; for that shows that we do not believe that it truly is a “finished work”. We must stop trying to achieve satisfaction in the Spirit by our own efforts. These efforts, while genuine, only show that we are trusting in our own ability to save, and not fully trusting in His ability.

God’s work of creation was a perfect work, as everything that God does is. Only when His work was completely finished, and that work was deemed “good”, could God rest on the 7th day. Christ’s work of redemption was a perfect work as well. Only when He said, “It is finished” could Jesus hang His head and “give up the ghost”. While all other priests never sat down (there were no chairs in the tabernacle), our High Priest Jesus has sit down at the right hand of the Father, and is resting in His finished work. We have been saved so that we can “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

Believer, rest in His finished work today. May your only spiritual labor today be the labor that enters into rest. Have faith in His finished work and sit together with Him in every area of your life.

It's A Brand New Day

Genesis 1:1,2

Both Genesis and John start with, “in the beginning”. Genesis tells of God creating, while John tells us that the Word (Jesus) was present in that creation. Whatever the beginning might be, Christ is there. He said as much of himself, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Revelation 1:8); and again, “…the first and the last” (Rev. 1:11).

As you begin a brand new year, let The Beginning have all of your heart. If you have never accepted Christ as the price paid for your sins, there is no better way to start this year, than to place your confidence in Jesus and His finished work at the cross. Just accept Him as Savior and believe He will save you.

In this New Year, many shallow resolutions will be made by people hoping to drop those extra holiday pounds, or write their first novel, etc. Nearly just as many of those resolutions will be broken in short order. People often have good intentions, but very little resolve to see these things through.

When Jesus walked the earth, He was the Word that “dwelt among us” (John 1:14). When our beginning is set and established in Christ, it causes us to behold His glory, “as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. Allow Christ, who is grace and truth to establish you and to lead you into paths of righteousness all throughout this year.

Let your sorrows and cares of the previous year vanish with the turn of the calendar. Easier said than done, right? Notice that when Genesis 1:1 ends, the earth is in a chaotic state, but God is not satisfied to leave it there. The earth does not reform itself, but rather it sits and allows the Spirit of God to move on the face of the waters (vs. 2). The Hebrew word for “moved” in that verse is better translated “hovered”. His Holy Spirit loves to hover over your life and bring beauty out of chaos.

It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32), and it is His New Year’s Resolution to you to provide the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace.

Go in that knowledge, and abundant grace is yours today!

When God Crossed His Hands

Genesis 48:8-20

The time had come for the old patriarch Jacob to die, which meant that the time of the blessing upon his children and grand-children was to begin. Now 147 years old, his eye-sight almost gone, and the sickness upon him that will end his life, Jacob begins the process of doling out words of blessing and wisdom by starting with the sons of Joseph. This picture, nearly 4000 years old is a type and shadow of what Jesus would do for all of us on a dark day at Calvary.

The Israeli way was for a man to lay his hands upon his children and pass a blessing down to them. He could lay his left hand upon any and all of his children and prophesy on them promises and goodness, but his right hand was placed on one son alone. This blessing was normally reserved for the firstborn son, as he was to be the legal heir of the family fortune and the father’s name. Jacob had disturbed this trend when he had cheated his older brother Esau out of the blessing as a young man. So powerful was the right-hand blessing that once given, it was considered irreversible (Genesis 27:35).

Joseph marches his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, toward his father so that they may receive blessing. Since Manasseh is the oldest, Joseph desires for him to receive the best of his father’s blessings so he guides him towards Jacob’s right hand. When the boys arrive in front of Jacob, the text says that he guided his hands “wittingly” (Genesis 48:14), meaning that he placed them on purpose. He crossed his arms, laying his right hand on the youngest boy, Ephraim.

Joseph saw the apparent mistake of his father, and thinking that it was done due to Jacob’s inability to see properly, he grabs his father’s hands and tries to uncross them (48:17, 18). Jacob is well aware of what he has done and he explains to Joseph that while the eldest son will be great, the younger one will be greater. This entire scenario is our redemption in shadow.

Israel is God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22), while the church of Jesus Christ, compiled predominately of Gentiles is the second choice of the gospel (Acts 13:46). Israel rejected the gospel message, so God turned His love and favor towards all that will accept His Son Jesus. Jesus prophesied that the first will be last and the last will be first (Matthew 19:30), meaning that Israel was first called but will be the last saved, while the Gentiles were the last called but the first saved.

The firstborn son was the deserving son by all legal rights and privileges while the last children were considered blessed just to be involved. At Calvary, Jesus Christ saw both the firstborn and the last and crossed His hands for us, offering salvation and redemption to the less deserving, younger born, Gentile world. Because God crossed His hands at the cross, you and I rest beneath the right-hand, best blessings of God.

You can hold your head high today, not because you are the best but because Jesus crossed His hands for you. Due to that crossing (and that “cross”), you are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved.

Clean Living, Prior to the Law

Genesis 37:3; 39:9

Joseph is an amazing typology of Jesus in so many different ways. Both were children of Abraham and beloved of their father. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and Jesus was put on a cross by His brethren. Joseph was purchased with silver; Jesus was betrayed for silver. Joseph was revealed to his brothers the second time that they visited him; Jesus will be known by all of Israel at His Second Coming. Joseph married a Gentile bride, and Jesus has taken us as His Gentile bride.

Joseph’s ability to live above the fray is phenomenal, as he is an Old Testament type of a believer living under love and grace. Joseph lived over 4 centuries before the law was given to Moses at Mt. Sinai, so everything that he does is a type of living under a covenant free from works and performance. The covenant that God had with Abraham was such a covenant, which mirrors our covenant through Christ Jesus.

Jacob gave his beloved son Joseph a “coat of many colors”, which showed everyone exactly what the old father thought of his son. The confidence that this coat gave to Joseph must have been enormous as he knew in each and every circumstance of life exactly what his father thought of him. Jesus shared this knowledge as He was baptized in the Jordan River and heard His Father say of Him, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Having the knowledge in His heart of His Father’s love, Jesus was perfectly equipped to face the devil in the wilderness. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that Jesus overcame the devil with fasting; in fact, Satan waited until Jesus was at His weakest to attack Him. Jesus overcame the devil in the wilderness with the knowledge of His Father’s love and favor for Him.

God’s favor was on Joseph from day one as “his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand” (Genesis 39:3). Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, promoted his slave Joseph to overseer of his house, putting everything that he owned into Joseph’s hand. Great blessing was on Joseph, thus great blessing landed on Potiphar (Genesis 39:5).

Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and lusted after him. Left alone with her and completely trusted by her husband, Joseph had every opportunity to sleep with this woman, but he refuses, asking her, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). Notice that Joseph does not call it a transgression, but rather a sin. Sin exists whether there is law or not, but a transgression is a breaking of the law. Joseph had no law, as he is living prior to the Mosaic Law; so what causes him to say “No”, when it would have been so easy to say “Yes”?

Some say that grace is great but that you need law to know how to live. They are only half-right; grace is great, but law will only teach you how to sin! It is grace that appears to us and teaches us how to live (Titus 2:11, 12), while it is law that explodes sin within us (Romans 5:20). Joseph said no to Potiphar’s wife because he had an intimate relationship with God, birthed by his father’s love for him. The knowledge of that love gave him the power to face any temptation; just like Jesus did in the wilderness.

You have a coat of many colors, given to you by your Heavenly Father. Just as the prodigal was clothed in a robe, so you are clothed in robes of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). Look at those robes as a representation of your Father’s love for you. Fully comprehend that love and you too will live beyond the clutches of this world.

Possess the Dew of Heaven

Genesis 27:26-39

This story picks up with Jacob entering his father Isaac’s tent to receive the blessing of the firstborn son. The problem is that Jacob is not the firstborn; that honor belongs to his older brother Esau, but Isaac is blind and can’t see the difference and Jacob is a deceiver by nature, so the story unfolds. Isaac blesses Jacob with the “right-hand” blessing, meaning that Jacob gets the favored blessing, while his brother will be relegated to whatever is left-over. Jacob is going to get out of town before Esau comes in and finds out about this transaction, by which time it will be too late.

There is a lot that could be said about these two brothers: what they represent and how they live their lives, but for purposes of this devotion, let’s look at what constituted their blessings, as given by their father Isaac. Pay attention to the wording, starting with Jacob. Note the similarities and the important differences:

Jacob – “God give thee the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine” (Genesis 27:28).

Esau – “Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above” (Genesis 27:39).

The first and most obvious difference is that Jacob’s blessing comes as a gift from God, while Esau’s denotes his own works. There are two basic ways for the believer to attempt to live: by grace and favor or by works and effort. When your blessings come from nothing that you do then you are living in the abundant favor of God. When you play a part in what you get, whether it is due to your consecration, or your attendance or your devotion, then you are a recipient of what you deserve, with no regard to favor.

Next we see the order with which God mentions the blessings: Jacob receives the dew of heaven followed by the fatness of the earth, while Esau gets them in the opposite order. The provision of grace is always from above, while the provision of works is always from beneath us, where our hands labor. The ark had one window and it was at the top of the vessel so that Noah and his family could not see the waters beneath them, only the heavens above. Grace and favor rains your provision from God, so that the economy of this world and the provision of man cannot affect you. Feast off of heaven and not earth and you will be full, longer.

Finally, God promises to GIVE the good things to Jacob with “plenty of corn and wine”, while Esau is only promised to be able to DWELL in these things. The believer who rests in grace and favor will see manifold blessings come their way as a gift from God, while others will feel content simply to dwell near God’s goodness. Some Christians seem content to struggle through life, dependent on the world’s system, with heaven as their ultimate reward. We were saved to live for more than heaven! You and I are to have life more abundant (John 10:10), and corn and wine on the way!

God has destined you to receive the “right-hand” blessing. Be a recipient of grace and favor by faith today; receiving nothing by your works. The dew of heaven is ready for you. You are His beloved!

He Ever Lives

Genesis 18:23-33

Our text is regarding Abraham praying for the sparing of Sodom due to the righteous people living there. One of those people was his nephew Lot, who would actually prove to be the only righteous one in the entire city. Abraham starts the intercession by asking God if He would destroy the righteous with the wicked, which of course God would never do. He then asks if God would spare it for 50 righteous, then 45, then 30, then 20 and finally, 10. Each time that Abraham lowers the number, God agrees to spare the city if He can find that many righteous.

There are two important things about Abraham’s prayer: the manner in which he prays and the place that he stops. His manner is very shaky, with trepidation and fear, showing us that he fears to even petition God in this way. He calls himself “dust and ashes” (verse 27), he begs, “let not the Lord be angry” (verse 30), and then asks again, promising to speak “yet but this once” (verse 32). He is afraid of a God that just promised to make of him a “great and mighty nation” (verse 18). Why would he be afraid to ask for anything, knowing that God has favored him?

A lack of understanding of covenant is one of the downfalls of the modern Christian. If we knew who we are because of Jesus Christ, we would stop praying as Abraham prayed in this chapter. We need not beg our Daddy God, for it His desire to give us the kingdom: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

We should also look at where Abraham stops his prayer. Based on the prayer itself, can we assume that if Abraham had continued his trend of taking the number down, and had ended at only 1 righteous, would God have agreed to spare the city? God had already agreed 5 times to Abraham’s prayer, so why not ask once more. I have often wondered if Abraham stopped praying too soon!

I used to preach this passage of scripture by saying “Don’t stop interceding! If you stop too soon, people may not get what they need”. I didn’t understand that I was making God distant and hesitant to move. This brought shame to the covenant of Jesus Christ, who never moves because we are persistent or because we are good. If this is not how this passage is to be interpreted, then what should we glean?

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus is now the intercessor! He “ever liveth” to do that very thing. Rest assured that He will not stop petitioning the Father on your behalf. Where man may stop at “will you spare it for 10?”, Jesus will continue on until there is only you! You are of such importance to Christ that while you were an enemy in your mind against God, Christ died for you (Colossians 1:20, 21; Romans 5:10).

Take solace in the fact that your Redeemer ever lives to intercede on your behalf. Nothing can befall you that Jesus has not already conquered. You are deeply loved and highly favored in Christ Jesus.

The Covenant of Promise

Genesis 15:6-18

God counted Abraham as a righteous man, though there is ample evidence that Abraham did not live like a righteous man. The reason that God viewed Abraham as righteous was that Abraham believed what God told him, and God called this “faith”. That faith made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes, though his actions spoke otherwise.

God has always chosen to deal with man on the basis of covenant. In covenant, two parties decide upon an allegiance, swearing to one another by the killing of an animal and eating of a covenant meal. If one party breaks the covenant, they are held accountable by death, thus you did not enter these things lightly.

When the Lord chose to give Abraham a promised land, Abraham wanted proof that he would inherit it (Genesis 15:8). God then introduced covenant to Abraham, asking for a specified number of animals to be sacrificed. Their bodies were to be divided and placed apart with a walking space in between the pieces. The two parties involved in covenant would then pass between the pieces, stopping to cut their hands and then bind them together to mingle their blood with one another. Then they would eat and converse to seal the covenant.

After Abraham places the carcasses on the ground, he sits and waits on God to do whatever it is that He is going to do. In the meantime, the fowls of the came down upon the carcasses and Abraham worked to drive them away. God sees this action and makes a crucial decision. If God enters covenant with Abraham, then Abraham must live up to some pre-set, specified set of rules. If he fails, he breaks covenant and God must kill him. This negates his inheritance, for he won’t be around to take what God wants to give him. This poses a great problem, which is characterized by Abraham’s action in driving away the birds. God needs to make this covenant happen in way in which Abraham puts no effort into it, and has no standard to live up to. The only way to remove the possibility for Abraham to fail is to remove Abraham. Thus, God puts him to sleep during the ceremony.

While Abraham sleeps, God passes between the pieces of animal in the form of “a smoking furnace and a burning lamp” (Genesis 15:17). The smoking furnace is a type of God, the booming voice of Mt. Sinai, while the burning lamp is a type of Jesus, the light in a dark place. God literally cuts covenant with Himself, for He won’t break the deal on either end. When Abraham awakes, God tells Him all that He has given him, and He gives Abraham no requirements to keep.

When you accept Christ, you are not entering into a Covenant with God; rather you are receiving the blessings of the Covenant that Jesus made with His Father. Jesus shed His blood in this Covenant so that you would not have to. You get the inheritance while Jesus paid the price. Paul said that when we accept Jesus, a powerful thing happens to you: “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). You and I are living under the same promise that Abraham was, without any obligation on our part. We can rejoice that we get the benefits of Covenant because Jesus paid our price. Hallelujah!

The Power to Choose

Genesis 4:7

Lost in the story of Cain and Abel is the wonderful moment when God gives Cain the power to choose which way that his life will go. Just before Cain’s murder of Abel, the Lord asks Cain why he is so upset, and then, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door” (Genesis 4:7). God is showing Cain the choice of life and death; one way is led by Cain’s obedience and it leads to acceptance on God’s part. The other way leads to disobedience with “sin” lying at the door.

The power to choose how we are going to live is a staple feature of God’s grace and kindness. Oftentimes I have had the question posed to me by young converts, “Why did God even put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden at all?” Some think that life would have been better if God had given man no opportunity to fall, but God created man to be a free creature, who would love Him willingly and not by obligation. By allowing man to fail, God allows a world of sin and grief to begin, but He also provides opportunity for redemption and perfect love. Neither of these wonderful things comes without a tremendous price, and Jesus has paid that price!

To get a sense of how wonderful this seventh verse is, we should look at what brought us to this point. Cain and Abel have both brought an offering to the Lord. Abel brought a lamb from his flock, “And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering” (Genesis 4:4), while Cain brought some of his harvest and the LORD “had not respect” (Genesis 4:5). Why would the Lord accept one offering while rejecting the other?

I preached for many years (and have read many commentaries that are written in the same vein) that God accepts Abel’s sacrifice because there is blood involved and rejects Cain’s for the same cause. The verse, “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22) is nearly always cited, stating that God needed to see blood in order to honor the sacrifice. This argument falls on two simple points: there is no indication that Cain and Abel are bringing an offering to God for the remission of sins, but rather they are simply coming to worship the Lord; and God never told them there must be bloodshed, so it is unfair to hold them accountable.

Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, sure to choose from its best, while Cain simply “brought of the fruit of the ground”. There was an attitude in their worship that God was watching, prompting the question from the Lord, “Why are you mad?” Cain had no reason to be angry for he had simply been given a choice: he could choose life or death, and we know which one he chose.

The phrase, “sin lieth at the door” is “sin-offering lieth at the door” in Hebrew, for the same word is used for “sin” and “sin-offering”. God is telling Cain that for every failure that he commits, there is an abundant offering for that sin lying at the door of his heart. Paul would repeat this promise in Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”. For every bad choice, there is enough grace waiting at your door as well.

You have the power to choose what you will do with this life and in this life. Place your faith in Jesus Christ and watch blessings touch every area of your life as you are resting in His grace and goodness.

An Apron of Figs

Genesis 3:7-10

Upon seeing their nakedness for the first time, Adam and Eve clothed themselves in an apron made of fig leaves. They had always been naked, but the glory of God shined both on and in them. Now that sin had entered, the glory had departed, and the long journey towards the cross had begun. Frightened at their own mortality, and afraid of the wrath of God, this First Couple hides their nakedness from their own eyes with fig leaves, and from the eyes of God by hiding in the bushes.

The fig leaf is very large, and it no doubt made sense to Adam to use it for cover. What he did not realize is that when it is separated from the vine and exposed to sunlight, it dries out rather quickly, causing it to shrivel and die. It probably did not take long for Adam to notice that his covering wasn’t covering so much after all.

Fig leaves henceforth and forever become a symbol of self-righteousness. Adam puts these on as men put on works; to cover our failures. Adam is not only the father of all races, giving them sin and death through his sin, but he is also the father of religion. It is Adam’s attempt to cover-up his failure that is the basis for all works righteousness in the world today. Any time that man does something to make up for his faults, or to hide his short-comings, he is taking a cue from Adam, and fashioning an apron of leaves.

All of our works can never bring us righteousness, for if they could, then there was no need for Christ to die (Galatians 2:21). In fact, Christ’s finished work at the cross frees us from the merry-go-round of works to achieve right standing with God (Romans 3:21-22, 27-28). Because of the work of Christ’s cross, you and I are justified simply by faith, and we now wear a different robe. Look at Isaiah’s prophecy concerning those who accept Christ:

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).

No longer do we wear garments of figs, fashioned by our good works or our religion, but we wear His garments of salvation, and we have been covered with a robe of His righteousness. This robe cannot be made of our works, for look at what Isaiah says about our own righteousness: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’ are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). The prophet is reminding us of the faded leaves of Adam’s apron of figs. No works of our hands will ever survive.

The Father gave the Prodigal Son, “the best robe” (Luke 15:22). He never wanted His son to forget that he was a son, and the robe would remind him of that. Joseph wore his coat of many colors with pride, always assured of the simple knowledge that his father loved him. The acknowledgment of son ship was enough to bring righteousness out in these, and it is enough to bring Jesus out in us also.

Put on “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). No more figs!

When God Crossed His Hands

Genesis 48:8-20

The time had come for the old patriarch Jacob to die, which meant that the time of the blessing upon his children and grand-children was to begin. Now 147 years old, his eye-sight almost gone, and the sickness upon him that will end his life, Jacob begins the process of doling out words of blessing and wisdom by starting with the sons of Joseph. This picture, nearly 4000 years old is a type and shadow of what Jesus would do for all of us on a dark day at Calvary.

The Israeli way was for a man to lay his hands upon his children and pass a blessing down to them. He could lay his left hand upon any and all of his children and prophesy on them promises and goodness, but his right hand was placed on one son alone. This blessing was normally reserved for the firstborn son, as he was to be the legal heir of the family fortune and the father’s name. Jacob had disturbed this trend when he had cheated his older brother Esau out of the blessing as a young man. So powerful was the right-hand blessing that once given, it was considered irreversible (Genesis 27:35).

Joseph marches his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, toward his father so that they may receive blessing. Since Manasseh is the oldest, Joseph desires for him to receive the best of his father’s blessings so he guides him towards Jacob’s right hand. When the boys arrive in front of Jacob, the text says that he guided his hands “wittingly” (Genesis 48:14), meaning that he placed them on purpose. He crossed his arms, laying his right hand on the youngest boy, Ephraim.

Joseph saw the apparent mistake of his father, and thinking that it was done due to Jacob’s inability to see properly, he grabs his father’s hands and tries to uncross them (48:17, 18). Jacob is well aware of what he has done and he explains to Joseph that while the eldest son will be great, the younger one will be greater. This entire scenario is our redemption in shadow.

Israel is God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22), while the church of Jesus Christ, compiled predominately of Gentiles is the second choice of the gospel (Acts 13:46). Israel rejected the gospel message, so God turned His love and favor towards all that will accept His Son Jesus. Jesus prophesied that the first will be last and the last will be first (Matthew 19:30), meaning that Israel was first called but will be the last saved, while the Gentiles were the last called but the first saved.

The firstborn son was the deserving son by all legal rights and privileges while the last children were considered blessed just to be involved. At Calvary, Jesus Christ saw both the firstborn and the last and crossed His hands for us, offering salvation and redemption to the less deserving, younger born, Gentile world. Because God crossed His hands at the cross, you and I rest beneath the right-hand, best blessings of God.

You can hold your head high today, not because you are the best but because Jesus crossed His hands for you. Due to that crossing (and that “cross”), you are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved.

Clean Living, Prior to the Law

Genesis 37:3; 39:9

Joseph is an amazing typology of Jesus in so many different ways. Both were children of Abraham and beloved of their father. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and Jesus was put on a cross by His brethren. Joseph was purchased with silver; Jesus was betrayed for silver. Joseph was revealed to his brothers the second time that they visited him; Jesus will be known by all of Israel at His Second Coming. Joseph married a Gentile bride, and Jesus has taken us as His Gentile bride.

Joseph’s ability to live above the fray is phenomenal, as he is an Old Testament type of a believer living under love and grace. Joseph lived over 4 centuries before the law was given to Moses at Mt. Sinai, so everything that he does is a type of living under a covenant free from works and performance. The covenant that God had with Abraham was such a covenant, which mirrors our covenant through Christ Jesus.

Jacob gave his beloved son Joseph a “coat of many colors”, which showed everyone exactly what the old father thought of his son. The confidence that this coat gave to Joseph must have been enormous as he knew in each and every circumstance of life exactly what his father thought of him. Jesus shared this knowledge as He was baptized in the Jordan River and heard His Father say of Him, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Having the knowledge in His heart of His Father’s love, Jesus was perfectly equipped to face the devil in the wilderness. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that Jesus overcame the devil with fasting; in fact, Satan waited until Jesus was at His weakest to attack Him. Jesus overcame the devil in the wilderness with the knowledge of His Father’s love and favor for Him.

God’s favor was on Joseph from day one as “his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand” (Genesis 39:3). Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, promoted his slave Joseph to overseer of his house, putting everything that he owned into Joseph’s hand. Great blessing was on Joseph, thus great blessing landed on Potiphar (Genesis 39:5).

Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and lusted after him. Left alone with her and completely trusted by her husband, Joseph had every opportunity to sleep with this woman, but he refuses, asking her, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). Notice that Joseph does not call it a transgression, but rather a sin. Sin exists whether there is law or not, but a transgression is a breaking of the law. Joseph had no law, as he is living prior to the Mosaic Law; so what causes him to say “No”, when it would have been so easy to say “Yes”?

Some say that grace is great but that you need law to know how to live. They are only half-right; grace is great, but law will only teach you how to sin! It is grace that appears to us and teaches us how to live (Titus 2:11, 12), while it is law that explodes sin within us (Romans 5:20). Joseph said no to Potiphar’s wife because he had an intimate relationship with God, birthed by his father’s love for him. The knowledge of that love gave him the power to face any temptation; just like Jesus did in the wilderness.

You have a coat of many colors, given to you by your Heavenly Father. Just as the prodigal was clothed in a robe, so you are clothed in robes of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). Look at those robes as a representation of your Father’s love for you. Fully comprehend that love and you too will live beyond the clutches of this world.

Possess the Dew of Heaven

Genesis 27:26-39

This story picks up with Jacob entering his father Isaac’s tent to receive the blessing of the firstborn son. The problem is that Jacob is not the firstborn; that honor belongs to his older brother Esau, but Isaac is blind and can’t see the difference and Jacob is a deceiver by nature, so the story unfolds. Isaac blesses Jacob with the “right-hand” blessing, meaning that Jacob gets the favored blessing, while his brother will be relegated to whatever is left-over. Jacob is going to get out of town before Esau comes in and finds out about this transaction, by which time it will be too late.

There is a lot that could be said about these two brothers: what they represent and how they live their lives, but for purposes of this devotion, let’s look at what constituted their blessings, as given by their father Isaac. Pay attention to the wording, starting with Jacob. Note the similarities and the important differences:

Jacob – “God give thee the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine” (Genesis 27:28).

Esau – “Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above” (Genesis 27:39).

The first and most obvious difference is that Jacob’s blessing comes as a gift from God, while Esau’s denotes his own works. There are two basic ways for the believer to attempt to live: by grace and favor or by works and effort. When your blessings come from nothing that you do then you are living in the abundant favor of God. When you play a part in what you get, whether it is due to your consecration, or your attendance or your devotion, then you are a recipient of what you deserve, with no regard to favor.

Next we see the order with which God mentions the blessings: Jacob receives the dew of heaven followed by the fatness of the earth, while Esau gets them in the opposite order. The provision of grace is always from above, while the provision of works is always from beneath us, where our hands labor. The ark had one window and it was at the top of the vessel so that Noah and his family could not see the waters beneath them, only the heavens above. Grace and favor rains your provision from God, so that the economy of this world and the provision of man cannot affect you. Feast off of heaven and not earth and you will be full, longer.

Finally, God promises to GIVE the good things to Jacob with “plenty of corn and wine”, while Esau is only promised to be able to DWELL in these things. The believer who rests in grace and favor will see manifold blessings come their way as a gift from God, while others will feel content simply to dwell near God’s goodness. Some Christians seem content to struggle through life, dependent on the world’s system, with heaven as their ultimate reward. We were saved to live for more than heaven! You and I are to have life more abundant (John 10:10), and corn and wine on the way!

God has destined you to receive the “right-hand” blessing. Be a recipient of grace and favor by faith today; receiving nothing by your works. The dew of heaven is ready for you. You are His beloved!

He Ever Lives

Genesis 18:23-33

Our text is regarding Abraham praying for the sparing of Sodom due to the righteous people living there. One of those people was his nephew Lot, who would actually prove to be the only righteous one in the entire city. Abraham starts the intercession by asking God if He would destroy the righteous with the wicked, which of course God would never do. He then asks if God would spare it for 50 righteous, then 45, then 30, then 20 and finally, 10. Each time that Abraham lowers the number, God agrees to spare the city if He can find that many righteous.

There are two important things about Abraham’s prayer: the manner in which he prays and the place that he stops. His manner is very shaky, with trepidation and fear, showing us that he fears to even petition God in this way. He calls himself “dust and ashes” (verse 27), he begs, “let not the Lord be angry” (verse 30), and then asks again, promising to speak “yet but this once” (verse 32). He is afraid of a God that just promised to make of him a “great and mighty nation” (verse 18). Why would he be afraid to ask for anything, knowing that God has favored him?

A lack of understanding of covenant is one of the downfalls of the modern Christian. If we knew who we are because of Jesus Christ, we would stop praying as Abraham prayed in this chapter. We need not beg our Daddy God, for it His desire to give us the kingdom: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

We should also look at where Abraham stops his prayer. Based on the prayer itself, can we assume that if Abraham had continued his trend of taking the number down, and had ended at only 1 righteous, would God have agreed to spare the city? God had already agreed 5 times to Abraham’s prayer, so why not ask once more. I have often wondered if Abraham stopped praying too soon!

I used to preach this passage of scripture by saying “Don’t stop interceding! If you stop too soon, people may not get what they need”. I didn’t understand that I was making God distant and hesitant to move. This brought shame to the covenant of Jesus Christ, who never moves because we are persistent or because we are good. If this is not how this passage is to be interpreted, then what should we glean?

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus is now the intercessor! He “ever liveth” to do that very thing. Rest assured that He will not stop petitioning the Father on your behalf. Where man may stop at “will you spare it for 10?”, Jesus will continue on until there is only you! You are of such importance to Christ that while you were an enemy in your mind against God, Christ died for you (Colossians 1:20, 21; Romans 5:10).

Take solace in the fact that your Redeemer ever lives to intercede on your behalf. Nothing can befall you that Jesus has not already conquered. You are deeply loved and highly favored in Christ Jesus.

The Covenant of Promise

Genesis 15:6-18

God counted Abraham as a righteous man, though there is ample evidence that Abraham did not live like a righteous man. The reason that God viewed Abraham as righteous was that Abraham believed what God told him, and God called this “faith”. That faith made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes, though his actions spoke otherwise.

God has always chosen to deal with man on the basis of covenant. In covenant, two parties decide upon an allegiance, swearing to one another by the killing of an animal and eating of a covenant meal. If one party breaks the covenant, they are held accountable by death, thus you did not enter these things lightly.

When the Lord chose to give Abraham a promised land, Abraham wanted proof that he would inherit it (Genesis 15:8). God then introduced covenant to Abraham, asking for a specified number of animals to be sacrificed. Their bodies were to be divided and placed apart with a walking space in between the pieces. The two parties involved in covenant would then pass between the pieces, stopping to cut their hands and then bind them together to mingle their blood with one another. Then they would eat and converse to seal the covenant.

After Abraham places the carcasses on the ground, he sits and waits on God to do whatever it is that He is going to do. In the meantime, the fowls of the came down upon the carcasses and Abraham worked to drive them away. God sees this action and makes a crucial decision. If God enters covenant with Abraham, then Abraham must live up to some pre-set, specified set of rules. If he fails, he breaks covenant and God must kill him. This negates his inheritance, for he won’t be around to take what God wants to give him. This poses a great problem, which is characterized by Abraham’s action in driving away the birds. God needs to make this covenant happen in way in which Abraham puts no effort into it, and has no standard to live up to. The only way to remove the possibility for Abraham to fail is to remove Abraham. Thus, God puts him to sleep during the ceremony.

While Abraham sleeps, God passes between the pieces of animal in the form of “a smoking furnace and a burning lamp” (Genesis 15:17). The smoking furnace is a type of God, the booming voice of Mt. Sinai, while the burning lamp is a type of Jesus, the light in a dark place. God literally cuts covenant with Himself, for He won’t break the deal on either end. When Abraham awakes, God tells Him all that He has given him, and He gives Abraham no requirements to keep.

When you accept Christ, you are not entering into a Covenant with God; rather you are receiving the blessings of the Covenant that Jesus made with His Father. Jesus shed His blood in this Covenant so that you would not have to. You get the inheritance while Jesus paid the price. Paul said that when we accept Jesus, a powerful thing happens to you: “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). You and I are living under the same promise that Abraham was, without any obligation on our part. We can rejoice that we get the benefits of Covenant because Jesus paid our price. Hallelujah!

Jesus in the Old Testament

Genesis 14:17-20

One of the glorious aspects about the New Covenant is how it reveals to us Jesus in the Old Testament. Jesus introduced to us the manner in which to preach the Old Testament when He opened the scriptures and expounded to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). We would do well to remember this lesson, and do our due diligence to see Jesus in the pages of the Old Testament.

Hebrews 7 retells the story of Melchizedek, the priest who meets Abram after his slaughter of Chedorlaomer. Melchizedek is described as the “King of peace” (Hebrews 7:2). That is our first hint that this is Jesus, for Christ is the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Next, we learn that he is “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3). This is a perfect description of Jesus as God, with no beginning of days or end; with no parents to birth Him and no children left behind. As a man, Jesus had all of these things (you and I are His children, though He fathered none in the flesh (Isaiah 53:8)), but as God He qualifies. Then we get the final, most important piece of information about Melchizedek, he was “made like unto the Son of God” (Heb. 7:3).

When Melchizedek approaches Abram he brings him bread and wine (Genesis 14:18). This action would be repeated by Jesus in the Last Supper, when he broke the bread as His body and offered the cup as His blood. Paul felt such power in the ceremony of Communion that he repeated the words of our Lord, giving credence to the taking of Communion as more than a mere observance of Christ’s death and resurrection. In fact, Paul said that when we partake of the bread and the cup, we “do show the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

This giving of the bread and wine to Abram by Melchizedek was Christ’s pointing forward to the finished work of the cross. Jesus said of the bread, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24). The breaking of Jesus’ body occurred at Calvary, so the breaking of bread symbolizes what His broken body accomplished. He said of the wine, “This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). The blood of Jesus was spilled at the cross, so the wine symbolizes the justification, redemption and sanctification that are provided by faith in the finished work.

Abram’s response to this pre-incarnate meeting with Jesus was to tithe of everything that he had just taken (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:4). A tithe is a tenth of what you have, and this practice has been around every since. No one instructed Abram to do this; he simply did it out of worship due to the revelation of the bread and the wine. Many are tithing to this day under the law, paying the Lord by obligation, not realizing that their giving should always be out of revelation, not of obligation (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Communion shows forth Jesus’ death, while tithing shows forth His life (Hebrews 7:8). Abram’s response to the death of the Son of God was to speak of the new life of the Son of God. When we dwell on Christ’s finished work, we show forth His resurrected life. Hallelujah!

The Power to Choose

Genesis 4:7

Lost in the story of Cain and Abel is the wonderful moment when God gives Cain the power to choose which way that his life will go. Just before Cain’s murder of Abel, the Lord asks Cain why he is so upset, and then, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door” (Genesis 4:7). God is showing Cain the choice of life and death; one way is led by Cain’s obedience and it leads to acceptance on God’s part. The other way leads to disobedience with “sin” lying at the door.

The power to choose how we are going to live is a staple feature of God’s grace and kindness. Oftentimes I have had the question posed to me by young converts, “Why did God even put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden at all?” Some think that life would have been better if God had given man no opportunity to fall, but God created man to be a free creature, who would love Him willingly and not by obligation. By allowing man to fail, God allows a world of sin and grief to begin, but He also provides opportunity for redemption and perfect love. Neither of these wonderful things comes without a tremendous price, and Jesus has paid that price!

To get a sense of how wonderful this seventh verse is, we should look at what brought us to this point. Cain and Abel have both brought an offering to the Lord. Abel brought a lamb from his flock, “And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering” (Genesis 4:4), while Cain brought some of his harvest and the LORD “had not respect” (Genesis 4:5). Why would the Lord accept one offering while rejecting the other?

I preached for many years (and have read many commentaries that are written in the same vein) that God accepts Abel’s sacrifice because there is blood involved and rejects Cain’s for the same cause. The verse, “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22) is nearly always cited, stating that God needed to see blood in order to honor the sacrifice. This argument falls on two simple points: there is no indication that Cain and Abel are bringing an offering to God for the remission of sins, but rather they are simply coming to worship the Lord; and God never told them there must be bloodshed, so it is unfair to hold them accountable.

Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, sure to choose from its best, while Cain simply “brought of the fruit of the ground”. There was an attitude in their worship that God was watching, prompting the question from the Lord, “Why are you mad?” Cain had no reason to be angry for he had simply been given a choice: he could choose life or death, and we know which one he chose.

The phrase, “sin lieth at the door” is “sin-offering lieth at the door” in Hebrew, for the same word is used for “sin” and “sin-offering”. God is telling Cain that for every failure that he commits, there is an abundant offering for that sin lying at the door of his heart. Paul would repeat this promise in Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”. For every bad choice, there is enough grace waiting at your door as well.

You have the power to choose what you will do with this life and in this life. Place your faith in Jesus Christ and watch blessings touch every area of your life as you are resting in His grace and goodness.

An Apron of Figs

Genesis 3:7-10

Upon seeing their nakedness for the first time, Adam and Eve clothed themselves in an apron made of fig leaves. They had always been naked, but the glory of God shined both on and in them. Now that sin had entered, the glory had departed, and the long journey towards the cross had begun. Frightened at their own mortality, and afraid of the wrath of God, this First Couple hides their nakedness from their own eyes with fig leaves, and from the eyes of God by hiding in the bushes.

The fig leaf is very large, and it no doubt made sense to Adam to use it for cover. What he did not realize is that when it is separated from the vine and exposed to sunlight, it dries out rather quickly, causing it to shrivel and die. It probably did not take long for Adam to notice that his covering wasn’t covering so much after all.

Fig leaves henceforth and forever become a symbol of self-righteousness. Adam puts these on as men put on works; to cover our failures. Adam is not only the father of all races, giving them sin and death through his sin, but he is also the father of religion. It is Adam’s attempt to cover-up his failure that is the basis for all works righteousness in the world today. Any time that man does something to make up for his faults, or to hide his short-comings, he is taking a cue from Adam, and fashioning an apron of leaves.

All of our works can never bring us righteousness, for if they could, then there was no need for Christ to die (Galatians 2:21). In fact, Christ’s finished work at the cross frees us from the merry-go-round of works to achieve right standing with God (Romans 3:21-22, 27-28). Because of the work of Christ’s cross, you and I are justified simply by faith, and we now wear a different robe. Look at Isaiah’s prophecy concerning those who accept Christ:

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).

No longer do we wear garments of figs, fashioned by our good works or our religion, but we wear His garments of salvation, and we have been covered with a robe of His righteousness. This robe cannot be made of our works, for look at what Isaiah says about our own righteousness: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’ are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). The prophet is reminding us of the faded leaves of Adam’s apron of figs. No works of our hands will ever survive.

The Father gave the Prodigal Son, “the best robe” (Luke 15:22). He never wanted His son to forget that he was a son, and the robe would remind him of that. Joseph wore his coat of many colors with pride, always assured of the simple knowledge that his father loved him. The acknowledgment of son ship was enough to bring righteousness out in these, and it is enough to bring Jesus out in us also.

Put on “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). No more figs!

Work to Rest

Hebrews 4:9-11

When you enter into the rest of God, you cease from your own works (Hebrews 4:10), in the same manner that God ceased from His own works on the 7th day, and rested. Entering into that rest is one of the hardest things that the believer will ever do, for we are hard wired due to our first father Adam, to “do”, and not to rest.

Adam’s sin in the Garden brought sweat to the brow and a curse to man that he would live by the sweat of his face all of his life. Where Adam had simply tended to the Garden prior to the fall, he now had to work the land to bring forth fruit. When Jesus travailed in His own Garden, prior to the cross, He sweat as it were great drops of blood. The mingling of the precious blood of the Savior with the sweat of the curse would forever free man from having to live by his work again. Any man who accepts Christ by faith can enter into the rest that Jesus paid such a steep price to achieve.

Now this certainly does not mean that man can quit his job and lay on the couch all day and Christ will provide. If a man does not work, he does not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but it does mean that Christ has redeemed us from being a slave to our work. In fact, the work that is encouraged in Hebrews 4 is the constant labor, to stop laboring!

Hebrews 4 is the “rest” chapter, with the word being used some 9 times in that chapter alone. The framework is built around the children of Israel failing to enter into the rest of the Promised Land when 10 spies said that they couldn’t take it. Paul says that they failed to enter into rest because of “unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6), and that there is a better rest than the Promised Land anyhow, since David prophesied of a day of rest after Joshua had crossed the Jordan (4:5-8).

If they failed because of unbelief, then we fail because of the same thing. We must labor to enter into the finished work of Christ, not by our works; for that shows that we do not believe that it truly is a “finished work”. We must stop trying to achieve satisfaction in the Spirit by our own efforts. These efforts, while genuine, only show that we are trusting in our own ability to save, and not fully trusting in His ability.

God’s work of creation was a perfect work, as everything that God does is. Only when His work was completely finished, and that work was deemed “good”, could God rest on the 7th day. Christ’s work of redemption was a perfect work as well. Only when He said, “It is finished” could Jesus hang His head and “give up the ghost”. While all other priests never sat down (there were no chairs in the tabernacle), our High Priest Jesus has sit down at the right hand of the Father, and is resting in His finished work. We have been saved so that we can “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

Believer, rest in His finished work today. May your only spiritual labor today be the labor that enters into rest. Have faith in His finished work and sit together with Him in every area of your life.

It's A Brand New Day

Genesis 1:1,2

Both Genesis and John start with, “in the beginning”. Genesis tells of God creating, while John tells us that the Word (Jesus) was present in that creation. Whatever the beginning might be, Christ is there. He said as much of himself, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Revelation 1:8); and again, “…the first and the last” (Rev. 1:11).

As you begin a brand new year, let The Beginning have all of your heart. If you have never accepted Christ as the price paid for your sins, there is no better way to start this year, than to place your confidence in Jesus and His finished work at the cross. Just accept Him as Savior and believe He will save you.

In this New Year, many shallow resolutions will be made by people hoping to drop those extra holiday pounds, or write their first novel, etc. Nearly just as many of those resolutions will be broken in short order. People often have good intentions, but very little resolve to see these things through.

When Jesus walked the earth, He was the Word that “dwelt among us” (John 1:14). When our beginning is set and established in Christ, it causes us to behold His glory, “as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. Allow Christ, who is grace and truth to establish you and to lead you into paths of righteousness all throughout this year.

Let your sorrows and cares of the previous year vanish with the turn of the calendar. Easier said than done, right? Notice that when Genesis 1:1 ends, the earth is in a chaotic state, but God is not satisfied to leave it there. The earth does not reform itself, but rather it sits and allows the Spirit of God to move on the face of the waters (vs. 2). The Hebrew word for “moved” in that verse is better translated “hovered”. His Holy Spirit loves to hover over your life and bring beauty out of chaos.

It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32), and it is His New Year’s Resolution to you to provide the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace.

Go in that knowledge, and abundant grace is yours today!