Day 2: Matthew 2:13-23, 3:1-6

"Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins." - Matthew 3:5-6 ESV

In today's world, we laud the instantaneous. We have guaranteed two-day shipping and tiny, high-powered computers in our pockets. Things that take too much time are a bore and an unnecessary annoyance.

So, we may not fully appreciate what God did in preparation for Jesus' arrival. All of the Messianic Prophecies He laid down beforehand (over 300). I mean, we see three in just our reading today (perhaps four if you count 2:23).

We also may not understand the purpose of John the Baptist. Why does he need to eat bugs and honey in the wilderness while clad in camel threads? Couldn't Jesus have just kicked down the door of the Temple in Jerusalem and got to work? Why the wilderness for John? Why have the Messiah brought up in Nazareth (a hated town, John 1:46)?

All of this is to show us that Jesus was legit. God had been orchestrating this before the world existed (see 1 Peter 1:20).

No one beats Jesus' resume.

What do you think? Can you trust Jesus, the proven Messiah, in 2023? The data says, "Yes, yes, you can."

By the way, John's baptizing of his hearers was a revolution.

Check out the following quote from R.T. France: "John’s baptism was an innovation. The nearest contemporary parallels are the self-baptism of a Gentile on becoming a proselyte and the repeated ritual washings (also self-administered) at Qumran. Neither accounts adequately for John’s baptism, which was apparently a once-only rite, administered by John in the river, and applied to Jews (for this last point see further on v. 9); and neither carried the note of urgent preparation for the coming crisis which was the main point of John’s baptism. John’s ‘converts’ were not seeking ceremonial purification, but ‘fleeing from the wrath to come’ (v. 7)." - France, R. T. (1985). Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 96–97)

Day 1: Matthew 1:1-25, 2:1-12

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:21 ESV

As you peruse the genealogy of Jesus, you see a slew of people who were trying desperately to save Israel (and themselves) from their enemies. Many of them failed, and those who succeeded provided only temporary relief.

Jesus' name means "the Lord saves," and it is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. Even Joshua didn't completely save his people as they entered the promised land.

Philistines. Assyrians. Babylonians. Persians. Greeks. Romans. Ancient Israel had its fair share of enemies throughout time. The Messiah would obviously be saving them from their oppressors, right?!

Matthew clearly records that the angel declares that Jesus would "save His people from their sins." Whoa, that is different from what the Jews were wanting (and expecting) in a Messiah (a Christ). The word used for sin here is hamartia, and it can also be translated as “failure.“

In 2025, Jesus will still want to save people from their sins with the wonder-working power of His blood.

One of my favorite Gospel songs is by VaShawn Mitchell, and it starts off like this:

His blood still works and I'm glad to report
That it never lost its power
Yes, it works, I've been redeemed
By the blood of the Lamb

May we allow this time-tested truth to sink in even deeper as we make our way through this new year with our Savior.

Day 365: Revelation 22:1-21

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” - Revelation 22:14 ESV

The Bible has finally come full circle with the close of Revelation. When Adam and Eve made their self-exalting decision in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24), God drove them out of the garden and away from the tree of life. He said if they ate the fruit from the tree, they would "live forever" (Genesis 3:22).

One of the things I am looking forward to most in heaven is seeing Jesus' face (Revelation 22:4). I wonder what the expression on his face will be. Perhaps it will be the look of a friend who has been patiently waiting to give you the perfect gift, which flows nicely into a giant bear hug.

All of the time that God cherished with Adam and Eve in the garden will be restored as it was in the beginning. Not only that, but this new house will be full of so many diverse people that decided to "wash their robes" in the blood of the Lamb (again, Revelation 7:14).

We may well hear Jesus, in the end (which is really a glorious beginning), say something like this to us: Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. (Matthew 25:21)

William Barclay says it nicely while commentating on Revelation 22:14: “It is Jesus Christ who in his cross has provided that grace by which alone we can be forgiven; but we have to take that sacrifice to ourselves. To take a simple analogy, we can supply soap and water, but we cannot compel a person to use them. Those who enter into the city of God are those who have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ."

Are you washed and ready? If not, read more here.

For those of us who have washed, we say, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

Day 364:  Revelation 21:1-27

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." - Revelation 21:4 ESV

Do you find limitations in this life to be among the most frustrating? We have limited time and energy. We can only go so long before making a mistake (we've made many). We are limited on how many days we can go without food and water. We have a limited amount of time with those we love. Even when it comes to creativity, we could be on such a great roll, yet we run out of material, daylight, or stamina.

When we are mourning or crying, it is impossible to focus on anything else; it feels like we are in the mud. 

Limited.

As John writes, he leans heavily on language from Isaiah 65 (see especially Verses 15 and 17). It is wild to think that God has known what the new heaven and new earth will look like from the beginning, but now John is allowed to get a clearer picture that was first revealed, in an even smaller way, to Isaiah.

The picture given is that when we are (on that glorious day) entirely in the presence of God, all of our limitations will be removed. Everything will be new and ready for us to praise, create, love, and focus, without the fear of danger or our own weaknesses. Not to mention that our enemy, the Devil, won't be around to start this cycle all over again (see our post from yesterday).

Why doesn't God call it all quits and start this "new" activity today? (He might!)

Verse 8 is the key. There are more within all of these lifestyles now being given more time to repent and run to Jesus (2 Peter 3:9). May we not waste this time. May we be ever-reaching in our approach to those who are currently rejecting our Lord and Savior.

Lewis Foster’s comments on this passage are so helpful when thinking of what statement God is making by way of Revelation 21: “If God had given this vision to John earlier, and John had recorded this in the middle of his book, we would not have been able to pay attention to the many lessons he has been giving us. We would have passed over Babylon’s fall, we would have slighted the warnings of the resilience of evil and the constant attacks of the beast and of Satan. We would have shrugged off plagues and the suffering of both the people of God and the judgments upon the wicked, and simply focused on the glories of an unmixed portrait of the redeemed in eternity. But the book of Revelation saves this picture until last, after the end has been presented in the realistic doom of the condemned as well as the security and honor of the end millennium in Heaven. Even in Heaven, the existence in store for eternity had not begun until this moment. Now God himself will live with His people in a way He has not done before.”

Day 363: Revelation 20:1-15

“Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” - Revelation 20:6 ESV

This chapter in Revelation (like many others) has had many interpretations, but the main point in all of them rings true: All of us will one day be judged by our Creator. Everything we are currently doing is being noticed and recorded (see verse 12).

SIDE NOTE: It is interesting to compare Ezekiel 37-48 to Revelation 20-22. Also, the four main views on the 1,000-year reign of Jesus (and the rapture) are Premillennialism, Amillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Dispensational Premillennialism. Revelation 20 is the only place in the Bible we see this 1,000-year reign mentioned.

John records that the prayer of the Christian martyrs in the throne room will finally be answered: “How long?” (see Revelation 6:9-11) Here, we see that they are honored with a “first resurrection.”

Many authors and teachers have said the following: "Those who are born once will die twice, but those who are born twice will die only once."

When we decide to confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we repent of our sins, when we get baptized, and lock in for a lifelong faith commitment to Jesus -- we are crying out to God for Him to regenerate our souls. That is, we are re-born (see John 3:1-5). At this point, we have "put on" Christ (Romans 13:14) and are not intimidated or afraid to come face-to-face with our Creator in judgment.

Jesus will be there advocating for us.

As we said yesterday, it is His blood that prepares us by washing us white as snow. Jesus is saying the same to us as He did to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7)

“The supreme joy of the blessed ones is that they are associated with Christ in priesthood and royalty.” - Leon Morris

Day 362: Revelation 19:1-21

"He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses." - Revelation 19:13-14 ESV

As we have seen before, heaven (as it is now) is not a somber or quiet place. There is an unending focus on praising God. The angels and those who have died in Christ are constantly erupting in worship, day and night.

Yet when Rome (the prostitute) would be overthrown (400 years from John's writing), heaven was especially loud.

Then our reading for today fast forwards to a time when Jesus leads a charge against the forces of evil at the end of time (He will deal with the Devil in tomorrow's reading). It is almost a Braveheart scene of forces. Yet the war is over before it starts. Jesus wins.

For me, the most powerful scene in the chapter is when Jesus appears on a white horse. But He's making a mess of the white horse with his robe that is dripping with blood. This blood, though, is leaving a trail of white behind Him (verse 13). What a merciful Savior we have. He is committed to making us worthy.

May we continue to make ourselves (collectively) ready for His coming (verse 7).

“When John here calls the warrior Christ the Word of God, he means that here in action is all the power of God’s word; everything that God has said and threatened and promised is embodied in Christ.” - William Barclay, Revelation, Vol 2, Page 204

Day 361: Revelation 18:1-24

“Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.’” - Revelation 18:4-5 ESV

What compromises would you be willing to make in order to succeed financially? Who would you be willing to step on? How much would it take for someone to entice you to recant your faith in Jesus?

Our passage for today marks the antithesis of what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21 when He encouraged us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. As we see in Revelation 18, they will eventually fail. John is prophesying a time when Rome will fall, 400 years before it takes place.

Even slaves are mentioned in the list of marketable items. There were an estimated 10 million slaves in the Roman Empire in the first century, which accounted for 16-20% of its population. John tags an abolitionist-like ending onto it -- "human souls." They were more than numbers and mattered to God.

This chapter in Revelation is a funeral for Babylon (Rome, or any nation that sets itself against Jesus). Some are rejoicing (heaven, Jesus followers), and some are mourning (those who were getting rich off the commerce).

Revelation 18:4 is the reverse of Micah 7:18-19, where it says that God will "tread on our iniquities" and that he will "cast our sins into the depths of the sea."

Nothing is worth enough to exchange it for the grace that God has given us. It has paid off for us, and it will continue to pay off for all of eternity.

Day 360: Revelation 17:1-18

"They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” - Revelation 17:14

By the time John wrote this in the 90s AD, Rome had martyred many of Jesus’ followers. Two of the most prominent the Empire had executed were the Apostles Paul and Peter (in the 60s). 

This helps us when we read Revelation 17. We see this prostitute being pictured as Rome, spreading its gospel of sex (outside of biblical marriage), violence, and pride.

We know that Jesus is pictured as He who was, who is, and who is to come (Revelation 1:4-7).

Again, the beast is a parody of the original: It was, is not, and is to come (for judgment).

What about us?

We are associated with the Lamb, on His team, as a part of His family. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. I love the description given for the Lamb's people (you and I included):

• Called >> We were invited to be a part of Jesus' family.

• Chosen >> We responded to that invitation by faith/trust in His sacrifice and resurrection.

• Faithful >> We will go hard for Him till death, knowing that following Jesus is the best life.

Leon Morris, in his commentary on Revelation, sends us on our way with a renewed focus on the final victory over evil: “Against such a Being the minions of the beast are in a hopeless position. With the Lamb are those who are called, chosen and faithful. These are his retinue, not his resources. They represent no independent source of aid for he needs none. Indeed, the very qualities named show that they depend on him. But they share his triumph.”

Day 359: Revelation 16:1-21

“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”- Revelation‬ ‭16:15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In each of John’s three visions (seals, trumpets, bowls), there is an interlude between numbers six and seven. Each of the pauses hammers home the idea of us all taking time to think about how we are living now, given the future.

In this interlude in Chapter 16, Jesus presses pause on the intensity of the bowls filled with wrath to give us a picture of whom He sees as blessed.

SIDE NOTE: These bowls also resemble the plagues in Egypt as you unpack them.

The word Jesus uses here for blessed is makarios, the same word He used during His famous beatitudes of Matthew 5. It means, in a fuller sense, someone whom God looks at and says, “How happy, how lucky, how fortunate!”

We are blessed, in Jesus’ eyes, if we do two things:

1)   Stay awake >> Be among those who will not be surprised at His thief-like coming.  We are ever watchful.

2)   Keep our clothes on >> In Galatians 3:27, Paul says that when we were baptized into Christ, we clothed ourselves with Him, and this by faith in Jesus.

May we keep this especially in mind with Christmas being today!

“Those, then, who are aware of the fact that Christ could come at any moment and therefore stay and maintain watchfulness and vigilance remain clothed in the righteousness bestowed on them by Christ, and they are blessed.” - Paige Patterson, Revelation, page 312

Day 358: Revelation 15:1-8

“And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!’” - Revelation‬ ‭15:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This chapter in Revelation is soaked in Exodus language. One of the more vivid pictures is the church standing beside the sea of glass (verse 2). Moses had commanded the Israelites to “stand by and see the salvation of the Lord.” (Exodus 14:13)

In the same way, God, in a final act of judgment, will be setting all things right. There will be no more martyrs to make out of the chosen.

It is a powerful song that we will sing, accompanied by our harp playing. If you’ve ever wanted to play guitar and just never took the time to learn — your day is coming.

We will declare that our God is not just our King, He is also the King of the nations. We, as the church of Jesus, are the most diverse group on the planet, but not everyone will choose to worship beforehand.

There is not an inch on this earth where God is not King, but not everyone acknowledges that truth (yet).

What can we do right now? Let’s start practicing now for what we will do then. May we praise the King of nations and give him our hearts this Christmas.

Every knee will bow; the question is, will we wait till it’s too late, or will we confess Jesus as Lord now? (Psalm 86:9, Philippians 2:10)

”The song of Moses commemorated the greatest deliverance in the history of God’s people; and the victorious martyrs, brought through the sea of persecution to the promised land of heaven, sing that song.” - William Barclay, Revelation, Vol. 2, page 135