Monday, December 27, 2010

Verse of the Day 12/27

Through the Bible - Zechariah 10-12, Revelation 18
 
Good morning,
 
Have you ever stopped and wondered why Jesus came to the world when He did.  A time without photography and printing presses let alone i-phones with digital cameras and video equipment built in?  We read in Luke to that the glory of the Lord "flashed" and shone.    Luke 2:9 (Amplified Bible) And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them, and they were terribly frightened.  We can try to imagine what it must have been like.  Would it have been believed any more, any less if it had been captured with modern technology?
 
We need worry about it much because we have God's Word to confirm to us that it was at the right time the "fullness of time".  For today's verse we'll go to Galatians 4.
 
Galatians 4:4-5 (Amplified Bible)  But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law,

    5To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God's sons].

John MacArthur writes, "In God's timetable, when the exact religious, cultural, and political conditions demanded by His perfect plan were in place, Jesus came into the world." 
Take a minute and think about those conditions.  There had been 400 years of silence from the prophets.  The Romans had established a complex government and road systems that would make spreading the gospel easier.  Society was in desperate need of the good news of the gospel. 
 
We, as Christians today look forward to His coming again.  We look at the religious, cultural and political conditions of the world today and wonder if the time is almost right for Him to come again.  If we have such thoughts we should be preparing for it.  As we head towards a new year with goals and aspirations, may we aspire to acquire  and be influenced by what He would have for us and not so much what the world would try to shape an influence us with.
 
His mission then was to ransom, redeem and atone for and adopt His children, it continues today, preparing us for when He will return in glory.
In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

Galatians 4 (New King James Version)

Galatians 4

 1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

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