Seek your identity in Christ and how to believe
you are who God says you are.
What Is My Identity In Christ?
We are so quick to tie our identity to roles we have in life
(mom, coach, teacher, etc) or our behaviors or personality traits (smart, athletic, slow, optimistic, messy, Enneagram type 2, etc).
All of those things may be a small part of who you are
but your core identity,
your identity in Christ,
is one that cannot be changed or shaken.
It is who you are in every season of life, in every job you hold, in every role you take on, and in every success and failure.
Your identity in Christ is rich, deep, unique, and solidly rooted in God, not your own behavior.
God’s Word is chock full of descriptions about who you are – as a human, as a sinner, as a child of God, as someone who loves Jesus but still feels temptation.
And His Word describes that we are the branches and Christ is our vine.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:5-7He is our Rock and firm foundation.
I was fortunate to be raised in a Christian household, so I’ve been familiar with what the Bible says about me my entire life, but it wasn’t until 30+ years in that I actually believed it to be true.
And that, my friend, is what changes everything.
It’s one thing to know what the Bible says. It’s a whole different thing to believe that what God says about you in His Word is Truth – not just for the “good” Christians, not just for the people around you, but for you. On your worst days and on your best, His Word stays consistent and His Truth doesn’t change.
You can believe God when He tells you who you are.
Then, the question becomes, “How?”
How do you take what you know about the Bible and convince yourself to actually believe it, especially on your hardest days when it just doesn’t feel like it could possibly be true?
Choose To Point Your Thoughts Back To Christ
By choosing to accept God’s Truth as your truth again and again
(and again).
Your confidence can be solidly rooted in Christ alone.
Seeing something as a lie and choosing not to believe it are both important steps, but what are you going to replace it with? What are you going to choose to believe instead?
The Truth.
This is why it is so very important to spend time in God’s Word.
When you are reading the Bible regularly, you can more easily see when your thoughts don’t line up with His Word.
It fixes your eyes on the characteristics of God, instead of the patterns of this world.
Once you’ve done the heart work above to get rid of the lies and choose to cling to God’s Truth, then living out your identity just happens naturally.
the Bible, not our culture, defines true freedom and how we can live in it.
In Christ, we have received unimaginable freedom. He has given us freedom from sin, which means that we no longer have to be slaves to sin. Though we still have the flesh and live in the world, we will sin. However, sin no longer has mastery over us because Christ is our master now, and He is sanctifying us daily.
Not only has He set us free from the slavery of sin, but He has also set us free from the condemnation of sin, and the death that comes with sin. The Bible tells us in Romans 7, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This is because God has delivered us from our sin through Jesus Christ our Lord
The freedom that we have received from sin and death is something that we can cherish, and therefore live a life that is worthy of what He has done for us. He has made us free, so we can live as those who are free. And true freedom comes from abiding in Christ and living according to His Word.
One of the greatest parts of this freedom that we have in Christ, is that we get to be reconciled to God the Father. So we can hold firmly to what Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
1. 2 Corinthians 3:17 – Where The Spirit is, There is Freedom
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2. Romans 6:22 – Our Freedom From Sin Leads To Eternal LifeBut now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
3. James 1:25 – God’s Word Brings Freedom To Those Who Do What It SaysBut the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.
4. 1 Peter 2:16 – Use Your Freedom To Live As God’s ServantsLive as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
5. John 8:32 – The Truth Sets Us FreeThen you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
6. John 8:36 – Jesus Christ Sets Us Free From SinSo if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
7. Isaiah 61:1-3 – The Gospel of Christ Brings Freedom To The CaptivesThe Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
8. Psalm 119:45 – We Find Freedom Through Living According to God’s WordI will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
9. Romans 8:1-4 – The New Covenant of Christ Has Given Us Freedom From The Law of Sin & DeathTherefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
10. Psalm 118:5 – The Lord Hears Those Who Cries Out To Him & Sets Them FreeIn my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.
11. 1 Corinthians 6:12 – Though We Can Do Anything with Our Freedom, Not Everything Is Beneficial“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
12. Galatians 2:4 – We Live According To Grace Not The LawThis matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.
13. Romans 6:18 – We Are No Longer Slaves To Sin But RighteousnessYou have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
14. Luke 4:18-19 – God Has Appointed Christ To Set Us Free“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
15. Galatians 5:1-6 – Christ Has Set Us Free So We Can Live In His FreedomIt is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
16. Romans 8:2 – Through Jesus We Have Received The Spirit Which Sets Us Free From The Law of SinBecause through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
17. Galatians 5:13-14 – Don’t Use Your Freedom To Indulge In SinYou, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
18. Ephesians 3:12 – Christ Has Given Us The Freedom To Approach God with ConfidenceIn him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
19. Romans 8:15 – God Has Freed Us To Become His Sons & DaughtersThe Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
20. Hebrews 2:14-15 – Through Christ We Have Received Freedom From The Fear of DeathSince the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death- that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
21. Colossians 1:21-23 – Christ Has Freed Us From Being Alienated From God the Father Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
22. Romans 8:20-21 – The Creation is Waiting For God To Set It Free From The Bondage of SinFor the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
In Revelation 2:5, the apostle John records Jesus exhorting the church in Ephesus to “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (NKJV). If they fail to heed His words, Jesus gives a warning: “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (verse 5).
Paul had written a letter to the church in Ephesus roughly 30 years prior to Jesus’ letter. At that point in the Ephesians’ growth, Paul commended them for their love (Ephesians 1:15–16). In Revelation 2:1–7, Jesus also commends the Ephesians for some things: 1) their toil and perseverance, 2) their intolerance of evil people, 3) their discernment amongst false apostles, and 4) their endurance for Christ (Revelation 2:2–3). Jesus’ issue with the Ephesians is that they “have forsaken the love [they] had at first” (Revelation 2:4). The church at Ephesus was a hard-working, faithful church, but they were lacking in love.
In response to this abandonment of their first love, Jesus exhorts them to “repent and do the first works.” Repentance is confirmed in the follow-through; repentance is followed by reformation. John the Baptist stressed the need for action in his preaching: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Jesus points to the early days of the church in Ephesus and bade His people remember the service they had accomplished and the love they had expressed—and then do those things again.
There is also a relationship between works and love here. The apostle John attests to this reality in 1 John 5:3: “This is love for God: to keep his commands.” This echoes Jesus’ words in John 14:23: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word” (ESV). It seems that, as one grows in love for Christ, he or she will desire to obey even more. In Revelation 2, Jesus exhorts the Ephesians to do the works they did before, encouraging the love they once had for God.
These “first works” aren’t defined in the text. Jesus could be referring to their past zeal in maintaining pure doctrine or their eagerness to love their neighbors as themselves. Whatever the specifics, Jesus wanted the Ephesians to do the first works, which would encourage them to return to their first love.
What does it mean, then, to “repent” and do the first works? Repent, in its most literal sense, simply means “to change one’s mind.” A change of mind often results in a change of attitude, emotion, and action. This meaning can be seen clearly in Acts 2. Peter is presenting Jesus as the rightful Messiah, King of Israel. His hearers are comprised of the very people who had crucified the Lord via the Romans. Peter tells them they needed to repent, or change their mind, and be baptized (Acts 2:38). Their repentance involved changing their minds about Jesus being a mere man and their own need to be forgiven. Happily, about 3,000 people repented and were saved that day (Acts 2:41).
In Revelation 2:5, Jesus exhorts the Ephesians to repent, and that change of mind would lead to a change of attitude. The follow-through would be a return to their first works, encouraging their love for God. Jesus’ message to the church of Ephesus should be a warning to all of us. We can do great works and persevere through trials and still lose sight of loving God. Saying or doing the right thing is meaningless without love (1 Corinthians 13:1–3). We must not forsake our first love, and we must continue doing the things that encourage our love for God.
Satan’s fall from heaven is symbolically described in Isaiah 14:12–14 and Ezekiel 28:12–18. While these two passages are referring specifically to the kings of Babylon and Tyre, we believe they also reference the spiritual power behind those kings, namely, Satan. These passages describe why Satan fell, but they do not say when the fall occurred. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, witnessed Satan’s fall, and He mentions it in Luke 10:18: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” We know that the angels were created before the earth (Job 38:4–7). Satan fell before he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3:1–14). Satan’s fall, therefore, must have occurred somewhere after the time the angels were created and before he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Whether Satan’s fall occurred hours, days, or years before he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden, Scripture does not say.
The book of Job tells us, at least in Job’s time, Satan still had access to heaven and to the throne of God. “One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, ’Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the LORD, ‘From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it’” (Job 1:6-7). Apparently at that time, Satan was still moving freely between heaven and earth, speaking to God directly and answering for his activities. Whether God has discontinued this access is a matter of debate. Some say Satan’s access to heaven was ended at the death of Christ. Others believe Satan’s access to heaven will be ended at the end-times war in heaven (Revelation 12:7–12).
Why did Satan fall from heaven? Satan fell because of pride. He desired to be God, not to be a servant of God. Notice the many “I will...” statements in Isaiah 14:12-15. Ezekiel 28:12-15 describes Satan as an exceedingly beautiful angel. Satan was likely the highest of all angels, the anointed cherub, the most beautiful of all of God’s creations, but he was not content in his position. Instead, Satan desired to be God, to essentially “kick God off His throne” and take over the rule of the universe. Satan wanted to be God, and interestingly enough, that desire is what Satan tempted Adam and Eve with in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-5).
How did Satan fall from heaven? Actually, a fall is not an accurate description. It would be far more accurate to say God cast Satan out of heaven (Isaiah 14:15; Ezekiel 28:16-17). Satan did not fall from heaven; rather, Satan was pushed.
Darkness and light are metaphors for evil and good. If anyone sees an angel of light, it will automatically seem to be a good being, for the correlation of evil with darkness, and of good with light, is a powerful archetype in human history. In the Bible, light is a spiritual metaphor for truth and God’s unchanging nature (James 1:17). It is repeatedly used in the Bible to help us understand that God is wholly good and truthful (1 John 1:5). When we are “in the light,” we are with Him (1 Peter 2:9). He exhorts us to join Him in the light (1 John 1:7), for giving us light was His purpose (John 12:46). Light is the place where love dwells and is comfortable (1 John 2:9-10). God has created light (Genesis 1:3), dwells in the light (1 Timothy 6:16) and puts the light in human hearts so that we can see and know Him and understand truth (2 Corinthians 4:6).
So, when 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light,” it means that Satan capitalizes on our love of the light in order to deceive. He wants us to think that he is good, truthful, loving, and powerful – all the things that God is. To portray himself as a dark, devilish being with horns would not be very appealing to the majority of people. Most people are not drawn to darkness, but to light. Therefore, Satan appears as a creature of light to draw us to himself and his lies.
How can we discern which light is of God and which light is of Satan? Our minds and hearts are easily confused by conflicting messages. How can we make sure we are on the right path? Psalm 119 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (verse 105) and “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (verse 130). The words of God have power. Just as God’s voice spoke physical light into existence, it can speak spiritual light into our hearts. Exposure to His voice – in His Word – will help us recognize the difference between the good light of God and that which is counterfeit.
Satan presents sin to us as something pleasing and beautiful to be desired, and he presents false teaching as enlightening and life-changing. Millions follow his deceptions simply because they do not know God’s truth. Isaiah 8:20-22 describes the darkness that results from ignoring the Word. The people of Israel have been seeking truth by consulting mediums, deceived by Satan’s lie. Isaiah says, “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.”
Darkness is a result of attempting to find truth without the Word of God. Sadly, as Isaiah says, when people do not have the “dawn,” they wander in darkness and often become angry at God, refusing to come to Him for help. This is why Satan’s masquerade as an angel of light is so effective. It turns white to black and black to white and gets us believing that God is the liar, that God is the source of darkness. Then, in our distress, we focus our hatred towards the only One who can save us.
In Isaiah 5, the prophet sings a song (“Song of the Vineyard”) to the Lord (“my Beloved”) for the people to hear. Perhaps Isaiah resorts to singing a folk song because the people have ignored his customary sermons thus far. The lyrics begin this way:
“My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?” (Isaiah 5:1–4, ESV).
The song continues, revealing that the farmer is the Lord, and the vineyard represents God’s people in Judah. The Lord, the Keeper, expects His vineyard to yield good grapes, representing “justice” and “righteousness” because He has deeply and painstakingly cared for it (showering His people with His goodness, love, and grace). But, instead, the vineyard produces only wild grapes. Wild grapes are sour, inedible, and entirely useless for making wine. The original Hebrew word translated as “wild” here is associated with “stinking” or “worthless” things that are only fit for destruction.
Rather than producing justice and righteousness, the people of Israel responded with violence and bloodshed (Isaiah 5:7). They broke God’s laws and defiled the land given to them by the Lord. Yahweh had established Israel as a model among nations. He desired His people to produce fruit for His glory (John 15:8), but they yielded only sin—characterized as wild grapes in Isaiah’s song. The Keeper’s only recourse was to bring judgment on the fruitless vineyard by destroying it (Isaiah 5:5–6).
Isaiah outlines six “woes,” naming the six sins that have provoked God’s anger and brought His judgment upon the land. These six sins form a summary, not an inventory, of the wild grapes of Isaiah’s song. They are predominately the sins of the proud and arrogant: greed, covetousness, and extortion (Isaiah 5:8–10); drunkenness, revelry, and fleshly self-indulgence (verses 11–17); carelessness, hardheartedness, and mockery (verses 18–19); deception and perversion (verse 20); pride and conceit (verse 21); injustice and corruption (verses 22–25).
In Matthew 21:33–44, Jesus tells a parable using language and structure that directly connects with Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard. Just as Isaiah’s lyrics serve as God’s case against ancient Judah, Jesus’ parable presents God’s argument against first-century Jewish leaders. In Matthew 23, the Lord lays out seven woes for the scribes and Pharisees and pronounces judgment on them in the end. Israel’s leaders’ sins (pride, greed, deception, injustice, etc.) sound eerily like the wild grapes produced by the vineyard of Isaiah’s day.
Wild grapes are grave sins with severe consequences. Bible commentator Matthew Henry writes, “Wild grapes are the fruits of the corrupt nature, fruit according to the crabstock, not according to the engrafted branch, from the root of bitterness. . . . Wild grapes are hypocritical performances in religion, that look like grapes, but are sour or bitter, and are so far from being pleasing to God that they are provoking. . . . Counterfeit graces are wild grapes” (Commentary on the Whole Bible, p. 1,086).
For those who have experienced new birth in Jesus Christ, wild grapes are equivalent to the worthless deeds of our past: “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them” (Ephesians 5:8–11, NLT).
The most important lesson we learn from the wild grapes of the Lord’s disappointing vineyard is that God is serious about sin. The Lord expects His people to be filled with the fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11) and produce fruit that brings glory to His name: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 5:22–23, NLT). God has chosen us as His own possession to become a holy nation who will show others the goodness of God (1 Peter 2:9–11). We can only do this by producing a harvest of good fruit and not one of worthless, wild grapes.
Isaiah 50:4–11 contains the third Servant Song, wherein the prophet speaks of the suffering of the Messiah. In verse 7, the Servant expresses His complete confidence in God, declaring that He will not shrink back from His mission, despite severe suffering, opposition, and humiliation: “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).
Flint, a very hard, dark rock, is used figuratively in the Bible to express hardness, as in the firmness of horses’ hoofs (Isaiah 5:28), the toughness of an impossible task (Deuteronomy 8:15; Psalm 114:80), and the inflexibility of unwavering determination (Ezekiel 3:8–9).
Set your face like flint is the figure of speech the prophet uses to describe the Messiah’s unwavering determination to persevere in the excruciating task set before Him. Christ would endure humiliation on His journey to the cross to die for our sins. Nearly 800 years before it happened, Isaiah foretold the suffering of the Lord’s Servant: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6; cf. Matthew 26:67; 27:26; Mark 15:19; Luke 22:63).
Luke echoes this resolute image of Christ set on saving His people: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, ESV). In Jerusalem Jesus would face arrest, torture, and agonizing death. With trust in God the Father to help and defend Him before His enemies, Jesus set off firmly and unflinchingly committed to finish His mission. There would be no backing out, and no enemy or accuser could deter Him from accomplishing His purpose. He had set His face like flint.
Staying on track in the Christian life requires setting our faces like flint. The apostle Paul teaches us to run the race with our eyes on the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24–27). Paul set his face like flint to finish his course: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12–14).
Nothing was more important to Paul than completing His God-given mission, no matter the cost: “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God” Acts 20:24 (NLT).
Hebrews 12:1–2 also presents an excellent picture of setting our faces like flint: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
In a compelling sermon titled “The Redeemer’s Face Set Like a Flint,” Charles H. Spurgeon strongly urged believers to imitate the Lord’s steadfast determination: “My great object is to lead you to love him who so loved you that he set his face like a flint in his determination to save you. O ye redeemed ones, on whose behalf this strong resolve was made,—ye who have been bought by the precious blood of this steadfast, resolute Redeemer, come and think awhile of him, that your hearts may burn within you, and that your faces may be set like flints to live and die for him who lived and died for you!” (In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. 47, p. 362. London: Passmore & Alabaster).
Peter often encourages his readers to a holy walk in the here and now by reminding them of what God has done for them in the past and what He will do in the future. As Peter concludes his second and final letter, he focuses his readers on the future new heavens and new earth, which will be filled with righteousness (2 Peter 3:11–13). In looking forward to those new places, Peter challenges readers to live in holy conduct and godliness. In that context Peter warns them and seems to imply that you can “fall from your secure position.”
Peter makes a personal and affectionate appeal, referring to his readers as “beloved,” and exhorts them on the importance of being in peace, spotless, and blameless (2 Peter 3:14). Rather than being discouraged that the Lord delays the new heavens and new earth, Peter encourages his readers that God is just being patient so more can be saved (2 Peter 3:15). Peter reminds believers that the apostle Paul also wrote about what God has done and what God will do in the future (2 Peter 3:15). Even though what Paul wrote was important and true, some of it was hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16). Some people who are untaught and unstable distort what Paul said and spread false teaching (2 Peter 3:16). Peter does not want believers to fall into that trap or to fall from their secure position. He warns that, because we know what is coming beforehand, we should be on guard against those false teachings. We should not be not carried away by error and so fall from our secure position (2 Peter 3:17).
Peter recognizes that everyone has a responsibility to study and be diligent to pay attention to the Scriptures so they won’t fall from their own secure position, their place of safety, or their own steadfastness (as the NASB puts it). Peter is not at all suggesting that believers can lose their position in Christ. Peter taught that believers are quite secure in Christ and can never lose that position (see 1 Peter 1:3–5 to see more than ten affirmations of eternal security of the believer). Rather, Peter is warning that each believer can be carried away by error and lose the safety of holding firmly to the truth that God revealed. We can lose our steadfastness or our secure position and open ourselves up to false teachings that will lead us astray and cause us harm.
Peter loves his readers. He calls them “beloved” several times. He doesn’t want any of them to suffer in this way. Instead, he wants them to focus on what God has told them about what He has done for them and what He will do for them in the future. If we pay attention to what Peter (and Paul) taught, we can avoid being carried away by error. We can avoid falling from our secure positions. We can remain steadfast, aware of the truth and drawing hope from that truth
The Bible does not specifically address the issue of fallen angels having an opportunity to repent, but we can gain some insight from what the Bible does say. First, Satan (Lucifer) was one of the highest angels, perhaps the highest (Ezekiel 28:14). Lucifer—and all the angels—were continually in God’s presence and had knowledge of the glory of God. Therefore, they had no excuse for rebelling against God and turning away from Him. They were not tempted. Lucifer and the other angels rebelling against God despite what they knew was the utmost evil.
Second, God did not provide a plan of redemption for the angels as He did for mankind. The fall of the human race necessitated an atoning sacrifice for sin, and God provided that sacrifice in Jesus Christ. In His grace, God redeemed the human race and brought glory to Himself.
No such sacrifice was planned for the angels. In addition, God referred to those angels who remain faithful to Him as His “elect angels” (1 Timothy 5:21). We know from the biblical doctrine of election that those whom God elects to salvation will be saved, and nothing can separate them from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39). Clearly, those angels who rebelled were not “elect angels” of God.
Finally, the Bible gives us no reason to believe that angels would repent even if God gave them the chance (1 Peter 5:8). The fallen angels seem completely devoted to opposing God and attacking God’s people. The Bible says that the severity of God’s judgment varies according to how much knowledge a person possesses (Luke 12:48). The fallen angels, then, with the great knowledge they possessed, are greatly deserving of God’s wrath.
After the arrest of John the Baptist, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14–15, ESV). Jesus’ exhortation for His listeners to repent indicated that they needed to change their minds. That He told them to believe in the gospel indicated how they needed to change their minds. Mark refers to Jesus’ message as “the gospel of God” (verse 14, ESV) or “the good news of God.” It was good news that the kingdom was at hand, and Jesus was preparing His listeners for how to be part of that kingdom.
Many in Jesus’ audience thought they were already righteous and would gain entrance to the kingdom of Godbecause of their connection to Abraham and Moses and because they were keeping the laws God had given to Israel through Moses. Matthew 5—7 records Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus taught that His listeners should change their minds about how they could be part of His kingdom. Their connection to Abraham and Moses wasn’t enough, and their supposedly righteous deeds were not enough. Those things are not what God requires as the standard of righteousness. Instead, Jesus explained that they needed to have a true, internal righteousness, and they did not yet have that. It wasn’t just a king that they needed—they needed a savior. Sadly, only a few would recognize that need.
Jesus proclaimed that the people needed to repent and believe in the gospel because the kingdom of God was at hand. God’s eternal kingdom is currently based in heaven. But, in passages like 2 Samuel 7 and Revelation 19—20, God promises that His kingdom will at some point in the future come to earth in a physical form. The kingdom was at hand, or near, because Jesus the King had come to earth, presenting the kingdom and the good news about that kingdom and how one can be part of it—by believing in the gospel. Unfortunately, Jesus’ audience wasn’t yet prepared for the kingdom, because they hadn’t yet recognized that they needed the Messiah to make them righteous, and that Jesus was the Messiah.
Jesus’ message was truly good news, and the people needed to change their minds from unbelief to belief. They needed to believe in the Lord—as Abraham had done many years prior (Genesis 15:6)—to gain the righteousness that would allow them to be part of God’s kingdom. They needed to repent (change their minds about how they could enter the kingdom) and believe in the gospel now, because the kingdom of God was close at hand. Of course, some did change their minds about how they could be righteous, and they believed in Jesus, but most of the leaders and the nation as a whole did not believe (Mark 3:22–30). Because of that rejection, Jesus delayed the kingdom and shifted His focus and ministry to providing the sacrifice to pay for the sins of the people.
One day Jesus will return to the earth as King (Revelation 19—20), and, because of what the Bible tells us about the future, we know that we also need to “repent and believe in the gospel for the kingdom of God is at hand.” We need to change our minds from unbelief to belief and recognize that we are saved by grace through faith and not by our own works (Ephesians 2:8–9). When we believe in Christ, we are already transferred to His kingdom (Colossians 1:13), and, because His kingdom isn’t on earth yet, we ought to set our mind on the things above where He is, rather than on the things of earth (Colossians 3:1–4).
Hebrews 6:4-6
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Proverbs 14:14
The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
Proverbs 24:16
For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Jeremiah 8:5
Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.
Jeremiah 14:7
Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.
2 Peter 2:20-22
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
Luke 9:62
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Hosea 11:7
My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.
Jeremiah 2:19
Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.
Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
James 5:19-20
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Galatians 6:1
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Matthew 12:43-45
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.
1 Corinthians 10:12
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
Hosea 4:16
Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
Ezekiel 18:24
But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.
Egypt, one of the earliest and grandest civilizations of the ancient world, figures prominently in the biblical narrative.
Situated in the northeast corner of Africa, Egypt connects to the Holy Land via the Sinai Peninsula. In Bible times, the life-source of Egypt was the Nile River, which provided the area’s only supply of water for drinking and irrigation. At the end of the rainy season, the river would swell and flood the Nile Valley, carrying nutrient-rich silt to replenish the valley’s fertility. The main crops produced in the region were barley, spelt, beans, lentils, cucumbers, onions, grapes, and figs.
Egypt appears first in the biblical narrative in the story of Abraham when a severe famine struck Canaan, causing the patriarch and his family to sojourn in Egypt (Genesis 12:10–20). While there, the Pharaoh took Sarah into his palace to be part of his royal harem, but he returned her to Abraham after God intervened.
Later, Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery, and he ended up in Egypt (Genesis 37:28). Eventually, Joseph rose through the ranks to become Pharaoh’s right-hand ruler over Egpyt (Genesis 41:37–57). Through Joseph’s mediation, Jacob and all his family came to settle in Egypt, escaping another famine (Genesis 45—47).
For the next 430 years, the Israelites lived in Egypt (Exodus 12:40), swelling in numbers but slowly declining from a position of favor into one of brutal oppression under Pharoah (Exodus 1:1–15). When the people could endure their suffering in Egypt no longer, God raised up Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh and deliver Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land (Exodus 3—6:13).
A horrifying series of plagues that left Egypt in ruins (Exodus 7:14—12:30), together with one of the most spectacular miracles in the Bible, the parting of the Red Sea, culminate in Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 14). But before entering the Promised Land, the Israelites would wander in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan for forty years. There they would receive the Ten Commandments and the law of God (Exodus 20—23), the specifications for building the wilderness tabernacle (Exodus 25—28), and instructions for the consecration of priests and the administering of sacrifices (Exodus 29—30).
During the period of the kings, Israel interacted with the rulers of Egypt on several occasions. King Solomon married the daughter of an Egyptian king who is thought to be Pharaoh Siamun (1 Kings 9:16). While King Rehoboam reigned, the Egyptian King Shishak invaded both Israel and Judah and ransacked the temple and royal palace (1 Kings 14:25–26). Hezekiah called upon the king of Egypt for help when the Assyrian army besieged him in Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:21). Judah’s King Josiah was killed when he tried to stop Pharaoh Necofrom passing along the coast to help the Assyrians. Neco also deposed King Jehoahaz and made Jehoiakim king over Judah instead (2 Chronicles 36:2–4).
After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, saying that the remnant of Jews still in Judah must stay in their land and not flee to Egypt (Jeremiah 42:19). Despite Jeremiah’s track record of accurate prophecies, the disobedient people went to Egypt, forcing Jeremiah to go with them (Jeremiah 43:1–7). In Egypt, Jeremiah prophesied the demise of Pharaoh Hophra by the Babylonians—judgment would come against the rebellious Judeans, regardless of their attempt to find safety in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:30).
During the intertestamental period, there were still Jews living in Egypt. Their use of the Hebrew language had declined. Some of the Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt, translated the Old Testament into Greek between 250 and 150 BC. This text, known as the Septuagint, became the Bible commonly used in Israel during the days of Jesus and the apostles.
In the New Testament, Egypt served as a refuge for Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus when Herod the Great attempted to murder all the infant boys in and around Bethlehem (Matthew 2:13–23). While the Bible gives no details about their residence in Egypt or how long they stayed, it was probably only a brief time before they left to settle in Nazareth of Galilee.
Egypt has a tremendous symbolic significance in the Bible. Israel’s redemption from Egypt is a picture of our deliverance from sin and death through faith in Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:13; 4:5; Titus 2:14). While initially seen as a place of refuge in famine or threat, Egypt becomes a place of oppression and slavery. For New Testament believers, Egypt represents our old life of slavery to sin. All people are, by nature, slaves of sin, and Satan is a much harsher taskmaster than the Egyptian overseers. The natural man labors powerlessly under the weight of sin (Romans 7:22–25). God redeemed His people from slavery in Egypt by the blood of the lamb on the first Passover (Exodus 12), and He redeems us from sin by the blood of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18–19). Just as God called His people, the Israelites, out of bondage in Egypt, He calls us, His children, to “come out and be separate” and live holy lives in His kingdom (2 Corinthians 6:17).
The Parable of the Vineyard appears in three of the gospels (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19), with Matthew’s account being the most complete. However, there are additions in the others; hence, it is wise to study all three accounts so as to achieve the greatest understanding. To get the context of what is happening, we need to look at Matthew 21:18. Early in the morning, Jesus goes to the temple courts to teach (21:23). While He is teaching, the chief priest and elders confront Him, wanting to know by what authority He is teaching. Not allowing them to control the conversation, Jesus answers the question by first asking a question (21:24-26). They do not like His question nor His response to their answer; essentially, He has told them that they can’t save face from their obvious attempt to cajole Him and, therefore, He is not obligated to answer their question (21:27). What Jesus told them is that John the Baptist and He received their authority from the same source. This exchange causes the leaders to become angry and puts them in opposition to Jesus. Jesus then further frustrates the priests by telling two parables: the first one is the Parable of the Two Sons, and the second is the Parable of the Vineyard, sometimes called the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
The first parable Jesus teaches tells the priests that they have claimed to accept the message from God but they have failed to live up to it by being obedient. Outwardly, they are pious and appear to be people of God, but God knows the heart, and there they have failed miserably. The next parable (the Parable of the Vineyard) is like pouring salt on a wound. Just in case they didn’t fully understand (which they did), Jesus gives a much clearer picture of what He means. Obviously, this further infuriates the priests, but it also gives the others who were present an opportunity to hear Jesus fully explain the implications of the disobedience of the Jewish people throughout the ages.
Background: There are 6 main characters in this parable: 1) the landowner—God, 2) the vineyard—Israel, 3) the tenants/farmers—the Jewish religious leadership, 4) the landowner’s servants—the prophets who remained obedient and preached God’s word to the people of Israel, 5) the son—Jesus, and 6) the other tenants—the Gentiles. The imagery used is similar to Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard (it would be prudent to study this also) found in Isaiah chapter 5. The watchtower and the wall mentioned in verse 33 are means of protecting the vineyard and the ripened grapes. The winepress is obviously for stamping out the juice of the grapes to make the wine. The farmer was apparently away at the time of harvest and had rented the vineyard to the tenants. This was customary of the times, and he could expect as much as half of the grapes as payment by the tenants for use of his land.
Explanation: Verses 34-36 tell us the landowner sent his servants to collect his portion of the harvest and how they were cruelly rejected by the tenants; some were beaten, stoned, and even killed. Then he sent even more the second time and they received the same treatment. The servants sent represent the prophets that God had sent to His people/Israel and then were rejected and killed by the very people who were claiming to be of God and obedient to Him. Jeremiah was beaten (Jeremiah 26:7-11; 38:1-28), John the Baptist was killed (Matthew 14:1-12), and others were stoned (2 Chronicles 24:21). In this parable Jesus is not only reminding the religious establishment what they were like, but He was putting in their minds a question: how could they claim obedience as God’s people and still reject His messengers? We don’t know how many servants the owner sent, but that is not what is important; the theme is God’s repeated appeal through His prophets to an unrepentant people. In the next verses (37-39), the situation becomes even more critical. The landowner sends his own son, believing that they will surely respect him. But the tenants see an opportunity here; they believe that if they kill the son they will then receive his inheritance. The law at the time provided that if there were no heirs then the property would pass to those in possession (possession is nine tenths of the law). This amounts to conspiracy to commit murder by the Jewish leadership, and it is prophetic in the sense that Jesus is now telling them what they are going to do to Him (see Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16). After Jesus’ death, Peter would make the same charges against the religious establishment (Acts 4:8-12). The tenants probably thought that the fight for the property was over, but it wasn’t; the owner would now appear on the scene.
Jesus now (vs.40-41) asks the question, what will the owner do to the evil tenants? What He is doing is forcing the religious leaders/priests to declare their own miserable fate: condemnation for their blatant disobedience. This is similar to the question that Nathan put to David (2 Samuel 12:1-7). Up to this point, Jesus has been dealing with the immediate situation of Israel and its past disobedience; now Jesus leaves open the question of what Israel’s leadership is going to do with the Messiah, the Son of God, whom He refers to as the “chief cornerstone” (vs 42). Cornerstones and capstones are used symbolically in Scripture and picture Christ as the main piece of the foundation of the church and the head of the church, respectively. Jesus is the beginning of and is foundational to the church, and He now stands over the church in His rightful position of honor, guiding the church to fulfill its divine destiny. This verse makes clear prophetically how Jesus will be rejected by the religious establishment and ultimately be crucified (see Psalm 118:22-23).
The key to understanding this parable and what it says about the religious leaders is found in verse 43, where Jesus makes their lack of obedience personal. Jesus tells the leaders that because of their disobedience they will be left out of the kingdom of heaven (individually and as a people); that they have let their opportunity for the time being slip away to be given to the Gentiles (see verse 41, “other tenants”). This will be more than they can tolerate, as we will see in verses 45 and 46. He is saying that there will be a new people of God made up of all peoples who will temporarily replace the Jews so that Jesus can establish His church. This will change the way God deals with man, from the old dispensation of the law to a new dispensation of God’s grace. It will usher in a period of time where man will no longer understand forgiveness of sins as man’s work through what he does or doesn’t do or by the sacrifices of animals on the altar, but by the work of Christ on the cross. It will be a time where each individual can have a personal and saving relationship with the One and only God of the universe. The exciting part of the verse is the phrase “who will produce fruit”; this gives authority to the church to share the gospel of Christ to the lost of the world. Up to this time, the Jews felt that they had automatic membership in God’s kingdom because of their relationship to Abraham; this is why they put so much emphasis on genealogies. But the new people of God would truly have what God wanted for Israel all along: a personal and holy relationship that would be honored through the spreading of God’s word to all peoples (see Exodus 19:5-6).
Jesus continues the stone metaphor in verse 44 to show how a stone can be used to build something beautiful, such as His church, or it can be used to crush and destroy, depending on the situation. This could be likened to God’s word: to some it is salvation, peace and comfort. To others it is foolish and disconcerting because of its ability to convict man of his sins (2 Timothy 3:16).
Verses 45 and 46 give us three insights into the psyche of the chief priest of the religious establishment. 1) They are jealous and envious of Jesus’ popularity with the common people. This encroaches on their authority and power to govern. 2) They have come to the realization that Jesus is talking about them. This hurts their pride and embarrasses them in front of the people. 3) They understood the analogy of the son and that Jesus was referring to Himself. This would be blasphemous to them, and they would now seek to kill Jesus. From here the leaders would meet in secrecy to plot how they would get rid of Jesus. Why all the secrecy? The people thought of Jesus as a prophet from God; arresting Him could cause an uprising. An uprising would jeopardize the leaders’ relationship with the Roman authorities, something that the Jews did not want at any cost.
Juneteenth is an American holiday commemorating the end of slavery in Texas. It is observed on June 19 (Juneteenth is a shortened form of June nineteenth) or on the Monday following that date, if Juneteenth falls on a weekend. Juneteenth also goes by the names Black Independence Day, Emancipation Day, and Jubilee Day.
The history of Juneteenth goes back to the end of the Civil War in 1865. The war had officially ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Virginia. Prior to that, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation that, on paper, at least, freed all slaves in the Confederate States. Neither Lincoln’s proclamation nor the end of the war made much of a difference for slaves in Texas, however—news traveled slowly in those days. Prior to the war, mail had come to Texas via stagecoach or wagon; during the war, funding for the postal service was cut off, and delivery of mail was even more unreliable and sporadic.
Then, on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and his Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read General Order No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” With that, slavery came to an end in Texas. On December 6 of that year, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, ending legalized slavery in all states.
In 1866, a year after Granger’s arrival in Texas, freedmen in Galveston celebrated “Jubilee Day” on June 19. From that point on, Juneteenth was observed in Texas with celebrations featuring music, barbecues, prayers, speeches, and church services. People began coming from other parts of the country to Texas to celebrate Juneteenth. In 1872, a group of ministers and businessmen purchased some land in Houston, named the spot Emancipation Park, and began using that land for annual Juneteenth observances. Juneteenth became a federal U.S. holiday in 2021.
Christians certainly can and should celebrate the end of legalized slavery. On both sides of the Atlantic, Christians were involved in abolitionist movements: William Wilberforce, John Newton, Charles Spurgeon, and John Wesley were all committed Christians who helped end the slave trade in England; John Woolman, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Charles Finney, and other American Christians were instrumental in abolishing slavery in the U.S. Christians then played a large role in ending the injustice of slavery, and Christians today should celebrate what they worked so hard to bring about.
In the Bible, freedom from slavery was celebrated in several ways. The Jewish people were to keep the Passover, which commemorated their exodus from Egyptian slavery. Also was the annual Feast of Tabernacles in which God’s people celebrated God’s provision in the wilderness following their deliverance from slavery. And every fifty years was the Year of Jubilee in which all debts were canceled, all slaves were freed, and all property was returned to the original owners. It is good and right to thank God for freedom, and that is part of what Juneteenth is.
On Juneteenth, we rejoice in that we’ve come a little closer to seeing the fulfillment of the words to the Christmas hymn “O Holy Night”:
“Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all oppression shall cease.”
Juneteenth is a celebration of a victory over a national sin. Slavery was a sin and a stain on the United States. It was an evil to be stamped out. As Presbyterian pastor John Rankin wrote in 1822, “I consider involuntary slavery a never-failing fountain of the grossest immorality, and one of the deepest sources of human misery; it hangs like the mantle of night over our republic, and shrouds its rising glories” ( Letters on American Slavery: Addressed to Mr. Thomas, 2nd Edition, Landmark Press, 1836). Christians everywhere should celebrate victory over sin.
Juneteenth is a celebration of unity and justice. Slavery naturally divided people into those who were privileged and those who were considered “less than.” Legalized slavery was the epitome of injustice. President John Quincy Adams wrote in his journal that slavery “establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?” (Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848, Vol. 5, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1875, p. 11). The Bible values unity and justice, and Juneteenth gives Christians an opportunity every year to celebrate those values.
Juneteenth is also a good occasion for the Body of Christ to pray for the healing of racial divisions within society and within the church. In Christ, there is “neither slave nor free . . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). On June 19, 1865, the country finally broke a deep-set iniquity’s hold, but there remain wounds to be healed and bridges to be built.
The historical event marked by Juneteenth should be remembered and honored by those who follow the Lord Jesus. He is, after all, the One who came “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and . . . to set the oppressed free” (Luke 4:18).
There are four “Servant Songs” of Isaiah that describe the service, suffering, and exaltation of the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah. All four songs show the Messiah to be God’s meek and gentle Servant. He is a royal figure, representing Israel in its ideal form; He is the high priest, atoning for the sins of the world. Isaiah predicts that this Servant of the Lord would deliver the world from the prison of sin. In the royal terminology of the ancient Near East, a servant was a “trusted envoy,” a “confidential representative,” or “one who is chosen.” The Servant Songs are found in Isaiah 42:1–9; Isaiah 49:1–13; Isaiah 50:4–11; and Isaiah 52:13—53:12.
Isaiah initially identifies God’s servant as Israel (41:8; 44:1–2), who serves as God’s witness (43:10) and as a light to the Gentiles. Yet Israel could not fulfill this mission: Israel was deaf, blind (42:19), and in need of God’s forgiveness (44:21–22). Israel failed again and again. By contrast, God’s Servant, the Messiah, faithfully completes all the work He is given to do (cf. Luke 13:32; John 17:4). The Servant of the Lord is God’s faithful and true witness to humanity.
In Acts 3:13 Peter calls Jesus the “servant” of God. That verse says, in part, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.” Peter’s description of Jesus as a “servant” is accurate for at least four reasons:
1) Jesus always did the will of the Father (John 4:34; 6:38).
2) Jesus never sought to please Himself but always to please the Father (John 5:30).
3) Jesus finished the work that God had sent Him to do (John 17:4).
4) Jesus came to glorify the Father (John 13:31; 17:4).
Additionally, Peter’s reference to Jesus as the “servant of God” would have brought to the minds of his Jewish hearers the passages in Isaiah that describe the Messiah as the “Servant of the Lord.” Here is a brief look at the four Servant Songs in Isaiah:
Isaiah 42:1–9. This first of the four Servant Songs introduces us to the Servant of the LORD:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope” (verses 1–4).
According to this song, the Servant of the Lord is chosen by God, and God delights in Him. The Servant has the Spirit of God abiding on Him. The first four verses of this passage are specifically applied to Jesus in Matthew 12:18–21.
When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, the Spirit of God descended upon Him, and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” This was a divine allusion to Isaiah 42. The clear teaching of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ is the Servant in the Servant Song prophecies.
Isaiah 49:1–13. This second of the four Servant Songs speaks of the Messiah’s work in the world and His success. The Servant’s statement that “before I was born the Lord called me” (verse 1) uses language similar to the call of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5). The reference in Isaiah 49:2 to the mouth of the Servant of the LORD being “like a sharpened sword” is a prophetic image that crops up several times in the New Testament (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16; 2:12, 16; 19:15).
In the second Servant Song, the Messiah displays God’s splendor (verse 3), restores God’s people (verse 6), and is honored in God’s eyes (verse 5). Significantly, the Messiah feels a great loss: “I have labored in vain; / I have spent my strength for nothing at all” (verse 4), yet He receives worldwide acclaim in the end:
“To him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
‘Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down’” (verse 7).
The Servant of the Lord will oversee the restoration of the land and the establishing of a peaceful kingdom (verses 8–13). The Messiah will be the agent of the Lord’s comfort to His people (verse 13).
In addition to being the One to restore the land of Israel (verse 8), the Messiah is chosen to redeem the Gentiles:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (verse 6).
In this way, God’s salvation is brought to all people. Christ Jesus is “the light of the world” (Luke 2:30–32; John 8:12; 9:5) and the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies. On their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas bring the gospel to the Gentiles in Antioch, and they quote Isaiah 49:6. The response of the Gentiles in Antioch is pure joy: “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:48). In Christ both Jews and Gentiles are made one (Ephesians 2:11–18).
Isaiah 50:4–11. This third Servant Song contrasts Israel’s sin with the Servant’s obedience. We also see that the Messiah will be persecuted yet vindicated. The verses preceding this song (Isaiah 50:1–3) liken Israel to an immoral wife; only God has the power to ransom her back. Starting in verse 4, the Servant responds to the instruction of God. He is not rebellious (verse 5), even when His obedience to God results in suffering:
“I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting” (verse 6).
The Servant of the Lord expresses His confidence that God will help Him and that He will be found innocent (verses 7–9). In this confidence, the Messiah resolves to see His task to completion, no matter how difficult the road becomes (cf. Luke 9:51).
Some 700 years later, Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, too. Abuse and insults were heaped upon our Lord as He was thrown to the Roman soldiers. His back was beaten, His face was hit, and He was spit upon (see John 19:1–3; Matthew 27:30). The Lord Jesus was obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8), and the Father vindicated His Suffering Servant by resurrecting Him. “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, / I will not be disgraced” (Isaiah 52:7).
Isaiah 52:13—53:12.
This climactic fourth Servant Song describes
the suffering and triumph of
the Servant of the LORD.
It is also one of the most detailed passages in the Old Testament concerning the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
The song begins with a promise that the Servant will be exalted (Isaiah 52:13), but then immediately turns to a description of extreme violence:
“His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14).
The Messiah will be “despised and rejected by mankind” (Isaiah 53:3). When He is brutally punished, people will assume that He is being afflicted by God (verse 4).
But the fourth Servant Song makes it clear why
He endures such persecution:
“He was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed” (verse 5).
It is our iniquity being placed on Him that explains His suffering (verse 6). Verse 7 predicts that the Messiah will be silent before His accusers (cf. Matthew 27:14).
Verse 9 says that, although the Servant of the Lord is innocent, He will die with the wicked and be “with the rich in his death.”
Isaiah 53:10 tells us why the Servant dies:
“It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and...the Lord makes his life an offering for sin.”
This is the substitutionary atonement. His life for ours.
The death of the Messiah accomplished the will of God concerning our salvation.
Immediately following the prophecy of the Servant’s death, Isaiah makes a startling prophecy of the Servant’s victory:
“[The Lord] will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied. . . .
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong” (verses 10–12).
So, in the fourth Servant Song, death is not the end for the Servant. After He suffers, He will “see the light of life.” He will “divide the spoils.” His days will be prolonged. What we have here is a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ.
The whole of Isaiah 53 is a poignant and prophetic picture of the gospel. Jesus was despised and rejected by men (Luke 13:34; John 1:10–11); He was stricken by God (Matthew 27:46) and pierced for our transgressions (John 19:34; 1 Peter 2:24). By His suffering, Jesus received the punishment we deserved and became for us the ultimate and perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10). Although His Son was sinless, God laid on Him our sin, and we became God’s righteousness in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was silent in front of His accusers (Matthew 27:12, 14; 1 Peter 2:23). Jesus was crucified between two thieves yet buried in a rich man’s tomb (Matthew 27:38, 57–60). In the Suffering Servant’s humiliation and final exaltation, He reconciles humanity with God (Matthew 8:17; Acts 8:30–35; Romans 10:15–17; 15:21; 1 Peter 2:24–25).
As the Ethiopian eunuch is traveling home in his chariot, he is reading from one of the Servant Songs (Acts 8:32–33). The eunuch was unsure of whom Isaiah was speaking—was it the prophet himself, or another man? Philip the evangelist had the privilege of using Isaiah 53 to point the Ethiopian to Christ: “Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).
Without a doubt, the four Servant Songs
in Isaiah are about Jesus.
Our Lord is the theme of Scripture.
“It is hard for you to kick against the pricks”
was a Greek proverb,
but it was also familiar to the Jews and anyone who made a living in agriculture. An ox goad was a stick with a pointed piece of iron on its tip used to prod the oxen when plowing. The farmer would prick the animal to steer it in the right direction. Sometimes the animal would rebel by kicking out at the prick, and this would result in the prick being driven even further into its flesh. In essence, the more an ox rebelled, the more it suffered. Thus, Jesus’ words to Saul on the road to Damascus: “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.”
Of the better-known Bible translations, the actual phrase “kick against the pricks” is found only in the King James Version. It is mentioned only twice, in Acts 9:5 and Acts 26:14. The apostle Paul (then known as Saul) was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians when he had a blinding encounter with Jesus. Luke records the event: “And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 26:14 KJV). Modern translations have changed the word pricks to goads. All translations except the KJV and NKJV, omit the phrase altogether from Acts 9:5.
The conversion of Saul is quite significant as it was the turning point in his life. Paul later wrote nearly half of the books of the New Testament.
Jesus took control of Paul and let him know his rebellion against God was a losing battle. Paul’s actions were as senseless as an ox kicking “against the goads.” Paul had passion and sincerity in his fight against Christianity, but he was not heading in the direction God wanted him to go. Jesus was going to goad (“direct” or “steer”) Paul in the right direction.
There is a powerful lesson in the ancient Greek proverb. We, too, find it hard to kick against the goads. Solomon wrote, “Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path” (Proverbs 15:10). When we choose to disobey God, we become like the rebellious ox—driving the goad deeper and deeper. “The way of the unfaithful is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). How much better to heed God’s voice, to listen to the pangs of conscience! By resisting God’s authority we are only punishing ourselves.
In many places in the New Testament, the apostle Paul refers to himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ” (e.g., Romans 1:1; Colossians 4:12; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:6). The Lord’s half-brother Jude refers to himself in the same way (Jude 1:1). Rather than capitalize on his close relationship to Jesus, Jude relegated himself to the status of a servant. Jesus’ family, friends, and chosen apostles refer to themselves as His servants, the plain implication being that Jesus is Lord.
“Servant” is a translation of the Greek word doulos, which means more literally “a slave or bondservant, someone who sets aside all rights of his own to serve another.” Because the word slave carries such a negative connotation to our modern sensitivities, we often choose the word servant instead. However, servant does not quite capture the real meaning of doulos. Paul said he was a “slave” to Christ.
In ancient times, slaves were purchased or born into a slave family and served the master until they died or until the master decided to free them. Some slaves had developed such a close and loving relationship with the master’s family that they wanted to continue serving, even when they could go free. That’s the idea Paul and others were conveying when they referred to themselves as servants of Christ. The Lord has bought us with a high price (1 Corinthians 6:20), and those who come to know Him desire to abandon all rights to Him and choose to serve Him faithfully.
A servant of Christ knows who is the King. A servant of Christ is one who has voluntarily set aside his or her personal rights in order to love, serve, and obey the will of God in Christ Jesus. Servants of Christ die daily to sin and fleshly desires, allowing Christ’s life to flow through them (Galatians 2:20).
To be a servant of Christ is to seek His will in all things. Our primary desire every day, as servants of Christ, is to honor and glorify the One who bought our freedom from sin (1 Corinthians 10:31). This means we must die to ourselves (Luke 9:23), renounce our right to direct our own lives (Luke 6:46), and seek ways to bring our Master pleasure (Psalm 37:23; Proverbs 11:20). Just as a master in ancient times took on the responsibility of caring for his bondservants, so our Lord says that He will provide all we need when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:19).
Our Master, Jesus, has given us instructions in His Word and expects those who profess His name to know them. As we learn more, we do better. Servants of Christ put into practice all they learn about pleasing their Lord. While He has specific jobs for each of us according to the gifts and opportunities He provides, some requirements are universal for anyone called to be a servant of Christ:
• Continue in faith.
• Destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.
• Take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
• Pursue holy living (1 Peter 1:14–16).
• Daily crucify the lusts of the flesh (Romans 6:1–6).
• Love brothers and sisters in the faith (1 John 3:14–15).
• Store up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19–20).
• Eagerly await the Master’s return (Revelation 22:20; 2 Timothy 4:8).
Servants of Christ
do their work humbly and selflessly,
desiring only to please their benevolent Master.
There’s no pretension, no self-importance, no compensation-seeking in true servanthood. Jesus reminds us of the lowly place a servant occupies: “You also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:10, ESV).
Servants of Christ consider their lives on earth as a brief time of preparation for eternity. The hardships and struggles we must face while in the flesh will be far outmatched by the glory and reward awaiting us (2 Corinthians 4:17). Just as a servant who loves his master lives for the master’s approval, so servants of Christ live for the moment He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master!” (Matthew 25:21, 23)
A bondservant is a slave. In some Bibles the word bondservant is the translation of the Greek word doulos, which means “one who is subservient to, and entirely at the disposal of, his master; a slave.” Other translations use the word slave or servant.
In Roman times, the term bondservant or slave could refer to someone who voluntarily served others. But it usually referred to one who was held in a permanent position of servitude. Under Roman law, a bondservant was considered the owner’s personal property. Slaves essentially had no rights and could even be killed with impunity by their owners.
The Hebrew word for “bondservant,” ‘ebed, had a similar connotation. However, the Mosaic Law allowed an indentured servant to become a bondservant voluntarily: “If the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life” (Exodus 21:5-6).
Many prominent men of the Old Testament were referred to as servants. God spoke of Abraham as His servant (Genesis 26:24; Numbers 12:7). Joshua is called the servant of the Lord (Joshua 24:29), as are David (2 Samuel 7:5) and Isaiah (Isaiah 20:3). Even the Messiah is called God’s Servant (Isaiah 53:11). In all of these instances, the term servant carries the idea of humble nobility. Being God’s servant is an honorable position.
During the time of Jesus and the first-century church, as much as one third of the Roman population were slaves, and another third had been slaves earlier in life. It was common for freeborn men and women to work side-by-side with slaves as street sweepers, dockworkers, doctors, teachers, and business managers. Convicted criminals became bondservants of the state and usually died working in the mines or on galleys.
Historical records reveal that it was not unusual for Jews to own slaves during the New Testament period. Because slavery was a familiar part of the culture, Jesus sometimes referred to slaves and owners in His parables (e.g., Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 12:41-48). Also, Jesus taught that the greatest in God’s kingdom would have to become “the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Such a concept was unthinkable to a Roman citizen, who prided himself in his freedom and would never identify himself as a bondservant. But Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and the selfish values of earth are of no consequence in heaven.
Throughout the New Testament, the word bondservant, slave, or servant is applied metaphorically to someone absolutely devoted to Jesus. Paul, Timothy, James, Peter, and Jude all describe themselves as “bondservants of Christ” (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1:1, NKJV).
Believers today should still consider themselves bondservants or slaves of Christ (1 Corinthians 7:22; Ephesians 6:6; 2 Timothy 2:24). He is our Lord, and our allegiance is due to Him alone. As bondservants, we renounce other masters (Matthew 6:24) and give ourselves totally to Him (Matthew 16:24).
Being a bondservant of Christ is not drudgery. His “burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Also, we have this promise: “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22).
Malachi is the final of the Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament era, and his prophecy concludes with an explanation of what the people could expect next in the prophetic calendar. Malachi’s prophecy concludes with a remarkable statement: “And [the prophet Elijah] will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:6, NKJV).
Amos 8:11 said there would be a famine for the Word of God—perhaps a time of silence in which God was no longer speaking—but there would come a day when God would send a messenger to clear the way for the Lord who would suddenly come into the temple (Malachi 3:1). After Malachi’s prophecy, God did not communicate to the people as He had before until the announcement of the arrival of John the Baptist (Luke 1). John the Baptist came proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and announcing the arrival of the Messiah (Luke 3:16; John 3:28–30). Jesus made it clear that John was the fulfillment of the Malachi 3:1 prophecy (Matthew 11:9–10).
Malachi added another key prophecy, recording God’s foretelling that He would send Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5). This Elijah would restore or turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, and God would not curse the land anymore (Malachi 4:6). After Jesus acknowledged that John had fulfilled the Malachi 3:1 prophecy, He added that, if the people were willing to receive or accept Him, then John would have also fulfilled the Malachi 4:6 role of Elijah (Matthew 11:13–15). But because the nation did not accept the King and the kingdom He offered, the kingdom was postponed, and Jesus said there would be division—that households would be divided and fathers and children would be set against each other (Luke 12:51–53). So it would continue until the coming of the one who would fill the Malachi 4:6 prophecy, the one who would restore or turn the hearts of the fathers toward their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. The days of division will come to an end when the Messiah reigns, and His reign will be preceded by a herald who will function as Elijah.
Malachi’s two prophecies are quite significant for biblical chronology, as the Malachi 3:1 prophecy was fulfilled by John and ties the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures to what we know as the New Testament. John was the forerunner of the Messiah, and when the Messiah came, He verified John as authentic by allowing John to baptize Him (Matthew 3:13–17) and by affirming John’s authenticity directly (Matthew 11:9–10).
Malachi 4:6 helps us recognize there is more to the story and that a prophet will come turning the hearts of the fathers before the Day of the Lord. Because the people of Jesus’ time did not accept the Messiah and His kingdom, the Messiah’s day was postponed and John was shown not to be that messenger in that time. One day in the future, Malachi’s prophecy will be fulfilled, and biblical chronology will move toward its completion.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Mark 14:35-36
And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
1 Peter 5:6-10
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Proverbs 23:26
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
Romans 12:1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Luke 9:23-24
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Jeremiah 10:23
I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Philippians 2:5-8
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Matthew 26:39
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Psalm 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
Mark 8:34-35
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it."
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 9:10
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus and His disciples went to Mount Olivet, near Jerusalem. There, Jesus promised His followers that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit, and He instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit had come. Then Jesus blessed them, and as He gave the blessing, He began to ascend into heaven. The account of Jesus’ ascension is found in Luke 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9-11.
It is plain from Scripture that Jesus’ ascension was a literal, bodily return to heaven. He rose from the ground gradually and visibly, observed by many intent onlookers. As the disciples strained to catch a last glimpse of Jesus, a cloud hid Him from their view, and two angels appeared and promised Christ’s return "in just the same way that you have watched Him go" (Acts 1:11).
For many citizens, liberty is as cherished as life itself, prompting the American revolutionary Patrick Henry to declare, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” The apostle Paul said, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17, NKJV). He was likely drawing a connection to Jesus Christ’s words at the start of His ministry when He opened the scroll of Isaiah and read this:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:18–19, NKJV; cf. Isaiah 61:1–2).
The Greek word translated “liberty” in 2 Corinthians 3:17 means “personal freedom from servitude, confinement, or oppression.” Jesus came to set us free spiritually. To the children of God, Christ says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Spirit of the Lord takes up residence in that individual (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Believers are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14) and made alive by the Spirit of the Living God (2 Corinthians 3:3, 6).
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty because those who are in Christ—those born of God’s Spirit (John 3:5–6)—are freed from the law of sin and death (Galatians 4:3–7). Paul told the Romans, “And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:2, NLT; see also Romans 7:4–5). “We have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit” (Romans 7:6, NLT).
Liberty and freedom are words Paul often used to sum up the experience of salvation in Christ. He said Christians no longer live in bondage as slaves to sin: “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Romans 6:14, NLT). Paul warned believers not to fall back into slavery to the law: “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law” (Galatians 5:1, NLT).
In Jesus Christ, believers are set free from the guilt, influence, and punishment of sin (Romans 8:1–6). Jesus is “the truth” (John 14:6), and He told His hearers who believed in Him, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32, NLT).
The biblical concept of liberty is quite different from the world’s idea of freedom. Christian liberty is not the worldly freedom to do whatever we want. Such freedom inevitably leads to another kind of slavery—that of serving our own passions and lusts (see 2 Peter 2:19). But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the liberty to deny the flesh and our own selfish desires for the purpose of obeying God, pleasing Him, and bringing glory to His name (Romans 6:16–18; 1 Corinthians 7:22–23).
The ultimate liberty is freedom from death through the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ (John 17:2–3; 1 John 5:11–12). Believers can live free from the fear of death and the sting of death because our Lord Jesus Christ gives us victory over these foes (1 Corinthians 15:53–57).
Before we received the Spirit of the Lord, our lives were characterized by servitude to sin, the law, and death. Now that we are alive in Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, we have a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 6:4). We are set free to serve God in the fullest sense of liberation. One game-changing, life-transforming aspect of our spiritual freedom is knowing that this present world is not our real home (Hebrews 11:13; 13:14; Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 2:11; 1 John 2:15–17). There is liberty where the Spirit of the Lord is because, as God’s children, we live with the future expectation of glory. We have God’s promise of freedom from death and decay in our eternal heavenly home (Romans 8:21).
The Ascension of Jesus Christ is meaningful for several reasons:
1) It signaled the end of His earthly ministry. God the Father had lovingly sent His Son into the world at Bethlehem, and now the Son was returning to the Father. The period of human limitation was at an end.
2) It signified success in His earthly work. All that He had come to do, He had accomplished.
3) It marked the return of His heavenly glory. Jesus’ glory had been veiled during His sojourn on earth, with one brief exception at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9).
4) It symbolized His exaltation by the Father (Ephesians 1:20-23). The One with whom the Father is well pleased (Matthew 17:5) was received up in honor and given a name above all names (Philippians 2:9).
5) It allowed Him to prepare a place for us (John 14:2).
6) It indicated the beginning of His new work as High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16) and Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15).
7) It set the pattern for His return. When Jesus comes to set up the Kingdom, He will return just as He left-literally, bodily, and visibly in the clouds (Acts 1:11; Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7).
Currently, the Lord Jesus is in heaven. The Scriptures frequently picture Him at the right hand of the Father-a position of honor and authority (Psalm 110:1; Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 8:1). Christ is the Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18), the giver of spiritual gifts (Ephesians 4:7-8), and the One who fills all in all (Ephesians 4:9-10).
In Jeremiah 31 the prophet refers to a proverb that people used in his day. It went like this:
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29, ESV).
The proverb (which also appears in Ezekiel 18:2) has to do with responsibility. The people who were experiencing hardship pointed to others as the cause; they said, “God is judging us because of the sins of our fathers.”
The context is God’s announcement that He will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31), in contrast to the Old Covenant (Jeremiah 31:32). One of the characteristics of the Old Covenant (or the Mosaic Covenant) was its conditional nature. If Israel obeyed God, He would allow the nation to live in the land in peace. If, on the other hand, Israel disobeyed God and broke the covenant, God would judge them and remove the nation from the land. The blessings and cursings were corporate: the whole nation rose or fell together. So, to many Israelites, it seemed like the proverb was true: God would punish “the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5). In their use of the proverb, however, they were ignoring personal responsibility.
Jeremiah had been sent to proclaim the inevitability of God’s judgment and the people’s exile from the land. The people blamed King Manasseh’s sin—he was the “father” who had eaten the sour grapes—and they excused themselves—it was their teeth set on edge. But God also announces, through Jeremiah, that days were coming when He would bring His people back to the land of Israel, and He would watch over them “to build and to plant” rather than to destroy (Jeremiah 31:28, ESV). The restoration would include individual blessings for individual people who were of Israel (Jeremiah 31:25). God would bring people and beasts back into the land (Jeremiah 31:27).
God explains that in those days of restoration it will no longer be said that the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge (Jeremiah 31:29). The judgment would be removed, and the people would see that each individual is held accountable for his own iniquity. Blame-shifting would cease. The one who eats the sour grapes will have to deal with the consequences himself (Jeremiah 31:30).
In the Mosaic Covenant, the actions of the fathers did, to an extent, impact the sons’ ability to enjoy the land. What one generation did could indeed impact the next. The fathers would eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth were set on edge. Because of previous generations of failure, the nation of Israel endured exile in Babylon. But it was not right for the children of Israel to cast off all responsibility. They spouted the proverb as if they bore no guilt at all. But it was their sin that also contributed to the judgment.
God explains that the New Covenant with Israel and Judah will bring a different perspective (Jeremiah 31:31–32). Each person will be accountable for himself, and God will provide him with righteousness. God promises,
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33).
In addition, each person under the New Covenant will know God, and all will be forgiven of their sin (Jeremiah 31:34). Under the Mosaic Covenant, Israel was accountable as a nation for their sin. Under the New Covenant, God will hold each individual accountable and provide for each person’s righteousness. No longer would Israel have occasion to say that the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
The New Covenant that God promises to make for Israel and Judah is unconditional, being based purely on the work of God. He will accomplish individual responsibility and individual righteousness by forgiving the people’s sins. Jesus ratified this covenant when He died on the cross. With His shed blood, He paid for the sins of all who would receive the blessings of the New Covenant (Israel and Judah)—and He paid for the sins of all the rest of humanity, in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3b).
God is faithful and trustworthy. Even though the fathers may have eaten sour grapes, no longer will the children’s teeth be set on edge. Each person is accountable before God, and each person can be righteous in God’s sight by putting his or her belief in Jesus.
The concept of taking a person “under one’s wing” is familiar to us today. When an individual is alone, in a new position, or needing special guidance, another, more experienced person may offer to take the other “under his wing” to care for, teach, and guide. In Scripture, under His wings is a metaphor for the protective refuge of God’s presence. The imagery alludes to a mother bird taking her vulnerable hatchlings under her wings to nurture, train, shelter, guide, and protect.
Jesus applied the phrase to His concern for Israel: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37, CSB; see also Luke 13:34).
Boaz recognized that Ruth, a Moabite foreigner, had sought refuge under the God of Israel’s wings (Ruth 2:10–12). “People take refuge in the shadow of your wings,” says Psalm 36:7. The psalmist seeks refuge and shelter “under His wings” (Psalm 57:1; 61:4) and even sings for joy “in the shadow of His wings” (Psalm 63:7, ESV).
But there is a richer, fuller application for under His wings that emerges in Psalm 91. In the first verse, the same idea of God as a sheltering refuge is established: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). In God’s presence are security, guidance, protection, and care.
Some Bible versions replace “the shelter of the Most High” with “the secret place of the Most High.” In the Old Testament, the Jewish people associated God’s presence with a specific place—the Holy of Holies. Inside the wilderness tabernacle and then, later, in the temple was a secret, innermost chamber where only the high priest could enter once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people (Exodus 28; Hebrews 9:7). This sacred place of worship contained the ark of the covenant covered by the mercy seat where God was enthroned, and His holy presence dwelled among His people (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89).
Upon the mercy seat sat two hammered gold cherubim, or angels, with their wings overshadowing the ark: “The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they will protect it” (Exodus 25:20, NLT).
The one who “dwells in the secret place of the Most High” and “abides in the shadow of the Almighty” is the one whose sins have been atoned for and who stands clean and forgiven. Only then can one say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2). The psalmist continues: “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (Psalm 91:3–4).
Those who are protected by the salvation of the Lord through faith in Jesus Christ will dwell forever in God’s presence. They will escape death and the snare of the devil (Hebrews 2:14; 2 Timothy 2:24). They can now enter the secret place—the holy of holies (Hebrews 10:19–22). They can boldly approach God’s throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) anytime, not just once a year, because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His shed blood, which opened up a new and living way.
From the days of the wilderness wanderings, the people of God have taken refuge under His wings: “He found them in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them. . . . Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions. The LORD alone guided them” (Deuteronomy 32:10–12, NLT). Whenever the children of Israel needed help, they prayed, “Hide me under the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 17:8). And now, because of Jesus Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we can forever abide under His wings in the protected shelter of His presence.
The key to understanding how Jesus is our Sabbath rest is the Hebrew word sabat, which means "to rest or stop or cease from work." The origin of the Sabbath goes back to Creation. After creating the heavens and the earth in six days, God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made" (Genesis 2:2). This doesn’t mean that God was tired and needed a rest. We know that God is omnipotent, literally "all-powerful." He has all the power in the universe, He never tires, and His most arduous expenditure of energy does not diminish His power one bit. So, what does it mean that God rested on the seventh day? Simply that He stopped what He was doing. He ceased from His labors. This is important in understanding the establishment of the Sabbath day and the role of Christ as our Sabbath rest.
God used the example of His resting on the seventh day of Creation to establish the principle of the Sabbath day rest for His people. In Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15, God gave the Israelites the fourth of His Ten Commandments. They were to "remember" the Sabbath day and "keep it holy." One day out of every seven, they were to rest from their labors and give the same day of rest to their servants and animals. This was not just a physical rest, but a cessation of laboring. Whatever work they were engaged in was to stop for a full day each week. (Please read our other articles on the Sabbath day, Saturday vs. Sunday and Sabbath keeping to explore this issue further.) The Sabbath day was established so the people would rest from their labors, only to begin again after a one-day rest.
The various elements of the Sabbath symbolized the coming of the Messiah, who would provide a permanent rest for His people. Once again the example of resting from our labors comes into play. With the establishment of the Old Testament Law, the Jews were constantly "laboring" to make themselves acceptable to God. Their labors included trying to obey a myriad of do’s and don’ts of the ceremonial law, the Temple law, the civil law, etc. Of course they couldn’t possibly keep all those laws, so God provided an array of sin offerings and sacrifices so they could come to Him for forgiveness and restore fellowship with Him, but only temporarily. Just as they began their physical labors after a one-day rest, so, too, did they have to continue to offer sacrifices. Hebrews 10:1 tells us that the law "can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship." But these sacrifices were offered in anticipation of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross, who "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Just as He rested after performing the ultimate sacrifice, He sat down and rested—ceased from His labor of atonement because there was nothing more to be done, ever. Because of what He did, we no longer have to "labor" in law-keeping in order to be justified in the sight of God. Jesus was sent so that we might rest in God and in what He has provided.
Another element of the Sabbath day rest which God instituted as a foreshadowing of our complete rest in Christ is that He blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy. Here again we see the symbol of Christ as our Sabbath rest—the holy, perfect Son of God who sanctifies and makes holy all who believe in Him. God sanctified Christ, just as He sanctified the Sabbath day, and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) to be our sacrifice for sin. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.
Jesus can be our Sabbath rest in part because He is "Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). As God incarnate, He decides the true meaning of the Sabbath because He created it, and He is our Sabbath rest in the flesh. When the Pharisees criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus reminded them that even they, sinful as they were, would not hesitate to pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath. Because He came to seek and save His sheep who would hear His voice (John 10:3,27) and enter into the Sabbath rest He provided by paying for their sins, He could break the Sabbath rules. He told the Pharisees that people are more important than sheep and the salvation He provided was more important than rules. By saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), Jesus was restating the principle that the Sabbath rest was instituted to relieve man of his labors, just as He came to relieve us of our attempting to achieve salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only one day, but forever cease our laboring to attain God’s favor. Jesus is our rest from works now, just as He is the door to heaven, where we will rest in Him forever.
Hebrews 4 is the definitive passage regarding Jesus as our Sabbath rest. The writer to the Hebrews exhorts his readers to “enter in” to the Sabbath rest provided by Christ. After three chapters of telling them that Jesus is superior to the angels and that He is our Apostle and High Priest, he pleads with them to not harden their hearts against Him, as their fathers hardened their hearts against the Lord in the wilderness. Because of their unbelief, God denied that generation access to the holy land, saying, “They shall not enter into My rest” (Hebrews 3:11). In the same way, the writer to the Hebrews begs his readers not to make the same mistake by rejecting God’s Sabbath rest in Jesus Christ. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9–11).
There is no other Sabbath rest besides Jesus. He alone satisfies the requirements of the Law, and He alone provides the sacrifice that atones for sin. He is God’s plan for us to cease from the labor of our own works. We dare not reject this one-and-only Way of salvation (John 14:6). God’s reaction to those who choose to reject His plan is seen in Numbers 15. A man was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, in spite of God’s plain commandment to cease from all labor on the Sabbath. This transgression was a known and willful sin, done with unblushing boldness in broad daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority. “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp’” (verse 35). So it will be to all who reject God’s provision for our Sabbath rest in Christ. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).
At the very end of the Old Testament, the redeemed of Israel are promised great joy in the future: “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2, ESV).
This passage speaks of an eschatological period referenced in Scripture as the “Day of the Lord” (Isaiah 13:6; Malachi 4:5; Joel 1:15; 2:1; Acts 2:20). It will be a time of judgment for evildoers and a time of great blessing for the righteous (Malachi 4:2–3). Those who “fear my name” or “revere my name” are God’s people—the righteous. They know and reverence the Lord and understand the full implications of His name and character. The New Living Translation describes the experience of the righteous on that future day as those who “will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.”
The “Sun of Righteousness” is an unmistakable reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Light of the world (John 9:5). Malachi 4:2 indicates that the Messiah “shall arise with healing in His wings.” The spreading rays of sunshine symbolize the coming infusion of light and healing on the earth. At the second coming, Jesus Christ will shine forth in all His brilliance (Matthew 26:64). This “healing” goes beyond the physical into the realm of spiritual restoration—salvation from death and deliverance from eternal damnation (Psalm 107:20).
Healing is mentioned as part of the eternal state: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:1–3a). Ezekiel describes a river that flows out of a new and glorious temple: “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).
When Christ returns with “healing in his wings,” the redeemed will know perpetual health and everlasting life. Sickness of mind, body, and soul will be healed. The spiritual malady of sin will be forever eradicated. Through Jesus come grace and truth (John 1:17). The Lord vows to “heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever” (Hosea 14:4, NLT). He will completely fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1–3a:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion--
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.”
Christ died on the cross so that those who believe in Him and receive Him as Savior will experience spiritual healing and restored fellowship with God (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). We don’t have to fear the day of judgment because we have the hope and the promise that “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (see John 3:18; Matthew 25:33–34). Believers can take courage in knowing God is “a sun and shield,” who gives us grace and glory and withholds “no good thing from those who do what is right” (Psalm 84:11, NLT).
When Jesus Christ returns, He will judge the wicked, and the world will experience a time of unprecedented peace, righteousness, and healing. The prophet Isaiah describes the millennial reign of Christ in glorious detail: “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord” (Isaiah 11:6–9, NLT).
When Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, rises with healing in His wings, “my people will again live under my shade,” promises the Lord (Hosea 14:7, NLT). In this sin-darkened world, we can have hope knowing that the future coming of Jesus Christ will be like the dawning of the brightest day of curative sunshine. His appearance will be like a beautiful sunrise after a long, dark night. It will be a day of deliverance and spiritual light for the righteous. “Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun” (Ecclesiastes 11:7).
In Scripture there are many different names used to describe God. While all the names of God are important in many ways, the name “Abba Father” is one of the most significant names of God in understanding how He relates to people. The word Abba is an Aramaic word that means “Father.” It was a common term that expressed affection and confidence and trust. Abba signifies the close, intimate relationship of a father and his child, as well as the childlike trust that a young child puts in his “daddy.”
Abba is always followed by the word Father in Scripture, and the phrase is found in three passages. In Mark 14:36, Jesus addresses His Father as “Abba, Father” in His prayer in Gethsemane. In Romans 8:15, “Abba, Father” is mentioned in relation to the Spirit’s work of adoption that makes us God’s children and heirs with Christ. In Galatians 4:6, again in the context of adoption, the Spirit in our hearts cries out, “Abba, Father.” Together, the terms Abba and Father doubly emphasize the fatherhood of God. In two different languages, we are assured of God’s care for His children.
Many claim that all people are “children of God,” but the Bible reveals quite a different truth. We are all His creations and under His authority and lordship, and all will be judged by Him, but the right to be a child of God and call Him “Abba Father” is something that only born-again Christians have (John 1:12–13).When we are born again (John 3:1–8), we are adopted into the family of God, redeemed from the curse of sin, and made heirs of God (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7). Part of that new relationship is that God now deals with us differently, as family.
It is life-changing to understand what it means to be able to call the one true God our “Father” and what it means to be joint-heirs with Christ. Because of our relationship with our Abba, Father, He no longer deals with us as enemies; instead, we can approach Him with “boldness” (Hebrews 10:19) and in “full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). The Holy Spirit “testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17).
Becoming a child of God is the highest and most humbling of honors. Because of it we have a new relationship with God and a new standing before Him. Instead of running from God and trying to hide our sin like Adam and Eve did, we run to Him, calling, “Abba, Father!” and finding forgiveness in Christ. Being an adopted child of God is the source of our hope, the security of our future, and the motivation to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). Being children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords calls us to a higher standard, a different way of life, and, in the future, “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4).
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began with the words Our Father. There is much truth in those two words alone. The holy and righteous God, who created and sustains all things, who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present, not only allows us but encourages us to call Him “Father.” What a privilege is ours. What amazing grace that God would love us so, that Jesus would sacrifice Himself for us, and that the Holy Spirit would indwell us and prompt our intimate cry of “Abba, Father!”
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Acts 2:38
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Hebrews 10:26
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Luke 13:3
No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Romans 10:13
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
1 John 3:4
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
Psalm 103:1-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Acts 3:19
Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 Peter 3:21
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Jeremiah 31:34
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
John 5:14
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
1 Corinthians 15:34
Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Romans 6:4
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Mark 1:15
And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Psalm 51:2-4
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
James 4:17
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
The Shemitah (sometimes spelled Shemittah or Shmita) is the final year in a seven-year cycle of debt forgiveness and land use prescribed for Israel in the Old Testament. The term Shemitah has been popularized lately with the publication of the book The Mystery of the Shemitah by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. According to Cahn, the Shemitah year culminates in the Day of Remission, Ehul 29.
Every seventh year, the people of Israel were instructed to forgive debts owed by fellow Israelites, refrain from direct cultivation, and permit people and animals to harvest the free-growing crops that remained. The instructions concerning the Shemitah are mentioned in passages such as Exodus 21:2; 23:10–11; Leviticus 25:1–7; Deuteronomy 15:1–6; and 31:10–13.
The purpose of the Shemitah was to allow the land to recover from agriculture, as well as to provide sustenance for the poor. The Shemitah was also meant to break the cycle of perpetual debt and poverty in which many people found themselves trapped (Deuteronomy 15:4, 11). This Sabbath year reflected God’s decision to rest on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:1–3). As with many religious concepts, there are different interpretations of the Sabbath year within each of the various sects of Judaism.
Historically, the Shemitah seems to have been all but ignored by Judaism, even in the days of the Old Testament. Today, the only aspect of the Sabbath year that seems to be upheld is a prohibition on certain kinds of food exports for crops actually grown within the boundaries of Israel during the seventh year of the cycle. Modern reasons for rejecting this law involve claims that agricultural laws only apply within the boundaries of Israel and that they are generally no longer in effect, thereby cancelling the associated laws on debt forgiveness.
Even for those inclined to consider the Shemitah binding, Talmudic scholars developed a mechanism known as a pruzbul to effectively negate the loan-forgiveness aspects of Shemitah. This process hinges on the scriptural command to forgive the debts of a “friend or brother” (Deuteronomy 15:2), which Talmudic scholars chose to interpret as implying that only private debts are cancelled. Making a pruzbul transfers the debt to a public religious court, a beit din, so the debt is theoretically no longer between friends, brothers, or neighbors. According to this interpretation, the once-private debt is fully recoverable, and nothing is forgiven (see Mark 7:8–9).
Likewise, those interested in maintaining farms during a Shemitah Sabbath year have turned to a rabbinic interpretation, which effectively nullifies the law. By hiring non-Jewish hands to work the land, the landowner can claim to be following the Shemitah by not (himself) cultivating the land—others are doing it for him, and he is not laboring personally.
In his book The Mystery of the Shemitah, Jonathan Cahn makes the case that nations who do not follow the principles of the Shemitah will be judged by God. He applies this warning specifically to America, showing how Ehul 29, the Day of Remission on the Jewish calendar, has coincided with drastic drops in the stock market, credit crises, oil shocks, recessions, sell-offs, and the Great Depression in America. Cahn figures that we finished a Shemitah year, which ended on September 13, 2015. After that is a possible Year of Jubilee, a “super Shemitah,” according to Cahn, if it is the year following seven Shemitah years (7 sets of 7 years). In Cahn’s book, the Year of Jubilee could bring even more of God’s judgment on rebellious nations such as America. Adding to the portents of doom, according to Cahn, are the four blood moons and two solar eclipses we’ve recently seen.
In The Mystery of the Shemitah, Cahn relates many events concerning the World Trade Center to a Shemitah year: The WTC was conceived in 1945. Groundbreaking occurred in 1966. The twin towers opened in 1973. Terrorists bombed the north tower in 1993. Both towers were destroyed in 2001. The new tower, One World Trade Center, or the Freedom Tower, opened in 2014. Cahn points out that all of these years are Shemitah years.
Author Cahn was careful not to be dogmatic about his predictions of divine judgment on the United States. He did not attempt to predict what, if anything, would happen during the next Shemitah or on the next Day of Remission, September 13. His assertion that America has a covenant relationship with God, much like Israel has, is questionable. His teaching of a seven-year pattern of calamity could be dismissed as mere coincidence. But his call to America to repent and seek salvation in Christ is definitely biblical.
The word “jubilee”—literally, “the blast of a horn” in Hebrew—is defined in Leviticus 25:9as the sabbatical year after seven cycles of seven years (49 years). The fiftieth year was to be a time of celebration and rejoicing for the Israelites. The ram’s horn was blown on the tenth day of the seventh month to start the fiftieth year of universal redemption.
The Year of the Jubilee involved a year of release from indebtedness (Leviticus 25:23-38) and all types of bondage (vv. 39-55). All prisoners and captives were set free, all slaves were released, all debts were forgiven, and all property was returned to its original owners. In addition, all labor was to cease for one year, and those bound by labor contracts were released from them. One of the benefits of the Jubilee was that both the land and the people were able to rest.
The Jubilee presents a beautiful picture of the New Testament themes of redemption and forgiveness. Christ is the Redeemer who came to set free those who are slaves and prisoners to sin (Romans 8:2; Galatians 5:1; 3:22). The debt of sin we owe to God was paid on the cross as Jesus died on our behalf (Colossians 2:13-14), and we are forgiven the debt forever. We are no longer in bondage, no longer slaves to sin, having been freed by Christ, and we can truly enter the rest God provides as we cease laboring to make ourselves acceptable to God by our own works (Hebrews 4:9-10).
1 Peter 3:8-12
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
The idea of a spiritual father is often used more generically of any Christian man who is discipling or mentoring a younger Christian in the faith. Jesus has commanded His followers to “make disciples,” which involves creating spiritual relationships that in some ways resemble father/son and mother/daughter relationships (Matthew 28:19). In Paul’s letter to Titus, he discusses how older women should teach younger Christian women in the faith (Titus 2:4).
As Timothy’s spiritual father, Paul taught doctrine and modeled Christian living to his young friend by taking him along on mission trips (2 Timothy 1:13; Acts 16:1–3; 2 Corinthians 1:19). After a while, Timothy took on a leadership role of his own, and he in turn discipled other believers in a “spiritual father”-type of relationship (1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Timothy 4:11–16).
In Matthew 23, Jesus forbids the use of the title father as a sign of superiority: “Do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven” (verse 9). In that same context, Jesus also forbids the titles rabbi (“teacher”) and instructor (“master” or “leader”). John MacArthur comments: “Here Jesus condemns pride and pretense, not titles per se. . . . Christ is merely forbidding the use of such names as spiritual titles, or in an ostentatious sense that accords undue spiritual authority to a human being, as if he were the source of truth rather than God” (The MacArthur Study Bible).
Matthew 18:15-17
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Psalm 34:13
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Hebrews 12:14-15
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
Matthew 12:25
Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand."
Matthew 5:23-24
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
David is known in Scripture for having a heart after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). In the prayer of Psalm 86, we hear the passionate desire of David’s heart to do what God wanted him to do, to live the truth he believed, and to be undivided in his devotion to God: “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11, ESV).
The words unite my heart may sound a bit peculiar to modern-day Bible readers. The plea to “unite my heart to fear Your name” can also be rendered “give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name” (NIV) or “grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you” (NLT).
Like all of us, David was flawed. His affections were often inclined to roam. But David recognized this tendency in himself and continually sought to reorient his heart and compel it toward the single-minded pursuit of God.
Throughout its history, the nation of Israel was prone to wanderings of the heart (Psalm 95:10; Hebrews 3:10). For this reason, God gave His people the command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5; see also Matthew 22:37). Along with wholehearted love, God required their absolute obedience: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12, NLT; see also Joshua 22:5; 24:14–15).
Time and time again, Israel fell short, and God called them back to repentance. He promised to circumcise the people’s hearts, purifying them and setting them apart so that they would love, serve, and follow Him with undivided devotion (Deuteronomy 30:6). “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord pledged, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (Jeremiah 24:7). And again, “I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them” (Jeremiah 32:39).
David’s longing to “unite my heart to fear Your name” resonates in the apostle Paul’s New Testament appeal to “live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:35). It echoes in James’ plea to “come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world” (James 4:8, NLT).
Jesus taught that divided loyalties are of no use in God’s kingdom: “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24, NLT). Instead, we are to fix all of our affection on the treasure we have in Him (Matthew 6:19–21). When we pray like David prayed, “Unite my heart to fear Your name,” we are asking the Lord to transform our wayward hearts that we might be singularly devoted in our reverence for God and obedience to Him.
In speaking of God’s victory over His enemies, Psalm 68:18 says, in part, “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men” (ESV).
In ancient warfare, captives were part of the spoils of war. The conquering general would take many captives, soldiers as well as civilians, who could then be sold or held as slaves or perhaps held for ransom in case some of the surviving relatives would be willing to pay to get them back. “Captives in your train” refers to a long line of captives included in the procession/parade of the conquering general, his army, and all of the spoils of war. In 1 Kings 10:2, the Queen of Sheba comes to Jerusalem with “a very great train,” which refers to her large retinue or entourage. Train is simply a word for “procession” or “parade.” (The word train was chosen to denote the modern method of rail transportation because it is a long line—like a parade of cars hauling people and things.) Most modern versions avoid using the word train. The NIV translates the clause as “you took many captives,” and the CEV renders it as “you took prisoners with you.”
So that explains what captives in your train means, but what does the verse mean?
Psalm 68 speaks of YHWH being victorious over all His enemies. Psalm 68:18 speaks of YHWH in terms of a conquering general or king who has taken many captives and has received gifts from those He conquered. Ephesians 4:8 paraphrases or perhaps summarizes the concepts found in Psalm 68, changing the wording to speak of Christ taking many captives and giving gifts, not receiving them. This paraphrasing has caused many to question just how Paul is using Psalm 68:18, because, on the surface, receiving gifts would appear to be exactly the opposite of giving them. Many complex solutions have been offered, but perhaps the best explanation is to remember that a conquering general or king would receive gifts from his enemies and then would often distribute them to his own people, friends, or supporters. The main point Paul makes is that Christ is a conquering king in a position to distribute many gifts to His people. Paul does not press the specific details of the verse in Psalms.
In 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul speaks of a similar situation. In that passage, Christians are the “captives” of Christ and are now included in His triumphal train or procession. Christians are the “spoils of war,” in that they were taken from the enemy and are now slaves of Christ, which is ultimately the best thing that could have happened to them.
The gifts that Christ gives to the church in Ephesians 4 are the people who will help the church grow and mature. “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:11–12).
In the final analysis, the picture of Christ having captives in His train communicates that He is the conquering king, leading a train (procession, parade) of captives who are the spoils of war. These captives were once slaves of sin, but are now slaves of Christ. Christ distributes some of His slaves as leaders for the good of the church, which is made up of all the people He has captured. These church leaders do not own the church, but simply serve under the authority of Christ. (See 1 Peter 5:1–4).
When Psalm 85:10 states that “righteousness and peace kiss each other,” the psalmist is personifying two of God’s attributes and how they work together.
Psalm 85 was written by the sons of Korah and recalls God’s restoration of Israel. Verses 1–3 demonstrate how God had restored Israel in the past and turned away His wrath. Remembering God’s mercy in restoring Israel, the psalmist petitions the Lord to restore them yet again (Psalm 85:4). Knowing of God’s mercy and unfailing love, the psalmist rhetorically asks if the Lord will remain angry forever (Psalm 85:5–7). Based on God’s faithful salvation, the psalmist is confident that He will not continue in His wrath.
God promises “peace to his people, his faithful servants,” but urges them to stay away from folly, for the Lord will save those who fear Him (Psalm 85:8–9). At this point, the psalmist turns to personification:
“Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10).
Love and faithfulness “meet” with each other, and righteousness and peace “kiss” each other. Other translations say that righteousness and peace “will embrace” (CSB) or “will unite” (CEV). The idea is that the Lord’s attributes of righteousness and peace would harmonize to provide comfort to Israel.
The attributes of righteousness and peace are linked in Isaiah 32:17 as well: “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.”
A kiss was a common form of greeting in ancient times, and still is in some cultures. The word picture painted in Psalm 85:10 is one of two friends greeting each other as if they had been separated a long time. Righteousness and peace have been estranged, but now they are friends again. The righteousness of God was opposed to peace on earth, as long as Israel remained in a sinful, unrepentant state. But now they are united, and the result is joy, a friendly embrace, and delightful harmony.
The personification in Psalm 85 is continued in verse 11:
“Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.”
Here we see that faithfulness is described as springing up “from the earth,” and righteousness as looking down “from heaven.” The mention of heaven and earth suggests that more is being unified than just the attributes of God. Heaven and earth are uniting, resulting in peace and blessing for God’s people. The description foreshadows the angels’ song in Luke 2:14:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Using the imagery of a harvest, the psalmist is assured that God will answer Israel’s prayer for restoration:
“The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps” (Psalm 85:12–13).
Despite the wrongdoing done by the nation, God would extend grace to the Israelites. Psalm 85 teaches that God’s grace is greater than our sin. God would bring peace to Israel once again, through His righteousness, peace, faithfulness, and love coming together.
The ultimate fulfillment of love and faithfulness “meeting together” and of righteousness and peace “kissing” is found in Jesus Christ’s work to reconcile the world to God. It is through Jesus that we experience peace with God and forgiveness of sins (Romans 5:1). Because of His love and mercy, we can have eternal life through His death and resurrection (Romans 10:9–11). Just as God didn’t deal with Israel as they deserved in the Old Testament, so He has offered us His unmerited grace in spite of what we’ve done. In Jesus, we are declared righteous, not because of who we are or what we’ve done, but because of who He is (Ephesians 2:8–9). The “kiss” of righteousness and peace brings us peace with God.
Ephesians 5:15–16 in the King James Version says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The phrase redeeming the time is also found in Colossians 4:5: “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (KJV). In both passages, redeeming the time is related to wisdom in how we “walk,” that is, in how we live
To redeem something means to buy it back, to regain possession of it. Time is a gift from God, and none of us know how much of it we are allotted. Only God knows how much time each of us has on this earth to make decisions that will impact eternity (Psalm 139:16). When God says we should be “redeeming the time,” He wants us to live in constant awareness of that ticking clock and make the most of the time we have. In fact, the NIV’s translation of Ephesians 5:16 uses the phrase making the most of every opportunity instead of redeeming the time. Rather than waste our days on frivolous pursuits that leave no lasting imprint, Scripture instructs us to be diligent about doing good (Titus 3:8).
The context of the command to redeem the time helps us understand what redeeming the time looks like and why it’s important: “Be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life” (Ephesians 5:15–18, NLT). Redeeming the time means that we are careful in how we live. We seek out and employ wisdom (see Proverbs 2:1–15). We seize every opportunity and use it for God’s glory. We think through our plans and make sure they align with God’s will. And we avoid empty, harmful activities such as getting drunk. Why are we to live this way? “Because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). We must overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
Jesus taught His disciples the necessity of redeeming the time: “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). Jesus was diligent about keeping to His mission. Distractions were as prevalent then as they are now, but He let none of them deter Him from preaching and teaching God’s Word. That was why He had come (Luke 4:43). Though He spent only 33 years on this earth, Jesus changed the world forever because He redeemed the time.
We can learn to redeem the time by becoming conscious of the fact that we may not have another day. The song “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw is about redeeming the time. While its focus is on pursuing earthly passions in the time we have left, the lyrics make an important point. They conclude with this thought: “Someday I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying.” As Christians, we should live like we were dying and pursue all God has given us to do while we have time. Everything done for Christ on earth earns eternal rewards (Mark 9:41). That which was done for selfish, carnal reasons will burn up and blow away (1 Corinthians 3:12–15).
Another way we can learn to redeem the time is by asking God to help us. We should start every morning by committing our day to the Lord and asking Him to help us do something that day that has eternal significance. By beginning our day with eternity in mind, we become more aware of spiritual nudges in our hearts. We look for ways we can honor the Lord, help someone else, or utilize our time in productive ways. Sitting at a red light, we can pray for our neighbor. Mopping the floor, we can worship in song. At a restaurant, we can leave an extra big tip along with a gospel tract or a card inviting the waiter to church. We can evaluate our gifts and interests and find ways to invest them for God’s kingdom. Volunteering, serving at church, leading a ministry, taking Bible studies to the jails and prisons, and studying to show ourselves “approved unto God” are all ways we can redeem the time (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV).
James 4:14 reminds us that our earthly lives are no more than a fog that appears and then quickly evaporates. Our money and possessions will be given to someone else. Our jobs will be filled by others. Our families may remember us with fondness but will move on with lives that don’t include us. All that remains of our lives on earth is that which was invested in eternity. In the end, all that matters is what we did or did not do to redeem the time (Psalm 102:3; 144:4).
Our identity in Christ is first and foremost one of newness. We are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Identity is defined as “the collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known,” so our new identity in Christ should be recognizable both to ourselves and to others. If we are “in Christ,” that should be evident, just as being “in the world” is equally evident. A further definition of identity is “the quality or condition of being the same as something else.” In the case of our identity in Christ, our lives should indicate that we are the same as Christ. The name “Christians” means literally “followers of Christ.”
In our new identity in Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:6), but we are reconciled to God (Romans 5:10). This new identity completely changes our relationship with God and our families, just as it changes the way we see the world. Our new identity in Christ means we have the same relationship with God that Christ has—we are His children. God has adopted us as sons. We are able to call Him “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15–16). We are both joint heirs (Galatians 3:29) and friends (John 15:15) of Christ. And this relationship is even stronger than those we have with our earthly families (Matthew 10:35–37). Instead of fearing God as judge, we have the great privilege of coming to Him as our Father. We can approach Him with confidence and ask of Him what we need (Hebrews 4:16). We can ask for His guidance and wisdom (James 1:5) and know that nothing will take us from Him (Romans 8:38–39). We also rest in His authority and respond to Him with trusting obedience, knowing that obedience is a key part of remaining close to Him (John 14:23).
The family of God encompasses a vast body of believers who strive together to grow closer to God (1 Corinthians 12:13). It’s a family that is stronger for the gifts of each person in it (Romans 12:6–8). Members of this new family seek the best for one another (1 Corinthians 10:24), encourage each other (Galatians 6:1–2), and forgive each other (Matthew 18:21–22). Each member has a specific role, but the roles are acted out with respect and grace (1 Peter 5:1–5). Most of all, we respond to each other in love—not the feeling, but a selfless, conscious act of sacrifice, which is reflective of the agape love of the God who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20).
We are no longer citizens of the world but apart from it (2 Corinthians 6:14—7:1). We understand that we are a part of a heavenly, God-ruled kingdom. Things of the earth no longer draw us (Colossians 3:2). We don’t fear or over-emphasize suffering on earth or the trials we face (Colossians 1:24; 1 Peter 3:14; 4:12–14), nor do we place importance on things the world values (1 Timothy 6:9–11). Even our bodies and our actions reflect that our minds are no longer conformed to the world (Romans 12:1–2) but are now instruments of righteousness to God (Romans 6:13). And our new kingdom perspective means we understand that our enemy is not the people around us but the spiritual forces that endeavor to keep the people from knowing God (Ephesians 6:12).
All of this is the ideal—the character of a mature follower of Christ. One of the greatest blessings about our identity in Christ is the grace we’re given in order to grow into the spiritual maturity that truly reflects our new identity (Philippians 1:6). Our lives in light of our identity in Christ are filled with a heavenly Father, a large, loving family, and the understanding that we are citizens of another kingdom and not of this earth.
The highway of holiness has three important characteristics. The first is found in Isaiah 35:8: “It will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.” The highway of holiness is a place of holiness. It is reserved for those who are righteous in God’s sight. No one entering the kingdom will be foolish or sinful. Christ alone provides the way of holiness, having exchanged His perfect righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). His righteousness is imputed to us, enabling us to be holy, even as He is holy. The highway is reserved for His people alone.
Second, the highway of holiness is a place of safety, reserved for the redeemed of the Lord. “No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return” (Isaiah 35:9–10). This is indicative of the safety and security God’s people will experience on the highway. No wicked persons, symbolized by lions and ravenous beasts, will be allowed on the highway. The redeemed of the Lord will walk there in peace and safety.
Third, the highway of holiness will be a place of joy: “They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 35:10). Just as the ransomed captives would return joyfully from Babylon, all the redeemed of the Lord will enter the millennial kingdom rejoicing.
Isaiah’s mention of a “highway” occurs again in Isaiah 40:3, referring to the first advent of the Messiah: “A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” This prophecy was fulfilled by John the Baptist (see Matthew 3:3).
The phrase rich in mercy is found in Ephesians 2:4 as part of a passage contrasting the condition of believers before they came to Christ and their state after responding to His call. In order to understand what it means that God is rich in mercy, we need to consider the context of the passage:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air . . . carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1–7, ESV, emphasis added).
In this passage, Paul first describes humanity’s deplorable condition in rebellion against God’s rich mercy. We were not only sinful, but we were “dead” in our sins. In other words, because of the sin nature that controls us, we were doomed to an eternity without God and without life (Romans 6:23). We deserved God’s wrath, and we could do nothing to save ourselves. Then comes the “but,” and the focus of the passage shifts to God’s mercy, love, grace, and kindness.
The phrase rich in mercy is a counterbalance to the description of humanity being rich in sin. Only a God rich in mercy would conceive a plan to save and redeem such wicked creatures. Mercy is compassion or forgiveness extended to someone who deserves punishment or harm. Mercy is undeserved pardon. Mercy is the only explanation for Christ’s great sacrifice on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21).
People can show mercy to one another on a limited, human basis. But our offenses against God were so heinous, so unforgivable, that His forgiveness shows Him to be more than merciful—He is rich in mercy. A God rich in mercy “demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Before we cared or knew Him, God had already extended mercy toward us. First Peter 1:3 counters any tendency to believe that our salvation is due to some merit within ourselves: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
God’s mercies continue after salvation as He offers His redeemed children forgiveness when we sin (1 John 1:9). Because He is rich in mercy, His mercies never end. They are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). We never have to fear that one day God will get fed up and stop His patient working in our lives (2 Peter 3:9). We never need to worry that we have “used up” our portion of grace and kindness because our God is rich in mercy.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In other words, in this case, God showed grace to Paul not by removing the ailment but by giving him the ability to endure it. In response Paul says, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
The concept of sufficient grace is that God’s grace is adequate (sufficient) for anything we need. First, we need salvation and forgiveness of sin. God’s grace provides that for all who will accept it. Then, the believer needs grace to live the Christian life. God’s grace is sufficient here whether the believer experiences poverty or plenty, pain or pleasure. Often, Christians wonder how they could possibly survive persecution and hardship they have read about in other times or hear about in other places. A Christian might wonder, “If had a gun to my head, would I deny Christ?” If all that was at work was human determination, it might be a toss-up at best. But the Christian can rely on the fact that God’s grace will be sufficient for the hardship when it arrives, even if it may not be in evidence before.
In reality, no Christian is inherently sufficient. Every Christian, left to his own devices, would fail miserably. “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5) expresses the idea beautifully without using the term sufficient grace. When the time comes, God’s grace will be sufficient to carry the believer through whatever he or she may encounter. By focusing on the sufficient grace of God rather than human frailties, Christians can face the future with confidence. With Paul, Christians can enthusiastically embrace their own insufficiencies, knowing that these insufficiencies will push them toward the all-sufficient grace of God.
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