Aug 3

“... to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;” Colossians 2:2

The apostle desires the hearts of the saints to be comforted, knit together in love and reassured in the understanding they have been imparted of the truths of God. In particular he points here to the doctrinal truth, the ‘mystery’ of God, now revealed. This has to do with the powerful truth that God is One. Some would divide God into three separate, distinct persons rather than to see He is but One God, who manifests Himself in multiple ways. This is in part the truth over which Paul wanted the saints at Colossi to rejoice and be assured in. He also instructs them, later in the same chapter, not to be deterred from this truth by traditions, deceptions, philosophies or man’s reasoning. He reminds them that in Jesus dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and that they and all believers are complete in Him! This powerful and liberating truth identifies God and focuses all the glory, the honour, the power and the worship to the One to Whom it belongs! Hearing from, obeying and following the ways of the Holy One of Israel, was and remains core doctrine among the Hebrews and should be so among all Christians also. All of deity, the fullness of it, is in Christ Jesus! It is all in Him! Scholars agree that ‘and’ (kai, in the Greek) may be rendered to mean ‘even’, or ‘that is’, and does not always imply a ‘copulative’ (addition) action. Thus the mystery of God ‘and’ of the Father, ‘and’ of Christ, in our verse, is not a mystery involving three beings, persons or gods. It is the mystery of God, now revealed to man through His word involving God, that is, the Father that is, Christ! We are told in 1Timothy 3 that the great mystery of the Godhead is how that God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory! Jesus fits all of that description! Paul confirms that the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelt in Jesus, not just a portion, a second person, a third or a partial aspect! The same One God, who was the Father in eternity, took on the form of man and became known as the Son of God in redemption, died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead, and now abides as the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers! This is a great assurance, a cause of great comfort, and an establishing, stabilising truth to all the faithful - that we may personally know the God we have believed in and trusted for our salvation! 

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

July 19

“And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables…” Deuteronomy 10:2

God had supplied the first set of stone tables, and written on them by His own hand the commandments He wanted His people to live by. When Moses had returned from his encounter with God on the mountain to the Israelite camp, he found they had broken the very laws he was bringing to them! In anger and disgust at their idolatry and short lived faithfulness to Yahwah, who had delivered them from Egypt, he threw down and broke the tables of stone, and judgment was visited upon the people. The scripture tells of three thousand who were killed on that day, and plagues which came upon the Israelites because of their sin. The second set of tables were carved out of stone by Moses, but again written upon by God Himself. The accuracy and veracity of the original text, was in this way preserved by the Lord. God has always been interested in keeping His revelation to man, free of mistakes or tampering. All subsequent scripture was therefore given by inspiration of God, so that the writer was merely the hand on the pen, but the Author was still Yahwah. This process of full verbal inspiration lifts the Bible above any other book ever written, and on a plane unique and superior to any work of man. The accuracy and veracity of the scriptures have been challenged and verified many times, in various spheres of science and observation. Personal experience also confirms the content of the Holy Writ and provides further evidence of its truth! People from all walks of life, from all cultures and of all levels of education, have found God’s Word to be true, trustworthy and a reliable source of guidance, light and learning. God wrote then, and wrote again while here on earth, resulting in the forgiveness of a woman who had been caught in sin. His writing was and is a letter of love, direction and instruction. Today He still writes -this time not on tables of stone, but the fleshly tables of our hearts. There He lodges the truth and conviction of His principles and inscribes the reality of His love and grace. In our hearts He engraves the knowledge of His will, and stores the confidence of our salvation! Praise God for all that He writes and communicates with us, for without Him and His Word, we would have no knowledge of right, no understanding of our purpose, no love for one another and hope for the future!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Feb 17

“…the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive” Revelation 2:8

Like the many facets cut into a precious stone, each gleaming and reflecting light, so too, the many aspects of Christ’s nature and work, reflect the glory of God in all His dealings with man. In this verse we again read the ‘calling card’ of the Saviour, in titles apt only to describe Him. It is fitting that as the Almighty who was revealed in flesh, Jesus be seen as the ‘first and the last’. This is a statement exalting His divinity. He is the source of all things and to Him must all return in the end. As the Beginning and Creator of all things, He is the Progenitor of all! Nothing and no-one precedes Him and naught or anyone can outlast Him. He is eternal in time and everlasting in nature. Nothing is beyond His grasp and no-one can evade His judgment. He is above all and through all and in charge as Master of all! It is also appropriate to recognise Jesus as, He ‘which was dead and is alive’. This proclaims His perfect and genuine humanity, His death for our sins and His victory over death and the grave by His resurrection! How encouraging to the persecuted church He is addressing, and to us as we read and meditate on these words today. We depend and trust on He Who is Almighty God, and Sinless Humanity! We have partaken of His resurrected life and benefit daily from His indwelling Holy Spirit. His victory over death has been imputed to us, and one day we will be changed from this mortal to immortality and forever abide in His presence, delivered and conquerors through Him!  

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion