Wednesday: The God Who Continues to Be With Us
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 4th of October 2023
Jesus’ life and ministry were God’s ultimate revelation. In about three years God was able to reveal more about who He was and what His mission was all about than in all He had done through any other method in previous generations. Christ was the perfect “image of the invisible God,” the One in whom “all the fullness should dwell, . . . having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:15,19-20, NKJV). In Christ, the missionary nature of God was completely made known. Jesus Himself revealed His mission, saying, “ ‘the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost’ ” (Luke 19:10, NKJV).
Read and carefully reflect on John 3:16. How do you see God’s love and mission interacting here?
Image © Linda Lovett at Goodsalt.com
Later in His ministry, when Jesus approached His last week of life, humanity’s final destiny was at stake. The events that took place during those days connected the expectation from the past with hope for the future. During the Passover celebration—which pointed to freedom from the Egyptian oppression—Jesus Christ, the incarnated God, gave up His life to deliver us from the bondage of sin. The apostle Paul wrote, “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, NIV).
Read Matthew 28:18-20. What is the promise we can find in the Great Commission? How does it bring assurance for us as we get involved in God’s mission?
Christ’s death was part of the reconciliation process, not the end of it. Through His resurrection, Jesus conquered death and received “ ‘all authority . . . in heaven and on earth’ ” (Matthew 28:18, NKJV). Based on this reality, He then commissioned all of His followers to make disciples around the world, with an awesome promise: “ ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ ” (Matthew 28:20, NKJV; emphasis supplied).
In what ways have you seen Jesus’ promise to be “with you always” being fulfilled in your own life as you are engaged in mission?
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We spend quite a bit of time and effort justifying our beliefs about the supernatural. The virgin birth of Jesus, his miracles, the resurrection and so on. I can remember a book "Who Moved the Stone?" that was quite popular among Christians a few years ago because it supported our belief in the miraculous resurrection of Jesus.
Such arguments are simply ignored by our non-believing friends because they do not believe in the supernatural to start with. And it's going to take a lot more than a Christian book to convince them otherwise. My observation as a teacher is this: If you want people to believe the "unbelievable, you need to make sure they believe the "believable".
We need to remember that God is not just in charge of the supernatural, he is also in charge of the natural. God, the supernatural being became man, the natural being, so that we could better understand him. The author of Hebrews expresses this so well:
It was not so much the miracles but rather the shared experiences of living in a sin-affected world that made the message of Jesus believable.
I argue that the idea that God continues to be with us today only makes sense if we reflect his love into the lives of people we interact with. The miracle we need to pray for is that Jesus will be so much part of our lives that those who know us will say< surely you have been with Jesus!"
When Christ was saying "I am with you always", He had and was repeating the same statement God said in Exodus 33:14. Imagine going out for a mission yet you know God is remaining back at home or in some sanctuary. The negative response from those who you are trying to reveal God's will would be so discouraging. But if you know God is with you, you'd be energised. God's omnipresence is what we need to know so we will always be encouraged to always walk in His ways.
All of my insecurities vanish because of Him. I know nothing about the future, but He is present in all life's tumbled water. He carries me when waves seem to round up my way or as I fade in desperation. Life is a series of "caught inside" waving ocean, but if I keep paddling or give up, Jesus always comes to the rescue!
The most well known text is John 3:16. God loves man despite our sinful state. He wants us to depart from our own pleasures, turn away from Satan’s bribes,, die to self daily, despise ease,, abhor selfishness, and seek salvation, seek and save the lost and glorify His name. Through the cross, we learn of Gods infinite love towards us that while we were sinners Christ died for us.
It is our privilege to glory in the cross and the gift of salvation. May we reflect and reveal the light given to us as we march to Zion.
The God who continues to be with us, indeed Emmanuel. Sin, the transgression of God's law surely separates the sinner from God. Isaiah 59: 2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. Under the burden of sin that Christ bore on the cross, He experienced this separation (Matthew 27: 46) just for man's sake, to keep the connection earlier prophesied in Isaiah 7: 14.
Now the Emmanuel again while there remains still a season of grace, that when someone feels estranged by the devil's bothersome thoughts of guilt, 1 John 2:1-2,
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
If the propitiation extends for the sins of the whole world, we ought to sound the good news also to the other sinners, especially if we can recall that at some point in time we were like them (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Whichever method the gospel may have reached us, we thank God for the free gift of salvation, and that we ought to extend to others as per the Messiah's instruction (Matthew 10: 5-8)
Hi Brethren and Sisters,
I remember when I first started doing my online Bible Study earlier this year; I was so nervous. But as I started into the Bible Study, it seems as though as I could feel Jesus' presence with me, sitting there in my other double recliner chair.
When Jesus says that "I will be with you always", He means just that. He will be there when we need Him, and even when we think we don't need Him. So, let's continue to do the Mission He gave us to do. And sometimes, it may not be easy, but Jesus will be there with us.
God's Blessings to you all!!
We were given the "Homework" of the entire 6 Chapters of Ephesians to study etc. for an entire quarter. Why do we always just mention Jesus' commission to us from only Matthew 28:18-20? Mark says about this commission in Mark 16:15 to "Preach the Gospel to every creature;" Luke says in 24:47, "to preach Repentance and remission of sins in His Name among all nations;" John says in 20:21-23 "As my Fahter sent me, so send I you. Whose sins you remmitt will be remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained." Should we not take all these "Gospel Commissions" from these scriptures of these Gospel Leaders and try to understand the significance of them too?