13 December 2010

Psalm 41, 52; Isa. 8:16-9:1; 2 Pet. 1:1-11; Luke 22:39-53

Isaiah continues to tell of the Lord’s judgment that it is neither capricious or indiscriminate. The reason for the judgment on His people is that they have forgotten Him. They have been given the Word and yet they seek for wisdom and understanding elsewhere. Do God’s people do such things today? Do they look to horoscopes and fortune tellers? Yes they do. We have been given the greatest gifts of the Word and the Word became flesh. We know the end of all things. Why do we seek to know the future apart from God? I believe it is typically because the future we seek to know is not God’s preferred future but our own. It has more to do with a desire for a successful life according to the world’s measure than according to God’s and therefore we know to seek that knowledge somewhere other than Him.

Jesus knows the future, He knows what is coming in the short-term and the long-term and He leaves all that with the Father. Most of us would pray fervently only that the Lord would change the future and here we see Jesus’ humanity. He prays that the Father would take this cup of suffering from Him, it will be the sternest test He will ever face and yet in that same humanity that wants to avoid this test, He faces the test. When Judas and the soldiers come His response is to question them and to point out the sin in their actions, they know they have come in secret at night because it would incite a rebellion if they had come to the temple as He taught. They have a choice to make even now in this hour and they must bear the responsibility. We were just following orders is not an acceptable excuse.

What is it we want? What pursuits occupy our lives? Peter says that we should be pursuing a few things: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. He says that if we have these things and they are increasing in our lives we will be effective and fruitful in the Lord. If we are the elect, our justification is assured, we will be found acceptable to the Lord in the day of judgment. Peter says, however, that we should be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. Growth in the Lord, sanctification, enables us to be assured of salvation, it proves that we are indeed in the Lord and He in us. If we are not seeking sanctification, to be more like Him, why would we think we truly believe in Him? Shouldn’t our desires and pursuits be Godly?

I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.