Posts Tagged ‘Son of man’
Scripture reading for October 15th: Mark 1-3
Mark’s Gospel is concise and active. It is alive with the Good News of God here with us and in love with us. This revelation is found in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man! Mark wastes little time with preliminaries of the Jewish history of the Christ and prophesies of His birth. He gets right down to the action of Jesus living among His people and loving and serving them by teaching, healing, and casting out devils. He ate with the people and told them stories that opened up for them the kingdom of heaven and their own need for a relationship with the Father. One story of a healing is the subject of our study today.
As a result of a spectacular healing of a man with leprosy, people were coming from everywhere to find the man who could bring these miraculous results. Crowds gathered wherever Jesus went. He returned to Capernaum where he had done miracles and a crowd quickly gathered. There were so many that people were crowded around the house to hear Him preach the word. A group of men brought a friend who was paralyzed to Jesus for healing. Because of the crowd, there was no way to get him inside, so they carried him up on the roof. They opened a hole big enough to let the man down and lowered him into the room.
When Jesus saw the faith of the friends, He immediately responded to the man by saying: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5) This caused some religious leaders who were present to begin to think about how wrong this statement was to come from a mere man. After all, only God could forgive sins! (Mark 2:7)
Jesus had immediate understanding of their thoughts and sought to help them believe. He asked them why they were thinking these things and asked them which was easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven” or “Get up, take up your bed and walk”? In order to remove their objection, he told the man to get up, take up his bed, and walk. This the man did to the amazement of the crowd!
This story should help us to see how faith should motivate us to seek Jesus for answers to whatever problems we face. Jesus honors faith and no problem is too hard for Him. We may not have faith ourselves, but believing friends can also be a great blessing by taking us to Jesus. The obstacles must be pushed or broken through so we are not discouraged or denied! What friend do you know that needs help today to get to Jesus? Take a few minutes of your day to pray for him. As the Lord leads, get another friend or two and go and lift him to Jesus together! What a joy to delight Jesus with your faith! What a blessing faith-filled friends are! Miracles are waiting for those who break through! He truly is God!
Scripture reading for August 19th: Ezekiel 1-6s
When a priest turned 30, he began his full time ministry. Ezekiel had just turned 30 years of age and he was a priest. He had been taken into captivity and was in Babylon with a group of exiles which included Daniel and his friends. They evidently met by the Kebar River to have their Sabbath observances and feast days and while they were meeting, God by His grace opened the heavens and gave Ezekiel a vision of God that changed his life and gave him direction and focus. He was called by God to go to his people and give them God’s word. He was warned by the Lord that God’s people were rebellious, obstinate and stubborn. (Ezekiel 2:1-4) His responsibility was to give them the word of God.
The vision that Ezekiel saw of the throne of God was spectacular. It began with a windstorm coming from the north with a towering thundercloud and flashing lightning and fire in the center. As it got closer, Ezekiel could see four living creatures. (Ezekiel 1:4-9) These creatures had the form of a man but they had four faces and feet like a calf and four wings with hands underneath. They glowed like bronze and the faces were that of an eagle, ox, lion and man. Below on the ground, there was a wheel that sparkled and had another intersecting wheel. These wheels were full of eyes on the rim and enabled the creatures to move in all directions as the Spirit moved them. When these creatures with the wheels moved, there was a sound like that of roaring waters, like the voice of God.
As Ezekiel looked he noticed a glowing throne of sapphire above the creatures and on the throne was a figure like that of a man. He was glowing with fire and brilliant light surrounded Him. This light looked like a rainbow and glowed with radiance! (Ezekiel 1:26-28) This figure had the “likeness of the Glory of God”! When Ezekiel saw it he evidently fell to the ground in awe, for the Lord later stood him up to talk with him. He was overcome by the likeness of God’s glory!
No man has seen God and lived. The Scripture states that sinful man would die if he could see the full radiance of His Glory. God grants some men grace to see a glimpse of His glory. Remember Moses was hidden by God in the cleft of the rock and was allowed to see His backside. (Exodus 33:18-20) Now God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to show mankind the Glory of God. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) The gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to have the Glory of God revealed to us by the Spirit. We are being transformed by that grace gift with ever increasing glory! (2nd Corinthians 3:18) When Jesus Christ appears and the trumpet blows, we will be instantly transformed into a glorious body, like His glorious body! (1st Thessalonians 4:16-18) We now carry the “likeness of the Glory of God”! Think about that and rejoice!