April 24:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS LIBERATION.
And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him [Jesus]...to present Him to the Lord.--Luke 2:22

When in Egypt, I spent almost two weeks navigating the Nile river.  I was dumbfounded by the magnificent structures built during the time of Pharaohs: numerous imposing temples and striking tombs, such as the pyramids at Giza.  Looking at the ancient buildings, I got a glimpse of the power and wealth of those rulers of old.  I tried to imagine what it must have been like to watch the showdown between the gods of Egypt and the God of Israel during the ten plagues and to witness God's miraculous redemption through the blood of the Lamb.

Baby Jesus, the firstborn of Mary, was presented to the Lord, "Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord" (Luke 2:23).  The firstborns were dedicated to the Lord; this practice came from the time when God delivered Israel from Egypt.  God had sent a message to Pharaoh: "Israel is My son, My firstborn.  So I said to you, 'Let My son go that he may serve Me'; but you have refused to let him go.  Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn" (Exodus 4:22, 23).  Because Pharaoh refused to let Israel go, the firstborns of Egypt died in the tenth plague, but God spared the firstborns of Israel through the blood of the Passover lamb sacrifices in their place (Exodus 12:21-27).  From there on, the firstborns of humans and animals belonged to the Lord (see Exodus 13:12-16), and they were presented to Him for sacred service and were redeemed back, since the Levites now served in place of the firstborns of Israel (see Numbers 3:11-13; 8:17, 18).  As Baby Jesus was presented to the Lord that day, the priest did not realize that this was the ultimate Firstborn, whose blood had been foreshadowed by the Passover lamb in Egypt.  "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7).  Jesus would die so that we may be set free.  If you ever become discouraged and afraid for your eternal salvation, remember the blood of Jesus that was poured out in your place, so that you may be redeemed!  Live in the assurance of His abundant sufficiency!

My Response:_________________________________________________________

April 23:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS TIMING.
"Every man serves the good wine first...but you have kept the good wine until now."--John 2:10

There are two fascinating dimensions to God's timing, expressed by two Greek words: chronos and pleroma.  Chronos is the time that never stops but keeps flowing, like in "chronometer."  Pleroma is the completion of all the variables that must come together to make things complete.  "But when the fullness (pleroma) of time (chronos) came, God sent His Son" (Galatians 4:4).  As in a pregnancy, not only is time going by, but there is an evident growth of the baby inside the womb.  Both fullness and time must converge for a healthy birth.  It's the same in spiritual matters; that is why God's timing is so different from ours.

When the mother of Jesus came to Him at Cana, informing Him that the hosts had run out of wine, Jesus answered, "Woman...My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4).  Jesus knew that more variables had to come in place in order for His hour to be fulfilled.  In this Gospel, the hour for Jesus is the cross, and throughout the narrative the approximation to His hour is developed (see John 2:4; 7:30; 12:23, 27; 13:1).  That's when His glory would be fully revealed.  In Cana, Jesus performs the first public miracle turning water into wine.  John narrates seven signs in his Gospel, of which this is the first (John 2:11); he doesn't call them miracles, but signs, revealing a deeper understanding of the identity of Jesus through each one of them.  When the master of the banquet tasted the new wine, he said "Every man serves the good wine first...but you have kept the good wine until now" (verse 10).  Being that the stories of Jesus in John have a second, more profound meaning, it's not surprising that many scholars believe that this miracle was an enacted parable, similar to the old and new wine metaphors (see Matthew 9:17), about the new order that Jesus introduced, replacing the old order of ceremonial laws (see the purification jars mentioned in verse 6) with the newness of His mission and sacrifice.  Jesus patiently waited for His hour to achieve salvation for us.  And He invites us to trust His timing in our lives.

My Response:__________________________________________________________

April 22:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS CONCERN.
And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us?  My hour has not yet come."--John 2:4


In some places of the world, weddings are not just an occasion for one evening.  Instead, celebrations continue over several days.  I attended a wedding like that, which lasted a whole week.  It was a wonderful family reunion, filled with joy and with much work, too, because most of the food came directly from the family's farm.  The hosts went to great lengths to ensure that the guests had plenty of food and drink available, which was a very important part of their hospitality.

There was a wedding taking place in Cana (John 2:1), the home of Nathaniel (John 21:2), which was not far from Nazareth, where Jesus grew up.  The mother of Jesus (not identified by name) was there and seemed to have had some level of responsibility in the preparations for the festivities, appearing in an active role only here and at the cross in this Gospel.  For the first time in His public ministry, Jesus and His disciples were appearing at a public event together.  By attending this wedding, Jesus endorsed this divinely ordained institution (see Genesis 2:22-25).  These celebrations used to take up to seven days, and in this instance the host ran out of wine, which was a huge breach of social etiquette and general expectations for three reasons: it disturbed the merriment, it was a sign of lack of hospitality, and the host could be liable, as the bridegroom's family was legally required to supply wine for the whole week.  The mother of Jesus, used to relying on her Son for help and resources, came to Him in this time of need.  Yet she discovered that much had changed since she last saw Him: He had started His public ministry, He had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, and He had been to the wilderness, tempted by the devil.  And now a group of disciples follow Him.  Jesus said: "Woman...My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4).  Jesus didn't address her as "mother," which highlights that even family ties were now subject to His redemptive identity and mission.  Jesus was aware of, and provided for, their temporary needs (see tomorrow's devotional), yet His most prominent concern was, and continues to be, the plan of redemption.

My Response:_______________________________________________________

April 21:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS BRIDGE.
"You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."--John 1:51

While on a guided kayaking tour, we decided to explore the jungle.  We were going to kayak for a while and then hike to a beautiful waterfall.  However, due to heavy rain the day before, the current had turned rough.  When we needed to cross the river, being amateur kayakers, we could not do so without a bridge.  But our guide found a solution to the problem.  He tied a rope to a tree on one side of the river, kayaked across and tied the other end of the rope to another tree.  The whole group was able to cross over on foot.  One by one, we got waist deep into the water and, holding on to the rope, crossed over safely.

Abandoning his prejudice and realizing that Jesus had seen him under the fig tree before they met, Nathaniel recognizes that Jesus really knows him (see John 1:48).  He makes one of the most profound confessions about Jesus in all of the New Testament, declaring Him, both, "the Son of God" and "King of Israel" (verse 49).  Jesus responds, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?  You will see greater things than these" (verse 50).  What could be greater than the realization that Jesus knows us intimately?  Oh, I'm so glad you asked!  His redemption ministry!  "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man" (verse 51).  This is an allusion to Genesis 28:12, in which, having cheated his brother of their father's blessing, Jacob is fleeing for his life.  Feeling separated from his loved ones and his God, he stops to sleep at a certain place.  "He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it" (verse 12).  In that dream,the Lord had assured Jacob of His presence.  Now Jesus is revealing to Nathaniel that He is the true Ladder across the sin-created chasm; His redeeming ministry is the bridge between heaven and earth.  If, like Jacob, you have ever taken a detour, remember that in Jesus, God offers you a bridge to Himself.

My Response:_______________________________________________________

April 20:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS REACH.
Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David,...David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.--Matthew 1:1, 6

I was sitting with a young adult, talking about her future.  She asked me if God could bless her even though she had not done everything according to what God wanted her to do: "Can God bless me with a good marriage even if I have not done things God's way?"  I responded with the story of Bathsheba, the woman with whom David committed adultery and then killed her husband, Uriah the Hittite.  God blessed them with a son named Solomon (2 Samuel 11; 12), who became the king to succeed David and was the wisest man in the history of the world.  Why would God have blessed them with this son?  And even more shocking, why would this woman be included in Jesus' lineage?

Great question!  As a matter of fact, we can expand our query to: what was Matthew thinking when he, contrary to the customs of the day, decided to include four foremothers in Jesus' genealogy in the first chapter of this Gospel?  The four women mentioned in Matthew 1:3-6 are Tamar (Genesis 38), Rahab (Joshua 2; 6), Ruth ( the book of Ruth), and the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba), who became David's wife after his adultery and homicide (2 Samuel 11; 12).  Tamar was a Canaanite who posed as a prostitute to get pregnant by her father-in-law because the kinsman-redeemer provisions had not been fulfilled.  Rahab was a prostitute from Jericho in Canaan.  Ruth came from Moab, and Bathsheba was the wife of a Hittite.  Wouldn't you have chosen someone like Sarah or Rebekah?  The four unlikely women in Matthew 1 were not considered purebred Israelites.  They even have questionable reputations!  This is Matthew's way of proclaiming that the reach of Jesus' ministry would supersede all expectations!  God's salvation cannot be boxed in by a particular pedigree or social status.  We are all unworthy of His salvation and yet we are included, blessed, and assured.  Whenever we are weighed down by our past mistakes or discouraged by our background, let's remember these women and rejoice!  We are invited and we are included!

My Response:_______________________________________________________

April 19:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS TRUTH.
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."--John 8:32

Hiroo Onada was a soldier who refused to give himself up when the Japanese emperor surrendered in 1945.  He stayed in the jungle, hiding for twenty-nine years, long after World War II had ended.  He only surrendered when in March 1974, his former commander flew to where Onada was and reversed his orders from 1945.  Can you imagine hiding and surviving in the jungle for almost thirty years after the war was over?  How about us?  Are we living with the joy of salvation that Jesus achieved for us, or are we still under the yoke of fear?

There are two radically different types of Christians today: enslaved and redeemed!  And you can usually tell the difference right away!  It is sad to see so many Christians still hiding in the "religious jungle," barely surviving two thousand years after the loud cry of Jesus, "It is finished," reverberated throughout the universe (John 19:30).  In the Gospel of John, "truth" is closely associated with the person of Jesus (see John 1:14, 17).  Jesus announced that He is the Truth: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6).  Back to John 8, Jesus was talking to the Jews who supposedly believed in Him: "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (verse 31, 32).  But the listeners of Jesus reminded Him that they  were Abraham's descendants!  Completely disregarding their current oppression under the Romans and dismissing their past bondage in Egypt and Babylon, they claimed that they had never been enslaved to anyone.  How could they be set free? (verse 33).  This is where Jesus clearly states that freedom is not found in your ancestry, pedigree, or religious system.  Sin is an equal opportunity oppressor, and Jesus is the only answer: "Everyone who commits sin is the slave to sin.  The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does remain forever.  So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (verses 34-36).  The war has been won; Jesus is victorious.  Do not be enslaved by fear but rejoice!  He makes us free indeed!

My Response:___________________________________________________________

April 18:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS SIGN.
"No sign will be given...but the sign of Jonah the prophet."--Matthew 12:39

Do miracles produce real faith?  This is a question that many religious groups have tried to answer till this day; there is even an ongoing dialogue about it on the internet.  Yet the biblical account reports that after experiencing God's miraculous deliverance through the Red Sea (Exodus 14) and the supernatural provisions of food and water (Exodus 16), Israel still questioned if God was with them (Exodus 17:7).  This was the case many times in the Bible stories.  In light of these events, we ask: is there anything that can produce real faith in Jesus?

Having described several  miracles of Jesus, Matthew recounts how the scribes and Pharisees came to Him asking for a sign (Matthew 12:38).  Signs and miracles had legitimized the ministry of some of the Old Testament prophets, such as Moses and Elijah.  But Jesus could read the hearts of His inquirers and knew that they had mocked and misinterpreted even His exorcisms (see Matthew 12:24).  Jesus answered: "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39, 40).  Jonah was a reluctant prophet who had tried to run away from God's call to proclaim His grace to Nineveh.  It was a pagan city, which later became the capital of Assyria, whose populace eventually repented from their ways when Jonah finally preached to them.  But the prophet himself  was in dire need of God's grace.  While on his rebellious journey, he ended up in the belly of a fish for three days, pleading with God in prayer.  We find the heart of the gospel in the plea of Jonah: "Salvation is from the Lord" (Jonah 2:9).  In a remarkable parallelism, Jesus announces to the Pharisees and scribes that His sacrifice on the cross would be the only sign that they would have about His identity and mission.  If we are to avoid skepticism and desire to guard ourselves against unbelief, we must ask God for a daily revelation of Jesus' sacrifice for us.  That's the only convincing sign!

My Response:___________________________________________________________

April 17:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS NECESSITY.
"Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"--Luke 24:26

We don't always need what we think we do, and we often do need what we think we don't.  I have watched children try to talk their parents into buying toys and candy.  You have probably heard a child say: "Daddy, I need this!"  Of course, we smile at such a statement, but I wonder how often we sound exactly like that to God.  I believe that when David penned Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,"  It wasn't that he didn't want or wish for anything, but that he had come to believe that God would provide whatever he actually needed.

In Luke 24:19-24, two disciples on their way to Emmaus explain to Jesus why their hopes and wishes had been shattered.  Let me point out to you four obstacles that left them confused about their previous expectations.  These are also obstacles in our minds. (1) Limited perception: they say that Jesus was a prophet, mighty in deed and word (verse 19).  But Jesus was so much more than that!  He was the Messiah!  He was and is God!  The Savior of the world!  But they didn't perceive that. (2) Finality: the two disciples shared how Jesus had been sentenced to death and crucified (verse 20).  Jesus had told them many times that the cross would not be the end, but it felt like the end to them.  Their pain didn't allow them to remember the words of Jesus that He would rise again.  (3) Regret: "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel" (verse 21).  Hoping?  Sounds familiar?  "I was hoping that..."  Well, Jesus had redeemed the world!  But their regrets didn't allow them to understand nor celebrate.  (4) Unbelief.  They had received a firsthand report from the women, who proclaimed that Jesus had resurrected and that the tomb was empty.  But they didn't believe because they didn't see.  These four obstacles had marred their perception.  They thought they needed a military leader who would establish an earthly kingdom.  Jesus responded with what they really needed: "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things...?" (verse 26).  Yes, it was!  His sacrifice is what we really need!

My Response:__________________________________________________________

April 16:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS PRONOUNCEMENT.
"Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."--John 20:29

More than two decades ago, I was working in the business world.  I was sharing Bible studies with a coworker when I realized how difficult it is for the human mind to believe that which can't be seen.  We got to the study of the virgin birth of Jesus, and he said something like: "Really...who is going to believe that?"  Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, which means that God has left quite a bit of room for faith: "the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

When Jesus appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, Thomas wasn't present at that reunion (John 20:24).  The other disciples were excited to tell him, "We have seen the Lord!" (verse 25), but Thomas was skeptical.  He was a loyal but pessimistic disciple (see John 11:16; 14:5).  To him, the cross was only what he had expected (John 11:16).  Now he is demanding visual and kinesthetic proof (Luke 20:25); he will believe only when he can see and touch Jesus.  No one in the entire New Testament makes a greater demand in order to believe.  This is why Thomas became the epitome of unbelief.  Sight, not faith!  One of the great drawbacks of unbelief is that our joy is delayed!  Thomas could have been rejoicing with the rest; but, because he refused to believe, he had to wait.  Eight days later Jesus appears again and says to Thomas: "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing" (verse 27).  Wow!  Thomas must have been speechless for a while before he said, "My Lord and my God!" (verse 28).  This is the most profound confession in all four Gospels; nobody had ever addressed Jesus like this.  Thomas made a leap of faith and came to believe that Jesus was God (John 1:1).  Jesus responded with His last beatitude: "Because you have seen Me, have you believed?  Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed" (Luke 20:29).  Jesus pronounced a blessing upon us!  Believing because of seeing would no longer be available; faith would be the only way because Jesus was ascending to heaven.  Remember that God always leaves room for faith and blesses us when we believe!

My Response:_____________________________________________________________

April 15:  Believing His Salvation.

HIS APPEARANCE.
He showed them both His hands and His side.  The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.--John 20:20

I keep a cherished photo on my iPhone.  When my mom realized that the end of her life was approaching, she wanted to go buy her "final property," as she called it.  So, my parents and I headed to the cemetery.  They found a spot, and I took the photo that I now cherish.  She passed away two weeks later.  I can't imagine the joy that I will experience when I see them again, completely restored, with their cancer-free and glorified bodies.

I can't start to fathom the rejoicing of the disciples that day.  Some of them had witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus.  They saw His agony, the nails puncturing His hands and feet,, and the spear piercing His side.  On the evening of the resurrection day, Jesus miraculously appeared to His disciples.  John observes that, on that occasion, the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.  "Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you' " (John 20:19).  Even though this is still a common Jewish greeting today, on that occasion it carried all the weight of Jesus' promise of His peace (see John 14:27).  Which is quite remarkable, taking into consideration that they all had abandoned Him and were worthy of reproach and condemnation.  Instead, Jesus greets them with His peace, and shows them His hands and His side.  When they recognized Him, the disciples were flabbergasted, beside themselves with joy!  Jesus had prophesied this moment: "Therefore you too have grief now; But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you" (John 16:22).  Now they were beholding their risen Lord, and no one could take their joy away!  For a second time, Jesus pronounced His blessing of peace upon them and then commissioned them, giving them the Holy Spirit (see John 20:21, 22).  Jesus was the Firstborn of the dead (Revelation 1:5), which guarantees that our loved ones, who died in Him, will rise too.  On that day, our grief will be turned into indescribable joy!

My Response:_________________________________________________________