Jeremiah 23:5-6

We cannot earn it, we cannot buy it…grace is the gift of God to all those who believe in the salvation only He could provide in Jesus Christ. Why? So that no man can boast.

There is no man righteous…no, not one!

The Messiah fulfills the expectation for the Davidic king. Faithlife Bible.

The days of the Messiah’s reign would bring salvation. Both Judah and Israel would be restored. The name that characterizes this ideal king is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Contrast that to the name Zedekiah, which means “The Lord Is My Righteousness”. Zedekiah’s name was a gross misnomer compared to the One who would establish the true, righteous rule—God’s appointed king. This verse is one of the texts in the Hebrew Bible that speaks specifically and surely of the coming of the glorious Savior and King. NKJ Bible.

Righteousness—marks His Godhead, for God alone can justify the ungodly. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). 

Jeremiah 23:5–6 (NKJV)

⁵ “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,

“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;

A King shall reign and prosper,

And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

⁶ In His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell safely;

Now this is His name by which He will be called:

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Psalm 72:2 (NKJV)

² He will judge Your people with righteousness,

And Your poor with justice.

Isaiah 9:7 (NKJV)

⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Matthew 18:32-35

There is no justification for withholding forgiveness when we have been forgiven so much. To whom much is given, much is expected.

Father forgive us!

Since God has lavishly forgiven Jesus’ disciples, they should continuously extend that same forgiveness. Faithlife Bible.

This verse is a warning about the penalty for not forgiving others. All of a Christian’s sins are forgiven and forgotten forever. But this parable illustrates the Christian duty to forgive others. 

If our forgiveness should be in direct proportion to the incredible amount that we have been forgiven, then we must always be willing to forgive. NKJ Bible.

Matthew 18:32–35 (NKJV)

³² Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³ Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ ³⁴ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

³⁵ “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

Proverbs 21:13 (NKJV)

¹³ Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor

Will also cry himself and not be heard.

Mark 11:26 (NKJV)

²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Luke 7:42 (NKJV)

⁴² And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

1 Corinthians 5:9-11

God judges those outside the Body of Christ we are to judge those inside who claim Him as their own.

Paul is not referring to the sexually immoral people of the world (his mission field), but to those who call themselves Christians and participate in sexual immorality. He views such people as dangerous to the overall health of the congregation since they may entice others to follow them in sin.

Paul intends for the immoral believer to be expelled so that he may repent and then be restored back to the community. Faithlife Bible.

Christians are called to influence the world, not run away from it. They are agents of God to carry the light of Jesus Christ into a dark world. Eating together is a key part of fellowship and closeness with others. The Corinthians were not to have fellowship with those who claimed to be Christians but whose lives were dominated by sin.

The church’s responsibility is to discipline its members while trusting the Lord to judge the world. NKJ Bible.

1 Corinthians 5:9–11 (NKJV)

⁹ I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.

1 Corinthians 5:13 (NKJV)

¹³ But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

Micah 1:8-16

In the midst of turmoil we must raise our voices in protest and not hide our heads in the sand overlooking injustice.

God mourns our unfaithfulness.

Micah’s immediate response to God’s message was an overwhelming sense of dread. 

Micah’s words describe mourning rites in which outer garments were laid aside in deep humility. The mourning person thought no longer about himself but only about the calamity that had overcome his senses.

The distress of the prophet is a mirror of the distress of God. NKJ Bible.

Micah 1:8–16 (NKJV)

⁸ Therefore I will wail and howl,

I will go stripped and naked;

I will make a wailing like the jackals

And a mourning like the ostriches,

⁹ For her wounds are incurable.

For it has come to Judah;

It has come to the gate of My people—

To Jerusalem.

¹⁰ Tell it not in Gath,

Weep not at all;

In Beth Aphrah

Roll yourself in the dust.

¹¹ Pass by in naked shame, you inhabitant of Shaphir;

The inhabitant of Zaanan does not go out.

Beth Ezel mourns;

Its place to stand is taken away from you.

¹² For the inhabitant of Maroth pined for good,

But disaster came down from the Lord

To the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³ O inhabitant of Lachish,

Harness the chariot to the swift steeds

(She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion),

For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

¹⁴ Therefore you shall give presents to Moresheth Gath;

The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵ I will yet bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah; 

The glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. 

¹⁶ Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,

Because of your precious children;

Enlarge your baldness like an eagle,

For they shall go from you into captivity.

Nahum 2:8-10

Since January 3rd, 2018 nine times, three of those times in August of 2018, the Holy Spirit has directed me to this verse. It has given me a sense of foreboding for the future of our nation.

Money is the root of all evil when it becomes our idol.

The Babylonian Chronicles—which are tablets that record the history of Babylon—state that the amount of treasure in Nineveh was “a quantity beyond counting.” The Assyrians had collected a massive amount of wealth from looting cities like Susa, Babylon, Damascus, Samaria, Memphis, and Thebes. Faithlife Bible.

Assyria had despoiled many nations, including Samaria and the cities of Israel. There seemed to be no end to the loot that could be found within its walls. Nonetheless, even Nineveh was exhausted of its treasures. At long last, it was empty.

Nahum 2:8–10 (NKJV)

⁸ Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water,

Now they flee away.

“Halt! Halt!” they cry;

But no one turns back.

⁹ Take spoil of silver!

Take spoil of gold!

There is no end of treasure,

Or wealth of every desirable prize.

¹⁰ She is empty, desolate, and waste!

The heart melts, and the knees shake;

Much pain is in every side,

And all their faces are drained of color.

Ezekiel 7:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ ‘They will throw their silver into the streets,

And their gold will be like refuse;

Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them

In the day of the wrath of the Lord;

They will not satisfy their souls,

Nor fill their stomachs,

Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.

Zephaniah 1:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold

Shall be able to deliver them

In the day of the Lord’s wrath;

But the whole land shall be devoured

By the fire of His jealousy,

For He will make speedy riddance

Of all those who dwell in the land.

Zephaniah 3:19-20

God Cares and He is faithful!

If we place our total trust in Him we are fearless for good in this world.

Zephaniah ends with salvation and consolation. The people of Jerusalem should rejoice since they no longer have anything to fear; Yahweh has taken away judgment and once again dwells among His people. Zephaniah’s closing message takes up Yahweh’s promises throughout the book about salvation and restoration, encouraging faith in the future fulfillment of those promises. The call to rejoice is a call to believe in God’s faithfulness. Faithlife Bible.

God is going to make all things right. Those who are enemies of God’s truth will be gathered and removed; those who are disenfranchised, God will restore. Ordinarily Scripture speaks of the praise that should be brought to God. Here we find the praise that God will bring to His people. As in the beginning of His dealings with Abraham and Sarah, where God promised blessing, honor, and a renowned name, so here God promises fame and praise to each individual in His family. NKJ Bible.

Zephaniah 3:19–20 (NKJV)

¹⁹ Behold, at that time

I will deal with all who afflict you;

I will save the lame,

And gather those who were driven out;

I will appoint them for praise and fame

In every land where they were put to shame.

²⁰ At that time I will bring you back,

Even at the time I gather you;

For I will give you fame and praise

Among all the peoples of the earth,

When I return your captives before your eyes,”

Says the Lord.

Micah 4:6 (NKJV)

⁶ “In that day,” says the Lord,

“I will assemble the lame,

I will gather the outcast

And those whom I have afflicted;

Isaiah 11:12 (NKJV)

¹² He will set up a banner for the nations,

And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,

And gather together the dispersed of Judah

From the four corners of the earth.

The Corinthians

Even in these troubling times within the  Church it is still the place where  God works out salvation with fear and trembling. Individually and collectively we are the tangible way the world sees christianity.

Through His Body, the Church, Jesus touches the world.

God uses what is considered foolish and despised in this world to reveal His truth, so that He alone will receive the glory. Otherwise, the powerful would boast that they had found the truth. Instead, God sent His Son to become a humble carpenter and to die in the most despicable way, on a cross. Jesus’ life and death reveals God and His wisdom. Since Christ not only imparts wisdom but also righteousness, the Christian cannot boast, except in the Lord. NKJ Bible.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NKJV)

³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)

⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Philippians 3:9 (NKJV)

⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Corinthians

The church at Corinth was a seriously troubled church. Infected with sexual immorality, split by factions that dragged each other into court, and crippled by abuse of the spiritual gifts, this church was in need of radical spiritual surgery. Though true believers, the Corinthians had a lot of growing up to do. They had to stop following the immoral, selfish, and contentious ways of their pagan neighbors in Corinth, the notoriously immoral city of that day. One can sense the disappointment of a hurt father in Paul’s stern words for the Corinthians. Yet Paul, like a surgeon, diagnosed the problem and aimed his efforts straight at the source: pride and a lack of true love in the church.

Corinth’s commercial success was rivaled only by its decadence. The immorality of Corinth was so well known that Aristophanes coined the Greek verb korinthiazomai (meaning “to act like a Corinthian”) as a synonym for sexual immorality. Greek plays of the day often depicted Corinthians as drunkards and reprobates. The Corinthians drew attention to their lewdness through their worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Yet Corinth was also a strategic location for the propagation of the gospel. The city’s corrupt nature made for a unique opportunity to display to the Roman world the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Though the Corinthians were very gifted, in their immaturity and pride they had abused their gifts. Paul reminded the Corinthians that gifts come from God and are to unify and edify the church. In conclusion, Paul corrected a doctrinal matter by writing the New Testament’s most detailed explanation of the resurrection of Christ and Christians. Even though the church was riddled with problems, Paul ended his confrontational letter with a note of hope. The Corinthians could have victory over sin and death because Jesus in His death and resurrection had already decisively obtained it.

In this letter Paul proclaims the relevance of Christ Jesus to every area of the believer’s life. In the writer’s words, Jesus “became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. Paul goes on to assert (much as Luke did in the Book of Acts) that Jesus is living out His life in the world through the church. According to Paul, we are the body of Christ with individual gifts. As we discover our gifts and invest them in mutual ministry, Jesus continues to touch the world for which He died. NKJ Bible.

John 20:11-18

Jesus can be right in front of us and we cannot see Him. 

He is in the faces of the people that surround us in our everyday ordinary lives and we miss the opportunity of knowing them and seeing them through His eyes. Gods’ love covers a multitude of our sins! Seek Him and you will find Him.

Lord help me to see You in every person I come in contact with.

Mary Magdalene recognizes Jesus for who He is and acknowledges His role as the one who taught her. Faithlife Bible.

Mary had grabbed Christ and was holding on to Him as if she would never turn Him loose. Christ explained to her that He could not stay because He had to ascend to His Father. Jesus sent Mary to them with the first postresurrection testimony. NKJ Bible.

John 20:11–18 (NKJV)

¹¹ But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. ¹³ Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

¹⁴ Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

Matthew 28:10 (NKJV)

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

Matthew 18:10 (NKJV)

¹⁰ “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

The Gospel according to Luke

Christ in the Scriptures

Just like we’d expect from a family doctor, Dr. Luke sensitively describes Jesus as One who reaches out personally and heals those who are mercilessly caged by devastating illnesses. As a person, He is concerned with people. Whereas Matthew likes to refer to Jesus as the Son of David and Mark refers to Him as the Son of God, Luke’s favorite expression is “the Son of Man.”

Jesus’ humanity and compassion are repeatedly stressed by the author. This, coupled with Luke’s portrayal of Jesus’ sinless perfection, set up his logical conclusion. Because Jesus is the only perfect person born of a woman and because He identifies compassionately with the plight of suffering sinful people, He alone is qualified to carry our sorrows, bear our sin, and offer us the priceless gift of salvation.

Luke never met Jesus, yet chose to follow Him. An obviously educated man who, as Colossians 4:14 tells us, was a physician, Luke learned all that he could about Jesus and shared his findings with us. Thus his Gospel provides a “step back,” a unique perspective on Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, and resurrection.

The author writes that he was not an eyewitness to the events surrounding Jesus but had gathered the reports of others. On the other hand, the author was present with Paul at some of the events described in Acts. So the author must have been a lately converted Christian who knew Paul and sometimes traveled with him. Early Christian writings, from the works of Justin Martyr to Tertullian, identify the author as Luke, an identification that was firmly in place by the third century a.d. Luke was an educated man by ancient standards. He was capable of writing in high Greek style, and Colossians 4:10–14 seems to indicate that Luke was not “of the circumcision,” that is, not Jewish. If so, Luke would be the only Gentile author of a New Testament book. Tradition says that after accompanying Paul on some of his missionary journeys, Luke settled in Philippi, investing his life in the ministry of the Philippian church.

The Gospel of Luke is unique in several ways. It is the only Gospel that has a sequel, Acts. Both Luke and Acts include an account of the Ascension, an event that only Luke describes in detail. Second, Luke is the longest of the four Gospels. Third, Luke records a wide variety of miracles, teaching, and parables, making it the fullest portrait of Jesus’ ministry. Much of the material in chapters 9–19 appears only in Luke; in all, about one-third of the Gospel of Luke is unique. Fourth, Luke is the only Gospel addressed to an individual. Luke writes for Theophilus, who was probably a Gentile believer.

For Luke, Jesus is the promised Messiah (1:31–35), the Son of God (9:35), the Servant through whom God works (4:16–18), and the Lord who is called to sit at God’s right hand exerting His authority and giving the Spirit to those who believe. Though aspects of God’s plan are fulfilled in Jesus’ First Coming, other parts of the plan remain to be fulfilled when Jesus returns.

Luke wrote his Gospel to reassure Theophilus, a Gentile and a new believer, that God was still at work in the Christian community founded by Jesus. Luke presents God’s grace as revealed in Jesus’ ministry on earth. He emphasizes that this grace is available to Gentiles, even though the promises relating to Jesus’ ministry stretch back into Israel’s history. For this reason Luke also concentrates on Jesus’ relationship to the nation and leaders of Israel. The rejection of Israel does not mean the failure of God’s plan. On the contrary, although they did not know it, their rejection was part of God’s plan from the beginning (Acts 2:22–39). In fact, persecution of the Christian community would be the means by which the church would spread the Good News throughout the world. Jesus Himself had predicted that this would happen (24:45–48).

The first two chapters of Luke emphasize the Old Testament and its promises of a Messiah, while 3:1–4:13 demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah, who can resist the Evil One. Then, 4:14–9:50 introduce Jesus’ power and teaching. In these chapters, Luke records Jesus’ claims to authority and the numerous miracles that supported them. Even with these miracles as evidence, the people rejected Jesus while the disciples’ faith in Him steadily grew. The growing rift between Jesus and the Jewish leadership is seen in 9:51–19:44. This breach is emphasized most in chapters 9–13, but in chapters 14–19 attention turns to Jesus’ instruction of His disciples. The last section (19:45–24:53) portrays the final controversies, the trial, the death of Jesus, and the Resurrection and Ascension. The book ends with Jesus telling the disciples to wait for the coming of the Spirit. By now, they should have realized that everything that had taken place in Jesus’ life was promised in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (24:43–49). Jesus is the promised Messiah. Forgiveness of sin can be obtained only through Him. The disciples were witnesses to this fact; their mission was to share this Good News with all nations, not merely the Jews. Jesus gave them this task, but He also provided them with the power to carry it out (24:47). Thus it is clear that Luke’s Gospel centers on God’s plan to provide salvation to the world. It closes anticipating the spread of the gospel that is recorded in its sequel, the Book of Acts.