It’s easy to see why God wouldn’t bless America.
But why would He give us an American dawn?

Let’s continue to explore why God might bless America, in particular the Church in America…through the coronavirus pandemic.

In Part 1, we considered that God sees purification (individually and as the Church) as a good thing, but moreover, God thinks freedom is pretty important

One of the lessons I’ve really been taking to heart during the coronavirus pandemic and the worldwide response of social distancing and stay-at-home orders is that in the name of safety, we are willingly laying aside some of our freedoms… for the moment. A simple sacrifice for some, a source of deep concern for others because they fear the insidious slave masters…the ones who like freedom for themselves but really don’t like it for other people.

Even for those of us who enjoy time at home, we like doing it when we want and not because we’ve been told we must. For us, it’s an issue of independence and freedom from government control. To be told we must remain inside feels like bondage. After all, even in the Passover, the Jews didn’t have to stay inside for months. They were told what to eat, but it didn’t become a permanent daily ritual. After the plague of the firstborn had passed, life returned to normal until they left Egypt and new normal emerged as those delivered from slavery.

Freedom is important enough to God to make it a running theme in the Bible from Garden to Garden, tree to tree.

In Genesis, there is a record of freedom (Genesis 2:16) to eat from trees. In the ministry of Christ (Luke 4:18) , there is freedom for the oppressed, fulfilled ultimately through the tree called the Cross. We were set free from sin and death. And another final freedom in Revelation’s tree of life (Revelation 22) and the free gift of the water of life.

If God loves freedom, why is there bondage? In Genesis we were free to eat, but a singular command, a boundary to our freedom was given. It’s a boundary we transgressed when Adam and Eve used their freedom wrongly and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s freedom we misused (and the consequence of death) that required the Cross to restore so that we could be “free indeed” (John 8:36) by the blood of Christ.

It is the same blood of Christ required when we misuse our liberty and turn it into license. It is the same blood of Christ when we throw away our freedom and become slaves to sin and sinners. (Hold that thought.)

Why would God like freedom and hate bondage?

God hates bondage, the loss of freedom, because of what bondage does. First and foremost, the Image of God in each of us should submit to none other than God. Ultimately, it is He whose liberty any forced bondage of mankind challenges. When we reject Him, we have rulership by another.

God’s rulership is filled with freedom–an equality of mankind from every race, tribe, and language–a kingdom of priests serving our God. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Man’s rulership has a long arc always toward oppression and bondage. It divides. It conquers one another. It forces and enforces. The opposite of freedom isn’t safety. It’s power and control. Think back to when the Israelites wanted a king to rule over them instead of God, He told us what would happen. They would forsake freedom for bondage.

Questions for thought:

1. How can we submit to our rulers (as Scripture commands in Romans 13) while simultaneously resisting any efforts to make us their slaves?
2. How does submitting first to God (in whom there is freedom) give us discernment and the ability to speak the truth in love? How is submitting to God key to keep us from forsaking freedom for safety?
3. When we stay at home our mobility is limited temporarily, our rights to peacefully assemble are laid aside temporarily, but in Christ, have we lost our ability to worship…even temporarily?
4. We often read “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). In what way does true freedom stand in direct tension (not conflict) with safety? How does God deliver both in the eternal sense? Does He guarantee both in the earthly sense?
5. What does God value more: freedom or safety? How do life and freedom come as a boxed set with God?
6. If my freedom stands in the way of another’s safety, what does God say about that? Read Galatians 5, particularly verses 13-18 and see. (More on this tomorrow.)
7. Return to the thought of liberty and license, to freedom from slavery and sin. What do those say about bondage and sin with coronavirus, life/health, economic freedom and “house arrest” by government masters (for whatever length of time)? I don’t pretend to have an answer but to say it is genuinely complicated and requires great discernment to hold a biblical worldview.
8. Read “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13). Did Jesus lay aside His freedoms and His rights to serve us? Did He become our servant? What is the distinction between a servant (a free slave) and a slave in bondage? What is the core issue?
9. What does it mean to follow Jesus in such times?
10. How should the Church help us to understand the nuances of submission and living as citizens of two kingdoms: God’s and civil society?

To be continued…

It’s easy to see why God wouldn’t bless America.
But why would He give us an American dawn?

Hopefully, without going too political on you, in the next few posts, I’d like to explore why God might bless America, in particular the Church in America…through the coronavirus pandemic.

God sees purification as a good thing.

The Church in America has been forced away from familiar liturgies and pageantry on two of our most holy Church calendar days. It’s like that scene from How The Grinch Stole Christmas where the Whos in Whoville still gathered without all the trappings of Christmas. The Grinch, you may remember, recited that outpouring from his “puzzler”…

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

Maybe Palm Sunday is more than a familiar church pageant with Sunday school kids, dressed in their second-finest, waving palm branches, the church choir which has practiced for weeks, or the hired gun singer to sing some hymn that has become part of the Palm Sunday Triumphal Entry routine to put a bow on the photo-op Palm Sunday tradition.

Maybe Easter, too, is more than the trumpeters, Easter egg rolls for the kids, Sunday best and Easter bonnets. Maybe it’s more than the high-pressure stakes upon pastors to cash in on the Christmas and Easter (C&E) crowd. Dump that Gospel dump truck on’em! This is one of only two chances you’ll get this year! Make the most of it! Do your best sermon ever! The pressure’s on! Inspire the crowd to want to come to church to be part of the club through small groups or dinners or Alpha, even. And if there’s an extra bit of pocket change in the offering plate, even better! Maybe that’s part of the not-so-secret motivation for having a really big show to get churchgoers to invite their friends, neighbors, family … (ouch!) … as if Jesus isn’t enough all on His own.

Through the coronavirus, God took it all away.

It came without family, neighbors, and friends. It came without fancy designer trends. It came without handshakes, greetings, and touch. It came without traditions, felt empty as such. The pageant, O’ Christian, was all stripped away. What was left at the end of the day?

The Word of God, the Gospel alone… was shared online …to each in his home. It was stripped of peer pressure resulting in dollars. It was set free from Mammon and all of its followers.

Perhaps a few pastors were exposed for their fears and the truth of their worship and what they hold dear. The business of church, had it polluted their hearts? Had they lost their first love and the joy He imparts?

Had their C&E focus meant pew goals to meet, but no more to their church than Black Friday’s receipts? To the stale and the dry, the rehashed and the dead, God allowed a virus for revival instead.

Purification

But everyone who was there…was there for the right reasons… because they wanted to be the people of God, worshiping Jesus at His triumphal entry and all week through His crucifixion and His resurrection. They wanted and needed Him to create dry land in our sea of troubles, a way through because they’d heard somewhere at some time, that He is the Way!

And God purified His Church.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,  but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:15-25)

Questions for thought:

1. How have you worshiped when there were no others to see you but the screen of a laptop or the pages of your Bible?
2. In what ways have you been challenged to obey the truth, to have a sincere love for others, and to be the Body of Christ on a mission to share Him with others?
3. Enjoy this video of Matt Redman’s Heart of Worship. Let it speak to your heart and purify your worship of Jesus Christ.
4. How might this time of purification in your worship act as a fast as devotion to Christ?
5. How might it be preparing the world’s “heart soil” for revival?

Prayer focus: Resurrection hope

Easter greetings from your Seminary Gal! He is RISEN! He is RISEN indeed! That would be among the greetings spoken if we were all able to gather in worship at our local churches today. But for many of us, maybe even most of us, today will be Easter in seclusion due to the coronavirus. We are blessed with an Internet and better yet with a Holy Spirit who would intercede for us even if the grid went down.

Admittedly for some, the truth is that the isolation and quarantine turns to loneliness. Jesus understands. He’s been there and His Resurrection speaks to you: “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:32-33)

Many of us just hate uncertainty–we don’t know how long this will last. The Resurrection tells us not to worry about days and hours. “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) He says.

Others find themselves in despair, maybe because their economic circumstances have been turned upside down. The Resurrected One has proclaimed, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:32-33)

Some are having anxiety over the rapid removal of their normal support systems. Assurances of love seem so far away. The Resurrection speaks to you: “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” (John 16:7) The Holy Spirit is our Advocate and praise the Lord, He is the God of all comfort.

Some have died due to this virus. The Resurrected One reminds us that the dead in Christ do not remain dead. They are just not here. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

And why? Because the Resurrected One paved the way, “The dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

The truth is that I’ve had a very difficult time writing this year’s devotionals. My heart and mind have been burdened by many things in addition to the virus. Understanding so little. Holding out hope for so long! Trying to remain faithful and looking beyond the darkness of the many days and the legion of evils mankind can do to each other, asking as so many prophets and men of God have done, wondering why evil prospers. It seems like bad people get away with it and good people lose. It seems like people who hurt others face no accountability and those who try to help are passed over and ridiculed. What kind of world is this we live in??? But when the dizzying pace of an anxious mind takes my breath away, I calm myself as I pray to the Resurrected One who will reign forever. He tells me to hold on. The story’s not over. It’s not history being made, it’s His Story. There is resurrection after the tomb. Life after death. Hope after the storms of life.

“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:22-26) The Resurrection tells me death couldn’t hold Jesus and it won’t be able to hold us down either. A day is soon coming when Jesus returns for His people and we’ll see the Resurrected One who will usher in a future with no more mourning or crying or death or pain. He will be all the Love and Light we’ll need for eternity.

Hold onto your hope. He is RISEN. He is RISEN indeed!

Prayer Focus: Jesus is dead

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (Luke 23:44-56)

Tomorrow He is Risen! But for now, this concludes our 2020 Lent Devotional Series “Be Thou My Vision.” Thank you for joining me. I write regularly between Lent and Advent, so if you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get posts automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. On this Holy Saturday, please take time to ponder the silence, the death of Christ, His blood shed for you. Do as Jesus commanded: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Prayer Focus: What it cost

Lord Jesus, there are no words, only tears today as I remember Your sacrifice. Be glorified, Lord. Be glorified. Amen.

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Tomorrow concludes our 2020 Lent Devotional Series “Be Thou My Vision.” Thank you for joining me. I write regularly between Lent and Advent, so if you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get posts automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. Understanding that prior years’ devotionals remain popular, you may want to have access to a full Lent series at any time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.

Prayer Focus: Humility and Compassion Capped Jesus’ Life

Lord Jesus, Your Word tells us “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” It was Your deep love for the Father, Your deep love for us, Your compassion upon our helpless state of sin and impending justice that kept You faithful to the end. There is no way we could ever repay You. All I can do is ask for Your forgiveness and Your mercy…Your compassion…upon me, a sinner. I praise You that Your death on the Cross accomplished a paid-in-full upon my sin and that I don’t have to beg for mercy though by all rights I should. Your compassion is matchless. Remembering that among Your dying words, they were spoken for forgiveness because we didn’t know what we were doing. Spoken for Your mother Mary and the beloved disciple John of ongoing relationship, and more, giving an admitted sinner reassurance of paradise with You. “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt! Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured. There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled. Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin!” My soul wells up with Hallelujahs…Receive my adoration, Lord Jesus. You are worthy! Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2020 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals remain popular, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.

Prayer Focus: Sorrow

Lord Jesus, that Your soul was overwhelmed with sorrow makes me really sad. Angry, too, at sin and truly grieved that human sin made You suffer to redeem us from it. Your sadness, Your sorrow, Your distress and trouble–all of these remind me that You didn’t go to the Cross as a superhuman. You went to the Cross in Your humanity. I’m so sorry You had to suffer in ways I cannot even imagine. I’m sad thinking that You were so distressed and for my part in it–oh, Lord, forgive me! I’m so sorry, Lord! You asked Your disciples to stay and keep watch, to be with You in Your hour of need. They fell asleep. I would have done the same thing, I’m certain, because You said that “You will all fall away…for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ These days and moments leading up to Your Crucifixion are dark. Humanity’s evil in all its ugliness displayed itself and tried to claim victory. Death wanted You to die, die, die. Death wanted to trample Your grave, dance on it, and pounce forever on every man, woman, and child as victorious. But You were resolved to see these events as God had planned them and that You would have victory over death! In the flow of time, Your sadness, sorrow, distress and trouble remind me that the battle was and remains real. There is a terrible cost. Casualties happen, but as You have said “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! Lord Jesus, thank You for Your faithfulness– from Your birth and life to Your death to the tomb to the resurrection and ascension! Darkness had its moment, but the Light of the World prevailed! May I share in the communion of the saints and proclaim Your death until You return. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2020 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals remain popular, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.

Prayer Focus: No building is the temple or the church

Lord Most High, we praise You that You do not live in houses made by human hands. No temple can contain You. Heaven is Your throne, and the earth is Your footstool. Therefore during these times when we’re separated from gathering in worship, especially on these most holy days of our church calendar, remind us that the ones You look on with favor are those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at Your word, something we can do no matter where we are. Thank You that we don’t need to pilgrimage farther than Your holy word and shout louder than a heart’s prayer. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for that encouragement and for the knowledge You will extend peace like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; that as a mother comforts her child, so You, Lord, will comfort us. Our hearts rejoice that we will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to Your servants, but Your fury–Your righteous wrath–will be shown to Your foes. Scripture tells us “See, the LORD is coming with fire, and His chariots are like a whirlwind; He will bring down His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with His sword the LORD will execute judgment on all people.” We have sinned as a nation and as individuals. The righteous blood of innocents has cried out to You for vindication and vengeance. May the nations repent so when they are gathered in Judgment, they will see Your glory and rejoice instead of trembling as dead men. May Your word go forth as You set a sign among us, sending some of those who survive to the nations and to the distant islands that have not heard of Your fame or seen Your glory. Then we will proclaim together Your glory among the nations whether in our individual homes, over social media, or by gathering together again in a church or temple building, if it be Your will. May our witness cause all Your people, from all the nations, to come to Your holy mountain in worship as a beautiful offering to the LORD. All glory to You, Father! Amen. (Adapted from Isaiah 66:1-20)

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2020 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals remain popular, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.

Prayer Focus: Old Jerusalem, New Jerusalem

Lord Jesus, Scripture doesn’t record Your weeping often. You wept over the pain Lazarus’ death left in its wake. And You wept over Jerusalem, Lord, they were so blind to the peace You were bringing! Lord God, as we’ve been warned that death hangs heavy in coming days due to this virus, I pray that Your peace would hover over us and protect Your people. I pray that those who do not know You would seek Your face and find comfort and eternal peace with You. Remove the blinders off the eyes of Old Jerusalem, I ask Lord, that Your salvation would be made manifest among the chosen people of Your heritage on earth. May I never forget that salvation is from the Jews and that You, Lord, came to fulfill the Scriptures given to the Jews over the many years through Moses and the prophets. May I never neglect the olive tree into which I’ve been grafted as a wild branch. May the time of arousing the consciousness of the Jews of our day come upon us swiftly and the New Jerusalem You have promised come to fulfillment as You are faithful to what You have promised and fulfill every last word of Scripture. Help me to fight against hatred of certain racial and ethnic groups knowing that the New Jerusalem will have many tribes and nations and tongues. Help me to have an open heart toward those Jews still waiting for their Messiah, having expectations layered over what Your word says, expectations that cloud their thinking. Lord, I’m watching and waiting for the full number to be redeemed and Your imminent return. I believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I believe in Your bride, the Church who You will return to claim. I believe in Your power. I believe in Your deep historic love for Israel and that Your love for Gentile peoples then and now has never been diminished because of it. Thank You that God so loved the world. Thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son Jesus Christ, willingly He laid down His life to pay for human sin though He had no sin of His own. We praise You and glorify You and look forward to the New Jerusalem. In Christ alone. Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2020 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals remain popular, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.

Meditation Focus: Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Suffering

Rather than leave today’s Lent 2020 Sabbath rest as silent meditation, I beg your indulgence. It’s important to gain that 2020 clarity of seeing things correctly and from God’s perspective, to let Him “Be Thou my Vision.”

The Triumphal Entry (as Palm Sunday is often called) was Triumphal mainly for the crowds who thought they were getting political liberation and victory over Rome. Jesus had something entirely different in mind. It was Triumphal Entry only as He went knocking on the doorway of death. It was His entry to Triumphal Suffering.

Following the events (using the Gospel according to Matthew beginning in Matthew 20:17), Jesus was headed to Jerusalem. He tells His disciples explicitly He will be betrayed, condemned to death, mocked, flogged, crucified, and only on the “third day” will He be raised to life.

After that major downer of news, what was their reply? It’s almost like they didn’t hear it! Scripture doesn’t record their immediate reply as individual disciples, but what comes next suggests they truly didn’t get it. Maybe they said, “OK”, or “Cool”, or “Whatever. Now about this Kingdom stuff. We’re stoked!”

It’s time Jesus corrected their understanding.

Vision correction 1. Their reply was to see who was going to sit next to Him at the coming of the Kingdom and they asked their mommy to press Jesus. Jesus says He can’t give them choice seats the Father alone gives, but they too will drink the cup of suffering. It’s not about honor. It’s about suffering.

Vision correction 2. The crowds see 2 noisy blind men as hecklers and spoil sports of the big parade they’re following. Jesus gives the 2 men sight, displaying His compassion. This is not a popularity thing by a nice man, but a steady drumbeat of fulfilling Scripture.

Vision correction 3. Entering Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey, the city is stirred and asks, “Who is this?” The crowd in the big parade answers incorrectly: “Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Jesus answers for Himself by overturning tables in the temple area and pointing to Himself as receiving the praise ordained by God from children and infants. “The Son of David,” the children shout–it’s a Messianic term.

Vision correction 4. Jesus curses a fig tree that is all show and no fruit as He enters the temple area and His authority is questioned by the all-show-and-no-fruit crowd of chief priests and elders of the people. They have the audacity to try to test Him. They’ll wither spiritually for it.

Vision correction 5. Jesus is not a political solution and doesn’t fall for that trap. Jesus knows their evil intent. Don’t ever confuse politics with faith.

Vision correction 6. The Kingdom of God and the elites of men are two different things entirely. Jesus, pointing that out and seven woes later, lets them know in explicit terms He knows their showy but empty power structures and how vacant they are. “Your house is left to you desolate” He says.

Vision correction 7. The temple isn’t what you think it is. It’ll be destroyed. So much for what man builds.

Vision correction 8. Don’t go looking for a checklist, a crib sheet, or signs for you to determine for yourself when the end of the age will come. That hour is unknown for good reason. Your job? Be ready.

Vision correction 9. Trust Me, you don’t want a Judge to assess vindication rights before I’ve paid for your sins. The good works are helpful, but only as you do them for others as if we did them for Jesus out of gratitude for His mercy. Unforgiven sinners who do nice things are still unforgiven sinners who do nice things and die unforgiven.

Vision correction 10. We all betray Him. Some more irredeemably than others. Judas was over the edge and couldn’t live with himself afterward. Peter would be restored. Our collective sin and universal betrayal is why He had to die. We’re all to blame.

Vision correction 11. It’s not blasphemy if it’s true. Jesus alone is God’s one and only Son, His perfect Image, and the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. The only thing false in the accusations of the high priest, chief priests, and Pilate–are You the Son of God and King of the Jews–was they didn’t believe Him when He said Yes.

Vision correction 12. Jesus went to Jerusalem to conquer. But the invisible enemy with the visible results (death)–now, that was the enemy He would engage in battle. Not the temporary and minor victory over Rome. The genius of God was hitting a target no one among the Pharisees could see. Even today, faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners is a target many remain blind to seeing. Give it up. You can’t earn it yourself. We all need Jesus.

So as we progress through Passion Week, let’s do it with corrective lenses of Scripture to see the Triumphal Entry for what it meant to Jesus. He entered into suffering for us, to give His life as a ransom for many. Amen?

This year’s Lent Devotional Series: Be Thou My Vision resumes tomorrow after today’s Sabbath.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2020 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals remain popular, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.