Monday

His Glory… Before the World Was

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Today we will look solely at the glory of Jesus.  It is His glory for which we live and move and have our being.

“And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was”  John 17:5 (KJV).

Notice the faith and confidence in Jesus’s praying.  He is eternal with the Father.  He possessed glory before the world, or the universe ever was.  His glory is His greatness, His power, His strength, His song, His priority. His Father’s glory.  Where I have fallen short; where you have fallen short of His glory; Jesus is the Father’s glory.

Jesus is praying for His own glory.  It seems quite clear.  This is His High Priest prayer, and He has come to accomplish His Father’s glory by the sacrifice of Himself for all the world.  The task He came to do required that He lay His creation glory aside, take on the flesh of man, and die.  How can God die?  He cannot.  Becoming flesh He could become sin, paying the price of sin, being put to death – the penalty for sin – and then rise again victoriously over death.

The glory is seen by His resurrection from the grave.  The Father restores His glory in the resurrection, and He is alive for all the world to see.  Did the Father answer His prayer; this prayer?  Most assuredly He did

Jesus is alive and in His glory.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Dealing With Evil…

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“The LORD hath made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil”  Proverbs 16:4 (KJV).

To many this may be a very troubling verse of Scripture.  In it, however, the follower of Jesus Christ should find rest and peace.  As a matter of fact all people who are troubled by the problem of evil, and believe in God could find solace in these words.

We rest in the truth of the Word of God.  We are told of the beginning where God created all things.  Here we are told that He “Made all things for Himself…”.  John the Revelator [writer of the Revelation of Jesus Christ] has written, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for THOU HAST CREATED ALL THINGS, and FOR THY PLEASURE THEY ARE AND WERE CREATED.” Revelation 4:11 (KJV).  (Caps are for emphasis from me).

We can rest assured that though there is evil in the world and there are evil people in the world who thrive in doing evil deeds; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are accomplishing His purposes in the world.  Evil will be dealt with.  Evil will be judged.  Evil will come to an end.  God will be glorified.

PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD.  PRAISE THE NAME OF JESUS.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Mark Ten – Thirty Two through Fifty Two

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“32 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, 33 Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: 34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. 35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. 36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? 37  They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. 38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? 39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: 40 But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  Mark 10:32-45 (KJV)

There are at least three things we should note that Jesus taught.  First of all, He taught that he would be delivered over to the spiritual leaders of Jerusalem and be put to death, and then the third day he would rise from the dead.  Secondly, when the disciples were asking to sit on His right and on His left hand in His kingdom, He taught them that they were asking something difficult for them, and that it was not for Him to grant their petition, but would be given to the ones for whom it had been prepared.  Thirdly, Jesus taught that even He had not come to be served by the masses of people, but to serve them and to give His life for the salvation of all who would believe in Him.

It is amazing how easily the idea of servanthood is lost and so quickly among political leaders and sometimes even church leaders.  The idea can get into a persons head that they are in that position because they deserve to be, and every body else is there to serve them.

Jesus would teach the disciples contrary to this when He would wash their feet and dry them with a cloth.  Jesus:  What a Servant – What a Savior.

“46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. 50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”  Mark 10:46-52 (KJV)

A blind man or any blind individual is one who cannot see.  That is a clear statement that everyone should understand.  There are some who are blind, and do not realize it.  That is, those who cannot see the truths of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ.  There were probably many in the crowd who were following Jesus who did not realize who He was, but were following Him merely because they wanted to see His miracles, or they wanted something from Him.

Here was a blind man who was known as the “son of Timaeous” or “Bar-Timaeus”.  He had been cared for by his parents probably most of his life.  Now his parents have  probably died, and he has to beg to get anything to eat, or for clothing and shelter.  He has heard of Jesus.  He has heard Him called, with contempt, “Jesus of Nazareth”.  He has heard the stories of how Jesus has, caused the lame to walk, healed the lepers, cast out demons, and caused the “dumb” to speak, and the deaf to hear.  He has even heard of Jesus raising the dead to life again.

He has probably only hoped to one day get any where near Jesus and ask him to open his eyes that he might see.  Now, He is passing near to where he is sitting by the roadside begging.  His anticipation is bubbling over.  He is anxious, and can hardly wait.  He calls out to Jesus.  Others try to silence him, and that only makes him call out louder and bolder.  Note, he does not call out the name of contempt – Jesus of Nazareth – rather he cries, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.”  He sees Him for who He is without eyes to see the physical, he sees the spiritual, and recognizes Him as the Messiah who was promised years and years earlier, even before anyone who was present was ever conceived in their mother’s womb.

This man used the term “Jesus, thou Son of David.”  twice.  The first time to call Jesus’ attention to himself, and it seems, the second time, to inform the crowd that Jesus, the Son of David was the only one who could opern his eyes and give him physical sight.

O, what a thrill and honor it is to have Jesus call your name, and say “Come”.  Jesus calls us to come to him.  We were, before we knew Jesus, without sight, and we could not see the things of God.  When Jesus called to us to “Come” and we went, then we received our sight and we saw Jesus as the virgin born Son fo God, without sin, holy, blameless, undefiled, righteous, and worthy of praise.

I just imagine that when Jesus called to Bartimaeus, he would have ran to him as best he could.  He was thrilled to hear the Master’s voice.  He was thrilled to hear that the Master had called to Him.  Even though the theme of Mark is Jesus as a Servant, we see Him performing a great kindness to this man in great need.

When Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted Him to do for him, he said, “That I might receive my sight”.  O, how blind are those who see, and yet, do not see.

Jesus did not touch him, He only told him, “Go thy way, Thy faith hath made thee whole.”  The Scripture tells us, that as he was leaving the eyesight came and he was healed, and he followed Jesus “…In the way”.  Was he only following Jesus as He walked this road?  He was following Jesus, “…In the way”; that is the life of Jesus.  In every way He would follow Jesus.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Mark Ten – Thirteen Through Sixteen

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“And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.”  Mark 10:13-16 (KJV)

Jesus loves children.  There is much adults could learn from children, if we would only listen and watch them.  We could learn to trust again.

Our area of the world collapses at times; friends forsake us by lying about us, betraying us, and our parents even can let us down at times.  As parents we get disappointed by our children’s behavior at times, and we need to discipline them to show them the right and correct way.  We can learn from them when we don’t see them as being in the way.

Little children are not without sin, because we are all born into sin.  One thing we can learn from children is “Trust”.  When a child trusts their parents, mother or father, they rely on them completely.  If a dad says to his son, “Come on now and jump off the end of the porch, and I will catch you.”;  most of the time the boy will jump into his daddy’s arms (unless daddy  has caused the son not to trust him).  That is the kind of trust we must put in our Heavenly Father, and the finished work of Jesus on the cross.  Children are dependent upon their parents.  They trust them to provide their food, shelter, clothing, and security.  Children are secure with their parents.  The only way this would not be so is, if the parent(s) are brutal, mean and abusing to their children.   I think it would be a bad parent who would teach a child not to trust anyone; even themselves.

When we become adults we often forget about trusting God.  Troubling things happen, and we can find no help in our own abilities, our own strength; like in a sickness, a debilitating accident, a major life changing event; something we had no control over.  When these things happen we need the “faith of a child”, and put our trust completely in the Lord.

“Receiving the kingdom of God as a little child” would be trusting so completely that they look no where else for security or any other need.  Is God able to supply our need for salvation?  Most assuredly.  Is He able to supply our “Daily bread” [our daily needs]; again, most assuredly.  Some of us get a little off on this latter thing, though.  We can believe that God is able to provide our salvation, but when it comes to meeting daily needs, we kind of tend to leave that in our own hands.  Is that the heart of a child.  These verses are not talking of remaining immature in faith, but having that unwavering trust in the Lord no matter what the case may be.

Without this kind of faith no one can enter the kingdom of God.

-Tim A. Blankenship