That was the first appearance of Jesus, and it is all worthy of celebration. It’s wonderful to see how many people have Jesus somewhere in mind in the Christmas season. The world’s emphasis during Christmastime is on vacation, holidays, giving and receiving gifts, spending time with family, and special meals. Yet even with their attention on those things, many people still find themselves thinking about Jesus and His birth, even if only a passing sense.

Hebrews 9:28 points to this first appearance by implication, saying Jesus will appear a second time. The author of this letter to the Hebrew Christians set the first coming of Jesus beside His second coming because they are in many ways similar.

At His first coming, Jesus brought light. When He appears again, Jesus Himself will be a light that replaces the light of the sun (Revelation 21:23).

At His first coming, Jesus came as the fulfillment of God’s promise. When He appears again, Jesus will complete those promises of God’s reign over the earth and the fulfillment of all things.

At His first coming, Jesus brought honor to the lowly and made the honorable humble themselves. The shepherds were honored with an angelic visit, and the wise men bowed low in worship before the young child Jesus. When He appears again, Jesus will bring honor to His humble people, and will judge those who think of themselves to be so great and mighty that they don’t need Him.

The focus of Jesus’ first coming was to deal with the sin problem through His atoning sacrifice. But now, having dealt with the sin problem perfectly, He comes again apart from sin – for the salvation, for the rescue, of His people.

At the time of the first coming of Jesus, the world was eagerly waiting for a messiah, a savior. The author of Hebrews assumed that God’s people today would eagerly wait for Him. It’s a sad case that this assumption doesn’t always turn out as true.

To paraphrase a quote from Charles Spurgeon, believers should be a bit disappointed every day if Jesus does not come in that day. Instead, many Christians today assume that Jesus won’t be coming soon. They aren’t eagerly waiting for Him. This isn’t good.

It’s a great thing to celebrate the first appearing of Jesus. From Bethlehem to the cross and the empty tomb, Jesus won salvation for His people at His first appearing. It’s good to let Christmas make you long for the glorious return of Jesus.

Click here for David’s commentary on Hebrews 9

 

Having considered and received all that God has done for us, we are to live with all lowliness and gentleness, not a pushy desire to defend our own rights and advance our own agenda. Before Christianity, the word lowliness always had a bad association to it. In the minds of many it still does; but it is a glorious Christian virtue (Philippians 2:1-10). It means that we can be happy and content when we are not in control or steering things our way.

Having considered and received all that God has done for us, we are to have longsuffering and to bear with each other. We need this so that the inevitable wrongs that occur between people in God’s family will not work against God’s purpose of bringing all things together in Jesus – illustrated through His current work in the church.

Having considered and received all that God has done for us, we should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This humble, patient attitude towards each other naturally fulfills this gift of the unity of the Spirit.

Note that we must endeavor to keep this unity – we do not create it. God never commands believers to create unity among themselves. God has created it by His Spirit; our duty is to recognize it and keep it.

This is a spiritual unity, not necessarily a structural or denominational unity. It is evident in the quick fellowship possible among Christians of different races, nationalities, languages, and economic classes.

We can understand this unity of the Spirit by understanding what it is not. This isn’t the unity of lies, of evil, of superstition, or the unity that cowers under spiritual tyranny. This isn’t the unity of geography, as if all the Christians in a city had to be weekly gathered in the same building to fulfill this. It isn’t the unity of church government or denominational arrangements.

This is the unity of the Spirit and false forms of unity work against the true. We are confident that this unity is found in Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of God. As true, born-again believers from different backgrounds and experiences draw closer and closer to Jesus, they will also draw closer to one other. Jesus Christ is the source of our unity; He is one who broke down every wall (Ephesians 2:14).

Jesus purchased this powerful unity at great cost: with His own blood. Believer, what are you doing to keep this unity?

Click here for David’s commentary on Ephesians 4

 

There is a story about a man who was teaching a Sunday school class full of small boys. One day he offered a boy in the class something prized in that day: a brand-new watch. But the boy thought that it was just a trick. Fearing his classmates would laugh at him when the trick was revealed, he refused the watch. The teacher then offered it to the next boy, but he followed the example of the first boy. One by one, each boy refused the watch because the offer seemed too good to be true; certainly, the teacher just wanted to trick them. But the last boy was bold enough to accept the watch when the teacher offered it to him. When the teacher gave it to him, the other boys were amazed and angry. The teacher used this to show his class that no matter how good a gift was offered to them, they must believe the word of the giver and receive the gift before it could do them any good.

In 1829, a Pennsylvania man named George Wilson was sentenced by the United States Court to be hanged to death for robbery and murder. President Andrew Jackson pardoned him, but the prisoner refused the pardon. Wilson insisted that he was not pardoned unless he accepted it. That was a point of law never raised before, and President Jackson called on the Supreme Court to decide. Chief Justice John Marshall gave the following decision. “A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” And he was.

Even so, God’s offer of pardon and salvation in Christ Jesus is offered to many, but only those who trust in God and His word will gain the benefits of that pardon.

Today, why not simply believe what God says and receive His gift of grace?

Click here for David’s commentary on Ephesians 2

 

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Galatians 6:7) When we read the Bible, it’s important to consider context. If Galatians 6:7 were taken as an absolute statement, something always true in every case, then no one would go to heaven and the Bible […]

At just the right time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman. Jesus came not only as God’s Son, but also as one born of a woman, born under law. The eternal Son of God in heaven added humanity to His deity and became a man, born of a woman, born under law.

God’s great purpose in doing this was to redeem those who were under the law. Because Jesus is God, He has the power and the resources to redeem those who believe. Because Jesus is man, He has the right and the ability to redeem His people. He came to purchase believers out of the slave market, from their bondage to sin and death.

The famous hymn Amazing Grace was written by John Newton, a man who knew how to remember his redemption. He was an only child whose mother died when he was only seven years old. He became a sailor and went out to sea at eleven years old. As he grew up, he worked on a slave ship and had an active hand in the horrible degradation and inhumanity of the slave trade. But in 1748, when he was twenty-three, his ship was in immediate danger of sinking off the coast of Newfoundland, John Newton cried to God for mercy, and he found it. He never forgot how amazing it was that God had received him, as bad as he was. To keep it fresh in his memory, he fastened across the wall over the fireplace mantel of his study the words of Deuteronomy 15:15: You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. If we keep fresh in our mind what we once were, and what we are now in Jesus Christ, we will do well.

But God’s work for the believer doesn’t end with redemption; it goes on to adoption. It would be enough that believers are purchased out of the slave market. But God’s work for His people doesn’t end there; they are then elevated to the place of sons and daughters of God by adoption.

Notice we receive the adoption of sons; we do not recover it. In this sense, we gain something in Jesus that is greater than what Adam ever had. Adam was never adopted as believers are. God doesn’t merely restore what was lost with Adam. Believers are granted more in Jesus than Adam ever had.

Cherish the glory of the standing God gives to His people: redeemed and adopted.

Click here for David’s commentary on Galatians 4