TAKE FIVE DEVOTIONALS
by David McQueen
Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?" Mark 8:27
In the gospel of John, it is mentioned over forty times that the Father sent Jesus. The book starts out by saying the Word who was with God, and was God, became flesh and dwelt amongst us or literally pitched his tent among us or tabernacled among us. Yet still many did not know who Jesus was.
Prophesied as the Messiah, many took the literal interpretation of the prophesies of Zechariah, Isaiah, et al, and totally missed the spiritual or Emmanuel, god with us, element of his kingship. So Jesus had to remind them that he was the great I am. "I am the great shepherd" "I am the light of the world" "I am the way the truth and the life" "I am the bread of life" "I am the true vine" and just in case they had not heard him properly he when confronted by those who he told that if they accepted him, they would never see death he said "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."
Jesus confirmed himself as God. The Redeemer, Saviour, Mediator, Ultimate Sacrifice, High Priest, Mighty God all wrapped into one. The Great I Am as Moses found out in a discreet part of a wilderness many years before. In a world increasingly focusing on just a historical Jesus, the Bible teaches us that he is God, alpha and omega, from the beginning a very spiritual Jesus.
C.S.Lewis writes in The Screwtape Letters where the Devil is talking to his protégé "We thus distract men's minds from who He is and what He did. We first solely make him a teacher...a merely probable, remote, shadowy and uncouth figure, one who spoke a strange language and died a long time ago. Such and object cannot in fact be worshipped".
The irony of this statement in the book is that so many Christians as well as non-Christians subscribe to this understanding. If asked, "Who do men say that I am?" What could you truly say? Food for thought
Dear God, help us to understand you as you really are. Amen
by David McQueen
Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?" Mark 8:27
In the gospel of John, it is mentioned over forty times that the Father sent Jesus. The book starts out by saying the Word who was with God, and was God, became flesh and dwelt amongst us or literally pitched his tent among us or tabernacled among us. Yet still many did not know who Jesus was.
Prophesied as the Messiah, many took the literal interpretation of the prophesies of Zechariah, Isaiah, et al, and totally missed the spiritual or Emmanuel, god with us, element of his kingship. So Jesus had to remind them that he was the great I am. "I am the great shepherd" "I am the light of the world" "I am the way the truth and the life" "I am the bread of life" "I am the true vine" and just in case they had not heard him properly he when confronted by those who he told that if they accepted him, they would never see death he said "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."
Jesus confirmed himself as God. The Redeemer, Saviour, Mediator, Ultimate Sacrifice, High Priest, Mighty God all wrapped into one. The Great I Am as Moses found out in a discreet part of a wilderness many years before. In a world increasingly focusing on just a historical Jesus, the Bible teaches us that he is God, alpha and omega, from the beginning a very spiritual Jesus.
C.S.Lewis writes in The Screwtape Letters where the Devil is talking to his protégé "We thus distract men's minds from who He is and what He did. We first solely make him a teacher...a merely probable, remote, shadowy and uncouth figure, one who spoke a strange language and died a long time ago. Such and object cannot in fact be worshipped".
The irony of this statement in the book is that so many Christians as well as non-Christians subscribe to this understanding. If asked, "Who do men say that I am?" What could you truly say? Food for thought
Dear God, help us to understand you as you really are. Amen
