DAY 1 –
DECEMBER 26
TITLE: “A
CHILD OF THE KING”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE READING: John 1:14-18
DAILY
SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the
glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.” John
1:14
Clark Cothern, pastor and writer, talks about his experience as a
boy on a college campus. He was not a genius who went to college young but was
on a college campus a lot because his mother worked there. Her desk was in the Administration
Building at Grand Canyon College (now University) in Phoenix, Arizona. When he was
five years of age, his mom was serving as Dean of Women.
Clark tells
how, as a five-year-old boy, he spent time playing on the other side of his
mother’s desk. From that location, he could see students going by to see the
president of the college. He would watch students walk slowly down the hall
toward the president’s office. He noticed they would often stop, rub their
sweaty palms on their cloths and take a deep breath. The door would creak open.
Sometimes he could get a glimpse of the president's shiny, black, wingtip
shoes. A steady, strong hand would reach through and shake the trembling hand
of the student. The student would then disappear inside the mysterious chamber
known as "The President's Office."
From his
perspective as a five-year-old, he thought the college president was a powerful
and frightening person. He thought going to the president’s office would be a
very frightening thing, and from his writing, he seemed to express he was
afraid of the president. He wrote, “I figured that walking into that room must
be pretty much like going before the throne of judgment.”
However, one
day, that changed for him. Something took place that gave him a new perspective
of the president of the college. One day, the door to the president’s office
opened while he was playing with a toy car nearby. Clark Cothern writes, “The
next thing I knew, President Robert Sutherland, the biggest man on campus,
dressed in his pinstriped, three-piece suit, knelt down. He placed the knee of
his crisply creased trousers on the hallway floor. "May I have a
turn?" he asked. After we played cars together, President Sutherland asked
if I would do him the favor of calling him "Dr. Bob." That's the day
my opinion about college president changed.”
When I met
Jesus in a personal way, I began to gain a new perspective and understanding
about God. Through faith in Him, He has come into my life and transformed my
perspective and understanding of God. “The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” God is not a powerful,
distant God, but a loving, powerful, caring God who wants to be involved in our
lives.
DAY 2 –
DECEMBER 27
TITLE: “FULL
OF TRUTH”
WEEKLY SCRIPTURE
READING: John 1:14-18
DAILY
SCRIPTURE READING: John 1:14-15
KEY VERSE: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling
among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
Our daughter,
Amanda, put some water and energy saving items in our home as part of a school
project. One of those items was a new faucet head on the faucet in the kitchen.
I have noticed that it sprays with such force that when you fill up a glass,
the glass may appear like it is full, but when you turn off the water, it is
only partially full. Jesus is the one full of grace and truth. He is not a
source of some truth, but of all truth. Jesus is the Truth.
Jesus is more
than a historical person. Jesus is more than a good example. Jesus is more than
a good teacher. Jesus did not come to talk to men about God. He came to show
men what God is like. Jesus came that we might see the glory of God. They had
seen the glory of the One and Only who enjoyed
unparalleled fellowship with God. The glory is of the One and Only, the Beloved
Son of God, who came from the Father, the One uniquely the object of the Father’s
love. The God of the Old Testament, who was abounding in love and faithfulness,
is now revealed in the Son, who is full of grace and truth.
The word, “truth”
is found 25 times in the gospel of John. Truth is the understanding of what God
has done in Christ. For John, truth is many-sided and many-splendored. Truth is
something which must be known with the mind, accepted with the heart, and acted
out in the life. Jesus is the communicator of the truth, for He is Truth. John
records in His gospel, “Jesus answered,
‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.’” John 14:6.
On September
17, 1997, twenty-thousand young people gathered to hear two strong, unique
personalities. One was folk singer, Bob Dylan, who sang and played for the
young people. The other was Pope John Paul II. The Pope referred to one of
Dylan’s classic songs, "Blowin’ in the Wind.” He
answered one of the questions of the song that asked, “How many roads must a
man walk before he becomes a man?” The Pope answered strongly, “I answer you,
One! There is only one road for a man, and it is Jesus Christ, who said, ‘I am
the Life.’”
Jesus made His dwelling
among us so we might know God. Jesus is full of grace and truth. God’s grace
has reached out to us in Jesus. Grace speaks of the effort of God on man’s
behalf. In Jesus Christ, the distant, unknowable, invisible, unreachable God
has come to men, for Jesus is full of grace and truth.
DAY 3 –
DECEMBER 28
TITLE: “THE
FULLNESS OF HIS GRACE”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE
DAILY
SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “From the fullness of his grace we have all
received one blessing after another.” John 1:16
Eugene
Peterson, in The Message, paraphrases, “We
all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.” Grace is a
gigantic word. Author, Mildred Bangs Wynkoop wrote,
“Grace is not an impersonal power or a thing. It is God making Himself available to us. It is the full measure of His
redemptive love held out to us without reserve. God’s grace is the unlimited
supply house from which one blessing after the other flows.”
Through Him,
we have received abundant grace. Paul wrote to Timothy, “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the
faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” I Timothy 1:14. In Christ, God’s
grace has appeared for all. Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” Paul
wrote in Ephesians, “In him we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace.” Ephesians 1:7. Speaking of the riches of God’s grace,
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “For
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his
poverty might become rich.” II Corinthians 8:9. Take a few moments to
reflect on what the fullness of His grace means as you read the words of this
familiar song.
Amazing
Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like
me.
I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I
see.
T'was
Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear. The hour I first
believed.
Through
many dangers, toils and snares I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far, and Grace will lead me home.
The
Lord has promised good to me. His word my hope
secures.
He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures.
Yea,
when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil, A life of joy and peace.
When
we've been here ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when
we've first begun.
(John
Newton 1725-1807)
DAY 4 –
DECEMBER 29
TITLE:
“JESUS”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE READING: John 1: 14-18
DAILY
SCRIPTURE READING: John 1: 17
KEY VERSE: “For the
law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” John 1:17
This
is John’s first use of the human name, Jesus. He uses it, in all, 237 times.
The New Testament uses the name, Jesus, 905 times, so more than a quarter of
the total New Testament occurrences are in John. Grace and truth come through
Jesus Christ. The Scripture says, “Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11.
In A.D. 381,
Gregory of Nazianzus wrote these words about Jesus.
“He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. Jesus
ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water. Jesus
was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King. Jesus
was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons. Jesus wept, yet He wipes
away our tears. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the
world. Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good
Shepherd. Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.”
Song writer, Bill Gaither said it this way. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's
just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus. Like the fragrance after
the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Let all heaven and earth proclaim. Kings and
kingdoms shall all pass away. But there's something about that name.”
Grace
and truth can be known through no other name. Grace and truth cannot be
separated from the name of Jesus. Through Moses, the law was given to us,
through Jesus Christ, grace and truth came to us. In Judaism, the law became an
end in itself, something that could be separated from Moses through whom it was
given. That fullness can never be detached from Him who possesses it. This is
why the Christian religion is not obedience to a legal system but devotion to a
person. Jesus came so we might know God’s amazing grace, mercy, and love. Jesus
came so we might know the truth about God.
There have been names
that I have loved to hear, But never has there been a
name so dear;
To this heart of
mine, as the Name divine, The precious, precious Name
of Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know, And He’s just the same as His lovely Name,
And that’s the reason
why I love Him so; Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
(Lela
B. Long)
DAY 5 –
DECEMBER 30
TITLE: “HE
HAS MADE HIM KNOWN”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE
DAILY
SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “No one
has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at
the Father’s side, has made him known.”
John 1:18
The
famous philosopher, Plato said: “Never man and God can meet.” Because of Jesus,
this is not true. No one has ever seen God but we can know God through the One
and Only, who is at the Father’s side. Jesus makes the
Father known.
I
John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen
God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete
in us.” Just because we have not seen the unseen God does not mean that we
cannot know the unseen God. Paul wrote to Timothy of God, “…who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might
forever. Amen.” I Timothy 6:16. God
cannot be seen, but He can be known through the One who knows God the Father.
Only
God can reveal God. Jesus shares the substance of God’s being. Jesus, as the
only Son, enjoys unparalleled and unsurpassable closeness with God. The
finality of the revelation of God through the Logos-Son could hardly be more
strongly expressed.
The
deity of Jesus Christ is presupposed throughout, yet the message is not simply
that Jesus is God. The message is that because He is God, His ministry on earth
has made God known to us, and that now at the Father’s side, He continues to
make God known through the Spirit. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through
him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
Jesus
died on the cross for our sins and rose again and is now at the right-hand of
the Father. Paul wrote, “Who is he that
condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who
was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Romans 8:34.
It
is Christ alone who has revealed God the Father to man. God wants us to know
Him. God’s blueprint for life is that we know Him. John wrote, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know
you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3.
God dwells in inaccessible light and He cannot be known except in Christ. The
good news of Christmas is that in Christ we can know the Father. Paul wrote of
Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is
before all things, and in him all things hold together…For God was pleased to
have all the fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all
things, whether things on earth or thing in heaven, by making peace through his
blood, shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:15-20.