Jesus submitted to the word of God. The word of God made flesh submitted to the word of God that was written. Upon Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When tempted, Jesus responded, “It is written.”
When we read our daily scriptures, we are submitting to the Word of God. It is not our doing the scriptures, as if we could. It is our keeping and valuing the Word of God above all else. The Word is alive, powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword. It will accomplish what God pleases and prosper in the thing for which God sends it. All we do is read, receive, value, and abide; the word of God does the rest.
Next Sunday, February 5th through Sunday February 12th is the week we are finishing Job. I am calling it “Sovereignty and Majesty – His Double Portion Week. All services will be following Job, from His own integrity to humility out of His loses, into God’s double portion.
God has a double portion blessing intended for all of us!
Mark 1-7
Mark is the first gospel written, and we will see a lot of similarities to Matthew. Mark is concise and loves the word “immediately”. He skips the birth of Jesus and begins with John’ baptism. After Jesus’ temptation, we see a day in His life. He begins in the synagogue casting out a demon, healing Peter’s mother in-law, then after sunset healing all who came with various diseases and demons. The next morning, Jesus is up before dawn to pray, where his disciples find him. Then he is off to another city. All seven chapters are rich with demonstrations of the Holy Spirit, parables, amazing faith, healing, and resurrection miracles. By chapter seven, the Pharisees have caught up with him and their religious nonsense.
1 Corinthians 13-16
We begin in the love chapter. There are fifteen attributes of God’s love. Seven are what God’s love does, and seven are what God’s love does not do, and one final attribute, “Love never fails.” Chapter fourteen is prophecy and tongues, order and freedom to be with God, and not drawing attention to your gifting. Chapter fifteen is the gospel declared, and resurrection explained. Chapter sixteen is salutations and final exhortations.
2 Corinthians 1-3
2 Corinthians is one of my favorite books. Paul begins with his honest struggles, the comfort He received, the help their prayers brought, and His testimony of his conscience. All the promises of God are “Yes and Amen” in Jesus Christ. Chapter two is the call to comfort the repentant saint, Paul seeking Titus, and declaring thanks to God for always being led in triumph in Christ. Chapter three is the comparison between the first covenant and the new covenant; the letter kills – the Spirit gives life, ministry of death – ministry of the Spirit, and ministry of condemnation – ministry of righteousness. Transformation happens in beholding the glory of the Lord in the mirror of His word and being changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.
Genesis 29-35
Jacob flees Laban, after twenty years of servitude, with eleven sons, and Rachel pregnant along with the household idols. In chapter thirty-two, Jacob hears of Esau coming with four hundred men and freaks out. Being double minded, he schemes and finally is left alone with the angel of the Lord with whom he wrestles all night until he obtains the blessing of the Lord – A new name! In chapter thirty-three, everything has changed with Esau; peace has been won. In chapter thirty-four, Dinah is raped, loved, and sought after for marriage. The brothers, deceive with covenant, and murder all of Shechem, but the fear of God is with them. Chapter thirty-five, Jacob takes all the idols that they have and buries them. God confirms again the covenant with Jacob, and decrees again His new name, Israel. Rachel dies in childbirth; Benjamin is born, and the twelve sons are listed. Isaac dies, and Esau and Jacob bury their father.
Job 29-35
In Job, twenty-nine through thirty-one, are Job’s summary defense. He shares his past position, his current state as a “byword” and then goes into “If I have…” Where his final defense is “Strike me and mine if I have done this and that”. It is thick, as self-righteousness and self-justification have now risen to their height. Chapter thirty-two Elihu, who has been present the whole time but has never spoken, speaks. His wrath is aroused against Job because Job justified himself rather than God. It is also against Job’s three friends because they found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. Job’s myopic vision is about to be supersize challenged in its absurdity. By chapter thirty-five, Job’s self-righteousness is coming apart.
Remember February 5th-12th is “Sovereignty and Majesty – His Double Portion Week.” Time of the great exchange, as we finish Job and dedicate our services, receiving our transformation and turning of captivity.
Isaiah 29-35
In these chapters, Isaiah prophecies of the condition of God’s people, many words Jesus quotes later to illustrate our pride. He speaks to future redemption and calls us to returning and rest into salvation. The unwillingness is exposed, and God’s remedies declared. Idolatry is exposed and the reign of righteousness celebrated. All these chapters apply to us the church, as they did to Judah a nation. I love these chapters because they provide for me a plethora of convictions, filled with returning and repentance. Isaiah chapter thirty-five is the glorious picture of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Highway of Holiness He has become. “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 35:10