Tag: Devotion

The essence of God’s law is nothing less than the expression of God’s character – His holiness and His love. True holiness and true love begins with a transformed heart. There is an inner holiness and love present in the heart. It is not a mechanical outward obedience of the Pharisees. That’s not true righteousness, Jesus pointed out.

Today, we see the gospel is truly preached throughout the world. With the advancement of modern technology, travel has been revolutionalized. Unreached regions now become accessible for the spread of the gospel. Yet, the world seemed to be oblivion of their Saviour. Many still reject God in Jesus Christ. There is coming a Great Tribulation that the world has never experienced. This world will be destroyed. Comparing scripture with scripture, we see this judgement recorded by the Apostle Peter in

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The Apostle Paul revealed the spiritual state of the Israel, that though there is a multitude, yet only a remnant shall be saved. Jesus said that in the days prior to His coming, the spiritual state of the church will be cold, faith will be wanting. There is a remnant of His people whom God will use to prepare the world to meet their Christ.

The Apostle Paul is citing the prophet Isaiah’s prediction in Isaiah 10:22 of God’s judgement upon Israel by the Babylonians because her sins. However, God will preserve for Himself a faithful remnant though Israel was a great multitude. By quoting this text, he is calling attention to the parallel that among the Jews of Jesus’ day, many rejected Him but there is a remnant who received Him. Truly, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army and the Jews scattered in A.D. 70.

The Apostle Paul quotes the prophet Hosea who was called by God to declare His Word to Judah concerning her unfaithfulness in departing from her God. At the time of Hosea’s ministry to the south, the North Kingdom has already been destroyed in 722 B.C. by the Assyrian invaders 12 years earlier. God’s judgment to the Southern Kingdom will come later in 586 B.C.

True Christians are called of God to be vessels of mercy reflecting the glory of God. When God warned Noah of an impending global flood, He instructed Noah to build a great boat that will house the living when death will come over the entire earth by a global flood. Noah hearkened to God and experienced God’s mercy. There is an impending flood of fire coming upon the entire earth. The only escape is “up”, to be caught up to heaven to meet Jesus at the rapture.

Christians are named by the Apostle Paul as vessels of mercy to underscore their great privilege to reflect the glory of God. By our faith in God through Christ, we experienced God’s power to overcome sin to reflect the beauty of holiness in our lives. Indeed, it is a blessed life that God’s wants His people to cherish! Amen.

The power to create is the prerogative of God. He created the universe. In 6 literal days out of nothing, God completed His creation of the universe. In the first three days, God forms His creation, transforming it from a state “without form” (Gen. 1:2) to where it can support animal life on Earth. He created light and darkness, day and night (day 1), sea (waters below) and the sky (waters above – clouds) (day 2), land and vegetation (day 3). Then God created in the last three days sun, moon and stars (day 4), birds and sea creatures (day 5) and land animals and finally man (day 6)!

The Apostle Paul is seeking to quell the spirit of unrest, that discontented spirit to question the justice of God. Out of the imperfections of sin and unbelief came the fulfilling of God’s promises to bring forth the Saviour Jesus Christ from the loins of Israel. Although the Jews have largely rejected their Messiah, God’s promise of salvation through the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15) is fulfilled in the fullness of time. God allows within the Jewish people those who would reject their Christ, perishing in sin and unbelief.

The man Pharaoh who resisted God’s command to release His people from slavery did so because God has willed it. It is God who sovereignly chooses Pharaoh to be His instrument of wrath against His people and also the recipient of His wrath. It is God who causes the heart of Pharaoh to be made stubborn that he might disobey His command to release His people. And yet we know that it was Pharaoh who freely chooses to harden his heart to resist the will of God. We marvel at the truth of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility at work simultaneously.