'I' is for Immanuel

 In Matthew 1:23 it states “they shall call His name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us.”  Why, you may ask, was Jesus not called Immanuel as His given name?  The notes in my Scofield Bible say that ‘according to Hebrew usage, the name does not represent a title, but a characterization.’  It shows that He really was “God with us”.  It also shows that the diety of Christ, our anointed one, was emphasized at the very beginning of the New Testament.

The word “Immanuel” consists of two Hebrew words:  ‘El’, meaning God, (the reason the word is sometimes spelled ‘Emmanuel’) and ‘Immanu’, meaning “With us”.  It is pronounced ‘ih-MAN-yoo-el’, and is used only three times in Scripture; the first appears in Isaiah 7:14, with prophetic words spoken by Isaiah about 700 years before Christ.  It is used again in Isaiah 8:8, and then in our verse of Matthew 1:23, which is quoting from Isaiah.    Matthew is applying it to the child to be born of Mary, the virgin betrothed to Joseph.  In Jesus, God would become a man that He could save the world and bring man back to God.  Through Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, would redeem and restore this relationship between man and God.

David tells us how God is with us as our ‘Immanuel’ in Psalm 139:7-10:

“If I go up to the heavens, you are there,

If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

If I settle on the far side of the sea,

Even there Your hand will guide me,

Your right hand will hold me fast.”

How can we lose?  What do we fear?  Immanuel, God is with me.

A 4th century prayer known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate, says:
“Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me, King of my heart;
Christ be within me, Christ be below me
Christ be above me, never to part.”

‘Immanuel’, God with us.
                                    He is our God 
                                                           He is truly with us!

'G' is for Gate

We take the word Gate from Jesus claim in John 10:7:  “I am the Door for the sheep.”  Several translations use the term ‘Gate’ for ‘Door’, and since we already did a name for D, we shall use the term ‘Gate’.  

You may be asking “How can Jesus be called a “Gate’?  A good way to explain how this term can be applied to our Lord is by taking a look back to the Shepherds of the Bible times.  It was, and perhaps still is, a common thing for the shepherd to place his sheep into a sheepfold for the night for safety.  Then instead of closing a gate, the shepherd himself would lie down in the doorway making himself as a human door.  Should anything try to get to the sheep, it would first have to go through the shepherd.

Do you see the significance here?  The first time I read about this I felt excited, awed, and thankful all at once!  What a beautiful picture of my Lord’s protection.  No matter what comes my way, be it sickness, poverty, injury, death, it must go through my Shepherd first.  Jesus is the Gate; nothing gets by Him that is not allowed to go through.

Anyone who tried to get in any other way than through the ‘Gate’ will be called a thief (see John 10:1) In verse 9 of John 10, it tells us that Jesus is the ‘Gate’ and that anyone who does go through this ‘Gate’ will be safe.

Here are some excerpts from John 10 from “The Message” translation:
“If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the Gate, you know he is up to no good…I am the Gate for the sheep…All those others are up to no good…I am the Gate.  (Repeated twice for emphasis).  Anyone who goes through me will be cared for…”

There is no other way or name under heaven, given among men, whereby we can come to the Father, other that through the Gate, Jesus.

"F" is for Father

When Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray, He said to begin this way:  “Our Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:9)  In the same chapter, verse 31 and 32, He tells us not to worry about what we eat or drink or wear because: “your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

The Hebrew word of ‘Ab’, or Aramaic “Abba” means Daddy or Papa.  This eventually came to mean ‘dear father’.  A few years ago I heard a very strong Christian, a church leader, begin her prayer with “Dear Daddy”.  I felt very uncomfortable with this, totally against the way I had been brought up and feeling this was being disrespectful.  Yet, in Scripture we are told that through faith we may each one of us call Him “Abba” which as we said in English is “daddy”.

Three places in the New Testament, God the Father is referred to as “Abba”.  Mark 14:36 when Jesus was pouring out His heart to the Father, sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, His cry was to “Abba”.  The verse says “Abba, Father” or “Father, my Father”.  To put it even plainer as to the Hebrew and Aramaic interpretation, He was saying “Daddy, my very own daddy.”

In Romans 8:14, 15 it is telling us that the believer is a ‘son’ (or daughter) of God, and we can cry ‘Abba, Father’.  Then in Galatians 4:6 it says we have the Spirit of Jesus to confirm that we are sons and daughters, by crying out for us “Abba, Father”.

How can we have such a close association with God that we can call Him Father, or Daddy?  We become God’s children by placing our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord.  God receives us into His family and our sins are forgiven.  When our ‘Daddy’ looks at us, He sees us as a pure and forgiven child because of what Jesus did on Calvary.

I may never feel the freedom to actually talk to God as my “Daddy” (He will always be thought of as ‘Father’ or ‘Abba, Father’ by me), but I will never criticize anyone who feels this freedom to do so.  Our God is a loving compassionate Father, and because of Jesus going to the Cross and paying the debt of sin, we who have put our trust in Him, Jesus, now have the freedom to enter the Throne Room of God and cry out to Him “Abba, Father”.

Father, my Father, I thank You for the gift of becoming Your child.  I thank You for being my refuge and providing all my needs.  May I always glorify You and may others see me as Your child.  I would like to hear someone say “she has her Father’s eyes”, because  my eyes are a reflection of your love and image.  Amen

"E" is for Elohim

In Genesis 1:1 it states: “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.”  The word ‘Elohim’ (e-lo-HEEM) is the plural of El (or possibly Eloah) and is the first name for God given in the Bible.  He is God, our Creator, and the Creator of all.

The name Elohim is used more than 2500 times in the Hebrew Bible, and it is used 32 times in the very first chapter of Genesis.  The fact that it is a plural word is not because it indicates many gods, but to emphasize the majesty of the one true God.  It also indicates the trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God in Three Persons.

This ancient name for God shows God is mighty with creative powers, as well as having total authority and sovereignty.  Jesus of course, knew this name, and used a form of it when on the Cross, calling His Father “Eloi, Eloi…” (My God, My God)

Our God, Elohim, is creator of all heaven and earth, night and day, seas and land, animals and man.  David gave praise to this and to the unchangeable nature of God in Psalm 102:25-27a:

“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

And the heavens are the works of Your hands.

They will perish, but You remain,

They will all wear out like a garment,

Like clothing You will change them

And they will be discarded.

But You remain the same.”

Elohim, My God,  You are the Mighty One who made everything out of nothing by the breath of your mouth.  Help me to know You more and more as my very own Creator, who made me and placed me on earth for a reason. I will magnify Your name forever. Amen

D is for 'Deliverer'

In the New World Dictionary, the #1 explanation of what ‘deliver’ or deliverer means: “to set free or save from evil, danger, or restraint; liberate (delivered from bondage.).”  In Romans 11:26 Paul wrote “And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob”.  Matthew 6:13 in the Lord’s Prayer states: “…but Deliver us from evil…”    A favorite of mine is Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust;”

From these verses we see that it was in God’s plan to be our Deliverer.  To help understand the word even better, we need to take a short look at the past.   The whole history of the Jewish people is really a dramatic one.  They have had a history of suffering, slavery, and pain.  In Egypt they were in slavery, so in the desert, and even after they conquered Palestine.  The very small period of independence was during the time of David and Solomon.  After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided into two parts, Judea in the south and Israel to the North.  In about 600 BC Jerusalem was destroyed and the people carried into captivity.  Israel and Judea were wiped out as a political power and did not rise again until 1947.  All the time those two kingdoms were looking for a Deliverer.

All of the history of humanity has been a struggle, and humanity as a whole has been looking for an ideal, for a Deliverer.  No man is going to meet the needs of humanity, save one, and He is the one the prophets spoke about who would crush the seed of the serpent. These prophets were to prepare the way to the only Deliverer, and that is Jesus Christ.   Jesus was sent to earth to give Himself for the sins of all mankind, to rescue us from the power of the present evil age—a world ruled by Satan and filled with cruelty, temptation, tragedy and deception.  Jesus came to be the Deliverer.

Jesus is our Deliverer if we will put our trust in Him, accept that He paid the price and let Him into our hearts.  This doesn’t immediately remove us from this world of sin, but we are no longer enslaved to it; we are delivered from the power of sin with Jesus life in us.  Then when we die, we know that we will be delivered from Satan’s clutches and be with the Lord Jesus, our Deliverer, in heaven for eternity.

My Deliverer

You rescued me

From all that held me captive

My Deliverer

You set me free

Now I’m alive and can live

So every moment I will give you praise

My Deliverer!

--Mandisa

C is for "Christ"

 Most of us are familiar with the name “Christ”, usually used as part of the personal name of Jesus Christ.  Even the non-believer is heard to use it as an expletive.  How it came to be that, I have never understood other than another way of Satan endeavoring to turn man’s thoughts away from Christ as our Redeemer.

 According the Wikipedia, the Greek word of “khristos” means “anointed one”, and is a translation of the Hebrew word “Masiah” translated into English as Messiah.  Both the words of Christ and Messiah mean, “anointed one”. In the Old Testament when the promised one, the Messiah to come, was referred to, He was referred to as “The anointed one”. The New Testament identified Jesus as Christ, the “Anointed One” 530 times.  Jesus was not anointed with oil, but He was anointed with the Holy Spirit at His baptism.

In Biblical times oil was used for many things.  It was also used for sacred purposes such as Israel’s high priests when taking that office.  Some of Israel’s kings, especially from the line of David, were anointed by pouring the oil on the head in a circle to form a crown.

In Luke 9:20 Jesus asked Peter “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered “You are ‘The Christ of God’.  In Matthew 16:16 he was quoted as saying “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.  He was admitting that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One from God.

Acts 2:36 states “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (our anointed one).”

Hymns of Praise then let us sing

Unto Christ, our heavenly King

Who endured the Cross and grave

Sinners to redeem and save.

Christ, God’s ‘Anointed One’ finished the job He came to do.  Hallelujah, what a Saviour! Amen (Pause and think on this).

'B' is for Bridegroom

Among the titles for God, one that is used often for Christ, is ‘Bridegroom’.  The description of the Bridegroom is actually used 14 times in the New Testament.  The Church is called the ‘bride of Christ’, and therefore as the Bride, is spiritually united with Christ, the Bridegroom.

When I was a young girl, my friends and I would often discuss what we wanted in a husband, in our bridegroom.  Of course we wanted him to be handsome and rich, definitely rich!  It would be nice if he was an important person, maybe president of the country.  He should be a good person, and be a faithful husband.

How do all these fantasies of the perfect husband compare to Christ as the perfect Bridegroom?    One book of the Old Testament I enjoy reading when comparing Jesus to the Bridegroom, is the Song of Solomon.  He is said to be fair and ruddy, his appearance is excellent, stately and majestic.  Our bridegroom, Jesus, will be the desire of all nations, one of beauty and majesty.

As to our Bridegroom’s riches, they are infinite.  He is heir of all things, and as His bride, we will be ‘joint heirs’ with Christ.

Will our Bridegroom be Important?  Yes, He is the Son of the Most High God, Prince of Kings of the earth.  He is equal to the Father, and Ruler of the Universe.  Human language has no way of describing His glory—it is beyond words.  It is through Him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Jesus love passes all understanding.  We are told His compassion’s are new every morning.  His mercy and loving-kindness endures forever (Psalm 136).  He loved His Bride so much He paid the price of sin and died in her place.  He is willing to cover His bride with His own righteousness.  He rejoices over the bride, and delights in her.  Now, if that’s not ‘love’, what is!?

Will He be faithful?  Truth and Faithfulness are Attributes of the nature of our Bridegroom.  He will never change, which is another Attribute—Immutability.  He is as faithful now as He ever will be or has been.    He is ALL Faithful.

Christ will soon come to claim the bride, and we will reign with the Bridegroom for eternity.  In the book of Revelation we read about our new home, the New Jerusalem.  In John 14:2 He said He is preparing this home for us now.

                                                                 "Hallelujah!                                                                                                                       For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad

And give Him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come

And His bride has made herself ready,

Fine linen, bright and clean

Was given her to wear.” Rev. 19:6-9

I for one can hardly wait to join my Bridegroom at that Celebration Banquet, our Wedding Feast.  In Revelation 22:17 we are told “The Holy Spirit and the bride (true believers) say, Come!”  and vs. 21 “Yes, come Lord Jesus!”  Your Bride is waiting!

It has been awhile since I shared anything from my heart on this website.  The Lord has laid it on my mind to get back to business and share His 'Gems' he lays on my heart.  I am going to begin with a study I did some years ago on Names of God.  I could probably go through the alphabet again, and come up with 26 more names, He is so Majestic and Awesome, even names do not do justice.   The name I have chosen to begin with is Adonai.  Don't you just love saying that word?  I do?  He is my Adonai!  He is my Lord!

A is for Adonai

“Your NAME is like perfume poured out.”  S of S 1:3
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your NAME in all the earth!”  Psalm 8:1
“The NAME of the Lord is a strong tower…”  Proverbs 18:10

What is in a name?  There have been many names used for God down through the ages, and many of these are used because of the meaning behind the name. For the next few weeks I am going to go through the alphabet, thinking about a different name for God each week, and writing a brief, though hopefully enlightening synopsis of that name.  It is my sincere thought that as Christians, we must continually be learning and growing in the Lord, so what better way than to learn about Him through His names.
 
 I have heard this name, Adoni, from time to time, but never did know the meaning behind it.  There are other ‘A’ names that come to mind, such as Almighty, Alpha, and Anointed One, but I love saying the word “Adonai" pronounced (A-do-NAI).  It catches my heart some way.

Adonai is the Hebrew name for ‘My Lord’.  It is used in the Hebrew reading as a substitute for the name YHWH, Yahweh (Yah-ve) or Jehovah, with the primary meaning of “self-existent one”.  YHWH is called a ‘Tetragrammation’, using the 4 consonants of the Hebrew name for God.  YHWH was considered too sacred to be spoken aloud, so the word ‘Adonai’ (Lord) is substituted for the name in utterance.    The vowels of Adonai or Elohim (God) are inserted in the Hebrew texts so that the modern reconstruction of YHWH is Yahweh or Jehovah.

The first part of the word “Adon”, means “steward administrator, master or Lord.”  By adding the “ai” this intensifies the meaning to mean the Lord of all, or Supreme Lord.  Therefore, by using the title Adonai, we are emphasizing that God is Sovereign, giving Him Lordship.  It also places us in the role of servant, that is servant to our Lord, our Adonai.

The chorus to a song entitled 'My Adonai',  sung by Avalon:

Adonai, I lift up my heart and I cry

My Adonai.

You are the maker of each moment

Father of my hope and freedom,

Oh, my Adonai.

GOD IS SPIRIT

“God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)."  John 4:24

We worship God in Spirit, as He is Spirit.  Sometimes we let our faith slip, and we begin to have doubts because we cannot see Him.  But Paul tells us we are without excuse as God is manifest everywhere.
     He is Creator of the stars, as well as the smallest atom.
                    He is creator of elephants, as well as electrons;
                                 Dinosaurs to diamonds;
                                                      Oceans to the dewdrop.

His creation is all around us, we cannot say He is invisible.  But when we do lack faith, our great God is great enough to hold us by His Faithfulness.

Lord  God Almighty,  Who was and is and is to come, I will praise You and exalt You as long as I have my being, and then for eternity.  You and You alone are worthy to be praised and worshiped!  Amen

THE CURSE AND THE GLORY OF THE CROSS

In Bible days the act of nailing or binding a person to a cross or tree was considered the cruelest and most shameful method of capital punishment.  Anyone hanging on a tree according to Deuteronomy 21:23, is cursed by God.  Because of the stigma and curse on anyone ‘hanged on a tree’ the idea of a crucified savior was foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews (I Corinthians 1:23).  Yet Jesus willingly took the curse and humiliation of the law and as Galatians 3:13 tells us “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”  Thus He became the means of freeing people from the curse of Sin.

Jesus did not just ‘die’ in our place—He became a “Curse” of the worst kind, for you and for me.  He received the total rejection by the Father when He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we could be "accepted” in the beloved.  He bore the utter darkness, died alone as the Father had to turn His back on His beloved and only Begotten Son so that we would not have to die alone.

“Because Jesus Christ did the Will of the Father by being obedient even unto death, we are all purified from sin by the offering that he made of His own body once and for all.  Every Jewish priest performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times; but these sacrifices can never take away sins.  Christ however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then He sat down at the right hand of God the Father.  There He now waits until God puts His enemies as a footstool under His feet.  With one sacrifice, then, He has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin”.   Hebrews 10:10-14  (The Good News New Testament).

The work of the Cross was to atone for the sin of the world, our sin.  Atonement itself is life changing.  Yet redemption is free through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.  All who accept His payment for their redemption become new creatures in Christ.  This is the GLORY OF THE CROSS!  Lives are altered and redirected by it!

But we cannot leave our Savior on the Cross.  On the third day He rose, triumphant over sin, hell and death!  Death has lost and Life has won!  He lives, our Savior lives!

Have a Glorious Resurrection Day knowing we serve a Risen Savior!  Praise God, He lives!

One Look at the Cross

Years ago I saw a picture of Jesus, standing before Pilate.  A robe had been placed around his shoulders, a crown made of thorns was on his head, but He really looked quite serene.  There were a few drops of blood showing on his forehead caused by the thorns, but otherwise He looked very kingly and unmarred.  This is not according to the prophecy in Isaiah 52:14.  Here it states that “His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”  To me, this is saying that He was so beaten up He did not look human.  This is the effect the brutalities described in Matthew 26:67, 68 and 27:27-30 had done to Him.

The first stop made after He was arrested was before Annias, the old ‘political’ boss and father-in-law of the present High Priest.  It was here Jesus received the first recorded “slap”.  One of the meanings for “slap” in Webster’s dictionary is “to hit with force.”  On His already sensitized skin, it no doubt caused severe pain and even bruising; may have even been with the fist.

Jesus second stop was before Caiaphas, the current reigning High Priest.  While Jesus was here, it is recorded in Matthew 26:67 that they spat on His face and buffeted Him, while some ‘smote’ Him with the palms of their hands.  According to Webster’s dictionary, to buffet is to ‘hit with the fist’.  Luke 22:63-65 states that they “mocked him and smote him”.  Webster gives the word for ‘smote’ or smite’ as meaning to strike or attack with powerful or disastrous effect.  They even blindfolded Him and then struck Him.

He was then taken to a mock trial before the Sanhedrin, the ‘lawyers’ of the day.  Following the trial before the Sanhedrin, He was taken to Pilate, the Roman Governor.  By the time Jesus reached Pilate’s courtyard, He was exhausted, dehydrated, beaten and bruised.  Pilate did not find any reason for sentencing Jesus, and sent Him to Herod Antipas.  (This was the Herod who had kept Jesus cousin, John the Baptist in prison for months, and then had him beheaded at the request of his wife’s daughter.)  Herod did not want the final decision, but before sending Him back to Pilate, Jesus was turned over to the soldiers.  The soldiers tried to make a mockery and spectacle of Jesus by putting a fine robe on Him and clamping a crown made of thorns on His head.  These thorns are from a bush found in Israel with thorns at least an inch long.  This was forced down on Jesus head, and with the head being a very vascular area, not only would a few drops of blood show, but also blood no doubt was streaming down Hi face, running into His eyes and mouth.

Luke 23:22 tells about going back to Pilate, and Pilate still did not feel Jesus had done anything to warrant death, so he thought the Jews would be content to just punish Him by having Him flogged.  A “flogging” by the Romans was commonly done prior to their crucifixions to help ‘speed’ up death.  It was administered by a whip made of calfskin, using several cords or thongs weighted with jagged pieces of bone or metal, and then applied to the bare upper body.  The Romans tied their victim to a post and the blows were applied to the back and loins and at times even struck the face and bowel areas.  This is the flogging which Christ received according to Matthew 27:36.  It was not merely 39 stripes as the Jewish law gives, but by Roman standards, it was indefinite—until the one doing the flogging decided to quit, or the victim died.

At any point Jesus could have called on the angels to save Him and avenge His enemies, but He came as the perfect Lamb of God, willing to take the curse and humiliation that we might be free from the curse of Sin.

One Look at the CROSS and I am humbled!

MY VALENTINE PRAYER TO JESUS

“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.

(Song of Solomon 7:20)

“I am His.”

(Song of Solomon 2:16)

Lord, I have learned to love the book of Song of Solomon, as I see it to be about the love-relationship between us, You and me.  You are the one ‘whom my soul loves’ (1:7).  ‘I held on to him and would not let him go’ (3:4).  You see me as lovely and beautiful (6:4) and even perfect (vs. 9).  And the verse I see as Abounding Grace is 6:3, ‘I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.’  You have covered me with Your love (2:4) and made me perfect in Your eyes.  I sit in Your shade and take delight! (2:3).  And to sum it all from Galatians 2:20 “…the Son of God…loved me and gave Himself for me.”  There is no greater love than this!  Thank You, Jesus.  I love You.  Amen

TEA CUPS

In my china cabinet I have several lovely china teacups.  One of these I bought in Halifax, Nova Scotia some 25+ years ago.  Another one I bought in England at about that same time.  The rest of them  came from my Aunt, who brought them from Scotland as a young woman.   I think they would be at least 100 years old.

They mostly just sit in my cabinet gathering dust, but a few years ago I used them every week for awhile.  It was after I had retired, and during the day I was home alone most of the time.  As I had my devotions one day, I was impressed with the well known verse from Revelation 3:20 that states Jesus said He would come in and ‘sup’ with me; so I decided to provide a place for this.  I would set out a couple of my special teacups, fill them with coffee or tea and imagine my Lord sitting with me, to ‘sup’ with me.  It was very easy to just tell Him my heart as we had our ‘tea party’.

This brings to mind ‘cups’ that our Savior mentioned in the Scripture.  The first one, which stands out to me, was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He was crucified.  He prayed “O Father if it be possible, let this ‘cup’ pass away from me.”  I have read different thoughts on this; some say He was afraid of the physical part.  I do not believe it was physical at all.  I believe it was my sin and your sin that He knew He would bear.  He was not to just carry it as a load, He would drink this ‘cup’ of sin, and it would become a part of Him.  He knew it was at this point of time when sin and God would clash, and God would have to turn away from His Son.   Oh, what a bitter cup!

Jesus accepted that first ‘cup’, and now He can offer us a ‘cup’, the cup of communion as He says “this is my blood which was shed for you, drink ye all of it.”  Are you ready to drink of that cup?  Am I ready to accept what He did on Calvary and give Him my life, and my all?  Are you?

When we have given Him our life, we will then be able to do as He asks in Matthew 10:42: “whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is my disciple, surely I declare to you he shall not lose his reward.”

I may have some lovely bone china teacups, probably valuable only to me, but He provides the blessings to fill my spiritual cup, to last for all eternity.

“Fill my cup, Lord,

I lift it up, Lord!

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;

Bread of heaven,

Feed me till I want no more—

Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

(By Richard Blanchard)