Category: Saturday Study

John the Baptist 11.2.24

John the Baptist is one of my favorites to study and look up to in scripture.  I pray today’s study is a true blessing for your spiritual life.

Who is John the Baptist?

John the Baptist lived the first thirty years of his life in the obscurity of the Judean desert. The story of his miraculous birth is told in Luke 1. 

Read Luke 1:5-17. 

Here is what the angel says about John the Baptist:

“… for he will be great before the Lord.” 

“… he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” 

“… he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.”

“… he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Mark’s Gospel also begins with the testimony of John the Baptist. 

Mark 1:1-3 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’”

So, John is the promised voice calling out and preparing the people for the Lord. He is the announcer that the Lord has come, but more than the angels who announced His birth. He is a special man, chosen by God, and led by the Holy Spirit, to ready God’s chosen people for the work of Christ to save them from their sins. 

John 1:6-7 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

John the Beloved (the author of the Gospel of John), unlike the other Gospel writers, is not concerned with the history of John the Baptist. Instead, he is concerned with the message of John the Baptist. 

So, to John, it doesn’t matter where he lived; it doesn’t matter what he wore; it doesn’t matter that he wore a camel-hair coat; it doesn’t matter that he ate locusts and wild honey.

The history of this man, as remarkable and wonderful as it is, isn’t the focus of John. What matters is what he said. So that is what we must focus on.

We will see this as we dig into verse 19. The priest and the Levites are trying to focus on who John the Baptist is and all John is concerned about is what John the Baptist has to say. Look with me.

1. Not the Christ

John 1:19-20 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 

Huge numbers of people are flocking to hear this strange preacher in the wilderness, and many have been baptized by him. A great stir has been made—so much so that many begin to wonder if he is the promised messiah. Remember that Christ means messiah. Here he says clearly, “I am not the Christ.” Why is it a big deal for him to say this so bluntly?

John’s ministry has become so big that it has drawn the attention of the big-time Jewish, religious leaders of the day—so much so that they have traveled to come and see what all the buzz was about. In order to understand why John was growing such a big following, we have to understand the culture at the time. 

The Roman Empire is ruling over everything and dominating all of life. The Jewish world is already on edge and now they are hearing a great deal of talk about the coming of the messiah—the greatest news they could imagine—the promised one of God. People are ripe for a deliverer. John is testifying of one. He is preaching a new beginning. “Come, repent of your old ways and look to the messiah.” 

What I love about John is this: here come the top guys in his game, the coolest cats in town, the guys by whom you want to be known and recognized. Instead of letting the fear of man sway him—instead of putting the light on himself—he is all about pointing to Jesus and he wants no credit. 

This is why he says so bluntly, “I amnotthe Christ,” and leaves it at that. He doesn’t say, “Hey, check out my portfolio, let me show you how much I have accomplished.” Again, this is huge considering that, in these guys’ eyes, he would have had a lot to prove considering he isn’t an established or trained rabbi.

Now, realize that John is a nobody in the Jewish elite circles. He has not been trained in the schools of the rabbis. He has held no position of honor in the temple, and he is not identified with either the Pharisees, the Sadducees, or the Herodians. 

So, from whom then, has he received his authority? Who has commissioned him to preach and call men to “repent?” By what authority does he baptize people? 

What I love is that he boldly stands his ground. Why? Because he knows who sent him—the Holy God. He knows who he came to proclaim. But the inquiry continues.

2. Not Elijah

John 1:21a And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”

Now, why do they ask him if he is Elijah? Elijah had been carried into heaven almost 900 years earlier. 

It was because Elijah didn’t die, but was carried into heaven, that people believed Elijah would come again to the earth. This commonly held belief is confirmed later by the disciples who answer Jesus’ inquiry about who they thought He was. 

Matthew 16:13-14 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Now, this expectation of the Jews to look for Elijah has a scriptural foundation. In the last verses of the Old Testament, it says:

Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

The problem is, this prophecy refers to the return to earth of Elijah to perform a ministry just before the second coming of Christ. What we will see is that the work of John the Baptist, just prior to the beginning of the ministry of Christ in His first coming, is remarkably similar.

This similarity is so much so that the word given to John’s father, in Luke 1:16-17, was “he [speaking of John] will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” 

The grilling and inquiry continue.

3. Not the Prophet

John 1:21b “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

To whom is “the Prophet” a reference? The answer is the “prophet” predicted through Moses. This is a prediction recorded in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”

This is one of the many messianic prophecies given in Old Testament times which received its fulfillment in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, again, John says, “No.”

The Voice

John 1:22-23 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

When John refers to himself as “the voice,” he is employing the very term which the Holy Spirit had used, seven hundred years earlier, when speaking through Isaiah the prophet.

Isaiah 40:3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Stop and consider with me the difference, and yet the tie, between the title of Jesus as “the Word” and the title of John as “the voice.” 

A.W. Pink points out something wonderful in its connection here:

“In the first place, the word exists (in the mind) before the voice articulates it. Such was the relation between Christ and His forerunner. It is true that John was the first to appear before the public eye; yet, as the ‘Word,’ Christ had existed from all eternity. Second, the voice is simply the vehicle or medium by which the word is expressed or made known. Such was John. The object of his mission and the purpose of his ministry was to bear witness to ‘the Word.’ Again, the voice is simply heard but not seen. John was not seeking to display himself. His work was to get men to listen to his God-given message in order that they might behold ‘the Lamb.’” 

We need not miss how we can apply this to our own lives today. Like John, may we embrace our God-given call to testify to and share witness of Christ to others—to be his “voices.” Most importantly, though, that we be heard but not seen! In other words, that we make our lives about Him and not about us. When they hear us speak, or see us live, may we be like John and constantly point to Jesus. May our hearers and watchers see and know Jesus as a result of their time spent around us. 

Another great point is this: once the voice or the testimony goes silent, it is the word that endures. The word endures after the voice is silent.

May this be true of us, also—that long after we have left the scene, or even this world, the Word, Jesus Christ, is the one people remember. If you forget who I, Joshua Kirstine, am, but as a result of my life, testimony, preaching, and influence, you know, walk with, and enjoy Jesus, praise be to God.When approached to speak about what I have done, I want my answer to point to all that Jesus has done. To Him be the glory. To Him be the fame.

So, when John says that he is the voice, he is saying, “It is my great privilege to point to Jesus.” 

John is essentially saying, “I am just a man who has been called to point to the One in the spotlight. I am just one voice in a big land that is very lost saying, ‘Get ready. The messiah is coming; hope is coming; the one that can save us from ourselves, our fleeting pursuit of our fame, and the lie we have lived in for far too long is coming—freedom is coming!’”

He is saying: I am just a little, tiny, galactic nobody of a man; the one who is coming, the one for whom I live and to whom I point—He is the holy God! He is everything, and I am not. Please don’t mistake me for Him. 

John is saying, “My name is,‘I am not,’ but you are looking for‘I am.’”

Jesus First

The inquisition, and challenging of John’s authority to baptize, continues. 

John 1:24-28 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Do you see what John does in this answer? He doesn’t engage with them about his merits to practice water baptism. Instead, he confirms that he does, indeed, practice water baptism, but he makes it clear that the formality, or religious practice, of baptism is not the issue. 

The issue is Christ. The most important topic is Jesus, and who Jesus is to them. He declares that they do not know the one who stands among them—the one whom he has been sent to point to and announce, the one who will change everything, the only one through whom one can have new life—Jesus Christ. 

Here is another big take away for us today: we, the body of Christ, are often guilty of allowing the religious world, and the secular world who do not know Jesus personally, to argue and debate over secondary issues—about form and function, or secondary doctrines—when the doctrine that brings new life is ignored or set aside. 

These people claim Jesus, but they know Him not! We must, first and foremost, talk about Jesus. 

I watched an interview once with a prominent pastor who was being interviewed on a TV show. He was being grilled about what he thought on one issue after another, but the pastor simply said, “What we must first talk about is who is Jesus and who is Jesus in your life?”

Why is this so important? Because, until one has new life in Christ and his heart is spiritually discerned, he cannot obey God’s law. The word of God, and the ways of the Christian, will be folly to him. So, to turn to discussions of secondary issues, is to talk about something he has no power, or will, to obey—not until God has given him new birth, a new heart, and a trust in Christ as Lord and Savior of his life. And so, because Jesus must come first, John doesn’t get caught up in the secondary issues. He keeps the focus, first and foremost, on Christ. 

Humbly Living for Him

Next, John says, “This one I speak of, the one whom you do not know, is so important and big that, ‘even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’ Even though he is physically younger than I; even though I am his elder, I am not worthy to do the work of the lowest slave and untie his sandals.” 

Remember John 1:15 John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This is he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”

John knows that even though Jesus was born after him, He was already in the story long before him. Why? Because, as we have already covered, Jesus is eternal. John knows that Jesus is the eternal Son of God.Jesus is so vast, and worthy, and magnificent, that John is not even worthy to untie His sandals. 

We have to get this, too! We have to start seeing what John saw so clearly—this thing called life, that you and I do every day, is not for all the stuff for which we typically do life.

Hear this from me today: In recognizing our place in the shadow of the Lord Jesus, we should feel humbled and not humiliated. Recognizing who Christ is, compared to ourselves, doesn’t mean we are to wither into a hole and feel lonely, miserable, unloved, and down. 

John doesn’t do that; he joyfully lives life, even though he has a right view of who he is in comparison to Jesus. 

Let’s think about this for a moment:

John has many reasons to proclaim that he is someone important. He is no ordinary man. He is the key subject of Old Testament prophecy, the son of a priest, born as the result of the direct intervention of God’s power. He has been filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, engaged in a ministry, which has drawn great multitudes unto himself. And yet, John understands, rightly, who Jesus is and, therefore, who he is in His shadow. In the shadow of the holy and divine, he is not even worthy to hold His sandals at the door.

The question for us is: what else, what other stuff, what little waste-of-time trophy or personal glory, do we make our lives about instead of Jesus?

No matter where you are with God today, you have to hear the massive revelation this is to our everyday lives. You have to see that Jesus is what your entire existence is about—why you breathe, why you go to school, why you work, why you parent, why you date, why you eat and drink, why you do anything. 

We are to live, and lead, like John did, making a big impact on the things we do and the people we are around, but at the same time realizing every step of the way that, when we accomplish great things or taste success, we do so knowing that God has been on the scene a long time, and He is the source for our vision, giftedness, opportunity, creativity, energy, and breath. 

It is for His glory, not our own, that we do good things and we succeed!

John says that he is not even worthy to untie His filthy sandals. You have to understand what a lowly task it was, in that day, to even touch someone’s sandals—covered in feces, filth, and grime. To do this task was to interact with nothing you would ever want to touch with your bare hands, and John says he is not even worthy to do that job. 

Now, this acknowledgement is either a recognition of how lowly he is or how high the person is of whom he speaks.In this case, I believe it is both. John understands how low he is in the towering shadow of the Son of God! John knows who he isn’t and who God is. 

Do you get this in your life? If you say you get it, does your life truly represent this fact? One of the greatest blessings we can give each other is to model this for each other. When the world sees us getting low and serving others, may they see us pointing to Jesus who humbles the proud and lifts up the downtrodden. 

There is a lot we can learn from John the Baptist. This is just a taste. I pray it is a helpful and inspiring look at how we can better live humbly for our King. 

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Joseph & Mary 10.26.24

Luke 1:26-30 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” 

As we dive into Mary’s testimony, we come to understand that she is a teenage girl, committed to Joseph to be married, and is preparing for her wedding. Things get interesting as she is visited by an angel of the Lord. Now, any of us would be freaked out at the sight of the angel, but not Mary. Notice that she is troubled, but not at the sight of an Angel. Instead it’s at his announcement that she is favored, and the Lord is with her. What I love about Mary’s response is what it reveals about her heart for God! An angel has just told her that she is “highly favored and that God is with her.” 

Realize that the way the Jewish people thought about God’s presence was in the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest could go on their behalf. So, these are not casual, flippant words for Mary. The concept of God being with us and the concept of our being favored by God are not words that Mary took lightly—it rocked her!

Here is the point: It should rock us, too! She was blown away at the thought that God would draw near to her. What a life altering, profoundly powerful idea that the living God has drawn near to us. Not only does He draw near, but He has a plan and a provision for us. He had a plan for Mary as well.

Luke 1:31-33 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

We also see this life-altering announcement given to Joseph.

Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Joseph and Mary both show signs of great faith in God despite being told life-changing news. How big do you believe God is? 

We serve a huge God who knows no bounds. He is able, more than able. He does, and will do, what is best for His eternal purposes. There is no situation that is above God or out of His reach.

I think it was Mary and Joseph’s big view of God that helped them thrive in a really tough situation. If God is small and limited in your mind and heart, you will worry, and you will doubt. If God is big, sovereign, and over it all, you will lean not on your own understanding but trust in Him. 

Luke 1:34-37 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Now surely, in Mary’s life, this news is not the peace for which she is looking. But we must step back and understand her situation. 

1. Her People in Unrest:

Her people are in unrest from the incredibly high taxation under Caesar, hatred and brutality of Herod, and the military force Rome was applying to the Jewish people. 

2. The Unplanned Pregnancy of an Engaged, Teenage Girl:

By tradition, her pledged spouse would try to divorce her, or have her stoned, for her perceived adultery! Think about what this does to her wedding plans—because, you don’t mess with a girl’s wedding! 

Can you imagine what the town will say when she starts to show? 

What does she say, “Oh an angel visited me; the Holy Spirit made me pregnant.” 

“Come on Mary, just admit it, you are a floozy and a liar.”

There are so many reasons for Mary to be freaking out. But listen carefully to the response of a scared teenage girl who is in the midst of an oppressive upbringing, an arranged marriage, and now hearing news that would rip any young girl’s social life apart. 

Luke 1:38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

In the midst of all of life’s chaos, on the heels of more chaotic news, she is at peace! She is experiencing great harmony with God even in the midst of the storm and with more curveballs to come—including a one-hundred-mile donkey ride while pregnant and giving birth in a dirty, animal cave. Yet, she is at peace! How? Why? There are three things we see in Mary that help us understand real and lasting peace! 

1. Mary has a high view of God

Listen to her heart as she sings out to God these words:

Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; [Listen to the great divine insight she has as she must be thinking about who really is in power instead of Herod or Caesar.] he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

Her soul magnifies the Lord and rejoices in God, for holy is His name and mighty is His power. 

There are a lot of things in our sin in which we can magnify and rejoice. Mary’s heart is fixed on God, and she sees Him as Holy and worthy. She sees Him as mighty over all things. This is how she has peace—because she has a healthy and high view of God.

Author Steve Brown, says it so well, “As long as I could keep God in church, in my theology books, and in my God discussions, I could deal with Him. But when the real God came, it felt like he shook the church, burned the books, and laughed at some of our God discussion. I then realized that one doesn’t “deal with” God. He deals with us!”

We must be growing in our view of who God is. If peace is going to be real in our hearts and minds, so must our huge God! In John 3:30 John says it well, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” 

2. Mary surrendered to the will of God.

Luke 1:38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” …

If you are in charge of your life and you have not truly surrendered it to God in all things, that means you are still trying to hold onto the controls, and it’s no wonder why you have no peace; it’s no wonder why you are freaking out!

Mary has every opportunity to doubt God, to make excuses, and to run away, but she surrenders. 

How are you at surrendering yourself to God’s will, to God’s word, so that He is the true authority in your life? Mary models a life that is truly surrendered to God and truly yielding to His will by saying, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

3. Mary and Joseph embraced the good news of Jesus 

Luke 1:31-33 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 

Later to Joseph, the Angel says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  We must understand that we are powerless for peace by ourselves, and why we are powerless for peace—because of our sin. This is why we need a savior!

Man’s power produces idolatry and when he elevates anything over God, that is sin. Sin is idolatry! When our relationships, our stuff, our status, or our success is more important to us than God is, that is sin. What we have to understand is that when these things are so important to us, we will stress about keeping them in order, from breaking down. 

The problem is our relationships, our stuff, our status, our successes, and our health, all break down. 

Psalm 38:18 (NASB) … I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

Man doesn’t have the power to not stress nor to not worry, because man is sinful; and, when we value the things God created more than God, we are in sin. And when that stuff breaks down, we can stress.

The good news is the arrival of Jesus!

Matthew 1:21 “… you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

There is no peace in this world without the Prince of Peace. There will be no peace in your life without the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called … the Prince of Peace. 

What Mary and Joseph understood, and the reason why they had true peace, is that their very souls received the good news of the child that would set us free!  The question is, do you have a high view of God that causes you to truly surrender your life to Jesus alone, to trust in Him and rest in His peace even when times are hard, not going well, and/or not looking good on the horizon?

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

God the Son, Jesus 10.19.24

This week, we finally turned to the New Testament. 

As we do, we must start where the New Testament starts and the key figure it introduces. 

Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 

Jesus Christ is the promised messiah, the son of Abraham, the son of David. All of the Old Testament has been, essentially, pointing to Him from the beginning. 

God’s first gospel declaration and announcement, at the fall of mankind in the garden, was made in Genesis 3:15 that He would send His redeemer, an offspring of the woman, who would defeat sin and Satan, and death for His people. 

Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 

All of the Old Testament points to the messiah, the redeemer, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 

So, it is exciting when we read in the opening of the New Testament that this redeemer’s name is Jesus and His title is Christ.

His Name, Jesus: It was pronounced “Yeshua”: which means “Yahweh saves”—God saves.

His Title, Christ: The Greek word is Christos, which means an anointed royal figure. The Hebrew word for Christ is translated as messiah, which means the redeemer, foretold in all of Jewish history, who would come and reconcile God’s people to God.

In our first reading this week, we started in Luke 1. In verse 35, we read that the angel told Mary, “the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” So, not only has the promised redeemer arrived, but He is no ordinary man. He is the eternal Son of God, and His name is Jesus. 

This sets the table for us to look at our next passage in John 1. 

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 

Here we learn that Jesus is the spokesman of the Godhead. Jesus, the son of God, is the Word.

In Revelation 1:8, a title declared of Jesus is “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” which intimates that He is God’s alphabet—the One who spells out deity, the One who utters the word of God.

Even clearer, perhaps, is the testimony of John 1:18: No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

John 1:1a In the beginning was the Word

The phrase “In the beginning” precedes the making of the “all things” that we read about in John 1:3. It is, therefore, a reference to the beginning of creation, the beginning of time.

It says, “In the beginning was the word.” There are two separate words in the Greek which, in this passage, are rendered “was”. One use means “to exist”; the other means “to come into being.” 

The latter word, egeneto, is used in John 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 

Have you ever wondered why this sentence is spoken so weirdly? It is because the point being made is critical. John is saying, “all things that ‘are made’ were made by Him.” In other words, it is John’s way of saying that Jesus is not made; He is eternal. 

John 1:1b and the Word was with God

Differently than the opening verses of the other gospels, John opens his gospel by presenting Christ not as the son of David, nor as the son of man, but as the Son of God. John shows Jesus’ separate personality and shows that there is a relationship to the other persons of the blessed Trinity.

John states it again clearly in John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. 

The word “with” clarifies a togetherness, a fellowship, a relationship. In this simple, yet concise statement we have the needed foundation for the Holy Trinity. 

We also have one of the many places by which we denounce another terrible, yet often believed, heresy which is called modalism.

Modalism: God is successively the Father, then Son, and then Holy Spirit and is not simultaneously Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In other words, God is one being, or person, who reveals Himself in three modes, or manifestations, at different times.

This completely goes against the teaching of God’s word which tells us that the one true God is a triune God. He is a trinitarian God—a tri-unity, a three-in-oneness. 

Trinity: One God, three persons. There is but one eternal Godhead that exists in three co-equal, co-eternal persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully and completely God; each has the same essence and is described in Scripture as possessing the attributes of God.

Again, John 1:1b says, “and the Word was with God.” 

This is the heart of the great, historic doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus is God and He is the image of God, perfectly reflecting all that God is, and standing forth from all eternity as the fullness of deity in a distinct Person. There are three Persons—three centers of consciousness; two of them are mentioned here. 

John 1:1c and the Word was God. 

He repeats his claim in John 1:18 saying, “the one ‘who is at the Father’s side, the one who has made him known’ is Himself the only God.”

This is the Christian confession. Jesus Christ, the Word, is God. 

Martin Luther said, “this text is a strong and valid attestation of the divinity of Christ.” 

Like the necessity of the eternality of Jesus, if Jesus Christ is not God, He could not accomplish your salvation (Hebrews 2:14–15) and His glory would not be sufficient to satisfy your everlasting longing for new discoveries of beauty. John Piper said it well, “If you throw away the deity of Jesus Christ, you throw away your soul and with it all your joy in the age to come.”

John 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 

Again, Jesus was not made. He is self-existent within the Godhead.

Now, suppose a Muslim, or a Jehovah’s Witness, or someone who embraces Arianism says, “Jesus was not God, was not eternal—not eternally begotten—but rather Jesus was created. He was the first of creation. The highest of the high angels.” 

John has written verse 3 precisely in a way that makes this line of thinking impossible. See it with me; take it in and let it ground itself in your mind and heart.

John says, “without him [Jesus] was not anything made that was made.” 

It is made explicit, emphatic, and crystal clear that “anything” that was “made”, Christ made it.

Hebrews 1:2 … he [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

This is John’s emphasis as he starts with the fact that Jesus is the pre-existent and eternally God and not a part of creation. Jesus is the agent of creation. 

Look next at verse 14.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh …

The living God took on human form and a human nature. This is the doctrine of the incarnation. It is good news, Church, that the invisible became visible. 

The incarnation does not mean that God dwelt in a man, but that God became man. To understand the incarnation of God rightly you must know this: 

He became what He was not previously though He never ceased to be all that He was before. The babe that was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born in Bethlehem was named Immanuel, which means “God with us.” The one true God is not a distant, far-off God. No, He has come to us. 

Jesus, who is God, put on flesh and a human nature. The fact that Jesus is fully God and became fully man is vital to our salvation and His redemptive work as the messiah, because He had to be like us in every way to be our representative, and He had to be without sin in order to be the only worthy atonement for our eternal standing with God. 

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus had to be made like us. This is the incarnation. He took on meat, incarnation. Carne means meat, flesh. 

Let’s dig a little deeper into the important aspects of the incarnation of Christ.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh … 

Jesus was a normal looking man. He looked like a regular guy. He had a mother. He was born. He grew up. He had to learn to walk, to read and write. 

Luke 2:52 says he grew “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” He had friends.

God the Son became a real man, yet He was a sinless, perfect man. As man, He was “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners (Hebrews 7:26).”

Jesus is the only one who was sinless. He came near; He took on flesh so that He could be our representative. Even though He was tempted in every way as we are, He did not sin!

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 

Why is this so important? Listen, here is the good news that changes everything!

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB) … He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

He had to become the perfect substitute, to satisfy God’s wrath that was on His people, because of their sin. 

Hebrews 9:22 (NKJV) … without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

The Bible says, in Romans 6:23, the wages for sin is death.

The good news that we celebrate today is that “Jesus died for our sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:3)

He suffered. He died physically. He did so as a substitute in our place. He died the death we deserve.

He did so to pay the penalty for our sins because the wage for sin is death. 

Jesus, alone, can reconcile a holy God to a sinful people because He, as God, became a man and took sin upon Himself. That’s why Paul says, “there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:8 (NIV) says it this way, “… God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 

Luther calls this “the great exchange.” My death for His life; my sin for His righteousness; my condemnation for His salvation; my failure for His success; my defeat for His victory.

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

There is nothing more important than the death of Jesus. It is literally the crux of human history and the crux of our faith. Without Jesus’ death, there is no forgiveness of sin. Without Jesus’ resurrection, there is no eternal life. Without Jesus, there is no relationship with a good, holy, just, and living God.

But it doesn’t end there. 

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

Jesus Christ died for sins (that was Friday) and was raised from the dead (that was Sunday) all in accordance with the Scriptures. In other words, just as it was foretold it would be.

Jesus Himself proclaimed in all four gospels that He must rise!

For example, look at Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Why is it important that Jesus rose from the grave? All authority for salvation is granted to Jesus in His resurrection. Without His resurrection, faith in Christ would be useless, no one would be redeemed from sin, and Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth.

If we stop at the cross, though, we stop with an incomplete view of our new life with God. Salvation is not just the removal of our sin—not just the payment of our sin. The payment Jesus made on the cross for our sins makes it possible for us to have new life with God. It sets the table for us to be reborn, to live in righteousness for His glory. 

This is why Jesus had to rise—so He could pave the way, to lead the victory march. Jesus’ rising from the dead is His way of leading us forward in righteousness. 

After being seen by hundreds of witnesses, Jesus ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest and head of the church, He fulfills the ministry of representative, intercessor, and advocate for His people as He rules as Lord over all. We believe Jesus is personally and visibly coming again to judge the living and the dead. Praise God for the costly grace of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

It is this gospel, this good news, to which we testify to all whom God puts in our path. May we be diligent and passionate in all we do to make much of the name above every name, the name of Jesus Christ. To God be the glory forever and ever. 

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Minor Prophets 10.12.24

The last twelve books of the Old Testament are known as the minor prophets. The combined length of them is 67 chapters—about the same length of Isaiah. These are minor as their length is shorter. However, the message of these books is still large, as it comes from the Lord. The minor prophets have many different attributes which make them specific. Generally, they are written directly to a people—sometimes Israel and sometimes a pagan nation. The minor prophets reveal great things about the character of God, the coming messiah, and about ourselves. It has probably been challenging to even find them in your Bible, as many times they are seldom referenced. As you become used to them, hopefully you will start to desire to turn to them more often. 

Hosea 1:1-10; 3:1-5

Hosea was called by God to prophesy during the last days in Israel. Israel was the northern kingdom, and they continually followed after idols. Israel separated under Rehaboam. All the kings that ruled over them were wicked. In the Bible, worship of false deities by Gods people is called adultery. Israel whored after false gods. In the Mosaic Covenant, God told Israel that this would break the covenant and that they would be punished for it. 

Hosea was commanded to marry a woman, Gomer, who would commit adultery. This was an intense illustration of Israel’s national tragedy. This is a story of a one-sided love and faithfulness between a prophet and his wife. This one-sided love and faithfulness is a parallel to God’s love for His people. 

Hosea can be broken down into two large parts. Part one is the adulterous wife and faithful husband (1:1-3:5). Part two is the adulterous Israel and the faithful Lord (4:1-14:9). Idolatry and worshiping false deities are sins for which both Israel and Judah got into trouble. This sin is the sin that Israel was continually guilty of, and it is the most prominent sin recorded in the prophets. God parallels this act with that of a spouse cheating on the other who is faithful and loving. Hosea lists over 150 statements concerning the sin of Israel; over half of these statements are concerning idolatry. 

Think about this illustration that God was giving to the people of Israel: If you were Hosea, how would you feel knowing that your spouse is going to cheat on you, that she is going to leave you for another and they are going to shack up together for a while? Not only is this going to happen, but you are going to have to redeem her. To redeem means to buy back or to buy out of, and Hosea did just that. He went, and he redeemed his wife. Is this not a beautiful picture of the faithfulness and love of God for His people? If you were the faithful spouse, would you not be heartbroken at what your spouse had done? Would you not be saddened? This is the paradigm of how God loves His bride. 

Some of you have experienced this unfaithfulness in reality, and for this I am truly sorry. This sin has had horrible effects on many areas of your life. Know that God can heal the brokenness you are experiencing. God displays His steadfast love to His people as an example of what can be found in Him. He gives us an example of how we are to love in the gospel. All of us have sinned and put something before God at many points in our life. God calls us to repent of these actions and to show pure love from a faithful heart. Hosea portrays God’s faithfulness, justice, love, and forgiveness toward His people. For those who are His people, we are told that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Onto what sin are you holding? Confess this before God, repent, and ask Him for help. Throw yourself on His mercy and grace. Do not commit spiritual adultery with your sin. By continuing in sin, you are committing spiritual adultery. Lay your sin before God. 

Jonah 2

Jonah was the selfish prophet. God called him to go to Nineveh to warn them of coming judgment. Nineveh was a most brutal people and they were heathens (meaning they did not know God). Jonah did not want to go, so much so, that Jonah ran the other way rather than obey God. Take note of a large theme in Jonah: the sovereignty of God. First, God commanded Jonah to go. Second, when Jonah disobeyed God and got on a boat to flee, God ‘hurled’ a great wind onto the sea and this created a great tempest so that the boat would soon be destroyed. This word “hurled” implies throwing far, with great power. It is used four times in the chapter indicating direct action with intent. Third, after they cast Jonah into the seas the seas went still. Fourth, God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. Fifth, God spoke to the fish and it vomited up Jonah. Sixth, God commanded Jonah, again, to go to Nineveh. Seventh, God appointed a plant to grow. Eighth, God appointed a worm to eat the plant. Finally, God appointed a scorching wind from the east. We see the sovereignty of God laid open in this book. 

​

Jonah knew the character of God. In chapter four verse two, we see that Jonah knew what God would do if the people repented. That was the very reason Jonah left to go to Tarshish. Do you see the compassion of God? Jonah had declared the greatness of God (1:9; 2:1-9), yet Jonah was upset that God did not bring destruction on Nineveh. He even responded back to God upset. God did not strike Jonah down as he deserved, but He taught him a lesson about the sanctity of human life and that God has compassion for His creation (4:11). 

Jonah can teach us a lot! What God commands us to do, we must do. We do not hear directly from the Lord now, but we do have God’s word and the expectation is that we are to be obedient to it. Proclaim the greatness of God. The sailors heard about the greatness of God and they saw it. Proclaim His greatness and let Him work through the situation. When the sailors saw the power of the Lord, they feared the Lord and offered a sacrifice to the Him. 

Even in the midst of his deserved punishment, Jonah cried out to God and he was heard. In chapter two, we see some beautiful proclamations of God. Jonah looks to God as his salvation and proclaims the glory of God. We can understand God’s sovereignty and obey His commands, but there is something very different about having the same heart as God. We see by the end of the book that Jonah knows who God is but is not in sync with some of God’s attributes. Where is your knowledge of God correct, but you do not practice your theology (understanding of who God is) based on His character? How are you not trusting in God’s sovereignty? Where are you fighting for control of your life, rather than accepting God’s wise, good, and sovereign hand? 

Habakkuk 2:1-5; 3:1-19

Habakkuk prophesied just before the fall of Assyria to Babylon. Habakkuk asked great questions, “Why are the wicked prospering in the midst of God’s people? Why are the righteous beaten down? Why does it seem that God is inactive?” How many times have you wondered these questions? 

God gave Habakkuk an answer. God told Habakkuk that He, God, was going to use the Chaldeans—a wicked nation, more corrupt than Judah—as a rod of chastisement. Habakkuk reacted with shock and dismay. God patiently taught Habakkuk, until Habakkuk was able to sing a psalm of praise to God. In Habakkuk, we see a very different faith than what we see in Jonah. God called on Jonah; Habakkuk called on God. Jonah ran from God and Habakkuk ran to God. The book of Jonah ends in foolishness; the book of Habakkuk ends in faith. Jonah was sent to save Gentiles from destruction; Habakkuk shows the sovereignty of God over the Gentiles. Jonah waited for destruction; Habakkuk waited for God’s glory. 

Habakkuk wrestled with tough issues of faith. He did not try to hide these questions, but he honestly asked God and awaited an answer. God’s response here is interesting; it is certainly not what we expect. God created everything and has the right to do with everything as He wishes. God did not have to answer Habakkuk, nor did He have to be patient and show Habakkuk what He was doing. Yet, God’s response is amazing. He declared to Habakkuk what He was doing and showed Habakkuk His might, power, and wisdom. Habakkuk responded in awe and wonder composing a hymn, or psalm, of praise. Habakkuk came to know God in a way that changed His perspective. 

Habakkuk 2:4 “… but the righteous shall live by … faith.” This is a verse quoted by Paul in the New Testament. God told Habakkuk this is the standard for the righteous—that they live by faith. This faith is in God. The righteous are not puffed up when they are living by faith. God proceeded to make clear to Habakkuk what this really meant, “to live by faith.” This was not to trust in the strength of an army or in wicked men, but to trust in the One who raises up and tears down kingdoms and nations. Habakkuk declared this faith in the last part of chapter three—if the vine is bare and the flock is cut off, I will still praise God. Can you do this? If everything you owned turned to ash, all of your possessions gone, and you did not know where your next meal would come from, could you praise God? Can you trust in His perfect plan? Are you waiting to see the great work of God?

Zechariah 3:1-10

For a dozen years or more, the task of rebuilding the temple had stood half completed. Zechariah was commissioned by God to encourage the people to finish the temple. Zechariah reminded the people of the future importance of the temple, that one day the messiah would come and inhabit it. Zechariah reminded them that this future blessing was built on their present obedience. This great hope of the messiah’s coming was encouragement to get the people to be excited about the temple being rebuilt. 

Zechariah used a series of eight visions (1-6), four messages (7-8), and two burdens—words that weigh heavily on the prophet, solemnly proclaimed (9-14)—to help show the future plans of Israel. This future was not one of Gentile domination but of the messiah ruling. 

Chapter three is part of the vision section. Joshua was in the temple working; he was a priest and his clothes were filthy. These filthy garments were representative of iniquity and they were removed, symbolizing the purification of sin—that sin has been dealt with. The text goes on to give covenant language: If the people obey and walk in my ways, then the branch of Jesse (Jesus) will come and remove sin one day. This was a prophecy concerning Jesus making atonement for sin. This was a beautiful promise of blessing which is for the eternal state, the true promised land. This was the eternal rest proclaimed. 

Only by the messiah’s coming can sin be atoned for. Only by the Messiah, the branch of Jesse, are we made spotless, our iniquity taken away. Do you see the precious promise in this verse of the coming Messiah? Zechariah was telling the people this could only be fulfilled when the temple was rebuilt, because that was when the priesthood would be reinstated. How beautiful is it that our filthy garments are taken away?

Malachi 3 and 4

Malachi marks the close of the Old Testament. He was a prophet during the days of Nehemiah. Malachi directed his message to the corrupt priesthood in Israel. He proclaimed that they were not prospering because of their wicked practices. The nation of Israel was corrupt with divorce, hypocrisy, infidelity, mixed marriages, false worship, and arrogance. After Malachi are 430 years of God’s silence to the people of Israel. 

In Malachi, a series of questions and answers were used to probe the hearts of the people. In each case a divine accusation was given and denied; the people didn’t consider themselves that bad. They had allowed the view of an amazing God to become clouded and they could no longer see the importance of keeping His commands with a right heart. These penetrating questions are questions we should ask of ourselves. Are we, in this age, guilty of the same sins as the people of Israel? We see the promise of the coming Messiah as we end out the Old Testament. 

There is a lot of great bible study to be done in the minor prophets. I pray you will continue to seek time in them, and study them, further than we were able to this week. It was my joy to preach through Habakkuk in 2015. If you are interested in a further bible study of this great book, you can click the following link and study with me: https://discipleschurch.com/habakkuk/

Next week we will turn to the New Testament and cover many of the key figures God has ordained to give amazing testimony and from whom we can benefit. I look forward to what God has in store for us in the coming months.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

King Nebuchadnezzar 10.5.24

As we look back over our reading about King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2-4, the setting is the Babylonian court shortly after Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream that led to his having insomnia. 

Ancient Babylonians strongly believed in supernatural forces and looked for omens in things like the stars, dreams, and even the shapes of animal livers. Nebuchadnezzar could not understand the dream’s message, so he called his “magicians, enchanters, sorcerers,” and other wisemen to help him try to understand his vision. Anyone could invent a meaning they could attach to the dream, but to give the dream itself without help from the dreamer was a sign of clear inspiration of understanding. That is why Nebuchadnezzar demanded to hear both the dream and its meaning.

When no Babylonian wiseman could help him, Nebuchadnezzar threatened to kill all of his wisemen including Daniel and his friends. But Daniel prayed, and God revealed the dream to him. However, before Daniel ran to the king with the interpretation, he set his heart in the right place by proclaiming the sovereignty of God in his most famous words.

Daniel 2:20-23 Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream concerned the empires that would succeed Nebuchadnezzar. Most likely, we are to understand the kingdoms represented by the various part of the statue as follows: head of gold—Babylon; chest and arms of silver—Media- Persia; middle and thighs of bronze—Greece; legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay—Rome. But, the end of the dream was the most remarkable part. It included that a rock, not cut by human hands, would destroy all these kingdoms, and it would become a mountain so large as to fill the whole earth. God’s kingdom, not established by human initiative, would rise, victorious, during the Roman era. Here we have a clear prediction of Jesus Christ.

In verses 46-49, King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and gave honor to Daniel and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and the chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 

As we turn to Daniel 3, we read about King Nebuchadnezzar’s self-worship and how he made a huge image of gold and set it up where everyone could see it—what a blatant move of sinful idolatry; mankind is so prone to make ourselves the center of our universe. The command on the people was that whenever one heard music to bow and worship the image of gold and whoever did not fall down and worship would immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. 

Next, we read how Daniel’s three friends would not bow when the music played. 

Daniel 3:14 (NIV) and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up?”

This was a direct attack on God’s command to not have any other gods before Him. It was a direct attack on the exclusivity of Christ who claims that He is the only way, truth, and life. 

Let me show you how central this is in our culture today: If you are in the business world, whether you own your own business or are in sales, marketing, or labor, the culture plays by the rules that you must be ruthless, and ride the line of ethics and honesty in how you do business, if you are going to overcome your competitors and make it. If you are a blood-bought child of God, this is an incredible pressure on you because to not play by the same rules means you will likely lose clients, bids, or even your job because you are not willing to do what the next guy is willing to do. So now this affects your conscience, your livelihood, and your character. This is not just a work thing. 

If you don’t feel this pressure, then you have likely given in to the pressure and are compromising yourself more than you realize. You have likely figured out a way to bow to the image at the market-center without seeing it or feeling it. 

If you feel this pressure, then that is a sign that you understand you are an exile in this land and you serve another God whose kingdom is quite different than this one. You embrace the struggle that comes with not bending to the twisted rules of this world in order to honor the God of the kingdom of which you are a part.

In our passage today, we see that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had none of it. 

Now, we assume that, because they stood so strongly against the cultural pressure, they must have been like the Amish who have set themselves apart and are removed from the city life, but they weren’t. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego all lived in the center of the city and worked for the very leaders that had conquered them. Daniel was one of the highest advisors to King Nebuchadnezzar that there was, much like Joseph was to Pharaoh, as the one interpreting his dreams. 

But when they were asked to privatize their faith and to compromise their worship of the one true God, they said, “No, and we don’t care what the consequences are.” Listen to their response.

Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Their response, in the face of a pending, painful death, was awesome. They believed that God could save them, and that God would save them; but if, in His sovereign plan He did not, they still would not bow down to that false image.

This is an awesome example of true devotion and faith. Despite the level of threat, and despite the ability and authority of the ruler with whom they were conversing to carry out the penalty for disobedience, they held fast, full of faith and devotion to God alone. 

Now, what is so key that we must see here today, is that what they were saying was, “We do not trust in our God, worship our God, live for our God, or suffer for our God because of what we get out of it, but we do these things simply for who He is.” 

We love God for Himself, not just for what He can give us! This unveils for us one of the biggest controversies we have in the church today—people who claim faith and devotion to God alone, who claim to worship God alone, but in the end, when life doesn’t go the way they want it to go, are furious with God. 

Why? Because deep down, God was just the means to an end—to a greater affection of the heart. In the end, they want to be God and to determine what they need and the way it should be.

Do you see the deception in that? Do you see the hypocrisy in that? Do you know to what you are truly devoted? Do you know what you truly trust in to live and enjoy life? 

The apostle Paul understood this kind of devotion to who God is and not to what He does for us: “To live is Christ. To die is gain.” You have heard, or said, this before. But do you really get it?

It means the most important thing is God—not this life, my stuff, my status, my health, nor my family. If I have to lose it all; if I die; if God Himself determines I must go into the blazing furnace, then so be it. Why? How? Because, I have God; God is my end! To live is Christ! To die is gain because I get to enjoy and feast with Christ all the more. 

Do you see that when these three said, “If God doesn’t save us from the fire we still will not bow down,” no matter what happened next, they had already won? Why? Because they were spiritually fireproof. They were not clinging to something that they might lose. They were not trying to earn something they still needed. They had God and they were satisfied in God!

These guys said, “You can have it all, but you can’t separate us from God. So, turn the heat up. Let’s do this!”

What happened next? King Nebuchadnezzar was furious with these three. He was steaming. So, what did he do? He had his men turn up the heat seven times its normal temperature and had them bound, fully clothed, and tossed into the furnace. The fire was so hot that the men who put them in died from the heat!

Next, Nebuchadnezzar saw two shocking things: 

1. He saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking around in the blazing furnace. 

2. He saw not three, but four men in the fire. The fourth he said, “looks like a son of the gods.”

What can we glean from this? In the Bible, furnaces are a metaphor for trials, suffering, and trouble. Exile doesn’t mean comfort. It doesn’t mean home. When you are in captivity, or stuck in a strange and foreign land, you are not comfortable at home.

A couple of things to take away here: 

1. While in this life, you will suffer, struggle and experience great trials! It is inevitable. 

Job 5:7 … man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

1 Peter 4:12 (GNT) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.

As Americans, we really struggle with fully accepting this as true. Americans believe deep down if you do life rightly you will not, and should not, suffer. The simple answer to that is: Jesus lived a perfect life and He suffered greatly during His life and in His death. 

We need to hold to the truth the apostle Paul gives us that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).” 

2. If you truly trust in God, and hold nothing as more valuable than Him, then when the fire of this life comes, you will not burn up but instead it will be to you what fire is to gold. 

It will refine you at your very core, changing you from the inside out, producing in you a character of the fruit of the spirit that you and I cannot produce ourselves. 

But, if you hold onto something as more valuable to you than God, the fire will consume you. Why? Because it has something to cling to and consume! But in God, you cannot be consumed by the fiery trials. You will instead be refined!

1 Peter 1:7 (NIV) These [trials] have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

The good news for us today is: “God says if you trust in me, I will walk with you in the furnace of your trials and suffering.”

Isaiah 43:1-3 … “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. … when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior …”

“I will be with you.” Jesus said it to us before ascending to heaven. “I will always be with you.”

How is He with us? The same way He was with the three men in the furnace. We see, in this encounter, the appearance of the angel of the Lord. Did you catch it? King Nebuchadnezzar said it himself in verse 28. 

Daniel 3:28 (NIV) Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him …” 

The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament can be appreciated only if we understand Him as a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, Himself.

Why is this good news to you and me today? How does this help us walk through the fires, trials, and struggles of our lives here and now? You will feel Jesus Christ walking with you through the furnaces you face in this life to the degree that you know that Jesus was willing to be thrown into the ultimate furnace for you!

Now at the very end of this passage, King Nebuchadnezzar says it correctly. 

Daniel 3:29 “… no other god can save in this way”

If you cling to any self-righteousness or to any other god or to any other power and try to walk through the furnace, it will not be able to save nor sustain you. You will be forever consumed with agony. 

Jesus Christ suffered for me not so that I might not suffer, but so that when I suffer, I might become like Him who is victorious over suffering unto eternal life with Yahweh! No other god can save in this way. Amen?

Even though King Nebuchadnezzar got it, he still struggled with making it all about himself! 

Daniel 4:28-30 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 

Even with the warning from Daniel about the coming judgment and his need to humble himself and be merciful to the oppressed, the king remained in his pride, as we see him testify to in verse 30.

Our knowledge of Babylon at the time, indicates that, humanly speaking the king had every right to be proud. Isaiah 13 alludes to Babylon’s reign over a huge empire that encompassed the area, in modern terms, from Egypt to Iran and Syria to Saudi Arabia. Nebuchadnezzar’s city was incredible. The king certainly had no shortage of reasons to be puffed up with pride. But this never justifies a haughty, prideful attitude. We must not make this life about us. It is all God’s and it is all from Him and for Him. 

In Daniel 4:31-33 The word of the Lord came to King Nebuchadnezzar and his judgment came quickly and completely. Only in humble judgment did King Nebuchadnezzar see God for who He was and honor Him for it. 

Daniel 4:34-37 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

Apparently, only a drastic humbling could convince the king of his proper place, and so God brought him to his knees. To paraphrase one writer, a man who thought himself a god was made a beast to learn that he was but a man. Those who will not humble themselves in the sight of the Lord will be cast down, not lifted up (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:6–7).

May we live humbly before our God. May we not bow to any idol nor manmade thing but only to the living God. May we cling to nothing as our hope nor our joy but God alone, so that when we face the furnace of this life’s trials, we will say, “Bring it on,” and we will remain faithful to our living and eternal God. To Him be the glory forever and ever. 

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church