It is always good to have a little evidence that a promise will be fulfilled. We like a down payment on something we are selling, an earnest check on a house sale, free taste tests of foods before we buy, a try it before you buy it, and many other things like that. It should come as no surprise, then, that we would really like something to help us trust some of God’s promises, too. He has promised many things in the past that came to pass already, but we still wonder about the future promises sometimes. 

God has promised eternal life. He has promised that even if we die he will raise us back to life. Does he give us a free sample to help encourage us? Yes, he has. He raised Jesus from the dead to show us that he has the power and the desire to raise us as well. Jesus being raised from the dead is referred to as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” in 1 Corinthians 15:20. Now if y’all have read your Bibles then y’all know that Jesus was not the first person to come back from the dead. There were even people in the Old Testament that were brought back to life hundreds of years before Jesus was on Earth. Jesus even during his ministry raised some people from the dead, so why is he the firstfruits instead of any of them? The simple answer is that there is something unique about his resurrection.

All of the people in the Bible who rose from the grave died again, except Jesus, who rose to never die again. That is why his resurrection is so much more important than the others and that is why we can trust God when he promises us resurrection and eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection is the free taste test. His is the down payment. Rom 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” 

His resurrection is also a promise of Judgment day. Act 17:31  because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Are you ready to be raised like Jesus at the last day? 

​As any Bible believer who created the world and they will likely give the same simple answer: God. On several occasions the New Testament puts forward the claim that Christ is God and one of the statements made about that assertion is that he created the world. Paul explains this in Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” 

Not only are we created by him/ through him, we were also created for him. Sometimes we miss this, at least, we act like we do. Some of us act and speak as if Christ is here for us and what ever we need or think we need he will get for us like he is a genie in a lamp with unlimited wishes and we can just tell him what to do. None of us would probably openly admit to it, but our actions and words sometimes betray us.

We have to remember that the creation is to serve the creator and not the other way around. The creator can make us as he chooses to serve whatever purpose he chooses and the creation has no right to complain. Isaiah 29:16; Jeremiah 18:4-6; and Romans 9:21 all liken it to a potter with some clay making whatever he wants. The clay can’t say anything about it. 

So, if we were created for him, what does he want us to do? He is God, so he doesn’t need us. He is not served with human hands as though he needs something, Acts 17:25. Humans make things for all kinds of purposes, but ultimately everything we make is so that we can enjoy it. Christ made us to bring him joy and glory and if we want to please him we must do whatever he commands us. If we will do what he commands we can become more than just a creation we can become a friend. 

Let’s serve our creator with our whole heart. He deserves all the praise, obedience, and honor we can give and so much more.

​The Bible describes the church as a building made up not of bricks and stone, but of living Christians. Ephesians 2:20 explains that the foundation for this temple being built for the glory of God is the teaching and examples of the apostles and prophets and that Jesus is the Cornerstone. That makes him the most important of course.

We don’t use Cornerstones in many of our buildings today. Everything is wood frames or steel beams and we don’t really build the way they did. The cornerstone is the most important, usually largest and always the first stone laid and with good reason. That large stone will affect everything that comes after it. The orientation of the corner stone will affect which direction the building is facing. If it is not level you could easily wind up with the leaning tower of Piza when you are finished.

Jesus is our cornerstone so that as we are built around and on top of him we will face the right direction as well as being stable and upright. The image of Christ the cornerstone was prophesied all the way back in Psalm 118. In verse 22 of that Psalm he is pictured as a stone that the builders rejected, but that became the cornerstone. This verse is quoted 5 times in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, and 1 Peter. The builders are the religious leaders of Jesus’ day and they rejected him. They wanted to build according to their own plan and not God’s.

What about you and me? Will we be like them and reject Jesus? Or will we accept him as the cornerstone God made him and allow God to build us on Christ as he sees fit? Peter says this cornerstone is chosen and precious and if we will believe in him we will not be put to shame. Let’s trust the master builder and build our lives and be built in his church the way he wants us to be.

When something is being built there are a great many things that are important. What is being built? Whose will it be when it is built? Where is it being built? What materials are being used in building it? Who is paying for it to be built? Who is building it? There are probably more, but this gives us the picture. Of course the answers to these questions will vary by the project. In Matthew 16:18 we read Jesus saying, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” From this verse we learn the answers to some of those questions. Jesus is the builder. The church is what is being built. There is only one being built. It is built on the rock of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. It will belong to him when it is built. 

From other passages we can find out the answers to more questions. God paid for it with his own blood -Acts 20:28. Christians are the materials he uses to build it - 1 Peter 2:5. Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the foundation with the apostles and prophets helping complete the foundation - Ephesians 2:20. He began building in Jerusalem, but has continued to make additions to it through the ages - Acts 2:47

There’s more, but let’s focus back on Christ: the builder, owner, and purchaser. He will decide who is and who is not in his church. He will decide where each stone is placed and what function it will serve. In any building there are different purposes for different parts. We sometimes are guilty of thinking like the apostles, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom (church)?’. We must remember that Jesus is the greatest and we are created for him - Colossians 1:15-18. We should be content to be part of what he is building and do our best to bring him glory and honor no matter the place he puts us or the way he chooses for us to be used. To use a concept from scripture with a different example: Shall the brick say to the builder why did you put me here? Or, Why didn’t you use me in a more prominent position? 

We answer to the Builder. Are you doing your best to fit into God’s building where the builder has placed you?

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We have all heard of someone being a boss’s right-hand man. There is no more important position for an employee to be in than that. Joseph was Pharaoh’s right-hand man, Aaron was for Moses, and Moses was for God. But what if you weren’t just next in line? What if you could be more than a hand? 

Jesus is pictured at the right hand of God more than once (Ps. 110:1; Mt. 26:64; Mk 12:36; Acts 2:33), but he is more than just God’s right-hand man like Moses had been, he actually is part of the Godhead. He is “the Arm of the Lord” as John says in 12:37-38 quoting Isaiah 53:1. How much do we use our arms? How much has God used His Arm? Psalm 98:1-2 says, “His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” Isaiah 51:9 begs God to use his arm in his day as he had in the past. Then in 52:10 he says the Lord’s holy arm is bare and the salvation of God will be seen to the furthest extent of the earth. Surely Jesus’ coming is being considered here.

The passage John quotes; however, asks “who has believed our report?” and “to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Jesus had done so many powerful miracles revealing himself as the arm of the Lord, but many people still wouldn’t believe. He claimed this fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy.

If we continued reading Isaiah 53 we would find it familiar. The Christ would be rejected by men and despised and ultimately suffer and die bearing the iniquity(sin and wickedness) of us all. Yes, God put his arm on display for all to see and then cut that arm off and allowed his arm to die separated from him(Mt. 27:46) How impressive that his arm lives and reaches out to save us even now. At the end of that arm is the hand that is not shortened or unable to save (Isa 59:1). 

Christ, the Arm of the Lord, reaches out to save us. Will you reach out and allow him to take your hand in his and keep it there so that you can be saved? It you will there is no power that can remove it.

jp - The Arm of the Lord

If I asked you to name the apostles I am sure that we could get Jesus’ twelve apostles named and someone would remember Matthias and there’s no way we would forget about Paul. Eventually, someone would probably even bring up Barnabas and James, the Lord’s brother, and references that seem to indicate that they were considered apostles (Acts 14:14 and Gal. 1:19). But be honest, would you have thought of Jesus as an apostle if you hadn’t seen the title of this article? 

Some of you may still be thinking that there must be some mistake, Jesus chose the apostles surely he’s not one of them. In Hebrews 3:1 Jesus is called “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession”. We’ll look at ‘High Priest’ another time, let’s focus on ‘Apostle’. Even though we don’t often think of him as an apostle and though he is not referred to with this appellation anywhere else in the New Testament, Coffman says it shouldn’t surprise us “since the primary meaning of the word is ‘one sent or commissioned for some important communication’” (James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA). What more important communication could there be than the good news that Jesus brought? The Hebrew writer has already said that God spoke through the prophets in the past, but now has spoken to us by His Son (1:2). How much farther could one be sent than from Heaven to Earth? What greater commission could there be than to show people who God truly is by God coming in the flesh?

Malachi 3:1 prophesies of the Lord coming and refers to him as “the messenger of the covenant” and said that he “is coming”. Indeed, the messenger of the covenant, the Apostle of our profession or confession, our Lord did come just as Malachi prophesied he would. But have we heeded his important communication? Jesus certainly brought much important information from the Father (John 12:49) not the least of which is that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Himself, God’s own Son. Are we professing and confessing Jesus, our Apostle, as the Son of God?

JP

Four times in Revelation (1:8; 1:11; 21:6; 22:13) Jesus refers to himself as the “Alpha and Omega”. You probably have heard that these are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, in fact our word ‘alphabet’ comes from ‘alpha’ and the second letter ‘beta’ which are also similar to the first 2 letters in Hebrew ‘aleph’ and ‘beth’. When we think of Jesus saying this as he does in Revelation 22:13, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” What do we think he means by this phrase? Obviously Jesus was not two letters of the Greek alphabet and it is clearly a figurative description, but what?

​We use a phrase about how something is all-inclusive that is similar to this. When talking about the animals from A to Z or how you can get anything from A to Z from Amazon.com. What we are saying is that this is all of it, everything. That is what Jesus is saying about himself here. There is a song I remember singing, “He Is My Everything”, that expressed this idea and encouraged us to help others see their need for Jesus to be their all as well. 

Just as God is described as the One who gives us all things and in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:25-28), Jesus is described in Colossians 1:16-17 as having all things created by and for him and being the one who holds all things together. Whatever you need from A to Z, Jesus is the one who can provide it. Have you made Jesus your everything. Like the youth song says do you believe and live the words: “You are my strength when I am weak,  You are the treasure that I seek, You are my all in all. Seeking You as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I’d be a fool. You are my all in all.”

JP