Living Water Community Church

All of the precision in how the prophecies play out point to the precise nature of God’s knowledge and control over the events which are yet to come to pass. We can trust a God who has a plan and is bringing all He plans to pass. All of history centers on the promise of the coming man who will crush the serpents head. The man who will establish a kingdom which will never end. The man who is not only the Messiah but also God’s only beloved Son. We continue to work through this really precise prophetic declaration by the angel of the Lord. We don’t serve a God who only has the big picture in mind. He is not just fixed on the big points of history. He knows all the details and all of those details work together to exalt the person and work of Jesus for eternity. This means our hope rests not in blind faith or not yet fulfilled promises. Our faith rests in our faithful God who sent His only begotten Son to be our substitutionary sacrifice. He paid the penalty for our specific sins so we would never have to pay that penalty. He died in our place so we would never have to die the second death. He lived a righteous and holy life so we could be made righteous and holy in God’s sight. All of history is truly His Story.

We will continue to look at an additional fundamental aspects of God’s nature. As worshippers these things help us to worship Him properly. Isaiah was prophet who had ministered during the time of king Uzziah. Notice how the opening verse here takes place in the year king Uzziah died. Uzziah was mourned by the people as a great king even though toward the end of his reign he had become prideful and ultimately died of leprosy for his prideful acts. Given the context of king Uzziah’s death Isaiah going to the temple was probably to seek comfort and wisdom in a time of national and personal grief. Instead of comfort Isaiah has a life altering vision.  The vision begins in verse one with I saw the Lord. The word translated as Lord is the word Adonai and it is used to refer to a sovereign or king. The picture this is painting is the king is dead but Isaiah is confronted with the fact there is still a king on the throne. The ultimate king of Israel has not stopped being king. He is sitting on a throne which is high and lifted up. 

We worked through the first part of Daniel 11. It seems very much like an interesting prophetic passage with lots of what appears to be generic odd indecipherable references. Yet as the angel declares these things and we look in history at what took place it becomes really clear the angel of the Lord was declaring for Daniel things which quite literally came to pass. On top of this the things which happened all happened in sequential order following the order laid out by the angel. There are declarations in here which match up with kings daughters who were married off for potential alliances. In both cases what appeared to be a power move was either cut off by the death of the princess or the queens loyalty changed from her father to her new husband. Both of these things are clearly prophetically declared to Daniel. There is even a reference to a king who essentially does nothing significant. The section we looked at wrapped up with the story of Antiochus III. He conquered Egypt gave his daughter to the Egyptian king with hope of her extending his power of Egypt but it did not work out this way. Antiochus then began to conquer the coastlands here he encountered the growing might of Rome. Ultimately he returns to his own land where he dies not at the hands of an enemy but of an angry mob. His son arises to rule but ends up being poisoned by a man he appoints to collect tribute for Rome from the people. All of the precision in how the prophecies play out point to the precise nature of God’s knowledge and control over the events which are yet to come to pass. We can trust a God who has a plan and is bringing all He plans to pass. All of history centers on the promise of the coming man who will crush the serpents head. The man who will establish a kingdom which will never end. The man who is not only the Messiah but also God’s only beloved Son. 

I want us to look at our main passage today as a starting point for exploring the what is essentially a event we should never come to feel like we completely understand. On the one hand it is simple to explain. God entered into our world and became one of us. On the other hand the implications of that statement should arrest our thoughts. Why? Because we are human. Because we can perceive our own limits. We should marvel at what God did. We know if we put too much of anything into our bodies they essentially overload and die. Too much water and you drown. Too much heat and you die of dehydration or burning. Too much cold and you freeze to death. Too much electricity and your heart seizes up and you are electrocuted. The list could go on and on but I think you get the picture. So think about what the incarnation is putting before us. God the maker of the universe. The one who called our thermonuclear sun into existence with the word of His power on the fourth day and not only our sun but every sun and and every expression of power in the universe. The God whose power was not diminished in any way by the act of creating the universe entered into the womb of a young woman and became a holy embryo. He appeared to be a normal man but He contained within Himself all the power to sustain the universe. God entered into our world and became one of us just doesn’t do justice to the magnitude of what took place. It is the greatest hero story in the history of the world and it is true! Jesus contained within His human frame more power than all the suns in all the galaxies in the universe. 

We worked through chapter ten of Daniel which is really the first part of the section which ends in chapter twelve. In the last chapter we saw an amazing testimony to the reality of spiritual warfare. Daniel had been fasting from meat and wine and other delicacies for three weeks. He describes himself as in mourning. There is an angel which appears to Daniel and the contents of his message tell us Daniel must have been mourning over his fellow Israelites who were in captivity. The angel starts out by describing how he had been delayed by the prince of Persia for twenty-one days. Michael had come to help and this seems to be the reason this angel finally got through. The scene we see play out between this angel and Daniel sounds very much like the scene between Paul and Jesus on the road to Damascus and also has aspects of the meeting between Jesus and John at the beginning of the book of Revelation. Is this just another angel or is this the appearance of a pre-incarnate Jesus. If this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus it tells us something of the nature of spiritual warfare. There must be great power on display in the heavens. There appears to be a recognition of authority over regions on the earth, because he talks about the prince of the kingdom of Persia and the kings of Persia withstanding him. This doesn’t mean these beings are more powerful than a pre-incarnate Jesus but it would simply mean there is a regional right they were asserting which God Himself recognized, and these beings as angels had to work through. This also tells us God will do whatever it takes to get to his own and to respond to their prayers. This angel’s appearance is majestic and magnificent. Daniel’s response is to be undone and unable to speak or respond. The angel’s touch is enough to strengthen Daniel and remove his guilt before the angel. Again these actions seem to be pointing to this being a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus. The angel tells Daniel he is going to tell him the message he came to deliver and then return to fight the prince of Persia and how when he goes the prince of Greece will come. I personally believe the angel speaking here is a true Christophany.  

We worked through the end of chapter 9 which deals with the 70 weeks for which Daniel is prophetically famous. It is an interesting chapter with a lot of mystery surrounding the exact meaning of the text. By the time Jerome was creating commentaries around 400 AD there were already 9 different understandings about what Daniel was pointing to with his 70 weeks. There are however several things in the text which clearly point to the person and work of Jesus. These are the things which we focused on as being really relevant for our study. There are 6 things listed as being fulfilled in the 70 weeks vision. • To finish the transgression • To put an end to sin • To atone for iniquity • To bring in everlasting righteousness • To seal both vision and prophet • To anoint a most holy place Jesus is the only clear answer to the fulfillment of all these things. He brought an end to transgression and sin for many. He atoned for their iniquity. He brought in the dawn of everlasting righteousness. He is the culmination of the prophets and their visions. Through His death He established a new way to enter into God’s presence through the work He did on the cross. These things clearly find their fulfillment in Jesus. This is also clearly the most important thing about this chapter. If God had wanted us to be unified in our understanding of the 70 weeks He would have given us a clear interpretation like He did in the previous chapter by telling us the  ram was the kings of Media and Persia and the goat was the future king of Greece. But God did not do that and because of the various understandings we should be careful about being dogmatic where we don’t have a solid foundation for doing so. Jesus fulfills the 6 items listed and that should be enough for us to be looking at the work Jesus has done and how that changes everything for us.

We will continue to look at some fundamental aspects of God’s nature because as worshippers we must know some of these things in order to be able to worship Him properly. Let’s begin by looking at what David told his son Solomon about God right after telling him God was going to use him to lead the people and build the temple. The reason David says this is important is because the Lord God searches the hearts of men and He understands all their plans and thoughts. What goes on in your mind and heart is known by God. God is with all His people at once and we can worship Him knowing that He is here with us. 

We worked through the beginning of chapter 9. Most of it is a prayer recorded by Daniel. The prayer is prompted by the prophecy of Jeremiah. He had declared their exile was going to last 70 years. Daniel knew they were coming up on the time predicted and Daniel also knew the people were still not in a state of repentance. Daniel turns to God and intercedes on his own behalf and on behalf of the people. He makes confession and calls on God for mercy. He is acting as a representative of the people and in this way points forward to how Jesus stands in our place before God and bears His wrath against our sin on our behalf. He is our great High Priest and the best hope we have. Daniel demonstrates this by starting his prayer with a verse focused on adoration of God. Pointing to God’s great promise keeping nature and the way he demonstrates love to those who love Him and are His. He then goes on to ask God for show mercy for His own name sake. The point Daniel is making is how they do not deserve God’s mercy but since God made promises the reason to remain faithful to those promises rest completely in God consistency and faithfulness to His promises for His own names sake. This is something we would do well to remember. God is good to us and merciful because of Jesus not because we have somehow appeared on His radar as an especially good person. Our relationship with God is not a transaction where we do good and God blesses us. Our relationship with God exists because God was merciful to us and because God is a good Father to His children. If we could only view ourselves from the perspective of Isaiah we would declare with him how all our righteousness is as filthy rags in comparison to the righteousness of God. We would see how radically corrupt our sin has made us. How almost everything we do even the good things are tainted by pride and impure motivations. We are an extremely selfish and self centered people. This is why it is so important for us to cultivate a hope in God which rests in the finished work of Jesus alone. Having our hope in Jesus alone is difficult. For instance, when we feel like we are more qualified or equipped to enter into devotions or come to church because we have had a good day or week we are in essence reveling in our self-righteousness. Or if we feel like we cannot enter into our time of devotions or church because we have really struggled all day or week, we are again looking at our lack of self-righteousness. The reason any of us can come before God at any time is only because of the righteousness of Jesus alone. And yet that reliance on self keeps creeping into our thoughts. Our hope is in God and His faithfulness to His promises for Jesus sake and His sake alone. This does not mean we pursue sin or disregard doing good. It simply means our motivation to do good is not to merit favor but because we are coming to love Jesus more and more and because of this we desire to become more like Him. The motivation which drives our action needs to be a love for God.

We worked through the prophecies of chapter 8. It is a remarkable chapter because in it Daniel not only has a vision but an angel tells him what the vision means and gives the names of the countries the animals in the vision represent. The vision also included a specific king who would be serious source of oppression for Israel. There are 10 things prophesied specifically about this king.  • His power will be great • It will not be his power alone • He will cause destruction • He will succeed in what he does • He will destroy mighty men and God’s saints • He will make deceit prosper by cunning • He will be a great in his own eyes (He will be a legend in his own mind.) • He will destroy many without warning • He will rise up against the Prince of princes • He will be broken but not by human hands Antiochus Epiphanes fits this description exactly. He had great power. He claimed to be the incarnation of Zeus. He set up an idol to Zeus in the temple in Jerusalem. He sacrificed pigs on the altar and forced the Jewish people to eat pork. He killed thousands for no reason. He ended up dying of a bowel disease which drove him mad. The prophecies in this chapter are so specific and so accurate that many have suggested Daniel was written by someone else using Daniel’s name after the events took place. But the point of giving this detailed of a prophecy is to reveal our God is the author of history. He raises up kings and he casts them down. He is the great God who brings justice. Chapters like this should encourage us to trust Him. There is nothing which escapes Him or is beyond His power. He is trust worthy. 

We worked our way through the vision of Daniel in chapter 7. This is the last part of the book written in Aramaic. This simply points to how this vision was intended to be widely available to the people of the day, even those they lived among in exile. Daniel has a dream of 4 beasts. This dream seems to have many parallels to Nebuchadnezzar’s first dream of the statue with 4 sections. It starts with the lion that has eagle’s wings. This beast has its wings ripped off and it is given the mind of a man and stands on 2 feet. In a variety of ways this points to Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. This beast is followed by a bear with ribs in its mouth. It has one side larger than the other. This is a reference to the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. The Persians were stronger than the Medes which explains the different sizes of the bear sides. After this there arose a leopard with 4 heads. The leopard most likely points to Alexander the great who conquered the known world swiftly and died young. His kingdom was divided between four generals of his army which gives a good reason he had 4 heads. The final beast was unlike anything Daniel had ever seen. It had teeth of iron and claws of bronze. It had ten horns and another horn came up and three of the horns fell before it. This new horn had eyes and a mouth which spoke great things. This horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them until the ancient of days came in judgment. This is a vision of devastation as these kingdoms act like beast bringing pain and suffering to many. But this is also a reminder as well of how God will bring justice, which culminates in the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom.

We continued to look at how knowing about God is critical for us to be able to worship God. This has been a critical theme to the topic of worship. What I have discovered in studying this subject has been how clearly the Bible points to what we need to know about God. There are certain aspects to God’s nature which the Bible itself declares as critical to knowing and worshipping God. There are some fundamental things about God we must understand to properly conceive of who we are engaging with. First and foremost the Bible presents us with a God who is a person or probably is better stated as having personhood. This is part of what being created in the image of God is about. We are people and have personhood because God has personhood and we are made in his image. This means simply we can relate to God and engage with God as a person because we understand personhood. Secondly and fundamentally God is a trinity and has eternally existed as a trinity. This means one of the fundamental aspects of God is relationship. He has always existed in relationship and always will exist in relationship. It explains why relationships are fundamentally important to us. It also tells us we can engage with God in relationship. This could cause us to begin to think about God in human terms but the Bible corrects us there calling us to think of God as not only having personhood and loving relationships but to remember He is a Spirit. As a Spirit God is immortal and invisible. Both of those things affect other aspects of who He is and how we think of Him. We cannot make an image of God not only because it breaks one of the ten commandments but because He is invisible. Because He is immortal He cannot die and death is not part of His nature. But even though these things seem to separate us from God He clearly calls on His people throughout the Bible to enter into relationship with Him. He wants us to know and love Him because He loves us and gave Himself up for us to bring us back to Him. The Bible talks about the unchanging nature of God. He never grows old. He never gets tired. His power is never diminished. He is unchangeable. We call this aspect of God His immutability. In addition to this God is also all powerful. There is simply nothing God is not capable of doing. We call this God’s omnipotence. He never gets tired. He simply cannot get tired because He is all powerful. It is important for worshippers of God to understand God never changes and He is all powerful because we can trust the promises He made thousands of years ago are still true because God is still the same. We can also trust God will do what He has promised and said because He is all powerful and He can accomplish whatever He sets out to do. 

We worked our way through the last narrative section in the book of Daniel. It is the majestic and familiar story of Daniel and his night spent in the lion’s den. The story is driven by men jealous of the power and favor God had granted Daniel. He has taken on a new role advising Darius, the new ruler of Babylon. Darius was planning to place Daniel over all the wise men and this did not sit well with some of them. Since they couldn’t seem to establish any dirt on Daniel they resorted to lawfare. They knew Daniel prayed to his God three times a day. They suggested to Darius, he should issue a decree for all men to make their prayers and petitions to him alone for the next 30 days. If they petitioned anyone but the king they would be thrown into the lion’s den. Darius was a new king and thought this was a good idea, probably seeing it as a way of establishing his authority over the newly conquered territory. Since this was a law of the Medes and Persians it could not be changed. Upon learning the document had been signed by Darius, Daniel went to his house and prayed to Yahweh. This violation of the new law was reported to Darius who became distressed over this new development and labored to rescue Daniel until the sun went down. He was unable to circumvent the new law and eventually called for Daniel to be cast into the lion’s den. Before he was cast in Darius declared, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” Daniel was cast in, a stone was laid over the opening and Darius sealed it with his ring. Darius did not sleep but spent the night fasting. At daybreak he went to the den and cried out to Daniel asking in anguish if his God was able to deliver him. To Darius surprise and delight Daniel answered, God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths. He commanded Daniel be taken out of the den and the men who had tricked him into signing this new law be brought and cast into the den with their wives and children. He then issued a new decree to all the people to stand in fear and trembling before the God of Daniel because He is the living God. Daniel was faithful and trusted God and God delivered Him. 

Each chapter we have worked through so far has given us different aspects of God’s nature and work.  • In chapter 1 - Daniel and his 3 friends were made healthy and strong on a vegetarian diet. This was clearly a work of God and it communicates to us how God remembers His people and sustains them. The message is about how God never forgets His own people even when things seem to be going really wrong. • In chapter 2 - Nebuchadnezzar is troubled by a dream and demands his wise men tell him both the dream and its meaning or die. God gives the dream and its meaning to Daniel and rescues him and his friends from death.  • In chapter 3 - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow to an idol and are thrown into an extremely hot furnace. Nebuchadnezzar sees a fourth man like a son of the God’s walking in the fire with them. He calls them to come out and declares how their God is the true God. This points to how God is with His people in all circumstances. • In chapter 4 - Nebuchadnezzar gives his testimony of how God cast him down from his pride to live like an animal for 7 periods of time. After he comes to acknowledge and honor God, God restores him and makes him greater than before. The big message here especially for people in exile is, “God restores the humble.” • In chapter 5 - We see a stark contrast with the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4. Here in chapter 5 an arrogant king Belteshazzar exercises rebellion against God and God brings judgement against Belteshazzar. This chapter declares how God is a just God and will judge the unrepentant prideful heart.

We heard the final part of what I call Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony. It is the only chapter in Daniel which appears to be the dictated words of someone else and in this case it is Nebuchadnezzar asking Daniel to write down these things. It is the greatest king of that day bearing witness to the greatness of the God of Daniel. He bears testimony to this by pointing out how he had a dream which troubled him. He called on many wise men to tell him the dream but it was finally Daniel who was able to interpret it. It is a dream about a great tree which reached to the heavens was visible everywhere on earth and was the sustainer of all the birds and beasts. In the dream a watcher from heaven comes and declares the tree should be cut down but a band of iron and bronze are to be put around the stump until 7 times pass by. Daniel was hesitant to give the king what amounted to bad news. The king saw this and told Daniel not to fear. So Daniel tells the king how he is the tree and he is going to be cut down and driven into a state of madness for 7 periods of time. Once the king comes to recognize the greatness of God his sanity and kingdom will be restored. One year later Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of his royal palace and as he looked on Babylon he began to declare his own greatness. As he was making much of himself a voice came from heaven telling him the kingdom has departed from him and he will be driven from among men and will dwell with the beasts. He ate grass like an ox and lived like and animal until 7 periods of time passed over him, and he came to realize the most high rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will. This happened and at the end of 7 periods of time Nebuchadnezzar said he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, “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?’” Upon coming to recognize the greatness of God and that all glory belongs to Him, Nebuchadnezzar’s reason returned to him. God established him in his kingdom and gave him even more greatness. Nebuchadnezzar’s story is an incredible story of God pursuing a pagan man and bringing him to himself. It shows us God will do whatever is necessary in order to bring a person to repentance. God is able to save anyone He has set His love upon. He is the great and glorious God who has sent His Son to seek and to save those who are lost and in rebellion against Him.

We will continue our study of worship by the content of our worship according to scripture. To put it a little more clearly what dose the Bible indicate we are required to know in order to worship. This becomes vitally important when we consider how salvation is primarily about creating worshippers of God. It then makes sense God would communicate to us through His word how our worship should be shaped. For instance those who are followers of Islam do not believe Jesus is a member of the trinity. They do not believe Jesus is God in the flesh. Because of this no matter how much worship they offer they are creating a false god who falls short of the God of the Bible. What you believe matters when is comes to worship. 

We worked through the first part of Daniel 4. In this chapter we have Nebuchadnezzar having another dream. The chapter starts out with this appearing to be a dictation from Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar starts out by giving glory to the most high God. The God who has shown His power to Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Because this story starts out this way and because of the way it ends this appears to be Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony and confession of faith in this God he is giving glory to. Nebuchadnezzar is a prospering in his palace and at ease when he is troubled by a dream which alarmed him. It is a cryptic dream and he calls on all his wise men to come and none of them could interpret the dream. Finally Daniel comes before him and he tells him the dream. He saw a tree which grew and became great and its height reached to heaven. You could see it from anywhere on earth. It provided food and shade for all the beast and birds. Everything was fed from it. A holy one from heaven came down and proclaimed it should be cut down, but the stump should be left and bound with a band of iron and bronze. The holy one or watcher begins speaking of the tree using personal pronouns. The watcher says that he should be given the mind of a beast and 7 periods of time should pass over him. Then the vision ends with a declaration of how the holy ones have decided this, “...to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.” Daniel was said to be alarmed by the dream and the king told Daniel not to be alarmed by it. Daniel then goes on to tell the king how the tree is him and his kingdom. 

We worked through chapter 3 and in it we really get a view into the second major time God confronts Nebuchadnezzar. The first time God confronted Nebuchadnezzar was with the recurring dream. The dream he demanded his wise men tell him along with its meaning. God uses Daniel to convey the dream and its meaning but also Daniel points out to Nebuchadnezzar how God is the source of the dream and its interpretation. This made it clear to Nebuchadnezzar where the source really was. The second time was in Daniel three when Nebuchadnezzar demanded his leaders from all over his kingdom come and bow down before the statue he has constructed. We are not entirely sure what drove this demand. The Bible does not record for us the motivating factors but there is a historic record of a rebellion in the kingdom of Babylon about the tenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. If this was the motivation behind this then it was a test of loyalty. Failure to comply was a sign of disloyalty and explains the extreme consequences for not following orders. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not bow down to the statue. Their failure was reported and they were brought before the king who was angry at their disobedience to his command. Nebuchadnezzar was willing to give them another chance to bow down when the music played but they quite firmly affirmed how no matter what the king wanted they would not bow to the image the king had constructed. They also made it clear this was out of loyalty to their God Yahweh and they were willing to face the death sentence rather than bow down. This made the king furious and he ordered the furnace made as hot as it could possibly be made. This furnace was probably a large brick kiln used for firing bricks to make the walls of Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told the king their God was capable of delivering them from death but even if He did not they would not bow to his image. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered two of his soldiers to bind them and throw them into the furnace. The furnace was so hot the men throwing in the three Hebrew men died. To Nebuchadnezzar’s surprise the three Hebrews survived and appeared to be walking around in the flames with a fourth man who appeared to Nebuchadnezzar to be like a son of the gods. This is most likely a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. Since they did not die Nebuchadnezzar went near to the furnace and called out to them to come out. Upon exiting the furnace, the king and his counselors witnessed how their was no evidence of fire exposure on them or their clothing in any way. The king then blesses the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for the miraculous delivery of His loyal servants who would rather face death then worship any god but Him. This resulted in the king issuing a decree of retribution against anyone who says anything against Yahweh. The king also promoted the three young men. This story is not really about the young Hebrews but rather about God who is powerful and able to save. This is the God we serve and He can and does rescue all who follow Him from eternal death and damnation. This is who our hope is in. This is the God who is confronting the ruler of the world at this point in time. 

We worked through the end of chapter 2. Here we witnessed Daniel going before Nebuchadnezzar with his dream and its interpretation. Daniel makes it clear to Nebuchadnezzar how it is impossible for men to know what he dreamed, but God in heaven knows all things and He gave Nebuchadnezzar this dream to reveal to him what is coming. Daniel then tells him he dreamed of a massive statue with a head of gold, chest of silver, waist of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. A stone is cut without hands and strikes the feet of the statue and the rest of the statue falls on it and is shattered to dust and blown away by the wind. After this the stone grows to fill the whole earth. Then Daniel explains what the dream means. The different metals of the statue represent world empires. The head of gold is Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Babylon. Daniel explains how each of the successive sections of the statue replace the one before it. The feet of iron and potters clay are not stable and the stone cut without hands destroys the feet and the statue. We then jumped forward and looked at Luke 20:17-18. Here Jesus refers to himself as the stone the builders rejected, but this stone has become the cornerstone. He then uses imagery from Daniel to talk about how everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and it crushes anyone on whom it falls. This reference to Jesus as a stone is one of a half dozen references scattered throughout the New Testament. The amazing thing about this dream is how it has been accurately played out in a straightforward manner. Each of the successive world empires which came to power fit with the different sections of the statue. While some may argue the point I think the feet of iron and clay match really well with the way Rome became divided over time. We could accurately say this division was probably aided and brought on by the rise of Christianity and the way in which Christians would rather die then offer incense to the emperor. The amazing thing to consider is how Christianity has grown. It is now found on every continent on earth. It is the largest religion in the world and continues to grow. While it may be stagnant or in decline here it is clearly vibrant in growing in other parts of the world. In a dramatic way we see the dream of Nebuchadnezzar continuing to work its way out as the stone cut without hands continues to grow. One other thing really striking about this story is its impact on Nebuchadnezzar. He honors Daniel and declares Daniel’s God to be God of gods and Lord of kings. In this statement Nebuchadnezzar is recognizing the supreme power and authority of Yahweh. This is Nebuchadnezzar’s first encounter with Daniel and his God and we will see God continue to reveal His great power to Nebuchadnezzar as a way of calling Nebuchadnezzar to Himself and leaving him without excuse. 

We began to explore the part of Daniel where the king has a dream and ask the wise men of Babylon to tell him the dream and the interpretation of it. The kings advisors object to this and ask for Nebuchadnezzar to tell them the dream and they would give the interpretation. This angers Nebuchadnezzar who demands they tell him the dream as well as the interpretation because he believes they are frauds. They again object and tell him to know the dream is in the realm of the gods. Nebuchadnezzar is enraged and orders his executioner to kill all the wise men of Babylon. It appears on hearing this the wise men scatter. The executioner goes to the school where Daniel and the other new wise men in training are being taught. They apparently did not know what had transpired so Daniel asks what’s going on to bring on their death. The executioner tells him and Daniel asks if he could interpret the kings dream for him. The executioner takes Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar and he arranges for some time to seek God for the answers to the kings request. This stays the execution of all the wise men. God visits Daniel with the answer. This leads Daniel into four verses filled with praise. Daniel does this before he even goes to the king because he is certain of God’s provision of the answer. Daniel’s praise highlights how God is the source of wisdom and strength. God is the one establishes kings and removes them. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness. He knows all things and has made known to Daniel this matter of the kings. What we see in the beginning of this story is how Daniel is faced with a life threatening situation. His response is to turn to God depend on God and direct others to the source of wisdom and might. 

We explored what scripture has to say about the centrality of worship to the Christian life. Quite literally worship from a scriptural point of view is the reason we are saved. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, the third temptation was to worship Satan and receive the nations of the world without going to the cross. We looked at whether this was a legitimate offer or not, but according to scripture Jesus Himself recognized Satan as the ruler of this world prior to the cross. This raises of course other questions. One of them is when did Satan become the ruler. This had to take place when Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At this point in History Adam went from being the vice-regent or ruler of this world by command of God to being the conquered ruler of this world by means of following Satan in disobedience. Through his fall Adam lost his rulership to Satan. This only pertained to the command God gave Adam to rule over the earth in Genesis 1:28. Jesus as the new and better Adam through the incarnation was the perfect seed God had promised. This seed would need to face the wrath of God on behalf of men in order for them to be set free from their bondage to Satan and His rule. By doing this and rising from the dead Jesus conquered the ruler of this world and broke his hold over mankind. Jesus is now the rightful ruler of this world by means of conquest over sin and death and Satan. He sits at God’s right hand until all of his enemies are put under his feet, which is the very definition of subdue from Genesis 1:28 where Adam was commanded to subdue and rule. Jesus was tempted by Satan to bypass the facing the wrath of God on behalf of men in order to break the power of sin and death. It was a very real temptation. We see the weight of what Jesus did on the cross, in the garden as He sweated great drops of blood because of the sheer overwhelming nature of what he faced in his humanity. This was no walk in the park and Satan’s temptation was very real. At the heart of this temptation was worship. Jesus clearly declares to Satan, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” 

We worked through the second half of Daniel 1. We see here how Daniel and his three friends remain faithful to God as they are carried off into Babylonian captivity. This story really echoes the story of Joseph in many ways. They are both sent to bear witness before kings and princes. They remain undefiled when they are faced with temptation and worldly solutions. They both depend on God in the midst of situations which could cost them their lives. They are both preserved by God and both come to interpret dreams through the power of God’s revelation. They are both exulted to positions of power next to the king. They both foreshadow Jesus who was sent from heaven to earth to bear witness of the one true God before kings and princes. Jesus entered into a fallen sin soaked world without ever defiling Himself. Like Daniel and Joseph He found favor with God and man. Teachers were amazed at His understanding even at 12 years old. Jesus is the manifestation of all the wisdom of God. He is the greater and better Daniel. He refused to compromise when the ruler of this world offered him bread, fame, and rulership if He would only depend on something other than God alone. Because of all this Jesus could stand in our place as the substitute we all needed. He could satisfy God’s wrath and bear our penalty. In His death burial and resurrection He has established His kingdom and has defeated Satan. He is now the ruler of this world and has been exalted to a position next to God the Father. Jesus kingdom is a kingdom which will never end and will one day be the only kingdom of God and man. 

We really dove into the background of what happened to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. They were most likely from the royal family or from the nobility. They were also considered pleasing to look at and educated. These young men experienced a radically dramatic shift in their lives. They were taken from lives of privilege to the life of servitude in a foreign kings court. Daniel and his friends would never again see their families or their country. On top of the radical change the king had a plan to integrate the captured young leaders into the Babylonian culture. There was a three year reeducation program in place. They changed their names from God exulting Yahweh honoring names to names which pointed to Chaldean gods. 

We did an overview of the book of Daniel focusing on the historical context, some questions about the authorship, and the structure of the book. 

We will continue to explore this concept of how our whole life is to be lived to the glory of God. We strive to sacrifice for the glory of God. We strive to love others and the Lord. And these things will drive unity and fellowship in the body of Christ. These things are connected to being renewed in our minds. It starts in our head and heart and moves out into our actions. This is what presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice will start to look like. As our minds are renewed we will be able to test and discern what the will of God is. What is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Relying on God and His love for us is needed in our war against the powers of darkness. We cannot fight alone, and we are not alone. God, in His abundant love, will uphold and defend us as we get to learn to trust in Him. 

We ended on verse eighteen and this time we will be starting there. This verse wraps up the section we were exploring about the armor of God. The section on armor really sets a great final theme for wrapping up this letter. Paul encourages us to put on this armor to stand against the devil. We are not in a battle against flesh and blood. It may feel like it at times but everyone you encounter who is not a Christian is also hated by Satan. To the devil and all the spiritual forces at work in the world the very existence of man reminds them of their defeat at the cross through the work of Jesus. He was the new Adam and He did what Adam could not do. He conquered the fallen kingdom as the new and perfect representative of man. His favorite term for Himself was Son of Man. This is because His intention was not just to be the messiah of the Jews but to be the redeemer of all creation. Through His work on the cross He would make a way for all men who repent and put their faith in Jesus as Lord to be rescued from sin and death. Instead they are made new and righteous members of the kingdom of God filled with hope and peace with the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul is then telling us to put on this armor because this battle is an already won battle. The armor of God gives us the strength to stand the onslaught of the devil. Even men who oppose us don’t usually realize their being driven by spiritual forces go against us. Fallen men are not our enemies. They are pawns of our enemy and we should have compassion on them and pray for them. As we examined the armor it is clearly God working to strengthen us for the battle we face. We put on the belt of truth, because it is truth which holds everything together. The breastplate of righteousness protects us from the evil things in this world Satan would use to harm us. By living righteously in Jesus we will be rescued from the evil which could destroy us. Our shoes are shod with the gospel of peace. We stand in the gospel and it is not something to trample other men with but it is the good news which will bring them peace with God if they repent and follow Jesus as Lord. We are then called to take up the shield of faith which doesn’t only block the enemies attack but it extinguishes their fiery darts. Paul then calls us to put on the helmet of salvation. One of the ideas here would be our minds are protected but in addition our lives show everyone we are saved. It becomes evident to everyone that we are followers of our Lord Jesus. The final piece is the sword of the Spirit this is the word of God. We see this used so effectively by Jesus all the time. He used it in His battle with Satan during his temptation. He used it again and again in His conflict with the pharisees and Sanhedrin as they came against Him. We should all be preparing for conflict by memorizing God’s word and meditating on it. Paul really is calling on us to immerse ourselves in the relationship with God we have been called to. To live out of this relationship and depend on it to the glory of God.

We explored the section where Paul addresses slaves and masters. It is interesting historically because the roles of slaves and masters at this point in Roman history was much closer to the modern roles of employees and employers. Because of the slave uprisings and because it is estimated that two-thirds of the population of Rome were slaves, they were treated generally pretty well. Slaves had more legal rights then free laborers did. So when Paul addresses  slaves and masters we should be thinking of employees and employers. In a nutshell the goal of Paul’s teaching is for slaves to serve their masters or employees to serve their employers as if they were serving Jesus. The opposite is also true employers should be treating their employees as if the employee was Jesus. Ultimately this approach to the relationship between employees and employers is going to be concerned with the relationship itself, and in this there is going to be a lot of depending on Jesus to help us. The hope for the Christian employer or employee should be the eternal state of the person they are working with. 

We are looking at what God calls us to consider as we think about worshipping Him.  We have looked at the fact that all of life is really to be lived in worship of God. Yet how important do we hold worship to be? It is such a core element of seeking God that it would not be overstating it to say worship to the most crucial component of the Christian life. We fail to think properly about worship when we associate it with one element of our lives. When we identify worship as praise and adoration of God we are correct, but when worship is only thought of in relation to singing we have missed the broader picture painted for us in God’s word. 

As we considered the first four verses of Ephesians 6 we continued to deal with the topic of roles and responsibilities which was introduced with the topic of marriage in chapter 5. What Paul addressed in those 4 verses was the roles of children and parents. These roles are critical and important. Paul is laying a solid groundwork for what is the core unit of the church; the family. What he shows us in this passage is how Christianity is a faith for families. All members of the family are called to engage and to respond to the direction God has given. Children are addressed as being capable of engaging in a relationship with God which drives their actions. They are called to obey their parents in the Lord. They are also called to honor their father and mother. Children are promised their obedience and honor of their parents will result in a long life and things going well with them. Fathers and by extension mothers are called to not provoke their children to anger but to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This essentially lays the responsibility for Jesus focused living and instruction squarely at the feet of parents. These are important roles and responsibilities which have far reaching impact for the church. 

We worked through the last part of the section on the roles and responsibilities of husbands and wives. The picture the text paints is majestic in how it points us to the person and work of Jesus for the church, as the model for married couples to look to. Wives can think of their role as mirroring the role of the church in its relationship to Jesus. Men can think of their role as mirroring the role of Jesus in how He leads as a servant and lays down His life for the church. Paul even points us back to the creation of Eve for Adam as a foreshadowing or a picture of Jesus relationship to His bride. Paul goes so far as to say the mystery of marriage is it’s creation is a picture of Jesus and His bride. In other words the greater and better reality of marriage is found in Jesus and the church. One of the most beautiful pictures of this is found in how when Eve is created even her creation is a mirror of how the church will be created by God for Jesus through His work on the cross. God put Adam to sleep as if in death and took a piece of his side as if it was pierced and He fashioned from this a bride for Adam because God was thinking of the future death of Jesus and how His side would be pierced and from Jesus shed blood God planned to fashion a bride for His Son. So marriage is this amazing picture we have been entrusted with. It is important for us to see it in this light and value it as the foreshadowing it is. This just raises the bar on how important it is for husbands to love their wives like Jesus loves the church and gives Himself up for it. It also provides a clear reference for how submission and respect of the church to Jesus is a guide for the wife to submit to and respect her husband. The thing which is really clear from the passage is how both of the spousal roles are ones which they are called to take upon themselves. It is not the husbands job to force the wife to submit and it is not the wives job to demand the husbands love. Both of them are called to enter into this because of their relationship with Jesus. In fact if you look at the curse as we did two weeks ago you will see how the roles the Christian is called to in marriage are really commands to overcome as much as possible the curse against men and women in the garden after the fall. 

We began to work through the section dealing with the roles of husbands and wives in the context of marriage. What we discover in this section is a call for Christian husbands and wives to work at doing the things which are contrary to our fallen nature and the curse. We explored how the curse of God on Adam and Eve brought division and strife into their relationship. In looking at the things brought by the curse we see how the things laid out in this Ephesians passage counteract the curse. It calls women who are cursed with a desire which is contrary to their husbands to submit themselves to their husbands. It calls men who are cursed with a work oriented outlook, where they are consumed by their work, to work at overcoming this preoccupation with work by loving their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. What we essentially see here is how our marriages are restored by the work of Jesus and through our restored marriages comes transformed families, churches and ultimately the world.

We examined verses 15-20 of chapter 5. Here we see Paul calling us to build up the body of Christ to be free standing moral agents in this world. The world needs to see people who are different and make a difference. People who stand for what is right according to God’s word and live it out. The opening verse calls us to walk in wisdom. The call is to follow the will of the Lord. In order to follow God’s will we need to know what God says and we need to cultivate a love and desire for God. In the context Paul gives us the example of not being drunk with wine but by contrast being filled with the Spirit. This example is one of many we could point to which demonstrates turning to God to find what we need rather than turning to something this world has to offer. Essentially Paul is calling on his readers to fined their fulfillment in God rather than making idols out of things which ultimately will not satisfy. The last two verses we looked at really call us to center our lives on living out a life of thanksgiving to God. Verse nineteen is a call to sing praise to God and to use the gift of music to encourage each other. The goal is even to make melody in our hearts to God. Verse twenty is a call to give thanks to God always and for everything. The understanding here would be how everything ultimately comes from God and is part of His plan for His glory and our benefit. In a fallen world this simply means sometimes pain is involved in the journey. When we discipline our children it will sometimes be painful. The pain is for their benefit. It is meant to curb them from actions which are evil and draw them away from God. God brings discipline into the lives of His children for the same reason to curb us from actions which are evil and draw us away from God. When we keep this perspective we can truly thank God for everything because we know it will result in good. 

The worship of God matters to God. While all of life is worship there are certainly things which God finds unacceptable. Understanding how to worship in the right way is the duty of every Christian. We all need the ultimate and only sacrifice found in Jesus death, burial and resurrection. Jesus is our only hope and the best possible hope. Any man centered method of gaining salvation is intolerable to God. We look at 4 different intolerable forms of worship of God. May we worship God in Spirit and Truth.

Today we turn our attention to how Paul is calling us here to be agents who call people out of the world of sin. We see a foreshadowing of God’s plan of salvation being heralded in the opening verses of Genesis.  This passage we are in contrast again and again light and darkness.  Philippians 4:8 teaches us to set our minds on, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” We should remember how we dwelt in darkness and where we came from.

We worked through the beginning of chapter 5. The chapter really began the time before last as Paul laid out the reasons to be motivated to be imitators of God. Namely, the great love God has shown us in Jesus and His work on the cross for us, which brings us into His family as beloved children. This foundation is the basis for Paul to address how the people he is writing to, face enormous temptations to all kinds of sexual sins. He lays out first how sexual immorality, impurity or covetousness shouldn’t be found anywhere in their community. He goes on to point out how even crude joking, foolish talk and filthiness should be replaced with thanksgiving. He also lays out how being made new in Jesus makes being connected to these things a contradiction. Meaning you cannot live a life devoted to intentionally sinning in these ways and expect to gain eternity with Jesus in heaven. Being devoted to these things is fundamentally idolatry and you are declaring by participating in these things where your heart really is committed. Paul then warns how people will come along teaching how these things are acceptable but all they have to offer is really empty words. There is no truth in them and those who follow them will face God’s wrath. The big idea here is how everything we are should be rooted in gratitude to God for all He has done. A heart driven by love to focus on our heavenly Father is the best remedy to the world calling us to sin. 

We explored the end of chapter four and the first two verses of chapter five. Keep in mind Paul is addressing the city of Ephesus and probably the cities in the region. We know by the time John wrote Revelation the Ephesians were diligent about their faith and defending it in the midst of a perverse culture. But the one problem they had was a loss of their first love for the Lord. These things Paul is writing about in the last half of this book are really relevant for this issue. If we consider the first half of this epistle we will see it is very focused on the work of God in and through Jesus and the impact of salvation in saving and transforming us. The last half is laser focused on what we should expect this transformation to look like. One of the things we have seen and will continue to see is how the way we should be living in relationship with each other is tied to the relationship God has established with us. The reason we bridged the chapter last time was because of this very thing. Paul wraps chapter four by pointing out a laundry list of sinful actions rooted generically in forms of anger or envy and calls us to be a people who are set apart by kindness and forgiveness of one another. Why? Because God in Christ has forgiven us. And the beginning of chapter five really continues the emphasis because he starts verse one with therefore and points out how we should be imitators of God. Paul points out how our desire to imitate God should be very much like the desire of deeply loved children to imitate the one who loves them. Then Paul points out in verse two how our love should be measured against the love of Jesus who gave Himself up for us. Then Paul describes the sacrifice of Jesus as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. When we consider what Paul is suggesting here it is truly shocking. Jesus death by Roman crucifixion was a horrific thing for anyone to see. Yet Paul describes it here as fragrant to God. How can the death of God’s only begotten son be fragrant in the Father’s eyes? Because Jesus is atoning for the sins of all those who God has set His love on. Jesus is making it possible for God to demonstrate His love for us. The love God has for us as rebellious sinful people is so intense that Jesus death to make this loves demonstration possible makes Jesus death a fragrant offering to God. Jesus death is a fragrant offering in God’s eyes because it enables His love to be demonstrated. This is why as imitators of God as dearly loved children we are to be a kind, forgiving, tenderhearted, loving people. 

For some time the subject of worship has been recurring in my life and study. It has been increasingly grabbing my attention and has come up in multiple conversations with different people. It seems like this is a good time to explore this topic and see what the word of God has to say about it. Today I want to try and lay out from scripture what it tells us worship is. Since our main point of gathering as a community of believers is worship it would appear we should understand what this word means. Yet I find myself over and over combating what I believe to be bad ideas about worship. For many worship is so narrowly defined it often ends up being identified with music. Certainly music is powerful and it is a means of worship but it is not the only way we are called to worship by the word of God. Because we are exploring this topic over the coming months on the first Sunday of the month we will certainly look in depth at the role music plays and consider what scripture tells us about it but today I want to take a broader look at what the Bible has to tell us about this topic. First of all it is important to realize the word worship appears in the Bible in the ESV 110 times. It appears in both the old and new testaments. It is translated into the word worship from 19 different greek and Hebrew words. The Bible calls us to engage in worship. 

We are called as Christians to fight for each other. This is where we turn our attention. We are not called to do work on being transformed in isolation but rather in community. We seek to build each other up and turn the focus of one another toward Christ (Who alone brings lasting transformation). 

We learned from Paul how we must have a different walk from the world. Meaning our lives need to look different from the world. But this difference in our lives needs to be rooted in the life of God and not in simply following a set of rules for living. Paul’s main contention is if we have come to know Jesus we have received the light which comes along with knowing Him. This illumination comes along with a heart of flesh which has replaced the hard heart we once had. The light of God and the heart of flesh come together to create in us a new man shaped by the work of God in us. As a new creation in Christ we are called to put off the deceitful desires and corruption which was part of our former manner of life. The idea is to stop doing the things which we used to do and to replace those former things with things which renew the spirit of our minds. Clearly Paul is talking about what we think about and dwell on. The goal should be a focus on God and His true righteousness and holiness. As people who are coming to know God and who have learned Christ we are called to embrace the relationships God has given us.

Chapter 4 began with a call to walk in a manner which is worthy of the calling we have received. Part of this calling is to bear with one another and to seek unity and peace. After giving this call to unity in Christ and rooting it in the unity found in God Himself Paul moves on to talk about how this unity plays out in the church. The church is one body. To begin with each of the members of the body has been uniquely gifted by God. The reason we have been gifted and set apart is firmly rooted in the person and work of Jesus. We explored how when Paul talks about Jesus descending to the lower regions of the earth he is really talking about the role Jesus plays as the new Adam. His descent is linked in the passage to His ascent which should point us to His death and resurrection. These are pivotal to Jesus role as the messiah and the new Adam. It is in this role He fulfills God’s command to Adam to subdue and to rule. He currently rules at God’s right hand and God is bringing everything into subjection to Him. One of the key ways He is doing this is through the church. The church has many members and each of those members has an important role to play in the body. It is as the body the work of ministry is accomplished. We are called to build each other up. To equip each other. All of this is achieved through our unity in faith in Christ. We come to maturity through our knowledge of the Son of God and our conformity to His image. The goal then is for us to each point one another to Christ and help each other to be conformed to His image. The whole idea here is to push beyond head knowledge or passive knowledge to relationally knowing Jesus and becoming more like Him.

Chapter 4 began with a call to walk in a manner which is worthy of the calling we have received. Part of this calling is to bear with one another and to seek unity and peace. After giving this call to unity in Christ and rooting it in the unity found in God Himself Paul moves on to talk about how this unity plays out in the church. The church is one body. To begin with each of the members of the body has been uniquely gifted by God. The reason we have been gifted and set apart is firmly rooted in the person and work of Jesus. We explored how when Paul talks about Jesus descending to the lower regions of the earth he is really talking about the role Jesus plays as the new Adam. His descent is linked in the passage to His ascent which should point us to His death and resurrection. These are pivotal to Jesus role as the messiah and the new Adam. It is in this role He fulfills God’s command to Adam to subdue and to rule. He currently rules at God’s right hand and God is bringing everything into subjection to Him. One of the key ways He is doing this is through the church. The church has many members and each of those members has an important role to play in the body. It is as the body the work of ministry is accomplished. We are called to build each other up. To equip each other. All of this is achieved through our unity in faith in Christ. We come to maturity through our knowledge of the Son of God and our conformity to His image. The goal then is for us to each point one another to Christ and help each other to be conformed to His image. The whole idea here is to push beyond head knowledge or passive knowledge to relationally knowing Jesus and becoming more like Him. 

Today we celebrate explicitly the great work of Jesus in overcoming sin, and death by sin, in completing the work of paying for our sin, and rising from the dead. He lived a perfect life and He who new no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We call this transfer of our sin to Jesus propitiation. We became righteous because His righteousness was given to us. We call this transfer of His righteousness to us expiation. Today I want to focus on something which has fallen out of popularity in our world but we must not forget. The fact that we were under the curse of sin and Jesus became a curse for us. This may be most explicitly laid out in our main passage today.

We just finished summarizing how the prayer is a petition for Paul’s readers to be strengthened by the riches of God’s glory through the Holy Spirit. That Jesus may dwell in our hearts through faith. That we would be strengthened to comprehend the immeasurable nature of His love for us. That we would know this love not just in our heads but we would experience it. God calls us to "put up with one another" especially when it is difficult. We strive for unity in the body of Christ. Christ should be first in our hearts and pervasive to us throughout our lives. The Church needs to set her heart on Christ.

We worked through the prayer Paul prays for his readers. He wants them to know the immeasurable riches of God. God gives us these riches for His glory, He does this because He has given us His Son and He sees us in Jesus. All of this is bound up in God’s love for us. This love of God is immeasurable. God has given us all of this so that we can manifest the greatness of God’s glory to all generations. He has called us to be a people who walk by faith. A people who trust in God in all areas. 

We worked through the beginning section of chapter 3. It is a section where Paul takes a short excursion into his role as the apostle sent to the gentiles. He does this immediately after highlighting the new great mystery of how the Jews and gentiles are now one new body of Christ because of Jesus work on the cross. Paul is a minister of the gospel to the gentiles. The church is now the physical manifestation of God’s people on earth. It is through the church that the wisdom of God is being made known not just to men but to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This is all part of God’s eternal purpose realized through the person and work of Jesus. Since Paul sees all of this including his imprisonment as part of God’s plan, he calls on the people he is writing to not lose heart over it. Paul affirms how part of the reason he is in prison is because of their faith. But rather then looking at the situation and losing heart because of it, they should look at how they were counted as being so effecting as followers of Jesus, Paul had to be imprisoned because of them. Instead of losing heart they should see Paul’s imprisonment as their glory. It was a testimony to their effectiveness in promoting the gospel. But the sad truth is the people in Ephesus and the surrounding areas were losing heart and it is probably connected to the problem laid out in the letter to the Ephesians in Revelation. There John writing on behalf of Christ says they had lost their first love for Jesus. Here in Ephesians Paul is encouraging them to look to Jesus and the work He is doing and not be discouraged. Again the calling for christians today is the same as it was to those who received this letter first. We are called to be the witnesses of Jesus in a world which is lost in darkness. 

We wrapped up the majestic ten verse declaration of why we need salvation, how that salvation is brought to us through grace and how that grace alone is what saves us and protects us from having anything we could potentially boast about. The ten verses start by showing us we are completely corrupt and children of wrath. Because of God being rich in mercy and having great love for us He has made us alive together with Jesus through His substitutionary death on the cross. We have been saved by grace through faith, and this is not our own doing but a gift from God and not a result of works so that no one may boast. This is the God’s means of safeguarding us from potential pride for all of eternity because we will always know our salvation and hope for eternity is all from Him and through Him and draws us back to Him. Even the works we accomplish are from God and for His glory. This again draws us to rest in what He has accomplished for us and is accomplishing through us. He has done and is doing the work of bringing us to heavenly glory and to glorying in Him. This should cause us to be brought to worship of our Lord Jesus in great adoration and praise for all He has done and is doing. 

We worked through the end of chapter 2 and looked at how the world has really been changed by the person and work of Jesus. After Jesus became our substitutional sacrifice He caused a radical change in the world. The people of God were no longer simply identified as the Jews. Now the people of God were identified by faith in Jesus. The idea of national identity in God’s economy is done away with. Identity is now are you a follower of God through faith in Jesus or are you following a man centered worldly system. One of the things this does is call the church to be intentionally welcoming to people of all nationalities. We should be the most racially integrated meeting place in the world. If someone is in Jesus we should see them as our family. Jesus Himself when told about His mother and brothers wanting to talk to Him He replied that those He was with were His mother and brothers and sisters. The church should be the one place everyone who is a Christian feels welcomed and embraced. As members of the church body universal our own individual focus should be our identity as members of the body of Christ. This should be our primary identity. Anything else which defines us should pale in comparison to this one primary defining relationship, which is ours in Jesus. This idea of the new humanity which was brought about by Jesus work on the cross was the focus of the end of chapter 2. 

We worked through verses 4-7 as we dealt with the magnificent work of God done on our behalf to save us from the state of corruption we were in. We began by looking at the rich mercy and love of God for us. A love which was poured out on us even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. He made us alive together with Christ. He saved us by His grace and seated us with God in the heavenly places in Christ. The reason for this is to show us the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Jesus. Verses 1-3 show us our state and verse 4-7 show us the great reversal God has brought about on our behalf. 

We worked through the beginning of chapter 2. These first 10 verses are really a continuous flow of thought culminating in verse 10. We are taking the verses in 3 sections. The first section dealt with the radical corruption which plagues mankind because of the fall. This corruption is rooted in the fall of Adam. In Adam we became dead in our trespasses and sins. Our spiritual death makes all men pursuers of the passions of the flesh. This complete corruption means we will not desire God but only follow the desires of the flesh. 

We worked our way through the end of chapter 1. The 8 verses which wrap up the end of the chapter really highlight the unlimited almighty power of God which is in Christ and because the Holy Spirit indwells us it is also in us. Its existence in us is for the glory of Jesus. He blesses us and He sustains us in the midst of difficulties. It is there to help us come to know God better. This happens as we trust Him and He sustains us. It is primarily relational and it comes through faith in Jesus. As we live this life of faith our actions will be characterized by love. This happens because we are trusting in the power of God which raised Jesus from the dead. Which means as we experience weakness and attacks from those who hate Jesus we are able to trust God to be our strength and shield. Will we always do this perfectly? Of course not! But the truth is as we cultivate a life of totally trusting God in all situation we will find our hearts more inclined to leaning on Him and finding our strength in Him. Today we begin our journey through chapter 2. This is one of the great high points in the book of Ephesians because it gives us one of the greatest explanations of salvation in the Bible.