Bethlehem Lutheran Church

The verse for today, 7/18, is Micah 7:18
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love."

Micah didn't stop with the powerful verses we quoted last week. In fact, he was still saving the best for last. The book of Micah closes with these amazing words reminding us of just how wonderful God is. We have a God who is forgiving, and that is something truly special.

God's forgiveness is something we should never take for granted, as if forgiving Gods grew on trees. Out of all the religions of the world, the Gospel of Christ's forgiveness is completely unique. Only we as Christians have the blessing of a just and righteous God who is nevertheless not angry at us or demanding toward us, and that is only because Jesus paid the price for our forgiveness. In a completely unexpected and even incomprehensible turn of events, God is willing to suffer Himself so we don’t have to. God's amazing forgiveness is so special Micah doesn’t stop here, but goes on in the next verse, "He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

Your sins are GONE! Christ has taken away your sins and put them to death on the cross. Through Him we therefore can be called holy, innocent, righteous, children of God. The past cannot haunt us. What a beautiful Gospel! What a beautiful Lord!

The verse for today, 7/13, is Daniel 7:13
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence."

Today's verse is one of the most pivotal prophecies in the Old Testament describing Jesus. This picture of a human being glorified in heaven and receiving all authority, power, and worship forever and ever (as the next verse goes on to describe), was one of the most fundamental texts used in the New Testament to identify Jesus and His significance.

Jesus Himself frequently referred to Himself as the Son of Man and even quoted this passage directly and alluded to it on other occasions when He stated that He would be seen coming on the clouds of heaven. The book of Revelation draws heavily on this chapter of Daniel, almost as a New Testament "remake" of the original with Jesus now more clearly seen as the fulfillment of these things.

It's a great reminder to us today that Jesus is the world's one Redeemer, the one foretold from ancient times. What was at one time just a mysterious prophecy has now been revealed to us. We have the blessing of living at a point in history where we can see how God's eternal plan of salvation has unfolded in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who became man so that our humanity could be purified and made holy. Now that He is ascended again to heaven, we can look forward to joining Him there because of His great work.

The verse for today, 7/11, is Jeremiah 7:11
"Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? But I have been watching declares the LORD."

In the Old Testament, God sent the prophet Jeremiah to condemn the false spirituality of the people of Israel, who had so abused their relationship with God that their worship of Him had become more of a mockery of true worship than anything else. Jesus quoted this verse when He cleared the temple of the money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals. In doing so, He condemned much of the “worship” of God in that day also as hypocritical, and pointed to the shape of true worship by proclaiming that He Himself was the true temple. This temple would be destroyed and rebuilt three days later, He predicted, when He would rise from the dead, having paid the full price for our salvation by His perfect sacrifice.

Although we often use the term "worship" for church services, this verse, and Jesus' application of it, remind us that true worship is not something we can just do an hour a week and call that good. True worship is believing in Jesus and acting on that belief by loving our neighbor. True worship is a 24/7 activity! Church services are not to pay God off with praises and offerings so that he will turn a blind eye to our extracurricular activities during the week. It’s the opportunity to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit won for us by Christ's perfect obedience and perfect sacrifice, to be revived, uplifted, and strengthened by God's grace in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that our hearts can be filled with the faith in God that responds in true worship throughout the week.