Bible League: Living His Word God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.— Hebrews 2:4 NIV The Lord God is testifying to something; He is bearing witness to something. What is it? It's the great salvation He has made available through Jesus Christ. It's the great salvation that was first announced by Jesus Himself (Hebrews 2:3). God bears witness to it, because it needs to be made known far and wide, for it's the only way to escape the just punishment that every human being deserves to receive. And when we hear about it, "We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away" (Hebrews 2:1). We must pay attention to it because the stakes are high. The consequences of drifting away are grim. The fact that God testifies to the great salvation means that it's more than just a bunch of words. He adds something that testifies that the words are true. In this way, He confirms the greatness of this great salvation and gives us no excuse to have missed it. God's testimony is a revelation that cannot be ignored with impunity. What's the substance of God's testimony? The announcement of the great salvation comes with actual manifestations of what this salvation entails. People who accept Jesus Christ get liberated from the negative consequences of sin that began in the Garden of Eden. They experience signs, wonders, and miracles. This includes, among other things, being set free from demonic power and being healed of diseases. It includes special gifts of the Holy Spirit that empower and enable them to transform life for the better, to be transformed by Jesus' teachings. God's testimony is recorded right there in the Bible. Anyone who comes in contact with it ignores it at his own peril. One cannot hear the Word and watch the Lord God testify to the truth of His great salvation and expect Him to overlook indifference. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJob 23, 24, 25 Job 23 -- Job Longs to Appear before God NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 24 -- Wickedness is Often Unpunished, but there is a Secret Judgment for the Wicked NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 25 -- Bildad Says that Man Cannot be Justified before God NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 10:24-48 Acts 10 -- Cornelius' and Peter's Visions; Peter Preaches to the Gentiles NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.Insight There are two requirements for coming to God. Like Peter, we must recognize our own sinfulness. Then, like these fishermen, we must realize that we can't save ourselves. Challenge If we know that we need help, and if we know that Jesus is the only one who can help us, we will be ready to leave everything and follow him. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 28:1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the readiness of the Lord to hear, and his ability to aid, we shall see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our salvation. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the day of judgment, but our Rock attends to our cries. "Be not silent to me." Mere formalists may be content without answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot; they are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the will--they must go further, and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they cannot rest; and those replies they long to receive at once; they dread even a little of God's silence. God's voice is often so terrible that it shakes the wilderness; but his silence is equally full of awe to an eager suppliant. When God seems to close his ear, we must not therefore close our mouths, but rather cry with more earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and grief, he will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful case should we be in if the Lord should become forever silent to our prayers? "Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." Deprived of the God who answers prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in the grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in hell. We must have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case of dire necessity; surely the Lord will speak peace to our agitated minds, for he never can find it in his heart to permit his own elect to perish. Daily Light on the Daily Path Matthew 26:44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.Hebrews 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Hosea 6:3 "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." Romans 12:12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, Philippians 4:6,7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. • And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Matthew 26:39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 1 John 5:14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Psalm 37:4,5 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. • Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
    |