Abide in Faith and Live Forever

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Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Devotions: Ps 49, 119:49-72; Deut 9:13-21; Heb 3:12-19; Jn 2:23-3:15

Listen, everyone: all people, everywhere, rich and poor, low and high together: I will not fear when iniquity surrounds me, or when my peers are trusting in material wealth. We are all mortals; only God can redeem and save us—otherwise all die, including the wise and wealthy. But God will ransom my soul from death, and receive me to Himself! So don’t envy those who become wealthy and powerful in this world; when they die, all their toys and possessions are lost. Eternal life and godly peace are of infinitely greater worth than mortal riches. Godless men deride me, but I will persevere in following You, my Lord, and in studying Your word. Your statutes have been my song in this house of my pilgrimage. YHWH is my Portion, and I am content! Lord, I hasten to do Your will; I recall Your goodness and meditate on Your law. You have dealt well with me; teach me good judgment and godly knowledge, that I might depend only on You.

YHWH threatened to destroy the stiff-necked Israelites and start anew with Moses. Moses stormed down Sinai/Horeb and confronted Aaron and the rebels in the camp. Moses lay prostrate before God for forty days and nights, neither eating nor drinking. But the Lord allowed Moses’ intercession, and did not utterly destroy the people, or Aaron.

The writer of Hebrews cautions: ‘Brothers and sisters, be careful, lest you harbor an evil, unbelieving heart. Exhort one another to faithfulness, to avoid hardness of heart and sin’s deceit. We must hold fast to the end! When you hear God’s voice, don’t harden your hearts as the Israelites did in the wilderness—all those who acted so fell in the desert; they never entered God’s rest, due to their unbelief.

Many professed faith in Jesus when they witnessed His miracles; but He knew their hearts, and did not trust in them—God knows our fickleness! Among the Pharisees was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus. He came by night to confer with Jesus. Jesus told him, ‘No one can see God’s kingdom who is not born anew.’ Nicodemus didn’t understand: ‘Surely, sir, we cannot enter again into our mothers’ wombs?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I say to you: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God’s kingdom. Only in this manner can we escape the ways of the world.’ Nicodemus needed further explanation. Jesus replied, ‘You are a teacher in Israel, but you don’t grasp this fundamental thing! I speak what I know and witness to what I have seen—but you Jews don’t accept My testimony. If I have told you the truth about earthly things and you cannot understand or believe, how can I tell you about heavenly things? You have opportunity to learn of heaven from One descended from there, the Son of man. As Moses lifted up Nehushtan, the bronze serpent, during the plague of poisonous snakes in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up, to the end that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.’