True sight, faith, and salvation

Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Devotions: Ps 121-26; Jer 25:8-17; Rom 10:1-13; Jn 9:18-41

I raise my gaze, and note the highlands--my Helper is YHWH, Maker of heaven and earth.  He never slumbers or sleeps; He is ever vigilant.  He will not let me be attacked by evil; He watches over my going forth and returning home.  So I am always glad to be invited to worship in His house.  And I have been blessed to live in Jerusalem, God's holy city, to which His tribes go up and where He will sit to judge the earth and all mortals.  Let peace be upon Jerusalem, and upon the Israel of God!  Exalted Lord, I praise You, and look to you as my Master.  Have mercy on me, Lord; I have withstood much contempt and scorn from the proud and ungodly.  If You had not watched over me, I would long since have perished.  But by Your grace, I have escaped like a bird from a snare.  All who trust in YHWH are like Mount Zion.  He surrounds us as the mountains surround Jerusalem--everlasting protection from the living God!  When God prospers His people, it's like a wonderful dream to me.  I laugh and shout for sheer delight, for our God has done great things for us.  YHWH, restore our fortunes, as watercourses refresh the Negev.  The righteous who sow in tears: may they reap with shouts of joy, coming home to God bearing the sheaves of His harvest.

YHWH addressed His people through the prophet Jeremiah:  'Because you have not obeyed My word, I will send for northern tribes and Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, who does My will.  And I will bring these adversaries against My people and this land; I will drive them out of the land of promise, and take from them the voice of joy and praise, the prosperity of a secure community and growing families, the food they had enjoyed by My bounty, and the light I had shed upon them.  This whole land will become a ruin and a waste; then these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.  After that, I will punish the king of Babylon and the land of  the Chaldeans for their iniquity; I will make their territory into a wasteland.  I will bring down on them the dire predictions of my prophet Jeremiah.  They will pay for their wickedness and impudence.' God directed Jeremiah:  'Take from My hand this cup, the wine of My wrath.  Make all the nations to whom I send drink this wine; they will stagger and be crazed because of the sword I Am sending upon them.'  And Jeremiah did as God commanded.

Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:  Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire is that all the Jews should be saved.  I tell you, they are zealous for God; but their zeal is misdirected.  They are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and so they seek to be righteous on their own strength and merit.  They did not submit to God's righteousness.  For the Messiah is the end and fulfillment of the law, so that everyone who puts faith in Jesus may be justified before the holy God.  Moses wrote that those who fulfill the law may live thereby.  But the righteousness that is by faith says this:  'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend to heaven?" or "Who will descend to the abyss?".  No; the saving faith says this:  "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart."  This is the word of faith that we apostles preach.  Because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus Is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  Mortals believe with their hearts, and so are justified; they confess with their lips, and so are saved.  The scripture affirms, 'No one who believes in Him will be put to shame.'  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek--the same Lord is Lord of all, and He bestows His riches upon all who call on Him.  It is so: 'Every one who calls upon the Lord's Name will be saved." 

The Jewish authorities would not believe that the blind man Jesus had healed truly had been blind from birth and then received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man.  The authorities demanded of them, 'Is this your son, whom you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?'  The parents replied 'We know this is our son; we know he was born blind.  But how it is that he now sees, we do not know; nor do we know who opened his eyes.  Ask him; he's of age, and can speak for himself.'  They spoke thus because they feared the Jewish authorities, who had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, the same would be put out of the synagogue.   So the parents just said, 'Ask him; he's of age.'  So the Jewish authorities again interrogated the man born blind:  'Give God the glory!  We know that this man is a sinner!'  The man answered 'I don't know if He Is a sinner; but I know this one thing: though I was blind, I now can see!'  They demanded him to tell them how Jesus restored his sight.  The man replied, 'I told you all that already.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you too want to become His disciples?'  They reviled him: 'You are his disciple; we are the disciples of Moses.  We know that God spoke to Moses; but as for this man, we don't know where he comes from.'  And the man answered, 'This is a marvel!  You don't know where He comes from, though we all know He opened my eyes.  We know that God does not heed sinners, but that if one worships God and does His will, then God listens to him.  Never since the world began has it been noted that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.'  But they said, 'You were born in utter sin, and would you instruct us?'  And they cast the man out.  Jesus heard of this, and found the man; then He said to the man, 'Do you believe in the Son of man?'  And the man replied 'Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?'  And Jesus said, 'You have seen Him already; it is He Who speaks to you now.'  And the man said, 'Lord, I believe!'  And he worshiped Jesus.  Jesus declared, 'For judgment I came into this world, so that those who were blind may see and that those who claim to see may become blind.'  Some Pharisees here this, and addressed Jesus:  'Are we also blind?'  And Jesus answered them:  'If you were blind,  you would have no guilt.  But since you claim to see, your guilt remains.'