Our Only Lord God

Isaiah 45:23-24

By Myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked; Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear. They will say of Me, "In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength."

Romans 14:11-12

It is written,"As surely as I live," says the Lord, "every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God." So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Philippians 2:10-11

That at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And here is the fulfillment:

Revelation 5:12-13

In a loud voice they sang, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them singing: "To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!"

The Lord Jesus Christ is the One we worship and adore. He alone is the One we know, who is worthy of all praise and honor and credit for all that has been done since the creation of all things to the very end of time itself, from eternity to eternity, to the glory of God the Father.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

This Present Time

Romans 3:11-12

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the Day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Dear Father, please wake up Your church; arouse each one of us from our slumber of denial and normalcy bias. Show us how each of us can be Your hands and Your feet, teach us Your words to speak and strengthen us to do Your work in this broken world to promote Your glorious Kingdom.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus, our soon-coming King!

Lamenting

Lamentations 3:31-40

For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny a man his rights before the Most High, to deprive a man of justice--would not the Lord see such things? Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

God Is All, We Are Nothing

Job 42:5-6

My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.

The revelation of God, who He is, showed the inherent sinfulness and shame of Job's humanity. 

God is utterly good, holy, beautiful. When we as humans see the actual Truth of who God really is, we always are fully aware of our own deficiencies. We are never enough in ourselves to stand before Almighty God, but are forced to our knees in obeisance. God is all and we are nothing.

Only in Christ do we have standing and authority.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Job, A Mere Man

Job 40:3-4

The Lord spoke to Job, Then Job answered the Lord, "I am unworthy--how can I reply to You? I put my hand over my mouth."

Job realized how unworthy he was, he had no standing to accuse God or even to defend himself. He had nothing to say to the Lord God of the Universe. He understood that God was the beginning and end of everything and all-good and all-wise; and himself only a man. 

No matter what happens, whether I see good times or trouble and sorrows, God is still in His Heaven, and I am still here on Earth, waiting on Him to accomplish His purposes in His time.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Reconciliation With God

Romans 5:10

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

When my bank sends me my statement, I will go through my checkbook register and reconcile it to the statement. If they don't agree on the balance, I don't tell the bank to change the statement, I change my checkbook register. The bank statement is the standard, and the error is in my register. When I correct the mistake, then it agrees with the statement. 

God has reconciled us to Himself. He is the standard and we have made the errors. He forgives our sins through the price of our debt being paid on our behalf by Christ, He corrects our errors, and makes us right with Him, righteous. He writes our sin on Jesus' side of the register, then, to balance the books, He writes Jesus' righteousness on our side. Jesus didn't deserve to pay, and we don't deserve to receive. That's G.R.A.C.E.: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. His mercy is not giving us the punishment we deserve, and His grace is giving us His riches that we don't deserve. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Sin and Righteousness

II Corinthians 5:21

God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus became sin: That means He took upon Himself our very sin-nature, the root and fountainhead of every sin from the least to the very greatest. He did not die for individual sins, but He took the whole basket, and everything in it. While He bore our sin-nature on the Cross, the sun refused to shine, and the Earth could not withstand without the sun, so after three hours it upheavaled and God used the earthquake to rip the curtain in half from top to bottom, revealing the Holiest of Holies to the common people, letting us know that we no longer need any priest or go-between to get to God, each one of us can enter into His very throne room through what Jesus accomplished on the Cross.

So that we might become His righteousness; not to do right things, but be righteousness. Jesus became sin and died; we become righteousness and live, to live out that righteousness. We are to work out in our attitudes, actions and words that great salvation that God has worked into us. To live His righteousness.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!