DIG for Monday the 27th of November…..of course He is God……John 1 v 1

John has always been my favourite Gospel; it was the first book I studied in a systematic manner.

And it starts off with some amazing truths about Jesus.

Many people think of Jesus as a great man, a gifted teacher, a wonderful moral philosopher or an inspirational leader.

However He really is so much more.

The beginning of the Gospel of John is a wonderful description of Jesus, with John 1 v 1 really setting the scene.

John 1 v 1 clearly tells us that Jesus was and is God.

Jesus is described as the Word, the Greek word logos.

There is no debate amongst theologians (unusually) that this word logos is talking about Jesus.

There are a couple of amazing truths that we learn from this verse.

We are told Jesus was with God, so has always existed; He always has been!

And He is in fact God.

Yes, He is the Son of God, however He is Divine in His own right.

The even more wonderful truth is that if we read on into the Book of John we find out that Jesus, or God the Creator, came form Heaven to live on earth among us and deal with sin so that we could come back into relationship with God the Father.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus came and dwelt among us and brought us back into relationship with You”.

John 1 v 1…..In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

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DIG for Wednesday the 27th of September…..can we really know what God will do…..John 14 v 7

Can we really ever know what God will do in a situation?

Well, if you listen to a lot of people the answer would be no, as the Lord works in mysterious ways, doesn’t He?

But I think the answer is yes, as we have lots of information about what the Lord would do.

We can look at the example of Jesus and then transfer this onto God the Father.

Some of you may be thinking, well, how can we do that?

The Bible tells us that Jesus was the express image of the Father (Hebrews 1 v 3).

Jesus said He could only do what He saw the Father do (John 5 v19).

Jesus said He did not come to do His own will, but the will of the Father (John 6 v 38).

Jesus said that if you knew Him you would know the Father (John 14 v 7).

In other words what we see Jesus doing we can say this is what God the Father will do.

So if Jesus always healed, then God always heals.

And if Jesus never put sickness of anyone, then God never puts sickness on anyone.

So we can look at the example of Jesus and see how God would react and what God would do.

If Jesus is the express image of the Father He is the same, and has the same character.

God working in a mysterious way is not a Biblical truth; we can see God the Father in and through Jesus.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that we have the example of Jesus, thank you for your Word”.

John 14 v 7…..If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth

DIG for Friday the 19th of May…..yes, I am the Messiah, but I am also God…..John 4 v 25

I love it in the Word when Jesus confirms that He is God, or is the Son of God, going against what any theologians tell us today.

Jesus was not just a great teacher or a man with the most amazing moral code.

Jesus knew he was God and He told people!

Take the Samaritan woman at the well for example, a case when Jesus spoke of Himself as God that I had not “seen” until recently.

The woman spoke of the Messiah that was coming, of the Christ (John 4 v 25).

Jesus replied by saying this, “I that speak unto thee am he” (John 4 v 26).

He was saying that He was the Messiah, the Christ.

But He was also saying that He was God, as in my Bible the word “he” is in italics indicating that “he” was not in the original Greek.

So Jesus was saying, “I am”.

We know of course that this is exactly what God said to Moses from the burning bush.

Jesus knew He was God and by saying, “I am”, He was telling everyone about this truth.

Jesus was fully man, able to understand all that we are going through.

Remember He has been through any temptation that we can go through (Hebrews 4 v 15).

But at the same time He was God, the Creator of the Universe, who came to His earth to pay for sin Himself.

This is an awesome truth and a truth to be thankful about.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus is God and thank you that Jesus came to His earth to deal with my sin”.

John 4 v 16…..Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he

DIG for Friday the 9th of December…..how many wise men were there…..Matthew 2 v 1

OK, so I started yesterday looking at what is ‘wrong’ with what we say about the birth of Jesus, in that He came to bring peace to man not peace on earth.

There are lots of others things that we believe about the birth of Jesus that is not actually in the Bible.

For example do you know that the wise men did not bring gifts to Jesus at His birth?

Now I know most of you will be thinking that they came at His birth, we see this every time we watch a Nativity play and we see it on our Christmas cards, however it is not Biblical to say they were there at His birth.

They came to Him when He was a child, the Greek is clear about this in Matthew 2 v 9.

They came to Him when He was in the family home, the Word is clear about this in Matthew 2 v 11.

So there were no wise men in the stable (or was it a stable; more on that later) when he was born.

And I have one other point about this.

Where in Scripture does it say there were three wise men?

Three wise men visiting Jesus at His birth is a tradition of men (read the DIG for the 1^st of December if you missed it) and is not borne out in the Word.

The Word says they came to Jerusalem when He was born (Matthew 2 v 1).

The Word says they met Him (and brought Him gifts) in His family home when He was a small child (Matthew 2 v 11).

Anything else is conjecture or theory, but not Biblical truth.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for your Word and thank you that in His Word we can see the truth about Jesus, including His birth”.

Matthew 2 v 1…..Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem

DIG for Sunday the 25th of September…..of course Jesus lived, that is no longer in dispute…..John 1 v 14

As I was driving home from town this morning I listened to a fascinating discussion on the radio.

A professor was going on about a man, one of the most important men who had ever lived, a man that had shaped the history of the Western world more than any other man, yet a man who is never studied in history lessons.

I thought, “This should be about Jesus, I wonder who they mean”.

Imagine my surprise as the professor said, “I am of course talking about Jesus”.

Jesus and His teachings, through His followers, have shaped our history, shaped our culture and shaped our world

The professor spoke about how no serious historian can now dispute that a man called Jesus lived, spoke out a seriously radical message and then was crucified by the Romans.

Some people still talk of Jesus being a mythical figure but that is just not true; a man called Jesus lived and died at the time described in the Bible.

That point no longer requires serious discussion, however it is serious what you believe about Jesus; as I’ve written in the last couple of DIGs this has eternal consequences.

Jesus was not only a man, he was also God and he came to bring reconciliation and forgiveness to a needy world.

Through Jesus, through faith and trust in Him and His finished work, man can come into an eternal relationship with God the Father.

That is serious!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us and thank you for His finished work on the cross”.

John 1 v 14…..And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth

DIG for Thursday the 7th of July…..labour to enter His rest…..Hebrews 4 v 11

Tonight in the Bible study we were looking at Hebrews 4 v 11, within the context of studying about the rest we can have in Jesus.

This verse talks about labouring into rest and also talks about unbelief.

It suddenly dawned on me how we labour into this rest, and it is to have faith; faith in what God said and in what Jesus has done.

The verse tells us that the opposite of rest is unbelief; I’d read this verse many times before but tonight this really hit home to me.

Labouring is not about striving and working and putting effort into something, it is simply about believing in what God said and what Jesus did.

In the Old Testament we see that the Hebrews nation did not enter into the rest of the Promised Land due to unbelief.

There were people who believed in what God said, like Caleb and Joshua, and they eventually did enter this promised rest.

But the other people who did not have faith in the word of God did not enter that rest.

The same is true for us; this part of the Old Testament is s picture for us today.

God said He has provided all we need through the finished work of Jesus and if we have faith, believe this and trust Him, we can enter His rest.

But unbelief and lack of faith can stop us entering this rest of abundance and provision; that is what Hebrews 4 v 11 is warning us.

Have faith, believe in what God has said about provision and abundance and have faith in the truth that Jesus has provided this for you.

Then you will see this abundance and provision in your life, you will enter His rest.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you want me to enter in to Your rest of abundance and provision, and thank you that Jesus has provided this for me”.

Hebrews 4 v 11…..Let us labour therefore into his rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief

DIG for Monday the 22nd of February…..reconciliation with God is a done deal…..Colossians 1 v 20

The main mission for Jesus was to bring about the reconciliation of man and God.

There had been a barrier of sin between the two parties and this barrier had to be removed.

Jesus removed that barrier by becoming the propitiation (or payment) for all sin through shedding His blood on the cross (1 John 2 v 2).

As His blood flowed man was reconciled to God and at the same time also forgiven (Colossians 1 v 14 and Ephesians 1 v 7).

Now, not every man is saved, as salvation comes as a gift of grace through faith in this finished work of Jesus.

However everyone has been forgiven and everyone (and everything) has been reconciled.

Scripture is very clear on this.

Jesus came to bring about peace (and therefore reconciliation) between man and God (Luke 2 v 14).

Jesus was successful in His mission, shedding His blood willingly on the cross.

There is now no barrier of sin between man and God, the only barriers left are the barriers that we put up ourselves.

All men have been reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5 v 18) and this is what permits us to move into salvation if we so choose.

Because we have been reconciled and forgiven we can be saved and made righteous, only available because of the shed blood of Jesus.

Speak this out today….”Thank you Lord for me reconciliation and forgiveness and thank you that because of that I could be saved”.

Colossians 1 v 20…..And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven

DIG for Sunday the 21st of February…..see the fullness of God in Jesus…..Colossians 1 v 19

There is a lot of repetition in this passage of Colossians, as Paul tries to get across the importance of who Jesus really was.

Yes, He was a man, yet He was fully God at the same time.

Paul tells us this again in verse 18, saying the fullness of the Father was in Jesus.

The Greek word for fullness means to be completely filled right up to the top, implying that Jesus was fully complete with the characteristics of the Father.

I don’t often use Bible versions other than the King James but for this verse they cam be enlightening.

The English Version says, “For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God”.

The Amplified says, “For it has pleased (the Father) that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers and attributes) shall dwell in Him permanently”.

The Greek (from the word dwell) also implies that this fullness has been there permanently, it was not something that God added to Jesus; He has always had this divine fullness.

Once again we can be amazed that Jesus, who always was and always will be fully God, came to this earth for you and me.

Jesus was God (and still is) yet came because He loved you and wanted to see you come into salvation.

And once saved there is another amazing truth for you to meditate upon; that fullness that was (and is) in Christ is now in your born again spirit through the in dwelling Holy Spirit.

Now that’s good news!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for Jesus and His finished work and thank you for my salvation, and thank you that the fullness now dwells within me”.

Colossians 1 v 19…..For it pleased the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell

DIG for Saturday the 20th of February……there it is, talking about being born again…..Colossians 1 v 18

In an earlier DIG in this mini-series I wrote about Jesus not being born, He was pre-existent and He will always exist (Colossians 1 v 17).

This verse also talks about Jesus being born, but this time it is about being firstborn from the dead.

Again this is not talking about literal birth, it is talking about being the most important and having pre-eminence.

It actually says that in the final part of this verse (Colossians 1 v 18).

Jesus was not the first person to be brought back form the dead in the Bible, we can read about at least 6 people being raised from the dead before God performed a similar miracle with Jesus.

But, and this is the crux of the matter, Jesus was the most important person raised from the dead.

In the list of people brought back to life He has preeminance.

Through His resurrection we can all have resurrected life.

We can share in His resurrection; we cannot share in the resurrection of the others, marvellous as they were.

Jesus came as a man, yet was God, and was perfect when He died thus dealing with sin.

Coming back to life meant He had defeated death, a defeat that we can all share in with Jesus.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the death and resurrection of Jesus and thank you for all that it means for me”.

Colossians 1 v 18…..And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence

DIG for Friday the 19th of February…..He is in charge, He is in control; or He should be…..Colossians 1 v 18

I’m sure you don’t need to be told that your head is one of, if not the most important parts of your body.

The brain is in charge, it controls everything we do from thinking to breathing to moving; the brain is the director for the rest of our body.

In this verse Jesus is described as the head of the church, with the church being described as a body.

The church here is rightly defined as the mass of people making up the church, it is not talking about the building that we meet in.

If the church is described as a body, then Jesus is the head.

In this sense He is like the brain, in control, in charge, or rather He should be.

This analogy falls down when we think about our natural body and brain.

Our body has no choice; if the brain communicates and tells it to do something it cannot refuse, it must obey; it has no free will.

We, as a member of the body, as a member of the church, have free will.

Jesus, as our head, can say something and we can choose whether to do it or not.

Jesus, via His Holy Spirit, is talking to us, communication with us, trying to guide us every second of every day.

We choose whether to listen and then choose whether to obey; this is our free will.

I would suggest it is a good idea to let our Head decide what is best for us and go along with His will.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus is the head of the church and that He knows exactly what is best for me”.

Colossians 1 v 18…..And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence