that Name

you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. - Mat. 1:21

Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation - Psalm 68:19

Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost - John 17:11-12

... May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! - Psalm 20:1

Jesus
Long had I heard that holy Name adored
Repeated often in the gospel story
But now to know its meaning - 'tis the Lord
Who is salvation - this my hope and glory.
- AFC

A Widow for Three Days

"Thus says the Lord:
“Where is your mother's certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away."
- Isaiah 50:1

"“If a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
will he return to her?
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
- Jeremiah 3:1

"Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead..." - Romans 7:1-4

I saw more clearly today yet another reason for the death of Christ.
Israel was in spiritual adultery and had broken the covenant with God her Husband.
And could he take her back? Would not His righteousness be defiled? He held it not righteous for men He had created to take a divorced as a bride. How then, could the bride of Christ be a divorced woman? But the church stood as a divorced woman. She had broken the first covenant; she was an adulteress - ruined among her worthless lovers. And while her husband lived she could not remarry. Therefore, she must be made a widow.

And so her estranged Husband took on flesh, that he might die.
She had broken the old covenant, and so He did away with it...

"This cup is the new covenant in my blood"

And the church was three days a widow.

Then He arose. Israel's husband had died that she might belong to another - to Him who was raised from the dead. He was delivered to death for her sins and raised to life for her justification....and He entered into a new covenant with her.

The marriage awaits. It will be between two who died as one to a broken Old Covenant and live to be forever united under a better New Covenant.

And the rest is too precious for words...

"...let me hear it"

HE

O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it.

SHE

Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

- Song of Solomon 8:13-14

Here Christ beckons His beloved to let Him hear her voice. She is in the garden, where they have before communed. It is a good place; she is with companions, and here their fellowship is sweet. But Christ desires the believer to call out to Him, to speak to Him. Hear how winsome are His words: O you who dwell in the gardens, let me hear your voice. How often would he bid us come away from our companions and speak to Him alone. He longs to hear His beloved’s voice. Oh believer! Does this not kindle holy warmth within your soul? Christ would hear my voice! His heart melts with love and longing for me! Would that we would ever cry, “Jesus, make haste to come to me!” Would that we might ever long for His presence as He does for ours!

The bride hears her Beloved, and her heart is stirred. Can you not see her in the garden? She hears the sweet command: “let me hear it” and turns to hasten to the clearing at the garden’s edge that looks toward the mountains. Across the valley she calls: “Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spice.”

Here ends the book of Solomon’s song, leaving the church where she ought to be, crying out to Jesus to come quickly - by His Spirit to commune with us now, and in His person to gather us to His presence forever.

Thus also ends the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ: “He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon."

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” - Rev. 22:20

Where shall I go?

"Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

"If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me."

~ ~ ~

Psalm 139:7-10 ESV

~ ~ ~

"...behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
- Matthew 28:20 ESV

His Face

I love reading through the Old Testament and New Testament at the same time. There is a richness that comes from seeing more angles of God's redemption plan at one time. Like these two passages:

Exodus 33:19-20 - Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

This is the LORD the everlasting God.
One day God became flesh. Jesus. He had a human face. He came to humble himself and die. But how absolutely stunning the second text is in light of the first.

"And the high priest said to him[Jesus], “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” - Matthew 26:63-67 ESV

This is incredible. Jesus is not separate from the God of the Old Testament - He is one and the same. How great was the condescension in what Jesus the Son of God did to pay for our wrong-doing!

who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him..." - Philippians 2:6-9 ESV