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A Straight line to prepare the Way of the Lord

This week we turn the page in the series I'm teaching about the story of the Bible - the Big Picture story - that I've entitled "From Garden to Glory".  Volume 1 of that story  is the Old Testament story - which prepares the way for the Lord Jesus to come.  The entire Old Testament story is one of the great need for Redemption, and the impossibility of any human, or system of religion, or attempts to change the world for the better to do what only God can do.
There is the 1st lesson for us in terms of Faith and Salvation - it is completely and only a work of God.  From beginning to end we recognize that God is the central person for any good thing that can occur in relation to us in the world and in eternity.

God is the Creator - He begins it all...and the Prophets kept reminding us that the significance of that cannot be underestimated.  The Prophet Isaiah speaking some 700 years before Jesus stated it clearly:
Isaiah 42:5
This is what God the LORD says--he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:




In this one verse is all that can be said about God the creator who gives life to all creatures and sustains all of life by his own power and authority.

Jesus knew it:  "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." (John 5:17).
Everything is in God's Sovereign oversight...nothing is outside of Him.  It baffles our minds to think this and try to understand war, disease, injustice...but none of these human derived evils are the Creator's fault.  Still, God sovereignly works - "all things together for good for those who love him" (Romans 8:28).

We live in God's World.  The New Testament turns the page from Volume 1 to Volume 2.  Malachi and Matthew are separated by 400 years of time, but the ending of Vol. 1 and the opening of Vol. 2 are completely in sync.  Malachi saw a "messenger" who would come in the spirit of Elijah (3:1 and 4:5-6) to declare a new beginning.  The Messiah would come to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the father. 
Matthew saw the straight line.  He watched and walked with Jesus hearing his Message; watching his Manner of teaching, healing, doing the Father's work; witnessing his Messiah Mission unfold.  The Old Testament "Predicted" the need for Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.  The New Testament "Revealed" Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.

This is where we are this week...God unfolds the drama through a wild and weird looking man - John who is baptizing in the wilderness, those who want to be prepared for the Lord's coming.  The story is continuing: 
Galatians 3:29 
29  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 
Philippians 3:3
3  For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-- 
Colossians 2:9-12
9  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
10  and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
11  In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
12  having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 

The Video this week is an introduction to the Gospel of Mark...where we begin this Sunday.




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