Quote from Forum Archives on April 3, 2003, 11:12 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

If you read the Bible, have you ever read it, thinking,
regardless of which book or chapter that you're reading, that in
some way, the message reveals something about the nature of God
and His Son, Jesus Christ? If not, consider reading the Bible in
that way and get a fresh perspective on even the most obscure
details. Everything is there for a reason; when you read with
that in mind, it makes all the difference.

Today's message from the daily devotions from Christianbook.com
during Lent may be helpful in cultivating that kind of
perspective.

Dear Lord,

As we read Your Word, please place Your Holy Spirit within us so
that we may be readers, hearers, and doers of the Word that You
have written, that our lives may be blessed and that Your Name
may be glorified through each of us. Amen.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

Wishing you a blessed and holy Lent!
You have received this message because you have signed up to
receive daily devotions from Christianbook.com during Lent. We
have chosen excerpts from one of the array of devotionals available
at Christianbook.com. We hope that this service enhances your
journey through the season of Lent and prepares you for the festal
shout on Easter morning: He is risen!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The Fire in the Cloud, Lenten Meditations" by Francis Martin
(Servant Publications, 2001).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

April 3, 2003
Exodus 32:7-14; John 5:3147

In the first reading today from the Book of Exodus, we understand
that Moses is a foreshadowing of Christ. In the gospel Jesus appeals
to Moses as a witness to himself, while the Exodus passage shows
us Moses as an intercessor. While he was on the mountain with God
receiving the law that was to form God's people, the people were on
the plain worshipping the golden calf and thus breaking the very first
and most fundamental commandment, "You shall have no other
gods besides me" (Ex. 20:3).

God tells Moses to "leave him alone" so that he can destroy the
people who have sinned. But Moses knows what God is really
saying. Later, through the mouth of Ezekiel, the Lord says: "And I
sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and
stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy
it; but I found none" (Ez. 22:30, RSV). Here God does find one who,
like Christ, will stand in the breach and save the people: "So the Lord
relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people"
(Ex. 32:14).

Parents, intercede for your children; pastors, intercede for your
people; teachers, for your students; everyone, intercede for the world
by the power of the cross of Christ. Stand in the breach, like Moses
and like Jesus, as an instrument of salvation for the people close to
you.

To the Jews who took exception to Jesus' calling himself God's Son
and making himself equal to God, Jesus first responded, as we
heard yesterday, with a description of his relation to the Father.
Today the gospel gives us the second part of that response, namely
Jesus' appeal to witnesses. In answer to a supposed objection that
in describing his relation to the Father Jesus is testifying on his own
behalf, he invokes four witnesses: John the Baptist, the works the
Father gave him to accomplish, the Father himself, and the
Scriptures, especially the Law of Moses.

The witness of the Baptist is the witness of the last prophet of the
Old Testament, a man sent by God who can tell us that Jesus has
been sent by the Father.

Look at your life, and the life of the whole Church, and consider the
answers to prayer that you know you have received from Jesus.
Think, "Who is this who answers prayer?" and believe because of the
works.

The testimony of the Father is constant. Through the Holy Spirit he is
always speaking to our conscience, leading us to yield more
profoundly to the Truth that is Jesus: "No one comes to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him" (Jn 6:44, RSV).

Finally, the Scriptures, in this case the Old Testament, bear witness
to Jesus. Reflect on the story of Moses today. Can you not see there
an anticipation of what Jesus accomplished by dying out of love and
obedience and in solidarity with us? Who then is this Jesus who can
confer a likeness to himself even before he comes among us? He is
the Son of the living God who is himself "the faithful witness, the
firstborn of the dead, the ruler of kings on earth" (Rv 1:5, RSV).

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you enjoyed the abridged version of today's devotional, you may
want to purchase "The Fire in the Cloud " at:

www.christianbook.com/html/static/52649.html?p=1016561

Sincerely,
Your Friends at Christianbook.com
www.christianbook.com

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--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

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