December 22-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Acts 4:10-11, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
Observe what it is saying.
Of all the people on the earth, the nation of Israel surely was the best prepared to receive the Christ of God. The children of Abraham, they were called to be a chosen people in an everlasting covenant with God, the Father. Yet they failed to recognize Jesus as Messiah and Lord. There is no doubt that theirs was the greatest moral blunder in the history of mankind. He came to His own people, and they rejected Him! Jesus taught frankly that He was asking His followers to throw themselves out on the resources of God. For the multitude, He was asking too much. He had come from God but they received Him not! It seems to be a comfort to some Christians to sit back and blame and belabor the Jews, refusing to acknowledge that they have information and benefits and spiritual light that the Jews never had. It is surely wrong for us to try to comfort our own carnal hearts by any emphasis that Israel rejected Him. If we do that, we only rebuild the sepulchres of our fathers as Jesus said! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 27).
Relate it to your life.
Instead of Monday morning quarterbacking what others should have done, I need to check my own heart and response to the full revelation of Jesus Christ.
Do something.
Lord, would I have mocked You? Denied You? Ignored who You really were? I know only that I wholeheartedly worship You today as the King of kings and Lord of lords! Amen.
December 23-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Galatians 4:4-5, But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
Observe what it is saying.
Christ the eternal Son is timeless. When you think about Jesus, you have to think twice. You have to think of His humanity and His deity. He said a lot of things that made it sound as if He wasn’t God. He said other things that made it sound as if He wasn’t human. He said, for instance, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). That made it sound as if He antedated creation. Then He said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge” (5:30), and that made it sound as if He wasn’t divine. He said, “my Father is greater than I” (14:28), and that made it sound as if He wasn’t God. And He said, “I and my Father are one” (10:30), and that made it sound as if He wasn’t human. But the fact is, He is both…. He could talk like God and then He could talk like man. So we’ve always got to think about the Son of Man, Jesus Christ the Lord, in two ways. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 28).
Relate it to your life.
I cannot fully understand redemption until I have an understanding of the dynamics of Jesus’ personhood when He became human as the Son of God.
Do something.
Christ, while I do not understand the mystery of the Incarnation, I believe that You are fully human and fully divine. May those who do not know You come to a saving knowledge of You, Son of God and Son of Man. Amen.
December 24-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Observe what it is saying.
How could He be slain from the foundation of the world [Rev. 13:8]? When God laid the heaven and the earth and caused the grass to be upon the hills and the trees to be upon the mountains, when God made the birds to fly in the air and the fish to swim in the sea, God had already in His heart lived Calvary and the resurrection and the glory and the crown. So He was slain before the foundation of the world…. God never panics, because God never looks at clocks or watches. “The fulness of time” was the time when God had ordered it; when that time came, Mary gave birth to her Boy and He was born and lived and died, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). So the eternal Son has lived through all time. He who was born in Bethlehem’s manger did not take His origin in the womb of the virgin. The human Baby did, but the eternal Son did not. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 29).
Relate it to your life.
God’s love for me is discovered in His plan to redeem me long before time ever began to be counted.
Do something.
Oh, the mystery of God’s sovereign plan! I praise You, Lord, for Your infinite wisdom and for ordaining a plan of redemption long before the world was made. Amen.
December 25-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 17:5, And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Observe what it is saying.
My poor, helpless, dependent self finds a home in God. God is our home! I look forward not so much to heaven as my home but as God is my home, in His heaven and the eternity of God. We poor victims of the passing moment, we have found the Timeless One. When I preach, I notice some people looking at their wristwatch. We’re victims of time—counting our pulse beating, tearing off from the calendar the page that tells us that one more month has gone by. But there is One who contains time in His bosom: the Timeless One, who stepped out of eternity into time, in the womb of the virgin Mary, who died and rose and lives at the right hand of God for us. He invites us into His bosom where time is no more. And instead of getting old, we stay young in Jesus Christ. Do you know that song, “Now rest, my long-divided heart; Fixed on this blissful center, rest!” What did he mean? “If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25), said our Lord. There is confusion, revolution and tumult until we find rest in Christ. What is that blissful center? It is none other than the Son of God made flesh, crucified and risen. And He invites us to rest in His bosom. There is a real sense in which nobody knows rest of mind or heart until they find it in Jesus Christ our Lord. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 30).
Relate it to your life.
The best Christmas present ever given is to find rest in God’s home through the gift of Jesus.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, every day there is indeed some new glimpse of Your glory. Today may I live with a holy anticipation so that I may discover more of who You are! Amen.
December 26-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Observe what it is saying.
God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God’s just sentence against him. What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God’s stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die. Having done this, let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Savior, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 31).
Relate it to your life.
I am made into a brand-new person in Jesus Christ!
Do something.
Father, I praise You for giving me new life in Your Son! May I walk in abundance of life today. Amen.
December 27-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Isaiah 35:2, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
Observe what it is saying.
Think with me about beauty—and about this matchless One who is the Lord of all beauty, our Savior! God has surely deposited something within our human beings that is capable of understanding and appreciating beauty—the love of harmonious forms, appreciation of colors, and beautiful sounds. Brother and sister, these are only the external counterparts of a deeper and more enduring beauty—that which we call moral beauty. It has been the uniqueness and the perfection of Christ’s moral beauty that has charmed even those who claimed to be His enemies throughout the centuries of history. One of the great philosophers, Nietzsche, objected to Paul’s theology of justification by faith, but he was strangely moved within himself by the perfection of moral beauty found in the life and character of Jesus, the Christ. We should thank God for the promise of heaven being the place of supreme beauty—and the One who is all-beautiful is there! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 32).
Relate it to your life.
I will not find any finer beauty than in the glory of the Lord revealed in Jesus.
Do something.
Thank You, Lord, for Your beauty that is reflected in the lives of Your servants who have left the comfort of their own home and culture to serve You in distant lands. “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” (Isa. 52:7). Amen.
Write out the Scripture.
Acts 4:10-11, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
Observe what it is saying.
Of all the people on the earth, the nation of Israel surely was the best prepared to receive the Christ of God. The children of Abraham, they were called to be a chosen people in an everlasting covenant with God, the Father. Yet they failed to recognize Jesus as Messiah and Lord. There is no doubt that theirs was the greatest moral blunder in the history of mankind. He came to His own people, and they rejected Him! Jesus taught frankly that He was asking His followers to throw themselves out on the resources of God. For the multitude, He was asking too much. He had come from God but they received Him not! It seems to be a comfort to some Christians to sit back and blame and belabor the Jews, refusing to acknowledge that they have information and benefits and spiritual light that the Jews never had. It is surely wrong for us to try to comfort our own carnal hearts by any emphasis that Israel rejected Him. If we do that, we only rebuild the sepulchres of our fathers as Jesus said! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 27).
Relate it to your life.
Instead of Monday morning quarterbacking what others should have done, I need to check my own heart and response to the full revelation of Jesus Christ.
Do something.
Lord, would I have mocked You? Denied You? Ignored who You really were? I know only that I wholeheartedly worship You today as the King of kings and Lord of lords! Amen.
December 23-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Galatians 4:4-5, But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
Observe what it is saying.
Christ the eternal Son is timeless. When you think about Jesus, you have to think twice. You have to think of His humanity and His deity. He said a lot of things that made it sound as if He wasn’t God. He said other things that made it sound as if He wasn’t human. He said, for instance, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). That made it sound as if He antedated creation. Then He said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge” (5:30), and that made it sound as if He wasn’t divine. He said, “my Father is greater than I” (14:28), and that made it sound as if He wasn’t God. And He said, “I and my Father are one” (10:30), and that made it sound as if He wasn’t human. But the fact is, He is both…. He could talk like God and then He could talk like man. So we’ve always got to think about the Son of Man, Jesus Christ the Lord, in two ways. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 28).
Relate it to your life.
I cannot fully understand redemption until I have an understanding of the dynamics of Jesus’ personhood when He became human as the Son of God.
Do something.
Christ, while I do not understand the mystery of the Incarnation, I believe that You are fully human and fully divine. May those who do not know You come to a saving knowledge of You, Son of God and Son of Man. Amen.
December 24-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Observe what it is saying.
How could He be slain from the foundation of the world [Rev. 13:8]? When God laid the heaven and the earth and caused the grass to be upon the hills and the trees to be upon the mountains, when God made the birds to fly in the air and the fish to swim in the sea, God had already in His heart lived Calvary and the resurrection and the glory and the crown. So He was slain before the foundation of the world…. God never panics, because God never looks at clocks or watches. “The fulness of time” was the time when God had ordered it; when that time came, Mary gave birth to her Boy and He was born and lived and died, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). So the eternal Son has lived through all time. He who was born in Bethlehem’s manger did not take His origin in the womb of the virgin. The human Baby did, but the eternal Son did not. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 29).
Relate it to your life.
God’s love for me is discovered in His plan to redeem me long before time ever began to be counted.
Do something.
Oh, the mystery of God’s sovereign plan! I praise You, Lord, for Your infinite wisdom and for ordaining a plan of redemption long before the world was made. Amen.
December 25-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 17:5, And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Observe what it is saying.
My poor, helpless, dependent self finds a home in God. God is our home! I look forward not so much to heaven as my home but as God is my home, in His heaven and the eternity of God. We poor victims of the passing moment, we have found the Timeless One. When I preach, I notice some people looking at their wristwatch. We’re victims of time—counting our pulse beating, tearing off from the calendar the page that tells us that one more month has gone by. But there is One who contains time in His bosom: the Timeless One, who stepped out of eternity into time, in the womb of the virgin Mary, who died and rose and lives at the right hand of God for us. He invites us into His bosom where time is no more. And instead of getting old, we stay young in Jesus Christ. Do you know that song, “Now rest, my long-divided heart; Fixed on this blissful center, rest!” What did he mean? “If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25), said our Lord. There is confusion, revolution and tumult until we find rest in Christ. What is that blissful center? It is none other than the Son of God made flesh, crucified and risen. And He invites us to rest in His bosom. There is a real sense in which nobody knows rest of mind or heart until they find it in Jesus Christ our Lord. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 30).
Relate it to your life.
The best Christmas present ever given is to find rest in God’s home through the gift of Jesus.
Do something.
Lord Jesus, every day there is indeed some new glimpse of Your glory. Today may I live with a holy anticipation so that I may discover more of who You are! Amen.
December 26-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Observe what it is saying.
God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God’s just sentence against him. What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God’s stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die. Having done this, let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Savior, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ. (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 31).
Relate it to your life.
I am made into a brand-new person in Jesus Christ!
Do something.
Father, I praise You for giving me new life in Your Son! May I walk in abundance of life today. Amen.
December 27-The Son of God
Write out the Scripture.
Isaiah 35:2, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
Observe what it is saying.
Think with me about beauty—and about this matchless One who is the Lord of all beauty, our Savior! God has surely deposited something within our human beings that is capable of understanding and appreciating beauty—the love of harmonious forms, appreciation of colors, and beautiful sounds. Brother and sister, these are only the external counterparts of a deeper and more enduring beauty—that which we call moral beauty. It has been the uniqueness and the perfection of Christ’s moral beauty that has charmed even those who claimed to be His enemies throughout the centuries of history. One of the great philosophers, Nietzsche, objected to Paul’s theology of justification by faith, but he was strangely moved within himself by the perfection of moral beauty found in the life and character of Jesus, the Christ. We should thank God for the promise of heaven being the place of supreme beauty—and the One who is all-beautiful is there! (A. W. Tozer on the Son of God: A 365-Day Devotional, p. 32).
Relate it to your life.
I will not find any finer beauty than in the glory of the Lord revealed in Jesus.
Do something.
Thank You, Lord, for Your beauty that is reflected in the lives of Your servants who have left the comfort of their own home and culture to serve You in distant lands. “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” (Isa. 52:7). Amen.
Posted in Daily Devotionals