Tuesday after Ad te levavi, The First Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 3, 2019 by under
Scripture: Acts 3:22-26 (NKJV)
3:22 “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
Devotion
“And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”
Jesus Christ comes to us in order to bring us God’s love and mercy. But His love and mercy are not indifferent toward sin and error. His teachings and commands state clearly that some things are wrong and destructive, and He wants us to stop doing them. Love puts away that which is harmful, so God’s love will remove those who are unrepentant in their sin and error.
Faithful repentance is not a punishment. Our self-loving pride lies to us and tells us otherwise, but real humility is a blessing from God by His Spirit. He works faith in people so they may hear His true Words and love Him more than their own desires. To resist His commands and teachings is to resist the faith that His Spirit brings, and to resist His love. And if people resist the truth that our Lord Jesus Christ gives to us in Word and Spirit, then all that remains is the tragic destruction of being sent away because He never knew them (Matt. 7:23).
Thanks be to God that He has raised up His Servant Jesus to bless us and turn us away from our iniquities.
We pray: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
