April 25: Believing His Salvation.
HIS VASTNESS.
"For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel."--Luke 2:30-32
When I was twelve years old, my family was about to move to the United States for one year in order for my dad to complete his graduate studies. In preparation for this new life, I got baptized, sealing my commitment to Jesus the day before our departure. When we made it to Michigan, I was delighted to see the ground covered with snow! But when school began, I realized that having come from another country, I was different and therefore not very popular and not always accepted by my peers. It was painful.
This was the experience of many new Christians in the first century. When the Gentiles began to accept the gospel, they found out that many of the Jewish Christians were not too welcoming of their new fellow believers. Luke, who penned the most words of all writers of the New Testament, is careful to emphasize that the salvation that Jesus offers has a vast reach for all peoples, regardless of any cultural barriers. In his Gospel, Luke includes several unique stories that highlight the inclusivity of God's salvation through Christ. One of these stories is about Simeon, a godly man to whom the Holy Spirit had revealed that he would not die without having seen the Lord's Anointed (Luke 2:26). When Simeon saw Baby Jesus, he sang a song that is named after its first words in Latin: "Nunc Dimittis" (see Luke 2:29-32). This was a shocking song for a Jewish audience, because it spoke about the salvation offered to both Gentiles and Jews. Today, the followers of Christ are called to be the champions for the elimination of barriers between different groups of people. At the foot of the cross we are all on level ground--all equally undeserving yet saved by the grace of God. Isaiah prophesied about the amplitude of God's salvation:
Enlarge the place of your tent;
Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings...
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your pegs.
For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left
(Isaiah 54:2, 3).
My Response:___________________________________________________________
HIS VASTNESS.
"For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel."--Luke 2:30-32
When I was twelve years old, my family was about to move to the United States for one year in order for my dad to complete his graduate studies. In preparation for this new life, I got baptized, sealing my commitment to Jesus the day before our departure. When we made it to Michigan, I was delighted to see the ground covered with snow! But when school began, I realized that having come from another country, I was different and therefore not very popular and not always accepted by my peers. It was painful.
This was the experience of many new Christians in the first century. When the Gentiles began to accept the gospel, they found out that many of the Jewish Christians were not too welcoming of their new fellow believers. Luke, who penned the most words of all writers of the New Testament, is careful to emphasize that the salvation that Jesus offers has a vast reach for all peoples, regardless of any cultural barriers. In his Gospel, Luke includes several unique stories that highlight the inclusivity of God's salvation through Christ. One of these stories is about Simeon, a godly man to whom the Holy Spirit had revealed that he would not die without having seen the Lord's Anointed (Luke 2:26). When Simeon saw Baby Jesus, he sang a song that is named after its first words in Latin: "Nunc Dimittis" (see Luke 2:29-32). This was a shocking song for a Jewish audience, because it spoke about the salvation offered to both Gentiles and Jews. Today, the followers of Christ are called to be the champions for the elimination of barriers between different groups of people. At the foot of the cross we are all on level ground--all equally undeserving yet saved by the grace of God. Isaiah prophesied about the amplitude of God's salvation:
Enlarge the place of your tent;
Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings...
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your pegs.
For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left
(Isaiah 54:2, 3).
My Response:___________________________________________________________
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