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The Mystery of Our Religion: He

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We’ve decided to bring back a Sunday Special on the Daily Text. Many of you will remember Dr. Timothy Tennent, President of Asbury Theological Seminary, led us in reflection through all 150 Psalms over a three year period a few years back. In addition to giving me a much needed weekly Sabbath breather, it enriches you all with another voice and perspective. Seedbed was privileged to receive the rights to publish a classic daily reader from the late E. Stanley Jones called In Christ. It actually holds 365 entries. We will begin today running one of these entries each Sunday on the Daily Text. I think you will love it as much as we do. 

I would love it if you would listen to the Sunday Special. Why? Because our very own Micah Smith is the voice of choice. Micah is the glue of our organization. She has been with us from nearly the beginning. She is an E. Stanley Jones super-fan and runs the late saint’s account on Twitter. If you are a Twitter-er give them a follow here. Micah has also been a linchpin behind the scenes player on the Daily Text Team from day one. So it thrills me to welcome Micah as the voice behind the Sunday Special going forward on the Daily Text. -JDW

CONSIDER THIS

We saw yesterday that a Korean, right out of paganism, grasped with Paul the great “mystery of our religion: He”—a vivid illustration of how our Christian faith is enriched by its outreach.

Jesus emphasized His own centrality in Scripture: “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life: and it is they that bear witness to me” (John 5:39). You think you find eternal life in the words, but out of the words comes the Word—they “bear witness to me.” Eternal life is in Him. He points it with “yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (v. 40).

The business of the Scriptures is to take us by the hand and take us beyond the words to the Word. The Scriptures are not the revelation of God—that would be the Word become printer’s ink. The Scriptures are the inspired record of the Revelation—the Revelation is seen in the face of Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh. Every day I go to these words and say to them: “Hast thou seen Him Whom my soul loveth?” These words take me by the hand and lead me beyond the words to Him Who is the Word.

The opening sentence of the book of Revelation says: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him” (1:1). This is interesting and important. For in the rest of the Scriptures Jesus is revealing God, showing us in concrete, human terms what God is like: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). What a revelation of God we find in Him! There can be nothing higher, and there can be nothing other—this is it! Here, however, the roles are reversed: God reveals Jesus! That is a fulfillment of the law laid down by Jesus: “whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life . . . will save it” (Mark 8:35). Jesus lost His life in revealing the Father and found it again in the Father’s revealing Him. And the Father is revealing Jesus—He is growing upon us, amazingly.

THE PRAYER

O Father, Thou art revealing Thy Son to us. He is growing upon us so amazingly that we can scarcely keep up with Thy revelations. He breaks out everywhere—from every bush, every star, every happening—everywhere. Amen.

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY

To see Jesus is to see what God and man and life are like.

Get a copy of In Christ: Devotions for Every Day of the Year from our store here.

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

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