August 28, 2016
Scripture:
Hymn 82 - Ere God had built the mountains
Prayer
Today we’ll look today at the second half of Proverbs 8. Our hymn was a summary of it.
There are three persons in the God-head; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are all God, and they have all always existed. Some people think that Jesus didn’t exist until Bethlehem, but that’s not true. Jesus has always existed. Here in Proverbs 8, we’ll see what it was like before the world began.
Proverbs 8:22-26 Last time, we saw wisdom calling and talking to people, showing the benefits of following her ways. In this second part of the chapter, wisdom is a picture of Jesus, God the Son. This scene takes place before God created the world, but even then—in a past eternity—there was a close relationship between God the Father and God the Son. John 1:1-2 shows us that the Lord Jesus existed back in the beginning with God. Everything that we do has a beginning and an end, but it doesn’t work that way with God, because He’s eternal.
Proverbs 8:27-30 Now we start to see God creating things. It’s Genesis 1:1, the beginning of Creation; and, as we said, there was a relationship in the Godhead: the Son was His Father’s delight daily. John 1 tells us that Jesus created the universe and everything in it. He existed in eternity past, and now we see Him creating everything.
Proverbs 8:31. Wisdom says His delight was with the sons of men, or with people. God, who existed long before the world ever did, delights in us! Jesus even became a man like us in order to give His life a ransom for us. He died for us! The Bible says that if a corn of wheat doesn’t fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. God didn’t want to be alone; so He came and died for us, so that those saved can spend eternity with Him in Heaven.
Proverbs 8:32-36. Here, Wisdom encourages us to listen and learn from the word of God. We will be blessed if we hear and follow it. God almost wants us to be anxious for wisdom; watching and waiting for it to come, as it were. If we find it, it will be life to us. We were born dead in sins, but the Lord can give us life. Wisdom will give us His favour and blessing.
God then shows us the opposite: those that hate wisdom love death. So we have a decision to make: do we wait and watch for wisdom from the word, or not? 1 Corinthians 1:30 explains that when we get salvation, we also get wisdom. James tells us we can ask for more wisdom, but when we confess Jesus as Lord, He gives us an understanding of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit opens them up for us in a way that unbelievers don’t have.
We’ve seen something today that makes the gospel special: the One that made the world came as a man to die and save us from our sins. Now He desires that we have his blessing, life, and favour.
Colossians 1: 20-29
There are so many things we have that are the result of Christ’s work on the cross for us. We are cleansed by His blood, we are whiter than snow, we have forgiveness of sin, we are justified and sanctified by His blood, and have access into the Holiest. Here, at the start of verse twenty, we also have peace.
In this chapter there are three pairs of things that we have and will be looking at. There is the firstborn of everything and the firstborn from the dead; we have the reconciliation of all things and the reconciliation of us; then there are two ministries.
Salvation is a packaged deal and reconciliation is one of the things that comes with it. Reconciliation is required because man fell into sin, and was an enemy of God. Man views God as an enemy, but God has never viewed man as an enemy. Reconciliation is based on the shed blood of Christ. So, in verse twenty we have the reconciliation of all things, and than in verse twenty-one was have the reconciliation of us from wicked works.
God brought in a whole creation, and it had a beginning. God didn’t have a beginning. We, as humans, can’t understand that. Nobody created God. He is beyond time, space, and material. Everything was created at one point and it was all perfect. Then, man disobeyed. He partook of the forbidden fruit. When God came around in the evening man hid from Him fearing God as an enemy. That was Genesis three, by chapter six there has been a big break down, and God is repenting that He even made man. Men were filled with corruption. It was a sorry mess. It sounds as if God was shaking He head wondering what He was going to do with them. Of coarse it wasn’t quite like that. He had had a plan from the beginning. Adam and Eve had set up the obstacle of sin between them and God. As a result God had to set up cherubims between them and Him. It was like a stand off, and man desperately needed reconciliation.
It is noticeable that all things don’t get along very well. If you’ve watched a bird-feeder you know that birds aren’t always friendly to each other. But from what we understand, the original creation didn’t prey on one another. That came with the fall. But that aspect will go. It is the reconciliation of all things. We know that things in heaven can’t get saved. So what is the reconciliation of things in heavenly places? Darby has it translated as “heavens”.
The second one of reconciliation is ever more precious. Jesus had to died for it. “In the body of His flesh through death”. Our sin and attitude are forgiven. We are new creatures in Christ. Our enmity has been dealt with. This reconciliation if present. The first has been done, but hasn’t been put into place.
Jesus was made flesh and died. We are now unreproveable and holy in His sight - imagine. Through Christ work, God can look down and see us as holy. We are also unblamable - we have a clean slate. This is marvelous. God sees us in Christ. If we looked at each other we could probable find things. Our hearts are deceitful; there is no good thing in them. But compare that with what we just read. We couldn’t have done ourselves. Christ could had He did. Now, this doesn’t mean we can go out a sin. It is these characteristics that make us fit form heaven.
The Colossians had been having problems,so Paul was begging them not to be moved from their faith. He wanted them to continue in it. You can’t loose the blessing of reconciliation, but it should be an encouragement to go on for Christ.
Well, verse twenty-three will lead us into the next pair. May we be given to ponder these things. We’ve been given a great salvation.
Hymn 198 - There is a Name we love to hear
Prayer