2 Cor. 5:14-17; 1 Pt. 1:22-25 Loving God with All Your Heart (2)

Consider Nicodemus and Jesus words to him, a teacher of the Jews (John 3:3-7,16).  First He said you cannot “see” the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and yet it operates in the world, wherever there are those who have put their faith in Christ.  These “kingdom” people have a different perspective about what is going on.  They “see” things differently because they are focused on that God is doing in His kingdom rather than what men are doing in the kingdom of this world.  Jesus said Nicodemus did not have the ability to see what was true because he needed a new heart; he needed to be born again.  Further, He said Nicodemus could not enter the kingdom of God unless he was born of the water and Spirit.  I take this to refer to physical birth (water of the womb) and spiritual birth.  You may take it in another way, but in the end the point is made: you cannot enter God’s kingdom unless you are born again, born from above.  Nicodemus, as a Jewish teacher, assumed he knew all that was needed to be right with God.  He forgot God had not given him a heart to perceive the things of God.

This “new heart” is, of course, provided for believers in Christ who live under the New Covenant.  2 Cor. 5:14-17 says that when we put our faith in Christ we become new creatures, new creations.  There is something there that was not there before and that requires the Creator’s work.  But look at what Paul says is the result of this new creation: from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  In other words, we can “see” the kingdom of God, see people through God’s eyes.  Peter says that “having been born again” we now have the ability to “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Pt. 1:22-25).  The difference is that, in the New Covenant, being born again we are indwelt by the Spirit of God.  Israel in the OT had the word of God but did not have the indwelling Spirit.  This is what God promised He would do for Israel, and He fulfilled that promise in Christ.  On the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus crucifixion, the Spirit was poured out.  Those who put their faith in Christ were born again by the Spirit and now had a heart to perceive.

Let me conclude with this quote.

For the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, not something added now and again to produce a de luxe type of Christian once in a generation.  No, He is for every child of God a vital necessity, and that He fill and indwell His people is more than a languid hope.  It is rather an inescapable imperative. (A. W. Tozer in The Divine Conquest, p103)

The word of God is impotent in my life apart from the Spirit of God.  Even as the Spirit of God is useless to me apart from the word of God!  In Christ we are new creations; all things have become new!  Amen!!

John 3:3-16, Loving God with All Your Heart (1)

What Jesus called “the Greatest Commandment” was given in Deuteronomy 6:5 and then quoted in Matt. 22:37 and Mark 12:30. Moses said to love God with all your heart, soul and strength.  Jesus in Matthew said love God with all your heart, soul and mind.  Jesus in Mark said love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  The differences are not significant in my view.  Matthew was his own eye-witness, having been present when Jesus said these words.  Jesus was agreeing with Moses, to love God with all your being.  Mark’s source may have mentioned all four aspects so as to include what Moses said and what Jesus said.  No one would call any of these a “misquote.” 

What I do want to consider is, what does it mean to love God with all your heart?  Why settle on this one?  Perhaps because, as Solomon said, out of the heart are all the issues of life (Pr. 4:23).  Jesus said your treasure is so designated a “treasure” by your heart (Mt. 6:21)!  He also said, Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things (Matt. 12:34-35).  The heart is the big issue!

Having said that, there are a couple of things to address in some detail, primarily by giving you Scripture to read.  It doesn’t need much comment in my view.

First, if I am going to love God with all my heart, I need a new heart!

Consider God’s word to Israel by Moses as they were about to enter the land.

² Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— ³ the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴ Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. (Dt. 29:2-4)

Israel would struggle because the people did not have a heart to perceive.  This is why Paul could conclude that the law entered that sin might abound (Rom. 5:20). The law could not make a man righteous nor could a man attain to the righteousness of the law (Rm. 8:3; 9:31).  Therefore, God promised a new heart.

 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deut. 30:6).

David prayed for this: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psa. 51:10).  Jesus told Nicodemus that he could not see the kingdom of God nor could he enter without a new heart (John 3).

2 Cor. 8:8-15, The Gaze of the Angels

Charles Spurgeon A Wondrous Mystery

This book contains daily advent devotions from Spurgeon and was edited by Geoffrey Chang published by New Growth Press in 2024.

    Oh, how surprised angels were, when they were first informed that Jesus Christ, the Prince of Light and Majesty, intended to shroud himself in clay and become a babe, and live and die!  We know not how it was first mentioned to the angels, but when the rumor first began to get afloat among the sacred hosts, you may imagine what strange wonderment there was.  What! was it true that he whose crown was all adorned with stars, would lay that crown aside?  What! was it certain that he about whose shoulders was cast the purple of the universe, would become a man dressed in a peasants garment?  Coult it be true that he who was everlasting and immortal, would one day be nailed to a cross?  Oh! how their wonderment increased!  They desired to look into it.

        And when he descended from on high, they followed him; for Jesus was “seen by angels” (1 Tim. 3:16), and seen in a special sense; for they looked upon him in rapturous amazement, wondering what it all could mean.  “For your sake he became poor.”  Do you see him, as on that day of heaven’s eclipse he did ungird his majesty?  Oh, can you conceive the yet increasing wonder of the heavenly hosts when the deed was actually done, when they saw the tiara taken off, when they saw him unbind his girdle of stars, and cast away his sandals of gold?  Can you conceive it, when he said to them, “I do not disdain the womb of the virgin; I am going down to earth to become a man?”  Can you picture them as they declared they would follow him!  Yes, they followed him as near as the world would permit them.  And when they came to earth, they began to sing, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  (Lk. 2:14) Nor would they go away till they had made the shepherds wonder, and till heaven had hung out new stars in honor of the newborn King.

* * * * *

Oh, Son of Man, I know not which to admire most, your height of glory, or your depths of misery!  Oh, Man, slain for us, shall we not exalt you?  God, over all, blessed for ever, shall we not give you the loudest song?  “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor.

What do the angels desire to look into? 1 Pt. 1:12; Ex. 25:20; Dan. 8:13; 12:5-6; Eph. 3:8-12; Rev. 5:11-12.

Ex. 11:4-7; 12:12-13, When I See the Blood …

Expositions by Alexander MacLaren

Again, commenting on the Passover.

In the hurry and agitation of that eventful day, it must have seemed strange to the excited people that they should be called upon to observe such a service. But its institution at that crisis is in accordance with the whole tone of the story of the Exodus, in which man is nothing and God all. Surely, never was national deliverance effected so absolutely without effort or blow struck. If we try to realise the state of mind of the Israelites on that night, we shall feel how significant of the true nature of their deliverance this summons to an act of worship, in the midst of their hurry, must have been.

The domestic character of the rite is its first marked feature. Of course, there were neither temple nor priests then; but that does not wholly account for the provision that every household, unless too few in number to consume a whole lamb, should have its own sacrifice, slain by its head. The first purpose of the rite, to provide for the safety of each house by the sprinkled blood, partly explains it; but the deepest reason is, no doubt, the witness which was thereby borne to the universal priesthood of the nation. The patriarchal order made each man the priest of his house. This rite, which lay at the foundation of Israel’s nationality, proclaimed that a restricted priestly class was a later expedient. The primitive formation crops out here, as witness that, even where hid beneath later deposits, it underlies them all.

We have called the Passover a sacrifice. That has been disputed, but unreasonably. No doubt, it was a peculiar kind of sacrifice, unlike those of the later ritual in many respects, and scarcely capable of being classified among them. But it is important to keep its strictly sacrificial character in view; for it is essential to its meaning and to its typical aspect. The proofs of its sacrificial nature are abundant. The instructions as to the selection of the lamb; the method of disposing of the blood, which was sprinkled with hyssop-a peculiarly sacrificial usage; the treatment of the remainder after the feast; the very feast itself,-all testify that it was a sacrifice in the most accurate use of the word. The designation of it as ‘a passover to the Lord,’ and in set terms as a ‘sacrifice,’ in Exodus 12:27 and elsewhere, to say nothing of its later form when it became a regular Temple sacrifice, or of Paul’s distinct language in 1 Corinthians 5:7, or of Peter’s quotation of the very words of Exodus 12:5, applied to Christ, ‘ a lamb without blemish,’ all point in the same direction.

1 Peter 1:13-21, Our Passover Lamb

A. C. Gaebelein, Annotated Bible

Commenting on some of the many connections between the Passover and the Lamb of God.

The Passover Lamb is a most blessed type of the Lord Jesus Christ in His work. He is the Lamb of God and our Passover (John 1:29; 1Corinthians 5:6-7; 1Peter 1:18-19). … The spotless character of our Lord is indicated in that the lamb had to be without blemish. Taken out, separated, and a male; all has a meaning. For four days the lamb had to be set aside before it was to be killed. This was done to discover if there would be a flaw, some defect in it, which would unfit the lamb for the sacrifice. Here we are reminded of the four Gospel records in which the holy, spotless life of Him is told out who gave His life for a ransom. The lamb was to be killed by the whole congregation, even as it was with Christ. It was to be killed “between the evenings.” That is between noon and the night, the afternoon; that is when Christ died. And what more could we say of the roasting with fire and other instructions, which all foreshadow the death and suffering of the Lamb of God? We call attention to the fact that Satan did not want to have the Lord Jesus put to death on the Passover feast. Satan knew He was the true Lamb, and he tried to prevent His death at the predicted time (Matthew 26:5; Mark 14:2). But the Lamb of God, the true Passover, died at the very time appointed, thus fulfilling the Scriptures. The shedding of the blood and its application is the prominent thing in the Passover. The word “pesach” means to “pass through,” and “to pass over.” God passed through Egypt in judgment; it was also liable to fall upon the people Israel . They were guilty before God and had deserved the same judgment which was about to fall upon Egypt . But Jehovah provided a sacrifice and in the shed blood a shelter and complete deliverance. The blood secured all they needed as a sinful people and as it was sprinkled in obedience to Jehovah’s command perfect peace and rest was obtained. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The blood was the token for Jehovah. They were not to see the blood, but He in passing through saw the blood. Faith in what Jehovah had said and what had been done gave peace to all in the dwellings. The blood of Christ is thus blessedly foreshadowed. Peace has been made in the blood of the cross. Upon the Lamb of God, the holy Substitute, the sentence of death was executed and now whenever God sees the blood there He passes by, no more condemnation, but perfect justification. Wherever there is faith in the blood, there is the enjoyment of perfect peace.

Psalm 80

Here we find another amazing prayer in time of difficulty.  It comes from a citizen of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and specifically one who pleads for the leading tribes of the NK: Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh (v1-2).  These tribes had left the kingdom after the reign of Solomon and established their own idolatrous religion.  Their idolatry eventually led to their removal from the land by the Lord in the time of the Assyrian ascendancy. 

So here is a man, part of a nation in despair, who nevertheless …

·         Pleads to the God who dwells between the cherubim (v1).  This is the language of true worship for Israel.  He refers to the Holy of Holies in the temple where sat the Ark of the Covenant, site of the mercy seat between the two golden cherubim.  There were not many in that kingdom that sought the true God but here was one.  This man was faithful to God in a deviant society.

·         Pleads to God as a part of His vine and vineyard (v8-11).  This is truly remarkable.  Again, the northern Ten Tribes had been taken captive and dispersed among many nations.  To this day, they are simply known as the diaspora, seemingly lost tribes of Israel (not lost from God’s point of view).  And yet this godly man knows different.  He pleads with God to restore the vineyard, Israel, the vine He brought from Egypt.  This man believed in a faithful God!

·         Pleads the glory of the Messiah (v17-18).  Some would suggest that these words apply to the desperate nation, that “Israel” is “the man of Your right hand.”  That may initially be the primary meaning.  But as in the Servant Songs of Isaiah, the only true fulfillment for Israel is bound up in the exaltation of the Messiah.  Israel is nothing apart from Messiah.  She will only be truly saved in the context of the reign of Christ.  Think about this.  God told His Son to sit at His right hand while He made His enemies a footstool for His feet (Psalm 110:1).  Indeed, the Lord (Messiah) at God’s right hand will execute kings in the day of His wrath (Ps. 110:5), the answer to the very prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 80.  The prayer in Ps. 80:14, visit this vine, is answered in the incarnation of Messiah, when God became Man!  When the Messiah is glorified then Israel will be glorified.  And we in the Church think the same way.  We share today in His glory (John 17:22) but this cannot be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18) when He is revealed in glory!  All we are is bound up in Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord!  He alone became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

How could this man, from the dispersed nation, have such faith, such insight?  You might want to read the backdrop, 2 Chron. 30, when Judah held a great Passover in the time of Hezekiah.  They made a special point to invite what was left of the Northern Kingdom to come and share in the feast.  The essence of the invitation was, “Return to God and He will return to you” (2 Chron. 30:6).  Psalm 80 contains a chorus, given three times (v3,7,19) that pleads with God to RESTORE US.  The Hebrew word for “return” in 2 Chron. 30 and “restore” in Psalm 80 is the same as well as the word "return" in v14.  The text tells us that most people scoffed at the invitation from Hezekiah, but a few responded (2 Chron. 30:10-11).  This man was one of those few.  He did not need to be part of the populist majority to worship truly.  So do not pray “restore me O Lord” if you are not willing to return to Him!

John 17:20-26, Our Lord Prays for His Own

From Our Lord Prays for His Own: Thoughts on John 17, by Marcus Rainsford.

Commenting on John 17:21-22:

“Union with God Almighty is the greatest and fullest of all conceivable blessings, and the source and spring from whence all other blessings must flow.

“There are four unions revealed to us in the Word of God …

First, the incomprehensible union … the mutual union and indwelling of the three Persons in the Godhead; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the triune Jehovah, immortal, invisible, possessing all divine attributes – eternity, omniscience, omnipotency.  The second, the mutual union and indwelling of the Man Christ Jesus with the second Person of the blessed Trinity, the Son of God, making one glorious Person, God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Captain of our salvation, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  The third is the mutual union and indwelling between Himself and His believing people; as the members of His mystical Body, He having taken our nature into heaven, we are one with Him there, and He with His Holy Spirit dwelleth within us evermore, He is one with us here.  The fourth is the union and mutual membership and intercommunion of all of the believing people of God one with another; and this union obtains, whether we speak of those who have gone before, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc., or those who are at present upon the earth, believing, or of the future ingathering of all who shall at any time believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; for He says, ‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one.’” (p406)

Commenting on the “union binding the children of God to each other,” he says there are seven grounds for this union.

1.    In Eph. 4:3, “the unity of the Spirit.”  The same Holy Ghost dwells in all.

2.    In Eph. 4:13, “the unity of faith.”  All the children of God have their trust, hope and confidence fixed on the same Father; all speak of the same righteousness, all plead the same blood; they are all born of promise, and are ‘children by faith.’

3.    In Acts 4:32, we read of the early believers (a picture of the case as it ought to be), “they were of one heart.”

4.    In Col. 2:2, “knit together in love.”  Love united the children of God, wherever they meet; whenever they recognize each other they cannot help loving one another, notwithstanding all their peculiarities, and all their differences.

5.    In Eph. 4:3, “the bond of peace;” sweet peace, of which our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.”

6.    In 1 Cor. 1:10, “perfectly joined together in the same mind.”

7.    And in the same judgment.