What is our world coming to? How long will evil people assail Christians? When anxieties about the future plague us, we must be reminded of the fact that God is sovereign. He reigns. He is in control. Everything is going according to His plan. Isaiah 44:24-28 is an encouraging passage that shows how God’s sovereignty is revealed and how we can trust that He will work out good for His people.

God’s Sovereignty Revealed in His Creation – Isaiah 44:24 God speaks to Israel, His chosen nation in the Old Testament, saying He is their redeemer, (Ex. 6:6; 15:13), who formed them from the womb. While it is true that each individual from conception is known by God (Jer. 1:5; Psa. 139:13-16), the context of Isaiah 44 is referring to God’s formation of the nation of Israel (v. 2; cf. Gen. 12:2; Ex. 19:6). God established the nation of Israel by redeeming them from bondage. Likewise, God has established the church, His holy nation of Israel in the New Testament, in the face of all opposition of men (Mt. 16:18; Gal. 6:16; 1 Pet. 2:9). But it is no marvel that God is able to accomplish His will since He alone has created all things in heaven and earth (Isa. 44:24). Nothing would exist or subsist without the Lord (Col. 1:16-17).

God’s Sovereignty Revealed in His Providence – Isaiah 44:25 The Lord is not only able to accomplish His efforts, but also frustrates the workings of evil men. Idolaters in Isaiah’s day were habitually looking to various superstitious signs and interpreting them as messages from their gods. When they claimed to have the spirit of divination, (to receive information about the future), the Lord would make them look foolish by bringing about circumstances that they never guessed would occur. Even the wise men who seemed to have deeper insight regarding the workings of world events are left perplexed when God turns their wisdom into empty speculations. Though some may be too proud to admit it, how often are even the greatest scientific minds in our day reminded of how little they truly know. Our God is the master chess player of this universe who, while never infringing upon man’s free will, works behind the scenes to bring about His will because He knows every conceivable outcome many steps ahead of any human.

God’s Sovereignty Revealed in His Predictions – Isaiah 44:26-28 While God confuses those who serve idols, He confirms the words spoken through His servants, the prophets. Isaiah is one such messenger of God who goes on in this passage to deliver God’s message regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem and Judah. At the juncture this message was delivered, Judah had not even been destroyed nor its people carried to Babylonian captivity. Captivity itself seemed like an impossibility to many in Judah, but the Lord reveals through Isaiah the details of their return after exile. God calls the Persian King Cyrus by name, nearly 200 years before he came to the throne, as the one whom the Lord would use to grant His people permission to come back home (Ezra 1:1). The momentous occasion of re-laying the temple’s foundation after the people of Israel had spent 70 years in Babylon is mentioned here before the temple was ever destroyed. The detailed prophecies of the Bible should make us confident that the Lord knows exactly what the future holds.

The subject that remains is whether the Lord is sovereign in your life. Will you be His servant as He created you to be or will you pursue evil and have your purposes frustrated by Him who works all things according to His own will (Eph. 1:11)? Let Him be your Lord.

-Mark Day

Jesus taught:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:7-11

One of the greatest biblical examples of the Lord blessing those who keep seeking Him is Ruth. Life had placed Ruth in bleak circumstances. After her husband Mahlon’s death, she returned to the land of his nativity, Judah, with her mother-in-law, Naomi. She was a foreigner from the land of Moab with no family to care for her but Naomi, who was also widowed. How would these two widows make ends meet? Where would they turn to find the necessities of life? She trusted not in the gods of Moab, but in the true God of Israel.

The book of Ruth is a book filled with requests. There are several requests made to the Lord on behalf of Ruth that He would care for her. Naomi’s request for both her daughters-in-law is found in Ruth 1:9, “The LORD grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” The book goes on to show how Ruth found rest from her heartaches because Boaz, a near kinsman, took her to be his wife (Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:1-2; Ruth 4:13). When Boaz met Ruth he mentioned how he had noticed all the sacrifices she had made in caring for Naomi (Ruth 2:11). Boaz went on to express his request of the Lord to Ruth, “The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust” (Ruth 2:12). The book goes on to show how the Lord would, through Boaz, repay Ruth with food enough for her and Naomi (Ruth 2:14, 17-19; Ruth 3:15-17). When the people in the gate and the elders of the city witnessed how Boaz agreed to marry Ruth and purchase from Naomi all that belonged to the family, they said of Ruth, “The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman” (Ruth 4:11-12). The book goes on to show how all this was accomplished because Ruth’s great-grandson was king David (Ruth 4:18-22).

God’s providential care is seen in the various episodes in the lives of Ruth’s family. While God’s plans for Ruth were to her unexpected, they were not because He was unconcerned. That it was the Lord who blessed all the characters in this narrative is repeatedly acknowledged (Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:10; Ruth 4:14; etc.). The book, then, gives us assurance that though we cannot with specificity identify it, we can trust that God’s providence governs our lives as well.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Philippians 4:6

-Mark Day

In the Old Testament “My Servant “is a title of honor for great men of faith. When this title is bestowed on a person in the Bible it becomes an example of the traits one must have to be called “My Servant” by the God of Heaven.

ABRAHAM: Genesis 26:24, “And the LORD appeared unto him (Isaac – JDS) the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.” A servant of God is obedient to Him.

1 John 2:3, “And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.”

MOSES: Numbers 12:7, “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.”

A servant of God is steadfast in his service to the Lord. Revelation 14:12, “Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

CALEB: Numbers 14:24, “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” A servant of God is bold in the face of opposition. Acts 9:29 speaks of Paul, “preaching boldly in the name of the Lord: and he spake and disputed against the Grecian Jews; but they were seeking to kill him.

DAVID: 2 Samuel 3:18, “Now then do it: for the LORD hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.” A servant of God will seek to rescue others from the bondage of sin and influence of the world. Mark 16:15-16, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

JOB: Job 1:8, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? A servant of God will fear and reverence God and turn away from evil. 1 Peter 3:11, “Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.”

ELIAKIM: Isaiah 22:20-21, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.” A servant of God will be a faithful steward of the things God has entrusted to him. 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

Let it not be missed that our Lord Jesus said that those who are obedient to His will are also described as “my servant”. John 12:26, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.”

Let us all seek to be described by The Lord as “My Servant”.

– Jerry D. Sturgill

Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain to pray (Luke 9:28). There Jesus was transfigured before them and Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the great prophet, appeared with Him in glory (Luke 9:30-31). Peter, realizing the blessedness of the occasion, suggested that three booths be made, one for each of the three figures before him (Luke 9:33). But God’s cloud of glory overshadowed them and the Father said, “This is my beloved Son: hear him” (Luke 9:34-35).

Men come and go. Lawgivers and prophets depart. “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh…” (Ecc. 1:4). But Jesus Christ is “immortal” (1 Tim. 1:17). The word “immortal” is the same Greek word found in 1 Peter 1:23 that describes the “incorruptible” word of God. Just as Jesus lives forever, the words of Christ will never pass away (Matt. 24:35). His words not only are eternal, but also provide eternal life. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Jesus’ words are spirit-filled, life-giving words. By following His eternal words to godliness we will have a better life here and in the hereafter (1 Tim. 4:8). Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
What the Father indicated on the mount of transfiguration is Jesus’ words have superiority even over the words of Moses and Elijah. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds (Heb. 1:1-2).
The words of Jesus are recorded for us in the Scriptures. Peter, who witnessed this great declaration of God upon that mountain, attested to the veracity of the writers of the Scriptures, saying:

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. – 2 Peter 1:16-18

How do you regard Jesus Christ’s message? Paul said he was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). The gospel of Jesus Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death if we will believe and obey it (Rom. 8:2). However, if we reject Christ’s message, only judgment awaits us. Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receveith not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Will you listen to Christ, the eternal one, whose eternal words can give you eternal life?

-Mark Day

The word “denomination” means “designation” or “to give a name to;” it is a formal classification of something. When it comes to the religious realm, “denominations” denote different named sects of “Christendom.” I put that in parentheses because the New Testament does not speak of different named sects that cumulatively make up the worldwide body of Christ. There are different local congregations named in the New Testament, such as Philippi, Ephesus, Corinth and others. These were “churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16), but they were separated only geographically, and perhaps by the cultural background of their members (cf. “churches of the Gentiles” Romans 16:4). But “denominations” such as Baptist, Lutheran, and Methodist are nowhere found in the Scriptures; these are separated by doctrine and practice, divisions not tolerated among first-century churches (1 Cor. 4:17; 16:1; Col. 4:16; 1 Tim. 1:3).
The New Testament uses the word “church” in three senses:
1) The Universal Sense indicating the entire body of Christ worldwide (e.g. Colossians 1:18).
2) The Local Sense indicating a group of Christians in a given locale comprising one congregation under one autonomous leadership (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:2).
3) The Assembly Sense used to denote the gathering of a local congregation for the purpose of worship (e.g. 1 Corinthians 14:34).
A group smaller than the universal church, but larger than the local church which claims to be is a division of Christ’s body is nowhere found in the New Testament. Moreover, when people denominate themselves by the names of men, such as “Lutheran” or “Wesleyan” it smacks of the factious attitude of exalting men that the inspired apostle was quick to censure when he saw it crop up among his converts (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). Thus, when I am asked what “denomination” I am a member of, I cannot easily let it pass by. I am aware of the frame of mind the questioner has. I am not trying to be difficult. I know that the trend in modern America is to regard oneself as part of a “denominational family,” that is one of many such families that are on different paths but supposedly all destined for heaven. But the New Testament does not teach that I am to be a member of Christ’s universal church and also a fragment group that has a particular name, particular beliefs, and particular practices. I am simply a member of Christ’s universal church (Acts 2:47); I am part of the local flock in my area that submits to the local shepherds (1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Pet. 5:1), and I come together with other Christians in the assembly of the saints (Heb. 10:25; James 2:2). Hence, I feel obligated to say, “I do not belong to a denomination.”
When I tell them I am a member of Christ’s church, or more euphoniously, the “church of Christ” (Romans 16:16), I know that they will likely assign this as the name of the denomination. This is because similarity has been confused with identity. Though I am by this name trying to indicate the identifiable features of the church which may distinguish it from many other practices extant in the present religious world, I do not mean to indicate that it is a denomination. In the first century, Christ’s church was identified by the uninformed as another sect of Judaism, “the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5; cf. 28:22) because of some similarities it shared with groups like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes; however, it was absolutely not a sect of Judaism, just as Christ’s church today is not a denomination. Paul was sure to point out that it was his accusers, no he, who called the way he followed a sect (Acts 24:14); we endeavor to show the same.

–Mark Day