Devotional Song: ... Go to this link … Please take the time to take in a video of Jeremy Camp singing his powerful contemporary worship song … Jesus Saves; … declaring the truth of The Messiah, Who came to deliver all from the bondage of our sin … Jesus saves!!!
Highlight Passage Matthew 1: 20-21 [NKJV] …
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save [or also “rescue, deliver”] His people from their sins.”
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Highlight Context - Matthew 1: 18-25 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1 - Psalm 2 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… King David sings of a new King of kings to come to deliver His people from their bondage of sin
Reference Passage #2 - Isaiah 61: 1-3 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… 700+ years before Christ’s birth, God, through Isaiah prophesies of His coming to deliver His people from their bondage - see Luke 4: 18-21 linked below, where Jesus declares that HE is the fulfillment of this prophesy
Reference Passage #3 - Luke 4: 18-21 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus declaring that HE is the one David wrote about in Psalm 2 and Isaiah in the prophesy, linked above.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Bill Crowder, took his readers (me) to the modern film phenomena of the Marvel Cartoon character, SUPERMAN. Beginning with the comic book series in the late 30s, and theTV Series in the 50s, which I loved as a boy, and then the many films that have been made depicting the “Man of Steel,” … all of which have been box-office bonanzas, we were given in Superman one who came to earth to deliver mankind from himself.
Crowder, in today’s ODB, wrote the following, quoting Amy Adams, who starred in one of the most recent of those movies and was asked why she felt the movies were so successful. Adams said, … “Who doesn’t want to believe that there’s one person who could come and save us from ourselves?”
And what Christian wouldn’t say, “AMEN!” to Ms Adams; and then we can refer to THE ONE Who has come, our God delivered “Man of Steel,” who would come to us in the form of a babe in a manger. But therein lies the reason why our “Super Man,” and LORD, Jesus, was rejected. The Jewish people, especially the religious leaders of that day were looking for a super deliverer, a powerful king, to conquer Rome and rule God’s people as their deliverer.
King David had written a song about it (see Psalm 2). The Prophet Isaiah had prophesied about The Deliverer-Messiah, some 700+ years BC (see Isaiah 61: 1-3);… and then along comes this baby to be born of a virgin, … Mary; and the Angel, Gabriel, who declares to Joseph (see Matthew 1: 18-25) that this little baby would be called “Yeshua,” which means “God Who saves.”
And the people, even including The Lord’s closest disciples, couldn’t grasp that this was their Messiah, Who had declared Himself to be their deliverer (see Luke 4: 18-21); and they nailed Him to a cross, which was the vehicle God used with His perfect Lamb of God to give us our deliverer, our Savior, … our “Man of Steel.” Yes, as Jeremy Camp sings (linked above), … JESUS SAVES!!!
My Prayer for Today … O Lord, … You have saved me from my self; and all there is in my heart to say is ”HALLELUJAH!!” … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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