Ocean of Grace (21): TUESDAY – Christ Comes To You In The Word (p74ff)

  

Lent Book: https://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/an-ocean-of-grace

 

My jottings:

 

(Comments welcome)

 

Ocean of Grace (21): TUESDAY – Christ Comes To You In The Word (p74ff)

 

This last Sunday in church we thought from John 1 and 2 about the fact that Jesus is the New Temple: he is the place to go to meet with God. But where do we go to meet with Jesus? As Chester and Bunyan remind us today the place to go to meet Jesus is the “word of the gospel.” It is in Scripture that we meet Jesus. He walks off the pages of the Bible to encounter us.

 

Jesus himself explains that this is the purpose of the Scriptures. It is possible to diligently study the Scriptures and yet miss the whole point of coming to Jesus in faith that we might have life in him (John 5:39-40).

 

Martin Luther called the Scriptures the swaddling-clothes and manger in which Christ lies:

 

Therefore let your own thoughts and feelings go, and think of the Scriptures as the loftiest and noblest of holy things, as the richest of mines, which can never be worked out, so that you may find the wisdom of God that He lays before you in such foolish and simple guise, in order that He may quench all pride. Here you will find the swaddling-clothes and the mangers in which Christ lies, and to which the angel points the shepherds.

 

Simple and little are the swaddling-clothes, but dear is the treasure, Christ, that lies in them.

(Introduction to the Old Testament, 1545)

 Christ is the sum and substance of the Scriptures and of God’s gospel message to us. All the Scriptures testify about him (Luke 24). He is God’s full and final Word to his world (Hebrews 1).

 

Pray that you might meet Christ afresh in the Scriptures today as you consider his gospel.

 

Hymn: Speak O Lord as we come to you

 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRlJj8xkds

 

Words etc.: https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/speak-o-lord/