“I Will See God In My Flesh” (Job 19: 25, HCSB) by Carley Evans

Job believes he knows God. However, through enormous adversity, Job learns that he only has heard rumors about God. In desperation Job cries, “But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.” (Job 19: 25 – 27)

After all Job suffers, he protests and finally questions God. God responds, “Who is this who obscures My counsel with ignorant words? Get ready to answer Me like a man; when I question you, you will inform Me. Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me if you have understanding.” (Job 38: 2 – 4)

Once Job hears God’s great argument, he recognizes that God “can do anything and no plan of [God’s] can be thwarted.” Job says to God, “You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel with ignorance?” Then, Job confesses, “Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (Job 42: 1 – 3)

Once Job understands that he does not understand and knows that he does not know, then he responds appropriately to God, “I had heard rumors about You, but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I take back my words and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42: 5 – 6)

Once we realize that we know nothing, have nothing; then we are able to repent and “know [our] living Redeemer,” Jesus Christ. We will see Him in our flesh, standing as the Last One.

“Impossible With Men” (Luke 19: 10, HCSB) by Carley Evans

“All who see it begin to complain, ‘He’s come to lodge with a sinful man!'” (Luke 19: 7)

Zacchaeus is a sinful man because he is a chief tax collector and most probably extorts funds from the poor.

Looking into the branches of the tree, Jesus “says to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today I must stay at your house.'” (Luke 19: 5)

Zacchaeus comes down from the tree, and repents. He speaks of his plans to make restitution. Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house.” (Luke 19: 9)

Jesus explains, “For the Son of Man comes to seek and to save the lost.” Jesus promises that He is come to save the sick, not the healthy. He says to the blind man who receives his sight, “Your faith heals you.” (Luke 18: 42) He says to Zacchaeus, you “too are a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19: 9)

When a young rich man who obeys the ten commandments yet will not part with his wealth walks away from salvation, Jesus is asked, “Then who can be saved?” The Lord responds, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” (Luke 18: 26 – 27)

Jesus’ point is that salvation is not possible for us; it comes only through God. “For the Son of Man comes to seek and save the lost.” Jesus says, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I do not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9: 12 – 13)

“Saved To The Uttermost” (Hebrews 7: 25, ESV) by Carley Evans

Jesus lives forever, sitting at the right hand of His Father God, interceding for us so that He is capable, willing, eager, happy to save us “to the uttermost.” With God, there is no halfway salvation. God does not start a work that He does not intend to finish. Yes, we are to run the race to capture the prize, but the prize is ours already in Christ’s accomplished work on the Cross of Calvary.

Let us draw near to God through Christ; and be glad in our redemption.

“The Mystery: Christ In You” (Colossians 1: 27 – 28, HCSB) by Carley Evans

God intends to “make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Paul and Timothy continue to pray, “asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1: 9 – 10)

The hope in you is “you are rescued…from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” (Colossians 1: 13 – 14)

Paul and Timothy “proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that [they] may present everyone mature in Christ.”

Paul and Timothy wish and work for the maturity of Christians, that each bears fruit, grows in knowledge of God, and understands God’s will. Paul intends to “make God’s message fully known.” (Colossians 1: 25) He warns, “Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit.” (Colossians 2: 8) Base your walk on Christ, “for the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you are filled by Him.” (Colossians 2: 9 – 10)

This is the mystery — Christ in you, the hope of glory.

“Not With Silver Or Gold, But With Precious Blood” (1 Peter 1: 18 – 19, HCSB) by Carley Evans

I am purchased for God. I am purchased for God with His Son’s blood. His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, sheds His blood and dies and is resurrected for me, so that God His Father may own me. Jesus’ blood is of more value than silver or gold or platinum or titanium. I am “redeemed from [my] empty way of life” which I inherited.

I now “conduct [myself] in fear during the time of [my] temporary residence” (1 Peter 1: 17) for my country is not here, but there with God.

“God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He has for [me], makes [me] alive with the Messiah even though [I am] dead in trespasses. [I am] saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raises [me] up and seats [me] in the heavens.” (Ephesians 2: 4 – 5)

I live though I die. I live because of Jesus Chris

“Every Knee Will Bow” (Romans 14: 11, HCSB) by Carley Evans

At some point in your life, you will bow your knee to Jesus Christ and confess Him to be Lord and Savior. It may come early in your life, or late. It may happen after your death at your judgment day when you give an account of yourself to God.

As for me, I prefer not to give an account of myself to God without the covering blood of Jesus Christ. I prefer to know that when I stand before God the Father, my works may be judged but I will not be. Instead, God the Father will judge me as holy and blameless because my sin — all of it — was paid for on the Cross of Calvary by His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. My works may burn up as worthless or lacking, but I will bow my knee as one who already confesses Christ as Lord and Savior.

With Paul, I warn you: “It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near, so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13: 11 – 12)

“No creature is hidden from [God], but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.” (Hebrews 4: 13)

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4: 7)

“Without Excuse” (Romans 1: 20, HCSB) by Carley Evans

Paul writes, “People are without excuse.”

We are without excuse because God’s existence and “His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made.”

We know God exists, yet we choose not to “glorify Him as God or show gratitude.” (Romans 1: 21) Instead, we create our own gods — worshiping self, money, power, even “images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.” (Romans 1: 23)

“All who make idols are nothing, and what they treasure does not profit. Their witnesses do not see or know anything, so they will be put to shame. Who makes a god or casts a metal image for no profit? Look, all its worshipers will be put to shame.” (Isaiah 44: 9 – 11)

God says, “I Am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45: 6 – 7)

“I sweep away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I redeem you. Rejoice, heavens, for the Lord acts; shout, depths of the earth. Break out into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it. For the Lord redeems.” (Isaiah 44: 22 – 23)

“Therefore, any one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.” (Romans 2: 1)

We are without excuse, for God reveals Himself in His creation. Worship not the creation, but its Creator.

“God Is Greater Than The Kidnapper” (John 10: 28 – 30, HCSB) by Carley Evans

Jesus says eternal life is His gift to His sheep. Because He gives His sheep this gift, “they will never perish — ever!” His sheep “hear [His] voice, [He] knows them, and they follow [Him].” (John 10: 27}

Jesus speaks of someone who tries to kidnap His sheep, who wants to “snatch them out of [His] hand.” Simultaneously, He promises that “no one will snatch them out of My hand” because “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all.”

Jesus’ Father is greater than the kidnapper.

Jesus promises, “I assure you; I Am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not listen to them. I Am the door. If anyone enters by me, he is saved and comes in and goes out and finds pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I Am come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. I Am the good shepherd.” (John 10: 7 – 11)

“Victory In Jesus” (1 Corinthians 15: 55 – 57, HCSB) by Carley Evans

“The spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 15: 46) Paul writes of the sequence of the defeat of the last enemy, death. We are not born incorruptible; rather we are born “in corruption.” (1 Corinthians 15: 42)

In the sequence in which death is defeated, first comes Adam, then comes Jesus. In other words, writes Paul, first we “bear the image of the man made of dust” but later we “also bear the image of the heavenly man.” (1 Corinthians 15: 49)

“For this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15: 53) When this happens, says Paul, then “death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15: 54)

Obviously death exists in the here and now. Anyone who claims that death is already swallowed up in victory has missed the sequence. Jesus defeats death in His body so that one day He will clothe us with immortality in a resurrected body, a heavenly body like His. At that time, death will be defeated and we will own our victory.

“The Last Enemy” (1 Corinthians 15: 20 – 22, HCSB) by Carley Evans

Paul is very concerned that people in the Corinthian church are saying there is no resurrection of the body. He argues that if Christ is raised bodily, then Christians are raised bodily.

“The last enemy to be abolished is death,” writes Paul. (1 Corinthians 15: 27)

“Then the saying that is written will take place: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.’ ” (1 Corinthians 15: 54 – 56)

This will occur, says Paul, when Christ returns in His glory. We will change; “the dead will be raised incorruptible, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15: 52, 53)

Paul reminds us that “there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones. There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; for [one] star differs from [another] star in splendor. So it is with the resurrection of the dead… If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15: 40 – 42)

So, presently we live in the company of our greatest enemies: sin and death. But Paul exhorts us: “My dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15: 58)