The letter of 1 John is one that many people are familiar with. There is a focus on multiple themes; from the truth of Jesus as the Son of God and as our advocate, to obedience as evidence of our love and of our faith that is manifested in love for others. But what I want to meditate on this morning is 5 verses found in chapter 4.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Here we hear the call to love one another. This is not an unfamiliar call (cf. John 13:34,35; 15:12, Romans 12:10; 1 Thess. 4:9, 1 Peter 1:22; 4:8). This is something we all believe and hopefully we strive to do. And how vitally important this is in the time in which we find ourselves. Not only to help care for others in the midst of our ‘shelter in place’ order, but also to be loving and gracious toward others who hold different persuasions in regard to what should be done next as we move out of this season of sheltering. Love is an amazing attribute that we all hope and pray grows more fully in us.

Yet as great as the display of love between humans can be truly beautiful, there is a much greater love - that is the love of God. And John makes clear that his love is most plainly and undeniably seen in Jesus Christ. God sent Christ so that we could live. Ponder that for a moment! And he didn’t just send Jesus to give us some steps to follow in order to know how to live. He sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. Now there is a million dollar word: propitiation. What does that mean?

To propitiate is to turn away wrath. It is the satisfaction of God’s demand for justice. God is holy and righteous - and that cannot be ignored. Our sins cannot merely be swept aside (cf. Romans 3:21-26). They must be dealt with. They must be atoned for. That is what Jesus did for his children. He took the penalty that our sins deserved. He died in our place. This is unquestionably the greatest love ever witnessed.

In the Heidelberg Catechism Question 37 asks (this in reference to a line in the Apostles’ Creed): “What do you understand by the word ‘suffered’?”

Answer: “That during his whole life on earth, but especially at the end, Christ sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race*. This he did in order that, by his suffering as the only atoning sacrifice he might deliver us, body and soul, from eternal condemnation, and gain for us God’s grace, righteousness, and eternal life.”

Jesus took the blame and bore the wrath - and because of him - through our faith in him - we stand forgiven at the cross. Take time to meditate on this glorious truth…this wonderful manifestation of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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* For those who read this and wonder if it goes against the “L” in the TULIP - it does not. This, according to Ursinus (the primary author of the catechism), refers to the sufficiency of Christ’s death. It is absolutely sufficient for all, but it is efficient only for those who are God’s sheep (cf. John 10:11, also John 6:37, Matthew 1:21, Acts 20:28, Ephesians 5:25).

Many of us have sung the words: “As the deer pants for the water so my song longs after You. You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship You.” It sounds really sweet, but the situation of the psalmist in Psalms 42 & 43 (almost certainly one psalm) is anything but sweet. This picture of the deer panting for water - it is desperation. There is no water in sight. The psalmist uses that to describe his longing; and it is a longing that can only be satisfied with the presence of God.

And it is this image that the psalmist uses to express his longing for God. He is away from the presence of God. He has been mocked by foes (42:3, 10). HIs heart breaks at the thought of what he no longer enjoys. And it leads to the refrain we come to three times in these verses:

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, 

and why are you in turmoil within me? 

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, 

my salvation 6 and my God. (cf. 42:11; 43:5) 

But that refrain is not one of total despair; it is the psalmist talking to himself and encouraging his own soul to hope in God. These words show us that the psalmist is not actually far from God - or more truly - God is not far from him. God is his salvation and his God. God will not leave his children (John 10:28,29; Hebrews 13:5).

Yet in verse 6 we see those feelings turn from this hope again. His soul is cast down. But he remembers God is his rock (42:9), his only refuge. Even in that language we see hope. Then we come to verse 8:

8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, 

and at night his song is with me, 

a prayer to the God of my life.

The Lord directs, sends out his steadfast love and his song is with the psalmist. That may well be that because the psalmist remembers God’s steadfast love he sings, or it could well be that the song of the Lord (God’s singing) is with him. What a thought! God singing over his children and showing forth his steadfast love! Oh to hear that song!

Then in the next stanza (Psalm 43) the psalmist prays. He is not just remembering his circumstances and God, but he prays to his rock.

3 Send out your light and your truth; 

let them lead me; 

let them bring me to your holy hill 

and to your dwelling! 

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, 

to God my exceeding joy, 

and I will praise you with the lyre, 

O God, my God. 

The psalmist needed the light and truth of God to lead him to the dwelling of God - to the Temple. But the Temple was just a shadow of the true presence of God. Now, in Christ Jesus, who is the only way to the Father, we have been brought into the presence of God (John 14:6; Hebrews 10:19; 1 Peter 3:18). God has sent out his light and his truth in Christ.

No matter our circumstance…God is always with us. We need reminded of that, because it doesn’t always seem to be the case. Thankfully we have his truth before us in his holy Word. Let that Word, the Word of Christ, lead us daily into the presence of the God who sings and rejoices over his children! Be not cast down O my soul.

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One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

This is probably a familiar text to most of you. There is a desire of David to enjoy the delightfulness of God. What David longs for is the presence of God. He knows, like Asaph, that it is good to be near to God - that the nearness of God is his good (Psalm 73:25). And what David does is he makes the choice to pursue that good. Even in the midst of enemies that may be surrounding him, his desire and his choice is to seek after the Lord.

He knows that in the presence of the Lord there is not only great delight, but great security. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock (Psalm 27:5). He starts the entire psalm with a statement of fact which all believers can say with confidence:

The LORD is my light and my salvation; 

whom shall I fear? 

The LORD is the stronghold of my life; 

of whom shall I be afraid? 

There is an understanding in David that he knows where his security rests: it rests in the place of blessing - the presence of the Lord. The Lord will hide him in the shelter of his tent (Psalm 27:5) and he will be lifted up above his enemies (Psalm 27:6). So what does David do? Does he simply bank on that truth and do nothing? No, he seeks the face of the Lord with his heart, with his whole soul (Psalm 27:8). He longs to be taught the way of the Lord and to have understanding.

He is confident in God and knows that as he seeks after the Lord he will be received and he will be blessed in the presence of God. Even in the midst of troubling circumstances (we may not have physical enemies surrounding us but a virus likely counts) he expresses such trust and confidence in the Lord.

13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD 

in the land of the living! 

14 Wait for the LORD; 

be strong, and let your heart take courage; 

wait for the LORD! 

We have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living - we have seen and heard the gospel. First Timothy 1:11 uses the phrase: the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. In the gospel we see the glory of God. In Christ Jesus we see the glory of the blessed God. And in the gospel we are brought into the presence of God (1 Peter 3:18). Let us rejoice, rest secure, and seek the presence of our God in the face of Christ Jesus our Lord.

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It is Tuesday of Holy Week and it sure seems as though things are ramping up in the interactions between Jesus and the religious leadership. What happened the day before was not something that sat well with the Jewish leadership. Jesus was illegitimate in their eyes and he was taking the attention away from them…he was usurping their authority and power in the eyes of the people.

Tuesday was filled with interaction - much of it involved the religious leaders seeking to trap Jesus in his words. But they couldn’t do it. You can’t trick perfection. You cannot trip up the Holy One of God. In fact, they were consistently shut down in their attempts through the gracious and pointed words of Jesus.

There is much to read and consider in this day, and I certainly cannot write on all it, so let me briefly highlight the parable of the tenants.

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” 

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: 

“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected 

has become the cornerstone; 

this was the Lord’s doing, 

and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” 

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:33-46)

Clearly the tenants are the Jewish leaders who are fighting against Jesus. But they have rejected the truth. They have rejected the stone upon which everything is built. There is fulfillment of prophecy here - Isaiah 8:14 and Daniel 2:44, but more importantly the call is to see Jesus as who he is. He is not some usurper of authority; he is the ultimate authority He is the one upon which all stands or falls. And he is asserting what is rightly his. He is the cornerstone, chosen and precious (1 Peter 2:6-8). He is the one we are called to believe and to realize that there is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:11,12).

It is amazing that the perfect Son of God gave himself to be wounded for us so that we could know life and salvation.

Here is a song to meditate on this day - “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.”

Holy Week, Day 3: Tuesday Tuesday, March 31, AD 33. To continue through the week, follow the link below for Wednesday: https://vimeo.com/89420035 The link for Palm Sunday: vimeo.com/89013208 The link for Monday: https://vimeo.com/89117797