February 2020 - Profoundly Simple

Jesus loves me this I know, or do I?

Jesus loves me.

I was thinking about this song recently, “Jesus Loves Me.” I learned it as a child. It speaks of knowing Jesus loves me, that it’s in the Bible.

But do I know this? Do I believe it to be true?

Reflect

I asked a group recently to take a few minutes to write down what they love about Jesus. They reflected and wrote. The exercise went smoothly. Everyone seemed to accomplish this with relative ease.

Then I asked them to write down what Jesus loves about them.

Some wrote a little. Others hesitated. Which camp would you fall into?

Some days I write a little. Other days I hesitate.

I know what I think of myself.

Some days I’m not sure if I want to know what Jesus thinks of me.

Can He just think of me on good days when I have my act together? When patience and kindness rule my heart and only loving words come out of my mouth?

Can Jesus just look the other way on other days until I think I have everything figured out?

Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that. Any of it.

Jesus knows what’s on my heart and still loves me. (Psalm 139:1-4)

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me. Psalm 139:1 NIV

Jesus loves me. Rest in that truth. Take a deep breath. Remember this:

Jesus loves me.

Think of it as a three step process:

Jesus loves me.

Come back to these three simple words at different times throughout the day. Pause. Remember. Reflect. Jesus loves me.

This I know.

The more I remind myself, the more I believe it. This moves from being something I have to remember, to something I already know. Something I’ve internalized.

For the Bible tells me so.

Here’s the fun part. Open your Bible. The more I look in my Bible, the more I discover. Through these discoveries I recognize more of the depth of God’s love for His children.

I don’t read the Bible so that Jesus will love me more. I read the Bible to discover how much He already does.

Time spent with Jesus shows us how deeply He loves us. It’s hard to know how much someone loves us if we don’t spend time with them.

Notice I didn’t say how much they love us is dependent on how much time we spend with them. I said we don’t realize how much they love us, how much they already love us, until we spend time with them.

So spend time with Jesus. Not so that He will love you more, but so you will more fully know how much He already loves you.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1 NIV

We don’t read the Bible so Jesus will love us more. We read the Bible to see how much more Jesus loves us than we believe.

Are you just getting started with your Bible?

You’ve come to the right place. Let’s learn what’s in it together.

This song, “Hello, My Name Is,” by Matthew West, reminds me of this love of Jesus. Maybe it will speak to you too.

Beginning with the Book of Revelation

Book of Revelation

The last two posts focused on the song “Is He Worthy?” which references Scripture from the Book of Revelation. So what is Revelation and how do I read it?

If Revelation is the first book of the Bible you’ve looked at, then congratulations! I’m thrilled you jumped right in. If Revelation is a book you’ve avoided reading for any number of reasons, and yet, you opened your Bible to take a look at what’s in it, then good for you! I’m so glad you took that step.

Perspective

Now that we’ve seen some of what’s in it, how about a little perspective? I’m not going to tell you how to interpret this image-filled book of the Bible, but I will give you some information that will hopefully help you approach it with a bit of curiosity.

Gospel of John

Revelation is the last book of the Bible and was written by the same person who wrote the Gospel of John.

The New Testament begins with the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The Gospel of John, also filled with imagery, refers to Jesus as the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the Vine, and the Word, which introduces chapter one:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 NIV

In the beginning

If you’ve opened your Bible at the front before, do you recognize similar wording?

From Genesis, the first book of the Bible:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NIV

John’s Gospel harkens back to the beginning of the Bible, the Old Testament, with familiar words from the first chapter of Genesis.

“In the beginning,” bridges the Old and New Testament, and weaves a beautiful connection to this gospel writer who penned the last book of the Bible.

A revelation

The Book of Revelation is exactly that, a revelation, a vision that God gave to John while he was exiled on the island of Patmos. (Revelation 1:9-10)

Read Genesis

When my Bible study read through Genesis, we had no idea how much it would help us with Revelation.

If you aren’t sure how to even start reading Revelation, then first try reading Genesis. You can find some helpful tips on how to read Genesis here.

Correlation between Genesis and Revelation

See if you can find correlation between Genesis and Revelation, landmarks where something comes up again, is connected or includes related content.

Here are some that I noticed:

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life comes up in Revelation 2:7 and Revelation 22.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2:7 NIV

Genesis 2 and 3 provide the origin of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

Read Revelation chapter 22 for additional insight.

Lamb

The Lamb is mentioned throughout Revelation, including chapters 5, 6, and 7.

From John’s Gospel, we see John the Baptist proclaiming the Lamb:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 NIV

This post on the song “Is He Worthy?” provides additional insight.

Tribes of Israel

Tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4-8) is a reference to the sons of Jacob (Genesis 35:23-26).

God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. Genesis 35:10 NIV

Revelation

Whether this is your first time opening your Bible or glancing at the Book of Revelation, may you find connection in the Scriptures to our God who is worthy.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.” Revelation 4:11 NIV

Amen

Music Speaks: Is He Worthy? part 2 – Scripture in song

“Is He Worthy?” sung by Chris Tomlin has a chorus filled with Scripture references. In this new series, Music Speaks, I’ll show the connection between Scripture and song. In this post, the second devoted to this song, we’ll focus on names of Jesus found in the chorus.

Is He Worthy? part two

Ok, so I didn’t set out to do a two part post on the song “Is He Worthy?” I just didn’t want the debut post of this “Music Speaks” series to be so long that nobody would have time to read it.

So much Scripture is reflected in this song. I do realize that if you are new to reading the Bible or the Book of Revelation, that this is a pretty intense and crazy introduction to the Bible, probably generating more questions than answers.

Questions

That’s ok. Reading the Bible is about discovery. Questions are a good thing. We ask questions of a person when we want to know more about them. When we have questions about the Bible, we are engaged with what’s in it, and that’s good. Let your questions motivate you to keep looking and searching the Scriptures. That’s what I do.

Chorus: Is He Worthy?

Speaking of questions and discovery, in the second half of the chorus we see names of Jesus: Lion of Judah, Root of David, Lamb, and ransom. Where can we find Bible verses that reflect these?

Names of Jesus

If this is your first introduction to Revelation, those names may be a bit confusing. Where did they come from?

Tribe of Judah

From the Old Testament book 1 Chronicles 28:4 we find the tribe of Judah. Read chapter 28 for context.

King David is speaking:

“Yet the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the tribe of Judah he chose my family, and from my father’s sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel.” 1 Chronicles 28:4 NIV

We found Judah, but what does he have to do with Jesus?

Genealogy of Jesus

If we look at the beginning of the New Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew, we stumble upon the genealogy of Jesus. I say stumble because most people like to skip this chapter, but we’ll dive in to discover the treasure.

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

and Jesse the father of King David. Matthew 1:1,2,6a NIV

King David connection

Bet you didn’t think you would actually read a Bible genealogy now did you? But that’s not all. Do you see how these two Bible passages are connected? Both include King David.

Look at you, connecting Scripture from the Old and New Testament. Way to go! Don’t you just feel smarter? Hold that thought, we have two more descriptors to go.

Lamb and ransom

Our remaining two Bible passages include the descriptions of Lamb and ransom.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 NIV

[This is John the Baptist speaking, not the author of the Gospel of John.]

^“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 NIV

Remember

These are great New Testament verses to remember. They describe who Jesus is and what He did for us. By the way, notice I said “remember” and not “memorize.” I am lousy at memorizing Scripture, so I don’t put that pressure on myself. I do, however, try to remember what Scripture says, especially passages like these.

From the chorus of “Is He Worthy?” and the Scripture passages we find connection in the Old Testament to Jesus’ story and, through New Testament verses, we are reminded of God’s great love for us through His Son.

This beautiful song can help us remember and rest in the truth of these words.

Worthy is the Lamb.