Day 41, Friday (April 19) - Living into His Name

Posted on: April 19, 2019
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

THE COMING KING

The Judge
Day 41 Friday

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EXPLORE THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST

For us there is one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things and through whom we exist (1 Corinthians 8: 6).

MATTHEW 25: 31-32

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

JOHN 5: 21-29

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

CONSIDER

Some names of Jesus are tender; some are so serious that they take away our breath. Today we explore that Jesus is Judge. He is the one with whom we have to do. Every person will appear before his judgment seat. There will be a separation of people. Based on Jesus.

Thankfully, Jesus is the Judge and we are not. We cannot render verdict on anyone’s final destiny. But we can know what is necessary. The Judge turns out to be our Savior. But that means we will have to look to him for salvation and not insist on our own autonomy or personal sufficiency. We will have to willingly bow the knee. And what we have done on earth will matter. He expects us to treat the least and the lost as if they were himself. He expects that we will have realized that we were saved for a purpose: to be a people zealous for good works, taking his gospel to the ends of the earth. Jesus the Judge will reveal just how much our lives matter.

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PRAY THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Begin with the Jesus Prayer. Pray it reflectively several times, for yourself or on behalf of another.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Then pray the day’s prayer slowly and repeatedly for at least a minute (that’s about seven times). Allow the prayer to take you into the meaning of the day’s facet of Jesus’ name. Pray it for yourself and/or on behalf of another. Take your time and trust this process!

Lord Jesus Christ, righteous Judge before whom all will stand, make me to live as one ever before your sight and on the way to your throne.

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LIVE INTO THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

He has granted to us his precious and very great promises,
so that through them you might become partakers of his divine
nature . . . For this very reason, supplement your faith with
virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness,
brotherly affection and love (2 Peter 1: 4-7).

ROMANS 14: 10-12

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

CONSIDER

How we treat one another seems every bit as important to our Judge as how we show faith in him. In fact, it seems that the way we love, or fail to, reveals the level of authenticity in our worshiping faith. What gets stirred in you reading this passage from Romans today? And what will you do about that stirring?

Close by singing through these words from a lesser known Wesley hymn:

Lo, He comes with clouds descending,

Once for favored sinners slain;

Thousand, thousand saints attending,

Swell the triumph of his train:

Alleluia! alleluia!

God appears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold him,

Robed in dreadful majesty;

Those who set at naught and sold him,

Pierced, and nailed him to the tree,

Deeply wailing, deeply wailing,