Categories: Bible Lessons Leave a comment

#DailyDevotion Jesus Of Nazareth Is YHWH

#DailyDevotion Jesus Of Nazareth Is YHWH

Romans 105Moses writes: “If you have done the righteous things demanded by the Law, you will find life in them.” 6(But the righteousness you receive by faith says this: “Don’t ask yourself, Who will go up to heaven?” which means to bring Christ down, Tor, 7“Who will go down into the depths?” which means, to bring Christ up from the dead. 8But what does it say? “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the Word of faith that we preach. 9If with your mouth you confess, “Jesus is the Lord,” and in your heart you believe “God raised Him from the dead,” you will be saved. 10With your heart you believe and become righteous; with your mouth you confess and are saved. 11“Anyone who believes in Him,” the Bible says, “will not be disappointed.”

I’m going to be honest with you. If you do everything the Torah (Law) says, you will be righteous and find life.  Still being honest, no one but Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God has or can do it. When the early church debated on whether or not the Gentiles who had come to faith in Jesus had to follow the Torah Peter said, 10“Now then, why do you test God by putting on the disciples’ neck a yoke neither our fathers nor we could bear? 11No, we believe that we are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they are.”(Acts 10) If they couldn’t do it why should the Gentiles be burdened with it. It isn’t how we receive righteousness, made righteous, or declared righteous by God.

Indeed as Paul says you receive righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus. This righteousness doesn’t ask how to bring the Messiah as the unbelieving Jewish Rabbis teach today. We can’t go up to heaven to get him or descend to the depths to get him. Rather as Paul quotes the Torah, “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” That is to say, Jesus the Word of God being very God himself is with us. He is immanent. He is near us. He is in our mouths and he is in our hearts. The preached good news just needs to reveal him so we can know him and believe in him. Jesus is the Word of faith that Christianity preaches.

Paul sums up the Christian faith in this, “If you confess ‘Jesus is the Lord,’ and in your heart you believe ‘God raised Him from the dead,’ you will be saved.” Now when we confess Jesus is LORD we just don’t mean he is some sort of ruler. We mean in your English translations of the Old Testament, he is that LORD spelled with all capital letters. He is the LORD who formed man and put him in the Garden. He is the LORD who delivered Noah. He is the LORD who made a covenant with Abraham. Jesus is the LORD who delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians. To confess Jesus is the LORD is to confess him as being the LORD made flesh who suffered and died and rose again from the dead. Paul is not setting up a pattern on how to be saved but describing what those who are saved do. They confess and believe in their hearts Jesus, the LORD, the Word of God made flesh. Paul comforts us the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Anyone who believes in him [Yahweh] will not be disappointed” that is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Heavenly Father, having shown us from the Torah that we cannot be righteous by what we do you have given us your righteousness by crediting our faith in your son Jesus Christ as your righteousness. Grant that we may always be strengthened by your Word and believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths Jesus Christ is LORD. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Share this post
Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr.

The Reverend Guillaume Williams is the Pastor of Hope Lutheran Chapel of Osage Beach, Missouri. His pastoral ministry with Hope began in 2005 where he preaches the Christ crucified.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *