REPOST Today’s AMI QT Devotional, provided by Pastor David Kwon who heads Journey Community Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, was first posted on November 21, 2013. He is a graduate of Drexel University (BS) and Columbia International University (M.Div.).
Devotional Thought for This Morning
“Jesus the Conqueror”
Psalm 110:1-7 (NIV)
The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” 2 The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” 3 Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb. 4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. 7 He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.
Psalm 110 is the most referenced Psalm in all of the New Testament. It is a powerful messianic psalm telling of the coming reign of Messiah. From it, we learn that Messiah will not only rule as the King and Lord over all the earth, but He will also be the Priest of God’s people, serving as the perfect mediator between God and man.
Jesus is that messiah! He is our perfect ruler and perfect priest. For generations, Israel longed to see Him reign and now we [i.e., the Church, or true Israel (Rom. 2:28-9; 9:24-6)] get to delight in His rule (and anticipate its fullness upon His return).
This Psalm was likely sung when a new king was placed on the throne in Zion, and it offers many promises to David’s son. The king gets the place of favor, for he sits at the Lord’s “right hand” (v. 1). This verse also gives assurance of victory — God Himself makes the king’s enemies his footstool, an ancient Near Eastern metaphor for total subjugation. Various biblical figures placed their feet on the necks of defeated foes (Josh. 10:1–28; 1 Kings 5:1–3).
We have victory in our Lord Jesus Christ because of his work on the Cross. Maybe you are in a season of feeling defeated or overwhelmed. Let’s remember that we can overcome through the power of Christ. Yes, we are more than conquerors.
Prayer: To our victorious King Jesus, thank You for defeating our enemy in order that we may have life in You. Thank You that You continue to have our backs in our present struggles against the world, the flesh, and the devil. We shall be triumphant in You. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: 2 Chronicles 32
Lunch Break Study
Read Hebrews 4:14–5:6: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
5:1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” 6 And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
Questions to Consider
- What do we learn about Jesus’s role as high priest from this passage?
- What should our knowledge of Jesus’ role on our behalf lead us to do?
- Based on this passage, what has Jesus done for us?
Notes
- Jesus serves as our mediator before God. As sinners, we can’t approach God on our own, but because of Jesus’ sacrifice, He allows us to enter God’s presence and enjoy a relationship with Him. Jesus, through His body, has made the sacrifice needed to make that possible. Jesus is also compassionate, able to empathize with our struggles because He himself was subject to the weakness of human flesh.
- Because we know that Jesus is our perfect mediator who makes a relationship with God possible and empathizes with our struggles, we should go to God in prayer with great confidence because we know that we will find abundant grace there. Every possible barrier between us and God has been done away with in Christ!
- Jesus has done away with every possible barrier between God and us. He willingly took on human form and subjected himself to the struggles we endure every day. Knowing this, we should be all the more confident in going to God in prayer, knowing we are completely dependent on Him, and that He delights in coming to our aid. Let’s approach the Lord boldly and confidently in prayer because of who He is and his grace to help us in our time of need.
Evening Reflection
“There are many things in my life that I do not want to put under the gaze of Christ. Yet I know there is nothing hidden from Him. He knows me better than my wife knows me. And yet He loves me. This is the most amazing thing of all about God’s grace. It would be one thing for Him to love us if we could fool Him into thinking that we were better than we actually are. But He knows better. He knows all there is to know about us, including those things that could destroy our reputation. He is minutely and acutely aware of every skeleton in every closet. And He loves us.” (R.C. Sproul)
Spend some time thanking God for His amazing grace and acceptance best demonstrated in the person and work of Jesus.