Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
Look Up!
Pastor Scott
Saturday, August 07, 2004
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"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
(Luke 21:28)
In Matthew 26, Jesus had been betrayed, taken away and stood before the rulers. "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death" (Verses 64-66).
What they call blasphemy is what we call the blessed hope. This is the pivotal point of how we live our lives and how we behold Jesus. Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior, the Redeemer, said, "I have gone to prepare a place for you" (John 14:3). Think about it. I think on this Scripture virtually every day. That is how I get through every day. He has gone to prepare a place for me. This is a nasty place; I am ready to go home. Aren't you? This is not my home and it's getting more and more unlike my home daily as iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold. We are living in a day when they will kill God's servants and believe they are doing God service. We are getting ready to enter into a time that is unparalleled in the history of man. Are we ready? We need to look up for our redemption is drawing nigh (Luke 21:28). Look up.
What direction are you looking today? Are you looking for a bright future, a successful business, a successful marriage, that first grandchild? These things will be added to us, but what are you looking for? Are your children looking up into the clouds, believing that their redemption is drawing nigh? Or are you more concerned for their occupation of the earth? Are they earth-dwellers? The Scripture says, "This wrath and judgment are going to come upon all them that dwell upon the face of the earth, the earth dwellers, people that love this life" (Rev. 12:12). Are we raising a generation who has one treasure--the trumpet of God sounding, hearing that voice, "Come up hither," and the expectation of being changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye?
Jesus said, "[Do not] let your heart be troubled: [you] believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many [dwelling places]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (1 John 14:1-3). We get our eyes off on all the little shacks around here when God has gone to prepare for us a mansion, a dwelling place "that eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him" (Isa. 64:4).
When was the last time you talked to a Christian who was excited about the coming of the Lord? They are excited about the next program and the next great building that they are building here. Are you looking up? Do you understand that the spirit of antichrist is destroying the family unit? We are contending with the environment of Sodom and Gomorrah, the daily vexation of our spirit. Do you look for that refreshing in the Lord's presence in prayer, as you wash your soul with the water of the Word of God? After you have refreshed yourself with the visitation of His presence, settle into looking up. Embrace the blessed hope. It will bring a refreshing, a reprioritizing of your life, and will change your value system.