Orange Moon Thursday, November 2, 2023 "The Carpenter's Son?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"The Carpenter's Son?"

"Every believer can look back on times of life when our Lord was most active and engaged, working out purposes that, in hindsight, we know to have been great and glorious.  At the time, however, things seemed mundane and without meaning."

    

        God often performs supernatural doings that for all the world appear to be natural.  Consider the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word "made flesh" (John 1:14).  He lived most of His life in such a manner that some raised the question…

     "Is not this the carpenter's son?   Is not His mother called Mary?   And His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters, are they not all with us?" (Matthew 13:55-56).

   Most missed the truth that "the carpenter's son" was actually the very Son of God.  Certainly, hard and blind hearts accounted to a large degree for the ignorance.  However, it must also be said that rather than "Christ, the power of God," appearances regarding our Lords' true identity often indicated otherwise (I Corinthians 1:24).  His presence and working in the world served as the most supernatural event of all history.  The living God walked the planet earth, accomplishing His Father's purpose to the degree that "there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25).  Those books, however, do not chronicle the Lord's doings as most often overt and obvious, but rather obscure to the degree that only eyes of faith could behold that "the carpenter's son" was actually the offspring of Someone else.

   We must realize and apply this way of God to our lives and experience.  We rejoice when He makes Himself known and obvious, revealing wonders of His working that can only be Him.  Most of our lives, however, do not overtly reveal the supernatural presence of God in our hearts and lives.  Instead, "we walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).  Indeed, every believer can look back on times of life when our Lord was most active and engaged, working out purposes that, in hindsight, we know to have been great and glorious.  At the time, however, things seemed mundane with without meaning.  As Jacob confessed at Peniel, "Surely the Lord is in this place.  And I knew it not!" (Genesis 28:16).

    In our present lives, the presence of God is most often in direct proportion to the appearance of His absence.  It must be this way, or else we could not walk by faith.  Nor could we discover glories of God's heart known only when we cannot perceive the workings of His hand.  Great light awaits us when we understand this truth, providing the possibility of recognizing our Lord's supernatural working in great power and significance, but also in ways easy to perceive as merely natural.  Yes, for all the world, the Son of God will often appear more like the carpenter's son.  May our Father open the eyes of our hearts to behold that which cannot be seen by physical eyes, or perceived by anything other than hearts of faith.

"By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. or he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible."

(Hebrews 11:27)

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

(John 7:24)

Weekly Memory Verse

     The Lord thy God, He it is that shall go with thee.

(Deuteronomy 31:6)

 

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Dear Orange Moon Friends

Friends,

    Today marks two commemorations for the Orange Moon devotionals.  First, we began sending the messages twenty five years ago today, on November 1, 1998.  Today's edition is also the 7,000th message.  I realized early this year that it would be possible to coordinate the two occasions by sending out Sunday messages for a time, which you may recall, and which we had never done in the past (our regular schedule is Monday-Friday, with quite a few Saturday messages thrown in).  So, today's message covers both duration and measure regarding this endeavor.

    I want to thank you for allowing us to send the devotionals to you.  I am grateful for the privilege, and for the fellowship we have had with so many of you through the years.  I have no words to express my gratitude to either God or to you for such grace on His part, and such kindness on yours.  It is a wonderful thing to know that our fellowship in this life is only the beginning of eternally walking together in shared reception of God's love in the Lord Jesus, and in responding to Him in kind.  What a gift, and what a wonder to enjoy in the moment, and in the prospect of forever living with Him and with each other.

    Godspeed to all of you.  I would not have wanted to have lived without the grace and gift of your fellowship.  I try always to not take this privilege for granted, and with you in heart and mind, I often express to our Heavenly Father the words written by the Apostle Paul for beloved brothers and sisters in Christ…

    "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:3-5).

Glen

Orange Moon Wednesday, November 1, 2023 "No One Like Him"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"No One Like Him"

    

        "We shall be like Him" wrote the Apostle John of that blessed day when all of God's trusting sons and daughters will be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We shall, as certain as God and His Word are true.  But not completely (I John 3:2).

   "God also hath rightly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).

   Our Heavenly Father purposes to make us like His Son in terms of character, nature, and way.  He will fulfill this determination and we will all walk forevermore in spiritual and moral likeness to Christ. "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Never, however, will the line of demarcation be crossed between ourselves and the Lord Jesus in terms of His divinity and our humanity.  He became human, and will forever remain so as the God who became man, and the man who remains God.  We will never become divine, however, even as the Divine dwells with and within us.  "Thou art God alone" (Psalm 86:10).  As the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus occupies a singular place in the wonder of Heaven and earth united in one glorious Person beyond measure, understanding, and description.

    "Great is the mystery of godliness.  God was manifest in the flesh" (I Timothy 3:16).

   In both Heaven and earth, there is no one like the Lord Jesus Christ.  The fact that He can even exist as the living synthesis of Deity and humanity comprises the greatest of all God's miraculous doings.  Long ago, Solomon wondered how the Lord could dwell in an earthly temple of stone and mortar (II Chronicles 6:18).  What would the wise man have said had He known that God would one day dwell in and as a human temple of flesh and blood?  Great indeed is the mystery, and greater by infinite measure is the man who, for our sake, will forever be human, while forever remaining divine.  In this most holy and elemental sense, there can be no one else like Him.  And there is not.

    Of all the truths we have sought to communicate in the past quarter century through these messages, the singular reality of Christ's Person and doings has been first and foremost.  We will all spend a long eternity of discovery regarding the wonder of the Lord who exists as the God who became man, and the man who remains God.  Eternity has already begun for those who have trusted the Father's beloved Son and our beloved Savior.  This day offers opportunity to better know the Lord Jesus, and to be made more like Him (II Corinthians 3:18).  Little wonder the Apostle Peter calls us to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).  Because in both Heaven and earth, there is no one like the Lord Jesus.  Nor shall there ever be…

"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Hear ye Him."

(Matthew 3:17)

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever."

 (Revelation 5:11-13).

Weekly Memory Verse

     The Lord thy God, He it is that shall go with thee.

(Deuteronomy 31:6)

 

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