The Scriptures are all powerful in breaking down strongholds, raising up those who are pressed down, and guiding us into experiencing the Lord’s victory over all things. In this segment we set forth a series of subjects with appropriate Scriptures that strengthen faith, and lead to overcoming in the Lord.
Subject areas will be changed regularly, and previous scriptural readings and commentaries may be accessed by clicking different weeks in the calendar below.
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“I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult” Num 24:17.
Balak, a Moabite king, hired Balaam, a prophet from Israel, to curse Israel, so that he might bring about their downfall. But every time Balaam opened his mouth, God used it to pronounce a blessing on Israel. This is the fifth blessing, which prophesies the coming of Jesus the Messiah, and the downfall of Moab.
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isa 7:14.
This prophecy foretells the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. Its fulfilment is declared in Matthew 1:18, After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. This prophecy also proclaims Christ’s divinity - and shall call His name Immanuel, which means, God is with us.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the Lord your God…” Deut 18:15.
The Jews were well aware of this promise of a prophet from God, asking John the Baptist if he was the coming prophet. Its fulfillment in Jesus Christ is found in John 6:14. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’
“For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him”.
Isa 53:2.
Jesus was planted in Israel, which is aptly called dry ground, for that was its spiritual state. His physical appearance was not to be strikingly handsome, or even particularly noticeable. He was not to be desired and lauded in the manner of our present-day notables.
The Jewish crowds were offended by His humble origin, saying, Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? So they were offended at Him. Mark 6:3.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.”
Hos 11:1.
Whilst the infant Jesus was in Bethlehem, Herod sought to kill Him, but Joseph was warned to escape to Egypt. When Herod died and the danger was past, Joseph was told to return to Israel. The fulfillment of this prophecy is recorded in Matt 2:14-15.
“When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
“Surely He has borne our griefs [literally - sicknesses]
And carried our sorrows [literally - pains];
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.” Isa 53:4-5.
This reading prophesies that Jesus would bear the punishment for our sins in His own body on the cross, thereby removing every legal right of Satan to lay sickness upon us. Peter confirms this in the following reading, but putting it in the past tense as an atoning act already accomplished.
“…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24-25.
“They also gave me gall for my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
Ps 69:21.
At the point of death Jesus cried out, ‘I thirst.’ What followed is recorded below, fulfilling the prophecy in Psalm 69:21.
“Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, It is finished! And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” John 19:29-30.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Zech 9:9.
The fulfillment of this prophecy is recorded in John 12:14-15.
“Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
Fear not, daughter of Zion;
Behold, your King is coming,
Sitting on a donkey's colt.”
“And the Lord said to me, Throw it to the potter — that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter”. Zech 11:13.
Judas received thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. When smitten with remorse he tried to return the money to the High Priests. However, they refused to take it, using it to buy the potter’s field, which was used to bury strangers.
But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood. And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. “Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day”. Matt 27:6-8.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me”
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting”.
Mic 5:2.
The prophet Micah prophesied that God’s promised spiritual ruler over Israel would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Matthew 2:1 records the birth of Jesus, the promised Messiah, in Bethlehem.
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?’ For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Matt 2:1-2.
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Zech 12:10.
This prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. Towards the end of the age, God will pour out on the Jewish nation a Spirit of grace and supplication, and they will be convicted that they crucified the promised Messiah. Many will be saved and grafted into the Church.
“I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.” Ps 22:14.
This portion of Psalm 22 clearly relates to the agony Jesus suffered when His body weight was suspended on the cross by the nails driven through His hands.
“All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him”. Ps 22:7-8.
This is another picture of the suffering Jesus endured on the cross – not only physical but the sneering and mocking abuse of the crowd below Him.
“And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross”. Matt 27:39-40.
“My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet”. Ps 22:15-16.
This is another graphic portrayal of the debilitating agony and stress Jesus endured on the cross, predicting the nailing of His hands and feet to the cross.
“I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.” Ps 22:17-18.
The fulfillment is recorded in Mark 15:24.
“And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take”.
“I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.” Isa 50:6.
This reading reveals that Jesus willingly submitted the physical abuse meted out to Him by the soldiers before His crucifixion.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”.
Isa 9:6. KJV
Isaiah looks forward to the actual birth of Christ, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he extols the glorious attributes of His name.
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this”. Isa 9:7. KJV
As the end-time Church is under severe attack by Antichrist and his spirit and contaminated by apostasy, lawlessness, immorality, and worldliness, it is comforting to know that she will be restored, and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified in her midst.
“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” John 10:37-39.
Here Jesus states that the miraculous works that he did, were done through the indwelling Spirit of the Father in Him. If His works were miraculous, we know that Jesus did not do them as a man, but as the Son of God. God was bearing witness to Christ’s divinity.
“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.” John 10:25-26.
To do works in His Father’s name, was to do all through the attributes of the Father in Him. Jesus was saying that if we cannot believe in His divinity by His appearance and demeanor, we should believe His works were clearly miraculous and of the Father. Because God the Father did the works through Jesus, they were a testimony to Christ’s own divinity.
“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” John 10:37-39.
Many thousands witnessed Jesus’ works, and their accounts were recorded by the writers of the gospels, the epistles, and historians. The lame walked, the blind received sight, the dead were raised, demon spirits were cast out, thousands were fed with five loaves and two small fish, Jesus walked on the water and calmed the storm. Such works were undeniably by the power of God and were entrusted into the hands of Jesus to accomplish. Knowing this, we should believe that God the Father was in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ in Him – again testifying to His deity.
“And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” 1 Cor 15:12-19.
The founders of other religions have died, and their tombs are here on earth. Jesus’ resurrection was witnessed by over five hundred people. His resurrection must be accepted as proof of His divinity, for how could His Spirit dwell in us if He was still dead?
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”. Eph 2:8-10.
No one can be saved by good works or their own righteousness. Our salvation rests squarely on believing that Jesus Christ has borne the punishment for our sins on the cross, making us righteous before God. God sends forth saving truth to those who are seeking, and even gives the faith to believe and receive it.
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:8-10.
Here, the pathway to salvation is set forth. First, we believe with our hearts the gospel truth, all that the bible says about Jesus, that He is the Son of God, born to a virgin, that He revealed God to us by His teaching and miraculous signs and wonders, bore the punishment for our sins on the cross, and was raised from the dead. Next, we should state the confession of our belief with our mouths, preferably before a witness. Finally, we should accept our salvation as an accomplished fact, and make Jesus the Lord of our life.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” John 5:24-25.
Here, two essentials for salvation are set forth. We must believe in God: that He is the one and only God, creator of heaven and earth, the upholder of all life and the source of all provision and blessing. We believe that He sent forth Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of mankind. Secondly, we should believe the gospel truth as presented by Jesus.
“And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40.
It is God’s will that everyone should see Jesus Christ and receive His salvation. To see Jesus is to see Him as the Son of God, sent forth by God to be the Saviour of mankind. To believe in Christ is to believe all that the Scriptures say about Him.
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.
On the cross, Jesus represented the whole of mankind. He was corporate man, bearing the responsibility for man’s sin, and submitting Himself to the penalty of death as God’s just judgment of sin. Only the death of Jesus, God’s own Son, could pay the debt of the sin of mankind, and God will accept no other basis for our salvation. Only those who accept the death of Jesus Christ as the basis for their righteousness and acceptance by God, can be saved.
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.…” Rom 3:23.
It is often thought of a clean-living person who is admired and liked by all, as being heaven bound. But there is no person in the world who is without sin, and our holy God cannot dwell in the presence of sin. No worldly standard of righteousness or holiness is acceptable in God’s sight. Only God’s righteousness, acquired by believing that Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross has cleansed us from all sin, is acceptable to God.
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 3:36.
The two alternatives are clearly presented. To believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, sent forth by God to be the redeemer and saviour of mankind is to inherit eternal life. To reject the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ is to open oneself to the judgment of God, which is eternal damnation.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” Eph 2:4-7.
Even when we were dead in our sins, without spiritual life, and without hope, by grace God sent forth His word of truth and saved us. Heavenly places is a spiritual position where we are partakers of all the blessings of our redemption, eternally righteous and blameless in God’s sight, reconciled to Him and accepted as His children, with our names written in the Book of Life. Seated with Him is to take our eyes and mind away from our earthly existence where everything is temporary and constantly changing, and maintain our spiritual position where all our spiritual blessings are settled with Christ in heaven.
“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:11-13.
Christianity is more than going to church on Sunday and trying to live a good life. Jesus said that He came to give us life, and that we might have it more abundantly. He came to impart His own life in us, and invited us to feed on Him, or draw on His life continually to meet our needs. It follows that He who has the Son is a partaker of His life now, and His eternal life after death.
“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Rom 5:10-11.
This reading tells us that now, having been reconciled to God and eternally saved, we are continually saved by the power of Christ’s life within us. The word saved, has additional meanings - healed, preserved, and made well. The life of Jesus in us is referred to as a fountain of living waters, from which we are invited to partake of freely. Jesus said that he came so that we may have abundant life to meet each need.
“So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31-32.
This reading does not say that all those in his household were saved without each person having to make the decision to believe in the Lord, but it does show us God’s desire to direct His saving grace to all members of a family. It also highlights the responsibility of fathers, as head of their family, to present salvation truth to each member of his family.
“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6.
Jesus is the way to salvation. There is no other name in heaven or on earth by which man can be saved. He is the fulfillment of the gospel truth, that all who believe in His death on the cross are saved. He is the life. The abundant life that He came to give us is His own life. He that has the Son has that life. 1 Jn 5:12.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Gal 5:17-17.
What the bible calls the flesh is the ego and desire of the natural man to accomplish all things by our own abilities, rather than by the Spirit. The spiritual man knows that we cannot tame our carnal natures by self-effort and determination, and continually testifies to what Jesus did on the cross to set us free. The flesh and the spirit are incompatible, the flesh wanting to do all things by self-effort, and the Spirit overcoming the flesh by the power of our testimony to what Jesus procured for us, by His death on the cross.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Rom 8:13.
If you live according to the flesh, to satisfy the desires of the body and mind, you will die spiritually, losing spiritual discernment. Paul says that you must put to death the flesh by the Spirit. In other words, you cannot control the desires of the flesh by self-determination, because that is using the flesh to tame the flesh, and the result is continual failure. It is only by testifying to what Jesus has done for us on the cross that the Spirit can make it a reality.
For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do…for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Rom 7:15-19.
What Paul is describing here is often the experience of young Christians. They are confronted by a besetting sin, but no matter how hard they try to overcome it they fail. They are yet to learn how Jesus was united with our carnal man, that we grapple with, in His death. We can now say the old man was incorporated in Christs death on the cross.
Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Rom 7:20-23.
Paul asks, why am I doomed to continual failure? Then Paul presents a surprising conclusion - that there is a law of sin in his members that compels him to sin. That law of sin is a legacy of the fall, when Adam and Eve disobey Gods direct command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This gave Satan the right to implant a law of sin, or a propensity to sin in man’s nature.
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Rom 6:3-4.
How do we overcome that nature of sin implanted into our nature? Paul tells us how in Romans 6:3. Our old man, with its law of sin, was incorporated into Christs death and burial, which occurred spiritually in our baptism. When we testify to the death and burial of our old man, the Holy Spirit can undertake awork to make it a physical reality. This does not happen instantly, but the more we testify in faith, the weaker that old man becomes.
…that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Eph 4:22-24.
In this reading, Paul tells us how to divest ourselves of the old man with the body of sin. He uses the analogy of putting on and off our clothes. This should be our daily spiritual exercise in prayer. We should declare our old man incorporated in Christ’s death and burial. Paul stated,
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal 2:20-21. KJV We should then reckon our old man united with Christ in His death, and ask the Holy Spirit to make it a reality.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal 3:27-28.
Putting off the old man is the negative side of our testimony. It should be followed by the assertion that we have been baptised into Christ, and so we have put on Christ. We are now clothed in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and partakers of His fullness.
…knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin…reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom 6:5-11.
Here is the conclusion of the matter. Spiritually, our old man has been incorporated in Christs death and buried in the water of baptism. When we claim this by faith, and walk in the light of this spiritual truth, the Holy Spirit begins to make it happen in reality. We are to reckon ourselves dead to the power of sin in the old man, and alive to righteousness in Christ Jesus.
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.
Jesus came to impart His own life to us. The abundant life in the reading emanates from the indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus in us. As it is received and nurtured in us, it fills our whole being, and is manifested in all of our activities, enabling us to meet all needs and bear fruit to His glory. It is a small foretaste of the eternal life that we will experience with Jesus after our resurrection.
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.
Jesus came to impart His own life to us. The abundant life in the reading emanates from the indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus in us. As it is received and nurtured in us, it fills our whole being, and is manifested in all of our activities, enabling us to meet all needs and bear fruit to His glory. It is a small foretaste of the eternal life that we will experience with Jesus after our resurrection.
“I am the true vine...Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:1.
Jesus uses the analogy of the vine and its branches to describe the necessary relationship we must have with Him. To receive His life means that we have the capacity to bring forth lasting fruit. If a branch becomes detached from the vine it loses life giving sap and dies. Similarly, it is only when we reject all self-dependence, and are united with Him and drawing on His life, that we can bear fruit.
“…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” Eph 3:16-17.
The life of Jesus abiding in us is received by faith. Faith believes the word of God, accepting those things not actually seen or experienced as though they were. The word says that by the life of Christ in us, we can accomplish that which we are incapable of in our own capacity. So, when we are confronted with situations that are beyond us, by faith we act believing that Jesus will release His life-giving power in our circumstances to fulfil our needs. Faith grows as we experience the blessings of life from Christ.
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