Various circumstances have ruled out reading many blog posts this week, so I didn’t get to organize my usual curation of links. That being the case, I’ve decided to make a sampler of Scriptures about Who our Lord is. May His Holy Spirit use these passages to prepare us for Sunday morning worship.

All passages come from the New American Standard Bible.

Of course we’ll start with my favorite passage:

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: ¹⁶ for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹ For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, ²⁰ and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. ~~Colossians 1:15-20

That wonderful passage always reminds me of how the writer of Hebrews describes Jesus:

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, ² in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. ³ And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become so much better than the angels, to the extent that He has inherited a more excellent name than they. ~~Hebrews 1:1-4

Come to think of it, the apostle John opens his gospel narrative with a testimony of Christ’s deity and majesty:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. ⁵ And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. ~~John 1:1-4

Isaiah certainly gives us a powerful picture of the Lord in His glory:

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. ² Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. ³ And one called out to another and said,

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies.
The whole earth is full of His glory.” ~~Isaiah 6:1-3

Let’s close with John’s encounter with the glorified Christ:

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw seven golden lampstands; ¹³ and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and wrapped around the chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴ His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been heated to a glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. ~~Revelation 1:12-16

What a holy God!

Alisa Childers explains Biblical Judgment in a “Don’t Judge Me World in her guest post for Well Watered Women. Although some of her points have been stated often, she brings in fresh perspectives that strengthen the argument that judging is a Christian duty.

In The Mailbag: Can I share the gospel with my unsaved husband? Michelle Lesley uses both God’s Word and Biblical reasoning to address a common and heartbreaking problem affecting far too many Christian women. If your husband doesn’t know the Lord, I highly recommend this post.

Just as wives with unsaved husbands grieve, so do mothers whose children walk away from the faith. Leslie A, in this week’s post on Growing 4 Life, offers encouraging suggestions. You’ll find those suggestions in How Do We Keep from Losing Our Kids? I only wish she had included a caveat about God’s sovereignty in election. Nevertheless, her suggestions have tremendous value, and certainly would go a long way in leading a child to Christ.

I consider Elizabeth Prata to be the leading authority on Beth Moore. Her essay in The End Time, My first reaction to Beth Moore. 2011, traces Elizabeth’s concerns about this popular teacher, and touches on the pushback should received for speaking up. This is a valuable read — don’t neglect it!

God bless Melissa of Your Mom Has a Blog for writing For All My Fellow Phonies! I don’t know if she’s bugged my apartment, but her words really comfort me at a time when my sin discourages me. Maybe you’ll also be encouraged by her article.

Not all blog posts are pleasant to read, but sometimes the unpleasant ones help us understand the important issues of our day. For that reason, I recommend Two Dark Sides Of The Sexual Revolution by R. Scott Clark of The Heidelblog. Thankfully, his last paragraph extends hope and encouragement to people broken by sexual sin.