Dan Lee
John 17:9-13, For the Joy of God's Elect

Jesus’ first petition for His disciples is found in these verses. Jesus prays that the Father would keep them in His name. Jesus prays for a special people, His disciples and He does so because He was about to physically leave His disciples. What He would no longer be able to do in His physical absence, He asks the Father to accomplish. May the Lord grant to us a greater work of His Spirit to draw us to walk in Jesus’ ways and thus live with His joy evermore in our hearts.

Dan Lee
John 17:6-8, Two Realities of Salvation

Jesus describes the salvation of His disciples from two perspectives, one from heaven and the other from earth. In heaven, salvation was the product of the intratrinitarian transaction between the Father and the Son. On earth salvation was the product of divine revelation through the word of God and the hearty response of faith on the part of believers. The heavenly realities evoke worship, humility, and thanksgiving. The earthly realities compel us to take seriously every word of our Lord Jesus Christ and act upon them by faith.

Dan Lee
John 17:3-5, Salvation for the Glory of God ...

In His prayer, Jesus defines eternal life for our benefit. Contrary to popular belief, eternal life according to the Son of God is a reconciled relationship with God that begins in the present and stretches out to eternity. Jesus also reveals to us that He is the God of eternal glory which is demonstrated through the cross which He was about to bear. In the cross of Christ, the glory of God’s grace shines brilliantly so that all the redeemed and all the angelic host would glorify God forever and ever.

Dan Lee
John 17:1-2, Salvation for the Glory of God

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 begins with a focus on the glory of God. Jesus prays that His impending death will ultimately glorify the Father and that this would come about through the granting (gifting) of eternal life to His elect. What Jesus’ crucifixion puts on display is the glory of God’s grace in salvation.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 27-34, Two Ways to Live

As Moses closes his final message to the children of Israel, he focuses on the consequences of obedience and disobedience. He does so by setting down before them two pathways: the pathway to life, good, and the blessing, and the other pathway to death, evil, and the curse. Along with these options for their future, he reveals to them their future in apostasy, judgment, and even a restoration afterwards. The Pentateuch closes with an allusion to the prophet like Moses to come, the Lord Jesus, who speaks from the LORD and all the people ought to hear. The call to choose life echoes throughout the ages, calling all to be reconciled and restored to God and to enter into His blessing through the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 27:1-2, Men of Wisdom

There is a need for a counter measure against our culture regarding the important topic of biblical manhood and biblical womanhood. In this series of studies from Proverbs 27, we look at what it means to be men of wisdom biblically. Biblical wisdom is what Christ possessed and this is the pathway to wisdom for our men and boys growing up to be men one day. May the Lord mold and shape into men who are first and foremost humble men.

John 11:36-40, Unbelief Grieves God (Part 2)

Unbelief is a chameleon. It takes on a different color at different times. In this scene at Bethany, we find the Jews expressing their distrust in the Lord with suspicion, questioning whether Jesus loved Lazarus at all. Jesus is grieved again at the sight of this unbelief. When Jesus gives the command for the tomb to be opened, Martha protests His command. She goes down in history as the woman who refused the Lord because of a smell. May the Lord keep us from such forms of unbelief, whether suspicion or excuses against His commands. Our sovereign God is fully capable of addressing all our concerns when He gives His good commands.

John 11:27-35, Unbelief Grieves God

Unbelief grieves the heart of God. In today’s passage, the grieved heart of God is seen in the incarnate Son of God upon whose face this grief is put on display through His nostrils and in His eyes. May the Lord help us to see the great evil of unbelief and grant to us a heart to embrace all that He’s given to us in the Scriptures and live as people of faith.

John 11:17-26, Believe in Me

In the midst of great mourning and disappointment, the Lord speaks words of great hope. But this hope is available only to those who believe in Him. In this portion of the gospel of John, we catch another facet of true faith in Christ, that Christ is everything to the believer. May the Lord draw us to find our soul’s full satisfaction in Him alone, even to the very end of life when we will desperately need Jesus as the resurrection and the life.

John 11:5-16, Trust the God of Providence (Part 2)

God knows where He’s headed and he knows how to get there. And this God of all wisdom is working all things after the counsel of His will to bring about His perfect effects to ultimately bring glory unto Himself through His Son. We trust God because He has a purpose and He has a plan. Furthermore, He calls us to participate in His will revealed in Scirpture. May the Spirit of our God strengthen us to trust in the God of providence so that we would walk after the example of our Lord, the incarnate Son of God, who was the epitome of perfect human trust in God.

John 11:1-4, Trust the God of Providence

John 11 is a demonstration of God’s providence. What is providence? Providence is God’s wise orchestration of all things (both good and evil) to achieve His good and eternal purpose. We often see the parts, but not the whole. But the whole is precisely what God sees. He is causing all things to work together for the good which aligns with His good and eternal purpose. This is what the Lord sees with the sickness of Lazarus. May the Lord grant us His perspective to trust in the God of providence.