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.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 12-26, The Place and The Prophet

In this final legal section of the Pentateuch, Moses touches on a wide range of laws. Among these, two stand out as the most prominent in the main message of Moses regarding the Messiah: the place of worship and the future prophet like Moses. These two ideas propel us to build up God’s church, hope in Christ’s return, and listen to Christ.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 1-11, Remember and Obey

Moses speaks his final message to the children of Israel before heading up Mount Nebo and see the land of Canaan and die there. His aim is to expound the law but he is gripped by the urgency of the spiritual needs of his people and thus he earnestly exhorts them with a long introduction (nearly all of 11 chapters) to remember and obey. In this three part study of Deuteronomy, we examine the practical relevance of this exhortation and consider the ultimate Israelite who lived up to all that this exhortation required.

Dan Lee
Numbers 22-24, The Messianic Prophecies of ...

The very perplexing figure of Balaam shows that God can use even a wicked pagan priest to speak forth His truth. Unbeknownst to this man, the LORD intended to use him to reinforce His immutable commitment to bless Israel and send the Messiah for our salvation. Balaam’s prophecies show that Jesus is the coming king who will reign supremely over all the nations, crushing all His enemies. They also show that Jesus is the promised seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, who grants the blessing of salvation to all the elect of God.

John 15:12-17, Christlike Love (Part 2): Uplifting Love

The love of Christ is an uplifting love. The Lord has taken us who were lowly slaves and elevated our status to that of the friends of God. While we still relate to Him as obedient worshippers before God the Son, we are welcomed to Him as His friends. What’s more? The Lord has given us privileged knowledge of His will, purpose, plan, and mission on earth. In this life, we get to join Him in His glorious works on earth. This is the way the Lord has loved and served us, and His command is that we extend the same kind of uplifting love toward others. May the Holy Spirit evermore teach us love one another even as the Lord has so deeply loved us.

John 15:9-11, The Love And The Joy of God

The Lord Jesus Christ loves His people with the perfect love of His Father. He loves us with a love that is like the astonishing and spectacular intratrinitarian love of God. He calls us to then abide in that love so that our joy would no longer be meager, but that it would be full and complete. Jesus calls us to obedience to His commands toward this end. May the Holy Spirit evermore teach us to live a life of obedience in the footsteps of Christ so that we would know this magnificent love and joy which He seeks for His people.

Hebrews 11:4-10, Examples of Faith

Throughout our devotions together over the weekend camping trip, we give attention to four examples of faith: Abel worshipped God (11:4), Enoch pleased God (11:5-6), Noah listened to God (11:7), and Abraham hoped in God (11:8-10). All of these were acts of faith, teaching us how men of old exercised their faith in the LORD and how He accepted and approved of their acts of faith. May the Lord evermore build us up to live as men and women of faith who know how to trust in our God and live by faith not by sight.

Hebrews 11:1-3, Biblical Faith

What is faith according to the Bible? This is a pivotal question since the nature of our faith makes all the difference as to whether we truly belong to the Lord, whether we are recipients of His blessing, whether we are forgiven of our sins, and whether we possess eternal life. In this kickoff study to our four-part devotions during our annual vacation together (“Examples of Faith” from Hebrews 11:4-10), we examine the definition of biblical faith, how that is proven by the examples of faith, and what is the fundamental starting point of that faith. May the Lord ground us and strengthen us in true biblical faith which is based on God’s self-revelation to us in His faithful word.

John 15:1-8, To the Glory of God

All things exist for the glory of God. Jesus shows us this in this discourse on fruitfulness and abiding in Him that our chief end is to glorify God. Jesus brings up this fundamental truth of God because this is the underlying reality from which all biblical revelation issues. Jesus points our attention to the glory of God because the glory of God is the purpose and the reason for the existence of all things. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to see and savor the glory of God as the fountainhead of all blessing and good and the rarest gem which is the source of our great enjoyment and delight.

John 15:1-8, I in You

”I in you” are the words of our Lord to capture His manifest presence in His people who abide in Him. This speaks not only of the power and life of Jesus in us, but His very presence in us through His Holy Spirit. The only way to be sanctified and live the Christian life is for Christ to live in us, and Jesus shows us this is what is true of those who abide in Him. May we attain to the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ as we learn to daily abide in Him.