![Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41u9kx4miUL.jpg)
Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13 (NKJV)
Then He asked them again, Whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way.
John 18:7-8
The scene in the Garden of Gethsemane is a tense one. Christ has completed His agonizing prayer. The disciples have roused from sleep. The mob has entered the garden with torches, lanterns, and weapons. Judas is there to play his evil part in the drama. Christ, calm as ever, asks, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answer, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ He responds, ‘I am He.’ They draw back and fall to the ground. He asks them the same question again. They respond with the same answer to which He says, ‘I have told you that I am He.’ What He does next is the mark of truly outstanding leadership. He says, ‘Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way.’ Christ safeguards His people by interposing Himself between them and those who would do them harm. This is the hallmark of great leadership. He shows all who would imitate Him how to look after the those who follow them. Christ continues to secure His people. He give to them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone pluck them out of His hand. This gives us abundant confidence in Him. He has shown Himself in every way to be that Great Shepherd of the sheep.
Our Great God and our Savior,
we rejoice that You safeguard Your people.
We praise You that, because You do,
they are secure forevermore.
Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.
John 17:26
Christ reveals God to us. The Scripture affirms this on numerous occasions. At the beginning of his gospel John writes, ‘No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.’ As Christ closes His High Priestly Prayer He confirms this by saying, ‘I have declared to them Your name.’ He adds to that, ‘and will declare it.’ In due course of time Christ would return to heaven. Would He cease to proclaim the Father’s name then? He would not. He indicates that the Holy Spirit would take up the work. Speaking of the work of the Spirit He says, ‘All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.’ We see from the rest of the New Testament that this is exactly what happened. What about us? Will Christ continue to declare the Father’s name to us? Is our text referring to the disciples only or to us also? Inasmuch as He declared it to them, He has, in giving us their testimony, declared it to us as well. In addition, the Holy Spirit Who indwells all the redeemed does take the things of Christ and show them to us. In showing us Christ, He shows us the Father, for Christ is all there is for us to see of God. Christ reveals God to us and as He does, we come to know Him.
Our Good and Gracious God,
we rejoice that Christ has revealed You to us.
We praise You that the Holy Spirit
continues His work.
Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.
John 17:25
What do we know? As Christ moves to close His High Priestly Prayer He intensifies His appeal to His Father. He cries, ‘O righteous Father.’ He then utters three profound truths. He says, ‘The world has not known You.’ That is a fact. From the days of Adam and Eve to the hour in which He spoke, the world had not known God. The people of the world had pursued every other invention rather than the knowledge of God. That truth has not changed. The second truth He spoke was, ‘but I have known You.’ Christ has always been the essential, eternal Son of God. From everlasting He has been with the Father and has known Him. The third truth He utters is ‘these have known that You sent Me.’ The disciples confessed, ‘You are the Christ the Son of the living God.’ We know what the disciples knew. We have believed their report. We accept their testimony. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We are prepared to stake our life, our death, and our eternity on this revealed truth. Thus our message is Christ and Christ alone. We have no other truth. We hold no greater doctrine. God has sent Christ and Christ is all.
High King of heaven,
we rejoice that we are Christ’s.
We praise You that Christ is Yours.
Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:24
Christ has desires for the good of His people. That good entails a future with Him. As He prays to His Father, He expresses His desire for ‘they also whom You gave me.’ He expanded this group far beyond the disciples when He prayed, ‘I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.’ Immediately after that expansion, He articulated what He desired for this great multitude. He desired that ‘they all may be one; that they may be made perfect; that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as You have loved Me.’ He goes on to express, ‘Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with me where I am.’ This harmonizes with everything else we know about being in Christ. Paul, speaking of death, declares for us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The description John gives of the eternal state portrays the redeemed as being forever with Christ. Thus we are certain about our future with Christ. He saved us and He will keep us. All our future is in His hands.
Our Glorious God and our Savior,
we rejoice that You are for us.
We praise You that our future is with You.
Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning