Friends of Union

When they see the humiliation and shrinking of the church, it can make Christians despair that they’re on the losing side. When they see the Lord seems to be defeated. And yet, the Day of Dagon’s Triumph was not only short-lived. It turned out to be a mirage. “The next day, Dagon fell down before the Ark in deference to the Lord. And when he was put back, he fell down again. His head and hands cut off.” You see, at first it had looked like the Lord had been conquered. In reality, he was the one doing the conquering. The Lord had entered Dagon territory and demanded his submission.

When we read the word of God, we find it reads us. It pierces deep. It finds us, it discovers our innermost filth. It judges, and it saves, just as it judged Eglon and it saved the people.

The first thing I love about the ascension is that Jesus has returned to his Father. That means his work is done, accepted in heaven, and sealed for us here on earth. … now, the Lord Jesus Christ is in session. Seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. It’s the Father’s stamp of approval on all that his Son has done for us in dying and rising.

We have an all-sufficient salvation because we have an all-sufficient Saviour. He brings us in. He keeps us in, and he carries us to the end.

The following devotional by Clive Bowsher is for Friends of Union. To learn more about becoming a Friend of Union, visit www.uniontheology.org/friends-of-union

Friends, it’s not incidental to God that he is a kind and loving Father. That’s not a role he’s stepped into or an act that he tries to pull off while inwardly just being transcendent and disinterested in you.When you pray the Lord’s Prayer and call him “Our Father” or “Abba, Father,” you’re not asking him to pretend for a moment he’s less like God and more like Jesus than he actually is. You’re putting your finger on the very essence of God.