Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Dear Friend,

If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Subjecta:Behold, the Lamb of God

Bible Verse:John 1:29-31 (ESV)

"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”"

Message: The image of Christ as “the Lamb of God” has so many layers of meaning and interpretation, we cannot begin to address them all. But we have recently celebrated Easter, and we have fresh in our minds the Last Supper. It was, of course, a Passover meal. The Passover lamb was the animal God directed the Israelites to use as a sacrifice in Egypt on the night God struck down the firstborn sons of every household. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Passover lamb, the perfect and ultimate sacrifice; after Him, the annual ritual became moot. Just as the blood of the Passover lamb signaled the “destroyer” to pass over Israelite homes in Egypt, Christ’s blood causes God’s judgment to “pass over” sinners. In this way, the blood of the Lamb of God saves all who believe in Him. A s with the verses just before, the Gospel of John has prepared us to understand fully what John the Baptist is saying. When he says, “a man who ranks before me, because he was before me,” we remember the words from the beginning of John 1. From the beginning of time, Christ (“the Word”) was with God. John the Baptist was sent from God, and was actually born about six months before Jesus. But the Christ, who had existed since the beginning of time, existed before John the Baptist or any other man. John also counts himself among the ranks of those who “knew him not.” He did not automatically know that his cousin Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. Apparently, he learned this only by doing God’s will — by abandoning wealth and comfort, going into the wilderness to baptize people who came to him. As we will see tomorrow, there is a hidden reason for his conduct; Christ will come to be baptized, and it is during this baptism that his identity will be revealed. When we pray “Thy will be done” in the Lord’s Prayer, it is good to remember this example of a person who abandoned his life to do God’s will. God has a purpose for us. It might not be as exalted as the purpose given to John the Baptist; but if we follow God’s will with courage and cheerfulness, we will know His purpose in due time, and then we will know the great reward that God has in store for us, just as John the Baptist did