Owners Not Slaves!!!

Reflection:  One of the beauties of reading through the Moravian Daily text is each day we get a constant interaction of the Old and New Testament.  And some days, like today, we see the strong connection between the two!  Today, in both the Psalm, and reading from Isaiah, we see God’s long suffering relationship with His people Israel.  In the Psalm for today we see the fact though God did many wonders and kept on bailing them out, they kept on sinning.  Eventually God showed his justice through judging them in hopes that they would return to Him.   

This is the same theme in Isaiah, as prophet tells of a day the Branch will remain in Israel (also called the Remnant), and God will cleanse the people of their sin and gather them on a holy mountain.  We see the song of the Vineyard where the Lord created a fertile hillside and a watchtower to tread out the grapes, and yet it yielded nothing. There was no fruit!  The result is that the Vineyard will be brought down and only be accompanied by thorns and briers.  Instead of bearing fruit that could be a blessing to the nations and to the poor and rich alike, they kept it all for themselves and grew haughty and proud. 

Finally, in Galatians, we see a bit of why things were so bad.  Paul describes the situation that those under the Law are like “slaves”.  Though they know the right things to do they are powerless to do anything about it.  This described Israel pretty well. They had the Law.
They knew the commands of God, but sinned over and over again despite God’s mercy to them. 

But in chapter 4, of Galatians, Paul describes a new day, and uses the metaphor of heirs to an estate.  Until the estate had become theirs, the sons and daughters are under a Guardian.  But when the Father dies, they become heirs and owner of the estate and have the right and power to use the assets.

Paul says that this time has now come as Jesus has redeemed (bought back) those in slavery to the Law. Through what Jesus has done for us on the cross we have become sons and daughters of God, not slaves.  Therefore we can cry out “Abba Father”, just as Jesus did when he prayed.  Meaning we are now heirs of the estate, God’s kingdom, which is coming on earth as it is in heaven and will have no end.    

Do you realize the intensity of the language here and what it means for us?  It means that we have been redeemed from our sinful condition, and now we are owners of God’s estate.  We are his precious sons and daughters.  God has changed our identity as those under the law, to those who are owners of all that God wants to do on this earth for His glory until He returns. 

When you pray to God you can say “Abba Father”, for Your Heavenly Father has set you apart to be an inheritor of everything that is His.  You are no longer a slave to the law but have been set free.  And so Paul says to the Galatians, “Why would you return to slavery if you are set free?” 

Question for Today:  How are you living out your calling as a son or daughter?  How does knowing your position in Christ give you confidence to live for Him in His power and authority?  In what ways are you tempted to return to being a slave? 

Let’s pray:  Abba Father, thank you for this great privilege of being your sons and daughters!  Help us to live out our day today knowing all that we own and using it for your glory!  Amen. 

Psalm 78:32-39

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
    in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
³³ So he ended their days in futility
    and their years in terror.
³⁴ Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
    they eagerly turned to him again.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their Rock,
    that God Most High was their Redeemer.
³⁶ But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
    lying to him with their tongues;
³⁷ their hearts were not loyal to him,
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful;
    he forgave their iniquities
    and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
    and did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
    a passing breeze that does not return.

Isaiah 4:2-5:30

The Branch of the Lord

² In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. ³ Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. ⁴ The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. ⁵ Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. ⁶ It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
² He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
    and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.

³ “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?
⁵ Now I will tell you
    what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
    and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
    and it will be trampled.
⁶ I will make it a wasteland,
    neither pruned nor cultivated,
    and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain on it.”

⁷ The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Woes and Judgments

⁸ Woe to you who add house to house
    and join field to field
till no space is left
    and you live alone in the land.

⁹ The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing:

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,
    the fine mansions left without occupants.
¹⁰ A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine;
    a homer of seed will yield only an ephah of grain.”

¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning
    to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
    till they are inflamed with wine.
¹² They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
    pipes and timbrels and wine,
but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord,
    no respect for the work of his hands.
¹³ Therefore my people will go into exile
    for lack of understanding;
those of high rank will die of hunger
    and the common people will be parched with thirst.
¹⁴ Therefore Death expands its jaws,
    opening wide its mouth;
into it will descend their nobles and masses
    with all their brawlers and revelers.
¹⁵ So people will be brought low
    and everyone humbled,
    the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
¹⁶ But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice,
    and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.
¹⁷ Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;
    lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸ Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,
    and wickedness as with cart ropes,
¹⁹ to those who say, “Let God hurry;
    let him hasten his work
    so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One of Israel—
    let it approach, let it come into view,
    so we may know it.”

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and clever in their own sight.

²² Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine
    and champions at mixing drinks,
²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    but deny justice to the innocent.
²⁴ Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
    and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
    and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
    and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵ Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people;
    his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,
    and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
    his hand is still upraised.

²⁶ He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,
    he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
Here they come,
    swiftly and speedily!
²⁷ Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,
    not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt is loosened at the waist,
    not a sandal strap is broken.
²⁸ Their arrows are sharp,
    all their bows are strung;
their horses’ hooves seem like flint,
    their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
²⁹ Their roar is like that of the lion,
    they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize their prey
    and carry it off with no one to rescue.
³⁰ In that day they will roar over it
    like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks at the land,
    there is only darkness and distress;
    even the sun will be darkened by clouds.

Galatians 4:1-16

4 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. ² The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³ So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. ⁴ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. ⁶ Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? ¹⁰ You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹ I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

¹² I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. ¹³ As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, ¹⁴ and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. ¹⁵ Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

The heavens are telling the glory of God. Psalm 19:1

When Jesus had been baptized, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21-22

God on high, just as you open the heavens to reveal your majestic glory, open our hearts for you to fill us with your Spirit. Amen.