The Benefits of Jesus's Appearing (TMF:2980)
Friday, October 09, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
It wasn’t the establishment of a new way or a new religion. It wasn’t that the Jewish Law no longer had any relevance. The Old Testament pointed to the appearing of the Christ, and appear he did. God was faithful to what he had promised. The end result wasn’t just the benefit for the Jewish people, but also the benefit for the whole world, as God actually told Abraham would happen. Remember? He told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3, ESV). From a collective standpoint, that certainly has happened by this point in time. Thus, the true portrait of God’s actual character is displayed in Jesus Christ. God the helper; God the healer. God the One with compassion. Indeed, his character is often thought of in the scope of Old Testament violence, for instance, but that really isn’t the true picture of God. Back then, often God acquiesced to what the Israelites desired—even when those desires weren’t great.
Nobody Lives a Completely Righteous Life (TMF:2979)
Thursday, October 08, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
Previously was mentioned the fact that the Jewish Law could not make, or cause, a person to be, or become, righteous before God. And why is that? It’s because no one can keep that law perfectly. And no one did, as all sinned at one point or another. Even today, all of us are flawed, and perfection cannot be attained in our current lives. The Jewish Law showed truth. It displayed what was right and wrong, and even had extra laws and rituals that are no longer practiced, things that made a person ceremonially pure before God. Practices that were necessary at that time since the Christ hadn’t come yet. The full manifestation of grace reached its height by what Christ stated, by the fulfillment of the Jewish Law, and not by the abolition of it. Jesus noted in Matthew’s account: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17, ESV).
What Jesus's Miracles & Truth Showed (TMF:2978)
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
Our knowledge also recalls the fact that Jesus performed many miracles while he was walking the earth. Another aspect, then, of his glory. And the entirety of this—the entirety showed his grace and his truth toward us. It demonstrates grace because he comes to a people in desperate need of help. First and foremost, the Jewish people, the Nation of Israel. That’s what the miracles show. Physical ailments plagued a lot of people and they were in need of help. God demonstrated his care and love by healing them of various kinds of diseases. Persons were stricken by problems the heart of God didn’t desire them to be stricken with. We also are aware, as Jesus went around, he spoke truth. Truth in volumes. Sayings that are still relevant and spoken of today, almost 2,000 years after the fact. The incredibleness of it. Truth to guide lives down the right path. Truth to bring us closer to God. Truth to build societies and governments upon. Absolute truth from the Creator, from the Father.
Everyone is Affected by the Sin-Nature (TMF:2977)
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
Even though Jesus was in a human body, he proved that the righteous requirements of the Jewish Law could be fulfilled by living a perfectly righteous life. No one before him had done that, and no one since has done it. The rest of us, no matter who we consider, no matter who we are, no matter what time period, have been affected by the sin-nature inherited back to Adam. There’s no way around that. God the Son was born of the Spirit by the Virgin Mary, and didn’t inherit the sin-nature. The emphasis, then, is placed on the glory of the Son, and there are multiple aspects to cite that proclaim Jesus’ glory. A couple of those were just touched upon: the fact that he lived a perfect life and that he rose to the occasion of the cross to die for our sins. The obedience to the Father was exemplified to the point of death, and he even died for people who did not deserve it. Our knowledge also recalls the fact that Jesus performed many miracles while he was walking the earth. Another aspect, then, of his glory.
Jesus Comes to Dwell Among Us, Part 2 (TMF:2976)
Monday, October 05, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
He said, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That’s significant. By John’s time, there were some who proclaimed that Jesus was not in a human body after all. These pre-Gnostic persons, the forerunners of the later Gnostics, wished to say that Jesus was some kind of spirit being. In truth, Jesus dwelling in human flesh is necessary in order to become our high priest, as prescribed under the Old Testament Law (see Hebrews 2:17). A sin-free experience had to be lived in order for him to be a perfect sacrifice before God on our behalf, to make us sin-free. Coming as a spirit instead, he couldn’t have been an offering for sin. If he had sinned, again, he wouldn’t have been an acceptable offering before God for sin. Both coming in human flesh, as well as being sin-free were necessary. Even though Jesus was in a human body, he proved that the righteous requirements of the Jewish Law could be fulfilled by living a perfectly righteous life.
Jesus Comes to Dwell Among Us, Part 1 (TMF:2975)
Friday, October 02, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
John chapter 1, verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me . ” ) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known” (ESV). In our own awareness of what we think we know, in that awareness Johns confirms that there is no question about it. God the Son came in human flesh, and permanently changed to take on human flesh for the rest of eternity. He said, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That’s significant. By John’s time, there were some who proclaimed that Jesus was not in a human body after all.
Becoming A Child of God, Part 2 (TMF:2974)
Thursday, October 01, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
The right of becoming one of God’s children, indeed something we have chosen by our free-wills, our free-nature, is also shown by John to exemplify the love that the Father has toward us. This isn’t a physical, human birth, like the birth we first have when we arrive on this planet. In contrast, it is a spiritual birth. It’s a birth that’s brought about by God himself in the human’s action and will of believing. It’s a one-time process. The physical part, that rest of the whole picture, the taking off of our sin-natures, that part won’t be accomplished until later, as John said in his first epistle. This happens for us at The Rapture of the Church, which occurs before the end of days. This hope of our being made complete actualizes the purification of our souls, and indeed, we surrender to this in our life’s journey of sanctification. This obedience is what God desires of the human soul, that of avoiding those behaviors which would corrupt us.
Becoming A Child of God, Part 1 (TMF:2973)
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
What then, what does it mean to become a child of God? John speaks of us who believe having “the right to become children of God.” The Apostle John expounded on this point for us in his epistle of 1 John. There, in chapter 3, he writes, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:1-3, ESV). The right of becoming one of God’s children, indeed something we have chosen by our free-wills, our free-nature, is also shown by John to exemplify the love that the Father has toward us. This isn’t a physical, human birth, like the birth we first have when we arrive on this planet. In contrast, it is a spiritual birth.
The Blinding Power of Sin, Part 2 (TMF:2972)
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
A few did, but the whole didn’t, and the power of darkness won over in their hearts. Even all the way through the beginning of The Book of Acts, even all the way up to Acts 7, the Jewish people rejected the message of the Messiah. It’s truly a sad state of affairs, heartbreaking for us to see, and one that had to break God’s heart, and continues to break his heart. Again, the Apostle Paul gives us a glimpse into this, when he writes the Roman believers, “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:1-4, ESV). The double application of this makes itself known, that this just isn’t Paul’s thoughts, but the mind of the Spirit himself.
The Blinding Power of Sin, Part 1 (TMF:2971)
Monday, September 28, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
Verse 10: “He [the true light] was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (ESV). The blinding power of sin—that’s what we are dealing with in this text. That’s the problem becoming visible. The light shown in the darkness, but the people didn’t all receive this light. The Nation of Israel as a group, as a collective group, rejected it. Some individuals believed, but the group as a whole, the group in a ‘big picture’ perspective, did not believe. John will tell us in his own Gospel at times that individuals, fellow Israelites, believed on Jesus when he spoke and they saw the things he did. Those in charge, though, we know that they’re not going to believe as a whole.