Today’s reading: Romans 10:1-13; Jeremiah 23:5

 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

Romans 10:9

Metaphorical references are found throughout Scriptures. For instance, there is the “righteous branch” in Jeremiah 23:5, where God tells Jeremiah, “The day is coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch.”

Jeremiah prophesies the destruction of Judah by the Babylonians and the horror they will encounter. Then Jeremiah speaks of hope, describing God’s plan to raise a righteous branch for David.

Paul, in Romans 10:1-13, chastises the Jewish people for not understanding that Jesus is the vine and the Gentiles are the branches grafted onto that vine. We are all part of the vine –Jew and Gentile.

Paul exhorts his brothers to declare with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, and to believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, so they too will be saved. What was true then is certainly true today.

Prayer:

Merciful God, render our hearts to fully grasp the message of the vineyard. Let us always confess with our heart and through our words that Jesus is Lord.

Contributed by Conrad Griggs