The city of Ottawa, in which I live, has many embassies and consulates, housed in stately mansions, lovely old homes, or in ordinary office buildings. The red diplomatic license plates of their cars are a common sight on our roads. Receptions at embassies are classy affairs, and I was invited to one such event. The male guests were in black tie or full military uniform, the women in elegant gowns, and all were greeted personally by the ambassador and his family. Diplomats represent their countries and the interests of their governments.

As we are called to be emissaries for the Lord, it means much to us to realize that Jesus is known as God’s high Ambassador.

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the celestial calling, consider the ambassador and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him, even as Moses was in all his house. And yet this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has prepared the house has more honour in the house. Every house is built by some man. But he who ordained all things is God. And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, to bear witness of those things that were to be spoken afterward. But Christ as a son has rule over the house – whose house we are, if so be that we hold fast the confidence and the assurance of that hope to the end.” (Hebrews 3:1-6 NMB)

The writer of Hebrews invites us to think about Jesus the Ambassador, given the task by God to carry the precious message of His love to us. The Lord Jesus also stands before the Father as our Mediator and High Priest. Moses was God’s ambassador in his day, given such exclusive access to God’s glory that his face shone after being with Him. The Scripture emphasizes, though, that Jesus is a superior ambassador, being not only a servant of God but the builder of His church, God’s own Son. Jesus is the glory of God, not a reflection of it, shown to us in His resurrected body seated by the right hand of God.

We are also called to be God’s ambassadors. We are sent to people as representatives of God’s government and its Ruler, and we don’t act on our own authority. God chooses His diplomats to be partners in the divine calling, His faithful followers, even in times when we are not completely faithful to Him.

I invite you today to praise God, who you and me as Jesus’ servants such an important diplomatic mission, and look to Him for inspiration, hope, and love as we represent our God before the world.

Prayer: “And I will give my life to You to be a vessel of Your truth. Let Your will be done for me all my days. Lord, I will also follow You, wherever You send me I will go, an ambassador of Your kingdom, Jesus my Lord.” (C. Sumasto Tjia). Amen.

Copyright © 2021 by Shirley Moulton, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada