In Isaiah 66, God tells of the wonderful, glorious consolations coming to His children upon the resurrection of the body, in the new earth. The descriptions make one's heart ache with longing to see it all come true. These glorious promises having been shown to Isaiah, and Isaiah having written them down for our hope and encouragement, we are left with the solemn promise that "You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice..." (Isaiah 66:14).
The time is coming that God's people will physically see all the things that Isaiah was shown, the things we now "see" by faith. Our faith shall become physical sight; the veil (our frail mortality) that now hinders, the glass that we now see through only, comparatively, "darkly" will be transformed. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
The same solemn assurance that all these things will surely come to pass is given at the close of the canon of Scripture when the angel says to John, "These words are trustworthy and true... the Lord God... has sent His angel to show his servants what must soon take place" (Revelation 22:6).
He sent his angel to show, and what John saw was recorded in words, and through faith we see these words to be true. And that is all we need; it's enough for now. But the day is coming for a different seeing— our physical eyes shall behold it all. "You will see, and your hearts shall rejoice."
Come soon!
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Making God's Thoughts Our Thoughts
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
"'For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:16).
It struck me (anew) this morning how important the scriptures are in our knowing God. When God said through Isaiah that his thoughts are not our thoughts, he wasn't saying we can't know his thoughts (you can really see this when you read that chapter in its entirety). He is saying that the thoughts that spring up in our minds from our own desires, from our own schemes and ambitions, fall far short of his plan; we should abandon them! It's like what happened with dear Peter. "From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:22-23).
The great thing is that we can learn (as Peter did!) what God's thoughts are and what his ways are, and start to think with his thoughts and ways--we can have, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, the mind of Christ. All the Scriptures are Christ's words and mind and thoughts, recorded for us to read and understand by the help of his Spirit within us. Remember that God is trinitarian-- He is three Persons in one essence-- and all three persons of the trinity are at work to help us have the mind of Christ. God wants us to know and understand him, and he has decided that we will do so through the words declaring his thoughts and ways in the Scriptures.
His thoughts are not our thoughts, how true! So let's be about the work of recognizing this, and of trading our poor thinking and ways (as wonderful as we once thought they were) for the far better thinking and ways we learn through the words of Scripture. "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts"
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
"'For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:16).
It struck me (anew) this morning how important the scriptures are in our knowing God. When God said through Isaiah that his thoughts are not our thoughts, he wasn't saying we can't know his thoughts (you can really see this when you read that chapter in its entirety). He is saying that the thoughts that spring up in our minds from our own desires, from our own schemes and ambitions, fall far short of his plan; we should abandon them! It's like what happened with dear Peter. "From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:22-23).
The great thing is that we can learn (as Peter did!) what God's thoughts are and what his ways are, and start to think with his thoughts and ways--we can have, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, the mind of Christ. All the Scriptures are Christ's words and mind and thoughts, recorded for us to read and understand by the help of his Spirit within us. Remember that God is trinitarian-- He is three Persons in one essence-- and all three persons of the trinity are at work to help us have the mind of Christ. God wants us to know and understand him, and he has decided that we will do so through the words declaring his thoughts and ways in the Scriptures.
His thoughts are not our thoughts, how true! So let's be about the work of recognizing this, and of trading our poor thinking and ways (as wonderful as we once thought they were) for the far better thinking and ways we learn through the words of Scripture. "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Figuring Out Why
Do you ever wonder about (1) your purpose in life, or (2) God's purpose in allowing hardship and sorrow into your life? I've been thinking about this, and it seems to me that Christians of yesteryear didn't overly concern themselves with those questions. I think the reason is that more of them were acquainted with the big themes of Scripture, which end up answering those questions very satisfactorily.
The Bible had taught them that their purpose in life as the redeemed of God was to let their lights so shine before men that men would see their good works, and so glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16); to tell to the next generation the glorious deeds of God, and his might, and the wonders that he has done (Psalm 78:4); to love one another, fervently and from the heart, rejoicing with those who rejoiced and weeping with those who were weeping (Romans 12:15). Stuff like that. And all that stuff was summed up in Romans 8:29, which told them that God was at work through all things to make them more like Christ. They knew that their purpose in this brief life was to sojourn faithfully, as pilgrims and aliens "looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). They were to help each other along this troubled (but blessed) journey, and they were to bring along as many as they possibly could, strengthened for the task by God himself. That's quite a purpose!
So that's the purpose for every Christian; but what about God's purpose for allowing all the hardship and sorrow in our lives? The Bible had given those stalwart saints of yesteryear all they needed to know about that, too. It's important to know that they didn't ask for tailor-made answers to their individual circumstances... they understood that the only real answer to "why" came from Scripture, and though it was the same answer for all believers, it was wonderfully sufficient.
The Scriptures told them that not only was their purpose to live a life of increasing conformity to Christ, but that God's purpose in it was for a very exciting outcome: "So that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7), and so that they may be presented "blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy" (Jude 1:24). God's main purpose for them in this life, having delivered them from the domain of darkness and transferred them to the kingdom of his beloved son (Colossians 1:13), was to prepare them, through this (comparatively) "light, momentary affliction", for "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17). If we are God's children then we are heirs with Christ to this eternal weight of glory, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). God's purpose in our suffering? Future glory with him!
Christians of yesteryear understood these things, often going back to the message of patient Job, who did not, in this life, know the full story about why the hard trials had to come his way; but who trusted the God who knew. These saints of old didn't fret it, and neither should we. "Farther along we'll know more about it... farther along we'll understand why." God has given us his word to cheer us on our way as we travel with hope toward the coming resurrection of the body and of the glorious new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwells-- where we shall no longer see as through a mirror, dimly, but shall at last see "face to (beloved!) Face". "Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Saturday, January 12, 2013
What The Bible Considers "Trouble"
"No ill befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble" (Proverbs 12:21).
When the Bible talks about the follower of Christ being free from trouble, it isn't talking about temporal trouble. Jesus promised his disciples in John 16:33 that "in the world" they will have tribulation. What the Bible is saying is that the Christian will not be ultimately harmed but will be brought safely through all the trials of this world and into Heaven at the last.
The Bible also does not say that "the wicked" (all of us who scorned and rejected Christ) will necessarily lead troubled and unhappy lives on this earth. But the Bible does make clear that the rejector of Christ is '"storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will appear" (Romans 2:5). In this way they are "filled with trouble" and this trouble certainly begins in this temporal life, even though it may not be outwardly apparent.
This is a brief, brief life; begun and then quickly over, and then eternity, and the great settling of all accounts before God. The righteous will suffer no harm in that accounting, because they have placed all their hope for rescue from wrath in the work of Christ on the cross.
When the Bible talks about the follower of Christ being free from trouble, it isn't talking about temporal trouble. Jesus promised his disciples in John 16:33 that "in the world" they will have tribulation. What the Bible is saying is that the Christian will not be ultimately harmed but will be brought safely through all the trials of this world and into Heaven at the last.
The Bible also does not say that "the wicked" (all of us who scorned and rejected Christ) will necessarily lead troubled and unhappy lives on this earth. But the Bible does make clear that the rejector of Christ is '"storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will appear" (Romans 2:5). In this way they are "filled with trouble" and this trouble certainly begins in this temporal life, even though it may not be outwardly apparent.
This is a brief, brief life; begun and then quickly over, and then eternity, and the great settling of all accounts before God. The righteous will suffer no harm in that accounting, because they have placed all their hope for rescue from wrath in the work of Christ on the cross.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Proverbs 9: Two Feasts
Wisdom's feast is set. She has already done it all: slaughtered her beasts, mixed her wine, and set her table. All is prepared and waiting; this is Wisdom's feast, not to be confused with other feasts that are set before men and women. Great care has been taken. Now she has sent out her young women (not to be confused with other young women) to call out from the highest places in town, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" To him who lacks sense she entreats, "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight."
On the same highest places in the same town, a woman named Folly has taken her seat. She also has spread a table. She also is calling out to those who pass by (and her voice is loud, and she is seductive), "Whoever is simple, let him turn aside here!" To him who lacks sense she purrs, "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant!"
The simpleton-- the one passing by, the one just going along straight on his way, hears the two voices entreating him to turn in. One offers bread and wine, life and insight. But to have it, she says, he must leave his ways (ways that he is very attached to, actually...). The other, loud voice offers him, if he will just turn aside from his straight way to see, something a little more enticing, a bit more exciting: Stolen water. Bread eaten in secret. Something is alluring about that. Something compels the simple man to turn in here, to know what this woman is offering: to taste, and to see.
Poor simple man. He didn't understand one very important thing before he turned aside to Folly's feast, and it was this: only the dead are there. Her guests are all in the depths of Sheol (the grave, or Hell). It is a ghastly feast; there were no slaughtered beasts, no mixed wine or even beautifully set table, at all. All on her table was death and corruption, and he found out too late that there was also no escape. Pity this man. He only wanted satisfaction for his desires and his senses-- he only wanted what seemed most natural to him to want. And he got it.
And Wisdom grieves for him, and sends out her young women to the highest places in the town again the next day, and the next, to proclaim her compelling message of life and of escape from death, sin, and folly. She will keep on sending them until there is no more Today, because she knows that a simple young man, here and there, will hear the voice of Wisdom and believe the invitation is true, and see that Life! Life! is only to be found at Her table; and he will turn in, and he will have escaped the grave and Hell forever. And oh, what a feast there will be.
On the same highest places in the same town, a woman named Folly has taken her seat. She also has spread a table. She also is calling out to those who pass by (and her voice is loud, and she is seductive), "Whoever is simple, let him turn aside here!" To him who lacks sense she purrs, "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant!"
The simpleton-- the one passing by, the one just going along straight on his way, hears the two voices entreating him to turn in. One offers bread and wine, life and insight. But to have it, she says, he must leave his ways (ways that he is very attached to, actually...). The other, loud voice offers him, if he will just turn aside from his straight way to see, something a little more enticing, a bit more exciting: Stolen water. Bread eaten in secret. Something is alluring about that. Something compels the simple man to turn in here, to know what this woman is offering: to taste, and to see.
Poor simple man. He didn't understand one very important thing before he turned aside to Folly's feast, and it was this: only the dead are there. Her guests are all in the depths of Sheol (the grave, or Hell). It is a ghastly feast; there were no slaughtered beasts, no mixed wine or even beautifully set table, at all. All on her table was death and corruption, and he found out too late that there was also no escape. Pity this man. He only wanted satisfaction for his desires and his senses-- he only wanted what seemed most natural to him to want. And he got it.
And Wisdom grieves for him, and sends out her young women to the highest places in the town again the next day, and the next, to proclaim her compelling message of life and of escape from death, sin, and folly. She will keep on sending them until there is no more Today, because she knows that a simple young man, here and there, will hear the voice of Wisdom and believe the invitation is true, and see that Life! Life! is only to be found at Her table; and he will turn in, and he will have escaped the grave and Hell forever. And oh, what a feast there will be.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
In Saving Man, God Speaks To Him
Though most followers of Christ appreciate the Bible, referring to it, quoting it and so on, there remains a curious reluctance to really give it the due that it gives itself. The Scripture testifies to its own value in ways that make some uncomfortable. One reason this is true is because of the postmodern time we live in: we've all been influenced by postmodern thinking, and it's hard to shake.
But if we wanted to try to step out of this postmodern mindset and see something more timeless, what would we see the Bible claiming for itself (i.e., what is its "self-witness")? John Frame, a good and dependable teacher, says,
I recommend that article as a very good explanation of what's at stake in understanding the role of Scripture.
But if we wanted to try to step out of this postmodern mindset and see something more timeless, what would we see the Bible claiming for itself (i.e., what is its "self-witness")? John Frame, a good and dependable teacher, says,
"...the Bible... is first and foremost...a book about God, about Christ, about the salvation of man from sin. But that message of salvation includes a message about the Bible. For this salvation requires verbal revelation. In saving man, God speaks to him..." (http://www.frame-poythress.org/scripture-speaks-for-itself/).
I recommend that article as a very good explanation of what's at stake in understanding the role of Scripture.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Having The Teaching Of Kindness On Our Tongues
A verse that occurs to me frequently is from Proverbs 31: "The teaching of kindness is on her tongue" (Proverbs 31:26). How I've so wanted and so often failed to be the one of whom that description is true! Yet I keep reaching for it in the Lord.
I say "in the Lord" because as much as we all love and admire such virtues as kindness, patience, humility and love, we will never attain to them in reality apart from both (1) the Lord Jesus enabling us to have and perform such virtues, and (2) our doing them for his sake and honor and glory. A shorter sentence from the Bible (with commentary): "All our [own] righteousness [our own mere attempt at pleasing God] is like filthy rags [to God]" (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 10:3-4 ). Of course that's true. All of rebellious (i.e., outside of Christ) attempts at true virtue are tainted with self-serving, resentment and pride. God, who is Virtue and who created man to reflect it, is unimpressed by man's attempts as he thinks to by-pass the Creator, yet somehow mimic his virtues. At least that's my way of thinking about it.
Paul talked in Romans 7 about how as Jew, he had inevitably failed at doing the good he wanted to do. Meanwhile he kept doing the things he didn't want to do. No matter how hard he tried to be patient, for example [I imagine], he would inevitably find himself exploding with anger over something trivial. What was the answer to this terrible dilemma?
The answer was in what God has done: what even the Ten Commandments, since they were to be kept by such weak people as Paul and us, could not do. He sent his own Son (Romans 8:1-8) to live and walk around in the flesh like us, except that he would do the good we're unable to do, and he would not do the evil we find impossible to keep away from. Jesus would perform all the righteous requirements of God's Law, perfectly, without sin. Then he would die in our place, and be raised from the dead; and risen, impute his own record of perfect service and righteousness to all who by faith turn from their own efforts and trust in his perfect accomplishment.
Those who trust in this way find that God has not only forgiven their failures to keep his commands, but has given them a new life and principle within that enables them to actually keep them! Imperfectly, yes (it's why we will always need Christ's perfection reckoned to our account), but pleasing to God because of Christ, and because we do it for his sake.
Becoming women who really can have the teaching of kindness on our lips doesn't happen overnight, and none of us will be perfectly kind (not yet). But progress will be made. The sorrows and trials of life will likely be God's tools of discipline that he, in his kindness, will use to make us more like his Son (his ultimate purpose for all those who are his). His Son, being divine, is (among many other things) kind! The daughters of Eve are especially meant to reflect that kindness, especially to those they care for. I'm so thankful for God's provision for this-- he can and will give mothers and daughters who have trusted him the teaching of kindness for their lips. He has given us new hearts, where a new principle of life enables us to do good things for the sake of Christ.
I say "in the Lord" because as much as we all love and admire such virtues as kindness, patience, humility and love, we will never attain to them in reality apart from both (1) the Lord Jesus enabling us to have and perform such virtues, and (2) our doing them for his sake and honor and glory. A shorter sentence from the Bible (with commentary): "All our [own] righteousness [our own mere attempt at pleasing God] is like filthy rags [to God]" (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 10:3-4 ). Of course that's true. All of rebellious (i.e., outside of Christ) attempts at true virtue are tainted with self-serving, resentment and pride. God, who is Virtue and who created man to reflect it, is unimpressed by man's attempts as he thinks to by-pass the Creator, yet somehow mimic his virtues. At least that's my way of thinking about it.
Paul talked in Romans 7 about how as Jew, he had inevitably failed at doing the good he wanted to do. Meanwhile he kept doing the things he didn't want to do. No matter how hard he tried to be patient, for example [I imagine], he would inevitably find himself exploding with anger over something trivial. What was the answer to this terrible dilemma?
The answer was in what God has done: what even the Ten Commandments, since they were to be kept by such weak people as Paul and us, could not do. He sent his own Son (Romans 8:1-8) to live and walk around in the flesh like us, except that he would do the good we're unable to do, and he would not do the evil we find impossible to keep away from. Jesus would perform all the righteous requirements of God's Law, perfectly, without sin. Then he would die in our place, and be raised from the dead; and risen, impute his own record of perfect service and righteousness to all who by faith turn from their own efforts and trust in his perfect accomplishment.
Those who trust in this way find that God has not only forgiven their failures to keep his commands, but has given them a new life and principle within that enables them to actually keep them! Imperfectly, yes (it's why we will always need Christ's perfection reckoned to our account), but pleasing to God because of Christ, and because we do it for his sake.
Becoming women who really can have the teaching of kindness on our lips doesn't happen overnight, and none of us will be perfectly kind (not yet). But progress will be made. The sorrows and trials of life will likely be God's tools of discipline that he, in his kindness, will use to make us more like his Son (his ultimate purpose for all those who are his). His Son, being divine, is (among many other things) kind! The daughters of Eve are especially meant to reflect that kindness, especially to those they care for. I'm so thankful for God's provision for this-- he can and will give mothers and daughters who have trusted him the teaching of kindness for their lips. He has given us new hearts, where a new principle of life enables us to do good things for the sake of Christ.
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