Amen

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” ~ Rev 22:17

Something I have tried to practice more recently in my personal prayers is to incorporate the things that The Bible specifically tells us to pray for.

So, for example, I regularly pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
I also pray (though this is not an instruction but is clearly at the heart of Paul's teaching) that 'All Israel would be saved.'

Both of these things would have sat a little uncomfortably with me five years ago, when my stance on Israel and all things Jewish was considerably different.

Of course I have no problem (and never have had) with Jews getting saved. On the contrary, I have always thought that a marvellous thing. And I have never been anti-Semitic. I love Jewish people and culture. After all, I owe so much of my heritage to it. And my Jesus was Jewish, and, though I am not sure race has any feature in heaven, he is still Jewish.

But my problem was more jealousy. I suppose I felt inferior, and coming from an insecure place that has been an issue. So my problem was never with Jew's but with the kind of Christians that almost have a reverence for Jews themselves, as if they were some kind of super-race.

I said then, and still say now, that what makes the Jews special (apart from being special in all kinds of cultural ways, in which many cultures are special) is that God chose them.

In my last life-group there are a few of these people who are Jewish groupies. And woe betide you if you say anything to criticise Israel.

And my point was, and often is, that Israel can do wrong just as much as any other nation, and still needs to come under God's righteous standard. They don't have some kind of immunity to behave in any way they see fit simply because they are the chosen people.

But I had become so antagonistic to these Christian Zionists that I almost lost sight of God in it.

And a couple of friends challenged me strongly over my attitude. And they bought me back to scripture.

God blesses those who bless Israel.
God is a covenant keeping God, above all things, and he will not break his promise with the Jewish people.
He loves them still.
And so I came tom a new place of humility on this subject. I needed to bow to God and check my attitude.

And further more, to renew my mind. As Bob Dylan put it, change my way of thinking. 'Get myself a different set of rules'.

So Now I pray for Israel most every day.

Why?

Because God want's me to, and I love him.

And with that, my heart has changed.

Now why have I shared all this when talking about the return of Christ?


The instruction is clear.

The Spirit and the Bride say 'Come'.
So this is the cry of God himself and of the church. A yearning for Christ to come.

But do I want that?

Do I really want that?

We are told; 'Let all who hear say 'Come'.  So this is an instruction.

And who are we saying 'Come', to?

To Jesus.

So it is a prayer. A prayer and a command to prayer. 

I have now started to pray for this daily.


Let me be clear. My feelings towards the second coming clearly delineate my attitude to the next world in relation to the current one.

In short, the temptation to me is to love this world and to hold onto it. After all, on the surface level, it is all I have known.

And yet we are told not to love our lives so much as to shrink back from death. I would go as far as to say that this is the key message of Revelation.

No one is suggesting we ought to be suicidal, or long for death, as such. But there is a sense in which we should never be too comfortable here. 

As the old song says;

This world is not my home, I'm just passing thorough.

This, for me, is the same as my former attitude to Christian Zionists, and by default, to Israel, in that it needs to change. Our minds and hearts need to be renewed.

I believe that this is, in large part, why we are instructed to pray for the second coming.

we are promised;  “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.


And Jesus told us back in the sermon on the mount that Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.This prayer checks out where our treasure is, and therefore where our hearts are at too.

Is our treasure here and now in this life?

Or is it the reward that Jesus brings with him? (as If his coming wasn't reward enough).

This is the end of my blogging adventures in Revelation, and next week I will be back with a new series,
So I thought that there was no better way to end this blog than with the words at the end of the Prophecy we have been studying and give the Amen to the prayer we are instructed to pray.

 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Yes, his grace be with us,

This day,
And all days,

Amen
.

 

Coming Soon

⁶ The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

⁷ “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”~ Revelation 22:6-7

Now, there appears to be an elephant in this prophecy.

And given the appearance of dragons and beasts and angels, an elephant seems almost unremarkable.

But the phrase 'an elephant in the room' refers to something huge and unignorable that people are somehow avoiding to mention,  though they obviously all have noticed.

This Elephant is the word 'soon'.

One of my favourite bands, the smiths, have a track called 'How soon is now? '

The question for us is often 'how soon is soon?' 

Jesus lived,  died and rose again over 2000 years ago. This prophecy was written about 70 years after that. 

So how soon is soon? 

There are so many clichés I could use,   to the effect of saying that it is sooner now than it was then. 

And it is quite clear that the apostles and writers of the New Testament really did expect it to be within their lifespan. 

The Jehovahs witnesses actually went out on a limb and gave a date for Jesus return.... 

Which came...

 and went....

....and was reinterpreted to mean some sort of spiritualised version, that he had come and yet somehow we hadn't noticed... 

But he will come again,  again.

I have to confess,  I struggle to really be expectant. I almost take the view that it will almost certainly NOT happen in my lifetime. 

But then I look at the speed of developments in the middle East, and I have to concede,  you just never know. 

You never know. 

And that. Surely is the point. 

When I was a teenager I was often delighted to be left alone in the house. 

My Mum would tell me she was going shopping or something,  and I would deduce that she would be so long or at least this long (however long that was)  or maybe longer. 

How long will you be?  I would ask. 

And her answer was always vague. 

You never know how long. 

And then, once she had gone, I would do all the things in her absence that I could not do in her presence. 

I would smoke out in the garden.  I would help myself to something from the liquor cabinet (usually a sherry) and I would rummage through my parent's bedroom,  hallowed ground that I was not allowed access to under normal circumstances. 

And once in a while, mid sinning, I would hear the unexpected but dreaded noise of tyres on the tarmac of our driveway. And sheer terror would beset me.  Rapidly closing the draw. Locking up the cabinet,  spraying air freshener /deodorant. 

She was back Early!! 

Sometimes it was after a few minute having forgotten her purse.Sometimes me little sister had been whining a lot and she had called it a day earlier than expected. 

But the point is, after being caught out, I knew I had to be ready to cover my tracks quickly. 

Yeah. I was a nightmare. 

I saw a T-shirt once with the slogan at the top, 

'Jesus is coming'

And below it said ;

Look busy. 

I suppose,  and it's almost crass to say it,  God wants to keep us on our toes. Jesus himself said that 'no man knoweth the day or the hour'.

Only the Father. 

But he does hint than it will be unexpected. 

It will also be unmissable. 

Every eye will see him. This will be a truly global event. 

But Revelation gives us prophetic warnings so that although we could almost convince ourselves that's it isn't going to happen,  we see historic and world events are all understood and predicted by God. And nothing is outside his control. 

This is still in hand. 

The verses in question today tells us 'I am coming soon.  Blessed is everyone who keeps the words of this book .

The promise is two fold. Yes it is definitely a warning.

Later in verse 12 he says 'I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. 

Now if Mum had caught me with my hand in hand in the liquor cabinet,  she would have rewarded me according to my works.  It can't help but be a warning. 

But those who are of Christ will not fear that judgement. 

The reward they look for it primarily his presence and favour. 

The reward on offer here is directed primarily at those who have been holding on faithfully in there face of great trouble. Even persecution. 

That is why he says blessed are those thats keep the words of this book. The second purpose of the promise.  To bless us. 

It prepares us. It strengthens us. 

The message is; have a good confession and don't give in,  even in the face of persecution and yes,  even death.

Overcome with the word of your testimony,  the blood of the Lamb and with not loving your life so much as to shrink back from death.  

And there is nothing wrong with being kept on your toes. 

If it was soon then, then how soon is soon now? 

And you will be blessed as you keep these words and hold fast to the faith. Blessed. 

Blessed this day, 

And all days. 

Amen. 

The River Of Life

 Then the angel showed me the riverof the water of life, as clear as crystal,flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.~ Revelation 22:1-2

I don't know whose job it is to give paragraph headings but the one used here in the NIV is Eden Restored.

I suppose that is derived from the Tree of Life being on both sides of the river.

And I suppose that the symbolism us showing that it is accessible,  which ever direction you approach from.

The key to the River is that it flows from the throne.

GOD is it's source.

The vision of the river has it's origins in Ezekiel's own vision (Ez 47) except that in Ezekiel's version the river flows from the temple.

But as we saw in chapter 21 God himself is the temple.

And whereas in Eden there were two different trees, (one of life,  and one of the knowledge of good and evil) here both trees bring life.

Where as the fruit of one of those tree's was responsible (as if the tree itself could bear the responsibility) for the fall of Mankind, and the coming under the curse of the whole world, instead, here the whole world is to be healed by it's leaves.
"No longer will there be any curse." v3

This us truly, truly exciting.

Not a day of your life,  not one single second of your,  or any other human's life in all of history has been lived in a world free from the curse. Not since Eden.

Sure as Christians, in Christ,  we are no longer subject to the curse,  because he became a curse to redeem those living under the curse. 

But we have never lived in a world free from it.

How staggering is it to think that this will end.

Think what the curse bought with it.

Shame.

Sin.

Decay.

Death.

Sorrow.

Pain.

Those aches and pains that are like white noise in my body.  Just background pain that I have become accustomed to.  That tinnitus that I can hear at anytime if I focus on it.  That hunger for food which never goes and is never fully satisfied,  because without it I would die.
That hunger and craving for honour and significance and love which dominates so much of my motives,  conscious and subconscious.

Gone.

I cannot even imagine.

Can you?

And all this healing coming from the tree of life,  and the tree of life,  fed and sustained by the river of life,  and this river flowing from the Throne,  the rule of Jesus Christ over all that was made by him,  through him and for him,  and sitting on the throne,  The lamb of God,  who took away the sin of the world and laid down his life.

He became a curse to redeem those living under the curse.

My son used the name Jesus Christ last week,  in a way he has heard people do in movies and at school.

He was shocked at my reaction, so common place as that kind of use of his name is.

Yes.

Jesus became a curse.

As it was written.  Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

And he hung there. Cursed and being cursed.

Becoming a curse.

To this day he is known as 'the cursed one' amongst Jewish people.

But the day is coming when his name will be honoured.

Blessed Jesus.

And the day is coming when there will no longer be any curse.

Lord,  give us this hope,

This day,
And all days.

Amen.

Treasure of the Nations

 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.~ rev 21:24-26


When I look at this passage, I am brought back to those words spoken early in Genesis, to Abraham. I will make you a great nation, and through you all the peoples of the earth will be blessed.

It's strange that a promise to one individual to make his family great, a promise that leads to us using the term 'Chosen People' when we speak about the Jews, should seem at once to single out one nation for special favour, but actually be about blessing all nations.

I will bless you, God said, and you will be a blessing.

In short, what seems to be exclusive was really a vehicle for the truly inclusive.

Ask of me, it says in the psalms, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance. Jesus was given all the peoples of the world as his inheritance, and we are told many times that the gospel is to be preached in all the world, discipling nations, because God is calling to himself a people from every tribe and tongue.

We see that God has love for all mankind.

I used to struggle with the idea that the Jews were God's chosen people, until a Jewish believer showed me that God had called the Jews to be a light to the gentiles.

God chose the Jewish people to demonstrate to the world His Faithfulness. And through them , and Jesus particularly, he has blessed all people.

Race is not an issue. All peoples can come freely to their God, and in the holy city the doors will never be closed to them.

And because God is a covenant keeping God, as is demonstrated in his faithfulness to Israel, he keeps his promises.

If we look through scripture we see these promises again and again.

 

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
    Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations.^[a]
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Indeed this song of Moses and of the Lamb (From chapter 15) contain references drawn from many places (Psalm 111:2,3; Deut. 32:4; Jer. 10:7; Psalms 86:9; 98:2.)

Isaiah 60 in particular, is fulfilled here in Revelation.

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
² See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
³ Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

 

And again in verse 11;

 

Your gates will always stand open,
    they will never be shut, day or night,
so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations—
    their kings led in triumphal procession.

 

I was listening to a sermon yesterday, by the great preacher Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in which he highlights God's hand over history, which is demonstrated through the scriptures. From the time that it was prophesied that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head until the deliverer actually came took four thousand years. He points out that hundreds of years would pass and people would think that God has forgotten, but then God would do something incredible and it would be obvious again to forgetful, short-lived humanity, that he was still working out his plans and his purposes.

With that in mind he says;

 

"Are you troubled by something that is happening in the world today? Well put it in the context of the old testament. 
I was never worried for a second about a man like Hitler. It was enough for me to read the thirty seventh psalm, and there I read of a man like him, spreading himself like a green Bay tree, like a sort of a colossus striding the whole earth, and I read of a day when a man wanted to go and see him and speak to him..., and couldn't find him. Searched everywhere for him but couldn't find a trace. 
 

He'd vanished!

Why?

GOD had blown upon him. 
 
The old testament is full of that sort of thing."


You see, God has NEVER forgotten a promise. His broad and generous love, extended to all the peoples of the earth will be worked out, in spite of the turmoil we se about us.

Look at the world today, and Israel's position in the middle east. On the 14th of May 1948 the state of Israel was declared after two thousand years of expulsion. Yes 70 years ago, Israel did not exist.

The man who was used to bring this about was the man of whom Dr Lloyd-Jones spoke of. The man Hitler, whose purpose was their extermination.

Don't think because you cannot see what God is doing that he is not at work in the world.

He is loving.

He is faithful.

This day,
And always.

 

 

 

No Need of The Sun

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.~ Revelation 21:23


At first reading I thought, and I cannot say why, that there would be no sun or moon. Now scripture may indicate elsewhere about those things, but here it is not said.

All that is said is that there will be no need of them. That is to say that if they exist in that reality, their function will be different, or perhaps, if not different then unnecessary.

If Unnecessary then  what has superseded them?

Here the new Jerusalem is a picture of Heaven and Earth meeting. And here it is that God will dwell with mankind. God's presence and glory has superseded the sun.

The sun gives life to all things. It is the point towards which plants grow. It warms the blood of reptiles, it sustains survivable temperatures for mammals. It gives nutrition, it's rays even carry vitamins that bring happiness.

It is easy to see why an unenlightened people would worship it.

But the sun is not God.

It is God's creation.

And as his creation it is a fantastic picture of himself.

He is the sustainer of all life.

All things are held in HIS orbit.

In this world we need the sun.

But in the next life our utter dependence will be on him, and we will lack no good thing.


And the moon is very useful. The moon and stars were the primitive man's sat nav,

They provided guidance and direction when all around is darkness.

Another powerful picture of what God is to us.

But then we will never be lost in the dark, His glory will give us light, and Jesus will be our lamp.


Let us, in this life, continue to live under these powerful symbols of God's watchful love in the knowledge that they are a representation of our true dependence on our Creator Father.

He is our light.
He is our warmth.
He sustains and provides.
He guides us when we are in darkness.

But unlike the sun,

He will never fail.

He has no end and no beginning.

And he will keep us,

This day,
And all days.

Returning soon.

No,  not predictions of the second coming garnered from my dalliances in the book of Revelation,  but a statement of my intention to return with my daily devotionals on the 26th of September,  if God wills it.

The break is doing me good,  so I hope it will also,  in some way,  benefit my readers.

Bless you all,

And whatever you do...... Do it with all of your heart,  do it as unto the Lord and do it all in the name of Christ.

Taking a break

I am sorry to say that I will be taking a short break from my daily posts.

Some personal issues have meant that I am under a little too much pressure and finding it increasingly hard to write from a peaceful or honest place.  And the text deserves better than that.

Hopefully I will resume on Monday the 19th of September.  But I may take a further week.  I will post notice of this on the 19th.

Bless you all,  especially my faithful readers. I really do appreciate you looking in on a daily basis.  I consider myself extremely honoured and privileged.
God bless you.

No More Religion

 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.~ Rev 21:22-23

In the verses immediately before this We are shown a vivid picture of the new Jerusalem.  And incorporated into its fabric are the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles,  symbolically showing the seamless connection between the old covenant and the new (though really they are one and the same), the second covenant being symbolic of the grafting of the gentiles into the vine of Israel. In short, this is a Jerusalem for all people's of all nations,  made one in Christ.

There will be no more racial divisions,  no more political divisions and no more religious division either.

In fact,  there will be no religion.

This is depicted in the absence of the temple.

No need for ceremony or sacrifice.

Again we see,  the reality is found in Christ.

You see,  the rites and the images seen in the ceremony are only ways for us to connect to God,  through the veil,  as it were. 

But remember what Jesus says when he shares the last passover with his disciples,  

"I will not drink this again until I drink it with you anew In the kingdom "

You see,  we have communion in his absence. But in his presence we will have the real deal. We will drink with him,  and not to commune through a rite or sacrament .

I am touched by people like Bear Grills who claim that they are not big on religion but commune with God in nature,  in his wildness and power. 

And,  although I love church,  and although our faith is to be worked out in community,  as God reaches us through others and others through us.... And we become part of the divine outreach of his love for humanity... Religion itself is not what it is about. It is this personal,  genuine and intimate connection with the divine,  as he is.

And these ceremonies are just reflections,  and nature can only contain a small part of the power and imagination of our creator.... But a time is coming when the best of all this will be overshadowed by the reality of God's presence with us,  in every moment and we will love and enjoy him forever. 

That day, 

And all days thereafter, 

Amen. 

Hell

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”~ Rev 21:8

It's Monday morning,  so hell seems a fitting topic.
We would have dealt with this on Friday,  but my day didn't quite work out according to plan.

Let face it, hell is not a comfortable subject. It,  above all other doctrines,  raises our worst fears about the afterlife,  about the nature of God and about the validity of our message.

Can you think of any other thing which condemns you more than your lack of zeal in saving other human beings from potentially dwelling in such a place for eternity.

If you want answers, or comfort,  I don't suggest that you continue to read this.
But I will attempt to give you my personal reflection on it,  and lay down the premise that we so often neglect.

I think there is one underlying factor which should dominate our understanding of God and transform the way we relate to him.

He is Holy.

We know it,  we sing about it,  but have we grasped it?  Really grasped it?

I don't think many of us,  including me,  have.
I was taking communion yesterday and this struck me.

In the cross,  mercy and justice meet.

As the psalmist says, 

righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

But I so often focus on the mercy and not the righteous punishment for my sin that Jesus bore.

He saves me from my sin,  and from its consequences.  It's consequences are eternal separation from God, and that,  what ever in looks like,  is hell.

Can I be frank?

We don't tremble enough.

Our dulled understanding causes us at times to act more as though we have been let off a parking fine than forgiven offending the righteous and Holy Judge of all the earth,  than transgressing his love which we are undeserving of,  of abusing his patience and of taking the holy grace he gives us as a licence to treat him like a servant to clean up our sin, than being saved from an external existence in the flames of hell,  with no comfort or joy,  and not even a drop of water to cool our tongues.

Yeah.  We don't tremble enough.

The audacity that humans have to sit in judgement on God,  and declare that his righteous punishment of sin is in someway lacking in morality?

Even the demons understand that they ought to tremble.

Even the demons give God more respect than most humans.

And how shocking is that?

Jesus is our saviour. So what has he supposed to have saved us from?

From hell, From God and for God.

Hell will always seem unjust when we don't understand sin.

When we want to understand sin,  we must look at the holiness of God.

Hell should cause us to worship.

C.S. Lewis says,  there are two kinds of people. Those who say to God, 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says,  'Thy will be done '.

And this is ultimately the truth of hell.
Those who choose it cannot choose God.
They will have their own way.

Why do you think that the first thing on this list of offenses is not murder or idolatry or sexual immorality but rather cowardice and then unbelief.

Because these people do not understand his love.  They fear him too much. Strange then that they get what they expect, ultimately, and miss out on his goodness.

But we are not of those that shrink back,  and are destroyed,  but rather of those that believe,  and are saved.

As for fairness.... I am all too happy to trust God to be fair and righteous.  Who am I to even begin to make that call?

All I know is,

There will be no one in heaven who deserves to be there,
And no one in hell who doesn't.

Holy God of justice, mercy and love,
let us weep at our sin,
Tremble at your holiness,
And rejoice in your love and mercy,

This day,
and all days,
Amen.

Father Heart

 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children~ Rev 21:7

I,  like many children,  have had a tempestuous relationship with my Father over the years. It has not been the easiest of relationships and the transition into adulthood and to negotiating a new way of relating to each other has been at times,  choppy waters. It has been better for many years now.  Better and healthier,  but not perfect.

As a younger man I found it much easier to hold him at fault.

But these days I have a new understanding.

Last night I went for a meal with my Dad and he gave me some advice... Well more of an admonishment.... About a few areas in my life which may require some attention.

It was all in good grace and I know completely that he had good intentions.

But I am particularly vulnerable when it comes to his criticism.

And although his words to me were loving,  and many containing truth, they still unintentionally bruised me.

But this morning,  as I mull over his words I became aware that although much was valid he simply has a different perspective to me.

He is a different entity entirely.

Am I at liberty under biblical teaching,  to question his advice or motives?

Where does honouring your Father become making an idol of his approval?

As you can see,  I am still in the thick of it.

But what helps me to get a better understanding of this relationship is that I am now myself a father.

And I know firstly that Fathers can be weak,  because I am weak.
And I know they can get it wrong,  because I frequently do.

And I know that sometimes good intentions don't cut it.

And I know we need a whole lot of grace,  and maybe something a little more too.  But more about that in a minute.

So hard to work out this tricky bit of becoming your own man/person.

But I should have known my heavenly Father would be on the case.

This morning I looked at my Facebook and saw that on this day,  a few years ago,  I had posted a quote by Floyd McClung ;

He's (God) your real Father, always will be. Dont ever resent the failings of your human parents. They are just kids who grew up and had kids. Rather rejoice in the wonderful love of your Father God.~ Floyd McClung

I think that is the essence of it. 

All earthly fathers are just kids who grew up and had kids.

We, some of us, carry our hurts and misconceptions into adulthood (I am sure all of this applies to mothers too) and our personalities reacting with our particular environment shapes who we become.  Some of it good,  and some of it not so good.

But essentially an adult is a bigger kid. They are still fallible,  they are still working it out.

This,  as influential as it is,  is not the most important parental relationship you will encounter.

God is our perfect heavenly Father,  who is due all our affection and respect, and who loves us perfectly.

We may not always understand this but it is still the truth.

I find this so helpful. And so needed today.

Relationships can be messy.  But God is constant and perfect. We need never doubt his love or motive.

And he is a father who will bring us into our inheritance.

Inheritance was spoken of, last night. But that inheritance requires the death of someone I love dearly.

This inheritance,  for his victorious sons in Christ, is something we can share with him... And indeed we haven't already begun to move into it.

I have also been privileged with my earthly father,  to begin to inherit before his death.

You see,  my father is also my brother.

I have been blessed with a lovely, Godly father who's example in the faith has meant a great deal to me,  and who's very words led me into the kingdom,  stern as they may have been. I have inherited this true wealth already.  

He is not perfect,  but I can honour him.
It is a privilege to be his Son.

I only hope that one day my son's will feel the same about me.

But this perfect Child/Parent relationship with God is what we were made for.

And the day is coming when all the imperfections will be ironed out.

But we can look to him,  always. For love and guidance,  for help and sustainance,  for tenderness and protection,  always,  no matter what our earthly patents are like,  he will not fail,  and nor will his love,

This day,
And all days,
Amen.

Free Drink

To the thirsty I will give water, without cost,  from the Spring of life. ~Rev 21:6

It makes me laugh.  There has never been a better way to get people to a party than to have a free bar. The party in heaven is no exception!  

Jesus has an interesting relationship with alcohol,  and one that I won't explore this morning,  but it is a curiosity that his first miracle was to turn water into enough wine to inebriate a garrison,  at a party where most of the guests would have been likely half-cut already!

But if we don't focus on the drink itself,  we are given such a huge picture of the excessive generosity of God,  who is able to give more than we can ask or imagine.

You can't outgive God.

He is the God of abundance.

And this is what I want to talk about.  God's desire to satisfy the eager.

Remember the sermon on the mount? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they shall be filled.

And it is not to anyone that Jesus gives this water.

No.

It is to the thirsty. 

Are we thirsty today for the water of life?

If nothing excites a crowd of revellers like a free bar,  then nothing underwhelms us like free water.

I grew up believing that no one paid for water.

I didn't see that side of it. 

In my young head,  you just turned on the tap and water came out.  That is all.  It was colourless,  tasteless,  everyday and there was never a shortage of it.
You could say I didn't really appreciate it as I ought to have.

So when I went to stay with a French family on my school's student exchange program at the age of 14,  I was so shocked that all the water they drank was bought and paid for at the shop.

This is partly cultural but at that point mineral water was something I had heard of but never experienced.  We were a bit slow on the uptake here in the UK.  I mean, who would pay for water??  What a joke.

But when you can't trust the water that is available it makes perfect sense.

Water is the most common and the most precious of resources.  Without water we will all die.

Water is life.

And spiritually thinking,  the 'water' most of us survive on is contaminated and unclean. Eventually, It will be the end of us.

Earthly water is only good for earthly life. Everyone who drinks H2O will die.

We need the true water of life,  to live eternally. And Jesus says he will freely give it to whoever desires it.

Wow.

And we do not even need to pay for this clean,  living water,  straight from the source.

Amazing.

The prophet Isaiah says

Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
² Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
³ Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

What a promise. It contains an open invitation to the thirsty.

And you know that as much as we love various flavours of drink,  on a hot and dry day,  nothing satisfies the parched mouth like a long, cool drink of fresh water.

And Jesus makes the water into something more exciting still.  The water of life is the new wine of the Kingdom.

And the bar is open right now.

And it's never closing,

Today,
Or any day.

Amen.

Alpha and Omega

Revelation 21:6

 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. "

Yesterday we focused on the finished work of Christ in its perfection as a complete atonement.  It is the end,  in that there is no more needed afterwards.  It is done.

But today we widen out look at the preeminence of Christ.

He is not only the Omega,  the end, but he is also the beginning,  the Alpha,  the original,  in that from him all things originate.

He is the original Alpha Male.

John says, in the beginning was the word (Jesus) and Paul says that all things were created by him,  for him and through him.

He says that 'in him all things hold together'
And that 'in him we live and move and have our being'.

A biblical christian will understand that it is not possible to have too high a view of Jesus Christ. He he is the Alpha and Omega.

And such is the nature of his eternal completeness and perfection that he is referred to as 'The lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world '.

How mysterious and profound is that?

There is something about the integrity of his perfection and completion that though the event had not yet occurred historically,  in the heart and Character of Christ,  in was already a finished work, a done deal.

And he is the beginning and the end.  Nothing happens outside of his understanding and knowledge,  nor out of his sovereign control.

This is the cosmic Christ.

And though he is alpha,  the cornerstone,  the very foundation,  not only of salvation but of creation too,  he is 'the stone the builder's rejected'. Men and women who should have been building on him have rejected him as a foundation for their lives,  opting instead for foundations of sand and houses of wood and straw.

But this Cornerstone has become the Capstone.  The last stone to be placed on the building. The crowning glory.  The signal of completion. The Omega.

To those who build on this foundation,  he is the perfect rock,  the foundation,  the cornerstone and the capstone of the house that will not fall when the floods come.

He is the master builder too.

You are secure in him.

Whatever befalls.

No power of hell,
No scheme of Man,
Can ever pluck you from his hand.

From beginning to ending,  Jesus work is perfect and all saving.

This day,
And all days,

Amen.

Finished

He said to me: “It is done."~ Rev 21:6

This morning I want us to think about something.

It is common for us to set our selves goals and targets. Things we want to achieve today, this week or even in the next few years.

Sometimes we have lifetime ambitions or the kind of things we would put on a bucket list of things we feel we have (or want) to achieve before we die.

And we can often translate this performance element into our spiritual lives.

There can be a subtle sense of anxiety attached to our walk with God, or our approach to holiness.

Many of us simply want to break out of sin/confess cycles. But the words of Jesus, here in Revelation, of the completion of the age and the finishing of time, echo his words on the Cross from John 19.

 

 

When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!" Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.

These words are well visited,  especially if you are of the evangelical persuasion. I want to reiterate them. 

There is nothing you can do to add to the finished work of the cross. 

The price is paid in full. 

The debt is clear. 

You do not need to earn forgiveness, to come into a relationship with God. 

In Jesus,  all the requirements are met. 

He who knew no sin became sin for us,  that in him we might become the very righteousness of God. 

This is the outrageousness of grace and the beauty of the divine exchange. 

It is not only 'just as if I've never sinned '....

It is also,  by God's grace,  'just as if I have always obeyed'. 

That is the extent to which Jesus work is finished. 

But it is an affront to our pride. 

We often want to earn our value. 

But the transformative power of grace means that understanding we ARE loved helps us act like we are loved. 

Jesus said,  'my yoke is easy and my burden is light'.

It is easy because he has done all the work. 

It is light because it is a pleasure to reciprocate the love that Jesus has shown us,  from grateful and thankful hearts. 

It is done. 

That gives you the freedom to not strive,  but to be still and know that he is God 

This day, 

And all days, 

Amen. 

The Passing of the old Order

There will be no more death’^[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

~Rev 21:4-5

I included verse 5 because it provides context for what I am going to say.

The old order is not simply passing.  It is being renewed.

He is making all things new.

And yet,  it is still passing.

It is not going to be what it was.

What is now is a mere shadow of the things to come. The reality,  in all its blazing glory,  will be revealed and found in Christ,  when he reigns unopposed in the Kingdom of heaven and earth.

Now,  due to the nature of my blogging daily,  I don't have much time for research so please bear with me if I have this slightly wrong,  but I was informed once that our cells are constantly being regenerated. There is apparently not one cell in your body that you were born with.
You are an entirely different entirety,  materially speaking,  in a state of constant flux.

And yet we have memory.  Our very cells have memory.

It is information that seems to remain a constant.

In the same way our body is being renewed,  so the old order will be made new, but it will be different.

When our cells are renewed,  with each passing day we get closer to a time when they will slow down and then eventually life as we know it will cease altogether.

And so this realm will too come to its end and finally cease to be.

But all the good features will be made new,  and even better in the kingdom.

But all of those old features of this realm,  this natural order, that are linked with sin and decay will pass away.

In this order, now;

Death reigns.
Sickness reigns.
Pain is necessary.
Sadness and mourning tinge our entire existence.
Injustice thrives.
Evil prospers.
The poor are enslaved.
Racism flourishes.
War tears apart families and communities.
Children are orphaned.
People are separated from the knowledge of God.

But this order is passing.

And it will have passed.

This day,  we live with the old order,
But then we will have a new regime where justice love and mercy prosper,  and peace reigns,  and it will be this way,

All days,
Forever,
Amen.