Do Not Lose Heart

“For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life” 2 Corinthians 5:4

In my role as a volunteer driver for the local shire I was transporting a lady to a hospital appointment. She had been employed in the medical profession for a significant portion of her life and had witnessed many people suffer terribly leading up to their bodily death. She commented that she hoped that she would have the right to euthanasia should she ever be in that situation. From the viewpoint of one who believes that there is nothing beyond the grave – that one’s existence ceases altogether at death – this makes logical sense. This is why some people, some quite young, choose suicide. They believe it will end the pain that they believe has no end otherwise. One can only imagine their great disappointment to discover their error and that they have robbed themselves of ever having the opportunity to receive new life in Jesus Christ. Of course that presupposes that someone would share the Gospel with them. We cannot know how many suicides might have been prevented if Christians shared the Gospel.

In the verse above Paul gives us a Christian view of similar situations. Yes, we do groan as our bodies age and feel all kinds of pain. Christians are also often burdened with the same slow and painful deaths that many unbelievers experience. It is necessary that our earthly tent is destroyed so that we can put on the eternal dwelling place (v 1). The how, when and where of our bodily death is God’s sovereign choice – just as was our birth.

The person without hope in Christ just wants to be rid of their pain and suffering; but the person with hope in Christ, while having no desire to cling to this body (v 8), is more focussed on the new resurrected body we shall have when in Christ’s presence. This is why Paul writes, “Not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed.” A little further on Paul writes, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (v 8).

If we only focus on what we want to leave behind, we will not have much in the way of joy. Those latter years of our lives will be a time of sadness, grief and perhaps self-pity. However, if our focus is on Jesus and what lies ahead, we will have joy in the glorious expectation of that day we see Him face to face. Yes, there will still be the groan to be free from our dying body; but our affections and desire will be upon being fully clothed in Christ (5:2).

Just before these words Paul wrote, “We do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (4:16). The perishing of our body Paul writes is a “light affliction but for a moment” and God has a purpose in it (4:17).

The Glory of God

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:1

This is the greatest and most desired miracle of all. It is the only miracle that is permanent into eternity. The forgiveness of sins and the destruction of the sin disposition that we inherited from Adam is the reason for Jesus being born into this world. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).

In the eleventh chapter of John’s Gospel we can read of the restoration of life to Lazarus. Both Martha and Mary, Lazarus’ sisters, knew that Jesus is God incarnate (vv 27, 32) and that He could have healed him before he died. Neither of them, nor Jesus’ disciples, considered that He could restore Lazarus to life after he had died. Their faith was real and genuine but Jesus would stretch and strengthen their faith by revealing more of Himself. Notice that Jesus initiated the whole situation that allowed Mary, Martha and Lazarus to endure suffering and grief in the process.

Jesus had been telling His disciples that He would soon be taken and crucified. This experience with Lazarus being raised would help prepare them for that rapidly approaching day when they would need to accept that Jesus had been raised bodily from death.

We notice in the Gospels that miracles of themselves do not bring about belief in who Jesus is. Upon the resurrection of Lazarus many did believe in Jesus (v 45) but there were also many who did not even though they were well aware of the miracles Jesus had done (v 47). Indeed, it was the miracles that provoked them to want to kill Jesus (v 53). They would also try and kill Lazarus to conceal this miracle (12:10-11).

Lazarus suffered an illness until he died and after Jesus raised him to new life he was hunted in order to kill him again. All this was because Jesus desired to reveal Himself more fully to His friends and disciples. You can check with Lazarus when you see him but I am sure he has no complaint against Jesus.

Jesus came into this world to save sinners and give to them resurrection life. We can read the verse at the head of this article with immeasurable gratitude and praise. But His coming is not about us though we benefit beyond measure. Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (v 40). This whole event was about Jesus revealing the glory of God but only those who believed in Him would see it. Jesus making us alive from bondage to sin and death is so that those who believe may see the glory of God. At Christmas time it is only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who will see the glory of God.

Ancestry Matters

Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” John 3:4

In recent years there has been a lot of interest in ancestry. Online access to data enables us to discover some of our ancestry without even leaving home. There is also a television program dedicated to searching out the ancestry of well known people. There have been surprises one way or the other. All kinds of questions may turn out to have unexpected answers.

One thing is certain and that is that if we are able to trace our ancestry back a hundred or so generations we would discover that we all have Noah and his wife as ancestors. If we follow that back further we discover that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. As descendants of Adam we inherit the curse that his sin brought – death to intimacy with his Creator evidenced by bodily death (Genesis 2:17; 3:17-19). The consequence is that all of Adam’s descendants have inherited a sin nature, no intimacy with our Creator and bodily death.

We are helpless to change our ancestry. That is history and no amount of rewriting will change the fact. People who try to rewrite history by denying our ancestry in Adam and replacing it with a fiction story are only deceiving themselves and fail to understand Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus’ question. Rather than rewriting history we need to have our ancestry actually changed. Hence we have Nicodemus’ question that ordinarily would defy an answer.

When Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again (born from above)” (John 3:3) He was saying that he needed a new ancestry. Not surprisingly Nicodemus realised that this was humanly impossible. On another occasion Jesus said. “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). This is essentially what Jesus was endeavouring to communicate to Nicodemus. What was necessary in order for Nicodemus to enter the Kingdom of God was impossible with men but not with God.

Everyone trying to enter God’s Kingdom by their own effort will fail because he cannot change his ancestry. John made this clear in the early part of his Gospel. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ is the condition that must be met and then God will create us new in Christ. That which is impossible with men God achieves in response to faith in Christ.

By the birth of Jesus into the world and the His death and resurrection He is able to change our ancestry from the first Adam to the last Adam, Himself. In Christ alone we have God as our Father.

The Slain Lamb on the Throne

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; For You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” Revelation 5:9

It may seem strange that a slain Lamb would rule the earth. However, to the one who knows that Lamb it is no mystery. The risen Lamb is the only One worthy to open the scrolls that initiate God’s righteous judgement on the world and then to rule the world.

Mankind judged the Lamb as unworthy of headship and worship and crucified Him. That very act revealed that mankind is unworthy of the Lamb. The Lamb alone is worthy to judge the world and rule it. The Lamb shed His own blood for the sin of all mankind but just as most rejected Him at His first coming most still reject Him now. It is by their rejection of Him that people unwittingly judge themselves as unworthy of Him.

Those who have received the gift of eternal life have already judged themselves as unworthy, accepted the only remedy for sin and received the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23). They trust the risen Lamb for forgiveness and cleansing (John 1:29) and they boast in nothing and no one else (Galatians 6:14). Their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This book is mentioned at least seven times in the book of Revelation. Those whose names are in this book have received eternal life (Revelation 21:27). Only they are washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 1:5).

There are only three references to Jesus being King in Revelation; two of them as King of kings and Lord of lords. There are twenty six references to Him being the Lamb. As typified in Genesis 22 and in the Passover Lamb, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1 John 2:2). This is God’s last revelation to us and the focus is on the cross of Jesus Christ. The obvious invitation is to come to Him for forgiveness and cleansing while we may.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we agree with God that we are sinners and have sinned, declaring our unworthiness to enter His presence, He is justified in forgiving us because Jesus Christ shed His blood for our sin.

It may seem strange to a lost world to have a slain Lamb ruling but to the redeemed He is the only One worthy to do so. “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12). He is the risen Lamb of God for whom we eagerly await. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

The Truth Exchanged for a Lie

“It was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end” Psalm 73:16b-17

The writer of this Psalm noted the prosperity of people who gave no thought to their Creator; the One who gives them life and provides their sustenance in gracious abundance. He observes that they are full of pride and count pride in themselves as a blessing (v 6), they oppress others (v 8) and boast in wickedness and blaspheme against God (v 9). They are at ease in the earthly riches (v 12) that God has provided for them.

The psalmist then asks himself what the advantage was of him living a righteous life in which God has frequently chastised him (v 13) when the ungodly appear to suffer no chastisement (cf. Hebrews 12:5-8).

We live in such a world as the psalmist observed. There are many who deny God’s existence and are proud in themselves for their material success. Such blessings were meant to turn their hearts in thankfulness for God’s grace. Instead they boast that they have done it by their own ability and strength.

Those who walk with the Lord Jesus Christ do suffer at the hands of the ungodly. Many have their earthly lives ended prematurely at the hands of the ungodly. All Christians will suffer some form of persecution and oppression.

The psalmist then records that as he entered the sanctuary and bowed before the Lord praying about these matters, the Lord reminded him of the destiny of the ungodly.

The world is still going blindly on in unbelief and instead of receiving the truth the truth is suppressed. By God’s grace there are still many people turning to the Lord Jesus daily but that is against the tide of ungodliness. We live in an age of people “who [have] exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature [man] rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).

As he waited before the Lord the psalmist realised that those people who have rejected God and refuse to have a change of heart have no expectation other than the wrath of God. He understood that such people are in dire need of mercy and forgiveness and that it was he who was in the most blessed state.

Jesus related an account of a certain rich man and a beggar named Lazarus to give us understanding when we observe these things (Luke 16:19-31). The most necessary thing for people is to hear and believe God’s word. Jesus said, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). At Easter we give special attention to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is another opportunity God has given us to share the truth with family, friends and acquaintances.

Reason for Joy

“We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

For two thousand years Christians have looked forward to this great and glorious day by meeting for worship on the first day of the week. This is the day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead. We worship the Lord Jesus on the first day because we look forward to that day when we will see Jesus face to face in resurrected bodies.

The Law called for a day of rest and worship on the last day of the week but because of Christ Jesus’ substituttionary death on our behalf we are free from the requirements of the Law and the penalty for sin. We now look forward to experiencing all that it means when we are called home to be with the Lord.

This past year has been a trying one for the world. People who do not know or understand God’s word grope around for solutions to the world’s problems but they do not inquire of the Lord through prayer and reading His word. The answers are there but as long as they are rejected and men place higher value on their own wisdom they will remain in darkness and never find the right answers.

Anyone who will choose to turn from sin and put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will receive His forgiveness and be among those mentioned in the passage above. The New Year looks rather bleak for the world but the Bible forewarns us who believe God’s word that this is what we can expect. As tragic as this future is, understanding what God has said about future events will bring comfort, peace and joy to anyone who will trust Jesus.

He promises that “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” and He gives the reason. “This is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:37, 40). Please note the emboldened words: “everyone” who sees and believes has everlasting life and it is Jesus Himself who will raise up all those who have believed – at the appointed time.

Now, this is surely reason for us to look forward to the coming year with hope, joy and expectation. The world is enshrouded in the darkness of ignorance but we who have trusted and come to know the risen Jesus live in the light. “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

Don’t Exhume the Dead

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” Mark 8:34

We do not need to be all that bright to realise that we cannot rise from the dead without first dying. If we are to experience Christ’s resurrection life we must first die to ourselves, be buried, and don’t try and exhume ourselves.

The subtleties of Satan and sin will be working to exhume our old lives so as to deprive us of resurrection life. It is therefore important to continue to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11). To reckon means to count on it as fact because it is factual. This is not brainwashing or self deceit; it is believing what God has revealed as true. Not to believe what He has said is to blaspheme His name by calling Him a liar.

On resurrection Sunday we focus especially on Christ’s resurrection but we must never forget that it was necessary for Him to first die. Similarly, we cannot expect resurrection life in us without our first dying to self.

Luke records Jesus’ description of one who has died to self in Luke 14:25-33.

  1. He loves Jesus more than any other person such that it appears to observers that he hates even his own family
  2. He is loyal to Jesus though it costs him suffering, persecution and all material possessions (i.e. Job)
  3. He clings to Jesus but holds everything else with loose fingers

Jesus is not just talking theology; He is speaking of moment by moment, day by day attitude and application in our relationship with Himself. The question for us is, do we really want Jesus and do we want to come after Him or do we just want only what He gives?

The thieves on the crosses either side of Jesus owned nothing and they had no earthly future. That is what it is to deny ourselves and take up our cross. We become as they were and we say to Jesus as one did, “Remember me.” We have no claim on God for anything but the blood of Jesus shed on that cross. Like the thieves we justly deserve the wrath of God.

If we are to live resurrection life now we must first die to self. Martha made the mistake of thinking that resurrection life was only possible after bodily death (John 11:24) but Jesus corrected her. He is the resurrection and the life. To all who die to self, He lives His resurrection life in and through them now and forevermore. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

It is very easy for us to accept this verse as true but not actually live it. Jesus cannot live His life in and through us if we exhume our own will and ambition. Self must remain buried. Jesus Christ and self cannot both be alive. We sing the following words; let them be true from the heart.

“All of my ambitions, hopes and plans,
I surrender these into your hands”

Called to Liberty

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

The liberty that Christians have been given is freedom from the law and all its requirements. The law was given by God through Moses and is a description of at least some aspects of the Divine Nature. It is also therefore a description of our new nature He has given us which can be expressed now and will be fully expressed in the resurrection. The problem the law brings is that it condemns the one who chooses to live by it. It has no power of enablement to abide by it.

In the latter part of this chapter Paul gives a description of the Christian’s two options. He may be ruled by the lust of flesh and reap the character of verses 19-21 or he may yield to the Holy Spirit and reap the character of the fruit of the Spirit given in verses 22 & 23. Knowing the outcome of each we have the opportunity to choose.

If our lives are characterized by the works of the flesh then we conclude that we are under the power of the lusts of the flesh. On the other hand, if our lives are characterised by the fruit of the Spirit then we can be confident that we are walking in the Spirit. This is the same as being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and being in fellowship with Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3, 7) but viewed by a different ‘window’.

Because we are set free from the curse that the law brings there is the possibility that we will neglect or discard our knowledge of the commands of God. The law is itself good and has its purpose to unbelievers (Galatians 3:19-25) but it is still good and has its purpose for Christians. The law no longer condemns the believer because Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law on our behalf. What good then is the law to Christians?

Like the fruit of the Spirit the law is a revelation of the Divine Nature and is therefore also a description of what we are in Jesus Christ and how we shall be in eternity. Yes, the law is a schoolmaster for unbelievers but it is also a safety instructor for Christians.

As a ship comes into harbour needs markers to keep it safe in deep water so as not to run aground so the law is as markers to keep the Christian safe from shipwreck of his faith. So Paul writes, “do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh” (5:13). So the law is not a curse to Christians but a blessing for it shows us the way of safety and warns of dangers.

Raised to New Life

“Women received their dead raised to life again.” Hebrews 11:35

Hebrews 12:1 says that the readers “are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” We are obviously readers as well and so we have many who witness to us. Of whom was the writer referring?

He is referring to all the men and women of faith mentioned in chapter 11. The word for “testimony” in 11:2 and “witness” in 12:1 are the same and 11:4 specifically says that Abel “still speaks” even though he has died. He is still witnessing through the record of his life in the Bible and through those who follow his example of faith. The same is true of all the people mentioned by name or collectively in that chapter.

There have been a lot of false concepts of what faith is passed around and they give rise to wrong teaching and a false idea of what faith is.

Christian faith is taking God at His word even without any evidence to support it. If we seek evidence beyond His word it means we don’t trust Him. Noah had not seen rain or even a minor flood yet he believed what God said. Christian faith always is expressed in actions that demonstrate that God’s word has been accepted as faithful. Noah built an ark, filled it with living creatures and his family and climbed aboard in spite of the mocking and ridicule of his peers and contemporaries. Without this kind of expression it is doubtful that there is Christian faith at all.

Only a few men and only one woman are mentioned by name in Hebrews 11 although many are referred to collectively. The one woman mentioned is Rahab. Rahab (a gentile) expressed her faith in the God of Israel by risking her life. She hid Israel’s spies; she lied about their whereabouts and saw them safely out of Jericho. That would have made her a traitor punishable by death.

Not only did she risk her life to save them she also risked her life to save her family. In order to save her family she had to reveal her treacherous act to them. If they didn’t believe her and the word of the spies they could have handed her over to the authorities to be put to death.

The writer also says that there were other women who had loved ones raised to life after they had died.

While physical life is very important to us concerning our loved ones, their spiritual life is even more important. If God can raise the physically dead, and He can, then the application is that He can breathe new life into a loved one in our time. Those women of faith that we read about in the Bible are living witnesses still speaking to us today that God can raise the dead.

Such women are with us even to this day. They faithfully pray for their unsaved spouse, child or grandchild until they come to faith and maturity in Jesus Christ.

The Closing Horizon

“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness” Psalm 17:15

There are quite a few men in the Old Testament who indicate, like David in this Psalm, that they believed in resurrection. Since they had no precedent, how did they come to believe what the world considers unbelievable? It can only have come from God Himself.

The author of Hebrews writes of faithful Old Testament people, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For these who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland” (Hebrews 11:13-14). People of faith could see the fulfilled promises of God on the horizon of time. For them it was “afar off” but for us it is ever so much nearer. The prophetic Scriptures build our expectation that the horizon we look to is not so far off.

Our expectation is put in New Testament words by the Apostle John, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

Jesus gave His disciples a look into the immediate future as well as to the horizon when, on the night He was betrayed, as He shared the Passover with His disciples and instituted the Lord’s Supper He said, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). On the eve of His crucifixion Jesus pointed His disciples’ eyes to the horizon of reunion in resurrection in His kingdom.

The Apostle Paul writes that he received instruction direct from the Lord in regard to the Lord’s Supper. It is a time when we refresh our personal intimate relationship with Jesus. Only those who have experienced Christ in their lives can “remember” Him. We cannot remember what we have never experienced. Paul ends by saying that when we share in this Supper we “proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Every time we take the bread and the cup we are testifying that we are looking to the horizon where we see the fulfilment of all the Lord’s covenants and promises. Like Abraham, Job, David, Jonah, Isaiah and Moses we see the ever closing horizon when we shall see Jesus face to face.

Paul affirms, “If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” “If we died with Christ, we believe we that we shall also live with Him” (Romans 6:5, 8).