Tag: saved

March 3 – Revelation 7 – Full House

A couple of days ago, I said that I thought the Great Tribulation was not going to be some future event that the Church was going to be raptured out of to get to miss. I said I thought the Great Tribulation began shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I gave several reasons why I believe that and I won’t recount those. If you missed that one, you can read it here.

In Revelation 6, we read about the opening of the seals. The sixth seal is opened and it has with it the very same descriptive language used to describe The Day of the Lord throughout the Bible. It is specifically used by Jesus in the Gospels to describe the day when he returns. “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” Revelation6:12–14NIV  We know from the Gospels these signs are just before we are gathered to meet our Lord in the air as he returns to earth.

In Revelation 7, after the Great Tribulation, we also see that “144,000 from all the tribes of Israel” are marked with a seal so that they will not be hurt when God pours out his wrath on the inhabitants of the world.

What impressed me in chapter 7 is the ginormous (yes, a real word, a combination of gigantic and enormous) crowd of people gathered before the throne and before the Lamb. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands… …These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation7:9, 14NIV

In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable that indicates, among other things, that God wants heaven to be full. “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.” Luke14:23NIV  Heaven is going to be a marvelous celebration of God and his creativity. His handiwork in this world, broken and marred by sin, never ceases to amaze us. Heaven is going to be so much more, and God wants heaven full of his children to enjoy it. The parable in Luke seems to indicate God even invites the “riffraff” by sending the servants out into the roads and country lanes.

Revelation 7 shows us a massive, innumerable crowd of people standing before the throne of God and the Lamb, who are there not because they were the “good people,” but because “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” God wants a full house of his children to enjoy eternity with him. He invited all of us riffraff, and because we were unworthy to be in the presence of the Holy God of the universe, he made the way for us to be there by purifying us from all of our unrighteousness in the blood of Jesus Christ!

One day we will be in that ginormous crowd of people standing before the throne and the Lamb praising God for what he, in Jesus Christ, did for us saying, “…Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Revelation5:12NIV

What we can look forward to is, “…they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” Revelation7:15–17NIV

Prayer:

Father, thank you for sending servants out into the roads and country lanes for riffraff like me! Thank you for Jesus Christ, the lamb that was slain to take away my sin. Thank you for the promise of eternal life with you in your new creation! In Jesus name, Amen.

February 20 2023 – Luke 8 – Scattering Seed and Conditioning Soils

I am a beekeeper. I like to give my bees something to make honey from, so I have planted Dutch White Clover seeds occasionally. I don’t have an expensive seed drill or even an aerator so I have hand spread the seed. It is hit or miss. There are lots of factors for clover growth. The soil composition is one. Is it too hard for the seeds to get in and germinate? Does it have too much acidity? Is there too much shade on the lawn? Clover seed is not cheap so I don’t put it out every other week.

In Luke 8, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. He talks about someone going out and sowing seed. Some seed fell beside the road where it is trampled and birds eat it. Some fell on the rocky places where it springs up quickly but withers because it has no root. Others fell in the thorns and is choked out. Still other seed fell in the good soil where it produced “a crop a hundred times as great.”

The seed is the word of God and the different soils are the hearts of the people who hear it. I invite you to read the parable to hear about the hearts of people and how that affects their receptivity to the word of God. However, I want to think about how the seed was scattered. If I were a farmer listening to this parable I would think, who scatters seed on the roadside, the rocky soil, and in thorns? It must be very cheap seed to scatter it in those places.

The way the seed is scattered is often overlooked to talk about the soil conditions, or rather, the conditions of the hearts of people. How shocking to farmers or people who buy seed to think of sowing so broadly that you are casting seed even in places that you have little expectation of harvesting a crop. However, that is exactly how God operates in spreading his word. He makes no distinction in where the word of God is shared. He doesn’t just pour his word on good people, or people who go to church. He scatters his word everywhere, on the good and the bad.

He does this because God is patient and wants all people to be saved. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter3:9NIV

There are ways to condition soils to make them more receptive to the seed sown. We can fertilize, balance the pH, remove thorns, weeds and rocks, and we can till the soil to make it more hospitable to seed sown. We can also, through our living witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, condition the hearts of people. By our genuine love and care for others, we can change the condition of their hearts whereby they are more receptive to the word of God. Heart conditioning doesn’t happen just because we bombard people with the word of God. It happens as we intentionally care for, and love others.

God does not discriminate in who should hear the word of God. The Bible is the most widely translated book in the world. He spreads his word to the good people and the sinners alike. We can help in producing a bountiful harvest to the word by scattering abundantly and broadly, and by conditioning the hearts of all people by loving others as we love ourselves.

Prayer:

Lord thank you for planting your word in my heart and changing my life! Help me to share your word with everyone and help me to genuinely love others so their hearts will be receptive to your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

January 30 2023 – Hebrews 7 – Atonement for Our Sins

I am no expert on Old Testament law, but as I understand the instructions in Leviticus, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest was to go before God and first make sacrifices for his own sins, then make sacrifices for the people. Unless you had a special need to go before God, (and there were lots of special needs… vows, to prove you had been cleansed for a skin issue, etc.) you were okay with God. However, that was a perpetual, year after year event. Every year sacrifices had to be made on the Day of Atonement to remove the sins of the High Priest and the people of Israel.

The concept of resurrection from the dead wasn’t as completely developed in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. The Israelites were having their sins removed on the Day of Atonement so they could be right with God in the here and now without much thought for the afterlife. In the New Testament the reality of resurrection is realized. We understand that sin needs to be atoned for so that we are right with God in the here and now and in the world to come.

In Hebrews 7, Jesus, as our great High Priest is being compared to those priests in the Old Testament sacrificial system. There needed to be many of them because they sacrificed every day, year after year, and eventually they all died out. “The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews7:23–25NASB1995  Because Jesus lives forever, he is able to save forever all who put their faith in him.

The Old Testament sacrificial system, was an imperfect foreshadowing of the perfect that was to come. “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” Hebrews7:26–27NASB1995  Jesus died to do away with, sin “once for all when He offered up Himself.”

Our sins… past, present, and future… have been completely atoned for thanks to our great, High Priest, Jesus our Christ!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your perfect Son to save me from the curse and penalty of sin. Thank you that Jesus’ perfect work of atonement covers all my sin and saves me forever. Help me to share this good news with those still trying to atone for their own sins. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

January 20 – Titus 2 – Godly Training

In Titus 2 the Apostle Paul is giving Titus instructions to pass along to the people Titus serves. There are instructions for older men and women, for younger men and women, even for slaves as they serve their masters.

The Apostle Paul says that the grace of God is “training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Titus2:12-13NRSV

Those verses say several things to me. First, God is training us. It isn’t something that we get instantly when we get saved. It is something that takes a long time, possibly a lifetime. Second, we are all called to live lives “that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.” Lastly, we are all waiting for our blessed hope to appear, “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

We know who we are called to be. God is training us continually to be who we are called to be. We know that there is a day when all of our struggles will be over… the day when our Lord is revealed!

Prayer:

God, thank you for the grace you brought to us all through Jesus Christ. Thank you for training us to be who you are calling us to be. Thank you for the blessed hope we have in the return of Jesus Christ! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

January 19 2023 – Matthew 20 – The First Shall be Last

I was visited by some missionaries for another denomination when I was in college. I had some studying to do and didn’t want to go through the team changing campaign, so I did what the woman at the well did with Jesus. I tried to start an argument. I knew through some stuff the Southern Baptists published (so you could convert other faiths to Southern Baptist) that this particular denomination doesn’t believe in death bed conversions. The two missionaries at my door started their program and I started mine. “Do you believe in death bed conversions” I asked. That was enough to throw the whole spiel off. I asked for some of their books to compare to what I believed. They said they would come back, but they never did.

In Matthew 20 Jesus tells a parable in which he compares the kingdom of heaven to workers hired to work in a man’s vineyard. The owner of the vineyard goes out to get workers. He goes at different times of the day… in the morning, at noon, and at 3 pm. Each time he found workers and agreed with them to pay them a day’s wage for their work in his vineyard. At the end of the day when it was time to pay the workers, the owner started with the workers hired last. They got paid a day’s wage and that amount was given to everyone all the way down to the workers who started in the morning. Understandably, the early workers felt cheated and that they deserved more.

“But he [the vineyard owner] answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew20:13–16NIV

God offers us all eternal life through Jesus Christ. Some of us have come to Christ when we were children and lived our whole lives for him. Others came later and lived half their lives for him. Still others, at the end of their lives, maybe even on their deathbeds, came to a saving knowledge of God’s grace in Christ.

Eternal life is God’s to give. He gives it to all who call on the name of Jesus for salvation. If we came early we are not more saved. If they came later, they are not less saved. The “last will be first, and the first will be last,” but thanks be to God through the grace given to us in Jesus Christ, we will all be saved!

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for eternal life in Jesus Christ! Amen.

January 17 2023 – 2 Timothy 2 – Enduring With Christ

In college, a Greek professor made a shocking statement that sent me to my Bible to prove him wrong. I had my faith challenged. It is a good thing to have our faith challenged, if we dig into God’s word and examine what we believe. As a result, we may change what we believe to more accurately reflect what the Bible teaches, or we may confirm what we already believed. Either way, the process is good for us.

My faith challenge began with the belief in a pre-tribulation rapture. I have since come to embrace the historical view of the church on the second coming. I am looking for Christ to literally come in the clouds. You can read more about that in my devotion Rapture or Day of the Lord.

In studying about the rapture, I was also challenged in what I believed about once saved always saved (OSAS). I kept running into scriptures that caused me to question it. If we were always saved once we embraced the grace offered to us by God in Christ, why did Jesus warn us not to deny him before men. In his predictions about the Day of the Lord, Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew10:32–33NIV

In 2 Timothy 2, the Apostle Paul gives Timothy a similar warning that must have been in common use in the church. He says, “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” 2 Timothy2:11-13NIV There are other places in the New Testament that call OSAS into question as well.

Someone is already thinking of “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John10:28NIV Others may be remembering, “…When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians1:13–14NIV  I agree with them and those verses. As far as it depends on God, we are secure. However, the verses in 2 Timothy 2 that Paul said was a trustworthy saying, indicate we have a choice in the matter even after we have received the grace of God offered in Jesus Christ.

“If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” We embrace the grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ. We identify ourselves with the atoning work of Christ on the cross and in the resurrection so we will live with him. If we endure, we will reign with him. However, if we decide to disown Christ, he will disown us. That is a pretty serious warning.

I want to point out that it isn’t backsliding. I believe the last part of that saying addresses the backsliders. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” The Holy Spirit is living in us when we come to faith. We may not listen to him, we may not live up to who we are called to be but God is faithful. Because his Holy Spirit lives in us, he will not deny himself.

The disowning that I believe is so dangerous is a disowning Christ, perhaps in some sort of ritual, before other people. Most of us shudder to even think of it. However, there are some who become hardened by sin, who could actually get to that point and trade the presence of God and the eternal for something temporary in this life. That is why unrepentant sin is dangerous. The longer we refuse to repent, the harder our hearts become against God. We could get to the point where we don’t hear the Holy Spirit warning us of the peril to our own souls and disown Christ.

Hopefully, we never get to that point. God is working through his abiding Holy Spirit to keep us close. We need to listen and obey and we will continue to grow in the love of God!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank you for paying the price for my sins and bringing me into your love. Help me to never cherish sin so that I keep my heart open to you. Amen.