Grieving…

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:15–23)

Grief can take many forms. The saddest are those that feel it deeply and for the rest of their lives. Everything reminds them of their loss and they feel hopeless and unable to experience joy or purpose. The funerals are sad, if there is one, and the promises of God are not mentioned nor the hope we have in Him.

Most dictionaries define hope as a desire for something, a ‘hope so’ or wish. That is not biblical hope. God promises eternal life, and because of His nature, faith knows that what He offers is true. He proves it by raising raised His Son from the dead.

Yet even before that happened, David knew it would. God puts “eternity in our hearts” as part of the changes that occur through faith, but may not realize that  faith is the answer to the sorrow of grief. David knew he would see his son again, just as I know I will see Jesus — and my parents, and my sister and many more loved ones again. This hope is based on God’s promise and on the resurrection of Jesus. Both are evidence that prove He can and will deliver on His promise:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

Death has been viewed as our enemy and we fight it, as if we never want it to happen, but the Bible views it as seeing Jesus and becoming like Him (1 John 3:1-3). For shame that anyone would see that as a bad thing.

Jesus, every day I pray and often sing my desire to be like You. You make that happen as I see You as You are, not my genie whose only goal is comfort and granting my wishes, but as the King of kings and Lord of lords who has given me the hope of eternal life. My death is not ceasing to live but merely a change of address and moving to a far better place to live than this one.

 

How do I know He is alive?

Very few people have ever asked me why I believe in Jesus, or why I believe He rose from the dead. The devotional writer is a pastor, far more often on the ‘hot seat’ than I am; however, I have thought about this challenge. For me, there are two main answers. One is objective: the Word of God declares it. The other is subjective: what God has done in my life fits with what He promises to do, and almost all of that has been an unexpected surprise.

Piper makes a compelling statement about the Word of God by appealing to the trustworthy characters of those who were with Him when Jesus was on earth. He says:

“I find Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and the writer of Hebrews to be the sort of men I would trust with my life more quickly than a host of secular authorities. And when it comes to making sense out of the world (of guilt and fear and pain), the incarnation, the cross, and the resurrection of Christ go a lot farther than viruses or evolution. . . . The witnesses to Christ in the Bible have won my trust. Christ shines through their word with such compelling authenticity that I have yielded to him. No other way of seeing the world answers as many of my pressing questions as the Christian way.”

This is an appeal to logic. The Bible makes sense out of everything else. Yet there are many who think this is a book invented, even though most have never read it. It is in the reading that gives the second answer for this is what many Christians claim: they didn’t believe until God spoke to their hearts when they tried to prove the Bible is wrong by reading it. It is to this that Piper hints as he goes on…

 “There is a spiritual life God has given to me so that I love him and trust him and hope to be with him more than anything else. In this way we give expression to the reality of…” and then he points to a favorite passage of mine:

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:11–15)

Faith comes to Christians in the person of Jesus Christ. God gives us His Son and His reality is marvelously made known by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is with me. I know His presence just as I know the presence of others who live and are nearby. He is as real yet invisible as anyone that I can see. 

I know I have eternal life because of Jesus, but also because of the changes in my life. I know who He is, I trust Him alone for my salvation, my attitude toward sin and the self-centered rule of my own life has changed from me on the throne to Jesus is Lord. I don’t want to sin; I want to live for Him. This did not happen by my power. Ask anyone about their desire to yield all to the Lord; no one willingly does it until He changes their heart.

Add to this the experience of answered prayer and the evidence of God’s goodness and care for my well-being. He wants me to think and act like Jesus:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28–30)

I cannot boast of any change in me because I must admit how much I’ve fought it. God does it anyway. He tells me to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12–13) He makes it happen, like a hand in a glove. My task is to cooperate.

PRAY: Jesus, even with those reasons, salvation is a mystery to minds darkened by sin. Refusing the basics hides logic, personal testimonies, changed lives. If I insisted on running my own life, You could have simply let me. I’m so glad and so grateful that You persisted and in grace brought me to knowing and loving the truth. I am a sinner saved because Jesus is real and  is alive in me. What a wonder!

Eternal means eternal, forever, always…

When my husband became a Christian, a godly man explained to him how he would now live as a believer. He put a cup on the table right side up and said that God wants us to be filled with His Spirit so He fills us. However, if we sin, we tip over and like this full cup, we are not able to hold that fullness of the Spirit. How true. The Holy Spirit does not cause, initiate or tolerate sin.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)

Then this man explained that the way to become upright again is to confess our sin and ask God to fill us. He tipped the cup back up, then added, “You will go through life like this” and tipped it, stood it upright, tipped it, and kept repeating those actions. He said, “As you mature and become more like Jesus, you will learn to quickly be aware of sin and quickly confess it, and stay upright longer.” In other words, eternal life has its ups and downs, but it is still eternal, forever, life always with Jesus.

This illustration has changed lives. It is true to Scripture and to experience. It is impossible to avoid temptation; everyone experiences it. Learning to recognize it and say no to it is vital. Yet it is also important to learn how to get back in our spiritual groove. Otherwise growth is hindered, even stops. God is faithful to convict and teach His children.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

Like a hand in a glove, the mind of Christ works in my heart to want His will and function accordingly. He saved me from sin’s penalty and enables me to learn the way to be saved from sin’s power.

I once attended a church where a man said he no longer sinned. He claimed that to sin was a disgrace to God’s saving power. But the Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Another person in that congregation told me that she believed in Jesus, but if she decided she didn’t want eternal life with Him, she could back out of being saved. Even as a new Christian, I wondered how eternal life could be lost if it was eternal.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

That life is in Christ who promised to never leave us. How can we lose it if we did nothing to gain it? Those who presume they are saved because they did the ‘right’ thing also presume they can lose it if they do the wrong things. So sad. The loss when we sin is fellowship and the ability to walk in the Spirit, but that is restored as soon as sin is confessed and turned away from.

PRAY: Jesus, I’m so joyful that You are my Savior. Yes, You want obedience, but not that it saves or keeps me, but because Your will is good for me. It also glorifies You when this limp and useless glove allows Your hand to move it. If I’m trying to do anything without You, that work is totally useless. I might boast of my goodness or in the temporary results, but none of what I do when tipped over is good for me in the long run, and brings no glory to You. Besides all that, You keep Your promises and know how to work in me to desire Your will and do what You ask. I’m so glad that You saved me, are saving me, and eternal life lasts for eternity!

The End is the Beginning . . .

 

 

READ Revelation 19–22

Finally, this revealing of the end comes to a close. In some ways, it is not pretty, only for those who love Jesus and hate sin. Chapter 19 begins with Hallelujahs raised — because that “great prostitute” who corrupted the earth is judged and the blood shed because of her immorality is avenged. A great multitude cries out . . .

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. (Revelation 19:6–8)

John saw heaven opened and a white horse whose rider is “called Faithful and True” and “The Word of God” in righteousness judges and makes war along with the armies of heaven following Him on white horses. A sharp sword comes from His mouth (indicating words) that strikes down the nations. Then an angel standing in the sun calls out to the birds “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” (Revelation 19:11–21) This is not the supper I expected!

After that, John saw throne of judges and the souls of martyrs who were resurrected and reigned with Christ. “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4–6)

Then Satan is released from his prison in a final test for the nations and a final war where “fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:7–10)

After that, all who did not make it into the book of life were judged. “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:12–15)

Finally, a new heaven and a new earth appear for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. The holy city came down, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” and a loud said, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This voice said to John, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true . . .It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:1–7)

The angel who brought the seven bowls of plagues took John up to see the Bride, the wife of the Lamb, the holy city Jerusalem, radiant like jewels. It has no temple for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb, and no need of sun or moon for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the Lamb. By that light, the nations will walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. Nothing unclean will ever enter it . . . only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. The water of life flows from God’s throne with the tree of life on each side.

Then the Lord says, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end . . . . I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. And John writes what my own heart wants to shout: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”