God’s answer to our sin

This morning’s ‘read through the Bible’ chapters were about the sin of David with Bathsheba. As a new Christian, I was told that because of David’s wars, he could not build the temple, therefore because I had been divorced and remarried, I could not join the church.

Last year, I was told that David’s relationship with God and his usefulness in the kingdom were diminished after his sin with Bathsheba. This one makes me wonder how much a person has to sin before God writes them off and puts them on a shelf. The older I get, it seems the more I can see (and regret) all those times I did not obey God.

Both dismissals of David seem to have scriptural basis, but both accusations forget something: David may not have flourished in some ways because of sin, but he did get to write most of the Psalms!

Had David been born a few centuries later and after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, would he be fighting the same accusations? I know that many Christians are convinced of things like, “I am useless to God because of the way I’ve lived” or “My sin was too great and the consequences have ruined my life.” If we don’t think it of ourselves, like Job’s comforters, we may think others have sinned and are therefore in trouble with God.

These accusations also forget God’s grace. The Holy Spirit often reminds me of a passage in Revelation that reveals that grace and also where those accusations come from:

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God . . . . (Revelation 12:9–10)

The next two verses give God’s message to those who are being accused:

“ . . . And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:11–12)

His time may be short, but Satan still tells lies. He suggested to Eve that God didn’t really say that (command) and that He didn’t really want the best for her. This liar deceives the whole world with junk that makes us doubt the Bible, and doubt His great love for us. He accuses us before God and we hear those accusations in our minds, sometimes recognizing them, and sometimes feeling they are true and we and other people are ruined.

The victory is in the blood of the Lamb:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

The victory is in the word of our testimony:

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:10)

The victory is in not loving our lives even unto death:

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:25)

The victory is in remembering that Jesus died for my sin so I can live for Him. I am healed from sin’s deadly blows. Every time that I proclaim it, I am strengthened. Every time I deny my fleshy self, the eternal life Jesus gave me wins a victory over the lies of the enemy.

Chambers says that the Cross is God’s superb triumph that shook the foundations of hell. There is nothing more certain in time or eternity than the redemption that took place there. The whole human race — sinners all of us — were given a way to be in a right relationship with God!

When Satan lies and accuses, the answer is Jesus, always Jesus – and the Cross – and His marvelous grace.

I am not a helpless victim!

Esther 8:1–10:3, 3 John 5–15, Psalm 118:17–29

The Old Testament points to Christ and often illustrates facets of the Christian life. Today’s reading blesses me as it again reminds me of how God works. The story is near the climax when Esther goes to King Ahasuerus concerning Haman’s plan to destroy her people.

It makes me think of a different plan, the one Satan has to destroy God’s people even yet. This raises a question: why does God allow his activity? The Bible does not spell out the reasons, yet God does allow it. Instead of changing the way things are, like that ancient king, God simply adds a new plan.

In that culture, the king could not change anything sealed with his ring. Haman used the ring to make and seal the edict to kill the Jews, but the king decided to make a new edict. He told Mordecai (Esther’s uncle) that he could, “Write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked . . . . And he (Mordecai) wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud, saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods, on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.” (Esther 8:8, 10–12) The first edict could not be changed, but this one allowed the Jews to defend themselves.

Even now, the plan of Satan is allowed. He can attack God’s people, yet God has given us the order and the ability to fight back. Satan can be resisted. In Christ, I do not have to be a victim. I am not helpless; he cannot destroy me or anyone who belongs to Jesus Christ.

As for that ancient victory, the Jews celebrated with great joy. They still celebrate it every year: “These days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.” (Esther 9:28)

For me, this celebration is not annual, not even monthly or weekly. It is every day, even moment by moment! God allows the enemy’s attacks, but I can defend myself. I can follow the Lord and obey the instructions He gives, such as, “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.” (3 John 11)

I rejoice that the Lord still calls the shots and makes the rules. “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 118:28–29)

The King’s Ascension is His Victory Parade, and ours

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:19–21)

In our era with men on the moon, space stations, and daily seeing the impossible become possible either real or through special effects, it is not too much of a stretch to envision the Son of God rising up from the earth and disappearing into the clouds. However, imagine the astonishment in those who watched it happen 2000 years ago!

The followers of Jesus Christ needed to see this. “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). He had already told them He would go and that He would come back. Had He walked off into the sunset, they would be looking for Him in the next town or to reappear over the hill. But that was not the way of His departure...

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19) While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:51)

He had at least four reasons for this very visible departure from this world. One of them was to signify that what He said on the Cross was true: “It is finished!”

His work on earth was done and He was not headed off into the hills to pray. Instead, He was going to that better place, sitting to signify His authority, but definitely still at work.

This is the second reason He left the earth. He was finished here, but then began a wider ministry, that of eternal Intercession: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession...” (Hebrews 4:14). He lives forever, praying for His people and being involved in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

The third reason is related to the second. The high priests of old entered the Holy of Holies with the blood of lambs to atone for the sins of the people, repeating this ritual as required. But Jesus ascended so He could enter the eternal temple and presence of God with His own blood, atoning for the sins of His people once for all, and securing our eternal redemption.

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:23–28)

Because Jesus ascended, the work of redemption is finished. Forgiveness is available to all who wait eagerly for His return. He is praying for us all the time!

A fourth reason for this visible ascension is to offer a visible display of His victory. In those days, when a king conquered his enemies, he led a parade with the captives following. The parade entered the city, and the king gave the spoils of war to his people, who then joined him in the parade.

Jesus did the same. He “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15), and then, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (Ephesians 4:8)

The defeated enemy is Satan and his cohorts. The people of the King are those now are called the church. His gifts to us are the spoils of war, and there is no room here to list them here. I can only say that because Jesus ascended, the church is with Him in that incredible victory parade.

The Gospel and Pain

Do repeated images of the bombings in Boston serve any purpose? When 9/11 happened, I watched it too much. I still weep at the painful memories and feel great sadness. Sometimes I must tell myself that this is not about me, or my reaction to events. Often, I wonder if the pain I feel about horror in the lives of others just might be the pain that God feels when humanity does such terrible things to its own.

Jesus died that we might be set free from the pain of our own sin, and so we don’t hate, maim and murder. He died even to help us bear the sin of others who do these things. Yet one day it will be over — no more sin and no more pain for those who are in Christ…

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. (Revelation 21:4)

In the interim, the Gospel remains His answer to pain. For one thing, the fact that Jesus died for me shows that God so loved the world. Only He can hate our sin and yet love us enough to die for us, to give us hope in the face of our pain. The Gospel declares that this life is not all there is, and that the pain of it will come to an end.

Christ Himself does the same thing. He was troubled by death and by sin, but the Scriptures do not say that He shied away from pain, even though He experienced it at its worst.

His power was the sure knowledge that His heavenly Father loved Him. He was more concerned on the cross about Him turning away than He was about the nails in His hands and feet or the suffocating and slow dying that crucifixion produces. Yet in all this, He focused on God’s love and the promised results. Knowing His Father loved Him and would keep His promises meant that He could endure pain.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2)

The Gospel gives me that same promise. There is joy set before me. This life, painful or not, is not all there is. I can endure whatever pain might be my lot because I know what’s coming. God will wipe away all tears and pain will be no more… because of Jesus.

One thing I do…

Those who struggle with attention deficit disorder find that we are either distracted by everything, or so able to concentrate on one thing that we forget to eat. Sometimes the distractions look like multitasking and sometimes the concentration looks like a flaw. 

However, a recent television program explored and did several experiments concerning multitasking. Their conclusion? No one can multitask. That is, anyone who appears to be doing several things at once actually only thinks about one of them at any given moment. This ability to focus is part of how our brains are made.

As someone who struggles with ADD, I realize the power of being able to focus and how that fits with the way God made my brain. While distractions reflect my interest in many things, they also can keep me from doing the important things. I would never get anything done if I followed the whims that constantly run through my head. Life’s biggest struggle has been the discipline of focus.

Paul was a focused Christian. He set his goal and was not distracted.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14)

Some say wholehearted concentration is the secret of a successful life, no matter how you measure success. Today’s devotional writer says “One thing I do — not a dozen things, not even two things, but this one thing I do.” He adds that no life can be very great, or very happy, or very useful without this element of concentration. 

This certainly applies in today’s business world of specialization, consolidation and incorporation. A jack-of-all-trades is rare. Almost everyone is a specialist.

Another example is science where energies are concentrated and realms of study and employment are remarkably specific. We know one biologist whose field is fungus in the soil and a doctor who works with children who have kidney disease. 

As a Christian, my focus is to concentrate on obeying Jesus Christ. He said no one can serve two masters. Now I understand why. Not only does a divided heart spell divided loyalties, it is not the way we are wired. Anyone who steps outside of how they are made winds up frustrated by failures. God made us to be able to focus on one thing. 

Jesus says, “If you would be my disciple, I must come before father or mother or the dearest loved one of your life. I must come before your own business or your own property. I must come before your own life.” This is the priority. In trying to ignore the distractions, it helps me to realize that no one can genuinely multitask anyway. God gave us the ability to concentrate on one thing, and concentration is a prime requirement of a victorious life.