As my wonderful wife, Ann Maree, is taking her final breaths, here’s a prayer on her behalf:
“Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. For you have heard my vows, O God; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.”
What’s the best line in the whole Bible? What would you choose? Me? It’s something Jesus told the boys on the night He got arrested: He said,
“… if it were not so, I would have told you…” (John 14:2)
Jesus wasn’t blowing smoke. He wasn’t saying nice things just because they were comforting. He wasn’t going along with wishful thinking or superstition. The things He told were absolutely so; they were accurate descriptions of reality. “If it were not so, I would have told you.”
That’s important to me because, over the years, people have told me a lot of religious things that were not so. They were really true. And I don’t want to be fooled or gullible. You hang around funeral homes and you will hear a lot of things said that may not be so. Comforting? Yes. Nice ideas? Yes. But true? Maybe not. “Oh, Wilma has gone to a far better place.” Maybe that’s true; maybe not. People who say such things don’t necessarily believe them, but they know they help those who grieve.
Jesus knew His family and friends would not only be grieving but also they would be horrified and frightened. He knew platitudes might temporarily help, like a kiss on a cut, but what they really needed was a strong dose of truth. Truth they could lean on. Truth that would hold when they did.
Here’s the rest of what He said:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)
Rooms? Many rooms? What’d He mean by that? There’s no good English word. Bibles used to use the word, mansions, which really gives the wrong idea. The Greek word refers to places in which one makes his or her home, to live there permanently. Dwelling places. He was saying God has many dwelling places where those who “trust Him” (verse 1, above) will continue to live, even after death. With Him.
And, if it were not so, He would have told us.
Lean on that.
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
The reason that makes us smile from deep inside is because we have a knowledge, deep inside, that there is a deep rightness to this kind of peace. The Bible word for rightness is righteousness. I take the “eous” out of that word and it feels more natural: rightness. Yes indeedy, the way things ought to be!
Deep inside each of us there is a place where we yearn for rightness. We yearn for that kind of peace to be spread out across the world. That thirst is there because God put it there. He put it there and He will eventually satisfy it. Here are some excerpts of what He foretold through the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, about the coming Kingdom of Jesus:
“Righteousness [rightness] will be his [The Messiah, Jesus] belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” (Isaiah 11:5-7 with my explanations in brackets)
More remarkable than vegetarian lions and bears, people from all nations, even Israel’s former arch enemies, will come to her Messiah and unite with her in true peace!
Imagine,
“In that day the Root of Jesse [The Messiah, Jesus] will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations [other nations, not just Israel] will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.” (Isaiah 11:10-11)
That might sound like “pie in the sky, by and by” except that Isaiah nailed his prophecies over the several hundred year period before Christ, and those about Jesus, His purpose in coming, His death and resurrection. Isaiah is batting 1000. When he looks into the future, to envision the Kingdom of Jesus, pay attention. Especially as he tells of that deep knowledge, that deep yearning being fulfilled.
“They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9)
The folks will not simply be peaceful, but thankful, too:
” In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”” (Isaiah 12:1-2)
Oh, and by the way… If you look up the word Isaiah used for “salvation” in Hebrew you will discover it is “Yeshua,” the Name of Jesus…
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Admit it: there are times when you wonder if you have arrived on the wrong planet. The world seems to have gone crazy. We don’t belong here. Don’t turn away from that feeling; we really don’t! God makes it clear in His Word: we are temporarily homeless, homeless now but traveling toward our home with Him. You see this throughout the Bible, as He calls His people “sojourners” (King James word), people on a journey. Sojourners may be staying for awhile in a place, but know, ultimately, they are moving on. God called Abraham to sojourn away from his family homeland. The Israeli escaped slaves sojourned in the desert enroute to the Promised Land. And followers of Jesus are called sojourners, too. Our citizenship is not here on Earth but in Heaven. Jesus prayed for His followers, saying,
“…they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” (John 17:14b-16)
Sojourners. That’s why Peter, writing to fellow believers, referred to them as,
“…strangers [literally sojourners] in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,” (1 Peter 1:1b)
When we realize, as the song says, “this world is not my home; I’m just a-passin’ through,” life in this crazy world makes more sense. It is fresher, more invigorating and filled with purpose. Motels don’t feel like home but when you are on a journey, the temporary feel of a motel is no big deal It’s when you get stuck living in a motel, as several friends have been, after their homes were destroyed, that things get weird. It’s as though life stagnates.
When we think of this world as our permanent home, life stagnates and gets weird here, too. Our priorities become twisted. Instead of living by love we fixate on acquiring stuff. When we recognize that this life is but a journey, and make that journey with God, the natural stagnation of this world is cleansed and refreshed by the “living waters” of His Spirit.
Our journey is not aimless. We are heading toward our real and permanent home. The author of Hebrews wrote this about those who knew they were sojourners:
“If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:15-16)
When you know life is a journey, the ups and downs are better, the craziness easier to deal with. And the destination is better, too. As David wrote about his journey, the one that even wound its way through the “valley of the shadow of death,”
“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Has God passed you by? I’ve been enjoying “American Idol” over the past few weeks, but always feel the pain of the contestants who, each week, are informed they were not chosen. They are told, your best wasn’t good enough; go back to the hotel, get your stuff together and go back to your ordinary, humdrum life. Ouch. But the Bible uses that word, chosen, too. Israel is “God’s chosen people.” And Peter calls Christians,
To God’s elect, ….who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, …. 1 Peter 1b & 2a (excerpts)
If God chooses those who become Christians, does so by His own foreknowledge, and if you are not a Christian, does that mean God has passed you over? Has God rejected you? When you also realize that Jesus taught that only those who come to Him by faith are born into the Kingdom of Heaven and attain eternal life, this is no small question. Has God left you out? These other teachings of Jesus may sound to you as though Heaven is for “Members Only” and that it’s up to God who becomes a “member.”
John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am* the way* and the truth* and the life.* No one comes to the Father except through me.*
John 6:44 (NIV) “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,* and I will raise him up at the last day.
But look more carefully at these other teachings of Jesus:
John 6:40 (NIV) For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son* and believes in him shall have eternal life,* and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:45 (NIV) It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’** Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
So which is it: “no one” or “everyone?” Both, really. If you haven’t decided about Jesus but are still reading this, it is likely that God is “drawing you” to Himself. If you sense a desire to “listen to the Father” and “learn from Him” you are likely being drawn by God to come to Jesus. His will is that everyone who believes in Jesus “shall have eternal life.” Everyone. If you are willing, He won’t leave you out.
So who chooses? Is it you or is it God? As hard as it is to wrap our minds around it, the Bible says it is God Who chooses. But it feels as though we choose. The best way for me to illustrate this is with this scenario: Suppose my dog is sick and will die unless he eats a certain life-saving medicine. I wrap the medicine in his favorite peanut butter and put it out where he will find it. He gobbles it down. Who chose?
Bottom line is this: If you sense a desire to be closer to God, He will not leave you out. He will open the way for you to come to Him through Jesus. Follow that desire, take advantage of that open “Way,” and, mysteriously, you will have been “chosen!”
What’s going to happen next in Iran? Who knows? How about in Iraq, Syria or Israel? Who knows about Yemen? Experts and national leaders alike can only guess. News commentators are at a loss. And yet, there is Someone Who knows and He’s proved it.
If the current situation in the Middle East seems complicated, check out the history of that region during the last few centuries BC. The Assyrians and Babylonians conquered the Israelis, lost to the Persians, who then were conquered by the Greeks, whose kingdom broke up and was taken over by the Romans. And the whole, complex, seemingly chaotic series of events was revealed in advance to the prophet, Daniel. Read the 10th and 11th chapters of Daniel. The specificity is amazing! For example, he wrote:
““The king of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power. After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be handed over, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her. “One from her family line will arise to take her place. He will attack the forces of the king of the North and enter his fortress; he will fight against them and be victorious.” (Daniel 11:5-7)
A couple hundred years after Daniel wrote those prophecies, they took place! The “King of the South” was Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his daughter was named Berenice. It all happened! Daniel’s writings were so specifically accurate that some doubt that he could have written them in advance. And yet, there is compelling evidence he did. God proved He knew what would happen.
My point is this: Even in the midst of our current, global, political chaos, God is not surprised or defeated. He knows. He not only knows because He is in control. He also told Daniel about events still in our future. He said:
“… There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” (Daniel 12:1-3)
Jesus reaffirmed the certainty of those promises. Daniel got it right. “Those who are wise” will draw close, through Jesus, to the One Who knows. He knows what will happen in the Middle East. He knows what will happen to you.
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
You have been invited by God. Doesn’t matter what family or faith you have come from. Makes no difference what trouble you have fallen into, or how unworthy you feel. You are invited, which means you cannot buy a ticket or use any good works to bribe your way in. God says, “Y’all come!”
“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. …Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live….” (Isaiah 55:1 & 3a)
Jesus renewed that invitation:
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38)
Notice the lack of fine print. “All you” are invited. “Whoever is thirsty” is on the guest list. Jesus does not say, if you are good enough, or, if you were born into the right family or faith. He does not discriminate between liberal and conservative, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, or any racial lines. He says,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
The invitation is for way more than rest:
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)
And, you are invited. We humans use a four-letter word to exclude one another, the word “them.” God and Jesus use a four-letter word to include us all, the word “come.”
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
“You call this a honeymoon?” Bam! Crash! The paper-thin walls of the “Rest for Less” Motel allowed us to clearly hear the fight in the next room. At 3:00 am! They should have named that place the Restless Motel. I used to like staying in motels, but it quickly got old. Why? They weren’t “home.”
Home smells like coffee at 6:00 am. It sounds like J. J. Cale or Cool Jazz on Pandora. Home is a place of prolonged, easy hugs. Home has a chair that fits my back. My wife’s paintings awaken my memories. The tools in the shop are worn to the shape of my hands. Home is where you get homemade bread. Motels have starched, scratchy sheets, tiny bottles of shampoo and hermetically sealed cups. When I’m in a motel, my heart is yearning for home.
For the guy who wrote Psalm 84, the home he yearns for is God’s place.
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Psalm 84:1-2)
Maybe you had a favorite grandparent whose home felt especially like home to you. That’s the way this psalmist felt about God. It’s not the house so much as the warm embrace. His life, he felt, was a journey to God’s home where, he too, would truly be at home. His mindset of heading home gives him strength through the ups and downs (the cheap motels) of his journey:
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage [the journey home to God]. As they pass through the Valley of Baca [which means the valley of tears], they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” (Psalm 84:5-7 – my explanatory comments)
Because his life is a journey toward home, God’s home, where he can flop down on the couch and kick his shoes off, he has a different attitude toward the occasional “valley of tears.” He knows that those tough places along the way in life are also where the cool, refreshing springs are to be found. Maybe it rains a lot there in the Fall, but it’s those same valleys where the swimming holes can be found. That’s journeying “from strength to strength.” When you are headed home, you can put up with the Rest for Less Motel.
Did you know that Jesus spoke frequently about making your home in Him? He said,
“Remain in me [literally, abide, or make your home in Me}, and I will remain [make My home] in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4 – my explanatory comments)
Let’s head for home…
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
I had occasion, during my former career as a sound engineer for concerts, to hang out with rock and roll bands backstage. One extraordinary incident sticks in my mind but not something you might guess. It had to do with one man’s silent example. The musicians (who you might recognize) were sitting around between sets, relaxing, when the conversation turned ugly. It began with a critical remark about someone they all knew. Then one person after another piled on, and their insults quickly became more vicious. Each new jibe was received with raucous laughter and backslapping. But one guy, the bass player in the band, did not join in. He never said a word, but quietly stood up and walked out. I remember the look of sadness on his face to this day.
I don’t know anything about his beliefs except for what I witnessed that night and on one other occasion when I saw him gently and respectfully refuse an offer by a female fan. But that guy influenced me with his silent example of kindness. I suspect he may have been familiar with these words, written by Jesus’ brother, James:
“Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:11-12)
When kids slander, they call it bullying and it makes headlines. When adults do it, it’s business as usual on Facebook. But God is the only One with enough information and insight to judge. And He, the only Lawgiver, tells us humans, don’t do it. It’s one thing to take exception to what someone else does, but it’s not our place to judge or condemn the person.
By the way, when this talks of “judging the law,” that’s Bible-speak for the attitude that says, “I know better than God what is acceptable in this situation, so I’m going to do it my way.” Not a good policy.
That bass player was one of the stepping stones God laid out for me as I drew close to Jesus. He probably wouldn’t remember what he did. But I do and I’m grateful.
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
When you die, what’s going to happen to you? Most people answer, “I hope I go to Heaven.” If asked why they would, most will say, “I’m a pretty good person; I’ve tried to be good all my life … well, most of my life… there was that one period there when things went a bit haywire, but really, for most of my life I’ve lived by a pretty good standard of right and wrong.” But when Jesus was asked straight out what it would take, asked by a guy who had really worked hard to follow God’s laws, Jesus told him he wasn’t qualified, at least not yet. (Matthew 19:16-22)
In fact, Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a guy like that to get into Heaven. The disciples were bewildered. They were asking, “If that guy doesn’t make the cut, who can?” Same question each of us asks. Will I make it? Have I done enough?
“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”” (Matthew 19:26)
Jesus freaked them out more by saying, many of the people you might think would be at the front of the line to get in to Heaven are going to find themselves at the back of the line. He illustrated the point with a weird parable about a man with a large vineyard going down to “Labor Ready” to hire some guys to work. He went early in the morning and then several more times during the day. But at the end of the day, he paid everyone the same amount, even the ones who had only worked an hour. And they got paid first. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like that.”
Huh? That goes against everything we’ve learned about being rewarded for working hard. The guy who had really been trying to do the right thing, who really wanted to know, “what do I have to do,” wasn’t fit to get in! And Jesus seemed to imply everyone who does make it receives the same reward no matter how much or little they have worked for it. Does that leave you with any questions?
That whole section of Matthew (19:16 – 20:16) is connected. Read through it and you will notice that Jesus invitedthe mantofollow Him, something he was unwilling to do. In the parable, every one of the workers got the same reward, not because they had worked the same amount but because they had eachagreed to go with the landowner. The landowner, Jesus said, gave each of them the same amount because he was “generous.”
Getting into Heaven is not about working for it, but rather agreeing to follow Jesus. It’s about being welcomed in with Jesus by the generosity of The Father. This runs counter to a deep conviction we have. We think, “This doesn’t seem right; there has got to be some workinvolved.”
Quite right. There was some work necessary. Here is the next 3 verses in Matthew:
” Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”” (Matthew 20:17-19)
Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
FRESH BREAD OF LIFE 