Those who are wise shall shine...
"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." - Daniel 12:1-3 ESV
'Those who turn many' is one word in Hebrew. It is 'rab' (Strong's H7227) and as an adjective, it means many, abounding in or 'more numerous than.' but it can also be used as a noun and as a noun it means Captain or leader.
Here is a different translation...
"And those teaching do shine as the brightness of the expanse, and those justifying the multitude as stars to the age and for ever." - Daniel 12:3 YLT
In other words... We provide leadership in presenting divine viewpoint and many turn to God. The term 'soul winner' sounds antiquated or religious to some but it is a good fit for what Daniel is proclaiming here. A person who has made it their mission to provide leadership in seeing many people turn to God and His righteousness. It isn't a person who pounds people over the head about their sin. It is the person who points to the graveyard and says, 'All those people are going to stand before God. Some will 'wake' to everlasting life and others to shame and everlasting contempt. Believe in Jesus, the righteous One, and you won't be ashamed.'
This isn't about a natural leadership gift. This brightness will be determined by a decision to live a life that gives others exposure to divine viewpoint. Anyone can shine. Shy people and outgoing ones... quiet and loud... intellectual and plain speaking people. We provide leadership through imparting wisdom and God does the turning.
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Showing posts with label Eternity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eternity. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Now Meets Later
"Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off." - Proverbs 23:18 ESV
Sometimes 'now' is awesome. Sometimes it is lonely. Sometimes there is pain.
Later can be forgotten or focused on so intently that now is forgotten or minimized.
God links now and later. God lives in both places and we can have hope in both places at the same time and that is amazing.
"And he said to me, "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." - Revelation 21:6 ESV
Eternal life isn't just 'not dying'. It is living now and later at the same time because of hope.
Now may not be much fun. It may make it seem like later won't be either but that is a self-perpetuating illusion. In time the two never really meet and mix.
In eternity they will mix and hope will not be needed. Hell's pain will be perpetual and Heaven's joy will be unending.
I look forward to meeting Jesus in my moments today. That may sound corny but it is true. It is like meeting my best friend who has come home from war. He brings my future joy into my present life and that means the day has a kind of bright unpredictability to it. Mine does at least.
I hope yours does also. He Is the same Jesus. If you know Him (or get to know Him) the same hope that enabled the martyrs to face death with expectation can be yours no matter what your 'now' looks like.
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Sometimes 'now' is awesome. Sometimes it is lonely. Sometimes there is pain.
Later can be forgotten or focused on so intently that now is forgotten or minimized.
God links now and later. God lives in both places and we can have hope in both places at the same time and that is amazing.
"And he said to me, "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." - Revelation 21:6 ESV
Eternal life isn't just 'not dying'. It is living now and later at the same time because of hope.
Now may not be much fun. It may make it seem like later won't be either but that is a self-perpetuating illusion. In time the two never really meet and mix.
In eternity they will mix and hope will not be needed. Hell's pain will be perpetual and Heaven's joy will be unending.
I look forward to meeting Jesus in my moments today. That may sound corny but it is true. It is like meeting my best friend who has come home from war. He brings my future joy into my present life and that means the day has a kind of bright unpredictability to it. Mine does at least.
I hope yours does also. He Is the same Jesus. If you know Him (or get to know Him) the same hope that enabled the martyrs to face death with expectation can be yours no matter what your 'now' looks like.
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Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Water On Mars' Hill
Water on Mars? Not surprising. Nor does the method NASA used sound very conclusive either.
"So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.' " - Acts 17:22-31 ESV
I see NASA as a great example of man 'feeling their way' towards God. The Greek word used there is pselaphao (Strong's G5584) and it means to grope or look with your hands for something.
Man tries to put God in a box but it is God who has limited us in our place and time but He did not limit us to keep us limited. Just as we are wise not to limit Him we can truly move and have our being in Him.
Here Paul is speaking to Greek philosophers and people who had gathered from other people groups. It was a place where ideas were presented before people who were curious. Many of them had a type of 'wisdom lust.' You know those people just as I do. They crave news and new ideas all the time but that knowledge does not seem to change them very much. They have become immune to it.
Paul's Spirit inspired approach is good for them and for us. Maybe we think more knowledge will save us. We grope along the terrain of ideas looking for something lost or a switch that will illuminate the room but all the while God is very near. God understands our groping and actually has designated a time for it in His plan but now it is time to repent (turn to Him) because there is One who was raised from the dead. There is One who has ventured into the greatest unknown terrain and returned with a message.
Perhaps there is water on Mars. Maybe it is some low gravity multicolored sand sculpture. I'm sure man will continue to grope for answers as long as we have the resources and means to do it.
Those of us who have found Jesus because He looked for us first have also found a light switch for the dark places. He becomes our spiritual illumination.
God isn't far away and beyond our imagination. He is here in the room. The room is in Him. Knowing that we can begin to converse with Him. He has things to say if we will pour out our hearts and listen.
--
"So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.' " - Acts 17:22-31 ESV
I see NASA as a great example of man 'feeling their way' towards God. The Greek word used there is pselaphao (Strong's G5584) and it means to grope or look with your hands for something.
Man tries to put God in a box but it is God who has limited us in our place and time but He did not limit us to keep us limited. Just as we are wise not to limit Him we can truly move and have our being in Him.
Here Paul is speaking to Greek philosophers and people who had gathered from other people groups. It was a place where ideas were presented before people who were curious. Many of them had a type of 'wisdom lust.' You know those people just as I do. They crave news and new ideas all the time but that knowledge does not seem to change them very much. They have become immune to it.
Paul's Spirit inspired approach is good for them and for us. Maybe we think more knowledge will save us. We grope along the terrain of ideas looking for something lost or a switch that will illuminate the room but all the while God is very near. God understands our groping and actually has designated a time for it in His plan but now it is time to repent (turn to Him) because there is One who was raised from the dead. There is One who has ventured into the greatest unknown terrain and returned with a message.
Perhaps there is water on Mars. Maybe it is some low gravity multicolored sand sculpture. I'm sure man will continue to grope for answers as long as we have the resources and means to do it.
Those of us who have found Jesus because He looked for us first have also found a light switch for the dark places. He becomes our spiritual illumination.
God isn't far away and beyond our imagination. He is here in the room. The room is in Him. Knowing that we can begin to converse with Him. He has things to say if we will pour out our hearts and listen.
--
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Seeing What Will Be
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." - Hebrews 11:1-3 ESV
Then there is this chapter long list of people starting with Abel, Enoch and Noah stretching through the Hebrew scripture who believed God.
"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. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." - Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV
The Bible says that we are surrounded in such a matter-of-fact way. Are we surrounded by all these people like athletes in a competition are surrounded by the crowd?
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." - Colossians 3:1 ESV
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," - Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV
It is our perception that is going to keep us from getting weary or fainthearted. We must see the invisible. Fairy tales do keep people from getting discouraged but God wants us to be bolstered up by what is real and not fiction.
The world isn't just fire, stone, water and gravity. The World was made by words. Can you see them is Genesis? 'Let there be ____ .' and it happened because God said it.
Can you see the people? Can you see Abel and Enoch and Noah? We are sitting with them... or we will be. They will be like a cloud around us. I'm sure there will be that moment of recognition when the scripture is realized in our mind.
This cloud of witnesses is not just a concept to keep us from getting worn out. It is prophetic. It will happen.
"During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel - and God knew." - Exodus 2:23-25 ESV
Every time God helped Israel he was thinking of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and countless others.
Let's lay aside sin like it is something tangible and run the race that is set before us. It is a faith race. People will not know why you and I are going forward. They don't see the creation words. They don't believe in the cloud of witnesses. Jesus is not real them.
Our faith has power because it is based on someone real but unseen. It is based on someone who Is remembering His commitments.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." - Jeremiah 29:11-14 ESV
--
Then there is this chapter long list of people starting with Abel, Enoch and Noah stretching through the Hebrew scripture who believed God.
"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. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." - Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV
The Bible says that we are surrounded in such a matter-of-fact way. Are we surrounded by all these people like athletes in a competition are surrounded by the crowd?
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." - Colossians 3:1 ESV
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," - Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV
It is our perception that is going to keep us from getting weary or fainthearted. We must see the invisible. Fairy tales do keep people from getting discouraged but God wants us to be bolstered up by what is real and not fiction.
The world isn't just fire, stone, water and gravity. The World was made by words. Can you see them is Genesis? 'Let there be ____ .' and it happened because God said it.
Can you see the people? Can you see Abel and Enoch and Noah? We are sitting with them... or we will be. They will be like a cloud around us. I'm sure there will be that moment of recognition when the scripture is realized in our mind.
This cloud of witnesses is not just a concept to keep us from getting worn out. It is prophetic. It will happen.
"During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel - and God knew." - Exodus 2:23-25 ESV
Every time God helped Israel he was thinking of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and countless others.
Let's lay aside sin like it is something tangible and run the race that is set before us. It is a faith race. People will not know why you and I are going forward. They don't see the creation words. They don't believe in the cloud of witnesses. Jesus is not real them.
Our faith has power because it is based on someone real but unseen. It is based on someone who Is remembering His commitments.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." - Jeremiah 29:11-14 ESV
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Thursday, August 20, 2015
Extra Stones
"You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared." - Ezekiel 28:13 ESV
"You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it - of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth. You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree." - Exodus 28:15-20 ESV
It is interesting that the stones in the Eden of God match the the stones in the high priest's breast plate but instead of nine stone there are twelve... an extra row of three sandwiched in.
"and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;" - Exodus 28:19 ESV
Heaven's pre-creation covering was magnificent but humanity living in time and space has added a new dimension to cover.
Maybe we think of Heaven as having more then Earth... more light... more colors... perfection of display. No doubt the time before time was wonderful but God has added a row for us. It isn't a row on the end. It is a row sandwiched in the middle but off center.
There are also nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians chapter five...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." - Galatians 5:22-23a ESV
I was thinking yesterday how they all can be counterfeited somehow by something else. They have a match in our Earthly existence. People can be nice but not love. We can live in denial instead of true peace. All of the nine things have a match but there is something extra given to us as a covering.
God coming to Earth as a man is that extra row. Grace is in the mix of that extra row. Grace and mercy were not on display in the Eden of God. Man's faults put grace and mercy on display.
Different theologians describe the different qualities of the stones and make parallels but this morning I just see something extra and marvel that God would use us to put something extra on display.
The nine are great but I want to live in the twelve.
There a glory God wants to reveal.
"... the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." - Colossians 1:27b ESV
--
"You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it - of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth. You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree." - Exodus 28:15-20 ESV
It is interesting that the stones in the Eden of God match the the stones in the high priest's breast plate but instead of nine stone there are twelve... an extra row of three sandwiched in.
"and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;" - Exodus 28:19 ESV
Heaven's pre-creation covering was magnificent but humanity living in time and space has added a new dimension to cover.
Maybe we think of Heaven as having more then Earth... more light... more colors... perfection of display. No doubt the time before time was wonderful but God has added a row for us. It isn't a row on the end. It is a row sandwiched in the middle but off center.
There are also nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians chapter five...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." - Galatians 5:22-23a ESV
I was thinking yesterday how they all can be counterfeited somehow by something else. They have a match in our Earthly existence. People can be nice but not love. We can live in denial instead of true peace. All of the nine things have a match but there is something extra given to us as a covering.
God coming to Earth as a man is that extra row. Grace is in the mix of that extra row. Grace and mercy were not on display in the Eden of God. Man's faults put grace and mercy on display.
Different theologians describe the different qualities of the stones and make parallels but this morning I just see something extra and marvel that God would use us to put something extra on display.
The nine are great but I want to live in the twelve.
There a glory God wants to reveal.
"... the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." - Colossians 1:27b ESV
--
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Rise And Shine
"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." - Daniel 12:1-3 ESV
Are we numbered among the wise of our generation? We can be. God talks about two things. The wise will be like the brightness of the expanse (Raqiya - Strong's H7549 - translated firmament in the KJV) and then those who turn people to righteousness will be like stars in that expanse.
I'm not sure of the roots of the phrase, 'Rise and shine!' but this passage seems to speak that way. There is going to be a group of people who wake up on the wrong side of the bed but there will be others that are like blue sky during the day and clear open Heavens at night because they connected with people in grace. They shared. It wasn't personality. It was prayer and wisdom. It was love. God used them to 'turn heads' because they spoke of a beauty from eternity past that became the subject of their conversation. They had a story that stretched from horizon to horizon.
I don't always feel like sharing my faith. Some days I just want to put in my eight hours of work and then go eat a sandwich.
One day we are all going to 'wake up' and find out first hand the result of how we lived our lives. It won't be about God patting us on the back or wagging His finger. There will be a ceremony in Heaven because God does everything decently and in order but It will be a wattage issue. The light of God will either be streaming from our hands and person or it won't be. We will look at people and know something right off the bat about how they lived their lives because of the brightness. At that point our decisions about this life will be over. There is a limited window of opportunity and the choices are ours to make regardless of circumstances.
If we know this truth we can be awake in the moment. Priorities come into focus. The sandwich doesn't seem as important. The people waiting in line become important.
Let's shine together.
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." - Luke 6:45 ESV
Let's share the gift of God that gives the gift of righteousness. Let's be ready to talk about Jesus. Our feelings will line up behind our will if we exercise our will in alignment with truth.
--
Are we numbered among the wise of our generation? We can be. God talks about two things. The wise will be like the brightness of the expanse (Raqiya - Strong's H7549 - translated firmament in the KJV) and then those who turn people to righteousness will be like stars in that expanse.
I'm not sure of the roots of the phrase, 'Rise and shine!' but this passage seems to speak that way. There is going to be a group of people who wake up on the wrong side of the bed but there will be others that are like blue sky during the day and clear open Heavens at night because they connected with people in grace. They shared. It wasn't personality. It was prayer and wisdom. It was love. God used them to 'turn heads' because they spoke of a beauty from eternity past that became the subject of their conversation. They had a story that stretched from horizon to horizon.
I don't always feel like sharing my faith. Some days I just want to put in my eight hours of work and then go eat a sandwich.
One day we are all going to 'wake up' and find out first hand the result of how we lived our lives. It won't be about God patting us on the back or wagging His finger. There will be a ceremony in Heaven because God does everything decently and in order but It will be a wattage issue. The light of God will either be streaming from our hands and person or it won't be. We will look at people and know something right off the bat about how they lived their lives because of the brightness. At that point our decisions about this life will be over. There is a limited window of opportunity and the choices are ours to make regardless of circumstances.
If we know this truth we can be awake in the moment. Priorities come into focus. The sandwich doesn't seem as important. The people waiting in line become important.
Let's shine together.
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." - Luke 6:45 ESV
Let's share the gift of God that gives the gift of righteousness. Let's be ready to talk about Jesus. Our feelings will line up behind our will if we exercise our will in alignment with truth.
--
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
It Is Finished - Part 8
Psalm 119 is such a rich Psalm. If you read it straight from beginning to end it seems to get repetitive but each section is broken out by a specific Hebrew letter. Each letter is associated with words or concepts beginning with that letter.
This particular section relates strongly to our topic... 'The Finished Work of Christ':
"LAMED
Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.
The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad." Psalms 119:89-96 ESV
God's word is forever settled in Heaven. It remains vigilant and ready there in it's correct place forever. God's faithfulness also stands and is expressed in every generation.
What Christ has done covers all of humanity. Our perception of what Christ has done has a preserving power on our mind. God does the keeping. The precepts of God become building blocks for our thinks but they are all nestled under the covering of the big picture.
The last verse is especially telling. Here is a breakdown of the Hebrew.
"I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad." Psalms 119:96 KJV
Seen - Ra'ah (Strong's H7200) - To observe, watch or perceive
End - Qets (H7093) - Cut off point
All Perfection - Tiklah (H8502) - Perfect completion or fulfillment, to be consumed fully as by fire
Commandment - mitsvah (H4687) - Blessed participation
Exceeding - Me'od (H3966) - much, many, abundant force
Broad - Rachab (H7342) - Wide, like the freedom of an open field
If we have consciously observed the work of the cross then we have seen the end of perfection. Sin has been utterly consumed as if by fire and open before us is a broad place of freedom.
The letter LAMED is linked to learning or instruction and the fullness of a people group. God clearly links teaching and understanding to the eternal nature of His word and the finished state of His work. Holy ideas are always resting on the immovable, everlasting and complete. These are not theories they are finished facts.
Hope can't be a theory. Theories have room for doubt. Hope must be based on something proven.
The cross has given us something proven and lasting. We have seen the end of all perfection.
This particular section relates strongly to our topic... 'The Finished Work of Christ':
"LAMED
Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.
The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad." Psalms 119:89-96 ESV
God's word is forever settled in Heaven. It remains vigilant and ready there in it's correct place forever. God's faithfulness also stands and is expressed in every generation.
What Christ has done covers all of humanity. Our perception of what Christ has done has a preserving power on our mind. God does the keeping. The precepts of God become building blocks for our thinks but they are all nestled under the covering of the big picture.
The last verse is especially telling. Here is a breakdown of the Hebrew.
"I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad." Psalms 119:96 KJV
Seen - Ra'ah (Strong's H7200) - To observe, watch or perceive
End - Qets (H7093) - Cut off point
All Perfection - Tiklah (H8502) - Perfect completion or fulfillment, to be consumed fully as by fire
Commandment - mitsvah (H4687) - Blessed participation
Exceeding - Me'od (H3966) - much, many, abundant force
Broad - Rachab (H7342) - Wide, like the freedom of an open field
If we have consciously observed the work of the cross then we have seen the end of perfection. Sin has been utterly consumed as if by fire and open before us is a broad place of freedom.
The letter LAMED is linked to learning or instruction and the fullness of a people group. God clearly links teaching and understanding to the eternal nature of His word and the finished state of His work. Holy ideas are always resting on the immovable, everlasting and complete. These are not theories they are finished facts.
Hope can't be a theory. Theories have room for doubt. Hope must be based on something proven.
The cross has given us something proven and lasting. We have seen the end of all perfection.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Wash Away the Temporary
"But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.' " Hebrews 1:8 ESV
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17 ESV
God is eternal. He lives is outside of the 'cause and effect' system He created. His Glory is ever undimmed. That will never and can never change.
"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being' " Acts 17:24-28a ESV
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates." Revelation 22:13-14 ESV
Each person's choices have consequences inside this system. Some people are celebrated in their generation and others live relatively small lives and are remembered by a few people for a generation... or two.
Which one of us can say they know much about their great grand father or their great grandfathers next door neighbors? Who knows what he thought on a certain day? What he ate? What he was afraid of? Such thinks are lost in time.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18 KJV
Our 'reasonings' with God are never lost. They are with Him outside the system. Such communication exists in another realm. This washing washes away sin sure but it also washes away the temporary and replaces it with the eternal.
"Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?" Psalms 56:8 KJV
"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:20 KJV
"As unknown, and yet well known" 2 Corinthians 6:9a KJV
Jesus has become our place of agreement. A man who walked in the temporary but lives now in the eternal. He is not made of ivory and frozen forever. He ever lives to listen and act upon what He wills as a priest, a prophet and a King.
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3 KJV
Indeed. What lasting agreement can the temporary have with that which is forever. One hand would soon dissolve into dust while the other would last forever.
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." 2 Corinthians 13:14 NKJV
"And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" Hebrews 5:9 NKJV
The beginning of this communion starts with the gracious gift God has given to all mankind. The gift of His Son's life on a cross to paid for our sins and win an eternal salvation for all who believe.
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Revelation 12:10-11 KJV
What God has done is written. Let us live in the exploits of the day.
God, Please wash the temporary away from us today. Fill us with your Spirit so that we can walk with you and in Your world. Thanks to You our lives will not be forgotten. Give us eyes to see this reality so we can forget our self life and walk with Your purposes in our minds.
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