Gadfly's Muse

Revelation 6:1-8:5 A First Run Through

Image: Rapids Ahead, Susquehanna River, 2008, PA

 

... "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters." (Re 7:17)

In those days when river transportation by barge or canal boat was the fastest and safest way to move inland from the Eastern Seaboard, one of the problems and dangers that still remained, was turbulent water... specifically those containing rocks... the rapids.  Rivers can be lazy things, evoking peace, contentment and healthy satisfaction.  They can also lure a person into a false sense of security and then spring death and/or destruction in the virtual blink of an eye.  A person may not notice how the current in the middle of the river is picking up speed... and when it becomes apparent the force of it now may prevent paddling out of it.  All that is left to do is ride it out and fend off the rocks as best as you can.

The Apocalypse of John gives us vignettes of history that are somewhat like a river.  The "head" of the river is the Risen Christ since in chapter 5 John sees that His ascension into heaven and assumption of royal rule has set history on its final course.  The river's run will not be smooth, there are many rapids to transverse, but nothing will stop its progress.

Jesus commences the description of this history by popping the seals on the scroll taken from His Father's hand, the book of "life", written on both front and back so that nothing could be added to it nor taken away.  Jesus' breaking of the seals is the opening up to us, in this vision, of how the period of time between His rising to heaven and God's closure of history will be characterized.

This first series of visions does not cover the "last day" as such.  The "last day" is included of course but the first 5 seals essentially reveal to us what to expect before the Lord brings in His final consummation. And what do we see?  Not surprisingly we see "wars and rumors of wars" (Mat. 24:6).  Man's rapacious desire for personal glory and power will continue and even intensify as the world suffers under those are sent out "conquering and to conquer" (6:2).  Again, not surprisingly peace is not a constant but a rarity (6:3-4) and there is seldom any lasting respite from conflict.  As mankind grows so does his appetites and thus in 6:5-6 there will be scarcity in the earth.  Here, in the USA surrounded by our prosperity, it is hard for us to believe the degree of absolute poverty that is present among 30-40% of the world's population.  Just think, that where we grumble about regular visits to the dentist there are millions who cannot afford a toothbrush.  Scarcity and want are to be part of the progress of history.  

And yes, of course, Death and Hades remain in their fury.  They were defeated in the deciding battle with Jesus on the cross but though in nervous retreat before Him, yet they continue, for their allotted time, to bring sadness, grief and despair on mankind which they hate so much.

The "seals" show us the ordinary progress of time after Jesus' resurrection.  However the "last day" is not absent from the seals either... the fifth and sixth seals direct our gaze to that future certainty when the Lord hears the voices of His oppressed peoples who cry out for relief from the injustice and rage in which we live and He responds to them.  He assures us and them that this period of time will not go infinitely.  He says that there is a "specific number" of God's people that the progress of time must finally complete.  God will have His children... all of them... and the end will not commence until the very last one of them is born and brought into His Kingdom.

Then, and only then, shall the events of the last day begin as revealed in the sixth seal.  Using the language of OT prophecy this vision represents the earth shaking reality that causes all of creation to reel under its force.  Overpowering darkness that obscures the moon and paints it blood red.  The stars wobbling and falling... the sky receding like a scroll... then.... then it shall happen.

We must not miss the picture.  Ch. 6 vs 15-16 speak of how the "kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men" as well as the slaves and the free will hide in terror.  In other words, all of those who were the instruments through which wars were fought, death and famine were wrought and injustice poured out on all God's children, these, without fail, will tremble and seek to hide.  We must remember that the evil that is in the world universally flows from the hearts of all men, no matter what their economic or social status.  Thus rich and poor together who despised the Lamb in their lives and to the extent they were able, were used by Satan in his evil doings, they shall all face the horror of judgment.

But not those who are dressed in the white robes of faith.  They are the sealed of Israel and the fruitful harvest of the Gentiles (ch. 7).  These are they who are saved in and out of the tribulation of God's righteous wrath.  They will sing the songs of heaven, adding their voices to the chorus pictured for us in Ch. 4 & 5 and they will rejoice in the presence of the Lamb who will "shepherd them and lead the to living fountains of waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

The Revelation given to John is a awesome picture of the hope given in Christ to God's people.  It realistically shows us the world in which we live but it lifts our hearts with the knowledge that there is more to this world than the sorrow, pain and death that is omnipresent in it.   No, the Lamb is in the midst of the throne and the seals which He alone could open remind us that this is His world and no power in heaven or earth will stay His plans or His promises.

Revelation 4 & 5: The Big Picture!

 

 

 

 

Image:  Colorful, 2008

I think that Revelation 4 & 5 are my favorite chapters in this letter.  They present such a powerful encouragement to us as well as the sublime vision that they are.

We need to approach these chapters in a particular way.  They are a symbolic representation of all of history if you will.  Their major features are the "One sitting on the throne" & "the Lamb as though it had been slain."  All the other symbols find their significance in relation to these two main elements.

In chapter 4 we see God sitting on His throne in indescribable glory.  At His feet is the sea of glass which is the entire history of His creation... it is all of time captured in the image of a "sea"... and its message is that the God who "was and is and is to come" (v. 8) is also the God who "created all things." (v. 11).  The four beasts full of eyes are the fullness of His creation which serve Him and glorify His name.  The 24 elders are the "heads" of all mankind, both Old Testament and New, who are viewed as eternally redeemed though the celebration of the Lamb will make this more explicit. (ch. 5 vs. 9)  Thus we are comforted by knowing that wherever history leads, whatever has transpired, is happening now or is yet to come, that our God and Father is unperturbed... He is sitting on His throne with the testimony of His creation ringing out in the heavenly places.  

in chapter 5 we see the dividing point of all history.  There is history from the beginning of time pictured in chapter 4 and now we see history being put on a new footing.  The "Lamb that was slain" arrives in the progress of time... in the fullness of time... having been born of a woman, under the law, the Lamb of God was obedient unto death on a cross.  But death could not hold Him and He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.  It is this ascension that we see here... the historical turning point from which all subsequent history is measured.  The Lamb has come... He takes the scroll from His Father's hand, as He alone of all creation is qualified to do, and with the power and authority that He has earned by His obedience and death, He now begins to open the seals of all subsequent history.  From this point on, it is the Lamb who is ruling and guiding and bringing about His good purposes in the journey of creation toward its destiny.

This is so beautifully captured by creation's response.  Now all heaven and earth join their voices in a new song, praising the Lamb, and the sound reverberates through out all the heavenly realms.  "Worthy is the Lamb"... He is "worthy to take the scroll and open its seals".  It is He who redeemed us by His blood... He has made us kings and priests to our God, no matter how lowly and downcast we may appear in this life, yet the truth of our state is that we are royal persons, elevated to that status by the sovereign work and merit of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ of God.

Thousands and thousands join in glad celebration.  This is the sound in heaven that is going on right now.  As this world seems Hell-bent on descending into darkness, yet around the throne room of God there is a mighty chorus of praise.  It is that spiritual reality that is the "reality" of this world.  We may be blinded by the stuff all around us and our spiritual eyes are yet dimmed, but in our hearts we can and we must be attuned to the praise that is ringing out.

How can I live in despair?  Hope is being broadcast throughout the world by angelic hordes and redeemed voices. 

This is the truth of the world in which we live... the rest of it... well it is just the temporary flutter of defeated foes.  WE shall reign on the earth... in due time... with our Great God and our Great Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God. 

Revelation 3:1-22 ...And To Know That I Have Loved You!

Image:  Perspective, 2008, Severn Run E. P. Church

(Re 3:9) ...and to know that I have loved you

We all want to be proven right.  Even when we doubt, deep down inside, that we are right... when we have spoken in haste and with undue authority, what we want is that circumstances or investigation will prove that we were right after all.  The big word for this is, of course, vindication.  We want to be vindicated in our choices, we want to be vindicated in our arguments, we want to be vindicated in our tough decisions.  That's just part of being human.  Animals don't care about vindication ... people do.

I think that is a facet of the image of God in us.  God tells us that He is a jealous God.  He tells the prophets on many occasions that after such and such things have happened then "they will know that I am God."  In other words God has arranged all of history unto the end that what He has done in history will prove to not only be right and good... but gloriously right and good.  He will be vindicated.

Now, throughout the Scriptures (e.g. Psalm 26:1 & 35:23, et al) God's children have cried out to him for vindication also.  God's people suffer insult, scorn, persecution and far worse things because they have "placed their trust" in this invisible God and His "so-called" Messiah.  This is injustice.  It is just and proper for God's creation to love Him and honor Him with their lives and service.  When specific people are doing that it constitutes an implicit charge of guilt to those who are not.  You hear it when some one says "no one likes a 'goody-two-shoes' (if anyone still says that these days).  Evil hearts comfort themselves by saying "everyone is doing it... I am not any worse than any one else."  But when it is blatantly obvious that not "everyone" is thinking and acting as they do, then resentment builds... and injustice follows.

What makes it worse is that often when this happens, those who seek to cause harm claim that it is "obvious" that what Christians believe is ludicrous because God is allowing them to be subjected to scorn.  Jesus, on the cross, was contemptuously sneered at for this very reason.  To the eyes of the world it is not always obvious that God loves His people.  This was the case with the church at Philadelphia.  They only had a "little strength" (vs. 6) but they had kept God's word and not denied His name.  And they had suffered in consequence.  God commends them in verse 10 for keeping His "command to persevere" and promises to give them relief in the coming "hour of trial".  This helps... but the greatest comfort, perhaps to these brothers and sisters, was that in due time they would be vindicated for their persistence in the faith.

God tells them that there will come a day when all the enemies of God's children will come and "worship at their feet." (vs. 9)  We should not think that such "worship" is to be understood as that given to God... it is not.  No, this is an oriental cultural thing, where a supplicant will come and prostrate himself before the person of power and beg forgiveness, confessing their wrong doing with great anguish.  This is what will happen in the great vindication.

God has set forth a day when all those who have trusted in Him will be proven right in doing so.  Their lives and the fruit that they have borne will be paraded before God as evidences of His glory, majesty and righteousness.  And those, like the Rich Man in the proverb of Lazarus, will wail and beat their breasts in horror at their own error.  

There will come a day when God will make it abundantly clear whom He loves in this history of the world.  It is a day imminently to be desired.... on the day when God vindicates Himself and His children before the eyes of all the universe He has created.

Revelation 2:1-29 He Who Has An Ear, Let Him Hear

Image: "Out of the Window", 2019, Guest image: Dave Johanson photographer.

Revelation 2:7 (NKJV) ⁷ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” 

In chapters 2-3 the Lord speaks directly to the specific churches of Asia over which John exercised a kind of special oversight role.  They are addressed in their individual geographic and cultural contexts and it can be quite productive to study each church's background, history and circumstances to understand just how precise and knowledgeable are these individual exhortations.  We must not stop there.  

The Holy Spirit is addressing the universal church of Jesus Christ in every age through the metaphorical status of each of these specific churches.  When we step back and look at them all, what emerges is an accurate evaluation of virtually every individual church because each can find points of contact with all of the ones addressed in these chapters.  For every true church of Jesus Christ, for those who are not now 'synagogues of Satan' as Jesus mentions in verse 9, there will be good things which the Lord commends and there will be those defects which, if left untended, will rot and fester and which can undermine the church's witness and ultimately subject it to the Lord's wrath.

It is a solemn thing, in every age, to read: "He who has an ear, let him hear!"

Notice how each church is addressed in its corporate reality.  Some individuals are called out but only in special instances.  There was a real "Jezebel" in Thyatira and faithful Antipas was martyred in Pergamos.  But the thrust of each exhortation is to the leadership of the individual church and to its corporate congregation.  "All of you, pay attention, I know what's going on among you!" is what the Lord is saying and we should take this to heart.  

No matter how apparently insignificant or how great our individual churches are in their historical context, yet we must humbly realize:  God knows everything about us as a church.  The Lord Jesus Christ daily exists with our churches in His hands... we are subject to His gaze and His concern.  He is not detached and objectively analytical in His relation to us.  He is vitally interested in our welfare, our sanctification, our witness, our zeal and our love for Him and for each other.  He wants us to be knowledgeable about our doctrine as with the Ephesians but He doesn't want us to lose our first love.  He wants us to guard against the false teaching that the wider culture is constantly cannonading at us.  He wants us to rise above the licentiousness of our society, to reject its shameful and debilitating views of sexuality and to pursue purity in our relationships.   Jesus wants this from us... and He is immediately aware of us as individual corporate congregations in each and every one of these and more.

But notice very carefully that at the end of each congregational exhortation the Spirit closes with the words "He who has an ear... let him hear." The Spirit exhorts the congregation and He expects every individual to take ownership of what He has said.

It is not enough for each of us to simply guard our own selves with regard to all the concerns the Spirit raises.  Rather, we must understand that now, having heard what the Spirit has said to "our" congregation that it is up to us, each of us, to hear it which means to embrace it and act on it.  It is not just up to the leadership of our churches to build up the good, guard against the evil, confront those who are openly sinning, comfort and encourage those who are weak and stand strong against error.  It is our job... each of us... individually to be engaged.  

Jesus Christ loves His Churches... and what He desires and what He deserves is for each of His disciples to love their individual church in return.  They should show their love by having ears to hear what the Spirit says to their church in these words given to John.  It's not the "other guy's job".... it is ours.

Revelation 1:1-20 Do Not Be Afraid

Image:  Distortion, 2013, Severna Park, MD

Revelation 1:17–18 (NKJV) ¹⁷ And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

"Do not be afraid..."  How often had the disciples heard that during Jesus' earthly ministry?  There was that "dark and stormy night" when Jesus came walking to them on the waves.  There was that mind-blowing experience on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Here it is only the apostle John but he has just had another one of those encounters.  Once again he was confronted with the awesome reality of Jesus of Nazareth's divine nature.  He was again in the Presence of the Holy One of Israel, the Lord's Messiah, the Shining Glory that dwelt between the Cherubim whose august majesty had thrown the prophet Isaiah to his face... just as it did John here.

But "Do not be afraid" were His words to John then and it is the same to all of us who are brothers and sisters to John in our faith.

The Revelation given to John is all about the "awesomeness" of the Triune God of the universe.  It is written in symbols because no words can really describe the truths that it proclaims.  Our Christ does not literally "look" as John saw him in verses 13-16.  Our Christ is fully human as well as fully divine.  When we see Him we will recognize Him as human with us so that He may be God with us.  That is mind blowing in and of itself.  But the vision portrays Him this way so that we may remember... this Jesus IS GOD.   He is the God who caused Mt. Sinai to be bathed with glory even as it shook under the feet of Israel.  He rightfully dwells in unapproachable light but in His humanity He reaches out to us, becomes accessible to us, and whispers to us "Do Not Be Afraid."

To back up this comforting command just look at what Jesus says He has: (1) the seven "angels" of the seven churches, (2) the seven churches themselves and (3) the keys to Hades and Death. 

The "angels" of each of the churches are the unvarnished, naked, true spirit or heavenly presence of each church.  In another context Jesus spoke of little children having "angels" who daily look on the face of God.  John is here told that before the eyes of Jesus each church, and by extension, every individual, is spiritually present before Christ at every instant.  In this spiritual presence they are completely understood, there are no shadows and nothing can be hidden.  We are all open to His inspection... this awesome, majestic Divine Christ knows us as we really are and knows everything about us.

The "churches" themselves are the physical presence of the churches, and by extension, all of us, in our life's journey on this earth.  We are in His hand... He is directing our steps... He has the instant authority and power to do with us as He wills.  Like the arrogant rich man He could say "fool, this night your life will be required of you," or like the woman caught in adultery He could say "go, and sin no more."  The point is that we are His, lock, stock and barrel and His omniscient, sovereign power give Him absolute freedom to do with us as He wills.  Some are vessels of mercy... some are vessels for "common use" (borrowing from Paul in Romans 9), but our Lord Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth and He is now, as presented in John's vision, exercising that authority with each and every one of us.

Lastly, He says He has the keys to Hades and Death.  Here is ultimate power, at least in our universe.  He who can lock up Death and throw away the key is God indeed.  Here is our life, prostrate before Him, where we acknowledge that all eternity hinges on His good favor... or otherwise... toward us.

It is our dreadfully precarious position with regard to this "awesome" Christ that John here sees.  And for us to hear these words as we ought... for us to read this revelation as we ought... we must hear the words... "Do not be afraid."

Jude 1-25 Who Alone Can Do It

Image: "Deformed", 2013, Williamsburg Village, Va.

Jude 24–25 (NKJV)  ²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless  Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.

Jude's letter is a challenging read... granted.  Those obscure references to Enoch and the archangel Michael "contending with the devil" over Moses' body, etc. remind us that the world into which Jude spoke was a lot different than ours.  His readers knew immediately the examples that he used.  They came from the ordinary religious literature of the day and while not God's infallible word in their original writing they receive the seal of the Spirit when Jude quotes these particular illustrations.  So much for that.

Jude's main point is, like Peter and John before him, that there were cancerous elements in the congregation of the church.  He calls them "spots in your love feasts" who serve only themselves (v. 12).  The young church of Jesus Christ had yet to find a strong, coherent orthodoxy that served to keep each congregation from drifting.  That came later with the canon of the New Testament and the church stabilized into a more uniform and characteristic doctrinal stance.  The church is still fighting against fragmenting forces that would strip it of that historic continuity.  I pray that God continues to uphold it and purify it even more.

Now, while Jude's letter is challenging, his closing exhortation is beloved by the church and is quoted often.  It is not a benediction and should not be read as such at the end of a worship service.  It is a doxology and is wonderfully suited for opening and closing acts of worshipful adoration.

Jude's letter squarely faces the challenge of false teachers and the vulnerability of God's people to falling into error.  He sees us as we are.  Like the tree in the image above, we are twisted and deformed in our spiritual being... often presenting a less than beautiful witness to the world as we gnash and gnaw at each other and lose our spiritual peace.  That is how we are... but that is not how we shall be.

Jude praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as He "who is able to keep you from stumbling... and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy!" In other words, no matter how deformed we are as individuals and as congregations, God's powerful hand is able to preserve us in our stumbling, cleanse us from all unrighteousness, heal our deformed limbs and roots, and stand us up in His Garden as a beautifully perfect tree... one among the many in God's forest which is His eternal covenant people.

God alone through Jesus Christ can do this.  Who can straighten and restored a bent tree!  Who can set a sinner on the path of righteousness and keep him or her from falling off it unto their own destruction?  Who indeed?  God not only has this power it is His sovereign plan to glorify Himself and His Son in just this way, by presenting us before His glory with exceeding joy.

He has promised such and He will do it.  It is not a benediction but these words demand a response... a joyful shout: "AMEN!"

3 John 1-14 Heartaches

Image: Work Waiting, 2015, UK

9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.  10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. (3 Jn. 1:9-10 NKJ)

It provides little comfort to know that "twas ever thus" when we think of the pain, suspicion, pride and pettiness that too often show themselves within our churches.  Christians are not exempt from hurting or getting hurt by those who profess the same Lord.  Yet as we progress in our spiritual journey, each of us grow more and more sensitive to this unhappy reality.  It burdens our hearts... 

We sense that in our brother, the apostle John, as he wrote the words above.  Here is John, the disciple whom the Lord 'loved', the most sensitive of all the 12, the man who penned the beautiful prose and content of the gospel that bears his name.  I picture him as such a kind, overtly spiritual man.  There are those Christians whose love for the Person of their Savior seems to flow out of the pores in their skin.  I imagine John as one of those.

And yet, here is this guy Diotrephes.  I don't know anything else about him other what is written here but I know his type.  There is even a category of people like him: "well intentioned dragons".  These folk are convinced of the righteousness of their cause but it goes beyond that.  The righteousness of their cause begins to be conflated with the assumed righteousness of their own person.  They cannot stand any threat to their position of influence and power and they interpret any arguments or views that oppose their "cause'" as ultimate being counter to themselves.  It is an easy trap into which to fall, especially for highly motivated, energetic and intelligent people.  What is sad is that the potential for much good is always present but it is turned toward evil and divisive deeds. Here Diotrephes actually puts people out of the church who support John.  Isn't that astonishing... yet it happens... in every age.

All of us have to take a very realistic attitude toward this kind of thing.  The very last thing we should do is give up on Christ's visible church.  John didn't give up on it.  Jesus never gives up on it.  It is the temple of the Holy Spirit and is the pillar of truth in the world.  We cannot let Satan win.  Where he raises up a Diotrephes, the Holy Spirit raises up folks like John or those who follow him.  Giving up on the church because there are sinners in it is like giving up on hospitals because all the people in them are sick.  We have to do our part to build up the church and that means, on occasion, dealing with people who are divisive and self-serving.  We must not jump to conclusions but the leadership has to be alert to those who have tendencies to this kind of arrogance and deal with them with grace as appropriate but with firmness when required.

It will always be a judgment call.  Martin Luther was a divisive man... he was also right.  Diotrephes was not Martin Luther.  It takes wisdom and humility to distinguish one from the other.

2 John 1-13 It's Just That Serious....

Image: Texas Wildflowers, 2010, Highlands Area of Texas

2 John 9–11 (NKJV)  ⁹ Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; ¹¹ for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

The closing paragraph of John's very brief 2nd letter jars us with its strong admonition.  "Do not receive him into your house.... don't even greet him"????? Wait a minute.  Aren't we Christians supposed to be open, embracing, loving.... even to our enemies?  Is the Holy Spirit telling us that we are to practice a form of discrimination?  That certainly wouldn't meet our current standards of political correctness nor does it fit with the modern liberal sensibilities that our schools and public institutions enforce.

But there they are... the words of John.... on the page in the Bible....  this is the Word of God, right?

Well, indeed it is and we have to come to grips with it.

John is not speaking of our general interaction with people in the wider culture.  He is not saying that we should not have anything to do with the pagans, heretics, atheists, low-life's and other folk who share our planet with us and with whom we daily interact.  He is talking about a very specific and precise application.  He is talking about those professed Christians who seek to bring false doctrine into the Holy Church of Jesus Christ.  He is talking of the very real threat of people who are actually serving Satan by seeking to introduce a perverted idea of Jesus and the doctrines that Scriptures actually teach.

These people are deadly enemies and the people of God have to be alert to their threat.  Ordinary Christians have to be sufficiently equipped with the Word of God in order to test the spirits and the teachings of people they encounter so that a generally accurate assessment of just exactly what kind of "Christian" they are can be made.

I am currently reviewing a book on 20th century theological movements.  In that book I was reminded of the teachings of Paul Tillich, a highly influential "Christian" whose ideas and false doctrines have swayed many.  It was he that said that "God does not exist" (meaning something very abstract and obscure in his formulation).  He taught that Jesus the human gave up his life so that He, Jesus, could become the Christ.  Even now I get disturbed when I read it. 

I have to read what such people are saying because we Christians have to proclaim the truth about these things and we can only show something to be a lie when we know what it is.  But this is a man who should not have been welcomed in any Christian fellowship much less allowed to teach these things to our college children.  Yet he did.

This is the kind of threat that John warns us against and there is no room for a wishy-washy attitude toward such men or their teachings.  There is no common ground for fellowship with them.  They must be recognized, identified and rejected.  The Church of God must be kept pure of such bilge.

Other than that... it's a beautiful day... the flowers are blooming .... the spring chill refreshes my weary bones and I refuse to be discouraged by the worms that try to destroy the beauty.  That applies to God's beautiful Church also.

1 John 5:1-21 Victorious!

Image: Working, 2008, Severn Run E. P. Church

1 John 5:4–5 (NKJV) ⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. ⁵ Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

What a marvelous thing is this "faith" of which the Bible speaks and which our Lord commands of us.  By it, according to Jesus Himself, we can move mountains.  It is so powerful that even if we possess it only as a "grain of mustard seed" yet it sufficient to preserve us to eternal salvation.  Our sense of its presence in our lives ebbs and flows as do the rippling ocean waters lapping at the beach, yet when it recedes, when it is at low tide (to continue the metaphor), it does not completely leave.  

When Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus he, by direct corollary, tells us that nothing can strip us of our faith... once we have been born of God as John says (v. 4), faith is the natural and necessary reality of that new mode of existence.  We are born again, of God, and absolutely, without fail, we believe "that Jesus is the Son of God!" (vs. 5)  God can no more abandon us as His children than any loving parent among us would willfully abandon his or her own child.  No matter how much our teenagers may disappoint us yet the parent in us never disowns them.  So it is with God... He seals us as His own by causing us to be born again into faith in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

This, John says, is the victory that we have.  "Faith" by its very nature is a rejection of the "world" as John uses that term.  John's dualism confines his meaning of "world" to that way of life, of thinking, of aspiring, of desiring, of pursuing... which is opposed to the "spirit".  He uses it to describe carnal preoccupation... of being chained to the fallen culture of man in such a way that we are enslaved by our own hearts.  

Faith comes and breaks those chains.  It has to.  Faith registers our shift of focus, away from the world and its allures, to the supreme beauty and attractions of Jesus of Nazareth, the Risen Christ of God, who was crucified for our sins yet lives as our High Priest in the heavenly, spiritual realms.  The world pales in comparison... in fact, that is not said strongly enough.  The world ceases to exist as a gravitational force pulling us back into its ways and horrors.  Faith has stripped the world of its allure and its victory, though experienced as only partial in our continuing journey, yet it persists.. and proves its overwhelming power.

Thus we are preserved through the Holy Spirit's continual stoking the fires of our faith.  So, it is God's work in us, yea and amen, but in that often apparently paradoxical manner of the Scriptures, it is credited to us.  It is "our" faith which overcomes.  It is that "faith" that is unique to us individually as each of us, individually, has been uniquely created, uniquely guided, uniquely endowed, by God.  No two person's faith is identical yet each conforms to the same necessary standard.  

Faith is life... not something that is added to life.  And the life of faith is the living faith, that justifies us as God's adopted children and is the victory that gains us eternal life and all the benefits of Christ.

 

1 John 4:1-21 Love Like You've Never Loved Before

Image: Mallow, 2008, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", Northern PA

1 John 4:7–8 (NKJV) ⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4 is the "other" Love chapter in the Bible after, of course,1 Cor 13.  It is a power-packed set of verses.  In its main theme John effectively tells us that "love" is a validating Christian state of being.  That bears some explaining.

First - John clearly tells us that we are to "test the spirits, whether they are of God." (vs. 1)  He says that there are many "false prophets" out there and we have to be careful.  We have to test those who teach by the simple sounding but deeply complex criterion that they confess that "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh...." (vs. 2).  Here's the kicker.  He goes on to develop the premise that to "confess" Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is to "know" Jesus Christ and to "know" Jesus Christ is to know Him as the Love of God made manifest.  It is through Jesus Christ that we come to "know" God and (vs. 7) that means to know God as love (vs 8) with the corresponding and necessary result that we love in return.

Second - How can we "know" the love of God and not "love" Him in return?  It's simply not possible.  God's love is what causes us to be "born of God" (vs. 7).  God's love is the "seed" of God that remains in us and grows and bears fruit in our love for Him in return and for our brothers and sisters also.  We love God because we are overwhelmed with the reality that before we even knew Him much less loved Him, He sent His Son "to be a propitiation for our sins." (vs. 11)

Today is Good Friday.  Today we think of the Cross.  Today, as we should every day, we need to let the truth of God's love for us flow into our souls.  We need to "abide in Him" (vs.13) through the Spirit He has given us.  We need to experience what John calls elsewhere our "first love" for God all over again.  We need to remember when we were first overwhelmed with the simultaneous realization of the depth of our own sins and yet the mercy of God in Jesus Christ in cleansing us of those sins.  Good Friday was a day of physical darkness, not light, as the earth shook, the sun hid its face and the veil in the Temple was split.  But Good Friday was a day of incredible light for those of us who know that in Jesus Christ God has come in the flesh and broken the chains of sin binding us to Satan and his kingdom.

We need today to think of the cross as God's judgment on sin... our sin.  And we need to be reminded of just how awful that judgment was.  And then, by extension, we must remember that for all those whose sins remain on them due to unbelief, that there is another day of judgment coming and it will be awful indeed.  But John here says that this day holds no fear for us (vs.17-18) because perfect love casts out fear... it casts out the basis of fear...  and we love God because He first loved us and saved us through His Son so that we may rejoice in the day of judgment and enter into the Kingdom He has prepared for us through His Son.

As a friend of mine is fond of saying "It's Friday but Sunday's a-coming"... yes indeed... Good Friday and Easter are two sides of God's Salvation coin.