I'll never find another you.

Those of a certain vintage will, undoubtedly, be transported in their minds to the early sixties, and to the Australian singing group, The Seekers, by those words in the title. The original song was, of course, of a romantic nature - but it was also stating a scientific fact! You are unique! I am unique! Every person in the history of planet earth is unique! No-one will ever find another you, or me!

Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is found in every cell in the body, and is passed on from parent to child. It is self-replicating material that is in every living organism. In simplest terms, it is a carrier of all genetic information. It contains the instructions needed for organisms to develop, grow, survive, and reproduce. I read, recently, that DNA molecules can unite in an almost infinite number of ways. The number I read was 10 to the power of 2,400,000,000. That is a BIG number!

Your uniqueness is a scientific fact. When Almighty God created you, He really did "break the mould"! There never has been, is not, and never will be anybody exactly like you!

So why, we may ask, did Father God make each of us so unique? I suggest that it is because He likes variety! Look around you! Introverts and extroverts; tall people and short people; team players and individuals; those who love routine and those who love spontaneity; different skin colours, all in the one human race. And please note that. There is only one human race. Different ethnicities, but one race. That is why to accuse someone of being "racist" against another human being is actually nonsensical!

There is no right or wrong temperament for serving in God's kingdom - apart from a willingness to do so. As used to be said: "The most important ability is availability"!

Your personality will affect how, and where, you will serve God best. My son-in-law started working with wood jus a few years ago, and he will confirm that smart woodworkers work with the grain, not against it. Being obliged to serve in a manner that is out of character for us only creates tension; requires extra effort; and usually produces poor results. Almighty God made you to be you! When you act as yourself, as one created in His image, it not only blesses His family, it also blesses you! That is, at least in a large part, because it is always good to be doing what God created you to do, and to be.

Due to a situation that has arisen within my own family, this is the last post that I shall be able to publish for the foreseeable future. It is my hope that the situation will be resolved, but I have no idea as to how long that will take. Even preparing a brief post such as this one, has proved difficult, as I have not been able to properly concentrate. A (hopefully, temporary) health issue has only served to exacerbate the situation. I do hope to have our annual newsletter shared towards the end of the year.

Heaven - Pt.2

Welcome back! In the previous post, I trust that I established that the Bible teaches. clearly, that those who will inhabit the «new heaven and new earth» (Rev.2:1) will have a new body - a resurrection body that will not, necessarily, be like the body we currently inhabit! It will, I would suggest, be at least as different as was the resurrection body of the Lord Jesus from His incarnate body. 

Anyway, I keep returning to those words found in Rev.21:5 « Behold, I make all things new.» There will be a new environment - «new heaven and new earth» (Rev.2:1); there will be a new body; and, I have now come to the conclusion, there will be a new memory. Yes, I realise that that is quite a leap - but I would contend that it is fully Biblical! 

As was pointed out to me, merely quoting a couple of Biblical texts does not necessarily make a line of thought to be Biblical. It must not go against the rest of the Biblical record. So is there anywhere in the Scriptures of the Old or New Testaments that would oppose my thinking? I am unaware of any - but will be happy to hear from anyone who can point me to any such teaching.

What might a "new memory" be like? Well, I freely admit that I am now bordering on the realm of total speculation. However, my new memory would not be a total wipe-out of my current memory. For example, I will not be asking "Who is that Lamb upon the throne?" I am thinking of the well-known words of William Rees: "Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise? He can never be forgotten, Throughout heaven’s eternal days." Yes, with my new memory, I shall still praise Him for His atoning sacrifice that gained my salvation.

The thing is that, with our 'mortal' memories, we are actually unable to forget! I used to tell pupils who were facing important examinations that their mind is akin to an office with a lot of rooms. In each room is a large number of filing cabinets, each with four drawers. Each of those drawers has multiple folders holding everything that we have ever seen, heard, or thought. Now, material that is not called upon is gradually pushed to the bottom of the furthest away filing cabinet in the room at the end of the corridor. It is never lost, but we have difficulty in accessing it - until something happens that brings it right to the front! That, I would explain, is the purpose of exam revision!

Father God, I believe, is different. He, being God, is capable of "not remembering"! I can remember sins that I have committed decades ago. I don't dwell on them every day, but sometimes they are brought to the fore, and I can do nothing about that! Speaking of the Children of Israel, through his prophet Jeremiah, YHWH says «... for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.» (31:34; emphasis added).

I believe, therefore, that personal relationships that I enjoyed (and, in some cases, endured!) will not be in my resurrection memory. That will be true for those whom I know who have been saved, and those whom I know who have not been saved. This, I would contend, is perfectly Biblical! It ensures, for example that, for any individual, there shall be no «... mourning nor crying nor pain any more, …» (Rev 21:4), as it will not be recognised that unsaved, former loved ones, are not sharing the bliss of heaven with them.

But those words go on to state that «... the former things have passed away.» So what does that imply? Well, I would suggest that, at the very least, it means that my mortal life will have gone. I shall have a new life, as different from this one as a beautiful flower is from the seed from which it grows. I know that I shall have a new body - an incorruptible body that is incapable of sinning. I know that I shall have a new dwelling-place - «In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?» (John 14:2). I know that I shall have a new understanding - «Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.» (I Cor 13:12). That, by the way, blows my mind! That I shall understand as fully as my heavenly Father understands me!! Wow! And I shall, at last, achieve full sanctification!* John, in his first letter,^# assures me that «… it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him , for we shall see Him as He is.» (1 John 3:2). In heaven, I shall be like Jesus - not the poor, sin-marred, reflection that I present in my mortal flesh, but a perfect reflection of all that He is in His purity and love. Who would claim that, given all of that, Almighty God, my heavenly Father, will not include my memory when He says « Behold, I make all things new.». 

Of course, there is what we might call "a catch"! You see all of this, and more, is only for those who, having repented* of their sin, have placed their trust, wholly, and solely, in the Lord Jesus, the Christ, for their salvation, and their spending eternity in His glorious presence. Not one of us can claim such an inheritance based on our own wealth; social, or ecclesiastical, standing; property; good works; personal genealogy; or anything else that is "us". The only thing that we may bring is the very sin from which we must be saved. Only the atoning* sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is sufficient. But when we do accept His offer of full salvation, then we are accepted by the Father, and are justified* in His sight. Hallelujah!

I recall reading, very many years ago, an allegedly true story of Queen Victoria. Like the present Queen, she loved her Scottish residence of Balmoral, and would frequently go for long walks around the estate. On one occasion, as I recall the story, she stopped off in the home of an elderly woman and, as they conversed, the conversation turned to spiritual matters. The old woman was bold enough to ask the Queen if, when she died, she would go to heaven. "Why yes," replied Victoria. "And may I ask your Majesty on what grounds you are so assured?" "Of course," came the immediate response. "On the blood of the Lord Jesus, shed for me at Calvary." The old woman was delighted, and the two of them knelt together in prayer - Queen and Commoner, united in the true family of God.

May all who read these words have the same faith in Him - it's the only Way!

* This is one of the words with which I deal in "Great Words of the Faith". 

^# This Letter is the basis for my book "Defending the Faith".

See links above.

Heaven - Pt.1

It was the week before last when I appeared to have ruffled a few feathers by sharing some thoughts, in another blog, on what heaven may be like. I didn't wish to prolong an online discussion, but wanted to make my position as clear as possible, so decided that using my own blog was the best way in which to do so. I have headed this post "Pt.1" because I suspect that I will not be publishing everything I wish to share in one post!

Permit me to begin by pointing out that, according to the written Word of God, heaven is a place! It is not an ethereal, non-physical, entity. Jesus said «In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.» (John 14:2-3). That sounds pretty real to me!

I would also point out that the Bible doesn't actually give us a great deal of information as to what heaven will be like for those who will inhabit the «new heaven and new earth» (Rev.2:1) - and don't let us forget the «new earth»!

My personal thinking on what this «new heaven and new earth» will be like has evolved over a number of decades. I freely admit that most of what I share is speculation - but it is speculation that is based upon the written Word of God and, with Paul (who was writing in a different context!), I would dare to say «... I give my opinion as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy.» (I Cor 7:25).

When I was young - very young! - I accepted the popular picture of heaven. It was where I would meet again with all of my deceased relatives. Then, when I was saved, I realised that only the saved would be in that "better place".  This did cause me some concern, as I was aware that many of my relatives had, apparently, died unsaved. However, I reckoned that I had so many relatives that I wouldn't miss a few!

Of course, I was making the same mistake as did certain Sadducees - who did not believe that there was a resurrection - when they endeavoured to trap the Lord Jesus with their question about the woman who was married to each of seven brothers, with no offspring from any of them. (read Lk.20:27ff).  The answer they received to their "trick" question was, in essence, that they were thinking of heaven as simply an extension of the earthly existence with which they were familiar. That, I would respectfully suggest, is the mistake that is still made by so many. Yet we look forward to «...  a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, » (Rev 21:1; emphases added). Why would we expect it to be no more than a continuation of what are «...the former things...» that will have «... passed away ...»?! (Rev.21:4)

It was the comment of a dear friend whose father had recently died - pretty obviously unsaved - that she didn't know how she could be happy in heaven when her dad was highly unlikely to be there, that caused me to think further! I eventually arrived at a place at which I believed that those of us who were saved, and in heaven would be so fixed on the Lamb upon the throne, and praising Him that, while we would be aware of a vast throng doing the same thing, we would not be concerned about the personal identities of any of them. That was my basic position for many, many years.

Then, a couple of years ago, I was using the Book of the Revelation of Jesus, the Christ, for my personal devotions. As many have discovered, and discovered on many occasions, we can read a passage in the Bible that we have read many times before - and suddenly "see" something that we had, hitherto, missed. For me, at that time, it was the words found in ch.21:5 « And He Who sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'» The word from the statement that "jumped out" was the word «all». Now I don't believe that it is necessary to be the Professor of English Language in a prestigious University to be able to work out that «all» means ------ «all». Nothing is excepted! 

I already know that I will receive a new resurrection body. Paul makes this clear, in his first letter to the early disciples of Jesus. Some, apparently, had been questioning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus! «Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.» (I Cor 15:12-14).

The apostle produces his argument, and concludes «But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.» (I Cor 15:20). As he develops his argument, he anticipates a further question: «But some one will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?'» (I Cor 15:35), and introduces the illustration of a seed that is sown in the ground which, he points out, is not the plant that will grow from it. «But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.» (I Cor 15:38).

His ultimate conclusion? «So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.» (I Cor 15:42-50). I shall be given a resurrection body that will be totally different from the mortal body I currently inhabit. Hallelujah! 

Could there not be more?! That's for next week, DV.

God's Grace

If I had just £1 for every time I have spoken a benediction, I would have quite a tidy sum in the bank! The precise wording does, of course, vary but the form that I use most regularly is found in Paul's second letter to the believers in Corinth: 

 « The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. »  (II Cor.13:14). To be honest, I usually use the somewhat extended form that I learned from Rev George B. Duncan: « The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is all-sufficient; the love of God the Father, that never fails; and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Who never forsakes, be with you all. » There is almost a wee sermon in that benediction!

However, the words « The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ » appear no less than thirteen times in the pages of the New Testament. I would contend that, in the Scriptures, such repetition is not because of a lack of something to say, but because God the Holy Spirit wishes to specifically emphasise something! Could it be that, in this instance, He is wishing to place an emphasis on the grace of God?

Many will be familiar with the acrostic that makes up the word "grace" in the English language - God's Riches At Christ's Expense. By the way, it is also one of the words at which I look more fully in my first book - Great Words of the Faith - a link to which may be found at the top of the page. Please forgive me for emphasising that ALL royalties go directly to Release International, in support of the persecuted church in more than 50 countries worldwide. I do not receive a single penny! Grace has also been defined as receiving from Father God that which we do not deserve (Mercy, on the other hand, is not receiving from the Father what we do deserve!).

God extends His grace to the very creation itself, simply by keeping the universe together! Peter writes: « … by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. » (II Peter 3:5-7). If I were God, I would have wrapped up this world a long time ago - but I do not exercise His grace!

Sadly, there are those who abuse the very grace of God. Jude, in his brief letter, refers to them as « ... ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.» (Jude 4). They deny the very One Who has paid the penalty for all of the sin of which they are guilty; the One Who, for their (and our!) sake was « ... made ... to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.» (II Cor 5:21). It is little wonder that Paul refers to such people as «... detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good deed.» (Titus 1:16).

A final thought. At least three times we read that the Lord focuses His grace on us as individuals, an indication of His concern for us at a personal level, as well as of His intimate knowledge of our innermost thoughts! Writing to his 'son in the faith', Timothy, Paul noted that «... the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.» (I Tim 1:14; emphasis added)and, writing to his brothers and sisters in Jesus, who lived in Thessalonica, he prayed that «... the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.» (II Thess. 1:12; emphasis added). And, of course, we are assured that it is «... by grace you [singular] have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God » (Eph. 2:8; emphasis added). How grateful we ought to be for that grace of God that dies what we could never do!

Are you aware of the grace of God operating in your own life? Do you give thanks for that grace? May we constantly do so - giving Him the glory, and being reminded that all is of Him.

*** STOP PRESS! *** For those who live in or close to, Lanarkshire, Scotland, all three of my books are now available, in paperback format, in the GLO Bookshop in Motherwell. Pay them a visit; purchase one (or more!) of my books; and browse some of the other items on offer. Remember that all of the royalties from my own books go directly to Release International in support of the persecuted church.

The Captain of Our Salvation

"But we see Jesus, Who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for every one. For it was fitting that He, for Whom and by Whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:9-10)

Jesus, the Christ, is referred to in this passage as the "archegon" of our salvation. The Greek word actually means "captain" (or "prince" or "author") of our salvation. Now, not just anyone can be the captain! When, as a young man, I sailed on the ss Oriana, I was not invited up to the bridge to take on the responsibilities of the captain. The captain had to be, and has to be, someone who had the authority, the knowledge, and the experience, to command. If I had been immediately promoted from a lowly chef in the galley, to captain on the bridge, I fear that the ship would have experienced many difficulties.

In any team sport, the captain is not the latest recruit; the least fit member; or the one who never turns up for training sessions! The captain of a team must be experienced, physically fit, a good example to the rest of the team, and one on whom the team may depend.

So it is in life. I do not have the authority, the knowledge, and the experience, to run my own life. I am a sinner, prone to failure and defeat. I make mistakes, in my words, in my thoughts (the most frequent!), and even in my deeds. I am unable to run my life as I believe it should be run. I need someone to whom I can look up; someone who is a good example; someone on whom I may depend. I need a Captain!

The word translated 'captain' also implies one who is first in line; the beginning; the originator. So the Lord Jesus is discovered to be the first in line of an endless procession of the saints of all ages resurrected from the grave and marching to the ultimate realisation of their salvation. He is truly "the first-born among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). 

In his first letter to the early disciples of Jesus in Corinth, Paul spends some time on the topic of  resurrection.  It would appear that there were some in the Corinthian fellowship who were denying the resurrection of believers (15:12), so Paul reminds them of the basis of the Gospel message that he had proclaimed to them - "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures," (15:3-5; emphasis added). He then follows a hypothetical line: "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ... ... If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ... If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied." (15: 13-14, 17, 19).

Having followed the hypothesis, he then makes the glorious claim:  "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." (15:20; emphasis added). Hallelujah!

The word is used only three other times in the New Testament, each within a resurrection and glorification context. Peter, addressing the people of Israel, said that they had "... killed the Author of life, Whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses." (Acts 3:15). 

Later, we read that Peter and the other apostles, testifying before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish leadership) stated that "The God of our fathers raised Jesus Whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His right hand as Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:30-31).

As a result of what our "Captain" has done, we should be "... looking to Jesus the Author 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." (Heb. 12:2).

The only way we could ever share in His glory is for Him to suffer and die. "For He Who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brethren," (Heb. 2:11).

If your life is confused, and confusing; if you are unsure as to which direction you should take; if the future seems to be dark, and uncertain; perhaps you need a new Captain. You know the One Whom I would recommend!