Two certainties.

In  “The Cobbler of Preston” (Christopher Bullock; 1716) appears the line, “Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes.”, and the sentiment has been echoed on a number of occasions, by a number of well-known people.

However, I would suggest that there are two other certainties, referred to by the prophet Hosea, in the book that bears his name. He writes, concerning YHWH "... He has torn, that He may heal us; He has stricken, and He will bind us up." (Hos 6:1).

I know that Almighty God punishes those who deliberately break His laws - those who are sinners in His sight. And that, as I stated on Wednesday, included my friend; it includes me; and it includes every person who has ever lived - with the solitary exception of the Lord Jesus. "... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ..." (Rom 3:23) writes Paul - and that "all" includes you and me.

However, I also know that Almighty God forgives those who repent, and turn to Him, through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus at Calvary. These are two certainties that I have sought to preach, clearly and distinctly, throughout my pastoral ministry.

On Wednesday of the past week, I conducted the funeral service for an English friend who, with his wife, had been living in France for some seven years. A brother in the Lord; John had been suffering from cancer for many months but, on the previous Thursday, his mortal body had succumbed. His widow asked that I would conduct the service because, to use her own words: "We sing from the same hymn-sheet"! She knew that I would bring the Gospel message into whatever I said at the funeral. And I did!

I commenced the message by possibly shocking some of those present with the announcement that John was not dead! What was in that coffin was the mortal body that he had been given and that he used for almost 80 years. The man that we knew – some of us better, and for longer, than others – was not there.  He was, and is, with Jesus! How could I be certain? Simply because at 45 years of age, John recognised that he was a sinner! That's the first certainty.

John had a 'church background'; He believed in the existence of God. He knew about Jesus. But, as he shared when he gave his own testimony, he didn’t have a personal relationship with the Saviour. However, in middle age, he discovered that the very God against Whom he sinned, loved him so much that He had already done something about the situation! In the Persona of the Son, Almighty God took upon Himself human flesh – that very flesh that He had created – and came to live among mankind. He lived a quiet, unassuming, hard-working, life for about 30 years but then became a wandering Teacher and, eventually, as we shall shortly be recalling at Pâques (Resurrection Day), was crucified, and buried in a borrowed tomb.

John confessed his sins, and his sinfulness; he acknowledged that he could never do anything about them; he accepted that, at Calvary, the Son paid the penalty that he deserved to pay; he was born anew of God the Holy Spirit; he became a true son of Almighty God – joint-heir with the Lord Jesus, the Christ; he moved from death to life – a life that continues even although his mortal body has reached the end.

One of John's favourite Bible verses is found in John’s account of the Gospel, in 14:6. It reads « Jesus said …, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” » There is only one way – and that is through the Lord Jesus. Anything else is counterfeit. I cannot earn my salvation; I cannot buy my salvation; I do not deserve my salvation. It is, as Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers “… the gift of God …” (2:8).

Two certainties: As surely as the sun rises in the morning, the judgement of Almighty God will come. But His mercy is just as certain for those who turn from their sin, to the new life in the Lord Jesus.

May all who read this post find that new life for themselves.

Jésus est ressuscité! Alleluia!

The words in the heading are those with which I greeted my friends at our Fellowship in Bergerac, this morning.Of course, if I had been in an English-language speaking country (with the appropriate tradition!) I would have said "The Lord is risen!", and the response would have been "He is risen indeeed!".

Language fascinates me. The difference in the words that languages use for the same concept is always interesting. I prefer the French word for today. It is "Pâques" which is very closely associated with the French word for "Passover" (Pâque). This, it seems to me, is a better description of this day on which we especially remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, as it happened at Passover (Hebrew: Pesach) time. What I do not like is the word "Easter" that is derived from the name of a pagan fertility cult goddess - hence the "easter bunny" (the natural symbol of fertility! Have you heard the one about the pair of rabbits being chased by hounds? One turned to the other and asked, "Shall we try to outrun them - or stop for five minutes and outnumber them?"!!); the chocolate egg - or the decorated hen's egg; the daffodils and tulips. 

The UK newspapers were reporting, over the past few weeks, that a number of chocolate egg manufacturers had dropped the word "easter" from their packaging. There was outrage from some (predictable?!) quarters! Personally, I was perfectly content, and not simply because I am currently not resident in the UK. One of the problems for the Body of the Christ, the Church, is that it has lost much of its distinctiveness. As I recently wrote for an English-language e-zine here in France, "Surely the church is intended to be a prophetic voice to the nation – not a subservient reflection of the social norms that, sadly, are so much at odds with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the Christ! Is it not the case that the established churches that are seeking to emulate society ..., are slowly dying as they forsake the Word on which they should be founding their message to mankind?" I went on, in that article, to quote the late Very Rev Prof Tom Torrance, MBE, D.Litt., D.D., D.Sc., Dr.Theol., Dr.Teol., F.B.A., F.R.S.E.: “The world likes a complacent, reasonable religion, and so is always ready to revere some pale Galilean image of Jesus, some meagre anaemic Messiah, and to give Him a moderate rational homage. . . . The truth is that we have often committed adultery with alien ideologies, confounded the Gospel with the religions of nature, and imbibed the wine of pagan doctrines and false principles and deceitful practices. We have sought to bend the will of God to serve the ends of man, to alter the Gospel and shape the Church to conform to the fashions of the times. We have yielded to pride and to the lust for power. We have been intimidated by the might of the beast through society, or the crowd, or the state, and betrayed, again and again, the cause of our Saviour.” (The Apocalypse Today; James Clarke & Co Ltd; 1961; p.155).

A very dear Jewish friend asked me, recently, why the resurrected Jesus did not perform other miracles during His post-resurrection appearances. My simple answer was that the resrrection, itself, was the greatest miracle that He could have performed!

In a society in which the Gospel message has been diluted, denigrated, distorted, denied, and even - as if it were possible! - attempted to be destroyed, we need the message of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus more than ever.

His resurrection was, of course, the fulfilment of a promise. After it, He made another - that He would return to this earth. That promise is, I believe, very close to being fulfilled. It is certainly closer than it was at this time last year! My wife is currently preparing for a brief visit to Scotland, later this week. How much more important, that each one of us prepare for the return of the Lord Jesus. He will come again, not as a helpless Babe, laid in a cattle-stall, but as the victorious, triumphant, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Have you prepared? If not, then I urge you to do so now - before it is too late, and you spend eternity cut off from His presence.