A work in progress!

Best-selling novelist, the Anglo-Canadian author Arthur Hailey (1920-2004), is recorded as having said of his fictional characters: "I don't think I really invented anybody. I have drawn on real life." When readers open a book by this author, they encounter ordinary people who have been placed, by the author, in extraordinary situations.

Do you realise that Father God often does the same thing?! In Dr Luke's second volume - known to us as the Book of the Acts of the Apostles (although, more accurately, the Acts of God the Holy Spirit, through apostolic men!) - and in chapter 4, we find two ordinary people, the fishermen Peter and John, having been placed in an unexpected situation, being witnesses to the reality of the risen Lord Jesus. These men who, with the rest of the band of disciples had fled when their Master was arrested, were now boldly facing threats and punishment, for nothing other than telling people about Him.

The context is that, on the previous day, they "... were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at that gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to ask alms of those who entered the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, with John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him." (Acts 3:1-10)

The two responded to this amazement by proclaiming the Gospel message - 3: 12-26 - and, we read in Acts 4, that "... the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead." (4:1-2). The Sadducees, of course, did not believe that there was any such thing as a resurrection (that is why they were "sad, you see"! Theological humour!).

Having been kept in custody overnight, Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin - the supreme Jewish Council - who wanted to know how they had performed the miracle on the lame man. This gave Peter another opportunity to preach the Gospel! (vs.8-12). His preaching was so powerful that even these authorities, who opposed the followers of "the Way", were astonished as "... they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men,". But "... they recognized that they had been with Jesus."! (v.13).

Most, if not all, of us are ordinary people in a real life of work, relationships, and everyday circumstances. But Father God is looking for ordinary people to do extraordinary work for Him! Our opportunities to demonstrate the reality of the Lord Jesus may sometimes come disguised as difficulties - as they did for Peter and John, and other disciples as recorded by Dr Luke.

However, if you read Peter's response to the Sanhedrin, you will have noticed the secret in v.8 - "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said ...". Even as ordinary people, we can have an extraordinary impact for the Saviour if we will trust the Author of our circumstances, and rely on the indwelling power of God the Holy Spirit. We are, as a friend from many years ago often pointed out "works in progress"! However, if it is true that we are "with Jesus" then that work will continue under His masterful guidance. Paul, writing to the believers in Philippi, assured them that "...  I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (1:6). They, too, were "works in progress", but that work would be completed. 

May that be the ongoing experience of all who read this post, as we see all around us, indications that the final prophecies are being fulfilled, and the Rapture of the saints of God is rapidly approaching!

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.

Looking for a sign?

It was in Glasgow, this morning, that I was faced with the question in the heading! It was on a large billboard - and was actually advertising said billboard. However, the question set my mind off! I thought of the year that has passed, and the number of "signs" each of which was going to be, we were assured, the sign that heralded the "end of the world"! Of course, as I am here today, typing this, I must assume that all of those signs were, to put it as delicately as possible, "misread"!

People, it would appear, are always "looking for a sign". It may be the special gift that signifies "I love you". It may be the "Well done" that signifies that the boss is pleased with one's efforts. It may be the 'look across a crowded room' that signifies a romantic interest. It may be the handshake that signifies that a deal is acceptable to both sides. There are even those who claim to be experts in body language and who can tell more from the movements of my hands; the way in which I am standing; the look in my eyes; than from the words that I actually speak.

Not surprisingly, the written Word of God - the Bible - mentions signs more than once my online concordance has almost 250 references to "sign" and its associated words!). Right at the beginning we read: "And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, ..." (Gen.1:14). Later on, and after the Flood, God says to Noah: "I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." (Gen.9:13).

Many of us recalled one of those signs just a couple of weeks ago! In Isaiah 7, we read of the word of YHWH to Ahaz, king of Judah (the southern kingdom), when the latter refused to ask for a sign from YHWH. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Imman′u-el." (v.14). Now I know that the Hebrew word "almaah" may be translated simply as "young woman"./ However, God the Holy Spirit, Who inspired the Biblical writers made the situation crystal clear for even sceptical people in the 21st century AD. When the seventy (or, possibly, seventy-two - six from each of the twelve tribes) translators of the Hebrew text into the more common Greek language in use in the 3rd century BC, came to that verse, they used the Greek word "parthenos" - and that can only mean "virgin".

However, one of the most important references, in terms of what was being claimed over the past year, is found in Paul's second letter to the believers in Thessalonica: "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet Him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by His appearing and His coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2:1-12; emphases added).

Whatever 2018 may hold, I will state, with Biblical authority, that the day of the Lord will not take place until the signs that have been prophesied as preceding it have taken place. I would encourage you to read all of Matthew 12, Matthew 16, and Matthew 24, (and the rest of the Bible, for that matter!!) but here are just a few verses from each of those chapters: "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from You.” But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." (12:38-39); "And the Pharisees and Sad′ducees came, and to test Him they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So He left them and departed." (16:1-4); "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (24:29-31).

May you know the blessing of Almighty God throughout this coming year - and may you be among those who seek "... to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good deeds." (Titus 2:12-14).

A blessèd New Year to one and all.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

The title to this post is, as many will recognise, the first line of an old Negro spiritual - songs that were sung by African slaves in the cotton plantations of the southern states of the "New World" of North America.  The answer, of course, is that all of us were represented as the Lamb, slain from before the foundation of the world, hung on that old rugged Cross.

But who was there, physically, on that day almost 2,000 years ago?  Well, there were the men who engineered His death - the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  The Pharisees were teachers of the Mosaic Law.  They ran the schools and synagogues and, in a sense, considered themselves to be the national conscience of the Jewish people.  They were men of high moral character.   Jesus, Himself, said "... unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 5:20).  They certainly had very strict attitude to life and their religious beliefs. They accepted the Scriptures (our Old Testament) as the Word of God.  Why should such men have wanted to destroy Jesus?  Simply because he was a threat to their status and authority!  They regarded it as their sole prerogative to keep the nation together spiritually, so when Jesus said: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." (John 14:6), they were angered to the point of scheming His death.  They are an illustration of how men who are moral and upright can go wrong!

Then there were the Sadducees.  They were a group of aristocratic priests who were not only the spiritual leaders of the people, but also statesmen.  At the time when the Lord Jesus lived out His incarnate life, they were more concerned about politics than spirituality, and went out of their way to maintain good relationships with the occupying Roman forces.  Concerned for their own position, they were concerned that Jesus might start an insurrection that would bring the might of Imperial Rome down upon them, and upon the nation.  The well-known words of their leader - the High Priest, Caiaphas: "... that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." (John 11:50), reveal the deep intent of their hearts.  They saw the Lord as a hindrance to their self-interest and self-concerns.  So, because it seemed to them to be expedient, they had Him nailed to a Cross.

This topic is going to take two posts, but permit me to mention one other person. He was not physically present at the crucifixion - but was instrumental in bringing it about.  His name was Judas Iscariot.  I don't know what a modern psycho-analyst would discover if he could have Judas Iscariot on his consulting room couch for a full session.  However, two questions surely arise when we look at this man - how could anyone who had know the Christ so well; who hard lived with Him, travelled with Him, dined with Him, listened to His teaching; do such a traitorous thing? Secondly, why would he do it for such a paltry sum of money - the price laid down for a slave!? (see Ex.21:32).  The only answer with which we may come up is that it was a mixture of greed, and attempting to 'force the hand' of Jesus. He may have travelled with the Lord, but did he ever enter into a genuine relationship with Him?  

In the very first sermon that I ever preached - almost fifty years ago! - I made the point that there were those who sit in church buildings, Sunday by Sunday, without any serious commitment to the Christ in their hearts.  They may persuade themselves that, because they have gone through certain ecclesiastical rituals, and have their names on a membership roll, that they are "Christians"! However, they are merely using the name, without any real relationship to the Lord.  Judas Iscariot would seem to have been of that ilk!

Of course, when we look at these people, we must also look at ourselves.   Perhaps at this mid-point of this Holy Week, we need to check who is in control in our lives. Does Jesus have full authority - or is He a threat to the authority we want to retain for ourselves?  Are we more concerned for our own position in society, than for His honour and glory?   Do we have a genuine relationship with Jesus - or are we depending on externals?  These are important questions.  They are personal questions.  They are questions that need to be asked - and answered - honestly!