Lovely skin!

For some time, I have had little lesions on one side of my nose, and on part of my forehead. A gel, regularly applied, had been dealing with them for a number of years. Then, my GP retired, and the doctor who took over the practice decided that I should be looked at by a specialist. So, a hospital appointment was made and, after a few necessary cancellations, I finally was able to meet with the dermatologist who, after an examination, prescribed a more powerful ointment. For some weeks, I displayed some very red patches on my face.

However, the ointment seemed to work and, this morning (Sat.), I went for a follow-up examination. I was seen by a different doctor and, as she examined me, she said: "You have lovely skin"!!!! Well, I do not recall anyone ever having said that to me before! However, I was happy to hear it. Well, I was happy, until I gave those words some deeper thought!

You see, that very kind and complimentary doctor was looking only at my skin! If she had been able to look right inside me - not just the physical that could be viewed through x-rays, but the real me; the me that is known only to me; the thoughts that I have; the actions that I take when no-one else is around; etc., etc. - then she might would have arrived at a different conclusion!

Some will be familiar with the record of the prophet Samuel being sent, by YHWH, to the family of Jesse, so that a successor to king Saul might be anointed. The first of Jesse's sons noticed by Samuel, was Eliab, the first-born. As the prophet looked at this, apparently, fine young man of stature, he was sure that the one whom he was to anoint was before him. However, YHWH spoke to him: « ... YHWH said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for YHWH sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but YHWH looks on the heart.” » (I Sam.16:7). Then, again, through the prophet Jeremiah, YHWH makes abundantly clear the manner in which He views us: “I, YHWH, search the mind and try the heart, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jer.17:10).

I referred, above, to « the me that is known only to me ». However, those words of YHWH to Samuel, and His words through Jeremiah, remind me that that statement is not totally true! You see, the Lord knows me, inside out, and outside in - and He knows me even better than I know myself! That, as folk often say, is scary!

However, that is also where the message of the Gospel comes into play. You see, the love that Father God has for me - and for you - is so great; so beyond our comprehension; so supernatural that, in the Persona* of the Son, the Lord Jesus, He not only "... bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." (I Peter 2:24), but even "For our sake He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him [the Son] we might become the righteousness of God." (II Cor.5:21).

Please let that sink in. The holy, sinless, Creator, Who cannot even bear to look upon sin, became, in the Son, the very epitome of sin - for you, and for me. Indeed, I believe that it was at that brief moment in the time that He had created, that the Father turned His face from the beloved Son, causing the Son to utter what is often referred to as "the cry of dereliction":  "E′lo-i, E′lo-i, la′ma sabach-tha′ni?” which means, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Mk.15:34, et al).

However, the final word that Jesus spoke from the cross was the word (in Greek) "Tetelestai" = "Finished"! That was the word that was stamped on a bill to show that the bill had been paid in full. When Jesus proclaimed it, He was announcing to the whole of the universe, that the price for your sin, and mine, had been "paid in full" with His precious blood and, as we were being reminded this morning, the veil/curtain in the Temple - that signified our being separated from Father God - was torn in two, from top to bottom, showing that the way was now open for us to enter the presence of Almighty God knowing that, as we do so in the Name of the Lord Jesus, we are accepted in Him, and justified in the eyes of the Father. Hallelujah!

But this is true only for those who come to the Father, through the Son, in repentance and faith. I know that many to whom this devotion is sent have done so. I also know that there are those who have not. I urge you, to think seriously about these things. Your eternal destiny depends on your relationship with Almighty God, through the Lord Jesus. He said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me." (Jn.14:6). But, in Him, all are accepted - and that includes you! 

* This is explained, further, in my book "Great Words of the Faith", available from Amazon. (Link at the top of the page). Remember, ALL royalties are sent, directly, to Release International in support of the persecuted church.

Loving my enemy!

First of all, an apology to anyone who may have expected to receive this mailing yesterday! My wife and I are currently visiting dear friends south of Paris and, last evening, we got into a deep discussion on the thorny topic of divorce and remarriage! I shall endeavour to ensure that the next post - on the third Sunday of the month, will be sent out on time!

Last time, we looked at the parable of the Prodigal Son (or the Loving Father), as one of the best-known of the stories that Jesus of Nazareth told.

Another of those parables that is well-known even by those who make no claim to be followers of Jesus, is the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10).  Indeed, this parable has, at least in its name, become part and parcel of everyday language.  How often have you heard someone say (or maybe even said yourself) that, in a particular situation, “[Name] was a good Samaritan.”  What is usually meant is that the person helped out in what may even have been a rather insignificant way.

However, the parable goes much more deeply than that!  

The man who was travelling down the tortuous mountain road from Jerusalem to Jericho, was a Jew.  After he had been attacked, robbed, stripped, and left for dead, the first person to come along the road was a Jewish priest.  It would appear that he was travelling up the road towards Jerusalem, presumably to take up his duties in the Temple.  He saw the man, but “passed by on the other side” because, if he had touched a dead body, he would have been barred from the Temple service.  Then came a Levite – another Temple worker – and, for the same reason, he too “passed by on the other side”.

The poor man, who may have managed, through barely-opened eyelids, to see these fellow-Jews; these ‘pillars of society’; these religious personages; pass by, must have been in deep despair.  Suddenly, he heard the clip-clop of a donkey.  He peered through his bruised eyes and, to his horror, saw a Samaritan! 

Now, to understand his reaction, we must realise that Jews and Samaritans, in that culture, hated each other with a passion that would have made the feelings of certain football club supporters towards one another seem like genuine fondness by comparison!  What would this man do?  Would he take advantage of the situation, and ‘kick the man while he was down’?  How amazed the victim would have been to be so gently, and carefully, tended to by this member of a hated ethnicity!  Not only that, but when they reached the next inn, the Samaritan paid for him to stay there until he had recovered – and assured the innkeeper that if the injured man needed to stay longer than had been paid for, he would settle the account on his next trip!  By the way, he must have had a good reputation to be thus trusted!

Of course, this is what Jesus had taught in what we usually refer to as "the Sermon on the Mount" (Matt. 5-7) where we read: «You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.» (Matt 5:43-48).

The priest and the Levite allowed duty, even "religious" duty, to get in the way of helping a fellow-man.  The Samaritan helped his fellow-man, even ‘though it meant overcoming ethnic hatred.

I wonder what you or I would have done – or would do – in a similar situation.

It’s a thought! 

Sowing seed; presenting Jesus.

This morning, I was able to tune in to the online worship service provided by the Harvest Church in Hamilton (Lanarkshire!). The pastor,Willie Watt, was speaking on the well-known parable of Jesus: The sower and the seed. His main point, if I understood him correctly, was that the responsibility of the believer to sow that seed - the Gospel message. However, it is only a work of God the Holy Spirit in the heart of the individual, that will bring about that change known as 'conversion'.

In John 7, the apostle records that Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He went to the Temple, and was teaching openly. Some of the people wondered if the authorities really knew that He was the Christ - the Messiah. The Pharisees heard these questions and, with the chief priests, sent Temple officers to arrest Jesus. These men listened to Jesus, and returned to the chief priests and the Pharisees - without Him! We read, in vs.45-46: "The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring Him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"

The testimony of the Temple police to the matchless power of Jesus' teaching is most telling! Sent to arrest Him, they were so impressed by Him that they could not do so - risking the fury of their masters! If people will take the time and trouble to really look at Jesus - not, as my former minister, the Rev. George B Duncan often said, at the church; or at Christians; or at the clergy - but at what He said, and what He did, they cannot be anything but impressed! T.R.Glover, a Cambridge University lecturer in Classical Literature, wrote: "Jesus remains the very heart and soul of the Christian movement, still controlling men, still capturing men - against their will, often - changing men's lives,and using them for ends they never dreamed of." 

The challenge of this to present-day disciples of Jesus seems to be: Be uncompromising in presenting the Lord Jesus! Or, as Pastor Watt might have put it ths morning - Be bold in sowing the seed of the Gospel! Perhaps some of us are so side-tracked into "doing good works in His Name" that we forget to mention the Name itself - sometimes because of a mistaken idea that we may embarrass people; sometimes, to our shame, to spare our own embarrassment.

It is the business of the disciple of Jesus to present Him to the world. "... Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt 28:18-20). It is the business of the disciple of Jesus to make it clear that He has a rightful claim on our lives. No amount of "do-gooding" will, by itself, achieve that. Paul wrote to the early believers in Rome: "... But how are men to call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?" (Rom 10:14).

Whilst there is no record of any of the Temple police having become followers of the Nazarene because of what they had heard, their reaction is impressive. Our own bold, and unhesitating offer of the Saviour to our contempraries might well have surprising results! And, if we are not yet, ourselves, His disciples, then looking to Him, and to Him alone, may be sufficient to lead us to full salvation.

Running "posthaste" for the Master.

"End of the world FEARS as THREE Apocalyptic signs come true in MONTHS"

This was the headline a day or two ago! It was fuelled by three events taking place within just a few months, allegedly echoing scriptures about the end of the world. These are: the birth of a red heifer in Israel; the claim that the Dead Sea is now populated by fish and other forms of life (with a reference to Ezekiel 47:8-9 - but no mention that the picture given there depends on water that has flowed from the Temple!); and a snake slithering out from the Western Wall on Oct 31st.

Of course, there is only one relevant Scripture in this context. Referring to the end of the age, Jesus said: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." (Matt.24:36).

However, although we may not know the day and the hour, there are many genuine signs (not just three doubtful ones!) that we are, indeed, in the end times. How do disciples of Jesus react to this? Sadly, it would appear that many who claim to be Christians remain unmoved and complacent in their attitude. This means that, with the exponentially explosion in the population on the one hand, and the lethargy of professed believers on the other, we are losing out on the great task of going and making disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded us. (see. Matt 28:19-20).

In the light of this, someone has made the point that, "We must go posthaste and full throttle if we are to reach this dying generation with God's message of hope and salvation."

"full throttle" most of us will understand. But what about "posthaste"? Well, the word goes back all the way to the time of Henry VIII, king of England. At that time, postmasters were given relays of horses to carry messages for the king to important cities of the realm. Because some couriers were irresponsible, and wasted time in taverns and inns on the way, a drastic law was put into effect demanding that every dispatch rider should "ride for his life"! 

The king's edict meant that anyone caught delaying his messages would be publicly hanged! Often, upon particularly important messages, the figure of a man suspended from a gallows, was drawn. Beneath this was the ominous warning: "Haste, post, haste! Haste for thy life!" A number of men were put to death because of their inefficiency, but the practice was eventually discontinued. However, the old expression remains as a reminder that the utmost speed and urgency is required when the king's business is involved.

Writing to the believers in Corinth, the apostle Paul states that we,who claim His name, are ambassadors for the Lord Jesus (II Cor.5:20). Are we, as His ambassadors running "posthaste" to deliver His message of love and grace to others? "The harvest is plentiful," said Jesus, "but the labourers are few; pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest." (Matt.9:37-38). There is, let us not forget, a compelling GO in the GOspel!

The emptiness of a Godless life.

There is an old limerick that goes: 

"A cheerful old bear in the zoo

could always find something to do.

When it bored him, you know,

to walk to and fro,

he reversed it, and walked fro and to!"

Perhaps the composer of that bit of doggerel believed that people could learn from the bear. Certainly, bears appear to be content as long as they have sufficient food to eat, and some other bears for company. A lot of we humans could, indeed, learn a valuable lesson from such an example!

The prophet Haggai, whose prophetic book is found in the Tanakh (the Old Testament in the Bible), lived at the time when the Children of Israel had returned from the Babylonian exile, and he discovered that man cannot find happiness when he lives at the level of even the highest animal. His contemporaries ignored the fact that the Temple had not been rebuilt (Note to the so-called Palestinians, and the members of UNESCO - this was a long time before the false 'prophet', Muhammad had even been born!), although they had provided, for themselves, finely constructed houses, and occupied themselves with worldly affairs.

However, their harvests were poor; their clothing was inadequate; and their wages failed to keep up with the rising costs that resulted from inflation! The prophet uttered the word of YHWH: "You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes." (1:6). The prophet told them to re-examine their priorities, as they were reaping a harvest of unhappiness by putting selfish pleasures first.

Whenever people forget the Lord, and concern themselves with the pursuit of material and sensual things, they are - at least in the long run - poorly rewarded. The rich find little true satisfaction in their abundance, and the remaining multitudes, who are not even particularly rich, end up discontented, disillusioned, and bored with life. The reason for this is that God made us in His own image, and for His glory, and we can never find true joy until we obey the instruction of the Lord Jesus to: "... seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, ..." (Matt.6:33). Only then will we sow and reap abundantly, and eat and be truly filled. Augustine said: "You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." A modern version of that says "There's a God-shaped blank in every heart that only God can fill."

If you are aware of an emptiness in your life, that the so-called pleasures of life are failing to satisfy, then I commend the Lord Jesus to you. He came, He assured us, that you "... may have life, and have it abundantly." (Jn.10:10). That life - eternal life - is available to you, today.

Ivy - and sin (Part 3).

At the back of the house in Gardonne are some fruit trees.  We have a pear tree (sorry, no partridge!); a cherry tree; and two apricot trees!  They all need some TLC, and both pruning and feeding but, next year,we hope that we might have a reasonable crop.  Actually,  I started the pruning of the pear tree, yesterday - and gathered 27lbs of pears in the process.  That is without any care!

However, while one of the apricot trees has a reasonable amount of fruit, the other has next to nothing.  The reason for this is, I suspect (I make no claim to any level of horticultural expertise!) the fact that the bottom half of the trunk was smothered with ivy!  I have managed to remove all of it but, if I am correct, then this demonstrates another aspect of sin.

Perhaps, at this point, I should remind you of the definition of sin!  According to the Shorter Catechism, "Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God."  In other words, sin is not simply 'breaking the law' - although, for example, if I rob a bank; commit murder, or rape; or give false testimony in a court of law; I have sinned.  However, there is much that I do - and much that I fail to do - that does not break human law, but is still sin in the sight of Almighty God!

A major problem with sin is that it usually appears to be attractive!  I am not going to be tempted into a sinful sexual liaison with someone whom I consider to be ugly!  I am not going to be tempted to break into a toy-shop, and steal all of the Monopoly money!  I am not going to car-jack 30-year-old rust-bucket with smoke billowing from the exhaust!  I am only going to be tempted if the woman is, in my eyes, beautiful; if the money that I am able to steal is in a recognised currency; if the car is a latest model of an expensive marque!

However, as the old adage has it "All that glisters is not gold", and that is never more true than when we sin.  I start that affair - and then discover that it costs me my marriage, my home, my family, my personal integrity.  I steal that money - and then realise that I am going to have to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.  I take that car - and find out that I am unable to handle such a high-powered vehicle, as I take a bend in the road at too fast a speed, and end up in hospital (if not the Morgue!).

Just as the ivy sucks the life out of a tree, so sin sucks the very life out of we human beings.  Praise God that there is an answer.  He has promised that "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (I Cor 10:13).

When the Lord Jesus hung on the cross at Calvary, He not only bore your sins, and mine, in His own body (see I Pet.2:24), but He actually became sin (II Cor.5:21), in all of its putrefaction, and ugliness, and nastiness, and blackness.  I believe that it was at that moment in human time that He uttered what is usually referred to as 'the cry of dereliction' - "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34).  But Mark continues his account: "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."  That great cry was a single word: "Tetelestai" - "Finished"!  This was not the weak whimper of one who had decided to give up!  It was the mighty shout of triumph of One Who had completed the work that the Father had given Him to do.  And, with the veil of the Temple ripped in two, the way was made open for you, and for me, to enter directly into the presence of the Almighty, Creator God.

Don't let sin suck the life out of you!  You see, it's not just your natural life that is effected, but also your eternal destiny.  The choice is yours - eternity in His nearer presence; or eternity cut off from Him - and aware, too late, of your own foolishness in rejecting, or even neglecting, His claim upon you.  May you, if you have not already done so, "Come to Him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (I Peter 2:4-5).

Building Your Home

A great and wise man once called one of his workmen to him saying, "Go into the far country and build for me a house. The decisions of planning and of actual construction will be yours, but remember, I shall come to accept your work for a very special friend of mine."

And so the workman departed with a light heart for his field of labour. Material of all kinds was plentiful here, but the workman had a mind of his own. "Surely," he thought, "I know my business. I can use a bit of inferior material here, and cheat on my workmanship a little there, and still make the finished work look good. Only I will know that what I have built has weaknesses."

And so, at last the work was completed and the workman reported back to the great and wise man. "Very good," he said. "Now you remember that I wanted you to use only the finest materials and craftsmanship in this house because I wanted to make present of it? My friend, you are the one I had you build it for. It is all yours."

How much like us. We come to earth as strangers. We have free will. We may build our lives as we like. But on "that Day" each of us will receive what (s)he has built for an eternal home and habitation.

Jesus said:"Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it." (Matt 7:24-27; RSV).

For those of us who own the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour, Paul has this to say: "According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it.  For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay , straw - each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are." (I Cor 3:10-17; RSV).

Be careful how, and what, you build!

Communication is free!

According to an item in today's newspapers, the film star Brad Pitt - or, at least, the Canadian film distribution company, Alliance - is charging journalists at the Cannes Film Festival £2,000 for a twenty-minute interview about his latest film!  The same price is being asked for interviews with Kristen Stewart, about her latest film.  Interviews with other "stars" may be arranged for a bargain £1,200 - and I must confess that I would far rather pay that sum for twenty minutes with the delightful Nicole Kidman, than 66% more for the same time with Mr Pitt!  Of course, I am a man!!  By the way, if anyone wishes to interview me (!!), I'll be happy with a voluntary donation!

So why would anyone wish to pay for the privilege of providing these "stars" with the very publicity that they seem to crave, and without which most of their effort would go unrewarded?  I suppose that it's partly to do with the "celebrity culture" in which we, in the so-called 'developed' world live.  Yet I've just been viewing some photographs, posted on Facebook by a former pupil who is currently involved in voluntary work in Malawi - bringing contraceptive and other health advice to people who probably don't even know where Cannes is - and may never have heard of Brad Pitt!  I reckon that she is much more worthy of £2,000 for an interview about the work that she is doing!

Of course, as a disciple of Jesus, I speak with Him every day.  Now that's speaking with a Celebrity!  In spite of what some may think, and claim, He is much better known than even Brad Pitt (or Nicole Kidman!).  It was the late John Lennon, of The Beatles, who (in?)famously said, in 1966, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first-rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."  However, while even the name of John Lennon is barely known to those who are currently under 40 years of age, Jesus marches on!

My daily conversation with the Lord has another great benefit.  He doesn't charge me £2,000 (or even £1,200!).  In fact, the heart of the Christian Gospel, or Good News, is that He has already paid the price.  Before He came to this earth, there was a great veil, or curtain, separating the Most Holy Place in the Jewish Tabernacle and, later, Temple from the Holy Place.  This was the barrier that came between sinful mankind, and the Holy God.  But when Jesus, on the cross, gave that mighty shout "Tetelesthai" (Finished), that curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom.  It was as if Father God had reached down from the eternal heaven, and ripped it apart.  And the result?  The way was now clear for you, and for me, to enter His presence; "... to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, ..." (Heb 10:19-20; RSV).

A third benefit is that my conversation is not confined to any one subject.  I can bring everything, however important or trivial, to Him.  He is interested in every moment, and every matter, in my life.  He has a perfect plan for me, and longs to share it with me.  And He is always available to me.  He hears my every word.  He knows my every thought.

The great privilege of speaking with the Creator, and Redeemed, of mankind is totally free.  "Eat your heart out, Brad!"

Why was Jesus crucified?

Sometimes, my mind wanders all over the place!  Sometimes, it even arrives at a worthy destination!  This afternoon, while working-out on the cross-trainer (was there some sort of psychological word-association?!), I found myself thinking of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, on the cross at Calvary.  The question that arose in my mind was simple: Why did He have to die such a horrible, bloody, death?  Why was He not knocked unconscious, and then suffocated?  Why did He not drown?  Why was He not starved to death?  Why did He not just die in His sleep?  Why did he have to shed blood?

The answer, I knew, is found in the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus: "... under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." (Heb 9:22; RSV).

It was so from the very beginning.  When our first human parents sinned, they tried to cover their sin by their own efforts.  "... they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons." (Gen 3:7; RSV).  This wouldn't do.  So, we read, a little later on in the narrative that "... YHWH Elohim made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them." (Gen 3:21; RSV).  Father God made a covering of skin - and that required, not only the death of an animal, but a bloody death - as anyone who has skinned an animal will know.  "... without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins."

For years; for decades; for centuries; for millennia; this was the pattern.  In the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple, the Jewish priests would offer blood-sacrifices for the sins of the people.  Once each year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest went into the innermost sanctuary - the Holy of Holies - taking blood from the sacrifice and sprinkling it on the Mercy Seat that formed the lid for the Ark of the Covenant, "... for himself and for the errors of the people." (Heb 9:7; RSV).  "... without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins."

"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption." (Heb 9:11-12; RSV).

The hymnwriter put it like this: "Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain, could give the guilty conscience paece, or wash away the stain.  But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away; a sacrifice of nobler Name, and richer blood than they." (Isaac Watts).

He shed His blood, that I (and you!) might be saved; that there might be no further need for animal sacrifice.  As He hung on the cross, and just before He died, He uttered one word: "Tetelesthai" ("Finished"; John 19:30).  But this wasn't the weak whimper of someone who has realised that he has been vanquished; that all of his struggling has been of no avail.  This was the mighty, triumphant, shout of One Who knew that He had completed the work for which He had taken on human flesh.

Mrs Alexander got it right in another of the old (and, often, more theologically accurate!) songs: "He died that we might be forgiven; He died to make us good.  That we might go, at last to heaven, saved by His precious blood."

Paul wrote: "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us." (Eph 1:7-8; RSV); while Peter reminds us: "... you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." (I Peter 1:18-20; RSV); and John assures us that "... the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." (I John 1:7; RSV).

"Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow!  No other fount I know - nothing but the blood of Jesus." (R.Lowry).

At my first (physical) birth, when I was delivered from my mother's womb, I was covered with blood that would have been, almost immediately, washed off.   When I was born again, it was the blood - the shed blood of Jesus - that cleansed me, and made me whole!

Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!  Have you been washed in the blood?  Have you?!

Caring for the body!

I discovered, to day, that I am one of a very select group of people in Scotland. A survey, conducted by no less prestigious an organisation than the University of Glasgow, concluded that 97.5% of the population of Scotland smokes, drinks (alcohol), is obese, has a poor diet (but plenty of food!), or takes no exercise. Indeed, some 20% are 'guilty' of either four or five of these 'activities'.

So, here I am - a non-smoking, teetotal, five-a-day, trim-figured, twice-a-week at the gym for a planned workout, man. One of only 2.5% who, it would appear, can make such a claim!

Of course, I suppose that part of the reason for this is my personal attitude towards my physical body. Paul, writing to the disciples of Jesus in ancient Corinth - a city renowned for its excess in all manner of physical activities - asks the pointed question: "... do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" (I Cor 6:19; NKJV) And he continues with a word of exhortation: "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (I Cor 6:20; NKJV).

This, I believe, is a reminder that even my physical body is part of the stewardship that the Lord has entrusted to me. It is not mine to abuse in any way. It is the dwelling-place of God the Holy Spirit - the third Persona of the Trinity. I am not doing anything special when I do my best to look after it - I am only doing the least that I ought to do!

Does this mean that every disciple of Jesus should be the same as me? Heaven forbid - as Paul would also say! However, it may be a timely reminder, to quote Paul again: "... why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say,

'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.'

Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. " (Rom 14:10-13; NLT)

The important part of that quotation may be, not the reminder that I am not here to judge others, but that each of us will answer to Almighty God for our own lives - and lifestyles!