February 10, 2018

"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever."  Revelation 22:1-5

Heaven is too awesome to describe!

Heaven is only accessible to disciples.

Heaven is of amazing dimensions.

Today we will learn the fourth big insight about Heaven - Heaven is an ever-after dwelling!

Finally, God will rejoice with His people in the perfectly restored Paradise He created for them. For centuries He has awaited this moment when the enemies of righteousness are destroyed and holiness rules! 

Never again will pain be felt!

Never again will tears flow!

Never again will sadness furrow a brow.

Never again will death be feared.

Never again will darkness happen.

Never again will evil be thought or done.

Never again will the curse reign over man. It will be lifted and destroyed forever!

There is a crystal river that flows with living water all the time forever!

On either bank of the river are trees continually bearing life-giving fruit! Every month it bears a different delicious fruit!

The Son will serve as the Sun and fill Heaven with a pure and perfect light - continually forever!

The Father and the Son will reign from their thrones justly and generously and powerfully forever and forever!

Every long in your heart will be satisfied forever and ever!

This can be your forever future if your name is found in the Book of Life!

Is your name in the Book of Life?

February 9, 2018

"The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life." Revelation 21:15-27

So we are finally catching a glimpse of Heaven via John's revelation as recorded in Scripture book by the same name!

It is amazing! In fact, it is too awesome to actually describe but too amazing to deny!

Heaven is only accessible to disciples of Jesus Christ who make disciples for Jesus Christ.

Today we learn that Heaven is of amazing dimensions!

While much of Heaven is described in subjective terms that stretch the imagination here John gives measurements than can be quantitatively understood. While everything else about Heaven is infinite this is the one thing that is definite!

John tells us Heaven is shaped like a cube 12,000 stadia wide, 12,000 stadia high and 12,000 stadia deep. In modern measurements that factors to 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles! That's large!

Is there a reason it is shaped like a cube?

I'm glad you asked! That is a great question! The reason it is shaped like a cube is because the area in the Tabernacle known as the Holy of Holies was shaped as a cube 15'x15'x15'! That was where the Ark of the Covenant resided and God's presence dwelt!

And in the Temple built by Solomon the Holy of Holies was also shaped as a cube!

So what does this tell us?

Another great question!

What happened in the Holy of Holies? An encounter with God's presence happened! In other words it was the place where high worship occurred!

So by revealing these dimensions John is not only revealing how huge Heaven will be but what will be going on there - WORSHIP!!! Heaven is designed to be a place where we will dwell in the presence of God enjoying communion and worship continually! Heaven will be filled with the Glory of God!

What else does this tell us about Heaven?

It testifies to the majesty of God that His presence can fill an area that vast! You can be at the center point of the cube or at any distant corner of the cube and it will make no difference in His presence!

I believe the vast dimensions of Heaven show us that God made Heaven large enough to have room for every person who ever lived. The Bible makes it plain that God was not willing any should miss Heaven and perish in Hell. I believe on the authority of Scripture that God designed Heaven to be big enough for EVERYONE! 

Tragically, not everyone will be there.

Will you?

Have you made sure your name is in the Book of Life?

February 8, 2018

"It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Revelation 21:12-14

Yesterday I established that Heaven is too awesome to describe but it is sure fun to try! Language has its limits but the majesty of Heaven does not.

The second fact about Heaven revealed in this text is that Heaven is only accessible to disciples.

Isn't it interesting that Jesus' last words on earth were an admonition to "make disciples"? Now it has even greater significance!

Notice there are twelve gates that grant access to Heaven. At each gate stands an angel and on each gate is the name of one of Jacob's sons representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

How wonderful is that?

God called Abraham to be the Father of a Great Nation that He could use to call people to Himself. To become the Father of a nation he must first become a father. And eventually God kept his promise by giving Abraham and Sarah a son they named Isaac. Isaac then had Jacob and Jacob's twelve sons were the Fathers of the Twelve Tribes.

For all of eternity we will be reminded of how God sought us and opened the way for us to enter His Heaven!

And the foundations of this eternal city are the Twelve Apostles! And where did the Twelve Apostles come from? They were discipled by Jesus!

So, this glorious, gleaming and eternal city is built on the foundation of discipleship for the purpose of becoming the everlasting home of disciples who have made other disciples!

Making disciples is not only the mandate for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ but it is also the means by how each of us will ultimately arrived there!

Describing Heaven

"One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." Revelation 21:9-11

Well, I finally got around to actually talking about Heaven! You may be thinking, "It's about time!"

I will do my best to present you with as clear of a view as possible but like much of Revelation there are as many questions raised as there are answers given within the cryptic descriptions offered.

But in the Apostle John's defense, heaven is too awesome to describe but to amazing to deny! Too spectacular to imagine but too certain to ignore!

I'm sure you have had moments in your earthly life that defy description so imagine how hard it would be to describe a vision of Heaven?

How do you put into words the first time you saw the face of your newborn child and heard the cries? There are no words for that are there? 

What about the sense of awe you experienced watching the sun rise over the ocean or set behind the silhouette of the Blue Ridge mountain range? How do you describe that? Are there adjectives to accurately express those emotions?

Years ago I was enjoying dinner with family at a restaurant on a pier on the San Francisco Bay in Sausalito, California. We watched as the setting sun reflected off the San Francisco skyline across the Bay and literally illuminated it with a golden glow! For the space of maybe ten minutes I got a glimpse of the sort of brilliance John attempts to describe in this passage. 

I wish you could have been there with me so you could have seen it for yourself because there is no way I can accurately describe it to you. There is no way I can do it justice. 

That must be what John was struggling with as he tried to write down what the angel was revealing to him during his vision of Heaven.

This city gleamed with the brilliance of the beauty of the holiness and the glory of God! It was a the purest whitest light that he had ever seen! If you were able to stack up the purest pile of precious gems to be found on earth and they were to catch the glare of a noonday sun, you may be able to relate to what John saw that day!

John must have been a little frustrated as he searched in vain to conjure words descriptive enough to express what he saw and what he felt in those glorious moments of the Revelation! And while he did the best he could under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I believe his ultimate goal is to awaken a longing within us to want to see it for ourselves!

I want to see it some day!

Do you?

I have made myself ready through the grace of God in Christ Jesus to someday see that city with my own eyes!

Have you?

February 6, 2018

"One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Revelation 21:9-27   

Have you ever had one of those moments when you saw something or experienced something that was so overwhelming that you couldn't come up with an adequate way or words to describe it?

I'll bet you have!

I know I have!

The first time I saw Lake Tahoe from a vantage point some 1,500 feet above it in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It literally took my breath away. It was a spiritual experience! All I could utter was, "Wow!" All I could think was, "God, you're just showing off!"

I wish I could go back there and take you with me to share that view! I'd like to hear what you would say!

Then there was the day I sat in a restaurant on a pier in Saulsalito, California gazing across the San Francisco Bay as the setting sun gleamed off the San Francisco skyline and made it appear to be a literal city of gold! It was stunning! I was on emotional overload! No adjective can describe it!

I wanted to share that moment with everyone I love!

I'll never forget the first time I stood at the rim of the massive Victoria Falls on the Zambian side in Africa. It was an exhilarating attack on the senses! I heard the roar of the waters! I saw the majesty of the plunging Zambezi River! I felt the mist on my face and tasted it on my lips. I smelled the surrounding elements of water, vegetation and earth. No wonder it is listed as a natural wonder of the world!

The emotions, the memories and the images forged on my consciousness will never be forgotten nor can never be adequately captured in words!

I share those experiences only because they give me a touch point with the Apostle John as he struggles to record on parchment what is being revealed to him in a spiritual vision.

Even under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit there are so many limits to the language and the human imagination! Think about trying to describe 21st Century events from a 1st century point of reference!

That is what is happening in the 21st and 22nd Chapter of Revelation. It is all too wonderful and amazing to express!

Even someone as literate, intelligent and articulate as the Apostle Paul struggled for descriptives as he told of the vision he received when caught up into the heavens.

The point of all this is to remind you that the best descriptions of Heaven attempted by inspired men will fall far short of what we will see with our own eyes some day!

So, stretch your imagination to it's limits and open your spirit to His inspiration!









                                                   

February 5, 2018

I’m convinced that one of the most difficult things that the Scripture asks us to do is found in Romans 12:15. That verse says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

Now the mourning part is not so hard. If there are those who are having a difficult time in life, going through trials and tribulations, we can usually muster up enough sympathy and empathy to hold their hand and provide a shoulder for them to cry on, maybe even to cry with them,and to pray for them during their difficulties.

But to “rejoice with those who rejoice” may be harder.

"It is, indeed, more difficult to congratulate another on his success, especially if his success involves disappointment to us, than it is to sympathize with his sorrow and his loss. It is only when self is dead that we can take as much joy in the success of others as in our own" (Barclay, p. 182). "

Now, it is pretty easy to rejoice at the wedding of a friend if you’re happily married. But if you’re single, and you’d like to be married; if you’re lonely and feel rejected, then an invitation to someone else’s wedding may be a pretty difficult thing to handle.

You drive an old car that’s showing its age, and then your neighbor buys a brand new SUV.

Your sister’s kids are all star athletes and honor students and yours act like juvenile delinquents.

Someone else at the office gets a promotion and a raise, and you don’t, even though you have seniority. It is kind of hard sometimes, isn’t it, to “rejoice with those who rejoice” ?

You see, one of the difficulties is that when something good happens to others, we often compare ourselves to them. “Well, I’m smarter than they are.” Or, “I work harder than they do.” Or, “They’re just lucky. They get all the breaks, and I don’t.”

Imagine that you are at an NFL game with a friend. You were given two free tickets to the Redskins game and so you invited him to go with you. These are the best seats you have ever had! You can’t believe your good fortune. It turns out to be a great game and they are winning big against the Cowboys and you have a great view of it all. With every big play , you and your friend jump up and rejoice together, high-fiving and cheering for the home team. You rejoice with those who rejoice. But then, between the third and fourth, a voice comes over the P.A. and announces that someone in the stadium is going to win a new house, a new car, a dream vacation. He announces the level, the section, the row. It is someone in your row! But when he reads the seat number you see that your friend is sitting in that seat. He has won. You have not. They were your tickets. You invited him. You just happened to sit the wrong seat. Technically, both are your seats. But he got the big prize package – you didn’t! Now how easy is it to rejoice with those who rejoice? Suddenly you are overwhelmed with feelings of anger, envy, discontentment. You pretend to be happy, but inside you mutter and complain. You hate your friend and want what he has been given.

To rejoice with others when they are rejoicing is a hard thing to ask. Especially when things aren't going as well with you. God is asking you to be as happy for others as you would be if the good thing was happening to you.

Are you able to do that?

If you can, it is an indication that God's sincere love is at work in you. If not, there is some work to be done.

February 4, 2018

“There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores.“Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I’m in agony in this fire.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and you’re tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’ “The rich man said, ‘Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won’t end up here in this place of torment.’ “Abraham answered, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.’ “‘I know, Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but they’re not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.’ “Abraham replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they’re not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:19-31

This parable is only recorded in Luke. It is addressed primarily to the Pharisees but since you and I have a little Pharisee in us it wouldn't hurt for us to listen in.

There are three topics Jesus taught about more than any others: money, heaven and hell. And this parable covers all three of them making it a very important and unique among the parables.

Two contrasting characters are featured in this parable; a very wealthy man and a very needy man named Lazarus. The wealthy man was provided an opportunity to help the needy man but did not meet the need. In this story both die and we discover one was dead right while the other was dead wrong.

So, what would Jesus have us learn from this parable? We can learn how to make sure that we don't end up dead wrong! The Rich Man is our example, albeit a bad example!

He was dead wrong about wealth.

Since Jesus was addressing this parable toward the Pharisees He attributes to the Rich Man the thinking of the Pharisees. He is hoping they will see themselves in this character and discover the errors of their way.

Jewish people believed that material wealth was evidence of God's spiritual blessing on their lives. So the more wealthy they were the more spiritual they perceived themselves to be!

If we understand this it helps us understand why the Rich Man behaved as he did. His excessive wealth had filled him with spiritual pride. So, in his thinking, his displays of wealth became the source of his witness. The more lavish his clothing and his lifestyle, the more non-believers would want to believe like him!

So his riches equated to his righteousness and his wealth equated to his witness. That may explain how callous and uncaring the Rich Man was toward Lazarus. If wealth was a reward for righteousness than poverty would be a punishment for unbelief. So rather than having compassion for this miserable creature all he had was contempt.

It turned out he was wrong in his belief about his wealth. In fact, he was dead wrong since he didn't discover the truth until he awoke in Hell.

He was also dead wrong about works.

Basically, his attitude about good works was this, let other people do it!

Since this poor man's misery was a result of his unrighteousness the Rich Man felt no obligation to help him. He wouldn't even throw him a crumb of leftover bread. This term "crumbs" refers to the practice of wealthy people using bread to wipe the grease off of their fingers after a lavish feast. Lazarus was longing for the bread that the Rich Man had used for a handi-wipe but he wouldn't even share that.

By the time he was in Hell and realized he was dead wrong, then He wanted someone else to go and warn his brothers because he couldn't.