Tag: Christianity

The Voice of God


The Voice of God

“Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.” Genesis 28:12-13

Since childhood, Jacob heard about the God of Abraham and of Isaac his father, and now, for the first time, and at a crisis point in his life, he sets on a journey to leave his home at Beersheba, and heads towards Haran.  When the sun set, he stopped at a certain place to rest, arranged stones on the ground for his pillows, and fell asleep.

Jacob had a dream:  he saw a ladder that reached to heaven, and angels were ascending and descending on it. And he heard a voice at the top that identified Himself as the Lord God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac.

For the very first time, Jacob realized the Presence of God: he had lived over forty years without realizing that God was with him all along. And now, in a deserted place, far from the comforts of home, he hears God’s voice, a voice that assures Jacob: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Genesis 28:15

The son of Isaac and Rebekah discovered that he was not alone: a new life in his soul began when God told him that He would be with him everywhere, to bless him, and to protect him. At that lonely place, the God of Abraham and of Isaac became the God of Jacob. In that strange place, Jacob caught a vision of God’s purpose for his life.

God has been calling us from the very beginning, and we have a way, a ladder, to reach Him: His Son Jesus Christ.  In the words of Jesus to Nathanael: “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”  John 1:51  

Angels ascending and descending, not upon a ladder, but upon Jesus. An open heaven because of what Jesus Christ accomplished by His death on the cross to pay for all of our shortcomings.  For all of our sins.

Through Jesus Christ, we have a perfect link of communication between God and ourselves, and the way in which we can avail of this communion is so simple: it is by faith — that is all.

Reference: Louisa Clayton, The One Great Reality, “The Voice of God”, electronic book in the public domain, courtesy of Gutenberg.org, pp. 114-134

The Mystery of the Kingdom of God


The Mystery of the Kingdom of God

“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Matthew 13:14-15

In the Gospels, Jesus Christ talked about the Kingdom of God in parables: as a mystery, something that is not outwardly manifest and understood by logic and physical observation.  And characteristic of this mystery is that it is something that is completely beyond anything that natural man can ever conceive of or imagine.

Since this mystery is outside the reach of our own natural abilities to comprehend, it is something that must be revealed to us. The Kingdom of God is to be desired and sought after, and at all cost, for there is no hope outside of it.  It is what  Christ likens to as the “pearl of great price”.

Why is it then, that not everyone is pursuing the Kingdom of God?  What are the hindrances to approaching and understanding this mystery?

A previous post on this blog elaborated on two obstacles to grasping the message concerning the Kingdom of God:  1) intellectual pride, and 2) prejudice.

There is a third reason, described by Jesus in these words:  “This people’s heart is waxed gross”. “Their heart is enfattened”, according to John Wycliffe’s translation: a visual of a heart with so much fat around it that the surrounding muscles and tissues eventually are not able to work properly.

What did Jesus mean?

Hearts are “waxed gross”  from eating too much and drinking too much, excessively indulging in the physical senses, leading to a degeneration of the mind, of morals, and of spirit.  It is the result of being overly concerned with the “cares of this world”, and the deceitfulness of things and riches, that the concepts of God and the mystery of His Kingdom become increasingly alien.

Enfattened hearts suffering from obesity and atrophied, become a real hindrance to understanding the mystery of the kingdom of God, which surpasses the here and now, a kingdom which transcends the present,  short-lived realities experienced in one’s  living physical body.  A heavenly kingdom which deals with the soul and our eternal destiny, beyond our earthly lives.

Intellectual pride, prejudice, and enfattened hearts are the obstacles to confronting the mystery of the Kingdom of God.  The tragedy resulting from these hindrances is the blinding of human hearts to the content of this mystery: the good news about God’s healing, of restoring a broken mankind into wholeness through Jesus Christ: the mystery of the purpose of salvation that God planned for us before the very foundation of the world.

Reference: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Kingdom of God, Crossway Books, Wheaton Illinois, 1992, pp. 87-104.

***Photography by James Jordan : Cornfield at Sunset @Flickr Commons

Knowing God as Father


“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 (NIV 1984)

 I recently traveled twenty thousand miles to be with my father on his birthday, and throughout my journey, I pondered upon the blessings and privileges of being my father’s child.

There was one word, precious to the lips of Jesus, and that word was “Father”.  All through His life on earth, Jesus always spoke to God as “Father”.

In any journey, there is a pathway and a destination.  John 14:6 illustrates that Jesus is the way, and the destination is the Father.  It is through the Lord Jesus Christ that we can know God as Father;  He is the only one who can reveal the Father to us.  By receiving new life through Christ, God becomes our Father, and this is one of the greatest treasures of Redeeming Grace: not only are we received into God’s family, we also gain all the privileges as children of God, being made joint heirs with Christ.

Let us consider some of the blessings of knowing God as our very own Father:

First, we receive a sense of personal identity.  As our earthly fathers give us our identity and our family name, we have the same sense of belonging when we become children of God.  We can run to our Heavenly Father’s arms, knowing that He cares for us and knows our every need.

Second, we obtain a home in heaven.  Heaven becomes very real to us, with the assurance that we have a Father who loves us and awaits us when our earthly lives are over;  our Father, the Creator of the universe, will send forth an escort of angels to usher us into a glorious entrance into our heavenly home.

Third, we have an assurance of total security, knowing that we are in the Father’s hand: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:29   It is important to know that we are safe and secure in the Father’s hands, to consider that we are of infinitely more value than the sparrows, who are even under the watchful eye of the Father.

Fourth, knowing God as Father provides a motive for service.  “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” John 8:29  Many would have us believe that worldly success provides security and a sense of fulfillment; however, the opposite is true, because with success, as the world defines it, comes the fear of losing the very things it brings forth. But the path to fulfillment in life is simple, as demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Christ: it is knowing God as our Father, and making it our intense desire to please Him by our actions, attitudes and motivations.

How wondrous it is to greet each new day, to experience the blessedness of knowing and trusting God as our Father!

References:

Louisa Clayton, The One Great Reality, Address II, 2009, BiblioBazaar Edition

Derek Prince Sermon, “Knowing God as Father”, DP030+DP031

Photography by Dovydenko Vyascheslav

The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 5:3

… a synopsis of A.W. Tozer’s writing

Before God created man, He prepared a world filled with things for man’s use and enjoyment; however, within the depths of man’s heart was a shrine where only God was worthy to inhabit.

With the entrance of sin, a perversion occurred that made those very gifts of God a potential ruin to the soul.  Problems began when God was forced out of His central shrine in the heart and “things” were allowed to enter and control.

“There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets “things” with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns my and mine are verbal symptoms of our deep disease.  Things have become necessary to us, God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by this monstrous substitution.1“

 Jesus Christ shone the light on this “tyranny of things” when He called upon His disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him.  “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

There is a “self-life” whose chief nature is its possessiveness, and to allow this adversary to live is to lose everything in the end.  To conquer and relinquish it for Christ’s sake is to lose nothing, but to preserve everything unto life eternal. And the only effective way to vanquish this foe is by the Cross.

Abraham’s heart was put to the test when God asked him to offer his son Isaac for a burnt sacrifice.  By his obedience in not withholding his son, Abraham removed Isaac from the temple of his heart, and allowed God to reign there unchallenged.  He became a man utterly surrendered and obedient to God.

Wealthy in worldly riches, Abraham had everything, yet he possessed nothing. After that bittersweet experience on Mount Moriah, the words “my” and “mine” never again had the same meaning for him; the sense of possession which these words connote was removed from his heart.  Abraham realized that his real treasures were unseen and eternal.

The blessed ones, the happy ones, are those who have renounced every external thing from their hearts, so God can reign there unrivalled. And though free from all sense of possessing, paradoxically, they gain all things because God is their treasure:  theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Reference:  A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God,  in the Public Domain in the United States, Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, Gutenberg.org electronic book, pp.30-45

 Footnote:  1 Ibid, p. 31

*** Photography by Sergey Ivanov

Finding Rest in a Restless World


Finding Rest in a Restless World

“ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

One of the greatest needs of mankind is simply just to rest. In spite of the economic and technological marvels of the modern era, never has life been so hectic and restless as it is today.  At the same time, the pursuit of pleasure has intensified like never before, pleasure that gives a false sense of rest, a temporary relief at best.

Into a weary world that is stressed beyond exertion, comes an invitation from Jesus Christ to come to Him for rest.  It is a call to all who labor and are heavy laden with burdens too heavy to bear.  Christ confronts us with an offer:  He will give us the rest we seek. 

But we need to come to Him, and take His yoke upon us. Absolute allegiance is required.  If we are to be yoked to Christ, we are to put ourselves under His instruction and teaching. A yoke takes only two — the teacher and the follower, so to be yoked to Christ is to forsake other teachings, to cleave to Him, and learn from Him.

How does Jesus give us this rest?

First, there is the rest of forgiveness. When we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are justified by faith and obtain peace with God.  When confronted with our past failures, shortcomings and sins that are beyond our own ability to rectify, we have the assurance that Christ has borne our guilt and sinfulness by His death on the cross, and paid the price for it all. He gives us rest from our conscience, rest from within. The rest of forgiveness.

Second, Christ gives us a new life as a result of being born again into the Kingdom of God.  The new birth is not simply a moral teaching or moral effort: it is a miracle wherein Christ gives us His own nature; we become like Him.  Christ gives us the rest that comes with a new nature, a new understanding and outlook in life, and a renewed mind.

Third, Christ promises to give us the Holy Spirit through Whom we receive the power and the strength to live this new life.  We become partakers of the divine nature: God dwells in and within us, transforming and enabling us to do even those things that may seem impossible to the outside world.

True rest comes when our souls are at rest.  Jesus Christ gives this true rest as our souls find our rest in God, a rest which Christ alone can offer as a free gift.

“The gospel of Jesus Christ only asks you one thing. Do you need rest? Have you failed to find it, are you desperately in need of it? Well if so, come!” 1

References:

 C. H. Spurgeon, “Rest, Rest”, A Sermon delivered on the Lord’s Day January 8, 1871 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, UK

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Heart of the Gospel, Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1991, pp. 154-192

 Footnote: 

1 Ibid., p. 186

*** Photography: Heron by Preston Manning