The Liturgy of Love

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." -Hebrews 13:8, NLT

I love my wife.  I love the small, daily rituals we have, the continual, domestic liturgy of laying down together at night, kissing whenever we first meet after work, sitting down to watch TV in the evening. It is in these small moments of ritual, not in a continual splash of new experiences, that I feel closest to her, that my heart is free to be itself and simply enjoy and relish her presence.

Love is not hindered by ritual, but thrives in it the same way a rose thrives in the day to day sameness of morning, noon and night, water and sunshine.  The ritual itself is not love, but it is within the comforting familiar that our hearts relax.  Those who seek thrills are not seeking love, because ultimately love always settles into a kind of comforting sameness, and thus the thrill-seeker must constantly be running to new "loves" all the time to keep the spark of newness alive.

As believers, we do well if we consider this principle as we approach God.  It is fashionable within churches today to pounce upon anything deemed "religious" as a kind of Pharisaical heresy, a legalistic wall to be torn down.  Liturgy, ritual and traditions are dashed and, despite scriptural uses of the word "religion" being used to describe our faith (as in James 1:27), we treat the word as though it were comprised of only four letters.

If, as believers, we approached the Lord with half the reverence shown by our more devote (and liturgical) Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran brothers and sisters, we would do well.  Unfortunately, the fashion is to chase after new experiences, or after revivals to refresh us and pep us up for another spiritually draining year, or month, or week.  For my own part I put little stock in these things.  We shouldn't be seeking after experiences, thrills or revivals; it is enough to simply know the God who is the same "yesterday, today, and forever."

To know that the same God who commands the day and summons the night, calls forth the seasons in their turn and causes the flowers to grow, to bloom, to wilt, and then to grow again; this God who keeps the world moving by His direct, tireless and continual thought, who never grows weary of making the grass grow or the cycle of the rain continue onward throughout the years; to know, I say, that this same God looks down upon me, a man, a beast, an ultimately insignificant speck in the vast universe He created, and does so with the same tireless, unending, continual love, fills me with awe, as it ought to fill each one of us who are called by His name.

So continue to wake, kneel by the bedside and pray to your Father, without concern for whether your prayers are the same as yesterday, for He hears them with the same constant care today as He did then.  Sing your songs of praise without bothering to worry if your Heavenly Father is bored with the lyrics, for He is overjoyed to hear the voice of His child singing to Him.  Walk throughout your day without seeking for newness, without looking for sparks, but instead resting in the continual comfort that comes from knowing that He is near, never taking His eternal, loving gaze away from you.  Within that endless comfort, let our hearts rest and delight themselves in Him.

Avoiding Spiritual Adultery: Preaching an Offensive Gospel

"You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God." -James 4:4 (NLT)

One manner in which we as believers court friendship with the world is in the endless striving to be "relevant" to the world around us, and to make the Gospel message palatable to unbelievers.  This behavior is not left to some fringe of the church, nor is it the sole property of "seeker sensitive" churches; this attitude can be observed in all walks of life and in all manner of churches, from the most liberal to the most conservative, and it can truly appear as a wolf in sheep's clothing as it operates in the name of that most noble goal: saving souls.  How can this be?

If you examine the lives of the Apostles presented in the New Testament, you will find that the message of the Gospel is always presented in a direct, some today might argue "insensitive" manner: It is the message of Jesus, come down from Heaven, his body nailed to a cross and hung out to die in the sun, bleeding and in tremendous pain.  It is also the message of his incredible resurrection; that being God, the grave could not contain Him.  This alone raises eyebrows, not just today, but back then as well.  It is a bloody story about a savior given an ignoble death, and...resurrection?  Even Paul was mocked when he preached that Jesus rose from the dead (see Acts 17:32), but preach it he did, and said with confidence that "The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18 NLT)

But it does not stop with the bloody and incredible story of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection; no, the reason for His death is the sinfulness of man, and this is the most offensive point of all.  You see, "He [Jesus] personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right." (1 Peter 2:24 NLT)  Jesus died because of our sins...not us as a collective race of animals strutting about on the planet, generally being good but occasionally mucking things up, no, he died for my sins, and for your sins.  We are each, individually, inescapably, sinners before God: "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard." (Romans 3:23 NLT)

People don't like to hear that they are sinners.  In today's cultural and philosophical climate, all assertions of morality, in particularly the assertion that people may be less than upstanding, is seen as judgmental, condemning, and evil in its own right. Suggest that someone is a sinner, and you have labeled yourself a sinner of the most heinous sort: a man who passes judgment on others.

Faced with this cultural pressure to be inclusive and non-confrontational in our religious convictions, it is easy (oh how easy!) to soften the message to appeal to modern ears.  Indeed, we may soften the message without thinking to ourselves that doing so will avoid social ridicule; we may soften the message, instead, in an attempt to be heard, an attempt to ease our way through people's psychological walls. We rationalize that if we start right out with the cross and the resurrection and (how much worse!) the sinfulness of our hearers, they will shut their ears and immediately walk away. So instead we begin by speaking of God's love, of His gentleness and mercy and of His deep, passionate desire to have a relationship with us.

All true, and all generally meaningless to those who are without Christ.  The culture already spreads a message that, if there is a God, He must be a kind of gentle universal grandfather who loves us and just wants to see us happy.  When we focus entirely on the love of God without ever touching on His justice, we gut the crucifixion of all meaning, and indeed make the incarnation itself an exercise in futility; apart from man's fallen, altogether helpless, wretched state before God, there was no reason for Jesus to die, and apart from faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, there is no salvation at all.  Paul wrote "If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9 NLT) There is no good in talking of Jesus' resurrection if you do not also speak of His death, and that death was meaningless if not to pay the penalty for the sins of every human being who places their faith in Him.

Indeed, it is only when we recognize our great sinfulness that the true love of God can be seen.  Every man and woman must first humble themselves and admit their own sinfulness before they can comprehend the magnitude of the love of God for them, for "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." (Romans 5:8 NLT)

Thus, if we are to preach the Gospel, if we are to truly place God at the forefront of our lives and seek His will, and not adulterate ourselves by seeking the friendship of the world, then we must preach as Paul preached, as all the Apostles preached: We must preach Christ, and Him crucified (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). And if we preach Christ crucified, then we must also preach that all men are sinners, under the just condemnation of God, for it is in this message that God's love and mercy in Jesus shine out.  We must affirm with the psalmist "God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!" (Psalm 53:2,3 NLT)

Someday, someone may stand before you and ask (and people do), "Do you think I am going to Hell?" That is an inflammatory, confrontational question; nevertheless, as sure as there is a Hell your answer must be "Yes." Anything less than this only serve to affirm to the unregenerate that, in fact, there may be some merit left within them, some means of escaping condemnation apart from the work of Christ; that they still have a chance on their own and need not worry too much about the message of Jesus and this awful business about crucifixion, about denying oneself, taking up one's cross and following Jesus (per Matthew 16:24).

Brothers and sisters, it is not judgmental to affirm that someone is hopeless and lost apart from Christ, altogether dead in sin and incapable of gaining favor with God; indeed, it is the most loving thing that we can proclaim, because along with this message we proclaim the tremendous, magnificent news that despite our wretchedness, God loves us, sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins, and offers us eternal salvation. That is the Gospel, and that is what we are called preach to all.

True Spiritual Power: Teaching as Jesus Taught

“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” –Matthew 28:18-20 NLT

The passage above is commonly known as the “Great Commission”.  It was the final command that Jesus gave to His disciples before He ascended back into Heaven.  Note that Jesus did not merely command His disciples to go and baptize people…anybody can be dunked or sprinkled or what have you, but His command is that they make disciples.  Furthermore He elaborates that they are to teach those disciples to obey all the commandments of Jesus.  It’s interesting that He commands the disciples to teach the new disciples, because to be a disciple means to be a student, and it follows that if you are a student, then you are being taught.  But Jesus specifies, lest there be any doubt, that these students that they are to teach are to be taught what Jesus taught.  They are not to make disciples of Peter, or disciples of John, they are to go out any make disciples of Jesus, teaching them the same things that they learned from Him.

What did Jesus teach?  Well, a good place to start is with Jesus’ answer to a question posed in Matthew 22:

“’Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?’ Jesus replied, ‘”You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.’” (Matthew 22:36-40)

Jesus taught that God, and the love of God, was supreme, and that our second goal was to love others with the same care and concern that we show for ourselves.  Notice also that these two items are not put up in opposition to the rest of the commandments of scripture; no, Jesus says that these two commandments are most important because they are the foundation of all scripture.  The scriptures are good and profitable and important, as the Apostle Paul points out for us in 2 Timothy 3:16 when he says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

Jesus did not come to earth to establish a new religion.  Christianity itself is not a new religion, but is the fulfillment of Old Testament Judaism; it is the unfurling of God’s plan which He set in motion from the beginning of time, a plan he offered glimpses of throughout the Old Testament, even as far back as the book of Genesis when he pronounced a curse on the Serpent (that is, Satan) who had deceived our mother Eve, and told him that there would be hostility between the Serpent and the woman’s offspring, that “He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15).  This was not a pronouncement of aman crushing the head of a mere snake, but a prophetic foreshadowing of Satan, who had taken on the guise of a serpent, being crushed and defeated by the woman’s most significant offspring, Jesus Christ, who at some point in the distant future would be born into the world.

Throughout the Old Testament, God revealed to His people more prophesies concerning the coming of Jesus, perhaps most clearly in Isaiah 7:14 where we read “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”  So it should be clear that when Jesus came into the world, when He died and rose again and commanded His disciples to go and make disciples themselves, teaching them to obey His commandments, He was not telling them to establish a new religion, but to teach the same religion that had been taught throughout the scriptures and now had found its ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus: that there is a holy God, that He is worthy of all of our love and our praise, and that we, fallen mankind, stand condemned before Him, but that He would make a way through sacrifice for us to be reconciled to Him.  Now, all sacrifice in the Old Testament, sacrifices of bulls and rams and goats, was but a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate plan in Jesus, the one sacrifice that would provide permanent and lasting satisfaction of God’s justice and open the door of fellowship to His chosen people of all tribes and all nations.

Thus it is critical, if we are to make disciples, that we teach them as Jesus taught them.  It is critical that we lay out the scriptures before them, from the Old Testament to the New, explaining and pointing out the truth of God’s Word, showing the work, the love, the justice, and the grace of God from the beginning of creation to the present day.  Indeed, there is a tendency today for many in the church to look upon the Old Testament as though its importance were diminished now that Jesus has shown up on the scene, but it is this very same Old Testament that taught who Jesus was, and which Jesus Himself used when explaining about His coming and resurrection to some of His followers who, on account of His death, had begun to doubt.  Jesus’ response to them was “’You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.  Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?’ Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27)

These is a great need in this world for people to be taught the scriptures, to be taught the commandments of God and all His history and plan as He has revealed these things to us in the scriptures.  Sadly, many churches and ministries are wandering away from the faithful teaching of scripture.  I am sorry to say that I have heard churches referred to as “teaching churches”, as though these churches were more academic, more prone to digging into the Word of God, than other, more progressive churches.  Yet the sad part is that this was not being offered as praise of one style of church over another, but just as a point of distinction between what is apparently considered two perfectly acceptable forms of church ministry: teaching and…well, not teaching, I suppose.  In many cases I would say, simply from observation, that those churches that are not “teaching” churches are often what you might think of as “power” churches; churches with lively services where supposedly God’s power continuously flows in miraculous ways, yet often leaves little time for the traditional, somewhat drier practice of sermonizing and expounding on the many words of an old book called the Bible.

The problem with that is that a church or ministry that is not primarily concerned with teaching the plain truths of scripture, faithfully, carefully and with integrity, truly has no power at all.  I don’t care how many miracles are performed, how many signs or wonders take place or how many “decision cards” are filled out; that ministry is failing to uphold the commandment of Jesus, and because they are not upholding His commandment, they cannot be considered a legitimate ministry.  They may be made up of people with the best of intentions, but they are nevertheless spiritually immature and show a shocking lack of understanding, and they themselves need to be taught the fundamentals of the faith they claim to represent.

It is worth saying that one man, in one small corner of the world, who is faithfully teaching the scriptures to others, will do more to promote the Gospel in the world at large than ten thousand men and women who travel the globe performing signs and wonders.  The latter may stir up a lot of excitement, may boast of quite a collection of “converts”, but the lone man in his quiet corner is fulfilling the commandment of Jesus, whereas the others, who lay claim to signs and wonders as the hallmark of their ministry, indeed have little to stand on, for these things do not in themselves show favor or approval from God.  Remember that Jesus Himself told His disciples:

“On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” (Matthew 7:22,23)

It is critical if we, as believers, desire to draw closer to God, desire to fulfill His commandments and desire to make disciples and spread the Gospel, that we dig more and more into His Word; that we study it, meditate on it, and make it our primary goal to teach it to others.  In so doing we will truly fulfill the Great Commission by making genuine disciples, disciples who have been taught the commandments of Jesus and who are themselves equipped to teach others.  We will find as we study the scriptures, as we are taught and as we ourselves teach, that they are not dead, that they are not lifeless, and that they do not require embellishment to be relevant to the world around us, for indeed they are already supremely relevant to all people in all walks of life. If we feel that this is not the case, it is only because we have grown so cold and distant from them that we no longer understand them or know them as true disciples of Jesus should.  Indeed, within the smallest, quietest church that you can conceive, if the scriptures are taught in truth, taught with integrity and held up as God’s revealed Word to mankind, there is true spiritual power, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

Arminianism - Walking the Line Between Calvinism and Catholicism

I have come to a point in my studies that I suddenly realize there can be no going back to the theologies of Arminianism, though years ago I defended it. The reason is twofold: for one, "Reformed" theology (or Calvinism, if you like) strikes me more and more as being, not a branch of theology per-say, but the theology most plainly taught in Scripture. But setting that aside, were I ever to find reason to doubt this, I still could not return to Arminianism, but would find myself compelled to embrace Catholic theology instead. The reason is this: of the two major branches of Protestant theology (Calvinism and Arminianism), Arminianism strikes me as being the weakest and most ineffectual attempt at maintaining concepts such as free will (as regards Salvation) while still being protestant.  I've heard many people say that Catholic theology is altogether different than "Christian" (by which they mean Protestant) theology because they preach a different means of grace.  I say this is rubbish.  In fact, Catholics preach the same basic theology that the Arminian believer holds, but preaches it more boldly and openly and draws it to its logical conclusions, something the Arminian is unwilling to do.

Catholics teach a melding of God's grace with the works of man.  To be sure, no good Catholic believer will teach that works save anyone; all are saved only by God's grace. But works are the means by which men cooperate with God in salvation, and those works therefore hold significant weight in the process. The Arminian teaches that salvation may be lost or rejected, that a person may lose their salvation if, once being saved, they begin to live in unrepentant sin, cease caring for the things of God, or deliberately choose at some point to reject Him. The Catholic teaches this as well, but with a great deal more sanity.

You see, according to Arminianism, you are saved by grace alone and your works, although of value, do not result in salvation. You cannot commend yourself to God through works, but works DO operate in the negative; you can lose your salvation through persisting in doing what is wrong. It is as thought the Arminian presents the grace of God as a stone which no one else can move, and which cannot be built upon. But this same, immovable rock of grace, which no one can take from you and which cannot be altered, nevertheless may be cast aside like a pebble by the one who holds it.

To the Catholic salvation is more like building a house out of multiple bricks of grace which God provides. As long as you cooperate with God, the master builder, and follow His plan, He provides bricks and instructs you to build up the house. You may cast them away, and you may also repent and pick them back up. Your salvation is a work in progress, only possible through the grace of God, but dependent also upon your works  as you build up the house with Him (or, through sin, tear it all down).

Calvinists, of course, see salvation as a rock which cannot be moved or built upon, neither by yourself nor by others; it is eternal, resting solely upon the action and will of God, paid for and established by Christ, and thus altogether unaffected by your actions, whether good or bad.

I have respect to the Catholic position as, long before Arminianism came to be, they took the basic concepts of it as relates to salvation and boldly carried them out to their conclusions, unafraid to admit that if works may act against salvation, then they must also act in favor of it.  The Calvinist, then, with the same boldness, stood up and said that as salvation cannot be improved or built with works, then certainly they cannot be diminished by them either.  The Arminianist, on the other hand, saw the conflict and attempted to straddle the fence, insisting that whereas works cannot improve or result in salvation, that immovable rock may be carried away by a breeze should man's sin take hold in his life.  In desiring to have it both ways, they make salvation into a peculiar and contradictory beast, one moment unaffected by man's actions, the next, altogether dependent upon them.  A Catholic may urge a man to do good, for in doing so he blesses his soul as he works with God towards his salvation.  A Calvinist may urge a man to be altogether thankful before God, for his salvation is secure from the foundation of the world by the Lord's work on our behalf.  But the Arminianist can only, with any authority, speak in the negative, that a man must keep from sin lest God cast him out of His presence and into eternal damnation, despite the salvation he once bestowed upon him.

Furious Passion - Reflecting the Image of God

When I say (as I have before) that my wife Amanda is the best of all women, I do not say it to be cute, but because in my estimation it is true. You see, I do play favorites, and the woman I have both chosen and won over, I strove for because there was no one greater to be had. In truth I look at her with a sense of pride and triumph over the rest of mankind, as much as with a deep, passionate love. I prefer her to the rest of humanity, and so you will have to excuse me if I choose her above the rest of you in any (and every) way.

In like manner, the birth of my daughter Emma has also birthed within me emotions that I did not recognize before. I've never looked at any creature with the same affection that I feel for her. It is quite a different affection than I feel for Amanda; there is pride in it, but also a zealous sense of protection. To put it bluntly, her joy and growth is more preferable to me than the joy and growth of any other child. I can only assume all parents feel the same about their own children. If I were to say that I care for all children equally, as might seem a good, humanitarian thing to say, I would be a liar. I care for her first, and then if there is any joy left for the rest of the world, let those crumbs fall to whom they will. I am jealous of her, and should anyone dare to harm her I cannot conceive of any response beside the fury of a barbarous demigod.

One might argue at this point that these emotions and behaviors are a poor reflection of God, who opens His arms to all; that these are small-minded affections, poorly fitted to God’s character. Should I not equally love and care for all children? Perhaps I should. But one look at Amanda and Emma and everyone else in the world suddenly seems unimportant to me. One might argue that, if these affections are a reflection of God's love, then His love must be a terrible thing indeed.

To that last point I say yes; terrible and wonderful. My affection for Amanda and Emma is small, not because it is altogether zealous for them, but because it is limited in scope. I care for them to the exclusion of the rest of the world. I love my family and would prefer their prosperity to that of anyone else; would protect them with extreme prejudice. Yet in this passion exists a brightly burning ember of the flame of God's love for His family.

As men, we are small creatures. It is easy to love the world when the world is just an idea, but when one is sitting at home having a cup of tea and reading a book, the world had better leave you alone; in moments like that, one is far more concerned with the butter on one's toast than with the state of affairs in China. But as a man, I am not called to preside over the world with the faithfulness of God; I am, however, called to show this faithful love to my family. As men and women, we are the gods and goddesses of our family units, and our "small" love in this corner of our world is indeed a reflection of the greater love of God.

God does not look at His children and see multiple family groups, all requiring his equal love and attention; when God looks at His children, He sees only one single family: His own. He looks at them with a passionate, zealous, jealous and protective love.  It is a love which gives to them the world, even His own life. It is a love that is both terrible and wonderful; wonderful for the child, terrible for the one who would harm the child. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild (so the old song goes) warned that it is better for a man to have a millstone strapped to his neck and to be plunged into the sea than for him to harm one of God's children (Luke 17:2). Indeed, such a fate would mean drowning, the burning pain of lungs filled with saltwater until life is snuffed out, but how much more terrible to stand condemned before God for having harmed one of His children.

We would do well to take this lesson to heart.  Our "small" love as parents may seem brutish, but it is not imperfect before God because of its smallness...God loves more, not because He loves more families, but because He loves His one family with even greater zeal, greater passion, and greater jealousy than we in our imperfect state can bestow upon our own small family units.  How much comfort we as God's children should feel knowing that our God is so passionate about us. At the same time, what awe we should feel at knowing that not all are God's children; that God has created all for His own purpose, and that not all who exist were created for honor (Romans 9:21-22). The consideration of the wrath of God against the wicked cannot be taken lightly, for as God's love burns brighter than the sun in glory, so too does His wrath against those who would harm His family.

His Eye Is On The Sparrow and I Know He Watches Me

“The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers.  But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” -1 Peter 3:12 NLT

Confronted with passage like this, we often think of the Lord watching over us in the sense of protecting us, and keeping us from harm.  But what do we say when we do come to harm?  Has the Lord looked away?  Has His attention been diverted elsewhere, so that His protection slipped and we fell into misfortune?  Certainly not!  Consider the second part: “his ears are open to their prayers.”  Certainly God hears the prayers of the righteous, and because He hears we know that He will also answer.  But the answer is not always what we expect.  Sometimes we receive the thing we asked for, and sometimes, as James points out, “when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure.” (James 4:3 NLT)  Our requests must always line up with the will of God, and when they do not, we must accept His answer in humility.  In the same fashion we must also consider that sometimes the will of God allows us to experience suffering so that He may bring about some greater good than preventing it would have allowed.

I recall, when I was a child, riding my bike along the sidewalks in front of my house, that I slipped and fell in such a manner that I skinned much of the side of my leg.  The cuts were shallow but took much of the top layer of skin off, resulting in a broad wound that seeped and stung like an open blister.  I remember my mother cleaning it and taping gauze to the side of my leg to cover the wound.  Now, bikes are wonderful exercise and they are lots of fun to ride, but they are also by their nature dangerous things.  I could have been prevented from these (and all other manner of smaller injuries) had my parents forbade that I ride one at all.  Indeed any parent knows when they give a child a bike, or a pair of skates or some other such device, that it will result in many falls and scrapes and cuts as the child learns to ride, so why permit it at all?  Why not spare the child the pain that will come their way?  There are many reasons.  One is that the joy of riding is generally considered to be greater than the small injuries that may come as a result.  Another is that those same injuries are part of how we learn; doubtless as a child I would not have scrapped the side of my leg so badly had I not been attempting to ride as fast as I could across a bumpy sidewalk, and so it was a hard lesson, but a lesson nonetheless.

Looking back on the experience now, I see the injury but I don’t feel any animosity toward my parents for letting me have that bike.  Indeed, I continued to ride a bike for years afterward.  What I do remember, with a warm feeling in my heart, is my mother dressing the wound and making me feel better.  How many of our good memories of those we love come because they were expressing their love for us in the midst of suffering?  A friend whom you can enjoy an afternoon with is alright, but a friend who will visit in the hospital or hold you while you cry is a friend indeed.

Sometimes there are joys in life that open us up to the possibility of pain and suffering, such as loving someone who will pass away in time.  Sometimes God allows us to go through painful experiences because he wants us to learn a lesson that we may not otherwise receive through more pleasant means, and sometimes He allows us to experience suffering so that others will learn a lesson through our example.  Whatever His reasons, His heart is filled with love for us.  He has never once turned His attention away from you, but is watching over you at every moment.  Sometimes He is watching to protect us from harm, and sometimes He is watching to pick us up when we fall, to clean our wounds, bandage us up, and hold us tightly in His arms until the pain stops.  But whatever His purposes in our lives, we should always take comfort knowing that He watches, He listens, and He cares more deeply than you or I can ever fathom.

Fear and the End of Days

There are a lot of differing views of the end times, what will happen, when and how, and how to interpret the book of Revelation.  People get awfully worked up about this sort of thing, and a thread that seems to run through Evangelical circles is a kind of fear of what we refer to as the “great tribulation”, a period not only of intense persecution of believers, but also of the outpouring of God’s wrath on the earth.

I’m not writing this to provide a breakdown or study of Revelation, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind with the book that seem to get lost in many churches today.  First off, there is a tendency among evangelicals to “over-spiritualize” the book.  What I mean by that is that many people read and teach Revelation as though the entire book is one grand spiritual, prophetic allegory, which it is not.  The book opens with Christ asking John to write letters to seven churches.  It is sometimes lost on us that these churches actually existed, and that if you look at each of the cities these letters were addressed to, the manner in which Christ addresses and the imagery he uses connects with important and prominent aspects of the cities in which they lived, as well as the historical struggles being faced by them.  It is true that we can draw spiritual principles from these letters, but they do not exist as pure spiritual metaphor, but were practical letters to real people living at the time of John.

But I think the most important issue to address is the one of fear on the part of believers.  Certainly Revelation details some significant persecution and many incredible judgments that God pours out on the earth.  If these things are to be taken as an indication of what is to come, how do believers deal with it?  For many the answer is to defend the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture of the church.  Now, many can make very good scriptural arguments for this, and for those who do so, bravo.  But in many cases it seems that the idea is often clung to out of a fear lest the end times should occur in their day, and a desire to escape the tribulation described in Revelation.

To those people I am compelled to point out two things: first, the persecutions described by John are nothing new.  Remember that Jesus told us that “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).  From the time of the early church until now, God’s people have suffered violence at the hand of unbelievers.  The Apostles knew full-well the sting of persecution, being hunted, beaten, imprisoned and put to death.  Today in many corners of the world the persecution against our brothers and sisters in Christ is severe, and identifying oneself as a believer can be a death sentence.  Consider Iran and North Korea.  Will the “great tribulation” make matters worse for believers in these countries?  There is only so much that man can do, and recognizing this the psalmist writes “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.  What can mere people do to me?” (Psalm 118:6).

Let us consider then the judgments of God poured out on the Earth in Revelation.  When God pours out His wrath, who will be able to stand?  God’s children, that is who.  Brothers and sisters, if you are fearful because the wrath of God will be poured out on the world, take heart, because that wrath is not for you.  Paul says in Romans 8:1 that “now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”  Whatever believers may be on the earth at the time God pours out His judgment, it will not be for them.  Indeed, Jesus Himself spoke to His disciples about the day when God would pour out His wrath, and to them He said “So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!” (Luke 21:28)  Jesus knew these things were frightening, and the persecutions from man hard to endure, but He encouraged His disciples telling them that not only will they be blessed when persecuted, but that when they see the signs of the end of days, they should look up in hope, because Jesus is returning to take them.  What is judgment for the world is a sign of the impending, eternal and permanent salvation of the believer.

To that end I encourage you all to bear in mind that, whether in the normal course of life or because the end is drawing nigh, persecutions will come in this life, but no persecutions will come that have not been born by your brothers and sisters from the beginning of the church until now, and God will bless us through them.   Jesus said in Luke 6:22, “What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man.”  As for the judgments of God, it is a terrible and frightening thing to consider the wrath of God that will be poured out on the unbelieving world.  But as God’s child, you are not subject to God’s wrath.  As God pours out judgment on the world, He will bring out His salvation for His children.  The words that God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, when he prophesied God’s salvation and judgment against enemies that would march against Israel, ring as true for us today: “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)