true words

And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Revelation 19:9b

Why would the apostle John, in the very process of receiving direct prophetic revelation from God, mediated by the voice of an angel nonetheless, be told to record that those very words are “true words of God”? It would seem obvious. Yet God wanted to remind not only John, but the readers of the Book of Revelation, that the very words being spoken were the words of God and they are true.

Truth is in short supply these days. In fact, with the onslaught of “new media” and “social media” and “deep fakes”, we must assume that a great deal of what we are exposed to is in fact, not at all truth, but propaganda with an agenda contrary to God. This is true among Christians as well as non-Christians. Human generated content is full of lies.

So what should I believe? Is it the evening news? Is it a video on Facebook? Is it a Twitter (or whatever the new devilish name for it is) feed? I should believe God’s truth. Where do I find God’s truth? I find it in the Bible, God’s holy Word. God speaks clearly there. His Word is the only trusted source of truth in my life. I’ve lived all my life to understand Him in His truth. I open my Bible each day to expose my heart to truth. I seek to order my thoughts and actions around what is said there because God speaks truth. These words, in scripture, are the true words of God.

God remembers.

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses…

Nehemiah 1:8a

Often when I think of remembering the Word of God, that thought is directed to myself as a reminder to remember. I must regularly remember and trust God’s Word. I must commit it to memory, filling my mind with scriptural truth, and recalling its importance and application. That is certainly something Christians should do.

But the way in which this prayer of Nehemiah’s talks about remembering God’s Word is completely different in focus. It is a prayer of trust in a faithful God. Nehemiah calls upon God to remember ALL of the covenant with Israel. He acknowledges Israel’s past sins and knows those sins were the reason the nation went into exile. Yet God also promised to return those who returned to Him. That time had come. The call to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls was proceeded by God remembering His covenant with His people.

This is now Passion Week as I write these words. Tomorrow will be Good Friday. As I have thought upon and will continue to reflect on Christ’s death and resurrection, I remember God’s promise of salvation. I claim it. But in Christ, God the Father also “remembers” me. He sees me through His Son’s sacrifice and I am now by faith in Christ alone clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Jesus brought about a new covenant in His blood that God remembers fully. Thank God He remembers!

Blessed endurance, Jesus is mine.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

Revelation 14:12

There is a promise of blessing here in this passage and in verse thirteen. It is for Christians who endure in a world that rages against Christ. In the book of Revelation this raging against God, against the gospel, against God’s people reaches a fever pitch. We think it is difficult right now with today’s cultural climate. But it will get much worse. Revelation tells the future account of an AntiChrist and a government/religion that combine as one to unite a world against God.

Christians are called to endure in that day, as well as right now. We keep ourselves committed to obeying the gospel and trusting Jesus. We do not give in to the spirit of the age. Cultural pressures to cave in to renouncing Christ will be resisted by the faithful.

And the promise of blessing follows. To die… to endure to the end… with determined commitment and faith is to enter rest as Christ rewards those who faithfully endure. Just keep believing the gospel despite the pressures! Hold on to Jesus! He is worth it. He is Truth. He is the Way. He is Life! He will surely bless those who endure.

in Your rule

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne…

Revelation 12:5

To Your rule, Lord

we submit

we trust

we worship

we wait

as in heaven You prepare

our place

By Your rule, Jesus

nations bow

people surrender

kings tremble

armies fall

before Christ our King’s

shining face

Through Your rule, God

we renew

we rejoice

we restore

we remember

a cross and empty tomb

in our place

In Your rule now

we believe

we receive

we proclaim

we exclaim

as in glory over all, Jesus

You now reign

keep silence

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Revelation 8:1

In every description in scripture of the throne of God there is ceaseless praise in God’s presence. It is loud. It is musical. It is antiphonal. In the book of Revelation many beings are ceaselessly celebrating a glorious God around His throne:

• living creatures (Revelation 4:8)
• elders (Revelation 5:9)
• angels (Revelation 5:11-12)
• church saints (Revelation 7:9-10)

Yet at this juncture as the Lamb breaks the seventh seal all the music halts. For half an hour there is silence as the dreadful judgments about to unfold upon the earth are contemplated. There is precedence for this sort of silence before the significance of God’s judgment.

• “Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the LORD is near…” Zephaniah 1:7
• “Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself…” Zechariah 2:13

In silence I think about how God is judge of all the earth. I remember. Jesus bore my judgment on a cross. In silence at the wrath of God poured out on the dying Lamb I am in awe. “The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him…” Habakkuk 2:20

The King’s secret, thriving kingdom

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

Revelation 5:9-10

Jesus is worthy of my praise because of His gracious love and the blood He spilt as the Lamb that was slain to redeem people from every tribe, language, ethnicity, and nation on this earth! He is redeeming even now people to Himself, placing them into the Church, His Body and Bride, and building a subversive counter-kingdom in a world that opposes Him.

This current reality will one day lead to a permanent eschatology in which He will return to rule His kingdom which will no longer counter this fallen world, but will conquer and lead it. And He will create a new heavens and a new earth, having burned away the mess that humanity has made in past evil resistance to Him. The kingdom is already secretly thriving! The reign of Christ is already unstoppable.

And so I pray: “Lord Jesus, rule in me! God, may Your kingdom come! May Your will be done… in me… in earth as it is in heaven!

Amen!”

He gives by storm.

Ask rain from the LORD

in the season of the spring rain,

from the LORD who makes the storm clouds,

and he will give them showers of rain,

to everyone the vegetation in the field.

Zechariah 10:1

The Lord refreshes, renews, and rewards the earth in the rain storms of the spring time. From those waters new growth re-greens the world. In the tenderness of His provision that renews the world from a dry, frozen sleep, the mercies and grace of God’s control and care come to surprise us.

Like a bold little spring hyacinth daring to poke its purple bloom up in the rain, my soul drinks in the mercies of God’s renewal. This is a pattern that God has been bringing to the earth since the very beginning. The world is His garden to water. So is my life. My heart rejoices in the rhythm of His rain. My soul responds and bows down to the rhythm of His reign.

Lord,

Your storm clouds brought the powerful tempest and although it got dark and the wind’s fury threatened, You brought along with it the spring rain to revive my dry soul. And in the renewing work of the gospel my soul blooms again. You give by storm and shower! Thank You then for the storm! Amen

One upon the throne

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.

Revelation 4:2

Lord God,

Today You are on Your throne. You reign over all the universe. You rule over all this world. Nothing happens that does not adhere to Your sovereign decree. All of the movements of the stars follow Your direction, all of the motion of the smallest particles of matter are touched by Your fingers, all the myriad galaxies dance for Your delight, and all of the mess of mankind is firmly under Your hand to work all things for good.

I see You on Your throne as John’s revelation details You. You shine with more brilliance than the brightest lighted jewels. You are surrounded by angels and a worshiping heavenly multitude of souls who glorify Your name and cast the crowns You gave them at Your feet. People I love are there right now. The song they sing: “Worthy are You, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power…” (Revelation 4:11). This symphony of praise echoes in the enormity of Your throne room. I worship You now as You are enthroned on high over me.

From Your ruling throne, now, my Lord, I ask You to order my chaos, lead my life, show Your mighty arm to save, and bring glory in my worship of You today!

Amen

God’s vision for social order

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Zechariah 7:9-10

The love of God for all people, especially the most vulnerable, is displayed for us in this series of commands to the Jews returning from the exile. God wanted them to be different. God wanted them to obey His desires. God wanted a social structure in Israel to show His kindness and mercy to a watching world. God’s expectations are clear in these two verses. They provide insight into what God expects in any human society.

God expects people to act with true judgment… for justice to be done in such a way that there is no favoritism. We do not show favor to the rich and powerful so that they can get away with poor behavior or mistreatment of others. Put simply: Nobody gets to be a jerk.

This only happens when people of character are valued as leaders. It isn’t about the platforms they claim or the speeches they make to grab power. It has to do with true character. And leaders should be people of justice. They should be known for their kindness, not their brashness. They should embody kindness, respect kindness and mercy, and in their actions both give and receive kindness and mercy. They should look out for the needs of the vulnerable: the elderly, the widowed, the orphaned, the immigrants, the sick, and the poor. And the actions, words, solutions, and activities they promote are not to be hateful, isolating, self-centered, unjust, or evil. The implication is that lack of proper concern for the vulnerable is itself an evil we should never accept. Calloused leaders are disqualified.

And that is what God expected of Israel. In it we see His heart for how we love our neighbors well. Christians should want the heart of God to drive how we see our world. The church is the best place for this kind of character to thrive. The gospel liberates us from evil so that we can care in this way. Will we? We should guard against a society that does not create this kind of social structure.

The time is near.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Revelation 1:3

The time is near.

Lord, let me hear

and keep the words written here

in Your Word. I fear

I may forget that You are near.

And so today

I will read aloud what You say.

Help me to listen and obey

the truth, the life, the way.

This I pray.

Blessed are these words I read

You furnish all I’ll ever need

as Your promises I heed.

From sin and death I am freed.

Jesus will return. It’s guaranteed.

Near is the coming of the Lord.

I will read and hear His Word.

I’ll pay attention to what I’ve heard.

In His promises assured

I’ll keep my focus heavenward.

The time is near.

Lord, let me hear

and keep the words written here

in Your Word. I fear

I may forget that You are near.

This I know.

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

2 John 9

Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, has come into this world. He Who created the universe, the earth, and all that lives upon it is the Savior of the world! God became man, took on human skin, walked among us, taught us, loved us, and was rejected by those whom He loved. His death on the cross was not a tragic loss, but it was a marvelous victory, freeing us from the curse of sin and hell. Jesus is God. Jesus is “the Christ” — the Promised Deliverer and Savior of the world. Jesus is God.

I confess this as a core of my Christian faith. I throw my soul into a confident eternity based on the facts I have known for over half a century. It is tested and true. It resides at the very center of all my life. Without Jesus as God, nothing makes sense. If He is not God I should just burn down all my life’s work and be ashamed. But I AM NOT ashamed. Jesus has proven Himself over and over again. He is God. He is good. He is loving. He is merciful. He is holy. He is just. He is Savior. He is Lord. This I confess. This I believe. This I experience first hand. This I know.

at odds with evil

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 5:19

Is there any more powerful description of the status of the Christian in the world than this simple observation from the apostle John? Christians have been born of God, remade as His agents of glory. We live in a world of evil. Simply put: Christians represent a holy God in a world owned by Satan and his forces. We are at odds with evil. We are opposed by evil. We are God’s people living in a society that is gripped by the devil who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy all that is good.

We have escaped the devil’s grasp. His long, crooked claws cannot hold us any longer. He knows this and is wickedly frustrated by it. So he will keep squeezing the rest of our world around us, and certainly makes life as hard as he can for us. The evil should therefore not surprise us. We aren’t controlling the world and never will. It’s Satan’s playground! Instead, this situation should burden us. We are the holy rebels fighting Satan’s evil empire! We should be alarmed. We should stay alert. God calls us to wear the full armor of God and compels us to bear the light of the gospel in one hand and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God in the other. Our mission: bring the light of the gospel into the darkest recesses of the devil’s den where we pray that Christ might charge forward and rescue many others from the power of the evil one. We are from God, used by God, for God, to bring Christ into this dark, broken, evil world.

Lord,

The devil has no grip on my life! He is impotent against You and Your Spirit! I am Yours. I pray that I can be useful to bear Your truth in a satanically saturated world that hates You. I do not lie in the power of this evil. I fear no evil because You are with me. But I take seriously this reality. I am from God in Christ. My world is in the grip of a murderous evil. Keep me thinking rescue thoughts! I am grateful for my own rescue by Christ. I am compelled to serve You as You rescue others as You live in me.

Amen

distinguished Christian living

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

1 John 5:1

I see five distinguishing characteristics of a true Christian in the first five verses of the fifth chapter of 1 John. As I reflect upon them I know these five things set the course of how I approach my life. In fact, they are what my life as a Christian is all about.

1. I believe Jesus is “the Christ” (1 John 5:1a). There is a lot in that Messianic title “the Christ”. It means Jesus is exclusively God, Savior, Lord, and Deliverer. He is the One promised to save us, sent by God, prophesied of old, anointed by God the Father, …the only means of eternal salvation is faith in the gospel of His death and resurrection. He is Lord over ALL my life.

2. I love the Father (1 John 5:1b). God is my Father. Faith in Christ provides a new relationship with God as my Father. I am in God’s family. He loves me. I love God.

3. I love the people of God (1 John 5:1c-2). Jesus is my Lord, God is my Father, and Christians are my family. I live my life tightly in those concentric circles. I learn to love the people God is saving by Jesus. Yes, like me, they are highly flawed at times and they are broken by sin and suffering. They are however always my brothers and sisters and I cannot reject them, hate them, or ignore them if I truly believe Jesus and love God.

4. I keep the commands of God (1 John 5:2-3). I keep them because I believe… because I love God. And I keep them in the community of believers, encouraging them to do the same. This is not a drudgery. It is a delight to love God’s Word and obey its truth by faith in Christ.

5. I will overcome the world (1 John 5:4-5). By faith in Jesus Christ, by loving the Father, by living in Christian love and community, and by obeying the Word of God with the Spirit’s enablement, I can overcome the sinful inertia of a broken world. I can be different. I can have true life beyond just an average existence. I have my feet on the earth and my eyes toward heaven. I see the need for Jesus in my world and I fix my heart on Jesus looking beyond this world. The life Jesus gives me is greater and always wins as I believe in Him!

Spirit given

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

1 John 4:13

This life of mine is spiritual.

There is a way I always know

that what I do and say here below

is under my God and Savior’s control:

My heart is where God’s Spirit dwells.

God lives in me, I live in Him.

I feel conviction of my sin.

I know He makes holy within

all that I surrender to Him.

Heaven’s breeze brought on a Spirit-wind.

I live in Christ. Christ lives in me.

By His Spirit now I am set free

to love and move and have my being

right now and through all eternity.

God will draw me near and live with me.

Sin no longer from my Lord has riven

since God His only Son has given.

I am made new. I am forgiven.

And I know I’m headed toward heaven

through the comfort of His Spirit given.

Lord, I praise You for this gift I receive

as in Jesus I firmly now believe.

The sorrow and brokenness You relieve

from death and hell my soul’s reprieve.

I have life beyond what I can conceive.

blessed assurances

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

1 John 3:19-20

This third chapter of 1 John has within it six marks of assurance that give the believer confidence in Christ. I need not worry about my eternal salvation when Jesus saves my soul. He does good and lasting work. Here are the marks that the apostle John gives us:

1.  Love for the family of God (1 John 3:13-18; 3:19). This is an active love that is shown in what we do with fellow believers. These become our dearest relationships. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). In short, we live out love with each other, showing we are indeed transformed by Christ.

2. Spiritual sensitivity.  It is what we “know” here in 1 John 3:19. We know we are in the truth and like Jesus promised in John 8:31-32, the truth sets our hearts free from worry.

3. Confident prayer. “We have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21). We can ask of God with kingdom values driving us as we serve Christ. And that confidence along with answered prayer assures us.

4. Obedience. “…we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:22). The fact that I can truly obey Christ is assurance that He has saved me.

5. Faith in Christ. “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ…” (1 John 3:23). My obedience is directed solely to my Lord and this faith is now evidence of His work giving me the capacity to follow Him. Faith in Christ comes from Christ.

6. The indwelling Spirit of God. “And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whose he has given us” (1 John 3:24). I’m not highly mystical at all, yet I know, feel, and experience God’s Spirit at work among the saints and daily in my own heart. Yes, I feel His presence and work. Sealed by the very presence of the Holy Spirit of God, I am confident then that I am Christ’s saved one! Amen!

A love that lays down life

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

1 John 3:16

Love is a basic human emotion and a real human need. It is also part of what God created for us to know in Him and with one another. Love led God to create humanity with His own hands. Love would later drive Jesus to spread His arms and have His hands nailed to a cross. Love was shown to the world by the Father sending His only Son to save us. And it is only through experiencing this saving love that we can truly love God and other people.

Christians proclaim this love to the world. And we celebrate the love of God in Christ in our worship, in gospel preaching, and at the Lord’s Table when we remind ourselves of the amazing way God loves us. We also celebrate God’s love by loving each other well. And as the apostle John reminds us here, just as Jesus laid down His life for us in love, so we should humbly sacrifice ourselves in love for one another.

These two loves are always linked together in John’s practical theology. Because we have been loved in Christ, we now love our brothers and sisters. And the only way to truly love our fellow Christians is for us all to love as Christ loves… giving ourselves for and to one another. We lay aside self and devote ourselves to the need of another person.

Lord Jesus,

I do not always love like You do. I often appreciate Your sacrificial love. I may even selfishly demand it from others. Help me first to give myself to living and giving love as You do. My life is not my own. I lay it down for You to use as I lay my life and love down for others.

Amen

This is the promise.

And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

1 John 2:25

With the words of this one verse I pin all my future hope forever.

And this is the promise… God has made a promise. The God Who from the opening pages of holy scripture reveals Himself, makes His promises to us, faithfully keeps ALL His promises, will continue to do so in Christ. These are not just mere words. These words constitute a promise from a covenant-making, promise-keeping God.

…that he made… This promise is unilateral. It is not that we had any part in making it. We can add nothing to this redemptive promise. God made it in Christ. Jesus did all the work of our redemption. God provided all the means and method of our salvation. I bring nothing of my own merit to receive this gift. It is all Christ’s work. He made the promise. He keeps the promise. He is the promise. 

..to us… Believers in Jesus receive this promise. A unique gift from God is given only to those who believe Jesus. God reaches out to us. And we possess this promise from God right here… right now.

… eternal life… Wow! The promise that we now possess, that is given by God, secured by Christ, given to us… this promise will last forever! We will live forever in Jesus. We pass from death to life in Jesus. We possess the guarantee of life forever in Jesus. The gift we need the most in a world of brokenness, death, and destruction is eternal life. And this is exactly what God gives us now in Jesus.

Lord,

I rejoice right now as I hold the promise You have made to me — eternal life. I believe it for those I have loved who have died, but yet who by faith in Jesus now possess eternal life. I can see them safe with You, Lord Jesus, as Your promise is reality. I hold to the hope of this promise for the people I love in life as well… that in the death and resurrection of Jesus sins are forgiven and eternal life is offered to them. Oh, that they believe and trust Your promise with me! I claim this promise as my real future, trusting You, keeper of all Your promises, entrusting You with the fact of my eternal salvation. I hold onto Your promise of eternal life… holding all my hope and all my best in Jesus!

Amen

not home here

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 2:17

I’m not home here

in a world passing away

in a place that is temporary

in a life that is not stationary

this world is not going to stay

I’m not home here

with Jesus do I live

I will take the future He will give

an eternity dwelling with and in Him

is where I am destined always to live

I’m not home here

a better light I see

shining ahead to guide me

to where I’ll live eternally

finding joy, love, and life completely

I’m not home here

I’m on a journey through

a land I sojourn to be with You

Lord, show me what I am to do

to reach this home beyond the blue

“I know Him.”

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. 

1 John 2:4-5a

“I know Jesus.” With that statement I have put my life upon the stage of public inspection. To know Jesus is to know forgiveness. To know Jesus is to be changed. To know Jesus is to know and commit to the truth. To know Jesus is to experience the supreme love and to learn to love as Jesus loves… selflessly, completely, sacrificially, and for the glory of God the Father.

In what sense then do I know Jesus? I know Him as Teacher, Savior, and Lord. This has been revealed to me by the Word of God. 

Jesus is my Teacher. I am His disciple. I know Him by understanding and constantly growing in what His Word says. I study His life in the gospels. I see His story build in all the Old Testament to make the gospel the ultimate truth of all time. I learn how to live in His Church as His follower in the New Testament epistles.

Jesus is my Savior. His death made Him the advocate… the mediator… the satisfactory sacrifice before God the Father atoning my sin and that of the entire world. His saving work is complete, effective for all who will receive Him in this way. I add nothing good enough to please God. Jesus did it all. And I throw all my soul onto His cross and find my life now resurrected in His empty grave!

Jesus is my Lord and my God. He directs my life. He is perfecting me in His love. I must work at obeying Him. I still fight sinful and selfish impulses. I fail and throw myself again on His sufficient sacrifice. I let His Holy Spirit convict me and His Word instruct me. My will must bow to Him in worship AND obedience. In this way I keep His commandments. In this way my life practice, transformed by His work, is radically different as His disciple. And through Jesus, God keeps working His love in me until I stand complete before Him. I will know this fully in eternity. Yes… I know Jesus! I am changed by Jesus forever!

Dream-driven disaster

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

Jude 8

Our Disney-derived cultural advisors tell us to follow our dreams. Bad idea! Look at what dream-driven people do in this assessment of apostate teachers found in the book of Jude: 1) They defile the flesh. That means they are sensually motivated and become sexual sinners. 2) They reject authority. This is probably in context apostolic authority and the authority of the Word of God. They only accept their own “authority”. 3) They blaspheme what is glorious. They disregard the supernatural for the natural. Jude mentions a disregard of God’s angelic messengers, but ultimately this is a disdain for the glory of God. Yeah… dream following is dangerously destructive.

Is it wrong then to have a dream? Does this warning mean that I dare not have a vision for my future and goals that I desire to achieve? No… that is not what is going on here. As long as my hopes and desires for the future are Word-derived and Holy Spirit led, I can trust in a “dream”, a God-given vision of what can be. It is good to dream God’s dream. The danger comes in making my dreams and not God’s dreams my controlling vision. I cannot hope in myself. I cannot hope in human visions. I must hope in God.

And so, Lord, I look to You to bring me every day, from Your Word, hope for each day and a vision for tomorrow. I will trust in You. I turn from fleshly dreams that do not uphold resurrection but end in defilement and death. I turn from autonomous dreams that lead to disorder, chaos, and human disappointment. I turn from purely naturalistic dreams that short-circuit the vision of Your glory and cloud the future in Your judgment. I turn to You, Jesus, to the gospel of God, to the Word of God, and to the Spirit of God to set my hopes and dreams.

Amen