Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

 Revelation 1:4-5a : Grace and peace.

“John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” NIV

A church wayside pulpit read: ‘No God, no peace; know God, know peace.’

It seems that John had pastoral oversight of 7 particular churches in Asia. But he was writing for the whole church, whether he knew it or not. Certainly the entire church, throughout history, has been blessed (if at times it has also been perplexed) by this magnificent book. There is a line of argument that the number 7, in Scripture, speaks of wholeness or perfection. So the 7 churches may be seen as representative of the total church.

Notice that the church has a Trinitarian experience of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are alluded to. The ‘’seven spirits before his throne’’ can be translated ‘’the sevenfold Spirit’’ – again pointing to the perfection of the Holy Spirit. We are going to take some time in the next thought to look at all that is said about Jesus. The Father is referred to as the One ‘’who is, and who was, and who is to come’’ (and again in verse 8). He is the eternal God.

Only from this God can we experience the grace (undeserved favour) which leads to peace. In today’s world there are many people who are restless and unsettled, in spite of all they have. It has always been the case. Augustine observed centuries ago, that God made us for Himself, and our hearts find no rest until they rest in Him. He is the heart’s true home. Peace flows from grace. It can be experienced by those who receive the gift of friendship with the Trinity.

PRAYER: Lord, please cause every believer to walk in that peace which is the flowering of grace.

Revelation 1-3: A blessing.

“The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ² who testifies to everything he saw – that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. ³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”NIV

A well known preacher suggested that there are two books in the Bible the devil has a particular hatred for – the first and the last. ‘Genesis’ exposes his devices and prophecies his doom; ‘Revelation’ speaks of his destiny.  Well, are now moving from the first book to the last.

For the past few years I have written these daily thoughts, covering many books in both Old and New Testaments. But so far, I have put off tackling the book of ‘Revelation’. Christians hold a variety of views about how to interpret it, and I don’t want to get lost in that particular maze.

But for a while I have felt a regular prodding to head in the direction of this book, in this new year, and I know better than to ignore it. God knows the reason why, and that is enough.

I’m not writing about ‘Revelation’ because I’m an expert, but I invite you to join me on a journey of discovery, as, together, we ask the Holy Spirit to show us Jesus. Someone said that the message of the apocalypse is simple: ‘In the end, Jesus wins!’ Whatever line of interpretation they may hold, believers tend to agree that the overall theme concerns the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Above all, this book is a ‘’Revelation’’ both of and from Jesus. It’s an unveiling of the King, and His purposes for the world.

As we embark on our journey, with ‘L’ plates firmly in place, we should surely feel blessed by the blessing of verse 3. Let’s not fear it, but be blessed as we read.

 PRAYER: Lord, in some ways this book scares me. It’s a bit of a puzzle to me. Some of its themes and pictures frighten me. But I thank you that above all it shows me Jesus on the throne of the universe, and he cannot be moved. Lord God, please open my eyes to see wonderful things in your Word.

Genesis P.S!

Just before moving on, I was impressed by these words from Warren Wierbe’s commentary, and felt they should be shared:

‘Faith (vv. 24-25). “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones” (Heb. 11:22 nkjv). God’s promises to Abraham (Gen. 15:13-16) were passed along to Isaac and Jacob, and Jacob shared them with Joseph (48:21). Faith isn’t a shallow emotion that we work up by ourselves, or an optimistic “hope-so” attitude of “faith in faith.” True faith is grounded on the infallible Word of God, and because God said it, we believe it and act upon it.

True faith always leads to obedient action (James 2:14-26). Joseph knew what he believed and where he belonged. Therefore, he didn’t want his coffin to remain in Egypt when God delivered his people. He made his brothers swear that they would instruct their descendants, who would then pass the word along to future generations, and they kept their promise. Moses took Joseph’s remains with him when the Jews left Egypt (Ex. 13:19), and Joshua buried him in Shechem (Josh. 24:32; see also Gen. 33:19). Since Shechem became the “capital” for Ephraim and Manasseh, the tribes founded by Joseph’s two sons, that was the ideal place for him to be interred.’

As Wiersbe points out, it is remarkable that Joseph did not lose his faith, living, as he did, for many years, surrounded by paganism. But God has the power to keep His own.

Remember, the will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you.

Genesis 50:22-26: Ending well (again!)

“Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years ²³ and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. ²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ ²⁵ And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.’²⁶ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.” NIV

‘Commit your life to God, see vision, do the work that’s nearest, the work He appoints, truly and well and faithfully, and die knowing that you have started delicate influences, dynamic forces which will proceed through every succeeding generation until they gather up the harvest of glorious result about the throne of the Eternal. The man of God has not finished his work in the world when they put him in a coffin.’ G. Campbell Morgan.

Over the new year I watched a fascinating documentary about Raymond Briggs, the author and cartoonist responsible for such beloved books as ‘the Snowman’. Someone said that Briggs was obsessed with the thought of death. But another friend commented that it’s more that he’s acutely aware that death is a part of life. This is not surprising when you realise that he lost his mother, then his father, then his first wife in the space of eighteen months. He admitted that as you get older (he’s now in his 80’s) you inevitably think more about the end.

Well, as we close our (just over) year-long journey through ‘Genesis’, we are again confronted with the fact that: ‘death is the ultimate statistic: one out of one dies!’ Even the greatest human heroes of the Bible were mortal. But we also see again someone ending well. His final words were about God. Like his own father, Jacob, he died in faith, trusting in the promises of God, and was able to prophesy about the future. He emphasised what he deeply knew, saying it twice: ‘’God will surely come to your aid…’’ He knew that the Israelites would get out of Egypt, and when that happened, he wanted to be buried in the promised land – again, just like his dad.

‘He makes them promise him with an oath that they would bury him in Canaan. In Egypt they buried their great men very honourably and with abundance of pomp; but Joseph prefers a significant burial in Canaan, and that deferred too almost 200 years, before a magnificent one in Egypt. Thus Joseph, by faith in the doctrine of the resurrection and the promise of Canaan, gave commandment concerning his bones, Heb. 11:22. He dies in Egypt; but lays his bones at stake that God will surely visit Israel, and bring them to Canaan.’

PRAYER: Lord, help us to live with confidence in your help, and encourage others with the faith you enable us to have.

Genesis 50:19-21: Love is a choice.

^“19 But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. ²¹ So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.”NIV

Real love is not sentimental; it is not mushy at the centre. It faces the facts about people, but chooses to act kindly instead of vengefully. Joseph looked the truth about his brothers right in the eye, without flinching. He knew their former hatred; what they had wanted to do to him. He was aware of the harm they intended him. But his faith in a sovereign God enabled him to rise above it all and take the high road of forgiveness. He saw that God had a great purpose, even in their meanness. The example of Joseph shows what is possible with God’s help: we can treat those well who treat us bad. We don’t have to reply in kind.

Once again, the Joseph story causes us to think of Jesus. He could have said similarly to those who crucified Him:

‘’You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’’ (20).

Jesus has brought in a greater salvation than anything Joseph could.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord Jesus for so great salvation, and for all you endured for my sake.

Genesis 50:15-18: What if’s.

^“15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?’ ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father left these instructions before he died: ¹⁷ “This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.” Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.’ When their message came to him, Joseph wept.¹⁸ His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves,’ they said.” NIV

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened”. ― Winston S. Churchill.

‘’What if…’’ (15).

These two words have caused me a lot of unnecessary pain. I dare say it may be the same for you? You imagine things are happening (or might happen) that aren’t happening, and never will. (But even if they do, you are in God’s Hands, as Joseph was, and He will bring good out of bad). These vain imaginings, though, can take on the appearance of reality, and cast a huge, dark, depressive shadow over your life.

Instead of living life by ‘what if’s’ we should live by what is:

• By what the Bible says is true;
• By what is obviously true, and in front of our eyes;
• By what faith tells us is truth, and not by the dictates of fear.

It’s no wonder ‘’Joseph wept’’ (17). They didn’t have to make up a story about their father (I assume that’s what they were doing). Joseph had already forgiven them. They didn’t have to grovel before him. They were thinking things about him which just weren’t true.

When you live by what if instead of what is you become a slave to the lies you are telling yourself

PRAYER: Lord, please help me to have a mind kept in perfect peace because it is stayed on you.

Genesis 50:1-14: Keeping your word.

“Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. ² Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, ³ taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. ⁴ When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, ‘If I have found favour in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ⁵ “My father made me swear an oath and said, ‘I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.”’⁶ Pharaoh said, ‘Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.’⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him – the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt – ⁸ besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. ⁹ Chariots and horsemen^[a] also went up with him. It was a very large company.¹⁰ When they reached the threshing-floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. ¹¹ When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Atad, they said, ‘The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.’ That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.^[b]12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: ¹³ they carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. ¹⁴ After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.” NIV

It’s a simple point, but Joseph (and his brothers) kept their word to their father. Spirituality involves such loyalty and faithfulness. Psalm 15:4 speaks well of those who ‘’keep their promises even when it hurts’’ (New Living Translation).  In the end, it seems to me that Jacob, who wanted a simple burial back in Canaan, got the best of an Egyptian funeral thrown in too. (Doesn’t it go that way when you ‘’Seek first’’ the kingdom of God? Other things get added in also).

In fact, this simple nomad ended up having what looks close to a state funeral. God takes the things that are not and uses them to bring to nothing the things that are (1 Corinthians 1:26-29). He does surprising things with unremarkable people.

One further thought: when the funeral is over, life has to go on (5,14). There are duties to resume. You have not died; you have work still to do; you have a ministry to fulfil. You may be sure that whatever God asks of you, His grace will enable.

Genesis 50:1: Not as others.

“Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.” NIV

The Bible does not say that believers do not grieve. It does say, however, that we do not have to grieve as other people ‘’who have no hope’’ (1 Thessalonians 4:13). My years as a pastor have taught me this is so. There is a different feel between a Christian and a non-Christian funeral – a totally different atmosphere.

But we still grieve. We would have to be robots not to. Look at Joseph, as he throws himself on his dead father and weeps for him. He knows he has been ‘gathered to his people’; he has gone to a better place. But he has gone, and Joseph will not see him again in this world. There is pain in the parting.

Joseph had passed through bitter and difficult years into a season of abundance, prominence and influence. But even there, he was not beyond the reach of sorrow. This is how it is in a fallen world.

PRAYER: Almighty God, your world is so beautiful. I see this every day and everywhere I go. But it is also a world scarred by sin. This too is always obvious to me. Amidst this world’s magnificence, we witness the ugliness of pain, suffering and death. But thank you too that we also see Jesus who, by His death, has conquered death, and offers a living hope.

 (Perhaps you would also like to pray today for people you know who are entering this new year with an empty space in their hearts, because they have been recently bereaved).

Genesis 49:28-33: Living hope

“All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him. ²⁹ Then he gave them these instructions: ‘I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. ³¹ There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.’³³ When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” NIV

Jacob surely looked forward to something greater than just being buried with his ancestors. There is perhaps more than a hint of another anticipated reality – a loving reunion with other members of the family of faith. There is something lovely about the repeated expression: ’’…gathered to my people…gathered to his people’’ (29, 33).

Jacob wanted to be buried in the land of promise (not in Egypt), showing his faith in the Word of God. He believed it could not fail.

A friend, approaching retirement years, said this in my hearing, ‘I want to finish well.’ Jacob surely did: dying with faith and hope, witnessing to God to the very end.

PRAYER: Lord, please help us all to finish well, trusting in your Word, glorifying you, and eagerly looking forward to the world to come.