Jesus’ Judgement is Just

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment. I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.”
John 5:28-30 NLT

In His discourse with the Jewish leaders, Jesus spoke much about the life to come, after people have physically died, and how this life would be fairly and righteously compartmentalised into a future either in Heaven of hell. Simply put, those people who believe in Jesus will end up experiencing eternal life, and those people who continue in their sinful and evil ways will experience judgement. But what else is God to do? Our spirits will live forever, and somehow God has to determine how they should be separated. As a holy and righteous God, He cannot have any evil introduced into Heaven. The purity and holiness of the place where eternal life will be experienced cannot be violated. So what else can He do with all these people who refuse to accept His free gift of salvation and prefer to stay in their sinful and evil ways? They have made a choice, which is that they don’t want to be with Him in Heaven.

There are of course those people who mistakenly claim that regardless of their behaviour they will end up in Heaven anyway. They prefer to follow and believe their feelings rather than the hard facts and truths contained within God’s only written work, the Bible. There are others who claim that if there is a Christian God, then He is too loving to consign anyone to eternal death and punishment. Some people feel that the punishment of eternal death does not fit the crime of a finite time spent in a human life of sin, so God cannot be fair at all. Even others claim that being thrown into the lake of fire results in instant annihilation, much as what would happen if someone was thrown into a pool of molten lava. But most people seem to be unengaged and disinterested about their post-death life, and don’t even want to think about it; a head in the sand response.

There may be some people who have created in their minds the thought that there is a third area between Heaven and hell, reserved for people who don’t think they have been bad enough to warrant eternal punishment. People like my neighbour who is convinced that he will just join the “big party downstairs”. After all, he hasn’t stolen anything significant, or murdered anyone, so his thoughts go. But it is significant that this intermediate place is not supported at all in Scripture. It doesn’t exist.

So, we end up with the words of Jesus. Those “who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment“. And Jesus told the Jewish leaders two things – He does the will of His father in Heaven, and His judgement is just. We know from Revelation 20 that God has books that record every action and thought committed by people. So, we have nothing to fear about false testimony or legal loopholes. Everything will be exposed exactly as it happened before God, and everyone else standing there, and there can therefore be no complaint at all that the process lacks justice. The outcome might not be what people want, but the choice is their’s.

Dear Father God. We praise and worship You here on earth for Your love and justice. As the psalmist wrote, “Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the highest heavens. You have done such wonderful things. Who can compare with you, O God?“ Amen.


The Graveyard Dead

Posted on by korgrocker

“And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man. Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.”
John 5:27-29 NLT

Some ominous words from Jesus. To the Jewish leaders, He said that He had life-giving power and because of that, all those who had died and were in their graves, no matter where they were, would hear His voice. And the result was that they would rise again. I expect the Jewish leaders were seriously looking for a way out of this conversation and were probably regretting that they had bothered to pick Him up for a minor misdemeanour about telling someone, who Jesus had just healed, to pick up His bed and walk. 

Do we take what Jesus said literally? I think we can because He Himself was dead in a grave, and was resurrected. Lazarus, His friend, was dead in his grave and had been there for four days, and Jesus, through His “life-giving power” raised him from the dead. In His own case, Jesus’ resurrected body was superficially just like His old one, but it also had special supernatural powers enabling Him to walk through walls, amongst other things. And then there was that day when He ascended into Heaven. The Apostle John recorded at the end of his Gospel, “This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate. Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written”. All the accounts about Jesus post-resurrection, and recorded in the Bible, actually happened before reliable witnesses, so we can therefore, I believe, take what Jesus said to the Jewish leaders in a literal way. 

So, to all those people who believe that when we die we will experience a transition into nothing – people who are referred to as Annihilationists – are in for a nasty shock if what Jesus said is true. These people believe that there is no after life, with their consciousnesses being extinguished, and their physical bodies eventually returning to the elements from which they were formed. However, such a belief is not supported by Scripture, and Jesus warned people repeatedly that they will eventually be held to account for their sins. God had the power to raise His Son from the dead, and that same power will one day raise everyone from the dead too. Jesus said, “Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment”. The “good” Jesus referred to wasn’t good works – doing things for others that could be defined as being “good” – but the good of believing in Him. Ephesians 2:8-9, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it”. 

When we die, our spirits go to a place of waiting. We know from Scriptures that those who die as believers will go to a place called Paradise (read what Jesus said to the repentant criminal on the cross next to His), or a place of torment (read Jesus’ account of the Rich Man and Lazarus). And then one day everyone who has ever lived will receive a resurrected body. Acts 24:15, “I have the same hope in God that these men have, that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous”. After which, there is to be a time of judgement. Revelation 20:13, “The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds”. Jesus very clearly told the Jewish leaders what the results of His judgement would be.

Jesus, the Son of God, came to this world as God’s plan for dealing with evil and sin, and human beings have a choice before them. They either believe in Jesus and receive God’s forgiveness, or they don’t. The outcome of the choice made was made very clear by Jesus in His conversation with the Jewish leaders.

But in the meantime, and while there is still time, we pilgrims have the opportunity to tell people about God’s love and grace, and His plan for their salvation. Surely we owe it to our friends and families and anyone else we come in contact with?

Dear Father God. Please go before us and prepare the way for the conversations You wish us to have with people who need to hear about You. Open their ears, we pray, and help us to say the right words. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Dead Hear Jesus

Posted on by korgrocker

“And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.”
John 5:25-27 NLT

Jesus is still talking with the Jewish leaders. But even though this is God, talking to them through His Son Jesus, all the Jews could see was an ordinary man making some incredible claims. It is just about possible to see these leaders shaking their heads in disbelief. The language that Jesus used was clear and straightforward. He said that “the dead will hear [His] voice“. But to anyone listening they would have immediately associated the word “dead” with physical death, the state human beings end up in after their life leaves them. The dead body was then interred in a grave and would eventually have disappeared through decay. So, the Jewish leaders would have scoffed at Him, treating what Jesus was saying perhaps as a bit of a joke. Jesus was deadly serious though, because He was referring to spiritual death.

As He was out and about in the region of the Middle East, Jesus brought to the people the words about His Kingdom, where people live forever. There is no death in the Kingdom of God, and many people heard what He had to say. But how many people listened to Him? In this context Jesus was saying that when He was listened to, the listener would understand and believe Him, becoming alive in the process. Simple really. But isn’t it strange that people prefer to carry on in their old familiar ways instead of changing the course of their life, which will provide them with a better outcome. As an example, I know a lady, a committed Christian, who smokes. She has done so for many years, and it has badly affected her health, and continues to do so. Doctors have time and time again warned her about her smoking, but she continues to smoke, knowing the dangers, but unable to change and choose a better way.

We pilgrims have the opportunity to tell people about the “life-giving power” that Jesus has. But how many listen to what we have to say? To those of us in the Kingdom, the rejection we experience is inexplicable, but unsurprising, because to be a citizen in God’s Kingdom requires change. And people are more comfortable in staying where they are, in familiar territory, continuing in their lives of sin, than turning to God in repentance and receiving His life for the rest of their physical lives and into the future beyond the Great Divide. Imagine I put before a person two glasses, one containing water and the other a deadly poison, and if I told them what the contents were, which one would they choose to drink? The answer to the choice between accepting the Good News about God and His saving grace and living with Him forever, and eternal life spent with the devil and his angels in torment, is just as clear cut. But people are more likely to choose the latter rather than the former. 

The consequence of drinking the poison is physical death, and the consequence of rejecting the Gospel is eternal death. Jesus’ teaching was hard to listen to at times, and even harder to apply in their lives. There was an occasion when many of His disciples decided that they couldn’t follow Him anymore because of His teaching. In John 6:66-68 we read, “At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life””. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, and through the Holy Spirit He is saying the same thing today, that if you listen to what He was, and is, saying, believing in Him, then You will live forever. There is no other way to Heaven.

‭‭Father God. There is a huge difference between hearing and listening. Please help us communicate Your words of eternal life to those around us, as we speak about Your love and grace. And we pray that You will open the ears of those that hear Your message so that they too will believe in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus Tells the Truth

Posted on by korgrocker

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
John 5:24 NLT

This must have been an astonishing statement in the religious context of those days. Standing in the Jewish leaders’ shoes, we would have heard this ordinary looking man making the assertion that He had been sent by God and claimed that all who believe in Him “will never be condemned for their sins”. We know there was nothing special about Jesus’ appearance from Isaiah’s prophecy, “My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him” (Isaiah 53:2). However, Jesus was a divisive figure. He challenged the status quo and left the people of His day with a choice to make. They either had to believe that he was who He said He was, the Son of God, or they had to reject Him as yet another person to be pitied, a person deluded and mentally deranged. But what about the miracles? Could a person making these false claims have healed a man who had been paralysed for thirty eight years? A dilemma both for the Jewish leaders and the ordinary people.

We often think that God is omnipotent, i.e. that He can do anything. But there are in fact some things that He cannot do. One of them is to tell a lie. Everything God says and does is truthful and righteous. And the same applies to Jesus because He was, and is, the Son of God. So when Jesus said that what He was about to say was truthful we who believe in Him need to sit up and take notice. Jesus said that we must listen to His message, and believe in God, who sent Jesus to this world. And if we do, then the result is that we will pass from death to life. Eternal life. 

We pilgrims have an opportunity to echo what Jesus said to those around us. Witnessing about Jesus and all He has done for mankind is something that I am passionate about, and do at every opportunity. The message is simple but takes a lifetime of application as we start to live out the reality of moving from a kingdom of death to God’s Kingdom of life. But Jesus was focused on why He came, as we read in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”. More truths from Jesus’ lips. 

One difficulty Christians can experience is what to do about people who make certain claims about their mission in life. Jesus Himself warned about such people in Matthew 24:24, “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones“. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act ….” (Matthew 7:15-16a). And yet, if we reject someone, there is the possibility that we have rejected a messenger sent by God. Thankfully the Holy Spirit will help us discern who is right, and who is to be avoided. One question I ask is about who the person in question is accountable to. A man or woman only accountable to themselves are in danger of being in error, no matter how sincere they are.

Jesus backed up what He said by constantly asserting that He was accountable to His Father in Heaven. And the words He said, His teachings and parables, were supported by miraculous signs and wonders. His selfless and sinless life spoke for itself. No appeals for money. No lavish lifestyle. No mansions and private jets. Jesus came from Heaven and returned there after His death and resurrection. There is only one Messiah and He is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear Father God. Thank You for sending Jesus to this world, to fulfil Your plan for the salvation of mankind. We praise You today. Amen.

Honour

Posted on by korgrocker

“In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son is certainly not honouring the Father who sent him.”
John 5:22-23 NLT

Do we honour God? Not just our Heavenly Father, but His Son Jesus as well? These are relevant questions in today’s cynical and sceptical societies. For most people, God and Jesus are considered irrelevant and just a part of history. In our “enlightened” days they consider themselves too sophisticated to believe in anything, that they classify as supernatural or superstitious. But Jesus was clear in His discourse with the Jewish leaders following the episode with the man healed at the Pool. He was saying that one day everyone will honour Him, the Son of God, just as they honour His Father, God Himself. And Jesus spelt it out for the Jewish leaders. He told them that as the Son of God, with the absolute authority to judge, he should be honoured. But if He wasn’t then they were guilty of not honouring the Father also. Isaiah prophesied about those who declared their honour of God but failed to believe it in their hearts. “And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote”” (Isaiah 29:13).

The UK publishes occasional Lists of Honours, for people who have done something outstanding for the people in their communities. So to the list might be added a surgeon, who has dedicated his life to fixing people in a third world country. Or a politician who has selflessly served his constituents. We might find a charity fund raiser or actress who is a patron of a mental health charity, a policeman or a foster parent. People are honoured because we value the contribution they have made to society. So how much more should we honour God because of all that He has done for mankind? There really is no comparison with the UK Honours List.

Sadly, many people in our societies fail to honour God. One phrase that falls far short of honouring God is referring to Him as “the old man upstairs”. Even we Christians fall down on this one, becoming so familiar with God that He becomes to us God All-matey, rather than God Almighty. We fail to treat Him with the honour, awe and respect that he deserves. Forgive us, God, for the way we treat You, we pray.

The Bible tells us who we should honour apart from God. Of great significance is our parents. Deuteronomy 5:16, “Honour your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.“ Sadly, we see many occasions when this commandment is abused or forgotten. We should also honour those who lead our churches and fellowships. 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine“.

We pilgrims need to be very clear about honouring God. Jesus considered it important enough to include the words “hallowed be thy name” in the prayer He taught His disciples. We honour God by keeping our lives pure. By treating others with respect. When the world around us tells us to “get your own back”, we turn the other cheek, in honour of the person who has wronged us, and Jesus who taught us what we should do. As Christians we are salt and light in our communities, beacons of hope, and showing those around us examples of the way we should treat God and others.

Dear Father God. Please forgive us for the way we fail to bow our knees in reverent worship to You the awesome and holy God whom we serve. And we pray too for those around us, that they too will come to worship You, giving You Your rightful place in our societies, in our churches and in our families. In Jesus’ name. Amen.


Judgement

Posted on by korgrocker

“In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son is certainly not honouring the Father who sent him.”
John 5:22-23 NLT

God’s judgement isn’t a popular subject, particularly amongst people who don’t believe in Him. After all, they say, isn’t this God all about His love for people, and surely such a God of love would never judge and punish anyone. Even Christians, sitting in our pews, won’t hear many sermons preached about God’s judgement. But Jesus spoke often about God’s judgement and the verses before us today are such an example. Jesus said that He had been given “absolute authority to judge” so we seriously need to take note of this. It is very true that God is a God of love. But He is also a God of righteousness and justice, as we read in Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He”. Psalm 9:8, “He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness”. So we mustn’t be surprised that Jesus warned the Jewish leaders that He had the authority to judge.

We see the evil and sinful ways of the people in the societies in which we live, and can mourn the fact that there are many people who, at first sight, would seem to be evading the consequences of their sins. People who commit crimes but are never caught. People who lie and cheat their way through life. People who treat their spouses and families in violent and despicable ways. But God knows what is going on, and we should not be surprised that one day there will be a time of reckoning. It may not happen in our lifetimes but happen it will.

According to the Bible, there are two judgement occasions – one for believers and the other for unbelievers. For believers, we read in Romans 14:10b,12, “ … For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. … So then each of us shall give account of himself to God”. This will not affect our salvation – this is assured by faith alone – but it is to bring out into the open an account of all the things we have done, or haven’t done, for God. So, our lives will come under the spotlight of Jesus’ gaze, and we will be rewarded for the good things we have done. Everything else will be burned up, as of no consequence.

For unbelievers, however, there is a terrible time coming, as we read in Revelation 20:11-12, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books”. 

God is a God of love but we have to overlay that truth on the fact that He is also a God of righteousness and justice. Everyone has an opportunity to turn to God and respond to His love but there are consequences for those who don’t. We are perfectly free to make choices, but we need to be aware that by doing so, we also choose the consequences for the choices we make. If we choose to follow Jesus, then we are assured that we will spend eternity with Him. If we turn our backs on God, and don’t believe in Him, then we will find ourselves facing the consequences in front of a Great White Throne.

Jesus exposed some hard truths before those Jewish leaders who dared to harass Him for telling a healed man to carry his sleeping mat home on the Sabbath. We don’t know how they responded in the end, but if they continued to reject Jesus and His message then there was a time coming when they would have to stand before Him to account for their choice.

We pilgrims must take every opportunity to remind our listeners that God loves them. But if our Good News is rejected and we are harassed and ridiculed for sharing it, then we can remind them of the Great White Throne. Perhaps our gracious words will lodge in their hearts and one day will bear fruit as another soul born into God’s family.

Dear Father God. We thank You for Your grace and mercy – where would anyone be without it? We continue to pray for our friends and families, that none will have to experience Your throne in person. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God, the Life Giver

Posted on by korgrocker

“For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.”
John 5:21 NLT

Jesus was confronted by the Jewish leaders for telling a man healed by the Pool of Bethesda, and on the Sabbath, to ” … Pick up [his] mat and walk” (John 5:11b). Such an instruction was, to the Jews, a violation of the Law of Moses, which forbids working on the Sabbath. A petty, nit-picking, interpretation that overlooked, or ignored, the wonderful and life-changing healing of a man, paralysed for thirty eight years. But as we see at the start of John 5:19, “So Jesus explained…”. Jesus’ explanation was lengthy and detailed, and we don’t know how, in the end, it was received by the Jews. I suspect that they failed to understand, in line with the prophecy in Isaiah 6:9, “And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’“”

Jesus said to the Jews that His father “gives life to those he raises from the dead”. Did He mean physical or spiritual life? I believe that Jesus was explaining spiritual life because Jesus’ primary mission to Planet Earth was to bring abundant life. John 10:10b, ” … I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly“. In this context, we read what He said to Nicodemus in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life“. And to anyone who believes in Jesus, comes the God-given promise that they will never die. In effect, Jesus said that His Father, through His grace and love, brings about a miracle in the lives of spiritually dead people, who, when they believe in Him, can experience eternal life. 

We pilgrims are people who will never die. Yes, one day our mortal bodies, will die, but through God’s promise of eternal life, our spirits will live on. And then one day after that we will receive our new bodies, as promised and as we read in Philippians 3:21, “He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control”. We can read more about our new bodies in I Thessalonians 4. But the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:1-3, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies”. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that His Father raises the spiritually dead people to eternal life with Him, and that He too gave the same life to anyone He wanted. Oh, and for good measure, He can raise physically dead people as well.

Jesus said, and as recorded in John 14:6, ” … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. The only way in which human beings can experience being raised from the dead is through Jesus. It takes faith, that God will do what He has promised. But the alternative is a life snuffed out when we die, with our spirits heading for eternal life in a place where we don’t want to be. We can experience this new life now while we are still alive, through our growing relationship with God. We find that he is a real Person, who loves and cares for us. He helps us in times of difficulties. He leads and guides us in our journey through life. And we can share this hope we possess with those around us.

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for the life that You have given us. We look forward to the time when we will join You in Paradise. Thank You. Amen.

Be Astonished

Posted on by korgrocker

“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.”
John 5:19-20 NLT

What can be more astonishing than to see a man, who had been paralysed for thirty eight years, healed of his affliction? But Jesus attributed the miracle to His Father, who, He said, showed Him what to do. And Jesus then said to the Jewish leaders, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!”, or words to that effect. Sadly, we know that the astonishment soon to be present in the minds of the religious folks of His day didn’t translate into their acceptance of their Messiah, but, rather, it led them down a path that resulted in His crucifixion.

How was it that Jesus could say that He only did what His Father showed Him? In our natural states, we have the opportunity at times to work with someone who is skilled at what he does. Apprenticeships are a good example of such a relationship. So, we have a bricklayer who shows an apprentice the way to lay bricks in straight lines, or a plumber who communicates all the tricks and good practices of his craft backed up by vocational training at a school or college. In our schools, teachers show pupils practical and theoretical methodologies in the subjects being studied. And through it all the person being trained develops the skills for themselves by practicing at every opportunity. In my primary years, I was taught how to play a piano. My small fingers developed the required dexterity as I practised the scales and arpeggios, and by learning to play musical pieces, translating squiggles and blobs written on a piece of paper into sounds corresponding as the piano keys were pressed. I did what my teacher showed me.

But when Jesus said “For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man” He wasn’t referring to His vocational training. This wasn’t like the carpenter’s shop, where Jesus took on and developed the skills of His natural father, Joseph. Jesus was referring to His Heavenly Father, who, He said, showed Him the works that He was to do. How was Jesus taught how to heal the paralysed Pool man? The answer lies in the relationship Jesus had with His Father. And, of course, Jesus was God as well as human, so He could do the things that God does. The Father/Son relationship was maintained through prayer and presence. Occasionally, the Scriptures recorded the audio of Father speaking to His Son. Mark 1:11, “And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.“” On another occasion, recorded in John 12:28, Jesus said, “Father, bring glory to your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.“” Jesus was constantly in touch with His Father. 

We pilgrims have the benefit of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and through Him we too can do astonishing acts. John 14:12-14, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” And there have been many occasions when God has done astonishing things through pilgrims like us. We look up the biographies of men and women like Kathryn Kuhlman or Smith Wigglesworth and are astonished. But none of the great miracle workers woke up one morning and started to do mighty works like Jesus. First came the relationship with our Heavenly Father. And because of our humanity we have to develop the faith to do the things God has in mind for us. Small steps of faith at first lead to greater things later. But we pilgrims humbly acknowledge that it is all about God and His glory, and not about us at all. We too only do what God has asked us to do, something that requires a trained listening ear to hear Him. And people will be astonished.

Dear Father God. It is so humbling to find that You have entrusted Your great works to human beings such as ourselves. Please help us as we take faltering steps into the land of astonishments. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Father and Son

Posted on by korgrocker

“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”
John 5:19 NLT

Jesus and His Heavenly Father had a very close relationship, perhaps only limited by Jesus’ humanity. But spiritually they were so close that Jesus could truthfully say His ministry and presence on earth was totally aligned to the will of Father God. Jesus in fact said that without that relationship, He could do nothing. To the Jewish leaders Jesus was a severe threat. On the one hand they could see the miracles that He did, indisputable acts of healing and mercy, but on the other they had the problem that Jesus claimed that these miracles were directly due to His relationship with His Father showing Him what to do. The Jewish religious leaders had never encountered anything like this before and didn’t know how to handle Jesus. Throughout His ministry, Jesus was shadowed and harassed by the Jews, who were trying to build a dossier of “crimes” that could result in Him being prosecuted and silenced for good. But in His trial before Pilate, no crime was found, and particularly one that deserved the death sentence. We read in John 18:38b, ” … Then [Pilate] went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime”“.

Jesus only spoke truths when He was here on earth. John 14:6, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“”. Not even a hint of a lie ever passed Jesus’ lips. He made no attempt to ingratiate Himself with the Jewish leaders. He just spoke out, and performed miracles, all perfectly in line with what was happening through His Father in Heaven. But the Incarnation was all about Jesus taking on human flesh. He was for a time willing to leave behind Him His Godly life, and become a human being. Of course, He was still God, but human limitations were very much present in His life on earth. But the reason for His coming is explained in Hebrews 2:14, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death“.

But all who have put their trust and faith in God are God’s offspring. John 1:12, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God“. We pilgrims are brothers and sisters, children of a Father who lives in Heaven, and we have an elder brother called Jesus. Hebrews 2:11, “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters“. So, we read today’s verse, John 5:19, in a different light. Just as Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, so must we pilgrims. It probably won’t place us in the upper echelons of the popularity charts, but we too must live our lives in accordance with His will, not ours. 

Dear God. Thank You for Jesus, our dear elder brother. Through His love He was prepared to die for us, taking on our sins so that we could be part of Your family. We are so grateful. Amen.

Equal With God

Posted on by korgrocker

“But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.”
John 5:17-18 NLT

Jesus posed a threat to the Jewish leaders because He challenged their position as religious authorities. But Jesus Himself acknowledged the role of the Jewish leaders, as we read in Matthew 23:1-3, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach””. There was a sting in the tail of Jesus’ acknowledgement, because He once again exposed the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious authorities. But it is so sad to read that their reaction was not to embrace their Messiah, but to plot to kill Him. What Jesus said was factually correct. As God Himself, of course He was an equal of His Father in Heaven. John made that clear when he wrote the opening verses of his Gospel. We read, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:1-5). 

It is a feature of humanity, that we have a tendency to reject anyone who doesn’t agree with our beliefs or world view. Because of their strict interpretation of the Law of Moses, the religious leaders would not accept anything that was at variance with their understanding of the Law. To them there was no wriggle room. When it came to carrying a sleeping mat on the Sabbath, to them it was a black and white, open and shut case, violating the Law. Tin their eyes, they were right and Jesus was wrong. And in those days, anyone who dared to break the Law was in danger of being stoned. We remember the account of the woman caught in adultery – John 8:4-5, ““Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”” So, Jesus had committed two “crimes” in their eyes – instructing someone to work on the Sabbath, and declaring that He was an equal with God.

But of course we pilgrims would never follow in the religious footsteps of the Jewish leaders. After all, when we meet someone we extend to them the grace and love of God, not a religious interpretation of what we find in the Bible. But I have met some Christians who are so dogmatic about the Scriptures they read, that they come across as being harsh and unforgiving, rejecting anyone who dares to contradict them. For example, they point out their black and white interpretation of what is to happen at the last judgement, and dangle their listeners over the fires of hell to try to frighten them into the Kingdom. They may not be plotting to kill their listeners, but their attitude is no different to the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. Legalism takes precedence over the love of God.

God loves all sinners. He does not love the sin, but He has a remedy for that. Jesus came two thousand years ago to save mankind from the consequences of their sin. And we pilgrims extend that love of God to others as He leads us. The message we deliver may be black and white – there is no grey area where the Gospel is concerned –  but the love of God overrules any hint of harshness or judgemental attitudes. We deliver the message. The Holy Spirit is then able to gently and lovingly lead that person to the Throne of Grace.

Dear Father God. Please forgive us when we fail to extend Your love to those around us. We pray for our families, our friends and neighbours, and everyone we meet. After all they are all Your children and You love them dearly. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.