Watching Angels

Posted on by korgrocker

“They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.”
1 Peter 1:12 NLT

Peter wrote that the preaching of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit was “all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching”. How do we feel about angels? Do we think that they exist or are they just mythical entities, superstitious legacies from a bygone age? I used to know an old lady whose driving skills were atrocious, but she never seemed to experience any bumps or scrapes, arriving at her destinations totally unscathed. The suspicion was that she had an angel positioned on each corner of her car, keeping her safe. Someone else I knew always advised against speeding when driving, as the angels then couldn’t keep up. The concept of guardian angels has always been with us.

Personally, I’m convinced that angels are real and play a very important part in our lives, even though we cannot see them. In my walks around the woods near my home I sometimes meet a man who shows an interest in spiritual matters, and I have shared the Good News with him on several occasions. But Peter said that angels are “eagerly watching” me as I speak with him and you can just imagine what they might have been saying. Perhaps they were trying hard to put words into my mouth. Or praying that the other man would open his mind to the Gospel truths. One thing is certain though, and that is that the angels were excited about the “Good News” being shared, because, as Peter wrote, “it is all so wonderful”. 

Angels are created spirit beings, who live in Heaven. So we cannot see them as tangible beings although we presume they can see us. To enable us to see them, they have to somehow acquire an earthly body. Daniel saw such an embodied angel, as we read in Daniel 10:5-6, “I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people”. Those men around him knew something was going on but they didn’t see what Daniel saw. In Revelation 22:8, John wrote, “I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me”. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 13:2, “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it!” 

We may be unconvinced of the presence of angels. Our scientific and technological age discounts anything spiritual because it can’t be measured or observed. But the Bible is full of references to angels and to ignore them impoverishes our experience of Scripture. In Hebrews 1:14 we read, “Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation“. Psalm 91:11, “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go“. But as we preach the Good News to those around us we do so with the knowledge that angels are “eagerly watching” what is happening. And we read in Luke 15:10, “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents“. Can you imagine it – when we pilgrims became believers the angels had a party in Heaven! As we share the Good News with our friends and families, let’s remember there’s a party coming!

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your servants the angels. Amen.


Powerful Preaching

Posted on by korgrocker

“They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.”
1 Peter 1:12 NLT

Peter knew all about the Good News. He lived with its Author for over three years learning all about it and even getting the opportunity to practise it. After a “wobbly” at Jesus’ trial, and his subsequent restoration over a breakfast of fried fish, he stayed largely below the radar until that momentous day, the Day of Pentecost. And then he came forward with the other Apostles, and announced the Good News. He provided a foretaste of what happens when a preacher dispenses his or her message of Good News “in the power of the Holy Spirit”. Not for Peter, or any of the other Apostles, was the preaching going to be a message full of flummery. It was the raw truth of the Good News.

Peter commenced his preaching by quoting the prophecy of Joel 2, which ends, “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). His accurate quotation of an Old Testament Scripture, was the first evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing to his remembrance just the right verses at the right time. Jesus of course said this would happen, as we read in John 16:13, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” But Jesus also warned His disciples that when faced with a stressful situation in front of the rulers and authorities of the day, the Holy Spirit would help them with what they should say. We read in Matthew 10:19-20, “When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you”. So Peter probably amazed himself with the words that came from his mouth – it wasn’t him but the Holy Spirit bringing words of power and conviction.

There is no shortage of opportunities to find out what the “Good News” actually is. The internet is a source of such information of course. And we have the wayside pulpits outside traditional church buildings and more besides. The sincere seekers after the truth of the “Good News” will find it. But for everyone else there is a lethargy, a fatigue, when it comes to things of God. We pilgrims of course look for opportunities ourselves to share what God has done for us, testimonies that are real and relevant. But we pilgrims are not all preachers. Or so we think. We may think of a preacher being someone dressed in a white gown and delivering a formal message from a piece of church furniture we call a pulpit. An ornately carved wooden construction usually elevated in a corner of the building and accessed via a number of stairs hidden behind a wooden façade. And a message is delivered but is it “Good News”? That of course depends on Peter’s assertion that the “Good News” must be “preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven”. Without the Holy Spirit’s presence the announcement will usually fall flat and will be largely ineffective.

Before He left this world, Jesus gave His disciples an instruction. “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16:15). There is a different dynamic if the preaching includes the Holy Spirit’s power, however. We read in Acts 4:31, “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness”. Something called conviction ensures that the message is powerful. There has been many a preacher without a personal relationship with Jesus who nevertheless has preached the Gospel. But those who know that Jesus is their personal Saviour have an even more powerful message.

We pilgrims of course may not grace a pulpit with our presence. But we do have a message to share about what Jesus has done for us. In the pulpit of life we have the words that can make a difference to where someone will spend eternity. Romans 10:14, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them”? We are “someone tells them” pilgrims. Let’s not miss any opportunity that comes our way.

Dear God. Please forgive us for when we make simple things like sharing what Jesus has done for us, so complicated. Your words of eternal life will reach any receptive hearts and we pray for the same boldness that the early disciples had. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Christ’s Suffering

Posted on by korgrocker

“This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.”
1 Peter 1:10-11 NLT

Those prophets in Old Testament times wrote down some stuff that they thought must have been very strange. They heard what the Holy Spirit was saying to them and they faithfully recorded His words, but they couldn’t make the connection with a real event either then or yet to happen. Take Psalm 22 for example. If we look hard enough there appear to be about nine or so predictions of Christ’s death embedded in this Psalm, written by David. Take Psalm 22:18 for example, “They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing”. That happened as Jesus was crucified, as we can read in John 19:24, “So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did”. Those Roman soldiers would never have read Psalm 22, and even if they had, would it have made any difference? When David wrote Psalm 22 it was almost as though he went through the crucifixion experience in his Holy Spirit inspired imagination. Perhaps it happened as a dream and we can almost imagine him waking up and quickly writing down what must have been a vivid sleep experience.

In Psalm 22 the tone changes after verse 19. He is back down to earth and looks around again at the difficult time he was having. He turns from writing and praying about his current predicament to look upward into Heavenly places. And a warm glow starts to build in his spirit as he looks to God. In verses 25 and 27 he wrote, “I will praise you in the great assembly. I will fulfil my vows in the presence of those who worship you. … The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him”. David couldn’t wait to experience again the joy of worshipping and praising God along with his fellow people, and he even had a glimpse that perhaps one day all the nations of the world, Jews and Gentiles together, would join together in a wonderful praise event like never before seen.

The old prophets could dimly see an event in the future in which the Messiah, the Christ, would experience great suffering and death. We pilgrims, with the benefit of hindsight, know what happened on that fateful “Good Friday”. That day the prophets could “see” coming but without the full knowledge that it would change the world forever, and usher in a new age, one where the Saviour’s legacy was the continual presence of the Holy Spirit. And as the times get more and more wicked, the Holy Spirit within us can shine brighter and brighter in the darkness around us. God declared that light is good – Genesis 1:4, “And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness“. In John 8:12 we read, “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”” The light we display to those around us makes a difference, and God has said it is good. The world might not think so, but, then, what does that matter?

Dear Father God. We thank You for giving us Your light to shine in our generation, in our families and communities. Amen.

Salvation Prophesied

Posted on by korgrocker

“This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.”
1 Peter 1:10 NLT

Peter reminded his readers that they were in a privileged place because their whole experience and knowledge of salvation was denied to the Old Testament prophets. They wrote down some prophesies that looked forward to the coming Messiah, but they lacked the knowledge of when this would happen, who the Messiah would be, and how it would happen. They of course had some incredible insights but lacked the detail made available to the believers in the early Church many years later, and after Christ’s death and resurrection. Those old prophets felt the stirring of the Holy Spirit within them and they wrote down what they believed they heard. Prophets such as Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel all looked forward to the day of the Lord without experiencing the clarity they so wanted. Jesus Himself told His disciples “I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it” (Matthew 13:17). 

The Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah are amazing, considering most were written hundreds of years before Jesus came. Snippets of what the old prophets saw through the promptings of the Holy Spirit even started to appear in Genesis. But let’s look at Isaiah’s writings. He wrote down what he heard God say about the Messiah, “He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth”” (Isaiah 49:6). The early believers in the five provinces were the fulfilment of that prophecy. Psalm 22 builds a prophetic picture of how the Messiah’s life was to end. But Jesus Himself repeated the prophecy of Isaiah 61, in Luke 4:18-21, ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come. ” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!””

Fast forward to the first century AD and all became clear. The violent death of the Son of Man ushered in the age of opportunity – mankind’s salvation by grace. Those old prophets died without ever experiencing the salvation they could see coming. We pilgrims are also in a privileged position because we too have experienced God’s love and grace. The old Apostle John wrote, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:9-10). How can we reject God’s grace? How can we say that this is not for us, and we’ll work out our own salvation instead? But most people in our Western societies do. They have chosen the broad way that leads to destruction. But we pilgrims have grasped God’s grace with both hands and will never let go. Ever. And one day we’ll cross the threshold into His presence, saved by grace.

Dear Father God. We worship You with grateful hearts today and every day. Amen.

Trusting Him

Posted on by korgrocker

“You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”
1 Peter 1:8-9 NLT

What Peter wrote to those early Christians living in a far-off corner of what is now modern Turkey was truth indeed. And it is even more true today. We pilgrims have never seen Jesus in the flesh, in the way the early disciples did as he walked and talked with them, and lived with them, in Palestine and the surrounding areas. Yet, as Peter wrote, the early believers, located many miles away from the Holy Land, loved Him, and so do we believers today. It is what faith is all about. We believe in Him, and all the information we can find about Him in the Bible. And because of that we love Him and trust Him. 

There is much in the Bible about Jesus. Prophetic words in the Old Testament. Personal glimpses and records of His teaching and sayings in the New. A Figure emerges of a loving man, compassionate and caring, the very face of God Himself. God came to this planet in human skin and those who followed Him, those He called, were never the same again after He left. The amazing fact is that through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is still with us today. He said to His disciples just a few hours before His death, “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. … When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future” (John 16:7,13). The Holy Spirit, the Advocate, never left this world, and He lives within all those who love and trust Jesus.

Peter continued that because we trust Him, we “rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy”. Those early Christians were having a hard time and they were experiencing many trials and challenges, being counter-cultural in their societies and communities. But they were filled with joy. Not happiness. The difference is that happiness is an emotional feeling, tossed around by the external factors in our lives, such as what we eat, who we meet, and how we feel. But joy is different, and is based on something deep within us, an inner knowledge that no matter what happens externally, we are ok within ourselves. We are at peace. We are in Christ. 

Peter wrote that there is a reward for trusting Jesus and that is the “salvation of [our] souls”. We believe what Jesus said. We believe that His promises are true. And we trust Him for the outcomes that will happen one day in the future. Jesus said, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2). That’s in the future, but much of Jesus’ teaching applies to today as well. In Matthew 11:28-30 He said, “ … Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light”. 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”. The list of promises that Jesus made builds a picture of a God who cares for us and loves us.

Peter concludes these verses today with the thought that we have waiting for us a reward for trusting Him. and that is the “salvation of [our] souls”. Imagine before us a cross roads. Turn left for the paths and ways of the world. Lives without God. Lives dominated by the hedonism and decadence of the sinful societies in which we live. Or turn right, for a life that won’t be easy – Jesus said, ” … Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. …” (John 16:33). And those early believers in the five provinces were finding that out. But all worth it because of the reward that was waiting for them, secure in Heaven. So, fellow pilgrims, where is our security? Where is our treasure stored? Which turning will we take – left of right? There is only one way – the Jesus way.

Dear Father God. Thank You for the joy within us, a joy that can only be found in You. Amen.

Trials and Testing

Posted on by korgrocker

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT

Life for a Christian must have been difficult in the five provinces in those days. Peter wrote about “trials”. We don’t know what they were but we can imagine. News reports today of the trials experienced by Christians in other countries dominated by hostile religions and governments will give us a good idea. For example, in India today, Christians are under attack, and the violence against them has been steadily increasing over recent years, with 2023 the most violent so far. So Christians endure arrests, beatings, and killings. Churches are burned down and pastors arrested and thrown into gaol. That would have been the life for those early believers living in the first Century Turkish societies.

Peter encourages the believers, saying that they “must endure many trials for a little while”. Why? Because there is “wonderful joy ahead”. Peter continued in saying the these trials are necessary to refine faith and ensure commitment is genuine. And as he pauses with pen raised, a picture before him of a worker in precious metals purifying gold comes into his mind, a picture that he immediately connects with the process of refining faith through trials. You see, no one is going to falsely claim to be a Christian for long if it is going to cost him beyond what he is prepared to pay. The trials, Peter was saying, will shake out anyone who is not prepared to pay the price for being a Christian.

The recent Covid pandemic with its lockdowns here in the UK saw church attendance plummet and, for many, it has not recovered. The Church of England has claimed attendance at weekly church services is down by a third. And that is without all the trials Peter was writing about. But regardless of pandemics and the like, there is still a substantial cost involved in being a Christian. We pilgrims are not running our own lives anymore, in accordance with our own sinful and selfish desires. We look to God for guidance and try and follow His ways which are often contrary to our own human viewpoint. 

Jesus once made a statement to the crowd of people following Him that was extraordinary in its implication. He said, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Strong words but they contain a message about the commitment required to be a follower of Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them”. 

So we pilgrims, mostly sitting in the comfort of our lives, look around us and reflect with the question – if this was all taken away would I still be a follower of Christ? My wife and I were faced with an extremely painful situation when we were called to discuss the prognosis and treatment for our seriously ill daughter. We were told that she would be unlikely to survive her illness and that we should prepare for the worst. I can remember that in our prayers we believed that God would heal her. But we also had to face the reality of what we do if she was taken from us. We concluded that we would still praise Him, follow Him and trust Him. Thankfully He did heal her but perhaps we briefly experienced the trials Peter wrote about. Many disciples stopped following Jesus because of His hard teaching, and as they disappeared over the horizon Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked them if they wanted to leave as well. We read in John 6:68, “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life”. We have before us the short-term cost of being a Jesus follower, but longer term we will find ”much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world”. When will that be? We don’t have a date but we do know that one day Jesus will return to this planet.  Let’s not forget that. We need to get ready for His return because it could be tomorrow.

Dear God. We know that eternal life with You is the only goal we should consider. Please help us in our journey, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Salvation

Posted on by korgrocker

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT

Continuing in the opening remarks in Peter’s letter, we find he writes about salvation. So far he has reminded us that we have been born again because of the resurrection of Jesus. Then Peter highlights our Heavenly inheritance. And now he brings into the mix our faith, God’s power and our coming salvation, due to be disclosed “on the last day for all to see”. Just three verses at the beginning of this letter but such a profound and concise summary of important aspects of our life as believers. 

Peter implied that we haven’t yet received our salvation. But we have to be careful how we use this word. “Salvation” comes in three parts. We were saved, we are being saved and we will be saved. It is a life time process, reliant on our faith in God, and the way we live our lives. After we repented of our sins and turned to God we were saved. But if we then reject that decision and return to our old ways of sin then we fail to keep the second part of the process. Day by day we walk in faith, reliant on the Holy Spirit within us to help us. Paul wrote about this in Philippians 2:12-13 and the Amplified version of the Bible makes the process very clear. “So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energising, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfil your purpose] for His good pleasure.” (Emphasis mine). Finally, as Peter wrote, we will one day, on the last day in fact, “receive this salvation”. The theological names for this process are Justification, Sanctification and Glorification. We are Justified before God when we made a decision for Christ, we are Sanctified as we “work out [our] salvation”, and we are Glorified on the “last day”. 

In his great sermon following the Pentecost experience, Peter said this, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Just a few words but how profound they are. That’s where we pilgrims started our Christian lives, being birthed into a new existence. And what he preached obviously had quite an impact because 3,000 were saved that day. It must have been an amazing spectacle observing that many baptisms!

“It is by his great mercy that we have been born again” Peter wrote to his Turkish audience. And in the end, it is all about God and His mercy. We have been released from the penalty we deserve by His grace. We are saved. And now we pilgrims are being sanctified through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. It’s all in God’s plan and He gets all the praise and glory.

Father God. Through Your grace and mercy You have saved us. We know that it is an ongoing process and we thank You for Your help in the journey. We worship You today. Amen.

Our Heavenly Inheritance

Posted on by korgrocker

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT

According to Peter’s letter, we have an inheritance waiting for us in Heaven. That is, for those who are believers, of course. Someone who has denied God and turned his or her backs on His offer of grace through His Son Jesus will miss out. No point really in their having a Heavenly inheritance, because they won’t be going to Heaven anyway. But we pilgrims, followers of Jesus Christ, and who have embraced His salvation, now “live with great expectation” about the “priceless inheritance” awaiting us.

But what is this “pure and undefiled” inheritance? If we have thoughts of anything we see as valuable in this life, such as a nice fat bank account, or a few bars of gold, we will be very mistaken, because our earthly currencies won’t appear in Heaven. Popular cartoons depict an angel with wings, dressed in white, and sitting on a cloud plucking a harp, but that won’t be it either. No, our inheritance in Heaven will be everything that God has promised us when we embraced His offer of salvation. We won’t need any “stuff” in Heaven because we will have God Himself. Eternal life in Heaven is our inheritance. We get a glimpse of some of that this means from Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”” All the negatives that we experience in our lives here on Planet Earth won’t be in Heaven. I’m sure we can think of many more.

Jesus told His disciples about our Heavenly inheritance in Matthew 6:19-21, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be”. 

We have no idea of the full extent on what we can expect when we get to Heaven. In fact, although life in Heaven is our expectation, there are verses in Revelation that indicate that we will still be spending our lives here on Earth, though by then the earth as we know it will have been replaced. Revelation 21:1,3, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. …  I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them”. There are also verses that talk about us pilgrims ruling and reigning with Christ. Revelation 20:6, “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years”.

Eternal life will be amazing. The treasure in Heaven, our inheritance, will be Jesus Himself. It doesn’t get better than that!

Father God. We look forward with eager anticipation for the time when we cross the threshold into Heaven. Come Lord Jesus! Amen.

God’s Great Mercy

Posted on by korgrocker

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT

In the previous verse, Peter wrote about grace. But he moves on now, to writing about God’s “great mercy”. What’s the difference? I came across this definition recently, “In His mercy, God does not give us [the] punishment we deserve, namely hell; while in His grace, God gives us the gift we do not deserve, namely Heaven”. That mercy is surely “great”. Imagine turning up in a court of law, knowing that we were guilty of the crime for which we have been charged, only to hear the judge declare us not guilty through an act of mercy. Our guilt was undisputed. Our punishment was deserved. But the judge had mercy on us. It will never happen we think, but God’s mercy extends well beyond that analogy, because He not only declares that we are guilt-free. By His grace He allows us to be born again into His Kingdom.

Nicodemus, in his night-time visit to Jesus, couldn’t get his mind around this at all. The concept of being reborn spiritually had never occurred to him. We read his earth-bound response to being born again in John 3:4, ““What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”” Jesus clearly explained to him the difference between a natural birth and a spiritual birth, and the necessity of both to be come a child of God. Jesus said in John 3:5-7, “Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’” God, in His great mercy, and through the Holy Spirit, brought us believers through a second birth.

Sadly, today, being a “born again” believer is treated with scorn and contempt by the media and anyone else who considers spiritual matters the source of ridicule. But Jesus was very clear about the necessity of being reborn spiritually to become citizens of, and in, the Kingdom of Heaven. If we only experience a natural, physical birth, that is how our lives will end, because we know that one day our natural bodies will die and decay, one way or another. But a spiritually-born person will find that after their natural bodies have died, their spirits will continue to live in God’s Kingdom. He promised never to leave us. And one day our spirits will be united with a new body. We read what 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 … For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies“.

God’s grace and mercy are intertwined into a loving outworking of His character. There was that moment when God chose to express His love for mankind by sending His Son, Jesus, to this planet, to save us from the consequences of our sins. We didn’t deserve such kindness. Jesus didn’t deserve to die. But it was all part of God’s plan. We are spiritual beings and God has planted within us His Spirit as a guarantee of the life to come. God is mercy. He can’t be anything else.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your Heavenly blessings, so rich and undeserved. We worship You today and every day. Amen.

Known and Chosen

Posted on by korgrocker

“ … I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.”
1 Peter 1:1b-2 NLT

The believers living in Turkey were to be the readers of Peter’s first epistle. And Peter highlighted several things about them. Firstly, they were a people “chosen”  by God, and the choice was made “long ago”. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes” (Ephesians 1:4). It is an amazing thought that when God created the world He could see all of time rolled out before Him and He could see who would be His chosen people in every time slot. But Peter wasn’t promoting a strange idea – the Holy Spirit had revealed it to him and the other Apostles. Of course, some people will say that it is pointless wanting to be a Christian because God has selected, has “chosen”, who He wants as His followers. If you are not one of the “chosen” ones then hard luck! Others will say that God’s choice was based on His knowledge of what the believer would choose. But either way, Peter encouraged the believers in Turkey with the thought that God knew them and chose them.

Secondly, Peter informed the Turkish believers that they were “holy” through His Spirit. They had been “cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ”. The amazing fact about Jesus’ death at Calvary was that Jesus took on board all our sins and in return gave us His righteousness, so that all believers everywhere can stand before God in holiness. The believers in the five provinces had come to Jesus in repentance, leaving the burden of their sin at the foot of His cross. As Peter pointed out, this act of repentance was through their obedience to God.

Thirdly, Peter pointed out that “God’s chosen people” were foreigners. Strange, because these people lived there in the region of the five provinces. They had most likely been born there and brought up in that society. So how could they have been “foreigners”? This is something that we believers need to realise and accept. Jesus said in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you”. When were chosen to be His followers, we moved citizenship from the kingdom of the world to the Kingdom of Heaven. We have a new passport. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:20, “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Saviour”. The problem for us pilgrims is that we are keen to cling onto “dual nationality”. We like to have a foot in each camp, in each kingdom. 

Peter now moved on to give a blessing to his readers. “More and more grace and peace” he wrote. With what we know of the challenges facing the early adopters of faith in Jesus, they would need all the grace in God’s treasure chest to be able to live in peace in an antagonistic society.

Jesus commanded us to “come out of the world” because we are no longer a part of it. Of course, we have to live in our societies, work in our offices and factories, go to secular schools and colleges. But in it all we remember what is written on our passports. We have been born again into a new Kingdom, and one day we will join Jesus there. And we too will need all the “grace and peace” available to be able to survive unscathed and uncorrupted in a foreign land.

Father God. Thank You for choosing us to be Your children. Amen.