Eternal Life

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”
John 17:1-3 NLT

The John 17 prayer of Jesus is rich in content relevant to disciples and pilgrims today, but verse 3 needs to be unpacked to find out why there is an apparent contradiction. The verse starts with the assertion that Jesus chooses people to whom He will grant eternal life, people who have been given to Him by His Father in Heaven. Did this just apply to His disciples or does this have a more far-reaching meaning? Jesus’ work of course continued through the work of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. But specifically chosen? We of course can refer to Deuteronomy 7:6, “For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure“. In the New Testament, Paul wrote, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:4-5). So this brings a picture of God cherry-picking those He thinks would perhaps fit well into Heaven and ignoring everyone else. 

In the next part of verse 3, Jesus prayed, “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth”. This seems to introduce an element of personal choice, giving human beings the opportunity to believe in Jesus and, through repentance at the cross, to find the treasure of eternal life. Paul wrote to Timothy, “This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time” (1 Timothy 2:3-6). So has God chosen everyone, leaving to each person the decision to accept salvation and eternal life? 

So we have an apparent conflict between the sovereignty of God and human will, that has introduced two schools of theological thought over the centuries. Perhaps the solution to the potential conflict lies in the character of God. He is sovereign over all, and as He said to Moses, as quoted by Paul in Romans 9:15, “For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose””. God knows the end from the beginning, being outside of time, so He knows in advance who will respond to His offer of grace through Jesus, becoming “chosen” in the process.

Dear God. That You for choosing us, the followers of Your Son Jesus. Amen.

From Grief to Joy

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’? And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.” Jesus realised they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labour. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.”
John 16:17-22 NLT

This conversation started up between “some of the disciples”. We don’t know which ones, but some talked and some thought. Natural reactions to the crisis that was unfolding before them. If Jesus had said to them that soon He was going to be killed by the Roman authorities and would end up buried in a rich man’s grave, then they would have perhaps found that easier to understand. Their grieving process would have started and their thoughts would have extended to the period afterwards, as they faced into a life without Jesus. But Jesus said “So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again”. Such an event was totally out with their experience and understanding. How could Jesus die and then reappear again? They had obviously forgotten about the Lazarus event, where Jesus had resurrected a man who was graveyard dead, and was still alive at this time as they spoke with each other. But how could Jesus resurrect Himself? They didn’t know the answer and still hadn’t got their minds around the supernatural power of God. But with a natural analogy, Jesus tried to reassure His friends that their emotional experience would be a bit like childbirth, where a woman goes through much pain, but something soon forgotten when the new born baby is placed in her arms. Jesus told His disciples that their grief would soon afterwards be replaced by “wonderful joy”. 

What message is their here for us 21st Century pilgrims? There has to be the Kingdom reality that our faith and God’s power provides a limitless combination. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:15a, 19-20, “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus, … I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honour at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” In the same epistle, Paul wrote, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).‭‭‭‭ Sadly, we too often put a boundary around God’s capabilities, looking at the situations around us with worldly eyes, instead of eyes of faith. As we look around at our challenges and sorrows, we mostly forget that our Heavenly Father has a remedy and through our faith He will bring about a Godly result. 

Father God. You are the all-powerful God. Nothing is impossible for You. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Spirit of Truth

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 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. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’”
John 16:12-15 NLT

Earlier in John 14 we read, “He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. …” Jesus is now re-affirming the work of the Holy Spirit, by saying, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth”. Jesus, of course, always told the truth. In fact, He sometimes preceded what He had to say with a confirmation that it was true. For example, John 8:58 reads, “Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!”” The King James Version of this verse starts with “Verily, verily”, a double assurance that the truth, the absolute truth, is behind Jesus’ words. But as Pilate famously said to Jesus, on trial before Him, “What is truth?”, a question influenced by a confused and rudderless society, where finding truth is elusive. This is because our world is in the hands of the devil, who Jesus warned us about when He said to the Pharisees, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). So we find endless definitions of the “truth” coming from the lips of our fellow members of society, truths that will dissolve before God’s gaze like snow before a hot sun. Truth is something that has to be absolute reality, and as such it as engaged philosophers for generations without a secular conclusion. Only God’s truth can bring an answer.

A well known saying from Jesus can be found in 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”. Jesus is the truth. So the records of His teachings in the Bible are truth, and when He left this world He sent Holy Spirit to continue His mission of telling the truth. And through Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, we are also a source of truth. But the truth Jesus brought, and the truth the Holy Spirit guides us in, is anathema to the world around us. They only what to hear the lies that affirm their sins and evil ways. But we pilgrims are privileged in that we have access to the Truth, Jesus Himself.

Dear Father God. All truth emanates from You. Please help us to share it with those around, as You lead and guide us in Your ways. Amen.

A Holy Service

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God. This is because they have never known the Father or me. Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.”
John 16:1-4 NLT

It is strange that there are so many points of view regarding God. None of us really know God in all His fullness and we tend to focus on the bits we know and disregard anything else. We blithely talk about an infinite God without really understanding what we are saying. To illustrate this, I once had a conversation with a fellow worker who was a devout Muslim. Every lunchtime, his office door was closed and out came his prayer mat. Even the company’s managing director wasn’t able to disturb him. One day he said to me, knowing that I was a Christian, that we worshipped the same God. I told him that this wasn’t the case because his “god” was an authoritative being called “Allah” whereas I worshipped a Trinitarian God – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who wanted a personal relationship with His children, those saved through a belief in Jesus. We pilgrims worship an Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent God and all we know about Him we find in the Bible and through our personal encounters with the Holy Spirit. But we won’t fully ever know God because making such a claim puts us right back in the Garden. Genesis 3:5, “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil“.

In today’s verses from John 16, we read that there will be some who claim to know God and who will think that they are doing God’s will by killing those whom they perceive as being blasphemers, those who elevate Jesus as the Son of God and follow His ways. Saul, later to be called Paul, was someone who thought this way. We read in Acts 8:3, “But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison“. It took a personal encounter with the living Jesus before Saul could see the error of his ways.

We look back through the last two thousand years and find many occasions where different views of God clashed on the battlefields of towns and villages, in churches and monasteries, in the lives of ordinary men and women. Even today there is sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics in various places in the UK. People with different views of God thinking that they are doing a “holy service” by trying to eliminate those of another persuasion. And as I write the violence between the Jewish state of Israel and the surrounding Muslim nations constantly simmers in a maelstrom of hate and violence. 

But we pilgrims are of a different persuasion. We know whom we follow. We are in a privileged position, as we read in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light”. We know what the true “holy service” comprises. And we praise and worship the One who made it all possible -Jesus.

Jesus, we do indeed offer up our sincere thanks for all You did for us at Calvary. Amen.

Jesus, the Great I Am

Posted on by Adrian Clark

In John’s Gospel, Jesus made seven “I am” statements, all true statements declaring who He was. To recap, here is the list.

In John 6:35 we read, “Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.””
John 8:12, “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.””
John 10:7, “so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.”“
John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.”
John 11:25, “Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.””
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.””
John 15:1, “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.”

There are also a couple of occasions where Jesus referred to Himself with God’s name “I AM”.
John 4:26, “Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!””
John 18:5a, ““Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I Am He,” Jesus said. …””

Jesus used ordinary objects and situations that the people would relate to. Things like bread, light, sheep, a gate or door, death, and a grapevine. And He wove the ordinary into spiritual statements that pointed to Himself, and statements that described life in God’s Kingdom. There could be no doubt as to who Jesus was and what His mission was all about. The problem for most of the Jews was that they seemed to have little appreciation or understanding that they could enjoy being part of God’s Kingdom during their natural lives by believing in Jesus. They also had to contend with the hostility of the Jewish leaders, who considered that Jesus was a blasphemer and a fraud. With all the miracles and signs that Jesus performed, that underpinned His teaching, it is a wonder that the people of His day, including the leaders, didn’t all wholeheartedly embrace Him and all He taught. But that is a sign of sin, because people generally love to sin is all its guises. And sin is incompatible with the Kingdom of God because there will be no sinners in Heaven. Various passages of Scripture in the Bible make it clear who will not be suitable candidates for living with God. For example, we have Revelation 21:8a, “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars …”. Altogether, theologians believe that there are 120 separate sins listed in Scripture. To believe in Jesus and follow Him demands a life of repentance, as God’s people pursue holiness to be like Him. Our Holy Spirit inspired consciences will guide us into the truth Jesus taught about.

But the opportunity to believe in Jesus didn’t end with His death. In fact that was when the opportunity really started. The Bible is a legacy of spiritual truth that has continued Jesus’ ministry for the last two thousand years.  The life contained within its pages propagates the work and power of the Holy Spirit, as He lives within us. 

Dear God. We thank You for Your Word, the Bible, and for all it contains, the words of truth and life, Amen.

Believing The Message

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.” After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them. But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted: “Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?””
John 12:36-38 NLT

These verses today portray a damning indictment of the people in Jerusalem, gathered together for the Passover Festival that year. Jesus worked hard and selflessly amongst all His people during His ministry but John recorded that “most of the people still did not believe in him”. Jesus correctly declared who He was, the Son of God. He backed up His claim by doing amazing miraculous signs, even raising one man from the dead. And then there was the public conversation between Him and His Father in Heaven. What more did He have to do to convince this people that if they believed in Him and followed Him, then they would receive eternal life? 

But human beings have a tendency to only believe what they want to believe. There is an organisation today called the Flat Earth Society. In spite of all the physical evidence to the contrary, the people who are members of this society are convinced that the planet on which we live is flat and not a sphere. Their web site sets out their aim – “Standing with reason we offer a home to those wayward thinkers that march bravely on with REASON and TRUTH in recognizing the TRUE shape of the Earth – Flat”. Really? And then there is all the confusion around gender ideology, with organisations promoting the belief that people can be born in the wrong body. Really? One web site says, “Trans young people and their families are at breaking point“. Of course they are at breaking point because they are going against what God created – Gen 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. There are many other examples of people with other strange and unsupportable beliefs, so we shouldn’t be surprised if people, including us pilgrims, refuse to believe them. People are of course entitled to their views and beliefs, but there is a problem when they try and impose their ideologies on others, calling them all sorts of names if affirmation is declined. We pilgrims are used to all sorts of ridicule and abuse, as we try and speak out God’s message of love and hope to a resistant and unwelcoming society.

All of which perhaps brings us back to how Jesus was perceived by the people in His day. Throughout their lives, the Jews were steeped in the Law of Moses, with no unconventional interpretations being allowed. Only the Rabbis were allowed to interpret the Law, and the people had to follow what they said. So Jesus burst into the Jewish religious scene with an explosive mix of teaching and miracles, apparently cutting across what the people had come to understand about the Law. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved”. Matthew 5 – 7 make sobering reading. But in spite of all His teaching and miracles, “most of the people still did not believe in Him”. To a people stuck in a fixed religious mindset, Jesus’ presentation of a radical counter-cultural invitation to believe in Him was something that they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, accept. But, praise God, we can thank Him that some people did believe in Jesus, and they formed the early church that blossomed and reached the world of their day.

If we fast forward to today, the same problem still exists. Jesus’ message of forgiveness to all those who repent and believe in Him still stands. The signs of religious inflexibility however, still mark the landscape with empty church buildings standing as monuments to a past move of God. The Holy Spirit is always at work, gently preparing the ground in people’s hearts for a seed of hope to be planted in our hopeless world. We pilgrims are seed planters and we pray for the opportunity to present Jesus’ invitation to believe in Him to all who will listen. Isaiah cried out, “Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” A despairing cry but not a hopeless one, because the answer came on a Cross at Calvary. We pilgrims proclaim the message and the Holy Spirit brings about the solution.

Dear God. Thank You for Your message of hope, that cuts across and trumps all man made ideologies. We praise You today. Amen.

Extraordinary Faith

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.””
John 11:18-22 NLT

The scene couldn’t have been clearer. Lazarus had died and was in his grave. In those days a doctor wasn’t needed to certify his death because the people in Bethany just knew that he was dead. They had dealt with the rituals necessary before interment. The body had been washed and wrapped in scented cloths. There was no doubt and it was so real and certain that we read in John’s account that many people from Jerusalem, just a few miles up the road, had come to Bethany to offer their condolences to Lazarus’ two surviving sisters. Not even the Pharisees could have had any doubts about Lazarus’ demise. Lazarus and his two sisters must have been well known in the area and had many friends.

While Jesus was still on the road approaching Bethany, “Martha got word that Jesus was coming”. So she went out to meet Him, and gently rebuked Him for not coming earlier, when He could have perhaps saved Lazarus from death. But then Martha made an extraordinary statement – “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask”. That is faith. Martha had no doubts about Jesus and His identity and powers.

Do we pilgrims have faith like Martha’s? Faith that expects miracles to happen when God shows up in our human situations? Of course, we mustn’t expect to see dead people rise up out of their graves just for the sake of it. Jesus had the power to raise Lazarus and return him to life, but He wouldn’t have done that without a reason, and that was because He wanted to bring glory to God and prove to the Pharisees once and for all that he was who He said He was. John 11:4, “But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”” 

Reading on in John’s Gospel, we find that Jesus said, “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!” (John 14:12-14). We pilgrims apparently have tremendous power at our fingertips, but Jesus introduced a caveat by saying such miracles performed in His name will bring glory through Him to the Father. That certainly happened in the case of Lazarus. 

God is loving, merciful and compassionate, and He will often bring about miraculous events in answer to prayers. I can personally testify to His healing power, and I give God all the glory for what he has done for me, and on more than one occasion. And what was about to happen in response to Martha’s faith and Jesus’s desire to bring glory to His father, turned Judea upside down.

Dear God. We pray for more faith like Martha’s, faith that will see amazing works and will give You all the glory. Amen.

A Brother With Two Sisters

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.””
John 11:1-3 NLT

Chapter Eleven in John’s Gospel introduces Jesus’ friends, Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. They lived in a place called Bethany, a village located about two miles from Jerusalem on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. So it was quite close to Jerusalem and someone walking from there would take about forty minutes. We know little about the three siblings, but a story was about to unfold that had earth-shattering consequences. The account in John doesn’t appear in the other Gospels, although references to Mary and Martha do. But we do know that Jesus was friends with this small family unit, and probably stayed with them as often as He could. 

We know a little about Mary, because she “poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair”. John 12:3, “Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.” And we know a little more about the two sisters from the account in Luke 10, where Martha bustled around preparing a meal for all the hungry guests – Jesus and His disciples – while her sister, Mary, chose to sit at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching. This is a well know story often referred to today, with some women identifying either with Martha or Mary in the course of their Christian journeys.

Lazarus became sick. With what we don’t know, but it was important enough for his sisters to send a worried message to Jesus. But the picture emerges in our minds of this ordinary Israeli family, living in a house large enough to accommodate guests. Lazarus and his sisters were probably at the younger end of the age spectrum, but there is no mention of parents or other relatives. Circumstances conspired to leave them, apparently reasonably well off, as three siblings living together on their own. John provided just the bare minimum of facts about this family unit, leaving us to try and fill in the gaps. 

But we pilgrims can relate to the concerns of being ill, and especially if a person close to us is unwell. A parent with a sick child. A wife with a sick husband. A Mary and Martha with a sick brother. Part of life as a human being living on Planet Earth is having to deal with sickness. This wasn’t God’s plan when He created the human race. Instead, we live in a world corrupted by sin, and under the power of the “god of this age”, and because of that we will experience illnesses, all the way from a common cold through to the ravages of cancer. When Jesus came He offered eternal life to all who believed in Him. This wasn’t an infinite natural life extension but eternal spiritual life. Yes, there were well documented occasions, such as in the account we are reading today, when Jesus healed the sick and even raised the dead. Today, there are still miraculous healings that take place through God’s servants and these are all down to God and His compassion.

There was a bond between Lazarus, Martha and Mary that was strong and able to withstand what would be coming to them in the days and weeks ahead in John’s account. But we pilgrims need to be on our guard because the devil excels in breaking up families, and especially Christian families. The devil will want to destroy anything that God has created and ordained. We know from Genesis 2 that God ordained marriage between a man and a woman – “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one” (Genesis 2:24). From the man/woman union comes a family, and family life, and two of the Ten Commandments confirm the importance of the family. The sibling family residing in Bethany were perhaps unusual, but they demonstrated a familial bond that was important.

In a spiritual sense, we are part of a much larger family, made up of the children of God. The devil will want to divide and conquer the church of which we are a part, so we need to be on our guards. And that is the message today as we explore the account of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, and what was about to happen in Bethany.

Dear Father God. You designed the family unit and put within us Your family dna. You too are a part of a family unit, together with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We pray for our families and know that even if we aren’t in a family unit, You are there with us. We are so grateful. Amen.

No Perishing

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
John 10:27-30 NLT

In our journey through the Gospel of John, the picture is emerging of a caring Jesus, compassionate and loving, looking out for His followers, who are those who believe in Him. He feeds them spiritual water (John 7:37-38, “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart’”). He feeds them spiritual food (John 6:35, “Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”). He protects them (John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep”). He brings light and life (John 8:12, “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””). In fact His followers will enjoy abundant life (John 10:10, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life”). What is there not to like about Jesus, because all that he promised His followers two thousand years ago is still available to His 21st Century believers? 

But perhaps the most notable promise that Jesus made was His gift of eternal life. Jesus loves His followers so much that He wants to spend eternity with them. “They will never perish” He said. And this offer was not just restricted to His people, the Jews. He also included all the non-Jews, the Gentiles, in His offer of protection and eternal life (John 10:16, “I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd). 

But what is this eternal life with its promise that we will never perish? The Bible tells us that when we die, our physical bodies will be of no further use and can be discarded. But our spirits live on in a place variously called Sheol, or Hades, or Heaven. There seems to be some compartmentalisation in place, because, as Jesus promised the dying thief next to Him, there is a place called Paradise. So it is not unreasonable to assume that Jesus’ followers, those that believe in Him, will join Him there. Perhaps that is Heaven. We should note that Hell doesn’t exist at the moment, only coming into effect when its first inhabitants, the Beast and False Prophet, are thrown there (Revelation 19:20, “And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur”). But there is no confusion or alternative, the spirits of all who have ever lived either end up in Heaven or Hades. There is of course then the Great White Throne judgement in Revelation 20, followed by the population of Hell. Hades ends up in hell as well (Revelation 20:14, “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death”). 

Thankfully, we pilgrims, believers in Jesus, will not have to face the terror of the Great White Throne because our names will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We will never perish and end up in the company of totally evil beings.

Jesus brought a message of hope to a world floundering and dying in its sin. Evil still prevails, but Jesus promised us that we will “never perish”. As we persevere through this life, illuminating our passage with our testimonies of God’s saving grace, we will one day achieve our goal of eternal life through Jesus. What a Saviour!

Dear Father God. What a Saviour indeed. We praise and worship You today and every day. Amen.

Faith in Action

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!”
John 9:6-7 NLT

Imagine myself in the position of the blind man. I could hear a man having a conversation with some other men about the cause of my blindness. Then one of the men, who seemed to be the leader, came over to me and I heard Him spit on the ground. A few moments later He smeared something gritty and unpleasant on my eyes. But there was something about this Man. He told me to go and wash off whatever was on my eyes in the Pool of Siloam. I knew where it was of course, so slowly and carefully, I made my way there, occasionally assisted by people on the way. People were asking me why I had mud on my face, but I carried on regardless. I finally got to the Pool and made my way into the water, finding a way although there were others there too. I started to wash the mud off my eyes and a strange thing started to happen. For the first time I was conscious of light appearing before me and as I washed it got stronger and stronger until I was aware of my surroundings. I could see! As it that wasn’t amazing enough, I knew what things were even though I had never seen them before. I had been aware of people but I could now see them. And the colours! Words could not express how I felt. I just had to get back and find out more about the Man who had smeared that mud on my eyes. 

But words cannot adequately describe the experience of the blind-no-more man. It wasn’t like a sore finger that healed. This was a miraculous event that transformed the lives of the man, his family, and all those who knew him. No more having to beg. No more having to depend on his parents and well-meaning friends and family for the basics of life. No more times of self-pity and even anger, as others seemed so much more blessed than he did. But what if he had refused to go and wash his face in that particular pool, instead heading for the nearest source of water, using that instead? What if he had reacted angrily to the indignity of someone smearing mud on his face? But there were no shortcuts. The man dutifully did as the Man had told him – go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. That took faith.

In 2 Kings 5 there is the story of Naaman, an important man in charge of the king of Aram’s army. He had leprosy, and ended up at Elishah’s door, expecting to be healed of his affliction. Elisha told him to go and wash 7 times in the River Jordan. Though initially reluctant to follow Elishah’s instructions, he was persuaded by his army officers to do what he was told to do, and through the grace of God, Elisha’s faith, and his obedience, he was healed.

Sometimes God will ask us to do something, and in the process, He will strengthen our faith. All through the Gospels we can see how Jesus tested a person’s, or a people’s, obedience leading to a miraculous sign. There was no way a pot of water could become a very good wine, but the servants obediently dipped in a ladle and in front of their eyes it became wine. They could have refused, considering it an insult to their intelligence. The blind man could have refused to walk through a Jerusalem crowded with people because he had mud on his face and probably looked a bit weird. The man lying on his mat at the Pool of Bethesda, could have ignored Jesus’ instruction to get up and pick up his mat and walk away. Perhaps God has asked us to do something to unlock a healing or some other requirement that we have been praying about. But in the process of being obedient to God’s command we might have to cast aside our pride. Naaman, an important man at the head of an army, is told to go and wash in a muddy river not once but seven times. And in front of all his subordinates. That took courage. So, what is God asking us to do today? Sorry, did I hear You right, God? You really want me to …?

Dear Father God. Please increase our faith to equip us to be totally obedient to You and be You want us to be. In Jesus’ name. Amen.