Immanuel

Posted on by korgrocker

“All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.”
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
Isaiah‬ ‭7:14, 9‬:‭2‬, ‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Immanuel. The Hebrew word meaning “God is with us”. Way back in the early chapters of Genesis God was so close to mankind that He walked and talked with the first man, Adam. At that time, Heaven and Earth were in contact, with God passing freely between them. God was with us. In those days, Planet Earth had not been corrupted by sin. But after the Fall, that desperately sad moment when sin entered the world, Heaven recoiled from Earth, in horror that sin had made such a liaison impossible and no longer viable. There is no place for sin and wickedness in Heaven. The only time that sin did in fact erupt in Heaven was when Lucifer decided to rebel against God, and he ended up being cast down to Earth, along with a third of the angels who rebelled with him. God still yearned for the opportunity to be with His creation, human beings, but had to be content with the occasional contact through His Spirit and via angels. But God had a plan.

Isaiah prophesied that there will come a time when God will be with us once again here on Earth. Look at the sequence of events. It starts with a virgin conceiving. How can that happen? It was obviously not a natural event – even in today’s medically-enlightened times it can only happen with a manual intervention. In Isaiah’s prophecy such an event was nothing short of miraculous, and could only have taken place with God’s involvement. The sign continued with the birth of a Son. A Son who was both human and divine. The theologians call this the Incarnation. John wrote about this event – we read it in John 1:14, “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son”. The miraculous sign continues with the declaration that the Son will be called Immanuel, “God is with us“. Once again God was walking on Planet Earth.

Thankfully, God’s liaison with Planet Earth didn’t end with the Ascension. Jesus left the Earth, knowing it was in good hands. We read in John 14:16 (AMP), “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counsellor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever—”. The Holy Spirit has been with us ever since, acting as Jesus’ representative, and doing those things that Jesus would have done, had He been with us.

We pilgrims are deeply grateful for God’s plan, that is still being outworked with us today. God is still with us.

Immanuel, we praise and worship You today.

Abandoned by God

Posted on by korgrocker

“So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Just to recap, we reached this point because Paul said people in general had the knowledge of a Creator God, but instead of offering Him the thanks and worship that He was due, they went off and worshipped their own idols. We read that such people ended up in an arrogant position, claiming that they were operating wisely in whatever they were doing. But their thinking became more and more foolish to the point that they developed a very distorted view of God Himself. And the consequences were this –  God abandoned them to their own devices. Presumably their consciences no longer functioned as they should have done and they behaved much as the Israelites did, as we can read in the last verse in the Book of Judges, “…. all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes“. (Judges 21:25b).

But it’s a very serious and potentially devastating situation to get into, to be abandoned by God. Normally, people go through life with at least some behavioural constraints due to their consciences. Even people who claim to have no religious belief intuitively know the differences between right and wrong, because God through His Spirit is working gently behind the scenes. But consciences can fail to work as they should, and Paul wrote about this problem to his son in the faith, Timothy. We read in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 (AMP), “But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning],”. How does a conscience become “seared”? When we sear something like a finger, we burn it, and that then renders it insensitive, at least for a while, to touch and feeling. The nerves are damaged and don’t function as they should. Similarly, it is possible to sear our consciences by constantly overriding their signals until the still small voice within us fails to be heard any more. When that happens, God has effectively abandoned us, and the inbuilt restraints put in place when we were created are removed, leaving us “incapable of ethical functioning”. 

Without a functioning conscience and abandoned by God, a person’s ability to do what is right is impaired and one consequence is that they end up doing “vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies”. what Paul was warning about can be seen in society today, with more and more blatant and public exposures of sexual sins that must break God’s heart. Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls such behaviour “vile and degrading”, but to someone with a seared conscience, abandoned by God, they see nothing wrong. In fact they embark on public displays, even hijacking one of God’s signs, a rainbow, and in the process waving their arrogant and angry fists in the face of God. 

Another worry is the way God has abandoned society. The “vile and degrading” actions of individuals are now being promoted by corporate organisations and even government institutions. A race to the bottom is going on unconstrained, with our legislators introducing or changing laws to ease the transition to a “vile and degraded” society. Society in general is increasingly becoming accepting of sinful behaviour. We live in an unhappy age.

It is difficult in these desperate times for us pilgrims to make a stand against such blatant sinful behaviour. But we still have a window of opportunity to extend God’s grace and love even to those currently living in a state of God’s abandonment. Here in the UK we are not yet persecuted to the extent that speaking out about “vile and degrading” practices is a crime. But there is little time left before it will be. As we read in Revelation, there is a time coming when all people will have to stand before God and account for their behaviour. And we pilgrims pray that God’s grace will continue; we pray more grace, more love, Lord. How we need You in these difficult and desperate times! Paul’s warning is perhaps even more relevant today than it was two thousand years ago.

But in the middle of a seemingly hopeless situation, there is hope. There is always hope. Jeremiah got the message. He wrote in Jeremiah 32:17, “O Sovereign Lord ! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” Nothing is too difficult for our loving Heavenly Father. And with that knowledge we can pray with assurance that God’s ways will prevail. Jesus made it quite clear, in a conversation with Peter and His other disciples, that He was going to build His church. We read in Matthew 16:18, “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it“. In the end, there may be many people who find themselves abandoned by God. But that makes no difference to the long term reality, that one day, Jesus’ church will finally be built. See you there?

Dear Father God. We do indeed pray for more of Your grace and love to permeate into our societies. Without You this world would be a dark place indeed. We pray for our families and friends, that You will touch them with Your presence through the power of Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Utter Fools

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What did Paul have in mind when he made the statement “Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools”? Perhaps he was referring to a human trait common today, and probably just as prevalent in his times. Consider the following phenomenon. There are people who seem to have developed strange ideas or theories about God and the spiritual world. Their worldviews or thoughts of anything to do with religion, particularly if they are not Christians, can be wild and “off the wall”. They develop a philosophy that seems to fit in with their natural observations of the world around them and the behaviour of people that they come into contact with. They then create their own ideas and propagate them to anyone prepared to listen. Take for example the viewpoint sometimes heard, that all Christians are hypocrites, and therefore the worship of God is a pointless exercise. This is probably based on their observations of a particular church-goer who acts “holier than thou” on a Sunday but who behaves in a very worldly way at other times. But they then extrapolate this to include all who claim to have faith in God, painting them all with the label “hypocrite”. A journey in their minds then continues trying to make sense of why churches exist, developing all sorts of weird theories in the process. More disturbingly, they go on to develop skewed ideas about God, and their self-derived “wisdom” ends up making them “utter fools”. Sadly, modern liberal theologians have attempted to reconcile the views of both the god of this age and the God we worship, coming up with what is to them a wise solution responding to societal pressures around issues including sexuality and marriage, but instead developing foolish ideas that deny Biblical truths.

Such a phenomenon is not just the domain of non-religious people. It can affect, or infect, Christians as well. Paul, in his verses in Romans, was writing to Christians. Can they too acquire the “utter fools” label. How do we avoid thinking up “foolish ideas of what God was like”? As Paul pointed out in an earlier verse in Romans 1, we can find a glimpse of God’s character in the creation around us. But most of what we come to know about God is found in the Bible. His character and attributes just ooze out of every page, every chapter, every verse. The Scriptures have much good advice for those tending towards the foolish end of the wisdom spectrum. Psalm 14:1 relates to what Paul has been writing about, “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!” There’s also much truth in Proverbs 3:3, “People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord.” In fact, there’s a whole section in Proverbs 14 devoted to fools and their foolishness. But I love the verse, 1 Corinthians 1:27, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” The Christian faith is counter-cultural to the extent that people in the world around us designate us as being fools, when the opposite is true in God’s Kingdom.

Idolatry can be in many different forms. The conventional view is of statues, effigies of saints, or similar people, long dead and who have perhaps some sort of cult status. Just walk into an old church or cathedral and many will be found. Or an idol can be made out of a living person. Have we not heard expressions such as “He worships the ground she walks on”, an observation of a love-struck teenager? We can also easily make an idol out of our hobbies, TV interests; in fact anything that takes our focus away from God and His ways.

So we pilgrims plod on our way, conscious that it easy to be diverted from the narrow way into boggy and hazardous ground full of pitfalls to lead the unwary Christian into foolishness. We must spend time constantly in God’s Word, learning more and more about Him, and always aware of the need to give Him all our thanks.

Dear Father God. We worship You today, the Source of all we need in this life and the next. We are grateful for the work of the Holy Spirit, constantly nudging us back into keeping to Your ways, day by day. Amen.

Faith

Posted on by korgrocker

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.””
Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT

Paul wrote in our verses today that “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith”. It’s all about faith. We know that we cannot put the Gospel under the spotlight of a human machine, to inspect its constituent parts. To disinter how it is made. We cannot undertake a human experiment to prove that there is a life after death. We pilgrims believe the Good News. Unreservedly. We know intuitively that it is true. And although we sometimes may have doubts and wonder in amazement how something so good could be true, we always fall back on our faith in the One who said it will happen.

Even when we receive a negative response to our attempts in sharing the Gospel, there is no shame in trying. When we tell someone about the Good News of Jesus, we are venturing into another dimension, where values are different. A spiritual message to a natural person will fail to connect, most of the time. To someone struggling to survive in their natural life, particularly in today’s climate of increasing interest rates, food cost inflation, inability to see a GP, and so on, the thought about where we end up after death to them perhaps seems somehow irrelevant. So we need to remember that the Good News is more than a few words. The Apostle James wrote, “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?” (James 2:14-16).

Our faith in God transforms the way we disseminate the Good News. We do not communicate a few dusty and lifeless sentences in the hope that, somehow, they will acquire life in the telling. We have the Holy Spirit within us, cheering us on, bringing our faith and enthusiasm into the light of day, transforming the devil’s gloom with the glorious light of the Gospel. Bringing hope into the lives of the hopeless. Our words will be dripping with the very Words of God Himself, as we, in faith, simply share our own stories of how we met our wonderful Saviour, Jesus. We need to remember the work of the Holy Spirit in the sharing of the Good News. We read in John 16:8, “And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment“. We do the sharing. The Holy Spirit brings conviction to the hearer. Also, we must not be afraid of bringing relevant Scriptures into stories. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires“. And if the person with whom we are sharing has practical needs, part of our sharing is to help them in any way we can.

Paul finishes these verses in Romans 1 with a reference to Habakkuk 2:4. The prophet Habakkuk was disturbed by his observation that God was going to use the cruel Babylonians to judge the Israelites. He cries out, “O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins“. (Habakkuk 1:12). And God replied to him, “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God“. (Habakkuk 2:4). In the end, we pilgrims live in the light of God’s righteousness, as we continue close to the One who gave us the Good News. We live a life that will never end.

Dear Father God. On our knees we worship You today. Deeply grateful for all You have done for us. Amen.

A Solemn Declaration

Posted on by korgrocker

“And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.
Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT

We have here a warning. Nothing must be removed from, or added to, the prophecies written in the Book of Revelation. And there are dire consequences in store for any who do. We read earlier in Revelation 22:6 the following, “Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon””. So we know the contents of Revelation are sound. God-inspired. The contents of this Book can be trusted. So it begs the question, “Who would want to change the contents of this Book?” I suppose it is likely that people would want to remove the difficult bits, and perhaps add something that they think will be a better wording, or provide a description that better fits the narrative. But this is a sober warning to be seriously heeded. 

Does the warning extend just to the Book of Revelation, or does it apply to the whole of the Bible, including both Testaments? In Deuteronomy 4:1-2 we read that Moses said to the Israelites, “And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you”. And again we read something similar in Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar”. I suppose some people question the authenticity of the Bible and its many translations, concerned that the truth contained within has been violated. But the Bible is an amazing collection of sixty six individual books. Although they had many authors, there is one over-riding influence, and that is the Holy Spirit. So when we read in Revelation 22:6 that everything written is “trustworthy and true” we can be assured of the dependability of what we read.

Also of concern is the emergence of sects that have added or changed some text in the Bible to suit their own ends, citing the inspiration of a “prophet” and revelations given to him. According to what we have read in Deuteronomy, Proverbs and Revelation they are heading for an unexpected but certain demise. But for me the traditional Bible has stood the test of time and we echo with Paul what he wrote in his letter to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work”. (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

So what do we pilgrims think of the Revelation warning? We consider it carefully and soberly, ensuring that we read the Bible properly, even the difficult parts. And we pray that the Holy Spirit will bring to our attention anything we need to “prepare and equip” us for our pilgrimage to the future Holy City.

Dear Father God. We thank You for Your wonderful, and only, written work, The Holy Bible. Please help us to expound its truths at every opportunity. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Come

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.”
Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT

Just a few verses before in Revelation 22, Jesus had given John an invitation. He said, “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.” (‭‭Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭12). And now the invitation rings out again. Loud and clear. There can be no excuse that people never heard it. After Jesus it is the turn of the Holy Spirit to say, “Come!”. And just to make sure, the bride also says, “Come!”. Of course, we know that the bride is the church – we have read much about the Bride of Christ in previous Revelation Scriptures. So we have an alliance, a partnership, between the Holy Spirit and the Church; an invitation from Spirit-filled churches is powerful. And the next invitation in verse 17 is from all who hear the “Come” and repeat it to those around them. 

But those who respond to the invitation have to be thirsty. And the thirst must relate to the “water of life”, freely given by our wonderfully generous God. This “water of life”  is the same drink Jesus promised the woman at the well. He said in John 4:14, “But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” Jesus gave the invitation again in 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’””. The invitation is there to be accepted. But as the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”. Unless people are thirsty for this living water promised by Jesus, they won’t drink it. They prefer the worldly drinks, even as the woman at the well discovered, finding out that anything of the world never satisfies and leads to a life of enslavement to drudgery.

Verse 17 in Revelation 22 starts with “The Spirit and the bride”. Notice that it is not the church on its own extending the invitation. Neither is it the Holy Spirit who is just saying “Come”. It is a joint invitation from the Holy Spirit and the Church. This may be an obvious point, but without the Holy Spirit, a church cannot effectively ask people to come and drink of the living water offered by Jesus. This is a because a church without the Holy Spirit won’t have a supply of living water. It will be as dry and arid as any natural desert. Sadly, the Holy Spirit left many churches long ago, but the dwindling and elderly congregations are still offering what they don’t have. And those in the world find out that there is nothing there for them. Perhaps all churches should ask themselves the question, “Would we know if the Holy Spirit left us?” The answer to that question could fill a book on its own.

So we pilgrims, those of us who have already responded to the invitation to “Come”, who are already drinking of the life-giving water, must extend the invitation to those around us. There are plenty of thirsty people around – I meet some every day on my morning prayer walks. We pray for the opportunity to connect people’s spiritual thirst with the life-giving water. Only Jesus can turn on the tap. And only people can propagate the “Rivers of living water” that flow from God’s throne. 

Dear Father God. We pray for a fresh filling of Your Holy Spirit today. We know You have more than enough living water to quench our thirsts. We are so grateful. Amen.

The River

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the centre of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.”‭‭
Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT

For all their lives, my grandmother and aunt lived in a small village situated on the banks of the River Test, in Hampshire, England. I spent many holidays there and have memories of the river, flowing quickly through the chalky geology of that part of the world. It was so clear and clean, that every detail seemed to stand out, its clarity famous amongst fishermen and others. But the“ water of life … flowing from the throne of God” was even clearer. It’s purity was perfect. And “it flowed down the centre of the main street“.

We will remember the words of Jesus, when He appealed to the people in Jerusalem, as recorded by John in 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.’”” John continued in verse 39 with an explanation of what this living water was, “(When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)”. We will also remember the story of the conversation Jesus had with a Samaritan woman, who was drawing water from a well. Jesus said, “… If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water.”” (John‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬). So in a sense there has been a spiritual river flowing from God even in these pre-New Jerusalem days. And it is a gift God has for us right now. Today.

In John’s vision, he saw the trees of life, one on each side of the river. But at first sight, the reference to leaves being there for healing would seem to be anomalous, because there can not, and will not, be any sickness in Heaven. So the fruit and leaves of the trees of life were there to sustain the eternal state of those living in Heaven. We read about God’s plan to feed His creation back in Genesis 2:9. “The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” At last, God’s plan finally realised in the New Heaven, in the New Earth and the New Jerusalem.

The prophet Ezekiel wrote about a river that flowed from the Temple, starting at the door as a stream. And it became deeper and deeper as it flowed. In Ezekiel 47:12 he wrote, “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.” In his vision, Ezekiel saw this river flowing from the Temple all the way to the Dead Sea. Many a sermon has been preached, inviting the hearers to immerse themselves in this river of life. But the question for us pilgrims is how much of God’s Spirit do we want to enjoy? Just a little, an ankle’s worth, or full immersion up over our heads. God is not reluctant to give. There is no water shortage in God’s spiritual economy.

Dear Father God. We pray for a fresh infilling of Your Spirit today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Water of Life

Posted on by korgrocker

“And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.”
Revelation‬ ‭21:6-7‬ ‭NLT

We continue with our unpacking of God’s words given to the Apostle John in Revelation 21:6-7.

God refers to “the springs of the water of life”. But what is this “water of life”? One thing for sure, and we need to knock the blasphemy on the head straight at the beginning, it is not connected with the Gaelic word for the Scottish distilled alcoholic beverage, whisky,  “usquebaugh“, which translates to “water of life” in English. I think we can all agree that there is no life is such a drink. Neither is the “water of life” anything to do with the mythical quests for the “Fountain of Youth”, water with supposedly magical properties that will allegedly enable people to live for ever. 

In the conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4, Jesus explained that He was the dispenser of spiritual water. Referring to natural water drawn from the well, “Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”” (John 4:13-14). We obtain some more clarity in John 7:27-30. “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.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)” So Jesus was very clear that all those who came to Him, who accepted His offer of salvation, would benefit from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

God said to John that the Holy Spirit will be freely available to all who want it, who are thirsty for the refreshing that comes from a relationship with Him. Note that He had just made a statement about His eternal status. And with that comes the eternal availability of the Holy Spirit. He is not Someone just available once we are in Heaven. The Holy Spirit is available now for everyone who wants to drink of the real “water of life”. 

God finishes with the reassurance, incredible though it seems, that all those who have made it to Heaven, all those who have overcome their doubts, their fears, the ploys of the enemy, even martyrdom, and any other obstacle put in their way, and have remained steadfast in their faith, will inherit a whole raft of blessings. The implication is that these blessings are available eternally, and we can enjoy them both now and forever. And He finished with a touching and loving statement straight from the Fathers heart. “I will be their God, and they will be my children“. On our knees in worship, we can only respond with a big “Thank You.”

Father God. We thank You for Your gift of the Holy Spirit and we ask You to fill us again today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Heavenly New Song

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder. It was like the sound of many harpists playing together. This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb. They have told no lies; they are without blame.” 
Revelation 14:1-5 NLT

The 144,000 learnt a new song. Only they had the right to sing it, and their praise and worship through the song triggered an outpouring of singing with a “sound … like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder” in Heaven. John struggled in his vision to described what the worship sounded like. He recorded it was like the natural sounds of waves and thunder, but with a musical content as though many harpists were playing their instruments in a wonderful expression of how they felt about their Creator God. John knew it was a great Heavenly choir singing, and they were in a vast arena that stretched into the distance, apparently for ever. The focus of the arena was the throne of God, and, still with Him, were the four living beings and the twenty four elders. Wow!

Occasionally some churches experience an outpouring of spiritual worship as the congregation abandon the hymn book and instead spontaneously erupt in a new song, expressing their praise and worship of God. The Psalmists often encouraged the people to sing a new song. For example we read in Psalm 149:1, “Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.” We read in Isaiah 42:10, “Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing his praises from the ends of the earth! Sing, all you who sail the seas, all you who live in distant coastlands.” And in our recent journey through Revelation, we read in 5:9, “And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

So we have the picture from John’s vision of the vast Heavenly choir singing the new song, and the 144,000 Jewish believers on Planet Earth in Jerusalem joining in. Truly a time when Heaven touches earth. 

We pilgrims are encouraged to sing a new song too. But how do we create or compose a new song. We don’t, of course, have to sit down with a music manuscript and start to add the crotchets and minims, writing some lyrics as we go along, though some may want to do so. A new song is an expression of our praise and worship to our wonderful Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus. And helping us with our spiritual expression is the Holy Spirit, connecting us to the Heavenly realm. So how do we start, if singing a new song is foreign to us? We start with a prayer of adoration. Then we allow our thoughts and spirits to focus on what Jesus has done for us. Next we start to express, with a few worship words, or the Heavenly language God has given us, how we feel inside. And then sing them, choosing a note or notes that wells up within us. No straining, just Jesus.

Earthbound we might be just now, but we can join in, as our spirits touch Heaven in a song of praise and worship to God. Our spirits are in fact reaching out to join the Heavenly choir. But we sadly restrain them with our attention to our work-a-day life. Held back by the trials encountered on our journeys through life. So we must allocate time for a new song to burst from our spirits. Perhaps on the daily commute to the office. Or in our time spent in His presence at the start of our days. And in the process of singing our new songs, the resources of Heaven, in some mysterious way, flood over our souls, bringing sustenance for the day ahead. Why do we so often fill our stomachs with earthly food but starve our spirits of Heavenly fare? 

So today we pilgrims join the heavenly choir in a new song of praise to our God. Just by allowing our spirits to respond to our Heavenly Father, as flowers turn towards to sun as it rises from the dawn.

Heavenly Father, we worship You today. And tomorrow. And for ever. Amen.

Power and Imagination

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. And in his hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he gave a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.
Revelation‬ ‭10:1-3‬ ‭NLT

The Apostle John’s eschatological vision continues with the appearance of another angel. A mighty angel. This angel was surrounded by a cloud and had a rainbow positioned over his head. And John was struck by the brightness of the angel’s face and he also noticed that the angel’s feet were like pillars of fire. The angel obviously had something to say, related to the scroll he was carrying. And he must have been huge, to be able to stand astride on sea and land. He gave a “great shout like the roar of a lion”  and received a response from the seven thunders.

What is all that about, was my first thought. Do we accept the picture that is forming in our minds at face value or do we try and make sense of it, interpreting the vision in a way that imparts a meaning? Firstly, this episode takes place between the sixth and seventh trumpets. An interlude perhaps? Did the people still alive see this angel – something that big wouldn’t have been hard to miss – or was this a spiritual event portrayed for John’s benefit, and ultimately ours as well?

We can draw some associations between what we see and what has been written in the Bible. For example, we remember that God led the Israelite slaves through the wilderness during their exodus from Egypt from within a cloud. And Psalm 104:3 reads, “You lay out the rafters of Your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds Your chariot; You ride upon the wings of the wind.” So the angel’s message from a cloud perhaps means that it has God’s backing, His seal of approval. Also we know about rainbows. In Genesis 9:13, God said, “I have placed My rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of My covenant with you and with all the earth.” We also have a Biblical precedent for a bright face. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, we read in Matthew 17:2 that “His face shone like the sun”. Regarding the “feet … like pillars of fire” we remember that God led the Israelites at night in the wilderness with a pillar of fire. So we, at the very least, can assume this “mighty angel” was someone of great importance. In fact, some have even suggested that He was Jesus Himself.

Regarding the mighty shout, we read in Hosea 11:10. “For someday the people will follow me. I, the Lord, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, my people will return trembling from the west.” In Joel 3:16 we read, “The Lord’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel.” John didn’t record in his vision what the great angel shout was about, and neither do we really know what the seven thunders represent. But we do know that when God responded to Jesus’s prayer in John 12, some people thought it had thundered. But, everything considered, this event in Revelation was a momentous event. God was about to say something very important and significant through the mighty angel.

Is there a message in this vision for us pilgrims today? Not many of us, if any at all, will have received such a vision as John did that day. But that is not to say that God has overlooked us and has failed to deliver an important word, tailor-made just for us. Over the years I have received several important messages from God – one of them delivered with His audible voice. Something intensely personal and encouraging. God is always listening to our prayers, to our petitions, to the anguished cries from our hearts, and He will graciously and lovingly always provide the answers and encouragement that we need. 

Jesus said that when He left this earth, He would send the Holy Spirit as His representative. And through Him we will have access to the same power that Jesus had. In Acts 1:8 He said to His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…”. Today we pilgrims are Jesus’s disciples with the potential to be powerful for God through His Spirit. I know that many claim that the power of the Holy Spirit was just for the original disciples and their generation and that it disappeared when they all died. But that is not my experience, and neither can I find any Scriptures that explicitly say that this is what happened. 

I have always been challenged with what Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “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.” Paul wrote that to a church fellowship located in the city of Ephesus. He didn’t pick out the apostles and the favoured few who knew them. This was written to all those in the fellowship of Ephesian believers. And I firmly believe today that it applies to us as well, and we all have that accessible power deep within us. Just waiting to be tapped. In the power of this Spirit, we can dream. We can allow our imaginations to be led by the Holy Spirit. There is no limit to what can be achieved through the power that is within us. So there may be a pilgrim reading this today who feels inadequate and is lacking confidence in who they are. They might be feeling inferior and incapable. But God wants to encourage us all today. In Ephesians 1:19-20 we read, “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.” So let’s press in today, flexing our spiritual faith muscles, believing God for more of that Holy Spirit power to touch us and touch those around us. In Jesus there is no limit to what we can achieve, if we only believe.

Dear Father God. We confess that we feel most of the time like fragile clay jars. But we declare today our confidence in You, the One who uses such ordinary vessels as us to do great things for You. Thank You. Amen.