Absolutely No Idea

Posted on by korgrocker

“When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.” None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. So Judas left at once, going out into the night.”
John 13:27-30 NLT

By this time, the disciples must have been reeling from events that were totally unexpected. First of all, Jesus warned them of His impending death, and the way it would be carried out. Matthew 26:2, “As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” The Passover meal that Jesus ate with His disciples two days later included the event of the bread and wine, as recorded in the other Gospels. Matthew 26:26-28, “As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many”. During the meal, Jesus also said, “ … I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me” (Matthew 26:21b). And then, after the meal, we have the account of Jesus washing their feet. Then, events moving on quickly – Jesus told Judas to, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do”. It seemed that the disciples had absolutely no idea about what was happening, but they would understand much later.

Having been around Jesus for three years or so must have been a roller coaster of experiences. The disciples must have lived in a world punctuated with the unexpected. They never knew what Jesus was going to do next. But of course each and every event that occurred was entirely in the will of Jesus’ Father in Heaven. In John 6:38 Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will”. That was the focus in Jesus’ ministry and the disciples had first hand experience of what that meant. They truly had an education in the “University of Life” that no-one else has had. It was a life lived in the Kingdom of God, and one where for a brief period Heaven touched earth. 

What do we pilgrims expect in our lives as believers in Jesus? I am writing this on a Sunday, a day when I attend a church service. A day when I look forward to the time of worship, hearing the sermon, joining in the prayers. But do I expect the unexpected? What will the Holy Spirit do through my brothers and sisters today? Am I tuned into a limitless God who delights to bless His people? Will something unexpected happen? And not just on a Sunday – what about Monday morning in the office, the supermarket, the queue at the bus stop? God desires to use men and women, even young people, to further His purposes here in this world. Are we willing to step out in faith, believing that the God who walked the highways and byways of Israel is still walking today through the Holy Spirit within us.

We have no idea what will happen in our worlds today. But we do know the Creator of our worlds. And trusting in Him takes away the anxieties and stress that blights the lives of so many.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your many spiritual blessings, available to us by Your Spirit. In You we put our trust, our lives in Your hands. Amen.

Who Is The Son of Man?

Posted on by korgrocker

“He said this to indicate how he was going to die. The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?””
John 12:33-34 NLT

The people in the crowd were just not getting it. Just a few minutes before, Jesus had referred to Himself as the Son of Man – John 12:23, “Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory”. And the same people were there when He spoke about the kernel of wheat, and then when He had a conversation with His Father in Heaven. Of course, we also mustn’t forget that the miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead was still foremost in their minds. What else did Jesus have to do to get across to them that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, and the Saviour of the Jews? 

But Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man. In effect, all us males are sons of man. Not to offend anyone, we are all sons and daughters of men and women. In other words, we are all human. So when Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man, He was emphasising His humanity. He was the Son of God and the Son of Man, divine and human. In the New Testament, Jesus referred to Himself eighty one times as the Son of Man, and then there was an eighty second mention from the lips of Stephen, as he was martyred – “And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!”” (Acts 7:56). 

Jesus also used the descriptive “Son of Man” as a statement of His humility. A humility that was exposed in a definite way when He washed the disciple’s feet. A humility that fulfilled the suffering servant prophecy we see in Isaiah 53. Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 20:28, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus never went around lording it over people and using an elevated title to explain His true status. In all humility He rode a donkey into Jerusalem, hardly a mode of transport fit for the King that he was. He came to serve.

Jesus was God’s Son, part of the trinitarian Godhead, but also He was one of us as well. And, somehow, that humanity forms a link between God and His creation, mankind. In Colossians 2:9-10, we read, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority”. There is also that tremendous verse – Romans 8:29 – where Paul wrote about Christ having many siblings – “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters“. We pilgrims are part of God’s family, and all because we believed in Jesus and His offer of salvation and eternal life. The Son of Man and the sons and daughters of men and women all combine into a glorious and united family, a family that one day will be all together in the presence of our Father God. 

Father God. Through Your grace, love and mercy, You have accepted us as Your children. We are so grateful. Amen.

Stairway to Heaven

Posted on by korgrocker

“As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.””
John 1:47-51 NLT

In this, the last verse of John 1, Jesus told His disciples that they would see “the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man”. And He referred to Himself as “the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth”. Superficially, this claim by Jesus might seem wondrous, but with little practical application in today’s world. That is, until we see this for what it is – a doorway, a connection, an opportunity, a picture, of the link between the spirit world of Heaven, and the human world of Planet Earth. We remember the Sunday School story of Jacob’s Ladder, the account of which we can read in Genesis 28:12, “As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway“. Jacob only saw a vision of what was to come, a vision fulfilled by Jesus.

Jesus, in His statement about the stairway, released a profound truth that reverberates across this world and all generations who have ever lived within it, and who are yet to be born. There is no other link between the Kingdom of God, and the kingdom of this world. Jesus said in John 14:6, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. There is no other way into God’s presence. Many other religions claim otherwise, but their adherents will be disappointed. 

But we read that angels are using this staircase and provide a link between Jesus and His Heavenly home. The angels are servants of God and through Jesus they are able carry out God’s plans in this world. They come and go as God requires. So we mustn’t be surprised if one day we meet an angel. He might not be immediately recognisable as such but perhaps we will look back at this particular point in our lives and wonder.

This picture of the busy staircase between Jesus and Heaven provides us with a faith-link right into God’s presence. We pilgrims know Jesus and we have access right to the throne of God, in faith that, through Jesus, the staircase is still alive and well and doing what God designed it to do. The disciples found it, saw it, and one day made use of it themselves. We modern day disciples will one day discover its marvels at first hand, as we pass into God’s presence. So it goes without saying that we must introduce others, who don’t know Jesus, to this gateway into God’s Kingdom, the gateway who is Jesus Himself. Many want to get into Heaven, but they will never find out how without our introduction to the Saviour.

Dear Father God. Please lead us to those who need to find You and Your stairway to Heaven. Amen.

The Rescue

Posted on by korgrocker

“I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, “The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.””
Romans 11:25-27 NLT

Paul writes that there will be a time of salvation for the Jews. We don’t know when that will be but we do know that one day it will happen. Paul loosely quoted two verses from the Old Testament Scriptures, ““The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,” says the Lord. “And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Isaiah 59:20-21). We have to visit this section of Scripture to determine the context. These verses in Isaiah are at the end of a chapter where the prophet provides warnings about sin and wickedness. And the Redeemer is none other than Jesus Himself. Of course, we know that He died just outside the city walls at Jerusalem for the redemption of all sins, an act with eternal consequences, and Isaiah continues to reveal that the Lord’s Spirit will remain forever, never leaving His redeemed people. 

But Paul was perhaps also writing about a day when the people of Israel finally turn to their Redeemer. Their hearts will soften from the current hardness, and “all Israel will be saved”. If the Jews rejected their Redeemer when He came to this earth, what would make them change their collective minds? We mustn’t forget that Jesus has an appointment, marked in His Heavenly calendar, to return to earth a second time. We read in Acts 1:9-11, “After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”” We don’t know when “someday” will be of course, but we know that it will happen, as the angels foretold. We also know where He will return to, because He ascended from the Mount of Olives, as we read in Acts 1:12, “Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile.” We also know what the weather will be like on the day He returns because it will be cloudy. But even though we know something about how Jesus will return, we don’t know when, other than Paul’s assertion that first, the “full number” of Gentiles must convert to believing in Christ. 

We also know from other Scriptures that Jesus will not return as a baby child, but very visibly with great power and glory. “For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. … And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:27,30). Perhaps this will be the time when the Jews will finally be saved. Matthew 24:31, “And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.”

But whatever we pilgrims believe, God’s plans for His human creation will come together one day. All will make sense then, in case we are puzzled about how it is all going to happen. God has the eternity view. Time is no problem to Him. Unlike us, He is not constrained by calendars and human events. God gave a prophetic message of the salvation of the Jews through Paul’s pen, and one day there will be a huge crowd of Jews and Gentiles in Heaven, united in praise and worship to our wonderful Heavenly Father.

Dear Father. We look forward to that day when You will be worshipped by all Your people. What can we say, other than echo that phrase from the last chapter of Revelation – “Come Lord Jesus”. Amen.