Peaceful Streams

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

What an idyllic picture David paints, with his canvas containing green meadows and peaceful streams. We can all let our imaginations build our own versions of what he describes in our minds, personal pictures that would be largely based on our own experiences of farmland and the countryside. We can even visit an art gallery and there we will soon find a landscape or two that could have been lifted right out of Psalm 23. But David’s word picture was based on his own personal experience of the meadows and streams he visited while leading his sheep around the hills and valleys of rural Palestine. 

After the “green meadows” David moves on to the “peaceful streams” that make them green in the first place. Water, pure and clear, bubbling into a steady stream of peace, providing precious water for his flock to drink in a dry and dusty land. But David wasn’t writing about his sheep and their provision. He put himself into the position of being like a sheep with the Lord Himself being his Shepherd. The description of the meadows and streams provides a picture of a journey through a countryside that wasn’t all green and lush, a journey that David would have know well as he travelled with his flock. And here he is, walking along beside a stream of water, peaceful and pure.

We pilgrims are on a journey as well. There are times when we rest in a place of refreshing but other times when we journey onwards, never far from the life giving water that flows from God Himself. The Lord provides for us, body, soul and spirit. These days in the West it is unusual to find physical hunger, with most people having the wherewithal to be able to feed themselves. But spiritual hunger and thirst is a national disease of epidemic proportions, with most people unable to find the Source for which their souls and spirits yearn. There is something within each one of us that longs to be satisfied. God provides all that we need but most people try and satisfy themselves from a source that is man-made and ineffective. A source like alcohol or drugs. Sex or the occult. Sin has so twisted and screwed up people, and the world on which we live, that most will never find the way of true provision, the lush “green meadows” and the “peaceful streams” supplied by God for all to enjoy.

David knew all about the importance of being rooted in a “peaceful stream” somewhere. About God’s people he wrote, “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (Psalm 1:2-3). God has supplied water for us to drink to satisfy our bodies, and He has supplied His Word to satisfy our souls. David could see the connection between people and trees, with those that are planted where they can access His life-giving water functioning just as He designed. Back in Genesis 2 we read about God’s plan, “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. A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches” (Genesis 2:9-10). One of the trees was the “tree of life” that supplied everything Adam needed for his existence. But that tree reappears in Revelation 22:1-2, “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“. David could see God’s provision for him and he knew that he had to stay close to the “peaceful streams” because otherwise his spirit would soon shrivel and die, like a tree planted in the middle of a desert. 

In a sense we pilgrims are living between two trees. The tree of life in the garden of Eden and the trees of life planted either side of the “water of life” that flowed from the very throne of God. God has never stopped the water flowing. It flowed in Eden and it will flow from His very presence in the New Jerusalem that we read about in Revelation 21. We pilgrims know all about God’s life-giving water because of Jesus. In John 7:37b-39a He said, “ … 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. …)“.  God promised His supply through a prophetic message brought by Isaiah, “For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank” (Isaiah 44:3-4).

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came with a mighty roar and His presence has never left us ever since. We pilgrims each have living within us God’s Spirit, a Source of living water that Jesus first introduced us to in John 4:10, “Jesus replied, “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””. So in this period of living between the two trees, we pilgrims are the Source of the living water that mankind so desperately needs.

Where is God leading us today? Are we walking besides a “peaceful stream” or have we camped somewhere dry and barren? Perhaps we need to get up and get moving. We may be tired, perhaps resigning ourselves to a dry and waterless existence away from any thought of life-giving spiritual water. We may go through the motions of Christianity but denying its power, as Paul wrote. But there is something in God’s hands that will flow into our souls, empowering us and commissioning us for His Work. We can’t produce the fruit that God requires in a waterless desert. That’s the place where the God-deniers live, a place full of sin and evil. But we can walk by the “peaceful streams”, drinking our fills, and then visit the dry places to tell the inhabitants about Jesus. There is a world out there dying of thirst, but we know where there is water, the water that will refresh their souls.

Dear Father God, thank You for Your life-giving water, so freely given. Amen.

Everyone Died

Posted on by korgrocker

“Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:14-15 NLT

The Jewish Law was delivered to the Israelites by Moses. We read in Exodus 19:1, “Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel”. But what about the time before the Law was given? Between the time when Adam and Eve were evicted from Eden and the time of Moses? Paul said to the Roman Christians that people still died in this period. Until Moses, there were no laws to break. So, strictly speaking, there was no opportunity for sin. Surely, to be a sinner, we need to be a lawbreaker.

But death was then, and still is a reality today. It was, of course, God’s intention that His human creation would live forever. To make this happen, there was a tree in Eden that produced fruit. This was a special tree that somehow had an ingredient that kept people alive. This tree was called the Tree of Life. We read about it in Genesis 3:22, “Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”” We read that God “banished” Adam and Eve from Eden and then blocked any access to the Tree of Life. Genesis 3:24, “After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life”. But, that tree never disappeared from God’s plans. It re-emerges in Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.” God’s plans will never be thwarted. We are living in an age between the two trees of life.

There are two types of death – physical death and spiritual death. We mostly think of the former, but it is the latter that perhaps is more important, because our spirits will live forever. Both Testaments in the Bible contain references to eternal life. In Psalm 23:6, David wrote, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever”. Jesus said in Matthew 25:46, “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life”. Paul clarified the difference between physical and spiritual death when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord”. The Tree of Life kept Adam and Eve’s bodies alive, but there is only one way to keep our spirits alive and that is through Jesus. 

Paul said in Romans 5:14 that Adam is “a representation of Christ”. How can that be? Paul gives us the answer in Romans 5:15, “But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.” There is a stark and extreme comparison between Adam, representing mankind, and Jesus, God’s Son, and His representative for a few short years here on Planet Earth. And the two extremes were reconciled at Calvary, where we pilgrims kneel in worship before the saving Christ, Jesus Himself. 

Father God. Even though our ancestry can be traced back to Adam, we thank You that we are now adopted into Your family. What a difference. What a Saviour. 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.

Death No More

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation‬ ‭20:14-15‬ ‭NLT

The lake of fire is filling up. We already have the devil, the beast and the false prophet sent there. Now we find out that death and the grave have been thrown in there as well. How do we picture death? A man wearing a monk’s habit with a hood covering his head, and carrying an old fashioned scythe? You know, the “Grim Reaper” that accompanies jokes about men catching a cold? But however we imagine the concept, or state, we call “death”, it is far more serious and significant than that. And the fact that “death” was to be no more restores God’s original order back to His creation.

When mankind was created, his sinless state meant that he would have the opportunity to live forever. In Genesis 2:9b we read, ” …. In the middle of the garden he [God] placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” And in Genesis 3:22 we read, “Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”” The sin Adam and Eve committed resulted in them being cut off from the fruit of the tree that would provide eternal life. The result of that sin was mankind’s eventual physical death. So death was spawned in Eden through what has become to be known as the fall of man. And now death was being eliminated and consigned to the fiery lake. 

Now that death was, well, dead, there was no more use for the grave. Obvious really. No dead bodies, so no need for graves. So the entity John saw, the grave,  ended up in the fiery lake as well. So in our minds we have perhaps conjured up our own images of the Grim Reaper and a gravestone flying through the air and disappearing below the surface of the lake full of burning sulphur. 

It is a strange concept for us pilgrims that one day we will be resurrected and will live forever. In God’s company as He originally wanted. But some people in society cannot wait until they die. They find life so hard that they just have had enough. Sadly, some accelerate the process and end their own lives unnaturally. And we also have the frequent debate promoting euthanasia for those suffering from incurable or debilitating diseases. In the forefront of the news just now is the sad story of a poor girl in her early teens who committed suicide, her mental health challenges exacerbated by negative social media posts. The debate around the length and quality of our lives seems constant. But Jesus came to give us life, both here in this physical realm, and forever in the age to come. In John 10:10 we read, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My [Jesus] purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” Regardless of our circumstances, we can enjoy a wonderful life with Jesus.

So one day there will be no death. All those who have chosen to live God’s way, in a loving relationship with Him, will transition from this life to eternal life in Heaven. In a conversation with Martha, the sister of Lazarus, Jesus said to her, “ … I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” Jesus came to this life, walking the highways and byways of the Palestinian countryside telling people about God’s wonderful Kingdom. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. To Jesus, death was no obstacle. Paul wrote to his followers some comforting words about death. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:53-55, “For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”” Paul ends this section with these words, “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That was why Jesus came. And through Him we really do have the victory that will enable us to once again enjoy eating from the Tree of Life.

Dear Heavenly Father. Once again we fall to our knees in worship. You are the living God, the true Life. How wonderful You are. Amen.