"Forever and Ever."

"....I will bless Your name forever and ever....My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh shall bless His holy name forever and ever."  (Psalm 145:2 &21)

This is the Psalm 145 day of the month. 

Apparently, Jesus, "The Word of God," does not grow weary with repetition.  At some point in Church History the "Canon" was closed.  The Bible, as we now have it, is complete, no additions, no "prophetic utterances," nothing more to be said which can usurp the eternal power, "completion," the all-sufficiency of what we have access to, that which is called, "God-Breathed."

Sometimes I think people come up with, and others demand, "some new thing."  It's sort of like Apple.  They keep coming up with the "latest," the newest, the different, just to keep customers.  There are the mind bending video games for "children," which just keep getting more violent, or the ridiculous horsepower race and gadgetry of some auto makers.  Then there is Christendom. For so many, nothing has changed since Mars Hill, "For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing."

For me, however, the last 46 years have proven to be life changing and saving.  Going through the Scriptures over and over again is not wearisome.  "God-Breathed," is more than a clever phrase.  The Words which one can read as much and as often as one cares to are "wonderful words of life."  Some of those words tell us, "Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest....For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword...."  I found it interesting to note the connection between, "enter that rest," and, "For the Word of God is...powerful...."  I never noticed that before, but I can attest to the connection.  The, "rest," here and which our Lord Jesus tells us that we have in Him, is in His Words, "The Word of God,"--- over and over and over again.

So, with David today, you and I can say, "Every day will I bless You, and I will praise Your Name forever and ever," and as Psalm 56 declares, I too say, "In God (I will praise His Word)....In God (I will praise His Word)"----- "forever and ever," no growing weary, no demand, "to hear some new thing."

Father, in Jesus' Name, "Sing them over again to me, Wonderful Words of life."  Amen.

        

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

The Scene Seems Sad-But It Is Victorious

"And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced....Now Jesus stood before the governor....But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus....Then they crucified Him....Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom...." (Matthew 27)

Jesus is handed over to the Roman Governor.  Judas hangs himself.  Jesus dies on a Roman cross.  This chapter reveals the depth of the human condition.  It has been a historic stupidity to blame the Jews or the Romans for "killing Jesus."  It was you and I.  "The wages of sin is death," and someone had to "pay" that wage. 

There is one thing in the Bible which we cannot escape, "For all have sinned...."  The events of the Passion, indeed, the whole of the Gospel accounts reveal that it was only Jesus Who could, "for us men and our salvation c[o]me down."  It was sin which darkened the soul of man to his Creator, the Living Triune God.  Up until, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," we were doing just fine, "What a fellowship, what a joy Divine, leaning on the everlasting arms."  But then, as now, we all knew/know better.

Matthew 27 unfolds the events which were absolutely necessary for you and me to "come home."  Mankind throughout history has constantly attempted to save himself, but alas, the greater the attempts, the greater the frustration.  The American political scene is a further revelation of humanity looking for someone, something to relieve the pain, perhaps even to be its "savior."  God will not allow that to happen.  Matthew 27 reveals Jesus' plan, His purpose, His will, His way.  There is just no other way.  Take great peace and security today in the reality of Jesus, His Blood, His Death, His Resurrection.  "Looking unto Jesus," is not a trite cliche, for Jesus Himself is not.  Jesus is our life; Jesus, "is the strength of my life; of whom/what shall I be afraid."  Now, "Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord."

Father, in Jesus' Name, thank You for, "so great a salvation."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

"My Blood of The Covenant"

"For this is My blood of the covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28)

There have been disputes over the centuries, and they still continue, as to the "date/time" of the Last Supper, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Likewise, there are disputes as to whether the "Last Supper" was a Passover Seder.  Regardless, our Lord Jesus told the host of the Last Supper, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."  Make no mistake; the commemoration of The Passover is a reminder that because of the blood on the doorways, lintels, and posts of the houses of the Hebrews in Egypt, the death angel passed over the houses of the Covenant People.  And, the powerful, glorious reality is that there is no other "entrance" into the Church, the Kingdom, or Heaven but by the Blood of Jesus Christ.

The Greek text which I have does not have the word, "new," in our text nor in Mark's Gospel; Luke does, maybe because his Gospel was more "Gentile" oriented.  Regardless, Matthew and Mark's rendition is to me very powerful.  Jesus was not differentiating here between what we call the "Old" and "New" Testament/Covenant, or what some consider to be multiple covenants of the Old Testament.  Jesus was declaring that His Blood was, "My Blood of The Covenant."  Only the Blood of Jesus seals the Covenant, whether one wants to speak of multiple covenants in the Bible or one covenant. 

The Book of Hebrews tells us that, "But Christ came...not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption....How much more shall the blood of Christ...cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God..., that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.... Moses...took the blood of calves and goats,..saying, 'This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded'....And without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness....Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith...." 

Father, in Jesus' Name, GLORY!  Amen.
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We appreciate any prayers for our October Berlin Mission.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

"For All The Saints"

"Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive."  (Acts 25:19)

This is Festus, a Roman official, telling King Agrippa about the charges brought against Paul.  This official of an emperor-worship culture at least had gotten "the message."  While Festus "bought into" the prevailing claim that Jesus was, "....a dead man...," he had heard the claim of Paul very clearly: "....Jesus...was alive."  Paul ultimately would die for such an assertion, and millions have since.  In fact, more people have suffered for the Name of Jesus than have lived what the hedonists claim to be "the good life."

Most humans fight to stay alive, endless drugs, surgeries, sleepless nights worrying about dying.  I don't criticise here; I'm no "hero."  Yet the reality is that only one generation will escape death, the generation alive when "the Trumpet of the Lord shall sound."  Other than that generation, you and I will go the "way" which the Bible describes as, "the way of all the earth."  Most gatherings of Christendom and books and conferences in Christendom do not speak of this; people think it too depressing.  Yet the early martyrs and others through the ages faced death in what is just so alien to most in churches today.

Polycarp, one of the great "fathers" of the Church, died at the hands of the Romans in the mid Second Century AD.  He refused to affirm, "Caesar is lord," and rather kept affirming, "Jesus is Lord."  He also refused to burn incense to the Roman Emperor and was sentenced to be burned at the stake.  While he was tied to the stake, Polycarp said to his captors, "You threaten me with fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked."  His last words were, "I bless You, Father, for judging me worthy of this hour...."  It is reported that the fire could not kill him, so they had to pierce him with a sword. 

In late 1944, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been transferred to the Gestapo Prison on Prinz-Albrecht Strasse in Berlin.  He was increasingly isolated from the outside world with fewer and fewer "privileges.  It was becoming more and more obvious to him that his death was imminent.  Yet in the face of death, he wrote the following poem in the form of a hymn to his family and closest friends:
"By gracious pow'rs so wonderfully sheltered,
And confidently waiting come what may,
We know that God is with us night and morning,
And never fails to greet us each new day.
And when this cup you give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
We take it thankfully and without trembling
Out of so good and so beloved a hand.
Yet when again in this same world you give us
The joy we had, the brightness of your sun,
We shall remember all the days we lived through
And our whole life shall then be yours alone."

Father, in Jesus' Name, "For all the saints, who from their labors rest...Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever praised...."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2