"Remember How He Spoke...."

"....Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee...."  (Luke 24:5b-6)

This is something which was beyond Barabbas' reach.  I wonder what those who cried out, "Kill Jesus!  Give us Barabbas!" thought after That Glorious Sunday morning.  Of course, just as at Jonestown, many just drank the Jewish Leaders' kool aide, "Jesus' disciples stole His Body."  But if any of the "Barabbas crowd" ever gave their hearts to Jesus, they probably defined the word, "relieved."

There was never a greater "announcement" than that of the messengers to the women, "He is not here, but is risen!"  These words were prefaced with, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?"  The reason was that they were "dead" in faith.  They had either forgotten or just would not accept the Words of Jesus which He had spoken a number of times to them, "....that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."

I am always careful when speaking about the German in the 1920s and '30s.  My appraisal is after the fact; they lived in the fact.  So too with the first at the tomb and the others who were informed but refused to believe.  Judging past events from the present is always easier than living in the events.  We do, however, have a live-in-the-fact opportunity ever day of our lives.  And, just as the German and the first disciples, the need is to rise and live above "appearances" is ever-present.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray I not, "seek the living among the dead."  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

Jesus Or Barabbas

"And they all cried out at once, saying, 'Away with this Man, and give us Barabbas.'"  (Luke 23:18, NKJV & CEV)

Nothing has changed.  Most of the world still wants Barabbas.

Truth is, the world has been shouting for Barabbas since the Garden.  That's really what happened when Adam and Eve fell for the wrong tree.  There was Jesus in, "The Tree of Life," and there was Barabbas in, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."  Barabbas was the "man of choice."

You and I must make this choice daily.  Now some would disagree and say that we don't get "saved" every day; of course not.  What we do daily, however, is make choices, and you know as well as I that the Enemy will continue to "probe the perimeter" for weaknesses; therefore, every morning, just as His, "mercies...are new every morning," so too must be our determined, "....but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." 

Our daily choices really come down to what Pilate asked that crowd so long ago, "Which of the two do you want?"

Father, in Jesus' Name, I continually choose You, Father, Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit.  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

Blood

"Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood, which is shed for you.'"  (Luke 22:20)

As "primitive," and even offensive as this may seem to moderns, it is still the only way that any of us may enter, "The New Covenant," and, I might add, all the accompanying benefits, promises, rewards, ultimately, as Hebrews says, "into Heaven Itself."

The humanists in seminary, when my Dad was studying there in the mid 1930s, called it "slaughterhouse religion."  The "enlightened," the Darwinists, the morality police of the universe all know better than God.  They were early versions of the song, "If I Ruled the World."  Well, they don't; Jesus Christ does that.  And, for His "reasons," and His alone, He has chosen to restore you and me in a "Blood Covenant,"  viz., "the New Covenant in My Blood."

Exodus 29:12 & 16 tells us, "You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar....And you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the altar."  This is all fulfilled from Gethsemane to Golgotha.  And sometime, just after the triumphant, "It is finished," our Lord Jesus Christ took, "the New Covenant in My Blood....into Heaven itself."

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His Own Blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." As the Charles Wesley hymn declares, "We have no other argument, We have no other plea; it is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me."

Father, in Jesus' Name, GLORY!  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

Which "Reward" Are You Working For?

"By Your hand save me from such people, Lord, from those of this world whose reward is in this life."  (Psalm 17:14a, NIV)

Most humans work for, "reward...in this life", save money for, "reward...in this life", and too often even "do good" for, "reward...in this life."

The reality is that if one believes Jesus, "The Word of God," then one believes that the greatest, "reward...in...life", is not, "...in this life."  Jesus tells us, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life...."  Jesus then goes on to tell us, "The work of God is this: to believe in (entrust yourselves to) the One He has sent."  This is to be life's all consuming, "work."

This is also Luke 21 day in the quarter, in which our Lord Jesus tells us of things to come, how that this age will end in a dramatic climax, "At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."  The Second Appearing of Jesus, the life to come, "the Marriage Supper of the Lamb," is reward which goes way beyond any, "reward...in this life."  And one more: One of today's Psalms reading speaks of obedience to, "the Words of God," and the accompanying, "in keeping them there is great reward."

Well, there you have it.  It seems as though the Lord Jesus was surrounding me with the exhortation to work only for the reward which comes in, "keeping them (His Words)", "....the food that endures to eternal life," and His invitation to, "the Marriage Supper of the Lamb."  You, my friend, have the very same invitation/command to the same, "Great Reward."

Father, in Jesus' Name, please reveal more and more just what, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling," means.  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

Choice: Walk In, "Temporary," Or, "Eternal"

"....We do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."  (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Every three months our Lord Jesus Christ reminds me of this.  I need it every "three hours."

I guess it may be the fact that the older I get the more everything seems fading.  Do you remember those days when things were "bright," your relative youth saw nothing but strength, brightness, agility?  If you are older, you know what I am talking about.  If you are younger, the day will come.  This is not depressing to the one whose eyes are fixed on Jesus, on His Glory which is, "....not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary." 

The choice of life is here set out in our text.  We can live by what we see, or by what we do not see.  Now the "spirituals" among us will say, "O, what do you mean?  I see clearly."  Then you disagree with the Bible, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part....For we now see in a mirror dimly...."  Stop attempting to "see" so much.  No matter how we may try, no matter how "mature" or how "seasoned" the result is the same, "For we now see in a mirror dimly...."  Earlier in the chapter, the Holy Spirit reminds us that, "....the light of the knowledge of the glory of God [is] in the face of Jesus Christ."  Truth is, our, "temporary," eyes see so little of this glorious truth.  Ah, but our, "eternal," eyes rejoice in the power of the unseen-ness of this.

There is a contentment in Jesus here which is the contentment of, "For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."  Perhaps we can say that the "best things in life" are the, "unseen."

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to walk in, "eternal," not just talk of, "eternal."  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