June 3, 2007
Scripture:
I’d like to take a moment to ponder three famous words in John 19:30: “It is finished.” Have you ever stopped to think about what a dividing line in time this is? In Greek, the word finished is teleo. But what does it mean? First of all, the Lord was given an itinerary to accomplish. As he went through life, he did His Father’s will every moment, wherever He went. Then He went to Calvary, where He suffered and died; it was the Father’s will. Now, at the very moment He said those words, He had accomplished all; that is teleo. But it means more; Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” When He finished His Father’s will, the law ended. We read about the Day of Atonement and how the high priest had to do that every year. But now, that is not necessary. This was the end of the old economy. Now there is grace, and we can know we are on our way to Heaven, something that was impossible before. We read about the shed blood. Remember that in the Old Testament, the priest had to go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood on the mercy-seat. We know that the Lord has gone into Heaven and sprinkled His blood once for ever. It was then that He purchased, redeemed, us. In the Garden of Eden, a sin barrier was created; but now He has taken care of the sin question. “It is finished.” How amazing are these three words! You can almost here Him saying, “It is all done; I’m ready to go back to Heaven.” There he waits for word from His Father to come to get His bride. There is one more thing I want to say about the word teleo: let’s say you owed someone some money, and they sent you a bill. But you couldn’t pay it, so someone else did for you. Then the bill was stamped “Paid in Full.” We had a debt we couldn’t pay; but the Lord has paid it and it has been “Paid in Full,” teleo. May we prize those three words and praise Him!
EG Hymn 31 – Precious, precious blood of Jesus Prayer The Children of Israel have been following the cloud, and so have we. Last time, we were in Deuteronomy, at the end of their wilderness journey; we read Ch. 31:14–15. So what goes on after that? Well, they crossed the Jordan River, and began conquering the land of Canaan. What did they do with the tabernacle? Read Joshua 18:1; they set it up in Shiloh. So time goes on and they continue conquering the land. After a few years, things don’t go as well as they should have, so God gives them some judges. They go around in circles: they forget about the Lord, He brings an enemy on them, they cry to the Lord, and He gives them a judge. Then they live in peace and happiness for a few years until they forget the Lord again. After this, they wanted a king, and they chose King Saul. But he was not a good king, so when he died, God chose King David. David was a good king, and he had a plan. Read II Samuel 7:1–3. He realized that he lived in a great palace while the Lord still lived in a tent. He mentioned this to Nathan, the prophet, who said to do whatever he thought was best. But then God says, in v. 12 & 13, that not David, but his son will build a temple. So in I Kings, Solomon builds the temple. Read ch. 6:1; for 480 years God has dwelt in a tent, but now He will get a house. So they built it; read I Kings 8:1–6. All Israel came together to see the Ark of the Covenant come into the temple. Read vv. 7–11. Now, finally, we see the cloud again. The cloud that they followed all the way from Egypt now rested over the temple. Then Solomon prayed; read vv. 22–27 to see part of that prayer. Notice in v. 24 how Solomon says that God has kept His promise to David in having a house built. But the part of that promise in v. 25 has not yet been fulfilled; it talks about a man always being on the throne. That is the Lord Jesus, reigning in the Millennium. Solomon’s temple was eventually destroyed; Ezra rebuilt it, but it was destroyed again. Then there was Herod’s temple. One day, the glory of the Lord walked into that temple, not as a cloud, but as a person. But before we get there, we have one more cloud story, which we’ll look at next time, Lord willing.
I Peter 1:6–11 It is impressive, especially when you look at church history, how much trial there is in the Christian testimony; there has been massacre, violence, persecution of all kinds. It cost so much to be a Christian. The fact that we are the Lord’s doesn’t mean we won’t have any difficulties in life. God has made trials an integral part of the Christian experience. But where do you get the opposite: joy? In these verses, joy is an amazing complement to trials. We can understand v. 6: manifold temptations. But vv. 7 & 8 call our trials precious, and unspeakable joy. We find two ends of the spectrum here. We are promised trails: “In this world you shall have tribulation.” But there’s more to it: “I have overcome the world.” We need these verses, because it is easier to get down with the trials than it is to get up with the joy. But there is a secret element throughout this: faith. The faith had to be tried and tested; it is that which the trials purify. It is exemplified by gold. Think of the times in history when gold has been found somewhere; hundreds of people have rushed to the spot to try to get rich fast. If we offered to give people faith by listening to the Bible (“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”), there probably wouldn’t be as much of a rush. Gold is valuable in this world, but faith is valuable in this world and in eternity.
The end of v. 8 talks about praise, honour, and glory. Who is getting this praise? The Lord, no doubt; but we through Him will as well, as this happens at the appearing of the Lord. Think of those who were martyred. They will receive a crown that will never depreciate or corrupt; that is part of their honour.
We saw when we looked at Hebrews 12 that there are three ways to take a trial: faint, despise, or be exercised. We should be exercised and glory—not growl—in tribulation. It is so against our human nature, though; sometimes our object is to get rid of the trial rather than being “exercised thereby.”
EG Hymn 335 – I am so glad that our Father in Heaven Prayer