September 30, 2007
Ministry:
This morning we remembered our Lord Jesus Christ and the sweetness of Calvary. He was the true Burnt Offering, sending a sweet-smelling savour up to God. As we reflect on Him, we can send a sweet savour to God as well. It is our joy and delight to praise, worship, and adore Him.
I had another thought: have you ever looked into the East sky early in the morning, before the Sun comes up? You will see a bright star, called the morning star; it is there just before day comes. We can read about it in Revelation 22:16: “I Jesus … am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” The Lord is the true Morning Star; we can also read about it in II Peter 1:19: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” The day star is the same thing as the morning star. What does it mean to have the day star arise in our hearts? I believe that to have the day star arise in our hearts, we need to have an understanding of God’s purpose. We know how He saved us and that He will come take us to glory; and that is wonderful. But later, the Lord will come to earth to reign for one thousand years—the Millennium. He will come in glory and reign over the nation that rejected Him; finally, He will have his rightful place for the first time. We should cherish that day as He does; we should not only look for the rapture, which could be a selfish desire, but also for His appearing, when He will get His rightful place. That is what the day star is all about.
But between the rapture and the appearing, there are seven years; what will happen then? Two very different events will take place. On earth, there will be the tribulation. It will be a terrible time. If you had a bride that you really loved, would you want her to go through that? The Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t want His bride to, and that is why He will take us to glory. We will be translated, and receive new bodies. What will happen to us in that time? Three things will take place. Firstly, the Lord will bring us into the Father’s house, the one He talks about at the beginning of John 14. It will be very different from what we have here; we will have the fullness of joy and be surrounded by love. We will be where we will belong: at our true home. The next thing will be the judgement seat of Christ; you might feel frightened about that, but remember that we will have our glorified bodies, with minds just like the Lord’s. He will judge righteously and we will receive rewards for what we have done. This will take place while all those dreadful things are going on on earth. Finally, there will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. It will have two parts: first, we will be introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ as His bride, a very wonderful and private time. Then there will be the public part, the supper. This marriage will be far more wonderful than anything we have ever seen on earth, since it will take place in a sinless sphere. This is our portion, dear ones; it is our privilege to live in the joy of it now. I just wanted to bring these thoughts before you so we can have the day star arise in our hearts. Think of it all—what a joy!
EG Hymn 319 – Little child, do you love Jesus?
Prayer
Today I want to look at the story of a woman in the Old Testament. You probably know this story: it is the story of Rahab. I’m not going to read it all, but I want to pick out a few verses to highlight some important points. Turn to Joshua 2.
What can this story teach us? Here was a person who had no claim on God, but she had faith and was saved by a scarlet thread. Can you think of another Old Testament story with something red in it? The children of Israel put blood on their doors during the Passover. That reminds us of the blood of the Lord Jesus; we can be saved from judgement because of His blood. We can learn, from this story of Rahab, that we can be sheltered by the blood.
I Peter 2:7–10
We have reflected on various thoughts in these verses, but to pull it all together, Peter is writing to Jewish believers. He uses Jewish examples quite often, because there are so many parallels. The Lord is this “stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence” (v. 8). They rejected Him. Here it seems as though they did it out of disobedience. They should have expected Him to come as He did; the prophets told them about it. God had raised up prophets to speak His word to the people and they were responsible to keep it. Peter looks back at the Jewish nation, but then in v. 9, he says, “But ye …” Even though they were Jews, they were Christians now. You can see this contrasting a number of times in this chapter as he draws from the writings of the past.
That verse starts with, “But ye are a chosen generation.” It is interesting to look at how God makes His choices. The Jews knew what it was like to be a chosen people. In Amos, we can read about the judgement that God brought on Edom, the nation that came from Esau. Who was Esau? He was Jacob’s brother; they were both sons of Isaac. But God said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13). In Acts 15:14, James says that God took a people from the Gentiles. He was quoting that from Amos 9:11 & 12. Esau was a Gentile. Mr. Darby has a footnote on those verses in Amos that says that the Gentiles will not be expected to become Jews or conform to Jewish practices; yet they will worship God in the Millennium, when the Levitical worship is restored.
God chose the Jews, but He has set them aside for now. Right now, we as Christians are His people (v.10). We are to be royal, kingly priests; this is not the function that lets us go into the holiest, but the function that puts us forth as a testimony to the world. What do they see? Do they see the Lord’s virtues?
We are a peculiar people, a people for a possession. We are not children of darkness, but children of light. Light is from God and it includes all the radiance and purity from above.
V. 11 will start a practical part of this chapter. All through this chapter, there are practical bits within the doctrine, but we will have more of it as we get along, Lord willing.
EG Hymn 314 –Dear children, have you ever heard
Prayer