July 13, 2008
Scriptures:
Scriptures:
Ministry:
here we are talking about the One, the Brightness of the Eternal Glory. But here on the cross he is surrounded by darkness. It was in those three hours of darkness, I believe, that the Lord paid the debt of our sins. V46. Jesus died in the darkness. After He died, they put His body in a dark tomb. But on the third day, he rose again, and an angel came down and rolled away the stone in front of the grave to demonstrate this. After He rose, Christ told Mary Magdalene that He would ascend to His Father and her Father. By Jesus’ rising from the grave, we are able to be brought into a wonderful relationship with the Father (as sons) and the Son (as a bride). We have been brought into the light. We can’t comprehend the darkness that Jesus went through, nor can we comprehend the light we’ve been brought into. When Saul was on the Damascus road, he was blinded by the light that appeared to him. In heaven, we will be able to look on that light and not be blinded. Instead it will call forth our praises. So this morning we may have been able to understand that light a bit better. May we walk as children of the light!
Hymn 327 – When mothers of Salem
Prayer
Last time I spoke, we looked at the last day of creation. Can a perfect God create an imperfect creation? No, but if we look at the world around us, we see much imperfection. Let’s look at how it got there.
We saw way back at the beginning that there was a visible and invisible creation. The first visible creation was ruined and some angels fell with Satan. We saw how man has a visible body and an invisible spirit. Let’s look at the special place God made for His special creation.
Read Genesis 2:8 – 17. The garden of Eden was an amazing place, with fruit trees that looked and tasted good. It had a river that divided into four rivers to keep it lush. It was perfect, but it had the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in it. Adam wouldn’t have known what evil was. However, there was a conflict going on in the invisible world. Man was created during a raging war and he would soon be in the middle of it.
Let’s jump to ch. 3. In v. 1, we find that Satan, in the form of a serpent, is in this perfect garden. Vv. 2 & 3 tell us Eve’s answer; she seemed to add a bit to what God said. Satan’s response, vv. 4 & 5, is a direct lie. As a result, both and Adam and Eve ate the fruit and sinned. They disobeyed God. They entered the war and joined Satan’s side.
We know how God steps in and they confess their sin. In vv. 14 & 16, God talks to Satan. This whole conflict has been brought into the human race. But God had a plan before He even began creating; and we know the story well. Isn’t it marvellous how God creates a special creature that was part of both the visible and invisible creation and then becomes one of that creature! The Lord won the war for us at Calvary. Satan wanted to kill Him, but He rose from the dead and conquered Satan.
When we read this, we can’t help but be impressed by how much emphasis Peter is putting on the things he mentioned in vv. 5 – 7. It would be good to memorize them! Peter knew how easy it is to be distracted and wanted to stir up their hearts and ours. He wanted them to remember these things even after he was gone. How important it is to be established in this present truth. That doesn’t mean that truth changes; it is that God, throughout the Bible, reveals more truth as time goes on. These New Testament truths are the most recent truth God has given us.
Peter seems to say that God had revealed to him that he would soon die. But Peter does not look at it that way! He is simply going to change his tabernacle, as he would a change of clothes. But this is why he is so urgent in exhorting; his time is short. Peter says he will “endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance” (v. 15). He wanted them to preserve this letter and read it; he probably didn’t realize that he was writing the Bible. Yet God used him to exhort us all, many years after Peter has gone.
Notice that Peter doesn’t say anything about appointing other apostles; there is no apostolic succession. When Paul left Ephesus, he didn’t commend them to Timothy or Apollos; he said, “I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace” (Acts 20:32). God has given us many wise brothers who have written much for our edification, but the Bible is our head now.
V. 16 – What Satan told Eve was a “cunningly devised fable.” People of modern thinking today tell us that there is no absolute truth; it is all relative to your situation. Many people today want to throw out the truth we believe, but it is still as true today as it was in Peter’s day. Peter knew what he was writing was true: he had been an eye-witness of it. He had seen the Lord on the mount of transfiguration. He had watched the power and heard the voice from Heaven, declaring that the Father was pleased with the Son.
Hymn 185 – O Lamb of God, still keep us,
Prayer