March 15, 2009
March 15, 2008
Scripture:
John 14:8-11
We’ve been thinking of the Lord as the brightness of the God’s glory; as the express image of his person. He became flesh and dwelt among his people, and they beheld his glory. Here the people who had been with him all through his ministry, His disciples, are around Him. V.8. This One had been in their midst for three years, in the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father; as the manifestation of the Father. Vv. 9-11. He told the disciples in verse two, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He had been the manifestation of that glory, but now He was going to prepare a place for us so that we can enter into it. This work is done, but His Own are not there yet. Again this morning we have been able to come and remember Him. As it tells us in Corinthians, “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup” - that’s present - “ye do show the Lord’s death” - that’s past - “till He come” - that’s future. We were in the Lord’s presence this morning, but we are still in anticipation. The image of that glory came in the person of the Lord, but we are still waiting to go into that glory and enjoyment of it; our portion forevermore.
Hymn 51 — Eternity! Where? it floats in the air
Prayer
We sang that song because I would like to tell you a few things about the eternal state. Read Revelation 21:1 - 9. Here we find that there will be a new earth; we are currently living on the old one. An interesting feature of this new earth is that it has no sea. Where will those living on the earth get water? Well, life will be very different in the eternal state; they will have glorified bodies; and maybe those bodies won’t need water.
V. 2 - We’ve spoken before about the holy city, which is a picture of us as the bride of Christ. From this time on, we will be with Him forever. Now in v. 3, we find that God will dwell with men. Does this mean that we will see God? It’s an interesting thing to think about, because the Bible says that no one has seen God yet. We mentioned glorified bodies; v. 4 tells us that these bodies will not have pain; they will be very different from what we now know. We know that the Lord is sinless; we will be like that as well. In eternity, everything will be sinless; it will all be powered by God’s two energies: love and light. We will have no pain, no sickness, no aging. As v. 5 tells us, everything will be new. Life will be completely different. It’s interesting to note here that this time it is God, not an angel, who tells John to write.
V. 6 - Here God calls Himself the Alpha and Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. What God is saying is that He is the all in all; He was there before creation; and even at that time, he had a plan to bring mankind into communion with Him. He knew that man would sin, and was prepared to send His Son to take the consequences of that sin so that men could be free.
V. 7 speaks about those that overcome; this doesn’t mean that there are things to overcome in eternity; it is talking about those who overcome during this life; these people will be sons of God. However, the next verse is a striking contrast; it lists many unsaved people, and says that their end will be in the Lake of Fire. This will be the eternal state of the unsaved.
In vv. 9 & 10, an angel offers to show John the Lamb’s wife; this reverts back to a scene during the Millennium, so let’s jump to v. 22. Here we find that there will be no temple in Heaven in eternity. There will be one in Jerusalem during the Millennium, but not afterwards. Where is the temple of God today? It is made up of all believers on earth.
In v. 23, we again see how everything will be very different: we will be in an environment where there is no sin, no pain, no dying … it will all be glory. Are you looking forward to Eternity?
As Ezra began in Jerusalem, he finds that those who were there before him were living in a distressing condition. The very people they were responsible to exterminate were still there, and there were more. The princes, the heads of the tribes, were the primary ones in this trespass. Ezra was in great humiliation, and many others who realized the seriousness of this gathered with him.
God has given us many choices in life; we can either obey or disobey. He tells us that there are consequences to disobeying; these people who gathered with Ezra realized that they had disobeyed and were trembling to think of what would be done. They didn’t have the sense of grace that we have today, and so they could only fear; however, we too need that sense of God’s holiness.
From Ezra’s prayer, we realize that this is not the first time that the Jews have fallen into this sin; this is why they were taken captive in the first place. As we noticed last time, Ezra intercedes for them. We must realize that most of these people had probably never seen a consistent godly life; it had been over 120 years since the children of Israel were taken captive. Even though Ezra himself might not have had too much godly training, he knew the truth. And even though this was the case, he included himself when confessing the sin of the people; he took part in their shame. We know that God recognizes the humble, and that it certainly describes Ezra and those who gathered with him, trembling at the word of God.
We must remember that these people were God’s people; how much the enemy had taken over! But in v. 8, Ezra says in essence, “Yet in spite of all we have done … ” In spite of their condition, they had been shown grace and favour (v. 13). He gives God the glory, saying it was God’s grace that allowed them to return to build Jerusalem. He had not forsaken them (v. 9); they had forsaken Him (v. 10).
What is the significance of a nail (v. 8)? In Isaiah 22:23, we read about a nail in a sure place. Imagine in your mind a group of rock climbers, scaling a nearly vertical surface. As they climb, they hammer nails into the cracks and crevices of the rocks, using them to pull themselves up. But when night falls, they hammer in two nails, hang a hammock between them, and go to sleep for the night. If you were up there, you would want to be certain that you had a nail in a sure place. For us, our nail is a Person, and He is also in a holy place. On Him hangs all the glory; we can be sure that we will be safe if we put our all on Him.
Hymn 275, little flock – Our God is light, and though we go
Prayer