June 11, 2017
Scripture:
Hymn 342 - Jesus came from Heaven
Prayer
We all live on the Earth, which is in a solar system, which is in a galaxy, which is one of billions of galaxies. God made them all, and He’s bigger than them all. He lives in Heaven, above the universe. Our Lord Jesus came out of Heaven—where He had always lived—down to this speck of a planet called Earth. Our saved loved ones have gone up to Heaven, but we have no idea how wonderful a place it is.
When Jesus came to Earth, He was born in a stable, laid a manger in Bethlehem. When He lived in Heaven, He was the Eternal Son of God, ever in the bosom of His Father. They planned the world, and created it. They planned to make people, and that Jesus would have to die for our sins. They planned away back then that He would become a man, but we can never understand how humbling it was for Him to leave the glory of Heaven to become a human. It’s hard to imagine that one day we will live in Heaven, in God’s presence, amid all His pleasures. Jesus came to Earth, so that we could go to Heaven.
When Jesus came down here, the Father gave Him some commands to fulfill. Of course, He fulfilled them, and He talks about some of them here in John 17. Let’s look for the words, “I have…”
John 17:4 “I have glorified you on the Earth.” Adam and Eve didn’t glorify God on the Earth; they disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. They dishonoured God. Ever since then, we have all been born with a fallen nature, all have sinned, and all have dishonoured God. Jesus became a man and glorified God on the Earth; even though Earth was polluted with sin and shame. All that He said and did brought God glory. When He raised Lazarus or cleansed a leper, that brought glory to God. Sin had brought sickness and death, and He was able to reverse them.
Verse 4 also says, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” As we said, God had given Jesus commands. He had come to Earth with a mission. He talks here as if that mission was done, that’s how sure it was that He would complete it. That’s precious because we are saved as we trust that work, and we can trust it without a doubt. That can give us peace.
Verse 6. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.” Those of us that are saved are a gift from God the Father to Jesus. God has given us many gifts, but Jesus thanked Him for us. He rejoiced in man; He didn’t say, “Is this the best you could give me?” He has manifested God’s name to us, and we can now know God as Father. We know Jesus as our Saviour, but we can also rejoice to know God as our Father. It shows that there is a relationship between us. Parents love and work for the good of their children, and God is the best Father of all. We have been born again, this time into His family. He loves us, protects us, and does all for our blessing.
Verse 12. “I kept them in thy name.” If we are saved, Jesus keeps us; we don’t keep ourselves. He holds us, and we can never be lost.
Verse 18 gets practical. “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” Jesus has sent us out into the world. He has given us the job of showing His love to others.
2 Thessalonians 2
Someone divided the first twelve verses into three sections.
The first one is wonderful because it means we will be with God. In our chapter is appears that some false teachers had come in after Paul and taught false teachings. This had affected several of the Thessalonian believers. Paul was trying to set them straight in this chapter. Their salvation had brought them tribulation. It seems the false teachers had presented their doctrine of the tribulation having already arrived as though it was endorsed by Paul.
The Day of Christ comes after the catching away. We know that we will have trials and difficulties down here. But to make out as if we’ve missed the rapture and are already in the tribulation is wrong. There has been a lot of deception. It is important to seek out the truth. We see here that there is a certain order of events in all of this.
Darby has translated the end of verse two as “Day of the Lord is present”. Beware of deceivers. There are so many who aren’t preaching the truth, and just doing it to get money. Truth and holiness are so important. What false teachers are saying is present won’t happen until other events have taken place. There will be a movement and a man which is the falling away.
A long time ago things could be Christian. Then there was the post-Christian era. Now we have the post-truth era. It is just preferences now. People want something to make them feel how they want to feel.
There will be a giving up of the truth that we have known. All of this will be supported by the man of sin. He comes with a number of names one of which is the son of perdition. He is the antichrist. From what is written elsewhere, we know he has supernatural power. Satan, from the beginning, gave Eve the choice of good or evil. It’s humanism; making yourself God in your own world. The antichrist won’t be revealed until the tribulation, but he could be alive today. He will sit in the temple. This will happen after we’re gone. But what temple will he be in? It hasn’t been built yet. But God knows all these events.
It is amazing, though, how false teachers can deceive those who already have the truth. And, according to verse five, Paul had already warned them about this before. What we do know is that the Spirit of God is stopping all of this from happening right now. He has a restraining influence. At the time of the rapture, the Spirit of God will leave with us. How awful will the world become without Him? This is all after the Lord’s coming.
Hymn 144 - “A little while” the Lord shall come
Prayer