It's All Good

“For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.” (Pr 4:2 AV)

Although doctrine and law are closely related, they are not exactly the same.  The simple statement of what is right and what is wrong.  Doctrine is principle upon which the law is based.  Law is the list where doctrine is the explanation.  This shows us a very important principle.  The laws of God are arbitrary.  They are not a random list of do’s and don’ts based solely on His preferences.  Rather, the laws of God are an extension of His person.  Right is right because God is right.  Wrong is wrong because God is not wrong.  Doctrine is the structure whereupon the law suspends.  There are reasons the law is what it is.  These reasons are found in the infinite character of God.

There are two views as to law.  The first is a pragmatic one.  It is utilitarian.  If the law does not work, then it is not a law.  This is too arbitrary.  The definition of ‘working’ is subjective.  It all depends on what works for us.  This is the current attitude toward the laws of our nation.  The other view is that law is absolute.  What works for us is conformed to a law that does not change.  This is why in the preamble of one of our most important documents, we are guaranteed the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by the Creator.  These are inalienable rights.  They are unchangeable and absolute.  How we view law is the key to how we order our walk with God.  We will either find exceptions to a rule or we will search for the principle behind the rule so that we might conform to the law of God.  The law of God will either bend to our values or we will bend to the demands of the law.

Having said all that, let us see the adjective that Solomon uses to describe doctrine and law.  He uses the word ‘good’.  Good is to be appreciated.  Good is to be desired.  Good is to be the quality of our life.  Good is not to be refused.  Good is not to be considered bad.  There are laws that govern music.  We all inherently know the difference between good music and bad music.  We know when the musicians and singers are in sync and performing with pitch-perfect precision.  We also know that something is off.  The law is the same way.  Why do we shun it so much?  Why is it that when God tells us not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that is exactly what we want?  Why is it that we cannot see the blessing of liberty that comes from law?  They could have eaten from every other tree.  Just not that one!  Yet that is exactly what they did.  This is our nature.  It is time to trust that law is good.  It is time to see it as good.  And it is time to see there are reasons why it is good and that if we simply strive to obey, we will have a life that is blessed.

Light Needed

“But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.” (Joh 11:10 AV)

When we take this verse alone, we tend to think that the light which a person needs emanates from himself.  Then we scratch our heads.  How can light emanate from within?  It brings thoughts of a superpower, like beams coming from the eyes.  However, the previous verse tells us exactly what Jesus was trying to convey. When opening the eyes, there is a light within us.  The light comes from without.  Not emanates from within.  The light of which He speaks is the light of His presence.  He is trying to explain the truth surrounding the resurrection of Lazarus.  Our Savior is trying to explain why He delayed in seeing Lazarus.  The observation was made that if Jesus could give sight to the blind, He surely could have healed Lazarus.  Jesus deliberately allowed Lazarus to die so that He could raise him from the dead.  The light of which Jesus speaks is the hope of Jesus as our Messiah, Savior, and God. 

Some may look at the verse as a way to walk in the darkness.  If there were light, one could have and still walk in darkness, that is what mankind pursues.  Yet Jesus is not saying that light and darkness can co-exist.  Anymore than a soul can be saved and lost is impossible.  A body cannot be alive and dead at the same time.  Jesus is not telling His disciples that they can live in the darkness with the aid of a little light.  Again, that is what most people try to do.  The lost try to live in the darkness of their sin and doubt while sprinkling their lives with a few holidays, a Christian song here and there, a few sacred things hanging on the wall, and maybe even going to church once in a while.  God is a tradition and not a relationship.  Jesus is a thing, but not the principal thing in the life of the religiously lost.  If there is no outside source of light greater than our circumstances, then we stumble.

Jesus resurrected His best friend from the grave to prove to His disciples of His identity.  There is no other application here.  It is really sad how many cannot discern reality from fantasy.  They stumble in the dark because they refuse to accept the light of God’s existence.  God is real.  The Bible is His perfect word to us.  Jesus is real.  He came to earth, lived as a man, and went to Calvary’s cross as the sinless lamb.  The light that gives us clear direction is given.  All one must do is open the eyes.  It is a willful choice to acknowledge the truth and order one’s life by it.  The first thing to do is confess and forsake sin, trusting in Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior, and calling upon Him who died for all.  If we stumble in life, it is because we choose not to see.

Accidental Confession

“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.” (Joh 8:41 AV)

The words of the people are interesting.  They testify that they are the children of God through Abraham and Jacob and are not as other nations are.  Their words are also spiritual or metaphysical.  They are testifying that spiritually speaking, they are the children of the one true God and not the spiritual children of false gods.  However, this would be a lie.  From the time of Solomon until Christ’s incarnation, Israel made a habit of going after false gods.  It is this sin of idolatry that eventually led to Israel’s diaspora.  Because they gave themselves over to idol worship, God brought Babylon and Assyria against them.  These two kingdoms invaded Israel and Jerusalem.  The people of God were scattered throughout Asia and Europe as a result.  Finding themselves among the heathen, they lived more like the world than they did God’s people.  Those speaking above assumed that because they were of the returning Hebrews who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and the temple, they were by default, spiritual children of God.  Yet they rejected their Messiah.  Old habits die hard.  What is interesting is that the very defense they made to Jesus was the very thing they were guilty of!

There is a phrase that we use that has lost its original meaning.  Shakespeare, in his play Hamlet, writes a line for a character that reads, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”  The line is not meant as we use it today.  The lady of whom it is stated is a widow who laments her husband, yet is interested in new love.  The word protest did not mean how we use it today.  The word is not meant to be critical.  Rather, it means the opposite.  Shakespeare uses the word to mean desire.  The modern use of the phrase has changed.  We would say, “Me things thou dost protest too much”.  The phrase as used today means the one speaking is confessing to a fault or distaste by clandestinely stating the opposite.  Usually, there is an investigation regarding fault to an event, and the guilty party goes out of his or her way to offer any and all reasons for assuming his or her guilt.  The act of protesting too much is, in itself, a confession of guilt.  This is exactly what the people above are doing.  By professing themselves children of God and not of fornication, they are in essence confessing to the latter.

Our hearts reveal what is truly inside even if we try to hide it.  Eventually, it comes out.  We try to appear different from what we are.  The key is to change what and who we are so that we do not have to be concerned with what comes out.  Those above tried to be people who they were not.  Rather, they should have admitted to the fault of idol worship, confessed and forsaken it, and received their Messiah as they were promised.  To say they were not spiritual children of fornication meant that was exactly what they were.  But let us give them a bit of grace.  We are all a bit like this.  We don’t want others to know the real us.  That is okay to a point.  But when it comes to God, this is futile.  God knows everything.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.  It is best to be honest with what we are inside so that what we are can be changed.  We protest too much.  Silence and honesty are the best policies.

More Than A One Time Meal

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” (Joh 6:29 AV)

The context of this statement gives us a profound application.  Most of the time, this verse is limited to salvation.  That is certainly the most obvious and direct application.  However, it may go far deeper than simple salvation.  The context is the feeding of the multitude.  They had followed Jesus and had taken no bread.  Jesus turned a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish into a meal for thousands.  Because of that single miracle, Jesus challenges the multitude to believe on Him as their Messiah.  They required additional evidence.  The multitude mentioned the manna of the wilderness as a starting point.  In other words, a single meal in the wilderness was small in their sight.  If the LORD would feed them from heaven for the rest of their lives, perhaps they would believe.  Therefore, the duration of belief here is not a single belief on Christ as the living bread.  Rather, this belief is for the duration of their lives.  Bread needs to be eaten every day.  We need sustenance to survive.  Therefore, the belief mentioned here is far more than a belief in Jesus for salvation.  It is belief in Him for living!

There was a program that aired in the distant past.  If followed a man who had a treehouse building business.  These houses were very elaborate.  They were almost livable year-round.  These houses cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.  They came with electricity and plumbing.  They came heated and sometimes cooled.  Most of them were quite literally a home in the trees.  What makes the tree house special is the manner of access.  A tree house would not be a treehouse unless in has an unconventional way of entry and exit.  What Pete Nelson built were access points that were extremely safe, weather-resistant, and easily accessible.  Whether a suspension bridge, a winding staircase, or an mechanical elevator, the occupant had an adventure just getting into the house.  The thing is, no matter the means to enter the tree house, there was an element of faith involved.  One such house has a ladder rising two hundred feet from the forest floor and required climbing equipment to enter a crow’s nest.  Because the house was not a permanent dwelling, trust in the means of entry was exercised each time the occupant wished to enter.

Our pilgrimage requires that we come and go.  We follow a path of which the details only God knows.  He knows the end from the beginning.  He knows what we need.  He knows where we are going.  He knows everything.  Jesus is the captain of our souls.  He is the commander-in-chief.  He knows what lies ahead.  He knows where we have been.  It isn’t enough to trust Jesus for salvation alone.  That trust must continue each and every day.  Like eating bread, trust is continuous.  It is necessary.  It is commanded.  It is stressful.  But it is also very rewarding.  Jesus said that if we are to do the work of God, it begins with faith in Him.  It also continues by trusting Him!  Each time we take a bite of food, let us remember that in the same way, we are to trust the LORD each and every day, all day long, for all things as we trust what we are eating to keep us alive, make us healthy, and give pleasure to life.

Not To Condemn

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (Joh 3:17 AV)

It’s that first part that we tend to forget.  At least when we are dealing with people regarding their soul’s need of a Savior.  The condemnation comes a few verses later.  It is when mankind does not go toward the light of God’s truth that condemnation follows.  It is only when they lost refuse God’s grace provided before the world began that God must then judge mankind for choices made.  Jesus did not come into the world to see how many He could condemn to hell.  He did not come into the world primarily for the purpose that most would be destroyed.  Contrary to the Calvinist’s belief, Jesus is a Savior of compassion.  Not condemnation.  Let this truth sink deep in the heart.   Jesus did not come into the world to send it to hell.  He came to save the world.  If they are condemned, it is in spite of the Savior’s deep desire.

Imagine a remote people were warned of a pending disaster.  They were warned that a dam was about to break and unless they vacated, they would be stranded.  The entire group ignored the warning, and the dam broke, stranding the group with no access to the outside world.  They were ok for a short time, but supplies ran out.  They had no food or fresh water.  There were no roads.  Not air strips.  No trains.  There was no way to float a raft to safety.  They were stranded.  Noticing their predicament, a serviceman parachuted into the village.  He clear cut a drop zone for supplies to land.  As they came in, the servicemen invited all to come and get what they needed.  No strings attached.  He could have used his situation to exploit this group, destroy them all, and call in air support to extract him to safety.  Rather, he had compassion on them.  Free food, medical supplies, clothes, and water.  Most rejected the offer and perished as a result.  Few took him up on the offer, lived and were eventually rescued.  Most would think those who refused the serviceman’s grace.  Yet many do the same with Jesus.

The God who created all things to glorify Him would be in His rights to destroy it all and start fresh.  He would be within His rights as Creator to do with what He made as He wished.  In His compassion, He came and dwelled among them.  He learned what it was like to be just like them.  Then He gave His life so that we could have eternal life.  Jesus did not come to see how many He could send to hell.  He came for just the opposite reason.  He came so that we might live!  That is the Savior we love, serve, and will see some day.

Agony For Me

“And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Lu 22:43-44 AV)

Sometimes we read something so often that the impact of the passages doesn’t hit us like it should.  According to Luke and others, when Jesus was in agony praying for the world, He bled sweat drops of blood.  That is no small thing.  According to my web browser’s AI answer, “The phrase "sweat drops of blood" refers to hematidrosis (or hematohidrosis), a rare medical condition where extreme emotional or physical stress causes capillary blood vessels around sweat glands to rupture, mixing blood with perspiration.  This phenomenon is most famously associated with Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, as described in Luke 22:44, where his sweat became "like great drops of blood" due to his profound agony.”  The problem with this, albeit a slight one, assumes Jesus’ body had a defect.  We know He was perfect in all His being, so when He sweat drops of blood, his agony must have been immeasurable.  To take this to the natural conclusion, when Jesus was in prayer, He had me in mind!

There is no one who agonized and is agonizing for us like Jesus.  No one!  I know I have used this example before, but it is the closest I can come to.  Many years ago, serving as a Chaplin, I got a page to the room of a patient who was facing some very bad news.  He was a diabetic and was looking at a quadrupedal amputation.  They were going to take his arms below the elbow and his legs below the knee.  Some may remark that a diabetic who does not take care of themselves faces the possibility of a similar outcome.  They would be totally wrong.  Especially in this case.  When visiting with this fella, I learned that he had recently lost his wife to cancer.  This man has spent the better part of a decade caring for his wife and neglected to care for himself.  One can hardly blame him.  If my spouse were in such a way, I wouldn’t worry about myself, either.  It is the nature of caregiving.  He sacrificed his own health so that he could make the last years of his wife’s life a bit more bearable.  He suffered in agony so that another might be made free.

What the patient above did pales in comparison to what Jesus did for us.  Praying so hard that He bled through His pores was only the beginning.  He still had His passion to endure.  He still had a horrible execution to suffer.  What Jesus faced for the sinner cannot be compared to any torture since.  He suffered!  But what He experienced in the garden was not something that was done to Him.  It was something He did himself.  He prayed.  He prayed in such a way that His body literally began to bleed.  He agonized over the lost souls of mankind and the coming debt He was to pay for us all.  When we complain about things required of us from a loving Savior who prayed so hard He bled, perhaps we won’t mind reciprocating that love.  He prayed.  He prayed hard.  He prayed so hard that he bled. What is the least we could do for Him?

He Has It All

“LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness [is] unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all [are] thy servants.” (Ps 119:89-91 AV)

The writer of Psalm 119 equates the eternality of the word of God and the stability of our present planet as similar.  As impossible as it is for mankind to obliterate the entire planet into non-existence, it is equally impossible to alter or destroy God’s written word.  Much has been written and debated on the latter.  It is the former point to which I wish to meditate.  The present world exists and operates by the sovereign will of God.  That includes all that happens on this rock.  God’s sovereignty is not limited to nature.  His sovereignty also extends to the actions of mankind.  Nothing happens without God’s direct or indirect will affecting it.  Mankind may have a belief that he is a free agent capable of acting as they wish without divine intervention or cooperation.  This simply is not true.  We live in a rapidly changing world.  The threat of Gog and Magog lies at the door.  If we were uncertain yesterday, tomorrow promised to be even more concerning.  This are going downhill faster than we can record them.  The last bastion of Judeo/Christian influence is quickly ascending the pit of secular hedonism.  One election isn’t going to stop it.  Unless there is a worldwide revival of many coming to Christ, the next major event will be the coming of the Antichrist.  The child of God cannot forget that the world and its systems continue because God has a plan!

One major truth the scoffers forget is the last part of our passage.  Both the word of God and the created universe continue according to the ordinances God has in place.  There are universal laws baked into God’s creation that might be stretched, but they cannot be broken.  There are physical laws that our brightest minds are well aware of and it is by these laws they make new discoveries.  What is true in the physical world is also true of the moral and metaphysical world.  Just as someone cannot jump of a tall building without wings or a chute and expect to land safely thousands of feet below, man cannot live without morals and expect to life safely.  Mankind cannot exist without submission to its Creator without fear of consequences.  The material universe exists by His power and for His purposes.

As we await the conclusion of all things, let us wait in patience.  God does not promise a smooth journey.  No doubt there will be some serious bumps along the way.  But it will be all good!  Eternity awaits the child of God.  Eternity awaits those who have trusted in Him.  Eternity awaits the dear saint whose hope is not in the present, but in the eternal presence of the Creator.  Don’t fret.  God has it all under control.  Nothing will escape His notice.  He will pull the plug in His time.  We will be safe in eternity where no more harm can come.  He has it all!