Showing posts with label victory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label victory. Show all posts
Monday, 10 October 2011
Heaven's Perspective
Perspective
Perspective is everything, if we don’t have it we are in trouble.
In Revelation we encounter a persecuted and suffering church, and things are not going to get better. From their perspective it doesn’t look or feel good, later on we will hear the cry, “how long, O Lord?”
Following the messages to the seven churches we see heaven’s door open and we are immediately launched into heaven, “Come up here,…” (Rev.4:1) was the summons – an invitation into the very presence of God, and my what a revelation.
A Throne
This word will be repeated numerous times. Yes there is a throne in heaven upon which God sits, and from that throne he reigns. He has the first and last word.
John says that before it was “something like a sea of glass” – nothing can disturb, or trouble the throne of God. God is not thrown into a quandry by what’s going on on earth. In fact in the words of the psalmist, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs” (2:4 HCSB) at the schemes of man.
God is Trinity
“One was seated on the throne…. seven Spirits of God or the sevenfold Spirit of God….. A Lamb…” God is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that blessed (happy) community of eternal fellowship that exists at the heart of the universe and is the cause and creator of it.
God is holy
The thrice holy – utterly unique One who is so much more and other than we are. How frequently we bring God down to our level, and then wonder why our Chrisitan experience is so feeble and frail.
The forever God
God who was.
God who is.
God is to come.
No beginning, no end. He reigns for ever and ever. Hallelujah!
Worship
We see him praised and worship:
1. For who he is (4:10).
2. For his work in creation (4:11).
3. For his work in redemption (5:9, 10, 12, 13).
How often our worship starts with ourselves – feelings: I don’t feel like it; self analysis: I don’t feel good enough; or with what we are going to do: “I will …”, “We will …” and then we wonder why we never get airbourne, why it seems hard work and little more than the old genie in a bottle trick.
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, worship came first, “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name…” it’s about two thirds of the way through that we get the confession, “Forgive us our sins…” Maybe your prayer life is taken up with too much of yourself – it’s all about you. That’s whirlpool worship, it sucks you in and leaves you exhausted.
David stirred himself up, spoke to himself, “Bless the Lord O my soul…” Psalm 103:1. Worship involves a looking away from ourselves to Another who is worthy in himself, and secondly for what he has done.
We need to get God’s perspective
Getting into God’s presence and get his perspective makes all the difference.
Yes life for the churches John was writing to was tough and going to get tougher, but God was on the throne, and he reigns. Satan and those he works through will not win. The world is God’s, he has wrought salvation, and his people can have every stong hope in him.
Perhaps your perspective has become skewed, fear has become your consellor, and you are on a downer - It’s time to get into the presence of God, to see him on his throne, to know that he commands your destiny, to get his perspective on your life.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Revelation 1 A Brief Look
A BRIEF LOOK AT CHAPTER 1.
What do you know about Jesus? How do you see him? To some he’s just a teacher or healer, or good man, to many just a very nice man, but the Bible says a whole lot more.
“The Revelation of…” It’s a Revelation, an unfolding. It is meant to be understood.
“Of Jesus Christ” – it’s about Jesus. John knew him, but now he gets another powerful revelation, a revelation that Jesus has won! This is where some end times theology falls down as it proclaims a yet cosmic battle in the future, and undermines the cross.
“About what must quickly take place” or as Wuest translates it in his Expanded Translation of the New Testament which seeks to bring out the full meaning of the Greek, “must necessarily come to pass in their entirety shortly” ….. “the time is near,” or “the things which in it have been written and are on record, for the strategic, epochal season is imminent.” This idea of imminence is repeated v. 10, in chapter 2 and 3, and at the end.
“Made it known” (ESV) or more literally “Signified it” (HCSB) that is it was in signs, sign-i-fied. It was meant to be seen, it’s cinematic, and it’s not all that it appears to be! The stars are the angels, the lamps are the churches, the seven heads of the beast are ‘seven mountains’ and ‘seven kings,’ the Lion is the Lamb who is the Son of God, the new Jerusalem is not bricks and mortar but the people of God. This means we cannot take it literally, but must take John’s pictures/symbols as symbolic of something or someone.
Our problem is reading backwards into the text, from a modern day, global, high tech world. The fact is it was for them and they were meant to understand it! The first place to look is Scripture itself which is filled with such images – Revelation has more references to the OT than any other New Testament book. As Dennis Johnson puts it, “Revelation only makes sense in the light of the Old Testament.” At the same time God does not simply cut and paste, so care needs to be exercised.
“Is blessed…” There are seven blessings pronounced throughout the book – what kind of blessing would it have been if these words were totally unrelated to them, for some distant generation?
“Prophecy” is not just about prediction but more frequently as it is the Old Testament a sense of Divine diagnosis, and the needed response/cure.
“To the seven churches in Asia.” This also helps to set the time and the place/context. (also v.10). Seven particular churches, in a particular place, at a particular time in history. Asia Minor was divided into seven postal districts and each of these places was the main town in the district from which information was distributed.
“Grace and peace.” This is a common apostolic greeting emphasizing that our new life is, and was, and always will be, by and dependent on God’s amazing grace, and the need to receive and be living in his ‘peace’ no matter what the circumstances.
“From the One…. and the seven spirits/sevenfold Spirit and Jesus Christ…” reminds us that the God of the Bible is a Trinitarian God – a holy, happy, blessed fellowship of co-equal persons from all eternity to all eternity, One in Three and Three in One, and that having been made in his image is the basis for all our relationships.
“To Him who loves us….” Here we a have a reminder that the gospel is central, as John gets caught up in praise to God for the good news of Jesus Christ – washed, freed, kings and priests!
“Look! …..” draws immediate attention – what is said here has an imminent and a later context, and echoes the word of Jesus in Matthew 24.
“Coming with the clouds” is an O.T. reference to God coming in judgment, and had a present as well as a future reference. It can also be read as, “Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the land will mourn over him. This is certain. Amen.” This doesn’t have to mean that literally every eye will see him, but can simply mean it will not be done in a corner, but will be a very public event.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega….” An alphabet speaks of the letters we use to convey knowledge. He is the fount of all knowledge, the beginning and end – it is he who will have the last word.
“Partner in tribulation, kingdom and endurance….” John is suffering, even as they are, but it’s for the sake of the kingdom and requires endurance. Acts 14:22.
“In the Spirit..” a particular and conscious awareness of the Spirit – do we have such experiences? How do we identify them?
“Seven gold lampstands, and seven stars…” the seven churches and their angel or messenger, perhaps leader.
“Among them…” Here were seven suffering churches, and John sees Jesus standing among them. What reassuring words.
“One like the Son of Man…” This harks back to Daniel 7:13,14, “I saw one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will now be destroyed.”
Many empires, emperors, kings, rulers have come and gone, but his one will not, he is greater than Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander and any Caesar, or for that matter Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Saddam Hussein or Colonel Gaddaffi! John saw him even as Daniel did, and stunned he falls down before him.
John, the Christians and the churches lived in a world where Caesar was lord or king of all the known earth. Look at what he says: “Don’t be afraid! I AM ….”
Notice that HE holds the keys of death and Hades, because he has defeated them. He is the resurrection and the life, and the gates of hell will not prevail! Whatever Rome or the Jewish persecutors, or the devil, would throw at the church He has the last word, because he has already won! And because he has won we may have every confidence in him.
John has an increasing revelation of Jesus Christ, from his first encounter in the Gospels to this one in Revelation. Has your knowledge and experience of Christ grown? Are you open to fresh encounters?
What do you know about Jesus? How do you see him? To some he’s just a teacher or healer, or good man, to many just a very nice man, but the Bible says a whole lot more.
“The Revelation of…” It’s a Revelation, an unfolding. It is meant to be understood.
“Of Jesus Christ” – it’s about Jesus. John knew him, but now he gets another powerful revelation, a revelation that Jesus has won! This is where some end times theology falls down as it proclaims a yet cosmic battle in the future, and undermines the cross.
“About what must quickly take place” or as Wuest translates it in his Expanded Translation of the New Testament which seeks to bring out the full meaning of the Greek, “must necessarily come to pass in their entirety shortly” ….. “the time is near,” or “the things which in it have been written and are on record, for the strategic, epochal season is imminent.” This idea of imminence is repeated v. 10, in chapter 2 and 3, and at the end.
“Made it known” (ESV) or more literally “Signified it” (HCSB) that is it was in signs, sign-i-fied. It was meant to be seen, it’s cinematic, and it’s not all that it appears to be! The stars are the angels, the lamps are the churches, the seven heads of the beast are ‘seven mountains’ and ‘seven kings,’ the Lion is the Lamb who is the Son of God, the new Jerusalem is not bricks and mortar but the people of God. This means we cannot take it literally, but must take John’s pictures/symbols as symbolic of something or someone.
Our problem is reading backwards into the text, from a modern day, global, high tech world. The fact is it was for them and they were meant to understand it! The first place to look is Scripture itself which is filled with such images – Revelation has more references to the OT than any other New Testament book. As Dennis Johnson puts it, “Revelation only makes sense in the light of the Old Testament.” At the same time God does not simply cut and paste, so care needs to be exercised.
“Is blessed…” There are seven blessings pronounced throughout the book – what kind of blessing would it have been if these words were totally unrelated to them, for some distant generation?
“Prophecy” is not just about prediction but more frequently as it is the Old Testament a sense of Divine diagnosis, and the needed response/cure.
“To the seven churches in Asia.” This also helps to set the time and the place/context. (also v.10). Seven particular churches, in a particular place, at a particular time in history. Asia Minor was divided into seven postal districts and each of these places was the main town in the district from which information was distributed.
“Grace and peace.” This is a common apostolic greeting emphasizing that our new life is, and was, and always will be, by and dependent on God’s amazing grace, and the need to receive and be living in his ‘peace’ no matter what the circumstances.
“From the One…. and the seven spirits/sevenfold Spirit and Jesus Christ…” reminds us that the God of the Bible is a Trinitarian God – a holy, happy, blessed fellowship of co-equal persons from all eternity to all eternity, One in Three and Three in One, and that having been made in his image is the basis for all our relationships.
“To Him who loves us….” Here we a have a reminder that the gospel is central, as John gets caught up in praise to God for the good news of Jesus Christ – washed, freed, kings and priests!
“Look! …..” draws immediate attention – what is said here has an imminent and a later context, and echoes the word of Jesus in Matthew 24.
“Coming with the clouds” is an O.T. reference to God coming in judgment, and had a present as well as a future reference. It can also be read as, “Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the land will mourn over him. This is certain. Amen.” This doesn’t have to mean that literally every eye will see him, but can simply mean it will not be done in a corner, but will be a very public event.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega….” An alphabet speaks of the letters we use to convey knowledge. He is the fount of all knowledge, the beginning and end – it is he who will have the last word.
“Partner in tribulation, kingdom and endurance….” John is suffering, even as they are, but it’s for the sake of the kingdom and requires endurance. Acts 14:22.
“In the Spirit..” a particular and conscious awareness of the Spirit – do we have such experiences? How do we identify them?
“Seven gold lampstands, and seven stars…” the seven churches and their angel or messenger, perhaps leader.
“Among them…” Here were seven suffering churches, and John sees Jesus standing among them. What reassuring words.
“One like the Son of Man…” This harks back to Daniel 7:13,14, “I saw one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will now be destroyed.”
Many empires, emperors, kings, rulers have come and gone, but his one will not, he is greater than Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander and any Caesar, or for that matter Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Saddam Hussein or Colonel Gaddaffi! John saw him even as Daniel did, and stunned he falls down before him.
John, the Christians and the churches lived in a world where Caesar was lord or king of all the known earth. Look at what he says: “Don’t be afraid! I AM ….”
Notice that HE holds the keys of death and Hades, because he has defeated them. He is the resurrection and the life, and the gates of hell will not prevail! Whatever Rome or the Jewish persecutors, or the devil, would throw at the church He has the last word, because he has already won! And because he has won we may have every confidence in him.
John has an increasing revelation of Jesus Christ, from his first encounter in the Gospels to this one in Revelation. Has your knowledge and experience of Christ grown? Are you open to fresh encounters?
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
LIVING IN THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION
“From now on" says Paul,"we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2Co 5:16-17).
What does the resurrection mean for us today?
Paul says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.” Phil. 3:10. This is part of Paul’s testimony, is it yours? It's not only a past experience but an ongoing one.
Do we know? Do you? Do you know the saving power of Christ?
Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians(1:15-23)for the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him .. that you may know ..”
The question is, do we know what we should know?
Back to our verse, in the New Living Translation it puts it this way, “So we have stopped evaluating ourselves from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person ...” 2 Corinthians 5:16, 17.
What does Paul mean, “according to the flesh” or human point of view”?
The Bible speaks of two groups of people, those in Adam, those in Christ.
• In Adam, ‘according to the flesh’ – all are condemned. Romans 8:5-8.
• In Christ, ‘according to the Spirit’ – all are justified. Romans 8:5-9.
• To think of ourselves ‘according to the flesh’ as Paul puts it is to think prior to the cross and outside of Christ. The reign of sin and death.
• To think ‘according to the flesh’ regarding Christ is to think of him from a human point of view, and prior to his cross-work for us.
You see the resurrection changes everything, world history (BC to AD - Before Christ - In the Year of the/Our Lord) and our history!
That is my question to you? Are you thinking according to the flesh? Has the enemy gotten you off redemption ground onto the old ground ....?
A question that comes up all too often is, am I good enough? Have I done enough?
I came across a very good illustration the other day. Imagine you are on a long journey, and suddenly you get to a ravine and the only way to cross is via a bridge. Well you don’t stop and examine yourself, you examine the bridge! Has it been constructed well? Has it stood the test of time? Is it falling apart in any way? Does it look sure and stedfast?
The answer to the question then is not found in examining ourselves .. are we good enough ... done enough .. but is our Saviour good enough, has he done enough, is he strong enough. We look away from ourselves unto Jesus.
We move from thinking according to the flesh, from a human point of view, and we think according to his resurrection!
Living in the Power of his Resurrection:
1. A justified life – acquitted. No case against us! Declared in the right. Romans 3:21-26; 4:5, 25; 5:1, 15-18.
2. A reconciled life – 2 Cor. 5:18; Romans 5:10, 11; Col.1:21,22.
3. A sanctified life – made holy. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; Hebrews 10:10
4. An empowered life – Spirit empowered. Romans 6:4; 7:6; 8:1-4.
5. An overcoming life – victory over Satan, sin, our past, circumstances is possible. Romans 5:17; 6:1-14; 8:1-17, 26, 37 ; 1 John 4:4.
“If I am truly in Christ by faith, my good works can't get me to heaven and my sins can't send me to hell.” Bob Kauflin.
Questions
The main question is do you know Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord?
Do you believe in Him?
If you are a Christian, where are you living? Are thinking according to the old way – outside of Christ and his cross-work – according to the flesh?
Are you allowing the enemy to knock you down?
Do you know what you should know?
Do you know what it means to live in the 5 points listed above?
Do you experience more defeat than victory? Why?
Do you preach to yourself?
What does the resurrection mean for us today?
Paul says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.” Phil. 3:10. This is part of Paul’s testimony, is it yours? It's not only a past experience but an ongoing one.
Do we know? Do you? Do you know the saving power of Christ?
Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians(1:15-23)for the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him .. that you may know ..”
The question is, do we know what we should know?
Back to our verse, in the New Living Translation it puts it this way, “So we have stopped evaluating ourselves from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person ...” 2 Corinthians 5:16, 17.
What does Paul mean, “according to the flesh” or human point of view”?
The Bible speaks of two groups of people, those in Adam, those in Christ.
• In Adam, ‘according to the flesh’ – all are condemned. Romans 8:5-8.
• In Christ, ‘according to the Spirit’ – all are justified. Romans 8:5-9.
• To think of ourselves ‘according to the flesh’ as Paul puts it is to think prior to the cross and outside of Christ. The reign of sin and death.
• To think ‘according to the flesh’ regarding Christ is to think of him from a human point of view, and prior to his cross-work for us.
You see the resurrection changes everything, world history (BC to AD - Before Christ - In the Year of the/Our Lord) and our history!
That is my question to you? Are you thinking according to the flesh? Has the enemy gotten you off redemption ground onto the old ground ....?
A question that comes up all too often is, am I good enough? Have I done enough?
I came across a very good illustration the other day. Imagine you are on a long journey, and suddenly you get to a ravine and the only way to cross is via a bridge. Well you don’t stop and examine yourself, you examine the bridge! Has it been constructed well? Has it stood the test of time? Is it falling apart in any way? Does it look sure and stedfast?
The answer to the question then is not found in examining ourselves .. are we good enough ... done enough .. but is our Saviour good enough, has he done enough, is he strong enough. We look away from ourselves unto Jesus.
We move from thinking according to the flesh, from a human point of view, and we think according to his resurrection!
Living in the Power of his Resurrection:
1. A justified life – acquitted. No case against us! Declared in the right. Romans 3:21-26; 4:5, 25; 5:1, 15-18.
2. A reconciled life – 2 Cor. 5:18; Romans 5:10, 11; Col.1:21,22.
3. A sanctified life – made holy. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; Hebrews 10:10
4. An empowered life – Spirit empowered. Romans 6:4; 7:6; 8:1-4.
5. An overcoming life – victory over Satan, sin, our past, circumstances is possible. Romans 5:17; 6:1-14; 8:1-17, 26, 37 ; 1 John 4:4.
“If I am truly in Christ by faith, my good works can't get me to heaven and my sins can't send me to hell.” Bob Kauflin.
Questions
The main question is do you know Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord?
Do you believe in Him?
If you are a Christian, where are you living? Are thinking according to the old way – outside of Christ and his cross-work – according to the flesh?
Are you allowing the enemy to knock you down?
Do you know what you should know?
Do you know what it means to live in the 5 points listed above?
Do you experience more defeat than victory? Why?
Do you preach to yourself?
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