The Great and Terrible Day

There is a great and terrible day coming. It will be great for those of us in Christ, but a terrible day for the multitudes who have chosen to reject the Lord and the salvation that only He can offer. Because salvation is available only through Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), then it is paramount that we prepare ourselves to be clothed in His holy garments when He returns.

This great and terrible day will occur when Jesus returns to gather His saints to take them home to be with Him forever and the last enemy, Death, is destroyed forever, cast into the Lake of Fire: 16. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a cry of command, with the Archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17. then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 [RSV])

A glorious reunion with the living awaits those who have already passed away to be with their Lord: 22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. 24. Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26. The last enemy to be destroyed is Death. (1 Corinthians 15:22-25 [RSV])

No one will be beyond the Lord’s reach: 13. And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. 14. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire; 15. and if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 20:13-15 [RSV])

When this great day happens we shall be resurrected into a new body like our Lord’s: “Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2 [RSV]).

Yes, this a very frightening proposition to those who in their rebellion remain separated from their Creator, but not to those of us who are a part of His body: “Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18 [RSV]).

It is my hope and prayer that if you have not made the decision to make the Lord your own you will do so today!

Soaring on the Wings of the Wind

I would like to share with you a few of my favorite Old Testament verses. Speaking of our great and powerful Almighty God, the psalmist declares,

9 He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under His feet. 10 He rode on a Cherub and flew; He came swiftly on the wings of the wind. (Psalm 18:9-10 [ESV])

“The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary” (Psalm 68:17 [ESV]).

32 O kingdoms of the Earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, 33 to Him Who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, He sends out His voice, His mighty voice. 34 Ascribe power to God, Whose majesty is over Israel, and Whose power is in the skies. (Psalm 68:32-34 [ESV])

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2 covering Yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. 3 He lays the beams of His chambers on the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He rides on the wings of the wind; 4 He makes His messengers winds, His ministers a flaming fire. (Psalm 104:1-4 [ESV])

I love the imagery these verses evoke. A Cherub is a powerful Angel. I like to believe the inspired Scriptures of God, the God-breathed words placed into the authors’ hearts, minds and hands by the Spirit of God as those men wrote His word, that His word says what it means. If they say God rides His chariot through the clouds or across the deserts then I prefer just to accept what His word says by faith and I, by faith, can picture Him enjoying all of His wondrous creation from His lofty position above.

Jesus said we are to come to Him as little children (Matthew 18:3). I only wish we really would do that. If a small and innocent child hears these verses from Psalms read aloud, his little eyes would widen in wonder as he pictured in his mind God flying on the back of an Angel, sweeping across the endless skies above! When we adults hear those words, however, too often we dismiss them out of hand as being too fanciful for us to believe! Maybe I am simply not sophisticated enough, but in my naïve mind I am perfectly fine with seeing these Scriptures as a little child understands them. If the Scriptures teach that God rides on the back of a Cherub to survey the Earth, then I love to believe it and I can see Him doing whatever He wants to do just because He can. My preference is to believe rather than simply explain away. I love the enjoyment and thrill it gives me to just think about my God Who rides His chariot on the wind, just as I long for the Day to arrive when I will see Him coming on the clouds, too! I hope He comes tonight while I am looking because He tells us in His word, “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches” (Revelation 16:15 [NKJV]).

Exalted by God

Paul speaks of Jesus’ mighty power in Colossians 1:15-17 [RSV] when he says of Jesus, 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; 16. for in Him all things were created, in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him. 17. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. The Holy Spirit also foretold of Jesus, the coming Messiah, being endowed with wisdom and knowledge and fear of the Lord: 9. He sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and terrible is His name! 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures forever! (Psalm 111:9-10 [RSV])

Although Jesus was literally God in the flesh, He spent His entire life in humble obedience and submission to His Father while continually serving others. James, the brother of our Lord, tells us in James 4:10 [RSV]), “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.” Jesus Christ is the greatest example we have of self-humility, as well as being the greatest example we have of God elevating one to the highest of heights. David prophesied in Psalm 110:1 [RSV], “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” David was not speaking of himself, he was speaking of the Messiah to come when he uttered those words.

Because of the humility and complete obedience Jesus gave the Father, God exalted Jesus Christ to the zenith of all high places imaginable, Heaven itself: 20. …He raised Him from the dead and made Him sit at His right hand in the Heavenly places, 21. far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; 22. and He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the Head over all things for the church, 23. which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20b-23 [RSV]) The coming age Paul speaks of occurs when Jesus returns to gather His saints with Him and take them to His Father above and the fulfillment of Psalm 110:1 transpires: 23. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. 24. Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27. “For God has put all things in subjection under His feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection under Him,” it is plain that He is excepted Who put all things under Him. 28. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him Who put all things under Him, that God may be everything to everyone. (1 Corinthians 15:23-28 [RSV])

I Never Knew...

In his Epistle to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes,

11. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. 12. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15. and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; 16. besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. 17. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:11-17 [RSV])

For the longest time I thought all of what we just read above were original words from the pen of Paul. But then I ran across the following from the hand of Isaiah in my daily Bible reading:

16. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intervene; then His own arm brought Him victory, and His righteousness upheld Him. 17. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in fury as a mantle. (Isaiah 59:16-17 [RSV])

It really struck me what Paul is teaching us in his letter to the church of Ephesus when I saw the words of Isaiah. Paul is teaching us to be clothed in Christ entirely, for He is the One Who will do our battles for us. Isaiah is speaking of God, and only God is worthy to stand against evil and prevail for only God is completely righteous. Just as only God could intervene for justice in Isaiah, only Jesus was worthy to open the scroll in Revelation:

“Weep not; lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5 [RSV]). You see, the God of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ of the New Covenant. They are One and the same.

Paul refers to the whole armor, the panoply, of God. He then tells us what the armor is for: “that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil.” So the armor is for us to take a stand in our battle against Satan and his minions. It is not to be used against mankind for as Paul states, “we are not contending against flesh and blood.”

Next, Paul briefs us on just who our enemy is and against whom we are to stand:

“against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” “Principalities,” “powers,” “world rulers of this present darkness” and “spiritual hosts of wickedness” do not refer to human opponents, but to servants of Satan in the spiritual realm. Paul is laying out the hierarchy of the Devil and all his lower level Devils and Demons. From his perspective, Satan is, as Paul rightly points out, “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4 [RSV]), “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2 [RSV]). Remember, Paul wrote these words to established groups of Christians in the first century. The reality of the supernatural was beyond question in the mind of the Holy Spirit inspired Apostle Paul. But we in the church today have allowed ourselves to be so influenced by rationalistic thought that we discard and mock any who propose that evil and supernatural beings are authentic and active. If we are not careful we will soon follow many in Christendom who deny anything miraculous, which means we will eventually have to deny the existence of God as well. But the Apostle Paul truly believed and taught that Satan is real and that he has a pecking order of intelligent princes and underlings to do his bidding to oppress those who are disciples of Jesus Christ: “And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated” (2 Corinthians 12:7 [RSV]. The word translated in this verse as “messenger” is also translated as “Angel” other times in the Gospels and the New Testament. Paul very likely may have been referring to a literal Fallen Angel here that was his “thorn…in the flesh.”

It is Satan’s servants who are the source of bad influence, chronic depression, oppression, obsession and possession that afflict so many in the body of Christ, for these are all opposed to what God wants for His children: joy and peace. It is long past time that we embraced this belief system espoused by the Apostle Paul, too.

Before the Foundation of the World

In his letter to the church at Ephesus the Apostle Paul writes, 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places, 4. even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. (Ephesians 1:3-4 [RSV])

These two verses penned by the Apostle Paul some 2000 years ago while writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just may be the most remarkable words found in Scripture for they give us an extraordinary insight into the very heart and mind of God! Have you ever fathomed the depth of revelation contained within these verses? Let me see if I can help you to grasp its meaning a bit clearer.

Try, if you will, to imagine that God has transported you back to that moment and you were there at that precise instant Paul just described “before the foundation of the world.” You find yourself in a place and a time that exists without time. There never has been time in this place you find yourself, and there never will be time within its bounds, for all there is in this place is now. You are experiencing eternity! You are existing in a place outside the very physical fabric of what we know as space and time, outside of the outer limits of the massive extent of the universe itself, for even at this point in history there is no universe. There are no stars, there are no planets, and there are no comets composed of ice and rock trailing their lengthy, dusty tails behind them as they orbit about the sun in their long and lonely journey around the solar system. There is no cosmos brimming with the wonders of God’s glorious and magnificent creation, most of which are yet to be discovered. There are no trees with their brilliant autumn foliage on display, and no flowers sprinkled across a meadow in the springtime of the year. There are no cruel, blasting winds from the north bringing the snows of winter in their wake, and neither is there any burning and scorching heat of a summer’s day. There are no animals living within the forests, the savannas, or the vast, frozen tundra for they do not exist. There are no snowcapped mountain vistas climbing high above the clouds to caress the azure blue sky above, and no rivers flowing in the lush, green valleys below. There are no songbirds singing in the cool, morning breeze as they greet the dawn, nor are there any eagles soaring high upon the currents of air rising from the plains below, catching the rays of the afternoon sun as they seek their unsuspecting prey below. There are no myriads of sea creatures swimming in the boundless, unfathomable ocean depths, and neither are there any gulls crying mournfully upon its seemingly limitless miles of coastline. There are none of these fair and wondrous things for God has not yet created them.

Although there is no universe, please do not be mistaken into thinking that where you are there is nothing but a vast void, meaningless and empty. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Never before have you felt such utter joy, such tremendous fulfillment of happiness without measure, and such profound comfort and reassurance, for you are enveloped in the very presence of Almighty God. Love flowing from Him permeates your entire being beyond infinity itself, for the Being you are with is complete and pure love, for God is the embodiment of love itself (1 John 4:8).

Neither is there any shadow or darkness where you are, for you are bathed entirely in immaculate Light, for “God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5 [RSV]). In His immeasurable energy you are encompassed and enclosed in Him Who is “the Father of lights with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17 [RSV]). Never before have you experienced such beauty as that which emanates from that Light, and you now undergo sensations you never could have imagined existed or were even remotely possible. Your senses in their entirety are immersed altogether completely and thoroughly into Him Who has no beginning and Who has no ending of days, the Alpha and the Omega, the Ancient of Days Himself! Never before have you felt so totally alive!

Even though God has not yet created the universe, you are there witnessing firsthand as a plan is being formulated in the limitless mind of the Creator and Sustainer of all the worlds. As you listen in, you find yourself in utter shock and disbelief, for you understand that the plan God is making is centered around and involves YOU and your salvation! Oh, what matchless love, and what unparalleled grace! God knew YOU long before the world was created, and He chose how YOU would be able to stand holy and blameless before Him. You are seeing how you can become clothed in His holy and righteous garments, casting off the filthy rags of sin which you wear, and unashamedly stand before His throne of grace!

And then, as unbelievable as it sounds to your ears, you see how this plan is to come about. You are privy to the formulation of the gospel plan of salvation as it is being brought to its fruition as now that pure Light of God in His unadulterated love, speaks.

“Son?”

“Yes, Father?”

“It is time.”

“Yes, I know.”

“You are My beloved Son, but I must ask that You willingly leave this place and become a lowly Servant to bear the sins of My children to come. Are You prepared to take this burden upon Yourself?”

“Father, this, too, I know I must do, just as I know that You love Me and that We love our children yet to be born. I choose to humble and empty Myself of the glory I share with You and I agree to fashion Myself to be born as a Baby, to grow, mature and submit to My Earthly parents as a Child and to live My life as a Man in complete subjection to You for Your glory.”

“Son, are You saying You are willing to do this for Me and for My children?”

“Yes, Father, for the love I have for You and for the love I hold for Our children so precious in Your sight I choose to be born of lowly birth to a virgin as Your only begotten Child conceived through Your Holy Spirit. In all things, Father, I choose to be Your faithful, obedient Servant.”

“You are choosing to be My obedient Servant, My Son?”

“Yes, Father, even if it means My own cruel death, I will give My life for You and for Your children. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from My Father.” (John 10:18 [RSV])

“Yes, Son, You have perceived correctly. That is My will. But Your very own death? Even the death on a cross You are willing to undergo of Your own free will?”

“Yes, Father, not My will, but Thine be done (Luke 22:42 [RSV]). In all things, Father, this is My prayer. For You and the love You have for Your children I am willing to bear any pain and any death at any cost to Me personally. I am willing to be hung upon My cross and have the nails driven into My hands and into My feet. I am willing to be scourged and beaten. I am willing to be mocked and scourged. I am willing to have a spear thrust into My side and pierce My heart. I will do it all, if that is Your will in order for You to redeem Your lost sheep. If it is through My stripes that the children will be healed, then so be it, Father! I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.” (John 14:31 [RSV])

“My Son, You truly are My beloved Child! You are willing to do all of this, even knowing that in spite of Your great sacrifice the vast multitudes of Our children will still choose in their insolence and rebellion to reject You and Your salvation?”

“Yes, Father, I know this all too well, and it saddens Me deeply to know they will still choose to reject You. I know that in spite of the sacrifice You are making in sending Me to the Earth most of the world will mock Me and reject Me throughout the ensuing generations and centuries to come. It grieves Me, Father, but I realize that if only one precious soul You will create is saved to live eternally with Us in Our home in Heaven, then it will be worth it. In fact, I would be willing to do it again and again because I know just how much You surely love Your children, and it is not Your wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 [RSV])

“Yes, Son, I know that You, too, love My children, and that You long to have them share in Your riches as Your brothers and sisters throughout eternity. I also know You are willing to do this over and over again if need be, but I will not ask You to do this but once. Your blood shed upon that Cross of Calvary will be the satisfying atonement for the sins of all of mankind and for all of time. Only once will I ask that You die for mankind. In Your blood will the children be justified, and in Our Holy Spirit will the world be sanctified.”

“Oh, Father, how I love You dearly! I knew You would not leave them as orphans following My death, My resurrection and My glorious ascension to You above! How magnanimous it is for You to give to them of Your Holy Spirit!”

“My Son, I freely give to them Our Holy Spirit as a down payment for their life to come as it is spent in eternity with Us. They will be of Our family forever and ever!

“Come. Let Us now begin Our creation.”

That, brothers and sisters, is the story I see contained within those two verses written by the Apostle Paul some 2000 years ago. Even “before the foundation of the world” the gospel plan of salvation with YOU in mind was forged in the heart and mind of God. Jesus was there, and He knew just what a great sacrifice it would be for Him to make, but He was willing of His own free will to make that sacrifice because He loves the Father and because He loves YOU! So as you can see, your salvation in the body of Christ, which is the church (Ephesians 1:22-23), was His plan even before the beginning.

Jesus Christ, Head and King

In his letter to the church at Ephesus the Apostle Paul writes, 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places, 4. even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. (Ephesians 1:3-4 [RSV])

There are some who mistakenly believe that when Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 [RSV], “I will build My church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it,” that this was but an afterthought. They believe He had failed in His mission to establish a Kingdom on Earth because the Jews rejected Him and killed him, and so God had to scramble and create a stopgap mechanism called the church. What they fail to realize is that the church is the Kingdom. It was always the vehicle God had in mind, as Paul says, even “before the foundation of the Earth.”

Jesus also said in Matthew 16:19 [RSV], “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” So we should be able to see here that the Kingdom of Heaven and the church are one and the same thing. There are several New Testament passages that teach this. Paul writes of Jesus currently reigning as a King: 24. Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:24-26 [RSV]) One who reigns is one who is King. Jesus is currently reigning over His Kingdom from Heaven. God … 20. raised Him from the dead and made Him sit at His right hand in the Heavenly places, 21. far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come (Ephesians 1:20-21 [RSV]). So once again, we will see how the church and Kingdom are interchangeable. Paul immediately continues by saying God the Father 22. …has put all things under His feet and has made Him the Head over all things for the church, 23. which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23 [RSV]) Just as Jesus is Sovereign King, so is He also described as the Head of the church, which is His body. Not only here, but elsewhere as well: “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior” (Ephesians 23 [RSV]) And because He is King of His Kingdom and Head of His church, we can have peace with God through His shed blood: 18. He is the Head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything He might be pre-eminent. 19. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20. and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on Earth or in Heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:18-20 [RSV])

Walking by Saving Faith

Those who walk by saving faith, which is motivated by love of God, are not only well pleasing unto the Lord, but they have a great reward as we see in Galatians 6:15-16 [RSV]. 15. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God. God gives a reward of peace and mercy for faith when this faith is motivated by love. As the Apostle Paul also wrote, “if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2b [RSV]). The Lord is pleased with that faith, the new man, and the new heart filled with desires that come from the law of love. Only those whose faith is motivated by love are said to be blessed peacemakers who are sons of God (Matthew 5:9). To the believers at Philippi, Paul wrote, “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 [RSV]). No longer are they enemies of God, but they are His children through adoption, and joint-heirs with His one and only begotten Son (Romans 8:15-17). They have had their sins washed away in the blood of the Lamb (Acts 22:16).

Speaking of Jesus Christ, Peter said in Acts 4:11-12 [RSV], 11. This is the Stone Which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the Head of the corner. 12. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So many people have varying beliefs regarding what constitutes Biblical salvation. To be saved from oneself, an individual who is lost in sin and rebellion, is salvation. Salvation means to be saved from serving the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan. But ultimately, salvation is having peace with God. It is reconciliation between God and the individual who had formerly through transgression walked away from the Lord. That is salvation. So true, saving faith does have its rewards as the grace of God reaches across the mighty gulf created by our sins that separated us from our Father.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” Faith has its eye on this reward. It is the object of its faith. The reward, as Paul stated, is having peace with God and being reconciled to Him. It is coming under the mercy of God through the blood of Christ. It is peace, true peace. Faith does have its eye on the reward, but the motivation comes from love, not in seeking to follow the letter of the law out of compulsion. This reward is not given to those who serve the Lord by the letter of the law out of compulsion, but it is awarded to those who serve God in the spirit of the law from a motive of love.