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Month: February 2019

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Going Back to Eden

Christian music is full of biblical references which encourage, inspire and inform the worship of our awesome God. One theme, the theme of heaven and our part in it has inspired songs like “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me, “Home” by Chris Tomlin and the old favorite of Southern Gospel circles “This World is Not My Home;” it is that last title that I want us to think about more carefully today.

Jared Wilson in his book titled “The Story of Everything” offers a perspective on the lyric “this world is not my home” that few seem to have considered but which the Bible makes clear ~ this world actually is your home.

Hopefully those of you whose jaws just hit the floor will pick them back up and read on; the statement really rests on this question ~ where is heaven anyway?

You see, our music and our minds are full of faith in the fact that “we have a future in heaven for sure, there in those mansions sublime (Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled my Soul)” but isn’t heaven wherever God is – like home is where the heart is?

I understand the lyric of the hymn to mean that the world system or mentality, it’s way of doing and thinking and it’s morality is not where Christians abide ~ that we are in the world (as in , on the planet) but not of the world (as in agreeable to the ways of worldliness). But what if the planet called earth, the terra-firma, the globe ~ what if this world really IS to be our home? What if the grand plan of our Lord is to take us all back to the place that in the beginning He called good and perfect; what if the New Heaven and New Earth of (Revelation 21) is the reconstitution of Eden?

By sin Adam in the garden of Eden and subsequently mankind as a whole fell short of God”s glory (Rom. 3:23) and the glory of creation likewise faded. The creation of God which He called “good” as He completed it was cursed along with sinful Adam and Eve because of their choice to rebel against God. Do you remember what the Lord said to Adam in [Gen. 3:17] – “cursed is the ground” because of you and from that point on creation has groaned and its glory suffered decay – that is what Paul wrote in [Romans 8:18-22]:

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

Creation in a sense fell from glory when we did or perhaps better put – the glory of the Lord departed from both man and creation when man chose to disobey God and ever since, creation at least has groaned for the Lord and His Glory to return.

God created not only to showcase His power and display His glory – He created a place where He in His glory might fellowship with those He created. In Genesis we have the glorious beginning and the tumultuous fall and, in the end, in Revelation we have the conclusion – [Rev. 21:3-5]:

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.””

God does not remake a person into something different when they come to Him in faith – He takes the old us and gives us new life (2 Cor. 5:17). He did not give us a different shape, hair color, age or anything else but he did give us a new nature by which we may offer Him praise and glory – imperfectly now but one day when our body catches up with our nature (1 Cor. 15:53) – perfectly; likewise the earth which now groans will be restored to the glory when at first the Lord created it and He will dwell among us.

Yes, most likely, every believer reading this blog will go to that nebulous place which Paul called “the third heaven” in (2 Corinthians 12:2) to begin with ~ whether at the time of our deaths or at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) but only until God’s will – that which Jesus prayed about in (Matthew 6:10) on earth is done. Then, as pastor David Jeremiah once said, “what’s up there will come down here.”

Eventually, the Eden which God created in perfection will be reconstituted and re-inhabited by those sons and daughters of Adam and Eve whom the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed by His blood.

The reality IS that this world WILL BE our forever home ~ heaven will be on earth because the Lord God will be there dwelling among His people [Revelation 22:1-5]:

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”

One day, it will be on earth exactly as the Lord intended it in the beginning…all glory, honor and praise be to His name!

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Too Much

The other day as I was scanning my Facebook page I came across a well used Christian expression: “God never gives you MORE than you can handle.” This time, I thought about it – and I asked myself what I’m now asking you, is that really a true statement?

First, I considered it from the perspective of experience. In the weight-room, on the track or in the gym does a person get stronger without adding weight to the bar; does he or she build endurance without going the extra lap or mile – does an athlete really develop strength, endurance or stamina without challenging themselves to go further? Do you suppose faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is developed differently?

The answer is an obvious – “no.”

I also considered this expression from the pages of scripture. When Israel quickly exited from Egypt in what the Bible titles the Exodus and was pursued by Pharaoh and his army into what seemed to be a dead end (see Exodus 14) might that have been a situation deemed to be MORE than they could handle by those going through it? When the youngest son of Jesse, a stinky little shepherd boy compared to his nobler brothers faced a giant of a man named Goliath on a battlefield not one other soldier great or small of Israel’s army dared to step out on (see 1 Samuel 17) – might he have though that the giant was MORE than he could handle? When a father came to Jesus’ disciples begging and pleading for them to help his son who was possessed by a demonic spirit (see Luke 9:37-40) – might it have been because deep down they thought that the situation was MORE than they could handle?

The reality is that God allowed those situations named above for the same reason He allows the impossible into your life and mine – He allows the overwhelming into our lives, the MORE than we can handle so that you, me and those around us would know that NOTHING is impossible for Him! He told Moses in [Exodus 14: 17-18]:

“And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Likewise, young David shouted as he charged towards Goliath with nothing but a sling and a stone [1 Samuel 17:46-47]:

“This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

In one of the parallel accounts of the father who brought his demon possessed son to Jesus and His disciples, we see how God allows the impossible into our lives to strengthen our faith in Him [Mark 9:23-24]:

“Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

James the half-brother of the Lord Jesus wrote: [James 1:2-3] “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience;” he knew that God adds weight to the bar so to speak to grow us in our faith. The Apostle Paul knew it too, see what he wrote of it in [Romans 5:3-4] “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” 

But wait, I have often heard this expression as it supposedly relates to [1 Cor. 10:13] which reads:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Listen, God never adds the weight of sin to our bar, He wants to relieve that burden rather than increase it – sin is too much for you and me, we cannot over come it BUT Jesus HAS overcome it bearing it all on the cross. As we grow in faith and relationship with Him temptation may come our way, God even allowing it to come – to demonstrate to us and to others His great power living in us!

God may allow suffering, persecution and all sorts of adversity into your life but my friend, count it all joy – He is about to show you something about Himself and yourself because of Him that you would have seen in no other way.

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Let Them Fly!

The wise writer of the proverbs – King Solomon once wrote,

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Some people, illustrating those wise words might have chosen a picture of a vine or bonsai tree – a plant which can be molded and shaped as the one cultivating it wishes. In actuality, to use such an image might be a more accurate interpretation of Solomon’s words. If parents begin early to mold and make – to train up their children, it would be reasonable to expect that later in life the way those children had been trained would have become second nature to them.

So, why did I chose an archer, an arrow and a target?

I use it because this advice is given to people about people and the environment in which we raise our children will work against our every effort to train them up – the best we can do is point them in the right direction and let them fly.

Throughout the proverbs (which was not the official training manual of the kings offspring but a collection of the things he did teach), Solomon pointed his sons toward wisdom and away from foolishness; he led his sons to get understanding – to fear the Lord, to obey His instructions and to honor Him; this is the target toward which the king aimed his children. In aiming them toward a target, Solomon was also aiming them AWAY from some things: he was aiming them away from immorality, away from wickedness and away from ungodliness.

Whatever might be said of the fact that some of the kings words to his sons did not line up with his ways before the Lord (see 1 Kings 11:1-13), he did POINT his sons in the right direction and then when they were grown, let them fly.

Things act upon the trajectory of our arrows. Outside influences, like the wind steer our children – peer pressure, independence (especially the kind of independence which accompanies college life), the crosswinds of alternative views – all of these buffet our children once we let them fly and if we’re being honest, they don’t always hit the target toward which they were aimed.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam didn’t. We read in [2 Chronicles 12:1]:

“Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him.”

The fact is that [Proverbs 22:6] is not a guarantee that if you point them in the right direction your children will always hit the target toward which they have been aimed – Solomon’s words are an observation, an encouragement and an exhortation full of good advice but they are not a command or a guarantee.

The ONLY guarantee that one might come away with from those words is the guarantee that an arrow will never hit a target it wasn’t aimed at.

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