Tag Archives: eternal

Day 321: Hall of Faith

Psalms 84, 86-87; Hebrews 11
(Psalm 85 was read on Day 227)

Faith. Without it, it is impossible to please God.

The author of Hebrews has laid out his case for the Supremacy of Christ. He has exhorted them to not drift away from Christianity back to the familiar ways of Judaism – but rather to strive to keep the faith.

Now he gives an entire chapter full of examples of faith from the Old Testament. These are people who persevered to claim their reward. Think of the encouragement this would bring to these young Jewish converts…

First, they would see that God’s grace pre-dated Abraham, and reached all the way back to Abel! This would remind them that their new faith in Christ was the exact same faith which was credited to Noah and Abraham as righteousness!

They would also be encouraged that imperfect men such as Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Japheth were included as men of faith. Perfection is not a requirement. It is faith in God which justifies the sinner.

Ultimately, they would be challenged to pattern their lives after these Old Testament heroes – men and women who suffered greatly because they believed a God they could not see and died before God’s promises were fulfilled. Yet they continued to trust in the goodness of God…

Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for grace.
In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
for you answer me (Psalm 86:3-7).

Faith is not just some shot in the dark, wishful thinking. A true, saving faith is a sure anchor for the soul based on the truth of God’s word. It is the belief that the unseen is more real than the seen.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

What do we hope for? A city on a hill, the New Jerusalem, filled with the glory of the Lord. We look forward to the day when every tear will be wiped away and the dim reflection of His presence in this world will be seen clearly in all His glory. We hope for Jesus and the wedding feast of the lamb and an eternity in perfect relationship with the Savior and with fellow man. These aren’t just wistful dreams – these are truths that we should be willing to die for!!!

Where is your faith? Do you place your hope in your own fleeting material wealth or aspirations of success? Is your hope in your spouse or in your children? Or is your hope in the unseen, yet eternal God who is trustworthy and true? Don’t sacrifice eternity for a lesser, instant pleasure.

Strive to enter His rest; persevere in your faith, and be one who overcomes to the end!

Day 318: A dim reflection

Psalms 71-73; Hebrews 9

Everything God has done from the beginning of time until now has been done with precision and purpose to prepare the hearts of men to receive his Son.

Consider Psalm 72…It was a royal Psalm, a prayer for the king of Israel – but it pointed forward to a day when the king would enjoy world-wide rule and bring about peace and social justice. It looked forward to a day when Jesus will rule the earth in peace and justice!

Hebrews 9 connects the symbols in the Old Covenant to their true heavenly counterparts. The temple…a temporal copy of God’s true home in heaven points to Jesus. The priesthood, instituted by God but fulfilled by imperfect men, points to Jesus. The sacrifices, offered day after day after day – were copies of the true sacrifice – offered once and for all, by Jesus!

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:13-14).

First, God established the law, the tabernacle and the priesthood – to point forward to Christ’s saving work on the cross. But there was more to be revealed!

Just as the temple and priesthood were copies of their true heavenly counterparts…I wonder how much of our world is also a dim reflection of what’s to come…

We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth – where the bride of Christ will be united with her husband. We look forward to the wedding feast of the lamb. Every wedding, celebration and feast is just a dim reflection of what’s to come. Every tree, stream and creature is just a dim reflection of God’s creation in the New Earth!

We live in the now and not yet, the time between Jesus’s two comings. We are the church age, and we look forward to the end of the age when all things will find their fulfillment in Christ!

Day 306: Overcoming death

Psalms 28-30; 2 Timothy 4

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Death. We weren’t created for it. We were created for life and the joy of community. But sin’s effects trickle down into each one of us – making death inevitable.

For the Christian, however, there is hope beyond death – as we look forward to a new world not marred by sin and to perfect fellowship with God and others. This is Paul’s hope as he faces his imminent execution.

Paul describes to Timothy how God has remained faithful to him – even in his darkest hour (2 Timothy 4:17). And Paul awaits death in faith, expecting to see His Lord and Savior, face to face (4:18).

Where does such strength come from? How can Paul be at peace in such dire circumstances?

Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him (Psalm 28:6-7).

Paul has nothing to fear in death. He rests in the grace of God – which has strengthened him to persevere to the end, equipping him to accomplish the work God prepared for him to do…

…the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

We, the children of God, the ones who have been ransomed by his blood and have received the righteousness of Christ through faith – we are saved from the hopelessness of death. Even though we weren’t created for it, God has overcome it, and we can say confidently with Paul: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 2:18).

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever (Psalm 30:11-12)!

Day 297: The balm of Truth

Psalms 1-2; 2 Thessalonians 1-2

Soon after Paul sent his first letter to the Thessalonians, he must have received a disturbing report back from the church, because he penned 2nd Thessalonians just after 1st Thessalonians.

This letter addressed three specific issues:

  1. God’s purposes for allowing persecution and suffering (Chapter 1),
  2. Detailed teaching regarding Jesus’ second coming (Chapter 2), and
  3. Exhortations against laziness and presuming upon wealthy Christians (Chapter 3).

We learn in the beginning of Chapter 2 that the Thessalonians (wrongly) believed that the day of the Lord had already come…that somehow they had missed Jesus’ second coming!

Paul allotted most of his teaching to this one topic. The Thessalonians were alarmed because they believed false teaching. Paul calmed their hearts and minds with TRUTH!

Note: For a more detailed discussion of the implications of Paul’s teaching on Jesus’ second coming, this sermon by John Piper is an excellent resource!

Paul also addressed the young church’s afflictions in the wake of relentless persecution. Paul writes,

Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels (2 Thessalonians 1:4-7).

Paul teaches that God doesn’t just allow suffering, he ordains it. It is his righteous judgment (1:5) in the context of this fallen world. In other words, because of our struggle with sin, God’s purposes for suffering are loving and good!

Paul lists three good purposes for suffering in these verses… First, suffering helps to refine (not punish) the unholy believer so that he is fit for the holy kingdom of God (1:5). Second, God will repay those who sin against believers. He will execute perfect justice (1:6). And third, we will be comforted when Jesus comes again to defeat Satan and evil and to usher us into His final rest (1:7-8).

Paul wrote these truths to calm and comfort the young Thessalonian church. Likewise, these truths should comfort our souls. They should burrow their way down into our hearts and serve as a spring to water our parched lives. These truths should be our delight!

Blessed is the man […]
[whose] delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither (Psalm 1:1-3).

Day 295: Life beyond the grave

Ecclesiastes 7-9; 1 Thessalonians 4

Paul continues his letter to the Thessalonians by exhorting them to continue in their faith “more and more,” encouraging them in their sanctification. And then Paul turns to address a great concern of the young converts in Thessalonica.

Some of the new Christians had died, and not knowing what happened to a Christian at death, the people fell into a hopeless depression. They assumed that since they died before Jesus’ 2nd coming, they were lost, and missed the promised salvation.

Can you imagine how grieved these new Christians would have been without the hope of life after death?

The writer of Ecclesiastes (most likely Solomon) gives us insight into the hopelessness of life “under the sun,” as if there were no spiritual realm beyond this life – no eternal hope for which to live…

But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun (Ecclesiastes 9:4-6).

But Solomon also knows that divine revelation is more trustworthy than his limited perspective, so he writes,

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God (Ecclesiastes 8:12-13).

Yes, without God’s clear instruction on the eternal nature of life, every possible human conception leads to despair.

Solomon despaired because death was inevitable for both the righteous and the wicked.
The Thessalonians despaired because they believed death prevented the salvation of the righteous.

Paul gives us the truth about life after death… that those who have died before the 2nd coming of the Lord go ahead of those on earth to be with God (1 Thessalonians 4:14-15). And when Jesus comes again, all believers on earth will be “caught up together [with those who have died] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). So all believers both asleep and on earth will be “with the Lord.”

The details of this passage can be difficult to comprehend or imagine, but the heart of Paul’s words are clear. All believers will be with the Lord! Death has lost its sting. It no longer has any power over the believer. No longer are the days of our lives as “the wind,” meaningless or “vanity.”

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection give us hope beyond the grave!

Day 294: Our purpose

Ecclesiastes 4-6; 1 Thessalonians 3

In the first half of Acts 17 we read of Paul’s visit to Thessalonica. He spent a relatively short time there, but long enough to preach the gospel effectively to see the beginnings of a small church. Paul’s presence angered the Jews, and they tried to capture Paul…

But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd (Acts 17:5).

The new Thessalonian converts helped Paul and Silas escape by nightfall to Berea which was 50 miles southwest of Thessalonica. But the persecution did not end after Paul and Silas left. The Thessalonians continued to endure hardship as a church, and Paul was anxious…worried they might fall away from the faith. So he sent Timothy to visit them (1 Thess. 3:5), and to Paul’s joy, Timothy reported back that they were steadfast in the faith (1 Thess. 3:6; 8).

What would enable these new converts to stay faithful amidst harsh affliction?

Christ. Christ’s love. Christ’s sacrifice. Christ’s promises. Christ, alone.

The writer of Ecclesiastes knew that life lived apart from the eternal purposes of God was meaningless. This world is fallen and to work for possessions that will only endure one’s lifetime is vanity. It lacks purpose.

The fact that the Sovereign and Righteous God has made a way for us to be in relationship with him now and throughout eternity gives our lives meaning in this fallen world. Each small pleasure is a gift of God, and therefore, more meaningful. Suffering can be endured because of our hope in an eternal home. We can take joy in the work of our hands because a job done for the Lord brings glory to him and makes an impact for eternity.

God’s love is our song and His word is our guide. In Him, we find our purpose!

Day 293: Vanity, Vanity

Ecclesiastes 1-3; 1 Thessalonians 1-2

I think Ecclesiastes is an apt counterpoint to Job in that both the afflicted Job and the prosperous author of Ecclesiastes conclude that the fear of God is the only satisfying pursuit of man.

Even though the author of Ecclesiastes is anonymous, many scholars believe the author to be Solomon because no other king in the line of David possessed such wisdom and possessions as described in the book of Ecclesiastes. If the author is indeed Solomon, it makes the book all the more meaningful because Solomon had every worldly possession and privilege known to man – yet he still concluded it was all “vanity” apart from God.

Wisdom, Possessions, Pleasure, even hard work – Solomon argued that they were all meaningless “under the sun.” When Solomon used the phrase, “under the sun,” he was referring to all things in this fallen world.

Without God placing eternal value on our lives, everything “under the sun” is fleeting and meaningless – leading to death.

Solomon writes about the vanity of “work”…

So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. (Ecclesiastes 2:20-21).

In contrast, Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, speaks about the eternal significance of his work. Paul says that coming to Thessalonica was “not in vain” (1 Thess. 2:1). And Paul also speaks of “toil” but his “toil” has purpose…

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God (1 Thessalonians 2:9).

Paul finds value in his work because of the gospel. His work supports, enables, and is motivated by the gospel. The gospel is eternal, so Paul’s work has eternal significance. In fact, Paul even calls the church at Thessalonica his “glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:20) because they signify his eternal work in this fallen world.

As Solomon considers the temporary nature of work in this fallen world, he turns to look at God’s eternal nature…

I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

Without the fear of the Lord, Solomon concluded that life was vanity.
Without the fear of the Lord, Job’s suffering was hopeless.
Without the fear of the Lord, Paul’s work was purposeless.

Everything is “vanity” apart from the fear of the Lord!

Day 285: Comfort to Endure & Overcome

Job 22-24; Philippians 2

I think one of the most disturbing aspects of all of the speeches from Job’s “friends” is that they teach a “prosperity gospel.” In other words, they believe that if you do good works for God, he will make you prosperous. And if you sin against God, God will make you suffer on earth. This just isn’t true!

The best defense against this position is Christ, himself. Christ was absolutely sinless! Yet, he suffered greatly. He was born in poverty and lived in Egypt to avoid being murdered by Herod. As an adult, he had no home, no income and was unjustly arrested, flogged and murdered. Christ knew suffering – just as Job knew suffering.

But Job seems to have gathered himself and can think more objectively about his suffering in Chapters 23-24. He is able to articulate God’s sovereignty and understands that he is being tested (23:10).

But he is still confused by the apparent lack of justice in this world. He spends Chapter 24 wondering when and if the wicked will ever be judged. The question of why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer has been asked for centuries.

Job cries, “If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?” (Job 24:25). God, rather than “reduce [Job’s] words to nothing,” preserves them in Scripture and lived them thirty-three years in flesh. After the Fall of Adam and Eve, we live with evil and suffering and temporary injustice. We do not understand entirely why, but God himself has endured with us and has overcome it in the resurrection (Frances Bennett, Job, Lessons in Comfort, CEP, 2009, pg 68).

Paul talks about Christ’s suffering in one of the most profound passages on Christ’s incarnation in Scripture (Philippians 2:5-11). But Paul was using Christ as an example of how to serve others in love. He had just commanded the Philippians to “count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3).

Isn’t this the key to offering comfort to the suffering AND receiving God’s comfort in the midst of our own suffering?? 

It’s all about humility…laying down our idols of “entitlement” and looking to Christ’s example of pouring ourselves out for others.

Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

If Christ wasn’t spared from suffering, then why would we? God expects and endures our questions, but it is our faith that brings God delight. Just as Paul instructed the Philippians…enduring suffering without grumbling or complaining is like a bright light in a “crooked and twisted” world (Philippians 2:14-16).

Lord, through the preservation of these questions and through the recorded pain of Christ’s life, You seem to say You know suffering exists, but You have a purpose in permitting it to remain until the Day of Judgment. Because Job endured and Christ overcame, You offer comforting assurance: those who look to You can also endure and overcome. Thank you Lord…” (Frances Bennett, Job, Lessons in Comfort, CEP, 2009, pg 68).

Day 267: Fighting the opposition

Nehemiah 6-7; 2 Corinthians 10

Today, both Nehemiah and Paul address their opposition…directly.

Remember, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church because opponents to his ministry had infiltrated the church and caused a large rebellion against Paul. Paul spent the first seven chapters of 2 Corinthians refuting his opponents indirectly, but now he shifts his focus to address them directly.

Paul’s opponents judged him by the world’s standards. Because Paul was meek in appearance and manner, his opponents discounted his apostolic authority – while boasting in their own worldly attributes. But Paul refutes their criticisms by pointing to his spiritual abilities and the fact that he was appointed by God himself.

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends (2 Corinthians 10:17).

Meanwhile, Nehemiah is dealing with his own opposition. Sanballat and Tobiah just won’t go away! They continue to try to trap Nehemiah both physically and morally to bring about his downfall. But Nehemiah rebukes their efforts and much to their displeasure, finishes the wall in spite of the opposition!

So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God (Nehemiah 6:15-16).

Did you catch that last phrase? “With the help of our God”!!

This is the key to both Paul’s and Nehemiah’s ability to overcome their fierce opposition. They were called, equipped and undergirded by their God. They trusted in God despite their grave circumstances. In other words, they fixed their eyes on what was unseen. “For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

Lord, when I am faced with opposition, help me to not be discouraged! But rather, help me to look to the unseen realm…help me to fix my eyes on Jesus and persevere in faith as I wait for Your sure help!

Day 262: Our eternal home

Ezra 5-6; Haggai 1-2; 2 Corinthians 5

The book of Haggai serves as a rich commentary to these chapters in Ezra. Haggai (along with Zechariah – which we’ll read through in December) was the local prophet who encouraged the people to restart building the temple. Evidently, all the earlier opposition pushed the people into complacency. They were content to live in their own houses while the house of the Lord lay in ruins. God had something to say about this!

He had sent drought and hail in the hopes that the people would turn to him for help, but they continued in their self-sufficiency. In spite of this, God was merciful and intervened through the prophet Haggai.

There are so many rich layers woven throughout these passages.

First, we see that the Jews’ responded to Haggai’s message in obedience – so that the temple was completed! The temple represented God’s continued presence with his people and his faithfulness to keep his promises.

But glaringly obvious to everyone was the fact that the temple did not compare to Solomon’s former temple. God addressed this in Haggai:

Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, [and] work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not (Haggai 2:3-5).

God asserted that the temple’s outward grandeur was of secondary importance to His presence. This second temple served as a stepping stone to the day when the temple would no longer be a physical building – but rather God would manifest His presence within His people.

Paul touches on these themes in today’s reading from 2 Corinthians. He teaches that we are not at “home” in our physical bodies – rather we long for “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). Paul says that while we are on earth, we “groan” for our heavenly tent – for “mortality to be swallowed up by life” (2 Cor. 5:4).

So, in many ways, this second temple’s lack of grandeur is a physical picture of our life on earth. We long for more… We long for our eternal home.

Lastly, we see a hint of the fulfillment of all God’s promises in the last verse of Haggai. The hint isn’t obvious, but it’s there!

On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:23).

Zerubbabel was the current governor of Judah, but he was also a descendant of the last king of Judah, Jehoiachin (1 Chron. 3:16–19, where Jehoiachin is called Jeconiah). And if Zerubbabel was descended from the last king of Judah, that meant he was also descended from King David. And who was prophesied to come from the line of David to establish his Kingdom on earth? Yes. Jesus.

“On that day” (Haggai 2:23), looks forward to the end of the age, when the temple is replaced by the Lord himself!

…for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb … and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it (Rev. 21:22, 24).

Yes, one day, this man, who knew no sin – but became sin, so that we might become His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21)…this man will take his place as the final temple. And then, and only then, will we be home.

The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:9).