The God Who . . .”really is the Savior of the world.”

“And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left [meaning:people living in spiritual darkness] . . .” ( Jonah 4:11).

During the season of Christmas we are often reminded through hymns and carols of the announcement of the Angelic ambassadors at the birth of Christ the Lord –  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” The King of Glory has invaded planet earth as a baby in a manger, to inaugurate His kingdom’s reign over all the earth.

The God of the Universe intends to ultimately personally govern His creation and gather people for Himself from around the globe to receive the worship that is due Him. As the scene of praise to God that is pictured for the Apostle John illustrates, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9). It is Jesus Christ who is the returning King and Savior of the world!

Looking back through God’s previous interventions into history and His collected pronouncements found in His Word, it is fairly easy for us today to see that God fully intends to seek and find the lost from around the world. But for the prophet Jonah this is a bit harder to fathom. In fact, in regards to  compassion and concern for the lost, Jonah only has eyes for his own people, the people of Israel.

But God’s passion and compassion is and always has been for His people around the world as He was about to demonstrate to Jonah. Jonah was sent to preach repentance to the great but also evil Assyrian city of Nineveh. After running off in the opposite direction and finally being spit out by a great fish, Jonah did preach to the Ninevites. As you remember, the Ninevites repented and believed God and God relented and poured out His great mercy to them.

Several centuries later, Jesus reminded the wicked and unbelieving Pharisees of God’s working through Jonah to save the people of Nineveh. Jesus promised them that, “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,and now something greater than Jonah is here [Jesus referring to Himself]” (Matt. 12:41).

During His earthly ministry, Jesus made sure that God’s offer of salvation was first given to the lost sheep of Israel – but it didn’t end there.  The gospels record the intentional travels of Jesus into several Gentile areas where He poured out His merciful healing and eternal salvation to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

John tells of one occasion when Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well in Sychar. Not only did she put her faith in Jesus but after Jesus accepted the Samaritan people’s invitation to spend some time with them many of the cities residents were able to say, “We no longer believe just because of what you said [the testimony of the women at the well], now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world”(John 4:42).

The world-wide mission of Jesus to claim His lost sheep from every single land and island is so important that when asked about end times by His disciples, Jesus responded,  “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).

What Abraham knew (“in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”) . . . Jonah would soon learn  . . . and the Pharisees would be taught . . . and the Samaritans would discover . . . and now even we know . . . Jesus really is the Savior of the world!

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Merry Christmas and God’s Best,

Dar

One Thing About Jesus . . .

“. . . you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

He is eternal and has always and will always exist. Through Him everything that exists has been made. Prophets for centuries foretold His appearing. When the time was perfect, He did come and was born to a young virgin named Mary in the town of Bethlehem and was laid in a manger. He became and will continue to be a fully real human in real human flesh. He has been and will continue to be fully God at the same time. He is uniquely unique. There is not now nor will there ever be another being like Him.

Again, when the time was right He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. He immediately faced down and defeated the temptation of Satan in a desert wilderness, one on one. He then announced to all that He was in fact the One who had been prophesied to come in all the Old Testament Scriptures. He began to preach “Repent and believe the good news!”

As He spoke and taught, He was recognized to possess a wisdom, insight and authority in His speech and thoughts that had not been witnessed in the history of mankind, nor since that time. No other guru, teacher, prophet or wise man ever born, has spoken with His knowledge, wisdom and understanding. He confounded those who opposed Him. He left the worldly-wise dumbfounded and the masses and crowds were amazed and marveled at His ability to expound the greatest words ever spoken.

He demonstrated His absolute authority and complete control over every aspect of the natural world. He walked on water, He changed water into wine, He calmed the winds and the waves and He multiplied bread and fish to feed thousands who hungered.

He revealed an uncommon compassion and mercy on everyone He encountered. He healed the sick, cleansed lepers and made the crippled to be able to walk. He took away blindness from those born blind and restored the hearing to those who could not hear. He demonstrated a mastery over every disease and infirmary He came into contact with. He displayed His power over life and death by raising to life those who had died.

He dominated and ruled over every demon and devil. He liberated all who were possessed by evil spirits. The kingdom of darkness recognized Him, feared Him and submitted to Him.

He claimed that there was a way to peace with God but also the exclusivity of being the one and only way to God. There is no other path, person or philosophy that will lead to the Father in Heaven. He asserted  that He and the Father are in reality One.  He revealed that He was in fact, the Way and the Truth and the Life to a sick, sinful, deceived, hurting and lost world of people from every part of the planet.

He stated that He was the answer to the world’s greatest, deepest, strongest and oldest problem – sickness, bondage and evil of sin which separates all humanity from and causes an estrangement from a loving, patient and merciful God. He revealed that He had the desire to and power to forgive any and all sin.

He on the other hand stated that He was without any sin, challenged any to see any sin in Him and He demonstrated a life of pure sinless perfection in all His speech and actions. And because He was sinless and because He was indeed God in the flesh, and because He was filled with a generous grace and limitless mercy for those estranged from God, He would be the Answer.

He chose to take the place of punishment for our sin on a Roman cross outside the city of Jerusalem.  He became our substitute and took our place on that instrument of torture for the penalty of our sin. He endured the suffering and scouring and the stripes of abuse and pain for us. He took our sins to the cross.  He defeated sin, death and the devil for us on a bloody cross because we couldn’t. He set us free from the guilt, free from shame and free from the eternal separation we were facing as rebels of God and His ways. In real space and real-time He took our real sins and now gives to us (in an exchange that only He could do) a real righteousness (not our own, but His) with which we will be able to actually live eternally in the presence of a Holy, Righteous, Just, Forgiving and Loving God and Father.

After the death of our Redeemer and our Savior on the cross, He then was buried in an empty tomb. But the tomb could not hold Him and death could not defeat Him, so then on the third day He rose from the death that He had endured for us. He was and is alive forever. He overcame death for us. In His human resurrected body, He began to show Himself to different people, in different places and at different times. As He demonstrated His power over death, He proved that His words and promises could be trusted, and He gave a real and certain reason to have hope for the future.

After showing Himself to many and continuing to teach and train His disciples for forty days, He then ascended visibly in His human bodily form back into the heavens and back into the presence of God the Father and the legions of angels at His command.

Now He sits enthroned in heaven and intercedes for His redeemed people who have been bought with the price of His own blood which He  shed for them. He also now continues to rule and reign as the Sovereign King of all the created universe.

In the future, at a day and time no man knows, He promises to return again to the earth to bring all of history to a final close by judging the world of those who have chosen to follow their own paths in opposition to His gracious offers of mercy, grace and forgiveness. And at that time He will also reward those who have turned to Him in repentance and sought Him and Him alone in faith as their only hope of pardon, joy, and peace with God for eternity.

Until that time, He promises to never leave nor forsake His people. He gives us the gift of His Spirit. He goes with us through all the trials, tests, troubles and tribulations that this world has to offer. He, as the Good Shepherd of His Sheep, promises to guide, protect and bless His people until the day of His return.

He also leaves His followers (disciples), with instructions and guidance for how to live and how to be about His business until He returns as the Eternal King of the New Heavens and New Earth that He will establish. He calls us to be the kind of disciples who will continue to seek Him, learn from Him, follow Him, and model Him to a watching world. He also leaves us with the great privilege of being His personal ambassadors to take the amazing message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth  (every nation, language group, and ethnic group on the planet).

He is the LORD of All Creation, the Sovereign King of All the Earth and the Master of our very lives.

His offer to a desperately needy world is urgent, timely and merciful. He offer is valid and trustworthy, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).  Also, He announces, warns and commands, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”(Mark 1:15).

Oh, by the way, one thing about Jesus  . . . He loves you!

God’s Best,

Dar

The God Who Relents In Response To Repentance

” . . . The LORD relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the LORD.” (Amos 7:3)

Many years ago the Prophet Amos pleaded for God’s mercy on behalf of a rebellious Israel. Amos knew that if God were to carry through on His plans the nation would be devastated.

In response to the prayer of Amos, God relented and did not carry through with His announced plan to discipline the nation. This pattern of God’s people repenting and God, in His mercy relenting, appears several times in the Scriptures. In these passages we see God described as relenting.

Just what does it mean that God relents?

In one sense this seems odd for it to be said that God relents, because we know that God is sovereign (ultimately in control of the entire universe) and omniscient (knowing everything and every outcome in advance). Also, we realize that God is never surprised by our choices or our responses.  So what could possibly be meant by the Scriptures pointing out that God, at times, relents?

Several Old Testament passages reveal how God promises beforehand that He will relent if the people will: change, mend their ways, turn from evil and repent. Then as the people turn back, God refrains from carrying through with His previously pronounced and pending judgment. Our God out of His abundant compassion, mercy and forgiveness . . . relents.

What insight can we gain from this? We learn that when we turn away from our sin and turn toward our God in sincere repentance, we have a Heavenly Father that will deal gently and mercifully with us.

Jonah, God’s reluctant missionary to Nineveh, had the opportunity to be an up-close witness of the God who relents in response to repentance. “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it.  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.'”  (Jonah 3:10-4:2).

In Psalm 106 we are reminded that we worship a God who is always alert and intently listening for the for our humble cry for mercy. “Nevertheless, He looked upon their distress, when He heard their cry. For their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the abundance of His steadfast love”  (44-45).

Oh Lord, God Almighty, Sovereign Ruler of all and Shepherd King, I am in desperate need of your redeeming grace. I confess my many thoughts, words and deeds of sinfulness to you, both actions committed by me in thoughtlessness or selfishness and those actions of good left undone by me because of sloth or lack of mercy on my part. May your grace pour down, yes, rain down on me. Forgive, cleanse, renew me. Kyrie Eleison . . . Lord, have mercy! Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy on me! Amen and Amen.

God’s Best,

Dar

The God Who Restores

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25).

One of the things I’ve learned rather slowly in life is that for every one of my actions there are always corresponding reactions.  In general terms, we can say good decisions are usually met with positive results and wrong decisions usually result in negative results. Or more to the point of this passage by the prophet Joel, willful sin by God’s people will always be met with the focused attention of our Heavenly Father and His corresponding discipline for His children.

His discipline is meant to correct and bring back those who have strayed because He loves us enough not to just let us go our own way. He is after all the Great Shepherd of our souls. Our God is fully able to restore and bring back to usefulness and fruitfulness His people who will turn to Him regardless of their past disobedience.  He loves to meet our repentance with His restoration.  As the invitation by God illustrates in this same chapter:

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster” (Joel 2:12-13).

Here’s a point or two about the God Who Restores:

First, our God is in the business of restoring broken hearts and broken dreams. It is His practice to mend that which is torn. He picks up the pieces of our dashed hopes and seals them back together again. He heals that which is has been injured  and He relieves the pain with soothing balms of love and compassion. He is the God of Compassion, Love and Restoration.

Secondly,  His method of operation is to make things even better than they were before. He has a track record of doing just that. You can check it out. Just ask Job or Joseph or most any follower of Jesus. God goes beyond what we would consider a gracious act of love. He restores. Restoring means more than simply putting things back where they were. He gives back what was lost and then some. Whether it was lost promises or plans, whether it was lost days or years, they are not lost, they are restored. He doesn’t rest until things are made more than right.

From my own experience, I know that He likes to more than make things like they were, He likes to make them even better.

As I reflect on my own life, I’ve seen God take my wrong turns (otherwise known as sins) and turn them into going the right direction with angelic escorts leading the way! Praise God!

Revived, Renewed And Restored,

God’s Best,

Dar

The God Who Loves Mercy

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).

It happened yesterday in a parking lot. Walker, my five-year old grandson had just completed his first season playing flag football. Before the game Walker talked excitedly about the trophy he would be receiving. He was so excited to be getting one,  just like all those his big brother, whom he idolizes, has.

After the game, the trophy presentation, lunch, and a big day at Bradley’s Country Store Fun Day, Walker and his seven-year old sister, Morgan, sat in their Aunt Dawn’s car watching, as Walker’s football hero and older brother Jay carried an armful of things to his car.  The trophy with the golden football figure on top, slipped and fell to the parking lot, breaking and scattering into a multitude of pieces on the pavement!

Mortified at what had just happened, Jay enlisted Aunt Dawn’s help to pick up the pieces.  He was horrified at the thought of Walker’s disappointment. With a deep sense of sadness and a broken trophy Jay approached Aunt Dawn’s car where Walker and Morgan were waiting.

As he hesitantly neared the car, Jay began to hear a tumult coming from inside.  When he opened the door it was clear the sounds were cackles of laughter! “My man exploded! My man exploded! Ha, Ha, Ha!” Walker excitedly exclaimed.  For all the world, it seemed as if it was the funniest thing Walker and Morgan had ever seen. An exploding football trophy! Who would have known?

Instead of anger and tears, there were the arms of a little brother patting the remorseful older brother on the back, dispensing buckets of unbounded mercy. “It’s alright Jay, my man exploded! Ha, Ha!” Grins and smiles abounded. As much mercy as God could pour out through a little five-year old football player were hugged into a big brother that moment.

God’s tender mercies come to us in unexpected ways. How often they blind side us and leave us speechless. All we can mutter at times is “Thank You LORD!” And that’s probably a good thing.

When we give out mercy into the lives of others, we are living out a mirrored refection of God’s mercy into our own lives. We are in fact simply demonstrating a character quality that we ourselves have seen and experienced from God.

In this morning’s worship service we sang:

Thy mercy my God is the theme of my song, The joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue. Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last, Hath won my affection and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy, I could not live here. Sin would reduce me to utter despair, But through Thy free goodness, my spirit’s revived And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

The English Puritan, Thomas Benton Brooks wrote, “The more godly any man is, the more merciful that man will be.”  As we show unexpected and tender mercies to our fellow travelers we are simply reflecting family traits and bringing great joy to our Father.

May We Be  Missionaries of Mercy In The Midst Of A Mad, Messy And Often Mean Mankind,

Dar