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

I Stand By The Door

“For a day a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10).

In his poem I Stand By The Door, Rev. Sam Shoemaker, the late Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City, brings us back to basics. He reminds us that those who have found the door need always to remember that God works to draw people and reach people . . . through other people.

God uses doorkeepers! Doorkeepers don’t need to draw attention to themselves, they simply need to have a heart for people and point them to Jesus Christ.  God gives us the joy of co-laboring with Him in His vineyard (Pretty Neat!). He doesn’t have to use us in the process of bringing people to Himself but for His own purposes, He normally chooses to do just that. If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you are probably aware of the fact that God put people in your life who helped you in your journey to God’s Salvation in Christ.

In this poem Rev Shoemaker seems to be speaking of the door to the Church. He was concerned that there were people outside the Church who needed what was inside the Church. He was also concerned that there were some who, once they were inside the doors of the Church, seemed to have forgotten all about those who were still outside. And so, with a pastors heart, he wanted to minister to both groups and in the process reminding all of us of God’s Want Ads: Doorkeepers Needed!

Just a personal note to the reader. I don’t know that I agree theologically with every line of Rev. Shoemaker’s poem, but I am touched by it’s overall thrust and believe it is worth pondering on and being challenged by. You can decide for yourself, but I invite you to read this and let God touch your heart with His call on your life – as he has mine.

*********

I stand by the door.
I neither go to far in, nor stay to far out.
The door is the most important door in the world –
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door – the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands
And put it on the latch – the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man’s own touch.

Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it – live because they have not found it.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So I stand by the door.

Go in great saints; go all the way in –
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in.
Sometimes venture in a little farther,
But my place seems closer to the opening.
So I stand by the door.

There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia
And want to get out. ‘Let me out!’ they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled.
For the old life, they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving – preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door
But would like to run away. So for them too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door.
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.

Where? Outside the door –
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But – more important for me –
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.

‘I had rather be a door-keeper
So I stand by the door.

***********

Another personal note: The Door of Life is a real person. His name of course, is Jesus Christ. He is the One True God/Man, Savior, Lord and King. It’s by Him and through Him that we enter into the into a personal relationship of abundant life with the living and eternal God of the Universe

Standing By The Door,

Dar