Reconciliation

    In our world today, one might rightly ask the question - 'What has gone wrong?'  ....a world full of strife, violence, greed, poverty, a world where standards of morality are turned upside down and authority is rebelled against. Security for the future is gone and relationships in families and between nations are disintegrating.
      May I interrupt this morose description with the Bible storyline.

    When God made all things, He made it 'good'.  When He made man and woman He made them 'good ' with the added favour of being able to 'choose'.  And choose they did   -  Eve chose to 'listen' to the evil one and Adam chose to disobey God. The precious spiritual link with God was broken. Cain murdered his brother and thus set in motion the ongoing conflict between tribes and nations.
     Where was God in all this?  In the garden it is God who comes looking for Adam - "Adam where are you?"   In the preaching of Noah, God is calling the people back to righteousness, but they would not listen.  In the priest Melchizedeck, God was entreating the nations to draw near to worship the true and living God.   In the person of Abraham, He was demonstrating the real possibility of a personal relationship with God.  Then Israel as a nation was established to stand as a beacon of light among the nations. They were to represent God dwelling on earth, God's holiness in the law and sacrifices and God's grace as they interacted with others.  Their failure with consequential judgements was to be a voice of warning from God. Some noticed God thus at work , but most made the choice to ignore God and do their own thing. History is abundant with nations rising, rejecting God and then falling.

     Then a most significant thing happened  --  God Himself appeared in the person of Jesus Christ.  His stated mission was not to put the world right, but as a rescue mission to call people from the state of disconnect and rebellion to the God intended state of reconciliation and relationship.   The terms stated were simple  -- Believe God and receive His earthly representative, His Son Jesus.    The means of reconciliation were filled in by God Himself  i.e. paying the debt of sin, removing the curse of a broken law, removing the stain of rebellion, breaking the chains of Satan, causing light to shine by His holy Spirit etc.
    The call of Jesus was often repeated  --  Repent and believe the Good news!

     Where are we 2000 years later? The world at large still do not believe in Him. The religions of the world operate best without Him. The most of the Jews consider Jesus a false Messiah. The nations prefer to legislate according to the will of the people rather than the will of God. Most educational systems have eliminated the true Gospel of repentance of sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If God gets a mention at all ,He is considered to be a helper of humanities endeavours to be better.
       Well what ought God do?  Justice calls for God's wrath to be executed upon this world in its rebellion - and it will be.  But in the present time God is calling people to repent of their wandering ways, rebellious attitudes and indifference.  His patience interrupts the voice of vengence, for He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should be saved.
      His terms remain simple and His promises sure.
'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved'  Romans 10.13
For those more enlightened
  "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved"  Romans 10.9
   
     Much is wrong in our world today,  and the Bible record is the best explanation why. I plead with all to turn from the distractions around us and seek the Lord - He is not far from everyone of us. Perhaps the greatest hindrance of reconciliation is the pride and conceit within us. The idea of saying 'God is right and I am wrong ' seems too much.

     May all who read these lines, repent (turn from self and sin to God) and believe in (sincere faith and trust) the Lord Jesus Christ.

John McKee         johnmckee@internode.on.net

Signs

      Throughout the ages, people have sought after signs, in particular spectacular signs.The Lord Jesus made a very serious statement " an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign" (Matthew 12.39). Faith in the Lord Jesus needs no sign. Believing His Word because we believe who He is - Son of God - brings the greatest of blessings - eternal life. The Gospel writers do highlight many signs to verify the claims of Jesus to be the Son of God, but to keep asking for signs shows a lack of sincere faith.

        But then Jesus told the crowd that a sign would be given. This sign still divides humanity - the sign of Jonah. How shall we find compass directions to understand this significant sign?
   1  Read three times the whole discourse of the Lord  .... Luke 11.29-30
   2  Read the story of Jonah in the Old Testament.
       Read the story of the Queen of Sheba in the Old Testament.
        ( I will let you search for these, maybe use a concordance)
   3  Carefully note what the Jesus says in Luke 11, and check what He intends to be understood about Jonah before jumping to preconceived conclusions.
   4  Compare it with the other Gospel accounts, about the sign of Jonah (using marginal references?).
   5  Pray for the Holy Spirit of God to help you think this through.
   6  Eliminate from the story of Jonah story what does not link with Jesus eg running away, grumbling about God's mercy.
   7   Put together the points that do connect with the life of the Lord Jesus  eg Jonah commissioned, Jonah went down, Jonah comes up, Jonah preached etc
   Conclusion  - the 'sign of Jonah', in particular refers to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

     Though the last 2000 years, what has been the question of eternal significance?  -it  is this- 'is Jesus risen from the dead and alive today?'  This question still divides humanity.  Some believe, some mock.
      "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."    Romans 10.9

       But wait, I have missed something in the story. Jesus said that in the 'day of judgement', the men of Nineveh will stand as witnesses against those who had the greater privilege of listening to the person greater than Jonah - the Messiah Jesus. We must ponder this carefully to be sure of what we are reading and its implications for us. Does this mean that others of less opportunity than us will testify against our lack of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord ? And when? - on Gods final judgement day?

      What about the queen of Sheba?  She went to great effort to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Jesus claims to be greater than Solomon, in particular His words of Divine wisdom.  What have we done with the teaching of Jesus?  - ignored it?  Discredit it?  misinterpret it for convenience?    or hear it and obey it.
The implications are serious and eternal!

      The Lord goes on in the discourse with an unusual twist. The light we let into our minds (greater than Solomon) controls the whole of our being. Paul understood this when he encouraged the Christians at Colossee  'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly'
 Using the figure of light , The Lord implies that His teaching must needs permeate our whole being to eliminate darkness.

     As He being the light, fills our being, we can then let our ' lights so shine'

J. McKee      johnmckee@internode.on.net

Who is this child?

         Questions are an important part of discovering truth.

The first question in the Bible is very revealing - "Where are you?" Genesis 3

My question relates to the child Jesus, and to find one accurate answer among many,  I turn to the Gospel by Luke. He records the interview between the angel Gabriel, from God's presence, and Mary.  The angel's description of the child to be born, was most revealing.
         He would be the heir to King David's throne, and sitting on that throne he would reign forever (Hasn't yet been fulfilled).  He would be great (in what way?) and He would be called the Son of the Most High.  This could be none other than the long awaited Messiah. As the Son of the Most High, the Jews understood that to mean, equality with God.

    1:35  The child would be holy. Many children born, were then dedicated to the Lord, but He alone was born distinct from any taint of sin, wholly presentable to the Lord.  As the Son of God, He stood distinguished from all the sons of Adam, and is able to rightly represent God upon earth.

      The many complicated implications of the virgin conception may have caused others to flee from thus being used of God, but Mary submits to Divine purposes and worships.
       May we also worship HIM.  May we likewise know the grace of acceptance of the will of God, even if we don't understand how it will all work out - God does know!

      It is a delightful study to trace in the scriptures what the angels have said about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In particular in Luke 24 and Acts 1.  God's angels tell no lies.

Until we see His face, trust Him, love Him, Obey Him

John McKee

The book of revelation

               Some people avoid this book in an effort to avoid the effort of understanding mysterious symbols. I do think it unwise to pretend to understand it all, nevertheless the promise of blessing remains for all who read it. May I give you some compass pointers, so that you the reader may enjoy what it has to say.

        Firstly it is, and is to be seen as the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Please do not get distracted from the focal theme - the exalted, appearing Lord. We humans are very apt at being distracted by detail and missing the main theme.

         After a beautiful introduction of chapter one, the Lord is seen as the true and rightful judge among the churches. He alone has the prerogative to commend and condemn, to revive and remove, to promise and punish. Every believer should be discerning of good and evil with appropriate reactions, but HE alone has the exclusive and final rights to judgement. He does in these letters expect believers to act on truth and righteousness, but final recompense is in HIS hand.(22:12)

         Chapter 4 is not focused on the Lord of glory. but rather the context of His throne and the real cause and purpose for the existence of all things (V11).
         The throne room setting then moves into action. The judgements of God must be executed and the only one found worthy of such a task is the one in the midst of the throne - the 'Lamb' whose station is the 'Lion'. He has the official right and the moral right and the universal right to open the seals of judgement.  Horrendous as the judgements are, they must be viewed as the vindication of the almighty, as the almighty, and the vindication of Jesus for who He claimed to be - the Son of man able to take the throne of authority to save and to judge. Understanding this point of view makes the whole book precious.

           The picture of the dragon at work, the beast and the false prophet triumphing for a season, must be read in the brilliant light of chapter 11:15-18. This reminds me of Psalm 2 -God is still on the throne and final victory is His forever.

             The final chapters paint a magnificent picture of the victories of the prince of peace, the King of kings and Lord of lords. His awesome throne passes out final judgement to a rebellious world and the deceiver is delivered into his well deserved abyss.
              Beautiful language depicts the reward and residence of the redeemed with this climax  ---    the Lamb is the temple (for worship) and the Lamb is the Light (eternal day).

May the Spirit of the Lord thrill your soul with the present and future glories of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen   - even so come Lord Jesus.

jm

Can we trust the bible to be accurate

The question proposed deserves a full size book as an answer. I desire to present a few seed thoughts that will encourage faith in the Bible and maybe inspire deeper study.
          Any reader of the Bible will observe much of it is written as history. Included in the records are the good things that people did and also the bad things. Fiction books and hero books are written differently. It is very much a book that ' tells it as it is '. So then we ask is it historically accurate ?  There are so many stories that are referenced to times or rulers or places etc.

         The book 'The Bible and Archaeology' by Thompson has many recent findings to verify historical data. I give one example: The story of Sennacherib, king of Assyria besieging King Hezekiah in Jerusalem (686BC). Some questioned the historical accuracy until in 1880 the tunnel under the Jerusalem wall was discovered. The tunnel, cut through solid rock for 600 metres to the Gihon spring, had inscriptions on the tunnel wall of how it was built. This was built to enable the people to survive the siege of the city by the Assyrian king. Then was unearthed a clay prism in the old city of Nineveh, which described the same siege of Jerusalem !

         The New Testament is likewise full of time and location data. The Bible reference to the pavement (John19.13) appears to link to the unearthed stonework in Jerusalem today. The external evidence for Jesus and his death comes from the writings of Josephus (Jewish historian) and Tacitus (Roman historian 115AD). Both refer to Jesus the Christ, and that he was executed by Pontious Pilate the governor.

         Some one will interject that the Bible has been corrupted or copied erroneously. Sure, it still is corrupted by some, but 99% of the original text  is verifiable by various means. One convincing method is by the comparing of the more than 5000 copies held in museums etc. People committed to this cause do find variations, but by checkng the age, the language, the context of the copy etc, a very accurate text is possible Some of the copy fragments are very close to the time of writing ( 150 AD ), Hand copying has room for error, but copying and constant use of the copies has an inbuilt correction mechanism. Any changes will come to light and be exposed, just as we today are inclined to compare translations.

        Why did God not preserve the originals? I suggest, for the same reason that He hid the 'ark' of the Old Testament tabernacle  ---   lest the people worship it instead of HIM.

          Let us with confidence read the Bible as accurate and take the promises as solid rock for our faith  - for now and for the great hereafter.

J M (which translation - tell you later)

Fear not

A simple but rewarding concordance word study:

'Fear not'

Luke 1.13      'Fear not' - Zacharias -after so long, prayer is answered and the son is promised.
     
          1.30     'Fear not'  -  Mary chosen from among so many,  finds favour with God

            2.10     'Fear not' - Light in the night for the shepherds proclaims the best news of the ages.
   
              5.10      'Fear not'  - For Simon, the change of calling from fishing in water to fishing for men.

               8.50       'Fear not'  - Jairus, encouragement of faith in the presence of desolating death.

                 12.7       'Fear not'   - Disciples valued by God when not valued by men

                   12.32    'Fear not'  - believers as sheep-  values that lie in the eternal future, in the Fathers hand.

There are so many more  -  let your heart be settled and encouraged by the  "Fear not from the Lord himself

John McKee

Danger

On the journey of life there are many dangers. Let us be aware.

     The grace of God is one of the outshining actions of God, expressing the deeper character of love in action.  God chooses to bless, in spite of the unworthiness of the person - that's God's grace.

        Well according to Jude 4, some take that to mean, they can believe what they like and do what appeals to their human nature, and then claim God's blessing. Verse 4 "perverting the grace of God into sensuality and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ."

          God does indeed bless in spite of our unworthiness, but we ought not to" receive the grace of God in vain" (2 Corinthians 6.1).........................grace has an objective  -  to bring us to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ in worship and obedience.
          How serious to do "despite to the spirit of grace" ( Hebrews 10.29)

Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity.

J. McKee