The holiest of all

In my meditations I have been reading John chapter 17. It seems to be like entering the holy of holies ( which was part of the tabernacle on the OT). Also like entering the throne room of heaven (Revelation 4,5).
For those interested I include a link to a "tabernacle" site worth perusing.

http://the-tabernacle-place.com/articles/what_is_the_tabernacle

May the Lord direct you to see the compass of scripture pointing to the Lord Jesus again.


John McKee

Faith, Love , Obedience

"If you love Me, keep my commandments."  John 14:15

           For some people, it seems out of character to hear the Lord Jesus talk about commandments. Others start counting up the commands in order to merit a blessing. 

When we acknowledge that this is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of God, this is quite appropriate that He command. He who could command the dead (Lazarus) to arise, not only has the moral right to command the living, but in keeping with His character He must needs command, otherwise we are left to wander in darkness. The words of His mouth, directly and through His apostles, are the light in our spirits to worship, light in our souls to love and light upon the pathway of life that we may follow the great shepherd of our souls.

       The authority of our commander remains complete and although his commands are not inscribed in stone, His commands are not less important. Rather He often framed His commands within the moral power of example. This is exemplified in John 13 – His command to wash one another’s feet, follows him actually doing it Himself. The command to love one another, is qualified  by “as I have loved you”.

        Perhaps the most significant command given for the crowds who listened to Him was : “That ye believe on the one whom God has sent.” ( John 6). Obeying this command is the beginning of a relationship that takes all His commands seriously. The one who is born of God  obeys God, not out of compulsion, but because of love within the relationship. The apostle John in his letter writes of commands, but emphasises that the obedience of love cast out fear. The obedience of love welds the relationship as children of God and develops the maturity as sons of God.

         I implore my readers to be sure your hope for eternity is not resting upon self effort, or obedience to commandments ( Law principle). But to let your hope for a place in the Father’s house be assured by your faith in a person. He was once crucified, but having risen from the dead, He lives with ultimate authority, in heaven and on earth. Let us bow low at His feet, and give Him the allegiance and submission He deserves. Well might He say “If you love me, keep my commandments”. 

        If you find obedience to His commands distasteful, I suggest you look deeply for the cause – do you know Him, do you love Him?

John Mckee

Liberty and responsibility

John 12:47 records some very significant words.

“If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”

       In terms of judgement, He does not dissolve it, but refers to it as the ‘judgement on the last day’. His mission on His first coming was rather to bring light, like the rising of the sun. He also indicated that upon His departure, the light would not shine as when He was present.(v36)

        The verse quoted brings us to the concept of Christian liberty. This is distinctly relevant in a changing world that considers Christians as cowards because we do not defend Christ with a sword. People blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ and we don’t stone them. People can burn the Bible and we don’t imprison them – How come?

      Just as the Master said – the heavenly message and message is not imposed upon people against their will –they can believe or not believe. Freedom is to obey or not obey. (this does not imply freedom from consequences). Under Moses law, conformity was expected, but persons qualified to execute that law were effectively non existent (John 12) . 

       Under Christian grace,  the acceptance of light , truth, is a matter of choice. However, that does not indicate that there will be no consequences. In fact in this very discourse  the Lord Jesus Christ declares there will be a day of accountability.

     These principles relate to Christianity in society, but more so to the responsibility of each individual before God.

God sends light (illumination), predominantly in the person of Jesus Christ. We may believe or reject this light. To believe is to ‘come into the light, come into relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, come into relationship with God as Father in through active power of the Holy Spirit, with eternal consequences – acceptance into the Fathers house forever.

     To reject this light, is to choose to be without God in this world and the world to come. It is the typical Australian response ‘ just leave me alone’. This leads not only to ignorance, but eventually to independence  of God that is best described by the great lover of our souls – “outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8.12). Isaiah put it clearly “They have chosen their own ways”

      Yet today is the moment of opportunity:

The Son of God says: “Believe in the light that you might become sons of light”       (John 12.26)

 God chose to give us liberty along with responsibility.

JRM

Question above questions

The Question      ‘Do you know the Lord?’

      Whether it be in life or the life to come, the answer to this one question determines the direction and destiny of a persons’ life. Some people know a lot about Jesus, but the point of relationship is to know Him, to believe in Him, to trust Him, to obey Him.  He is indeed the Lord, the Saviour of all who ‘call upon Him’. Although He is so great (the creator of all), He is not a distant , unknowable deity, but rather by His Holy Spirit, He is the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep, each one, and can be known by them.

“My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow Me” John 10.27

This acquaintance with the shepherd is beautifully expressed in Psalm 23. David the shepherd, looked up, and as a dependant sheep, and said the “Lord is my Shepherd.”

 

        Another example of this intimacy of the divine with the creature, is in the story of Mary the sister of Lazarus. Mary was the quieter one who let the Lord be in charge. When Lazarus her brother died, it was the Good Shepherd who saw her deep grief and wept with her. This points to the divine sympathy of the Lord Jesus expressed in human tears. John 11.

In the next chapter, the unmeasurable love of the Great shepherd is rewarded  with the devotion of the sheep – Mary takes a very expensive bottle of ointment and pours it on the feet of the Lord Jesus. Judas calculated this use of the ointment to be waste, but He who knew and appreciated the love of Mary, accepted this token of worship as the true priority of worship.  Many there are today who claim to follow the shepherd, but few give Him the true intimacy and devotion of heart for which He longs.

       The last book of the Bible has this revealing invitation:

“Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and will open the door, I will come in to him/her and will eat with him, and he with Me”  Revelation 3:20

       I plead with my readers to settle for nothing less.

  The seriousness of knowing Him is found in the prophetic statement of the Lord Himself.

“ Then will he say to them, depart from me I never knew you” Matthew 7:23

      Is it any wonder that the burning ambition of Paul was:

“That I might know HIM........................”  Philippians 3:10

johnmckee@internode.on.net

Jesus the peacemaker who divides

Jesus – the peacemaker

The grace of Christ unites (all who accept Him)

The truth of Christ divides (evil from the good)

So many people sing with gusto –“ Peace upon earth and goodwill toward men”. And so it is that the prince of peace came to Bethlehem. He it was who said “Blessed are the peacemakers”.

How then does this fit with the fact that for 2000 years He has been a great cause of division and strife? The answer is two fold :

1^st  the opposition to Him under the influence of the god of this world – Satan – is very real. For example – Herod the king, very quickly gave in to jealousy and had all the children of Bethlehem slaughtered, in his attempt to eliminate the child that was born ‘King of the Jews’. So much today remains an attempt to crush the Name of Jesus Christ and His followers.

2^nd is the age old problem of unbelief. The Lord of glory came to earth in humility so that all people could believe in Him of their own choice, and not as a matter of dominance in religious or political power. He presented Himself in meekness, yet with signs of proof and words of heavenly truth. Through faith in Him, peace with God was enacted, but unbelief  in Him left the people estranged to God . Unbelief has the normal effect of inciting persecution toward the believers.

So the critical thing to note in the matter of ‘peace’, is the persons involved i.e. the most important peace, is peace between God and mankind. Only through the Son of God, and only by His death is there peace with God for we who have disobeyed God. Love initiated the sacrifice of Jesus and grace implemented the blessing of the cross. His blood shed made atonement before the throne of God to bring peace instead of wrath.

“Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our 

Lord Jesus Christ” Romans 5:1

Peace among people is quite different. An ongoing conflict is between Jews and Gentiles. For 3000 years this conflict has raged and on a human level seems unsolvable. The Bible answer is once again the cross. When Jesus Christ is accepted, all , Jews and Gentiles find their nothingness and their everythingness at the cross.

“That He might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” Ephesians 2:16 . Thus God is putting together all people as a house of praise in perfect harmony and Peace.

The angels wonder at the glory of this, but sadly unbelief scoffs at God’s method and then wonders why this world is not a place of peace.

This is just where the United Nations mission has failed the very purpose of it’s existence. By eliminating Christ and the Gospel, the very means of peace is lost. The tragic violence in the world today with increasing persecution of Christians demonstrates the the UN has lost its way. Australia has like so many nations, fallen into the trap of the Devil with the idea that everyone is a independent, responsible to no-one but themselves. This destroys authority, morality and spirituality.

“Every man does that which is right in his own eyes” ( Judges)

The real wonder is that the creator does not come in with a flood of fire to destroy such  insult and anarchy . ( He did flood the world once for this). But such is the character of God – in patience waiting for mankind to repent and turn again to the Prince of Peace.

John McKee

P.S. I should have pointed out the vast difference between “peace” and tolerance. “peace” and compromise. “peace” and truce. ”peace” and ceasefire. “peace” and isolation. True peace is about reconciliation, acceptance, unity, understanding and sharing.

God has spoken in His Son

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days He has spoken to us through His SON.  Hebrews 1.1

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting His own ideas: He will be telling you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever He receives from me.   John 16:13 NLT


Dear friends,do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God.  1 John 4:1

Listening to God

The wonderful honour of speaking for God, is only for those who listen to God.