New heaven and new earth

Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

In Genesis 1:1, it is written that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”.  Now here at the end of the Bible we read that a new heaven and a new earth will be coming, replacing what God originally created.  Note how similar these Revelation verses are to the following passage from Isaiah 65:17-19:   "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.  I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.”  Both passages prophecy a new heaven and a new earth.  What we know now about earth will someday disappear.  There will someday be no sea separating the land although some scholars interpret “sea” as all the vicissitudes and unpredictabilities of life that will no longer plague people on earth.  That will be true too. 

You cannot help but think about what Peter wrote in II Peter 3:10 where he predicts that “….the heavens will disappear with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up”.  The only thing that could cause destruction of the elements (assume that these are chemical elements like oxygen, nitrogen, iron, sodium, chlorine, etc) is a nuclear armageddon

Jerusalem will be the holy city.  It will be a new Jerusalem, a city fitting to be the bride of Christ.  Of course, the bride of Christ refers to the church---all Christian people who ever lived.  I cannot answer what about people of other religions and those of the Old Testament.  Only God knows.  Think of this imagery the next time you attend a wedding and see the bride walking down the aisle.

Can you believe that someday God will dwell with and live with you?  Heaven will not be some place in the skies, but right here on earth, the new earth.  He won’t be some spiritual being, never seen, only available through prayer.  He will be with you.  This thought is simply unimaginable, but it is true unless you don’t believe His Word.    

And, there will be no more death or any of the other aspects of what you have had to deal with on earth today.  You will never be sad, never be separated from anyone, never feel pain again, never have reason to cry and never experience evil.  If you are experiencing any of these troubles right now, be encouraged with hope that this will all end in eternity. 

What does all this mean to you, not only thinking of your own life, but also the lives of those closest to you on this earth?
 

Don't try to be someone you are not

Hebrews 11:24-27 (NLT)

It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. 

Hebrews 11 is the well-known faith chapter of the Bible.  Verses 1 and 6 are among the most quoted verses of the entire Bible.  Many examples of what faith means are written in this chapter.  One of those examples is Moses, whose faith is described in verses 24-27.     

Moses knew who he was and who he was not.  Leadership begins with understanding yourself.  Leadership does not begin with understanding the people you are trying to lead. You need to know who you are and you need to know who you’re not. You need to come to grips with your background.  You need to know your strengths and your weaknesses.  Moses knew that he was imperfect.  In fact, throughout the Bible, God used people with great weaknesses.  He uses people for His purposes in spite of their weaknesses.  If you avail yourself to Him, as Moses did (read again this passage), God will use you in some kind of leadership role.     

A major teaching here is that you are not to try to be someone you are not.  Moses had to choose whether to be the adopted grandson of the most powerful person in the world at that time or be a follower of the Lord.  He chose relative misery and a humble life over fame, fortune, and comfort.  Why?  He chose to be who he really was, the son of a Hebrew slave.  He did not choose to be somebody that he really wasn’t. 

I see this occasionally in my own life and I believe that most people deal with this.  You have a hard time accepting who you are, who God created you to be.  You pretend to be someone else.   Steven Jobs expressed this well in his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University:  “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

          

Moses chose not to waste his time living someone else’s life.  He knew who he was, he was not a phony.  So don’t you be one either.  Quit trying to be somebody you’re not.  Be yourself.  Be who God created you to be.  How do you do that?  It’s a mindset you develop.  You accept yourself.  You ask God to give you guidance.  Like everything else in the life of a Christian, it’s a faith issue.  Like Moses and all other faithful people listed in Hebrews 11, you choose faith in God and let Him take over your life and guide you.  When you know who you are you can serve God and through faith in Him serve others.  Humility, as Moses’ example demonstrated, comes easily when you know and accept who you really are, who God created you to be.  Otherwise, your life will always be filled with stress because of your phoniness.   Keep you eyes, your mind, your heart on the One who is invisible as Hebrews 11:27 says.  You will find peace and rest for our soul.

Permit the children to come to Me

Mark 10:13-14 (NASB)

And they begin bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” 

Jesus definitely has a very special place in His heart for children.  If you were fortunate to go to Sunday School as a child, you might recall all the stories you heard from the Bible about Jesus’ love for children.  Recall the story In Matthew 18:1-6.  The disciples asked Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus replied that children are the greatest.  His point was that children are humble and it takes humility to be part of the kingdom of heaven. 

Children represent Jesus Christ!  Jesus stated in Matthew 18:5 that “whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me”.  Children are humble in that they depend on others for their guidance, protection, even existence.  Perhaps the only time Jesus described Himself personally was in Matthew 11:29.  What did he say?  “…..for I am gentle and humble in heart…..”.  Humility describes Jesus, humility describes children, and humility must describe you if you are to consider yourself a member of God’s kingdom (Matthew 18:3). 

Jesus showed righteous anger (indignation) when He saw children mistreated.  Again, in Matthew 18:6, He stated that “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea”.  It is an extremely serious offense to do harm to children.  Doing harm to children is not only physical harm, but in doing anything that causes children to stumble in their faith in the Lord. 

I believe, although realize others might disagree, that these verses and those in Matthew 18:1-6 can give great comfort to parents who have lost infants or young children, that the souls of these children are with the Lord in heaven.  The kingdom of heaven belongs to all children, those who died too soon and those who have become young and old adults whose hearts are humble to accept and follow Jesus as Savior and Lord.  

Hopefully, your church emphasizes children’s ministries.  You must do your part to enable children to grow in their faith and never do or say anything that causes children to stumble.  This certainly includes your own children.  What are you doing personally to help your child(ren) increase in their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ?
 

Share this verse with my loved ones before I die

I Chronicles 28:9 (NIV)

As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

Written in my Bible, given to me by Texas Christian University students nearly 40 years ago, are these words by I Chronicles 28:9: “Remember to share this verse with my loved ones before I die.”  Now I must have written those words in my Bible many years ago as I don’t recall having studied Chronicles since my earlier days as a rededicated Christian where I read through the entire Bible.  As I read through my relatively new Bible back then, I would write down thoughts by many verses and passages that impacted my heart and soul then (and still do today). 

Why do I want to share this verse with my children (and now my grandchildren)?  Just as King David was writing to his son, Solomon, I am wanting my progeny to (1) know God as I’ve tried to know Him; (2) serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind as I have tried to do; (3) realize that the Lord searches everyone’s heart and understand every intent of everyone’s thoughts; (4) know that if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; and (5) be fully aware of the warning that if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.  Each of these reasons for why I want my children and grandchildren to be aware of this verse is loaded with sobering truth and power beyond belief.

I want my children and grandchildren and all others in my family to know God.  To know God means to “know Him by experience”.  It is not a casual knowledge, it is intimate knowledge that only can come from a consistent effort to worship, pray, study His Word, and follow His commandments. 

I desire my children and grandchildren to serve the Lord with a whole heart and willing mind.  The words “whole” and “willing” express the imagery of someone who is proactive and resourceful in his/her service, not a casual or lazy Christian.  Christian service is defined in Romans 12 that emphasizes Christian love for others.  God is always looking for the person who wants to do what Romans 12 teaches.  Such a person most definitely has a whole heart and willing mind. 

I hope that my children and grandchildren realize the truth that the Lord searches all hearts and understands every thought and every intent.  It takes great faith to believe in the Lord and His incomprehensible characteristics that includes omniscience, the power to know all things.

Finally, I pray that my children and grandchildren desire and know how to seek the Lord and never have any inkling to forsake Him.  It takes proactivity and devotion to seek the Lord, being a Christian is not being lazy. Seeking is pursuing and the primary way to seek the Lord is to devote quality time and effort to read His Word and understand it sufficiently to apply it in your life.  So to know how to seek the Lord is simply knowing how to discipline yourself to spend time studying the Bible and maintaining that commitment for the rest of your life.  A person who seeks the Lord in this way will never have any inkling to forsake Him.  But, a person who is lazy and does not put in the time and effort to get to know God by studying His Word and then applying it in your life is a person who risks forsaking God and being rejected by Him.  Why ever take that risk?

Only God knows the intents of the heart and can judge a person.  I can never judge my children and grandchildren whether or not they follow the truths of this verse.  I can only hope and pray for them and make sure that they know that this verse exists.  That’s why I wrote that I must share this verse with them before I die.  I hope that whoever reads this would feel encouraged to do the same thing with your loved ones.

Touching Jesus

Luke 8:43-50 (NLT)

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

   

I cannot imagine bleeding constantly for 12 years.  Perhaps women can imagine this better than men; it’s still incomprehensible.  It has been suggested that this woman suffered from anemia, certainly plausible since anemia is a deficiency of red blood cells.  Red blood cells contain hemoglobin and hemoglobin carries oxygen to organs and tissues so likely this woman was very weak, very desperate, and the only strength she had was to touch the edge of Jesus’ garment.

There are two phenomena in this story that intrigue me.  One is the fact that the woman only touched the fringe of Jesus’ robe and Jesus felt that touch.  The other is that such a slight touch caused such great healing power. 

Think about the fact that Jesus felt a slight touch of a desperate woman while walking or standing in a crowd of people.  As Peter said, a whole crowd was pressing up against Jesus, yet He felt the slight touch from a woman who had faith that such a touch would heal her.  To me, this teaches that it is not the quantity of faith, but quality that counts.  Now if the quantity of faith is all quality; that counts even more.  But, so often, sincere believers get into a spiritual rut where you go through the motions of faith without such faith meaning anything.  This happens especially when life is good and you don’t depend on the Lord for providing your needs everyday.  Lloyd Ogilvie, former chaplain of the US Senate, wrote an article entitled “Why Are Some Christians So Dull” that focused on “ho-hum” attitudes and lack of enthusiasm that affect so many Christians.  Three antidotes for escaping being a dull Christian are sincere Christian fellowship, active ministry of serving others, and sharing your faith with others. 

The significance of the woman’s slight touch causing great power from Jesus to heal her should hit you between the eyes.  Jesus is aware of everything!  Every faith-related activity in your life, no matter how small or seemingly unimportant, is known by the Lord and noteworthy to Him.  It may not seem this way to you or to others, but it is to Him.  Prayers and acts of simple faith result in amazing power from the Lord.  May your faith be like that of the woman’s in this story and that you may experience the same power from the Lord that she experienced.