A statute of a ship captain

            I've heard it been said, but haven't tested the theory, that in the eye of the hurricane there isn't any storm.  The air is calm and the sun shines.  It's seems amazing.  But that's grace!  If we can learn anything from that we can see that even in the roughest, fiercest storms, He can put a place a peace.  He can give you a moment of rest.  A time of refreshing.  He can let you see His light shining and feel His warmth. 

            He is in total control of what happens in our lives.  Even the storms.  But be patient, He not only can calm them, He can stop them.  He can just raise His hands and it will all be finished.  But what if He doesn't want to?  What if He just brings you a moment of rest and then throws you right back into it.?  Will you be angry? Resentful?  What if He wants you to ride the storm out?

            My father used to have one of those little wooden statues of a ship captain with one leg, a rain coat and a pipe dangling from his mouth.  The storms had gotten the best of him over the years, I'm sure.  But from the look of it he wasn't going anywhere.  He had his bright yellow rain coat on and matching hat.  He would make it through another one.  And it would add to his character.

            He does the same with us.  He wants to build character into us, His character.  And sometimes, it takes a storm to do it.

            So when you see the clouds coming and the wind starts picking up, put on you raincoat and that matching hat and look ahead to what will come from the storm rather than looking at the storm that's coming.

SDG

Israel and the Second Coming

There are two ways to enter heaven…

Both of them are through Jesus.  And both are in the plan of salvation.

“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Matt 10:32-33

Confess - homologeō: to say the same thing as another; to agree, to concede; not to deny

Deny - arneomai: not to accept, to reject, to refuse something offered

I was interested to find that a “way” can be more than just a path, but it can also be a plan.

In the record of heaven the Father has placed His signature, His seal, on clear commitments, covenants, and promise that have been made.  One was to Israel.  That He would be their God and they would be His people… forever.  He promised that Israel would be redeemed.

God’s plans are so much higher than ours.  His ways are so much greater than ours.  We could never understand them.  But that is okay…  He promised us peace that passes understanding.

In His infinite wisdom He laid a plan for all nations to be blessed, for all people – Gentile or Jew – to be saved AND that plan worked in unison with His plan for Israel.  For Israel to play the role He intended, for them to be here for His Return, for all of us who were not born into Israel in the flesh to become part of that family… He had to be rejected.  He had to be despised.  He had to be offered up.  And as God’s people, as His priests, the offering would only be accepted at their hands.  You see, God did not accept the offerings of other nations.  He did not accept the offerings that the priests of other gods would make.  He only accepted offerings from Israel, and the Passover Lamb had to be offered up by a High Priest.

Israel was expecting a conquering King.  They weren’t looking for a Suffering Servant.  They wanted their physical enemy defeated.  They weren’t thinking that the enemy the Anointed One, the Messiah would conquer would be death, and unseat the ruler of this dark age, that liar the devil.   They were the elder brother acting as though they were entitled to the whole house.  And they still our.

We, the Church, represent those who have accepted Christ.  We confess Him.

But Israel will get another chance.  It will not matter to Jesus when He comes again that they have not accepted Him yet, only that they haven’t denied Him when he returns.   You see, they will be here.  They will witness the Church having been removed.  They will see the antichrist come to power.  They will be tempted to accept him as their messiah when he comes in and does establish peace.  And that is why the scripture says that “even some of the elect” will be deceived.  “Elect” and “Chosen” are the same.  The “Elect”, the chosen people of God, Israel will once again be faced with the choice of who to take as their King; a man or God Himself.

“Those who come out of” the great tribulation will be those who did not deny Christ, who did not take the mark of the beast.  They waited for His coming.  They saw the imposter and would not confess him as their king.

To accept the antichrist would be to deny Jesus.  But to deny the antichrist, when he is revealed… can that be to not deny Jesus?

I firmly hold that prior to the rapture of the Church – the whole body of those who confess Christ and believe in Him, those who do not deny Him if asked to – can accept the blood of the Jesus as their own, as blood must be given, and be saved.

I also hold that after the rapture of the Church those who remain, since the wedding has already occurred, will no longer be able to accept Christ as we have.  The Holy Spirit having been removed from the earth, the serpent being let loose… those who remain will either accept the antichrist or deny him.  The only reason to deny the antichrist would be that you were waiting for the Messiah. 

Remember, blood must be shed… Israel knows this.  It represents the entire economy of the temple.  Sacrifice for sin.  Those who will not take the mark of the beast will give their lives because of it.  Their blood will be spilled.  And this is why we see them beneath the altar in Revelation.  “Coming out” of the great tribulation does not me “getting through” it means that they are that those who are a “result of’ the great tribulation.  These are those who did not deny that God is God and that His Messiah would be Israel’s king.

And those who are not Jews, not of Israel, during the great tribulation can join with Israel, just as we were able to be grafted in to the children of Abraham through faith, they will be able to be grafted in through sacrifice. 

Joseph’s brothers’ hearts were hardened against him and they betrayed him… yet, when he revealed himself to them the second time they came to Egypt, they rejoiced.

And so when Jesus reveals Himself to Israel, whose hearts had been hardened, “the second time” they will again rejoice.

What is the importance in all of this as we seek to be effective in our following Christ?  When we witness to our Jewish brothers, speak of when Christ will come again.  Assure them that the promise to Israel is still intact, that they are still the Chosen People.  We may be the called… but they ARE the chosen.  (“many are called, but few are chosen”)  Share the signs of the times with them so that they will not be among the “elect” that are deceived.

SDG

A simple sermon

            I couldn't have been more than seven years old.  It was then that I received one of the most simple yet profound sermons I have ever heard.  It was short and direct.  I remember every word of it.  It is a story I have told over and over and over and....  If you have known me for more than a day or so, chances are you have heard it.  But I'll tell it again.

            The church was my driveway.  The pew, a step ladder.  The pulpit, an oil pan.  And the preacher, my father.  As he was changing the oil in the car, I watched.  I don't know what made me say it.  Maybe I was jockeying for the "better son" status.  Whatever the reason, I meant it.  I looked at him and said, "Hey dad.  I love you.  With me, you are right up there with God."

            That's when the sermon came.  He got up from the driveway.  He was holding the oil pan.  He walked over to me and said, "I love you too pal.  But you can't love me more than God.  You have to love God more than me.  Okay?"

            I could tell he was sincere.  So I just said, "Okay."

            "You have to love God more than me."  The words echo in my mind.  But it wasn't just the words.  (At seven years old you can't really understand why your father would want you to love someone more than him.)  It was that act of turning my focus off of him, my earthly father, and onto God, my Heavenly Father, that was so profound.  It taught me a great lesson.

            If only we could keep our focus there.  Not on ourselves.  Not on our spouse.  Not on our job.  Not even (and I say this knowing how difficult it is) on our children.   But on Him.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart.  All your strength.  All your mind.  Above all else, love Him.  He deserves it.  He's got the scars to prove it.

SDG