2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Fellow Believers,
In the two previous messages, we have looked at God’s sovereignty with regard to mankind’s conflict between flesh and the Spirit and some examples of mankind’s response to that sovereignty. Today’s message will deal with the judgment to which we all must submit and a recap of all that God is to us in preparation for that day. Paul reiterated the process of what goes on in this conflict in 2 COR 4: 16 and put realistic perspective on it in (17). “For this reason [God’s grace], we never become discouraged. Even through our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble.” Because we feel like we are in “the belly of the beast” in attempting to rebuff evil, cope with illness & pain, and reject temptations, it is hard for us to reach closer to God’s perspective that our flesh/Spirit conflict is “small and temporary trouble.” Yet, when we place it in the context of spiritual death, it most certainly is just that. God asks us to do what Paul discusses in 2 COR 4: 18. “For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what can not be seen lasts forever.”
The bottom line is expressed in 2 COR 5: 10. “For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by Him. Each one will receive everything he deserves, according to everything he has done, good or bad, in his bodily life.” This is the Judgment of the Faithful, which we can learn more about by reading MT 19: 27-28, 1 COR 9: 23-25, 1 COR 3: 10-14, and RO 14: 10b. I hope you will look up these verses. This judgment is not to be confused with the Judgment of the Condemned, an entirely separate matter.
The message of 2 COR 5: 5 is really the ultimate love message from our Abba. “God is the One Who has prepared us for this change [death of the flesh and coming alive in the Spirit], and He gave us His Spirit as the guarantee of all that He has in store for us.” Because this “Who Is God?” series is as long as it is, I feel it would be useful at this point to recap the names of God we’ve discussed so far. There will be more to come, for that is the path the Lord is leading me to take. The truth of 2 COR 5: 5 is the basis of why God leads me to take so much time getting to know Him.
We first looked at citations in which His name, “Elohim,” was used. Many of them were in early GN in the context of “Creator.” It will never cease to amaze me that “Elohim,” in Hebrew is pleural, and yet, traditional Jews still reject the idea that God is One in three persons. God is also “El Elyon,” the Most High God who is the sovereign power of the universe. He is “El Roi,” the God Who sees, whose perspective is so much higher than ours while at the same time wanting us to reach toward His view of things [IS 55: 8-9]. To that end, He gave us the word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit. God is also “El Shaddai,” the all-sufficient One. We do not need any other God, only Him. He can and does supply us with all our needs and equip us to eventually live in joy and fellowship with Him. He is our “Adonai,” our Lord. He is the source of what we need to know to live in peace amidst the world’s chaos, the Parent Who must sometimes correct us, and the Lord Who will eventually establish His eternal Kingdom with us and His Son as joint-heirs. He is “Yahweh,” the Lord and “Jehovah Sabaoth,” the Lord of Hosts. He is in charge of all living beings, including the righteous angels of heaven. His leadership and Lordship is always righteous. As our “Jehovah Jireh,” He is the Lord Who Provides. Just as He provided manna and water from the rock for the Jews wandering in the desert, He provides all we need too. He is “Jehovah Rapha,” the Lord Who heals a sin-weary world. His healing is both physical and spiritual, and He always wants us to seek Him out for it in openness, honesty, and humility. He is “I AM WHO I AM,” the self-existent One. He was there before the world was created. It was He Who sent His Son to do the work of the Creation and to bring reconciliation and salvation to the world. It is He Who, through Christ, will wrest dominion of the earth from Satan and put an end to evil. No other God is needed; He is Supreme!
Does it surprise you that God has so many names? There are still more for us to look at in upcoming messages. The depth of God’s love for us is nothing short of extraordinary. His desire for us to know Him is ample demonstration of that love. What He offers us is so far above and beyond the “small and temporary trouble” we must go through to arrive at it. We are blessed that God wants to be a continual Presence in our lives. He brings people we might never suspect would be capable of profound faith and obedience to Himself. Our lives are enriched when we watch Him at work in others. He is the God Who assigns His Son to judge us, knowing full well that that judgment will be right and just. Through the work of the cross, He grants us the open gate, albeit narrow, through which we can choose to walk following the path to eternal life. He is the One Who gave us the Bible, His very special love letter to us.
PRAYER: O Lord, while we deal day after day with the conflict between our flesh, which is dying, and the Spirit Who is coming alive in us, we can easily lose sight of how “small and temporary” a trouble this is. You love us enough to desire to be a continual Presence in our lives. You alone have the self-sufficiency and capability to provide us with all that we need to be victorious in our dealings with the evils of the flesh. While You understand that we are sometimes suffering, frustrated, and angry, You equip us to fight this battle to victory. To that end, You provide us with the tools we need not only to fight that battle, but to choose attitudes and actions that will lead us to eventual perfection in preparation for the time when the Lord Jesus will call us to a meeting in the air. Through the sacrifice of Him on the cross, You made the choice to be righteous available to us. That is the gift of Your grace, which You loved us enough to provide for us. Through the Scriptures, prayer, and the Holy Spirit, You give us instruction, correction, encouragement, a model to follow, a method for two-way communication, and direction toward serving You. By bringing us into congregations, You have provided us with faith-building experiences and relationships, love, and more encouragement. You also have given us the privilege of joining You in Your work. We dedicate ourselves to making You the Lord of our lives and to bringing others into the loving and life-giving warmth of Your embrace. Today, we offer You our adoration, worship, honor, glory, loyalty, trust, obedience, praise, and thanks in humility. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will begin looking at God as “Jehovah Nissi,” the Lord is My Banner. We do not confront evil, illness, and temptation alone. When we turn to Him, our Lord is there for us. Sometimes, He is there even when we don’t know enough to turn to Him, although it is always better for us to know that we should do this. Our compassionate Lord knows that we suffer and feels for us. Yet, He equips us to stand firm in our faith knowing that the reward for doing this is eternal joy and fellowship with Him. From our point of view no goal can be more important than this one. We are called to join Him in His work of bringing as many people to faith as possible. This call is both a blessing and a privilege that comes to us out of His grace and love. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn