2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Lord takes me on a quest for better understanding of some words used in the Scriptures that reveal more of God’s teaching to us about the solemn, binding nature of the Covenant of Grace. This is not to frighten us, but to help us understand why is it so important for us to keep up our end of the agreement. We don’t have to worry one second that God will keep up His. I truly believe that God wants us to feel privileged and joyful that we are participating in such a live-preserving agreement. The only ones who feel weighted down by this are people whose faith and trust in the Lord isn’t very strong.
One of the words that initially confused me was the use of the word, “sleep,” in the Scriptures. Read the words of AC 7: 51-60 toward the end of Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin (referred to as the “Council”-a committee of Jewish legal and religious leaders). “’How stubborn you are!’ Stephen went on to say. ‘How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God’s message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God’s messengers, who long ago announced the coming of His righteous Servant. An now you have betrayed and murdered Him. You are the ones who received God’s law, that was handed down by angels-you have not obeyed it!’” Verses 54-60 describe the stoning of Stephen while a young and approving Saul of Tarsus looked on. This passage is made all the more dramatic by what had happened just before Stephen began his speech and which was recorded in AC 6: 15, “All those sitting in the Council fixed their eyes on Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.” I believe this was brought about by the Holy Spirit and is God’s way of letting us know He was present. It seems clear to me that “sleep” in this context refers to resisting the Holy Spirit, persecution of the prophets, murdering God’s Servant, and general disobedience of God’s law. Another way of stating this is not living up to covenant agreements.
1 THESS 4: 13-18 gives us more illumination on the Biblical meaning of “sleep.” “Our brothers, we want you to know the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are those who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in Him. What we are teaching you now is the Lord’s teaching: we who are alive on the Day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. There will be the shout of command, the archangel’s voice, the sound of God’s trumpet, and the Lord Himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first; then we who are living at the time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. So then, encourage one another with these words.” This passage reveals that those in their graves who died in faith will be raptured first. That would indicate they are not in hell, but as the Bible puts it, “asleep,” awaiting this meeting in the air with Christ on their way to eternal life. If we are to believe the Scriptures, and I confess that I do, then we are being allowed to know that these are people who pleased God by keeping their covenant agreements with Him and were at the time of the rapture then going to receive the reward God had promised them. They are quite a different group of people from those who die physically and proceed on to the lake of fire and sulfur to be eternally tortured by second death.
This certainly takes us back to the truth that we will be rewarded in accordance with the choices we make. If we repent and are faithful in Christ, we will endure whatever challenges to our faith we must faith, being strengthened in it by this process. In the end, we will enjoy eternal life with the Father, because we kept our covenant promises. Alternatively, if we stray back into a lifestyle of sin, we will have to face the consequences of that, namely second or spiritual death. How much clearer can it be? With faithful people like Stephen who demonstrated courage before horrific challenges to his faith, God will surely reward them. Stephen’s physical martyrdom simply places him in God’s most honored category, those who will be the first to meet with Christ in the air and be ushered in first to the wedding feast of the Lamb. One question we might ask is: Why discuss this now? The answer to that has to do with our need to be evaluating the status of our own individual faith now. I am convinced that God wants us to be evaluating that with the help of the Holy Spirit frequently. This is not to place guilt on us or to make being a participant in the Covenant of Grace an extra heavy burden. Instead, it is to help us to be able to make any mid-course corrections that are possible to keep us on God’s right track for us. We can trust the Holy Spirit to let us know when and even how these mid-course corrections are to be made. It is God’s will that He always tell us the truth, and He obeys that.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to You with heads bowed in humility to ask You to direct the Holy Spirit to help us evaluate the state of our faith. It is likely that since we are sinners, improvements are needed. It is not enough to know they are needed; we need to know how to improve them. We acknowledge that the Holy Spirit can not only plead for us with You [RO 8: 26-27], but in addition, Your Son is our Advocate and Intercessor in heaven [HE 7: 25]. We know that You can guide us as to what we need to do through the Holy Spirit and will be diligent about listening to Him. We are weak, helpless, and without hope except as You give us faith. All that we have and all that we are comes from You. Your intent in having us evaluate the state of our faithfulness often is not to inflict guilt, but instead, to put us on the road to taking the actions and having the thoughts necessary to conform to the image of Your Son’s perfection. How blessed we are that You love us enough to show us this guidance, compassion, and mercy. We do not deserve it, but are grateful for it. The justice that You demonstrate by allowing those who died in faithfulness be first to meet with Christ in the air gives us hope and comforts us. We are in such good hands when we put our faith in You. Today, we offer You our utmost adoration, worship, loyalty, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise, and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at how the Covenant of Grace’s real beauty is giving us a way out of spiritual death. It is so difficult at times when bad things happen, particularly when it affects ourselves or someone close to us. Illness, accidents, sins that are not understood until terrible consequences happen, and the whole range of trouble that mankind encounters are often hard to understand. Some people even turn to God in anger, blaming Him for them in fits of emotion. Those of us who take the time to know God, also know that He is not the source of all this trouble; the adversary is. Instead, the Lord is our Refuge, our Rock, and our Redeemer. He is eager for us to turn to Him, because of his love for each of us. He is the best Friend we will ever have. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn