The Picture of our Savior

The book of Revelation might be the most controversial book in the Bible for our culture. Best selling books have dramatized it and evangelists have taught crusades with charts and graphs of the perceived future. Great biblical scholars have refused to write on it because it is so complex (it’s the only book in the Bible John Calvin did not write a commentary on). Yet, it has so much practical value for normal day-to-day living. I will address some different perspectives on the book in next week’s writing, but today I want to look at the picture of Christ, which dominates the beginning of Revelation.

I’ve read that the most important thing about any of us is the image of God we carry in our hearts, for the quality of our lives is determined by the way we think of Him. That could be the big idea for the book of Revelation, a revealing of who Christ is. Eugene Peterson, translator of “The Message” says, “The Revelation gives us the last word of Christ, and the word is that Christ is center and at the center.” No other book in the Bible gives us a more inviting and overwhelming picture of Jesus. Here is Jesus as He really is. Jesus alone is worthy of our adoration, our affection, and our allegiance.

John, the apostle, starts the book out by describing two aspects of Jesus. The love he has for us, and the authority over everything He brings with him. “To Him who loved us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father - to Him be glory and power for ever and ever.” (Ch. 1:5). There is nothing that can inspire our hearts to gratitude, and change the way we live, than the love of God and the authority of His words.

Look at the picture of Jesus as the Almighty. “His eyes were like a blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars and out his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.” (Ch. 1:14-15). In Chapters 4-5 we see the picture in heaven of the awesome authority of Christ. “Our Lord and God you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you created all things because of your will they exist and were created.” (Ch. 4:11).

It was a big deal for the early church to hear this and to know the authority of Jesus. In their world, Caesar was lord. At the time of John’s writings the people of God and the world were involved in a deadly conflict. Intense spiritual warfare was escalating. Persecutions were regular occurrences and they were widespread. There were heresies popping up in the church, and distortions of the gospel. There were powerful false teachers, sexual enticement and the lures of cultural acceptance affecting the early church (all of this is spelled out clearly in the seven letters to churches in Chapters 2 and 3). The early church was in an extremely hard place and the only thing that could help was a picture of their overcoming King. The people of God do not need to be paralyzed with fear as they live in a hostile world, even when they face martyrdom in the coliseum of Rome, or persecution in the business world today, or on the school campus. Our God has installed His King and He will prevail.

Tips for Reading- (Application tip # 9)

Note: This section is help for Bible Reading in general. It has been building throughout the year under the topics of Observation (what the Scripture says), Interpretation (what it means) and Application (what it means to your life). Feel free to look back over past weeks to get the whole picture.

Having a good theological framework is important for understanding biblical truths. Some people say they are not interested in theology, they just want to read the Bible. But the truth is, the Bible can be a violin or a fiddle depending on who is holding it. Most cults use the Bible to prove erroneous doctrine, and sometimes it’s hard to discover where they are wrong.

Our personal Bible studies can be a place where the Holy Spirit leads us into truth. A great application question to help us in this area is, “Is there an error in my own theology I need to mark?” For example, in our reading this week, the book of Jude examines false teachers that have come into the church, “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Vs. 4).

The error discussed above is called Gnosticism, and it means a view that all flesh is bad and all spirit is good. John addressed this same issue in I John last week. These false teachers said, since the flesh is bad we might as well give into it and then ask for forgiveness, since we are going to sin anyway. This is an example of an error in theology. Paul says in Romans 6 that we should not have this perspective.

Thus, we should be on the lookout for things Scripture teaches that we ourselves didn’t believe. The scriptures serve as authority over us to guide us into truth. What truths will we learn this week in Revelation?

Notes from David’s Journal

The book of Revelation is one of the most intriguing books in the Bible. There are dozens upon dozens of interpretations given through the ages. I'll not attempt to offer a new one. I'll simply ask you to read it, knowing John wrote in apocalyptic language understandable to faithful Jewish Christian people. Bottom line: he wanted to offer them hope amidst persecution. His most central focus, obviously, was the Second Coming of Jesus. He wanted all Christians everywhere to put their trust in the sovereign Lord of the universe, who knew His people's suffering and had all the world's calamities under His control - especially the future!

Revelation 1-3 are visions/revelations from Jesus to John (the Revelator!) to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Interestingly, Marilynn and I have actually visited the ruins and excavations of these churches. They all, at one time or another, really loved and worshipped the living, Lord Jesus Christ. However, as is often the case over time, their enthusiasm waned for several different reasons.

As you read these revelations from John to these churches, see if you can pick out some of the same crises existing in the American church today. Notice the Spirit's harsh rebukes of legalism to one church and licentiousness to another. Both are extremes foreign to the Gospel of grace. Notice another rebuke is one church having lost its first love. Remember the day you first met and fell in love with Jesus? How easy it is to move back under the world's system of values and influence. How easy it is once again to believe the evil one's lies that something in this world can satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. We all need to ask the question, "Do I love Jesus today with the same intensity I did the first time I fell in love with Him?" There are also cautions about a mere intellectual faith that has no heart interest.

Again, read through the letters to the seven churches. Find yourself in these letters. Would John have rebuked you or me for any of these reasons? After all, not much changes under the sun through the years. The same temptations of the early church are ours today.

In Revelation 3:20, Jesus is saying to all of us, "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears and responds, I will enter." Please notice that Jesus is speaking to the church, to you and me. He wants to enter every day, every hour, into every place in our lives and hearts. The question is the supreme question of the ages: Will we let Him?

I pray you and I will.

Meeting the Author

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut, became the first human in space and the first to orbit the Earth. Speculations in the media suggested that from orbit Gagarin made the comment, "I don't see any God up here." Who knows if he really said that from space, but the Russia leader, Nikita Khrushchev did say, “Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any God there.” Is this the way we are supposed to look for God, as if He is on another floor of the building and if we look real hard we can see him?

C. S. Lewis described it more like the relationship between Hamlet and Shakespeare.
In other words, the only way the character Hamlet could have any interaction with Shakespeare, or know anything about him, would be for Shakespeare to reveal himself in the book. Well that’s exactly what Jesus Christ did.

As our creator, He became man and showed us who God really is. 1 John 1:1-4 says,

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his son, Jesus, Christ,”

The difference between the gospel and every other world view is in the above passage:
1) “The life appeared.” In other words, the eternal God that existed before time came to our world. Jesus is God Almighty and this is an exclusive truth.

2) “Our hands have touched - this we proclaim.” God came to rescue and restore that which was lost. This shows the heart of God. He was not at a distance looking in, but close enough to touch. It shows his perspective of our bodies, worth restoring to their original states, now in salvation and in the future with an eternal heaven and earth. If this is His perspective of the world, it should show itself through us as servants of God in this world, working with our Savior to restore and renew.

3) “Our fellowship is with the Father.” Lastly, we see grace. The relationship we don’t deserve freely offered. This should humble us and cause us to be gracious to all those whom God is pursuing.

Enjoy looking for these three themes throughout the book of 1 John, you will find them everywhere.

Tips for Reading- (Application tip # 8)

Note: This section is help for Bible Reading in general. It has been building throughout the year under the topics of Observation (what the Scripture says), Interpretation (what it means) and Application (what it means to your life). Feel free to look back over past weeks to get the whole picture.

Someone once said, “It’s not what others think about you, or even what you think about yourself. But what you think You Are.” That means it’s very important what our thoughts are focused on. So, the next application question actually leads to an activity that can help with our thinking; “Is there a verse to memorize?”
The reason this is so important is when we memorize something it becomes part of our hearts. For example, I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will for give us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” What a great verse to have in your heart when you have fallen!
Another good memorization verse from this book is I John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Great to know nothing can separate you from the gift of eternal life God has given.

Any verse can be memorized, but some carry more significance in certain situations. It’s great to ask yourself as you are reading through the Bible, which verses are speaking to you. Write them down and work on them. You can even list longer passages or chapters. I memorized the book of Philippians when I was a teenager and still to this day can quote a lot of the verses. It’s amazing what God can bring back to your memory.

Notes from David’s Journal

It is purported that John wrote the Gospel of John and these three epistles on his deathbed with his disciples gathered around him. Supposedly, he whispered to all of them right before he died these words: "Little children, love one another." No one actually knows if this legend is true or not, but it certainly expresses the theme of first, second and third John.

Notice the constant adjurations from John to love one another. He says if we love Jesus, we will love one another. Love is the preeminent virtue. Since God is perfect love, how can we say God lives in us and not love that which He loves the most: people!

The other image John constantly uses is God is light. Have you ever been in a dark place and yearned for some kind of light? You trip over obstacles, perhaps even fall, and light is your most precious desire? In our dark world, God has given us His light through Jesus! He came to show us the path to Godliness, but also the way home to Him. When His light lives in us, we become, as Jesus stated in Matthew 5, the "light of the world." We are God's light to others resting in darkness, those who no longer want to trip and fall and want to know the way home.

God is light and love. Those are the two adjectives used by John to describe God in these letters. As you read them, fall in love once again with the character of God. He loves you so much. Jesus' death and resurrection prove it. He is our light in a dark world. In Him alone rests our hope...and our eternal home!

Good News keeps being good

I read somewhere that the good news is we are worse than we think we are, and God’s grace is more lavish than we expected. We find this to be true of Peter in this section of our Bible reading. Look at the beginning of John 21. We read about the in between time when Jesus has arisen from the dead, and the disciples have seen him yet they are not sure what they are to do next. For Peter it must have been an unbearable time because he had denied knowing Jesus in his darkest hour. This seems to be a time of mystery, confusion and indecisiveness. So, Peter makes a plan; “I’m going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’” (Vs. 3)

What do you do when you are not sure what your next step should be? What do you do when you know you have made a terrible mistake and don’t know how to make it right? We usually do something to artificially grab control of the situation, to make us feel better. Peter went fishing. It was what would make him feel like he had control again. But, even at fishing things didn’t go well and they weren’t successful at all. Then Jesus shows up.

Jesus gives the boys a common grace first. He helps them catch fish. He makes breakfast for them. He doesn’t even chastise them for going back to the old way. He meets them where they are. Then he comes to Peter with restorative grace. Three times he asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these? (Maybe “these” is referring to the fish he has gone back to). Three times Peter responds back in the affirmative and three times Jesus gives Peter a job to do, a commission, “Feed my sheep.” As Peter’s denial in John 18 was threefold, so also are these steps of restoration. I’m sure it hurt Peter very much by the procedure. But while Jesus here gladly restores a broken disciple who has disowned him, he makes him face his sin, declare his love, and receive a commission.

This story reminds me of the book, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” in the Chronicles of Narnia series. A boy, Eustace, turns into a literal dragon paralleling the beast he has been acting like. When Aslan, the lion (and Christlike figure) comes to restore Eustace to a new self, he has to tear the dragon skin off of him. It is extremely painful and yet joyous at the same time.

God wants to do the same thing with us today. Whatever we have done to distance ourselves from God and whatever we are tempted to turn to instead of Him, will not keep him from offering us the good news again today. We are always the ones going back to the fishing hole and He is always the One calling us back to the breakfast table of his grace and sending us out in love to “feed the sheep.”

Tips for Reading- (Application tip #7)

Note: This section is help for Bible Reading in general. It has been building throughout the year under the topics of Observation (what the Scripture says), Interpretation (what it means) and Application (what it means to your life). Feel free to look back over past weeks to get the whole picture.

The truth is, the good news that was passed to Peter is passed to us constantly. But, for us to grow as believers we have to remember we must stay connected to the Vine. Jesus said in John 15:5, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” This next application question is very important, “Is there a Prayer to repeat?” In fact, John 17 is a whole chapter on Jesus praying for Himself, for His disciples and for all believers. It’s a good place to get used to asking this question and modeling your own prayers after those in the Bible. Martin Luther modeled his prayers after the Psalms. We will be there in a few weeks and will have lots of examples to choose from.

Notes from David’s Journal

John 14-17 are very interesting verses to study. As you read them, remember they are stated the night before Jesus is going to die. These are His last thoughts before He faces the Cross. Imagine your own last words to those whom you love the most on this side of eternity. Wouldn't they express your heart's deepest desires? They would mine. And I think they do for Jesus.

A few thoughts as your read these chapters. Notice the teachings on the Holy Spirit. These are probably the New Testament's clearest teachings on the Holy Spirit, who He is, His work and purpose. Notice too the incessant calls to love and obey. Someone once said the entire teachings of Jesus could be reduced to those few words: love Jesus and do what He tells us to do. Notice also, especially in chapter 17, Jesus call to unity among believers. I've often wondered how many prayers are not answered because of our disunity among one another. Finally, please note how Jesus says we are in Him as He is in the Father. The implication is clear: if we are in Christ and He is in us, we are now in the Father, God's very presence in us and us in Him. It's a sovereign mystery but amazing nonetheless.

The rest of John describes the Crufixion and Resurrection of Jesus. Chapter 21, the restoration of Peter, is a beautiful resurrection narrative. Peter denied Jesus three times. Note how many times Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" One for every denial. We cannot "outsin" the grace of God. The Resurrection proves how much God loves us. Our sin cannot defeat His eternal love. That story on the banks of the Sea of Galilee always makes my heart sing. Jesus pursuing Peter. Peter repents and is restored to ministry. God's grace wins!

We began John by me saying it's my father's favorite Biblical book. Billy Graham's too. I hope you've enjoyed it too.

Jesus brings new life everywhere

Famous church father, St. Augustine once said, “When Jesus loved the leper, he made me beautiful.” In other words, as we see Jesus interact with folks, we should see a similar heart that He has toward us. An example of this is in one of our readings this week – John 11 (my favorite chapter in the Bible). John 11 is about a friend of Jesus’ named Lazarus and his sisters. Let’s try to read it through the eyes of our own story.

“The sister’s sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord the one you love is sick.’ When He heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified through it. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days.” (Vs. 3-5).

This is a true assessment of our lives - we are “worse than we think we are.” We are more broken, needy and self-preserving than we want to admit even to ourselves, and God’s love is more lavish than we could ever have expected it to be. It’s also true that through faith our “sickness will not end in death,” but in victory through the love of Jesus Christ shown strongly at the cross. But why does Jesus seem to take His time when we need His help? Somehow His timing is to His glory, and it makes us totally dependant on Him.

So, what do we do when life is not working out the way we think it should? In the story, there are different ways of dealing with our disappointments. Martha ran right out to Jesus when He arrived after Lazarus died and questioned Him. Her sister Mary stayed inside. I’m assuming one went straight to God for the truth and was mad, and the other sat and stewed for a while and was sad. Notice how Jesus responds to them. He does not reject either one of the women, but He does help them in different ways, based on what He thought they needed.

To Martha, He tells the truth, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (Vs. 25). When he sees Mary, Jesus responds with compassion, “Jesus wept” (vs. 35). Both of His interactions are full of love, but they look different. And what about those witnessing the scene? After Jesus raises Lazarus, He calls the disciples to “take his graves clothes off.” Jesus does for them, what they cannot do for themselves and He calls them to join in where they can. Author, Max Lucado, explains this is like a father putting a swing set together for his child, and then allowing the child to tighten the last screw so the child can say they worked together. God calls us to see ourselves as the Lazarus’, Mary’s and Martha’s, and to love the same when we see them in need.


Tips for Reading- (Application tip # 6)

Note: This section is help for Bible Reading in general. It has been building throughout the year under the topics of Observation (what the Scripture says), Interpretation (what it means) and Application (what it means to your life). Feel free to look back over past weeks to get the whole picture.

Let’s move away from our series of applications for this week. Instead, let’s attempt to read the stories ahead of us just like we read John 11. Where do you see yourself and your neighbors?

Notes from David’s Journal

John 8 has some of the most interesting teachings about who Jesus is and who the devil is. Clearly, Jesus says the devil is the "father of lies.” He is the great deceiver, the one who constantly whispers lies in people's ears about life, purpose, happiness and meaning. He condemns, reminding us of our old nature when we've truly been born anew, now possessing a completely different nature! One of the great Christian disciplines is what I call the simple truth test. When you are tempted to do something that causes pause, ask the question: Is this true? Is what I'm about to do from Jesus or the devil, is it true or a lie? One comes from one source. The other from the exact other source.

Second, Jesus makes one of the most powerful assertions about His eternal identity in this chapter. The Jews enter into a debate with Jesus about Abraham being their father (thus causing the above reference of Satan being the father of lies). Remarkably, Jesus says that before Abraham ever existed, "I AM." It's a clear reference to His identity being God, for God is the One who named Himself before Moses at the burning bush. As Moses asked Him whom he should say sends him to Pharaoh and the freeing of Israelites, God says, "Tell them I AM WHO I AM" sends you. The name was so holy it couldn't be uttered without fear. Yet Jesus calls Himself, "I AM," a claim to divinity. We may not think that's what He was doing, but the people around Him knew. They picked up stones at the end of chapter 8 to kill Him, the natural consequence for anyone who blasphemed God.

As we all read this claim to divinity, we all must ask: Was Jesus delusional? Was He a liar? Or is He really who He says He is? Those are the only three options I can see. Your answer to this question has eternal consequences.

That's largely why John 8 is so important.