TWO PERTINENT STATEMENTS BY THE LORD JESUS
10 July
John, in his gospel, recorded two incidents where Jesus made two significant statements (declarations) to two individuals who were close to him.
The first was to Martha, a sister of Lazarus, when Jesus met her after Lazarus had died and was in the tomb for 3 days.
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live..”.(John 11:25)
Martha had a somewhat vague and faltering expression of her belief in the resurrection at the last day and Jesus’ reply was astounding. In effect, Jesus was saying that he has the keys of life and death in his hands; and the person who believes in him, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in him shall never die.
Many Christians do not feel the inward peace they desire or the assurance and comfort in God as they approach death or the subject of death. The vague and indefinite views of Christ are often the cause of their perplexities. They must try to see more clearly the great object on which their faith rests. They must grasp more firmly His love and power toward them who believe, and the riches He has laid up for them even now in this world, and the world to come.
The Lord Jesus was declaring that eternal life and the resurrection to eternal life are in Him; those who believe in Him (and are united with Him by the Spirit) have eternal life and will live eternally in Him even though they die; and those who live by believing in Him (continuous tense) will never die (eternally separated from Him and condemned).
It is being in Christ, and Christ in us, which grants us life with the Triune God! Elsewhere, John wrote that he who has the Son (Jesus) has life, and he who does not have the Son does not have life! Although we die physically (and all will die, irrespective of our status or position, as a result of sin and rebellion against God), those who believe in Jesus will live eternally and not die (spiritual separation from God).
The eternal life is not ours just because we attend church regularly; it is not even ours though we have been serving many years in the church; it is not ours even though we may be baptised – it is ours only if we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Repentance and faith in Christ lead to regeneration and being ‘born again’, resulting in us being united with the Lord Jesus, and being adopted as children of God.
The second incident and statement are in John 14:6:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me”. This declaration was made to Thomas, one of His disciples who asked, ‘ We do not know where you are going, how then can we know the way?’
Jesus’ reply was that He is the way – the way to heaven and peace with God. He is not only the guide, and teacher, and law-giver, like Moses. He is Himself the way, the ladder and the road, through whom we must draw near to God.
He declared also that He is the truth – the whole substance of true religion which the mind of man requires. Without Him, the wisest heathen groped in gross darkness, and knew nothing rightly about God.
He is the life – the sinner’s title to eternal life and pardon, the believer’s root of spiritual life and holiness, the surety of the Christian’s resurrection.
Let us grasp and hold fast to these truths. If we do, we need not doubt or be fearful when physical death knocks on our doors. We know it is not the end, but the beginning. But should there be any doubt, any uncertainty, let us make sure that we believe in Christ and not just know about Him, or think highly of Him.
NO LONGER AWESTRUCK AT THE GREATNESS OF GOD
11 July
Ours is a generation which is no longer awestruck by the greatness of the Triune God and His glorious plan of Salvation. Conversely, we indulge in great thoughts of humanity, the leaps and bounds of technology, the advancements of IT, the exploration of the vastness of space and the universe.
Ironically, we also dwell on improving our weapons of war, concentrating on nationalism, our economy, our heights of achievements in Science, our ability to destroy human lives, inflicting suffering and pain, famine, destroying the ecology of earth (including damage to climate, various species) and ensuring we are at the top at the expense of others (whether it be persons or nations or those with different ideologies).
Christians also(often by name) are involved in such thoughts and understanding; our time will surely go down in history as the age of the God-shrinkers – we tend to have scandalously small thoughts of God and unwarrantedly great thoughts of man and humanity.
For those who know God’s revelation in the Bible and also know God personally and experientially in their lives – there is a vast difference in understanding and appreciation of the truths about the Triune God and His great plan of salvation:
There are convictions in the belief of God’s sovereignty and omniscience, the majesty of His moral law and the terror of His judgment, the retributive consequences of the life we live here and the endlessness of the eternity in which we will experience, along with belief in the intrinsic trinity of God and the divinity and personal return of Jesus Christ. For many today, such beliefs and convictions are so eroded that they are hardly discernible, even in the churches; nowadays, God is no more than a smudge.
The Apostle Peter wrote:
“Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own desires… But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly…..But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be. You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. The day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:3, 5-7, 10-13 TNIV)
This day is nearer than we think or anticipate: what is described in terms of destruction by fire at such a grand scale is no longer unreal; destruction and judgment of evil and the ungodly are no longer seen as remote. What is even more important is to recognise that in these last days, the call for unbelievers is to repent; and the call for Christians is to be holy, godly in our lives and to ensure we will be among those whom God welcomes into the new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwell.
Brethren, be sober, be real in our beliefs and convictions – do not be among the God-shrinkers and scoffers – they would not have the last laugh when judgment of God falls upon them!
THE UNITY OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST
20 July
We need to understand the significance of the unity of two natures, divine and human, in one person, Jesus, and the complexities involved with the unity. The unity of these two natures has extensive implications for the understanding of Christian theology; it also helps Christians to understand the actions and mission of the Lord Jesus on earth. The biblical and historical material supports the view that Christ has both a human and a divine nature united in one person.
In church history, there were many misunderstandings of this doctrine – among them are Nestorianism (which implied that there was a split in the person of Christ) and Eutychianism (which claimed that the humanity of Jesus was absorbed into his deity as to be virtually eliminated). There were other attempts to solve the problem of two natures in one person, but all were unsatisfactory.
NOTE: The bridging of the metaphysical, moral, and spiritual gap between God and humans – and hence our very salvation – depends on the unity of the deity and humanity within Jesus Christ.
What are the essential principles of the doctrine of incarnation, and how are they to be understood?
1) The incarnation was more a gaining of human attributes than a giving up of divine attributes. Phil. 26-7 is often conceived of as meaning that Jesus emptied himself of some of his divine attributes, perhaps even his deity itself.
What Jesus emptied himself of was not the divine morphe, the nature of God. This becomes clearer when we take Colossians 2:9 into account. :For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
It is equality with God, not the form of God, of which Jesus emptied himself. While he did not cease to be in nature what the Father was, he became functionally subordinated to the Father for the period of the incarnation.
2) The union of the two natures meant that they did not function independently. Jesus did not exercise his deity at times and his humanity at other times (Take note of this important point). His actions were always those of divine-humanity. This is the key to understanding the functional limitations which the humanity imposed upon the divinity.
For eg., he still had the power to be everywhere (omnipresence). However, as an incarnate being, he was limited in the exercise of that power by possession of a human body. This should not be considered a reduction of the power and capacities of the Second Person of the Trinity, but rather a circumstance-induced limitation on the exercise of his power and capacities.
The humanity of Jesus was not the humanity of sinful human beings, but the humanity possessed by Adam and Eve from their creation and before their fall. The question is not whether Jesus was fully human, but whether we are. He was not merely as human as we are; he was more human than we are. He was, spiritually, the type of humanity that we will possess when we are glorified. Jesus most fully reveals the true nature of humanity. Jesus is also our best source for knowledge of deity – it is in Jesus that God is most fully revealed and known. Our picture of what deity is like comes primarily through the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
Every departure from the orthodox doctrine of the person of Christ is simply a variation of one of the heresies noted before! Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man!
ROMANS 12:1 – the implications for us believers
22 July
” Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true worship” (Rom. 12:1 TNIV).
Here the apostle Paul adopts the language of the OT in order to show the contrast with the Christian’s calling. Rather than bodies burned on an altar, Christian worship calls for daily surrender of our living members to do God’s will. Our worship of God as Christians is contrasted to the worship at the OT temple.
Christians are to be moved and stirred to consecrated (holy) living by their knowledge of God’s love, grace and mercy (this knowledge is shown in the first 11 chapters of Romans – hence ‘Therefore’ precedes verse 1 of Romans 12).In the earlier chapters, Paul affirms the mercy of God’s salvation, whereby God pardons, accepts, and exalts the undeserving and wretched, at a great cost to himself’. In His love, He blesses those whom He sees as having no claim on Him; In HIs grace, He blesses those whom He sees as meriting His rejection, and in His mercy He blesses those whose state He sees to be miserable. We are among those who are blessed by His love, grace, and mercy!
So how should we respond to the God who so blessed us in Christ Jesus? We must show ourselves truly grateful for this mercy by the thoroughness of our commitment to God henceforth, for holiness means giving our all to God as God has given, is giving, and will give His all to us.
The holy sacrifice that gives God pleasure is the Christian whose heart never ceases to be grateful to Him for His grace. God is pleased with the Christian whose aim everyday is to express that gratitude by living to Him, through Him, and for Him, and who seeks to render to God what He deserves for all His benefits to us.
In a sense, sacrifice speaks of surrendering and giving all of ourselves; the being sacrificed, in effect, is dying and would die. That being no longer lives for himself – he is seen as one that has been sacrificed. We now can appreciate what Paul meant when he said that he had been crucified with Christ – the old Paul no longer lives – the new Paul is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), one ‘born again’ (Refer the interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3). The new Paul and the Christian no longer lives for himself but for Him who died for him and rose again.
To the one ‘born again’, life is a matter of wanting and valuing fellowship with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ more than he values anything else in this world (1 John1:3; Psalm 73:25). It is a matter of making knowing and loving and pleasing and praising God his life task, and of seeking to lead others into the same God-glorifying life pattern.
In essence, this is the call for us believers in Rom. 12:1 – offer our bodies and our lives as a holy living sacrifice to the Lord God who has loved us, is loving us, and would continue to extend His grace and mercy throughout our lives and beyond!!
OUR SPIRITUAL FULLNESS IN CHRIST
23 July
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your sinful nature was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:9-15)
In our last study on Luke 4:31-44 (in our dg), we discussed the power and authority of Jesus over demons, illnesses, in his confirmation of his messiahship as affirmed in Isaiah 61:1-2. There was also some discussion on demons, demon possession, and why Christians still succumb to the attacks of evil forces in different forms.
The above passage in Colossians 2 is very significant for believers to assimilate. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” – that explains his authority and power over evil and natural forces. “And in Christ you have been brought to fullness.” ‘Your sinful nature was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” What this means is that in Christ, we have been brought to fullness – our sinful nature was ‘killed’ – we have died and been buried with Christ, and we are also raised with him through our faith – there is a great change and conversion – we are a new creation, born again, the ‘old man’ has died, and the ‘new man’ has arrived!
Many Christians, however, do not seem to appreciate what has happened to them in their new birth and are careless about obeying and pleasing God; many more have desperate struggles against long-standing sinful habits that in effect have become addictions to unrighteousness, and they often lose the battles they fight, and there are many who evidently think it does not matter whether or not one strives to perfect holiness of life.
And that brings us back to the manifestation of the power and authority of Jesus over evil, illness, and other natural forces. If, in him, by faith, we have died and been born again, and we have been brought into fullness, and our sinful nature was put off, why are we still in the rut of spiritual carelessness, disobedience and struggles against addictions and unrighteousness?
We were born sinners by nature, dominated and driven from the start – and most of the time unconsciously – by self-seeking, self-serving, self-deifying motives and cravings. Being united to Christ in new birth through the regenerating work of the Spirit has so changed our nature that our heart’s deepest desire (the dominant passion that rules and drives us now) is a copy, faint but real, of the desire that drove our Lord Jesus. That was the desire to know, trust, love, obey, serve, delight, honour, glorify, and enjoy his heavenly Father.
The focus of this desire in Jesus was upon the Father, whereas in Christians it is upon the Father and the Son together, but the nature of the desire is the same. The natural way for Christians to live is to let this desire determine and control what they do, so that the fulfilling of the longing to seek, know, and love the Lord becomes the mainspring of their life.
To walk with Christ in the path of holy discipleship is the life for which the hearts of Christians long. From this follows the equally momentous truth that obeying the promptings of indwelling sin (the sin that still marauds in the systems of Christians though it no longer masters their hearts) is not what they really want to do at all, for sinning is totally unnatural to them.
We then understand what apostle John affirmed that those who are born again do not continue in sin, i.e.habitually sin. The positive desire in our heart as Christians may be faint, but it is real; it is like a ‘seed’ planted in our new nature that will grow until the fullness in Christ Jesus.
But we must nurture the growth of this seed and not allow the ways of the old nature (the indwelling sin) to dominate our life. In our bible study, we also noted that our enemy is formidable – he can attack us directly, deceive us; he can quote scriptures and distort them; he can arouse our indwelling sin (the flesh) and also use the negative attractions of the world to influence us and to lead us along the wrong path. Christians must realise that the devil can use the media, the books and materials we read, the television programmes, films, art and even the human philosophies to subconsciously implant negative values, thoughts and emotions into our systems. Hence the need for vigilance – we must not allow the world to squeeze us into its mould; we must not allow the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life determine the direction of our life and the value-system in our hearts.
Our first task must be to test all the words of men by the authoritative Word of God, to receive only what Scripture enorss, and to reject all that is contrary to it. We must learn increasingly to walk in steps with the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit, and not to go ahead of Him, and resist Him and grieve Him. God sends us the Spirit to dwell in us, to be our teacher, our guide, our enabler – for the Lord knows that without the Spirit, we cannot overcome the devil, who constantly seeks to destroy us by manipulating the flesh, the influence of the world and false teachings to lead us astray. It is the Spirit who illuminates the Scripture to give us the true sense and meaning of God’s revelation and it is He who will continue to transform us to be more and more like Christ!
WHAT THE CHURCH AND GOD’S PEOPLE TRULY NEED
26 July
In my interaction with various brethren, including Christian leaders from various churches and organisations, there seems to be certain common ‘lamentations’ regarding the state of believers: the place and significance of God’s Word among God’s people; the lack of godly purity and moral values; the ‘coldness’ among God’s people in the church, seen in poor genuine fellowship, care and concern, and a lack of love to reach out to those in need including those who need the gospel; a lack of moral and spiritual attractiveness to those outside the church (the church no different from a social club which encompasses only those of similar interests, not necessarily spiritual interests).
It is no wonder that many conclude that the church is no longer relevant to them; and religion is just not practical in this world.
What the church and God’s people need is “God coming down” in the sense that He gives a deepened awareness of His inescapable presence as the Holy One, mighty and majestic, dwelling among His people – the experience of the intimacy of the supernatural and the closeness of the living God.
We need to cry to God to revitalise the flagging churches – this is our highest hope for the church on earth until the Lord comes to take us home. For the moment though, much of God’s work and presence is ‘hidden’ and it can only be seen by those to whom God, in His grace, love, and mercy extends spiritual vision of the total reality of what is going on and happening, not just in this world, but also in the spiritual realm; but even this vision is often ‘clouded’ by the pain and struggles in this fallen world and the lack of clear vision of the eternal future for God’s people. We are often dragged down by the ‘now’ and ‘present sufferings’, losing the vision of God’s loving intention and purpose in allowing these in our lives.
We need God’s Word to ‘come home’, in the sense that the Bible, its message, and its Christ reestablish the formative and corrective control over faith and life that is theirs by right – the divine authority of the Bible needs to be realised afresh.
We need God’s purity to come through, as God uses His Word to quicken consciences. The perverseness, ugliness, and guiltiness of sin are seen and felt with new clarity, and the depth of one’s own sinfulness is realised as never before, so that the forgiveness of sin becomes the most precious truth. Realise also that our doubting of God and our ‘giving up’ of God is also a serious sin in the eyes of the living God – from the Bible, we know how much God is grieved and saddened when His people turn against Him in unbelief and complaints.
We need God’s people to ‘come alive’. Joyful assurance of salvation, conscious communion with a living Saviour, spirit of prayer and praise, a readiness to share with other believers, and a love that reaches out to all in need are the characteristic marks of revived Christians. Inhibitions dissolve, and a new forthrightness in utterance and initiative in action take place. There needs to be a fresh consciousness of the sovereignty of God in action, even though it is not seen or experienced so clearly in our lives currently; remember how the Israelites complained when Pharoah increased their labour and made their lives more miserable after Moses declared that God is about to deliver them. Their cries include ‘where is that deliverance?’;’ things are getting from bad to worse and probably things would continue to go downhill – it is no use clinging to God and His message of love and deliverance’. Have we learned from the response of the Israelites and have we forgotten the “great Exodus”?
Brethren, hearken to the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. Let us not be those who have a name that we are alive and yet we are dead spiritually; let us not be among those who are neither ‘hot’ or ‘cold’, lest God spit us out!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
27 July
Christians are very familiar with the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ in Matthew 6. But overfamiliarity may result in us repeating it by rote, without realising the meaning and the implications the Lord Jesus seeks to communicate to his followers.
I find the following approach very meaningful:
It is helpful to see the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ offering us model answers to the series of questions God puts to us to shape our conversation with Him.
Question: “Who am I to you as you approach me in prayer?”
Answer: ‘Our Father in heaven’
Question: “If this is so, what is it that you really want most?”
Answer: ‘The hallowing of your name; the coming of your kingdom; to see your will known and done’.
Question: “So what are you asking for right now, as a means to that end?”
Answer: ‘Provision, pardon, protection’.
Question: “How can you be so bold and confident in asking for these things?”
Answer: ‘Because we know you can do it, and when you do it, it will bring you glory!
Is it not true that sometimes when we pray, we feel there is nobody there to listen and are tempted to think that our feelings tell the truth? What finally dispels and removes this temptation is the Spirit-given realisation that God is actually questioning us in the way described above, requiring us to tell Him honestly and sincerely how we think of Him and what we want from Him and why.
Our feelings may be that of despair, discouragement, disillusion, and a sense that it is no use praying. When we do pray, it is just something we turn to out of familiarity or habit and the sense that we might as well do it – there is no other option.
We forget that we are praying to the heaven Father, the almighty, transcendent God, our Creator, and the Lord of the universe. To be able to address Him as “our Father” is already unimaginable; yet it is undoubtedly true that we are praying to the One who holds all things together, a loving, perfect Father, who truly loves us unconditionally because we are “in Jesus” and “Jesus is in us”. He is the One who knows everything and sees everything – even that which is unseen to us and unknown to us.
Is our prayer just for ourselves, for our relief and deliverance for the moment, and for this temporary life on earth, or is it for His eternal kingdom, His will, His praise, His glory, and our privilege to be part of all these for eternity?
Is what we are asking a means to the above end, and if so, we can be assured that provision, pardon, protection would be provided, and He would ensure that all things work out together for good in our lives, and in His will and kingdom! But we may not see them now; they may be ‘hidden’ from us unless we walk by faith and not by sight; they may be perplexing to our human reasoning, causing us distraught, and wondering whether God is truly intervening and responding to our prayer.
But we can have confidence that God is listening and working out His plan and purpose, not just for our individual life and prayer, but for His people collectively, not just for now, but for eternity, and for the final destruction of all evil, and injustice when He would make ‘everything new’ and beautiful in His own time.
We, weak as we are as Christians, can know for sure that God can do it; He is able to do it, and He will definitely do it, not just for us ultimately, but for His own glory forever!
Will we come to Him in prayer with a fresh insight and spiritual energy, knowing Him as the great almighty, our loving Father, our gracious and merciful God? If He could give us His only beloved Son, His very dearest and best, is there anything good that He will withhold from us, His adopted children??