Week of 27 Pentecost A - November 16 thru 22, 2008

This is a Three-Year Lectionary based on the Lutheran Book of Worship 3-year lectionary (for public worship), "Prayers of the Day..." (Propers), p. 13-41, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, 1978. It is based, with only minor variations, on the Revised Common Lectionary, used by many denominations, including the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches:

http://www.commontexts.org/

and:

http://www.commontexts.org/rcl/usage.html

The daily readings are the Propers (Lections) for the following Sunday, so that the daily devotions can prepare us for worship. Additional lections are from Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, "Scripture lessons for Matins and Vespers," United Lutheran Church of America, General Rubrics VIII. Scripture lessons for Matins and Vespers, p. 299 - 304, Philadelphia, 1918.

The previous 2- year Bible Study based on the Lutheran Book of Worship, Daily Lectionary for personal devotions p.179-192, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, 1978, is available at:

http://shepboy.snow.prohosting.com

Please Note: I will post weekly by Saturday, noon, (God willing), Pacific time (UTC-8:00) for the week of the Church Season which begins on Sunday. Please scroll down for the desired day, or save the week to your desktop/hard drive.

27 Pentecost - Sunday (Variable)
Posted November 16, 2008

Jeremiah 26:1-6 – The Temple Sermon;
Psalm 105:1-7 – God's Wonderful Works;
1 Thessalonians 3:7-13 – Exhortation to Holiness;
Matthew 24:1-14 – Destruction of the Temple Foretold;

Jeremiah:

The Word of God came to Jeremiah at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, King of Judah. The Lord told Jeremiah to stand in the court of the temple and proclaim God's Word to all the cities of Judah as they came to worship the Lord. The Lord told Jeremiah not to hold back any of God's Word. Hopefully they would listen and turn from their evil ways so the Lord could repent of the punishment he intended to do to them. Jeremiah was to tell them that the Lord said that if they did not listen to God's Word, and live according to God's law, and listen to the words of God's servants, his prophets who God had sent to them urgently, then God would make the God's house (the temple) like Shiloh and the city (Jerusalem) a curse word among the nations of earth.

Psalm:

Let us give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name; let us declare, to all peoples, God's great deeds.

Let us sing his praises and declare his wonderful works. In his holy name we will glory, let us rejoice in the Lord all who seek him in their hearts. Let us seek the presence of the Lord and his strength continually. Let the descendants of his servant Abraham, the sons of Jacob, his chosen ones, recall his wonderful works; remember the miracles he has done and the judgments he has spoken.

The Lord is our God; he will judge all the earth.

1 Thessalonians:

Paul was harassed and persecuted by the Jews wherever he went preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 3:3-4; compare Acts 18:6, 12). But in all Paul's affliction and persecution, he was comforted by reports of the faith (obedient trust; in Jesus) of the Thessalonian Christians. Paul felt inadequate to express to God his thanksgiving and joy for their faith. He remembered and prayed for them constantly, that he might visit them again and finish discipling them to spiritual maturity at the day of Christ's return. Paul prayed to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ that Paul would make it possible for Paul to visit them again, and that the Lord would enable them to increase and overflow in love for all their Christian brethren and for all people, as Paul and his fellow missionaries loved the Thessalonian Christians. Paul prayed that the Lord would firmly establish them blameless in holiness (consecration to God's service) at the Day of Judgment at Jesus' Second Coming with all his saints (all who belong to God).

Matthew:

Jesus and his disciples were leaving the temple, and his disciples commented on the buildings of the new temple. Jesus replied that the day would come when the temple would be reduced to a pile of rubble. They went to the Mount of Olives and Jesus sat down, so the disciples came to him privately and asked about the signs of Jesus' return and the close of the age. Jesus warned them be careful not to be led astray by false “christs;” many will be deceived by them. There will be wars and rumors of war; don't be alarmed, because these things must happen first, but the end will not happen immediately. Nations and kingdoms will rise up against each other. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places, but those will be only the beginning of suffering.

Jesus' disciples will be delivered unto tribulation; they will be hated by the heathen, who will put the disciples to death. Many will fall away (from faith in Jesus) and hate and betray one another. “And because wickedness is multiplied, most [peoples] love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). But believers who hold on in faith (obedient trust) until the end will be saved.

Commentary:

Jehoiakim's reign began in 609 B.C.. Jeremiah's sermon was probably delivered during the eight day Feast of Booths (September-October), when many of the people of Judah would be in Jerusalem for its commemoration.

God's Word contains both wonderful promises and ominous warnings. The warnings are intended to help us avoid the consequences of sin, the disobedience of God's Word. Jeremiah was commissioned by God to proclaim all of God's Word, not just the parts that make people feel good.

The people of Judah were angry with Jeremiah for his prophecy against Judah and wanted to kill him (Jeremiah 26:11). God's Word was intended to get the people to repent and change their ways, so that God would not have to punish them.

Because the people didn't heed Jeremiah's prophecy they were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar and taken into exile in Babylon for seventy years, from 587 to 517 B.C., as Jeremiah had prophesied (Jeremiah 25:8-12). Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's armies as God's Word proclaimed by Jeremiah had warned.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel of the divided monarchy had been completely wiped out by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. and the ten tribes ceased to exist, because the northern kingdom didn't heed the words of the prophets calling them to repent and return to obedient trust in the Lord. Judah hadn't learned from the example of the Northern Kingdom and had to be punished by exile in the hope that they would return to obedient trust in the Lord.

Judah returned from exile after seventy years. They were a renewed people of God, who had learned to trust and obey the Lord while in exile in Babylon, but they were not the same people who had gone into exile. Seventy years was virtually a life sentence for people who were adults at the beginning of the exile.

The remnant of Israel who had returned from the exile failed to pass on the lesson of obedient trust in the Lord, and so their descendants were unprepared for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus (Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word, “Messiah”). Jesus is more than a prophet. (Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy and the ultimate revelation of God's Word (John 1:1-5, 14; Hebrews 1:1-2). As the result of their unbelief and failure to trust and obey the Lord Jesus, Jerusalem and the temple were again destroyed, that time by the Romans, in 70 A.D., as Jesus had prophesied (Matthew 24:2). The remnant of Israel were scattered throughout the world and Israel ceased to exist as a nation, until reestablished following World War II.

Judaism ceased to exist, as the true worship of God, at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as is shown by the tearing of the curtain of the temple separating the people from the holy-of-holies of God's presence (Matthew 27:51). A new and better way into God's presence had been established in Jesus Christ..

The Christian Church is the heir of Judaism. The Church is the “New Israel,” the “New Jerusalem,” and Christians are the new “people of God,” the spiritual descendants of Abraham (Galatians 3:7-9).

Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is the prototype and example of a modern, post-resurrection, “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple (student) and apostle (messenger; of the Gospel) of Jesus Christ, by God's deliberate intention. Paul is the illustration of the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul was convicted by the Holy Spirit on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:5) He accepted Jesus as Lord, repented and became obedient to Jesus (Acts 9:6-9); was discipled by Ananias, a “born-again” disciple of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:10-16), until Paul received the gift (baptism; anointing) of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17-18), which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).

Paul was fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), which Jesus gave to his disciples to be carried out after they had been born-again (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 9). He was making “born-again” disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:20-22 2 Timothy 1:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 3:13).

I believe that the meaning and purpose of life in this world is to seek, find, know and learn to trust and obey God, our Creator (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

I believe that God has always intended to establish an eternal kingdom of God's people who willingly choose to trust and obey God's Word. This Creation has been designed to allow us the freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God's Word or not, and to learn by “trial and error.”

Sin is disobedience of God's Word. God is not willing to tolerate disobedience and rebellion forever. This Creation and we ourselves are limited by time.

Jesus has promised to return, on the Day of Judgment, at the end of time; the end of this age (Matthew 25:31-46). This day is not far off; it will come for each of us at the end of our lifetime, and no one knows when this will be. Today is the only day we can be sure of; today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). At the moment of physical death, our eternal destinies will be fixed and unalterable for all eternity.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a personally discernible ongoing event (Acts 19:2). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus' disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

27 Pentecost - Monday Before Christ the King
To be used after the last Variable Sunday of Pentecost until Christ the King
Posted November 17, 2008

To be used after the last Variable Sunday of Pentecost until Christ the King
Psalm 95:1-7a God is King

Sing to the Lord! Let us rejoice in the rock of our salvation. Come into his presence with thanksgiving, making a joyful noise with songs of praise. The Lord is the great God and King above all gods. The Lord is the creator of the depths and heights of earth, the land and seas.

Come and worship; bow down and kneel before our Lord, our maker. He is our God and we are his people, under his supervision; the sheep of his pastures.

Commentary:

God is the King of the Universe because he is its Creator. We are his people because he is our Maker. He protects us and provides for us. We should rejoice and celebrate that we belong to him.

The Lord our God is our Good Shepherd. He is the solid rock of our foundation, who saves us from eternal destruction. Let us give thanks and praise to the Lord

Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment, and example of God’s Word lived out in human flesh in this world (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus is the solid rock on which to build our lives (Matthew 7:24-25). Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for his sheep (John 10:11, 14).

Jesus is the only way into God’s presence (John 14:6), because only Jesus gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we have personal knowledge of and fellowship with Jesus and God the Father John 14:21, 23). By the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience the joy of the Lord’s presence.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
27 Pentecost - Tuesday Before Christ the King
To be used after the last Variable Sunday of Pentecost until Christ the King
Posted November 18, 2008

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 23-28

The Lord declared that he would seek his “sheep” personally, like a shepherd when his sheep have been scattered. The Lord will rescue his sheep from every place they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. The Lord will bring his people out of the nations and lands and bring them into their own land. The Lord will feed them on the mountains of Israel in good pasture and by springs of water. The Lord himself will be their shepherd and he will give them rest. He will seek the lost, and bring back the straying; he will heal the crippled and strengthen the week, and he will watch over the fat and the strong. He will give them justice.

The Lord declares that he will set one shepherd, David, the Lord’s servant, to feed them and be their shepherd. The Lord will be their God and David will be a prince among them. God will make a covenant of peace with them and will banish wild beasts from the land so that they can live securely and sleep peacefully. The Lord will bless his people and the area around Zion. The Lord will send showers of blessings in their seasons. The trees and fields will yield their harvests and God’s people will be secure in their land. They will know that God is Lord when he removes the yoke and delivers them from those who enslave them. They will no longer be preyed upon by other nations, or by wild beasts. They will be secure and unafraid.

Commentary:

David, the great shepherd-king of Israel, is the prototype and illustration of the Messiah, the Savior and eternal King God promised.

Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment, and example of God’s Word lived in this world in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus is the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11, 14; Psalm 23) who came to seek his lost and straying sheep. Jesus is the Son of David, who God promised would be the eternal king and heir to David’s throne (Matthew 1:1, 21:9; 2 Samuel 7:5-13; Psalm 89:20-29). Jesus is the Lord God in human flesh (Colossians 2:8-9; John 14:9, 20:28).

Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant of peace with God (Matthew 26:26-28). Jesus is the one and only sacrifice acceptable to God for the forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and restoration to fellowship with God which was broken by sin (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). Jesus is the only one who can free us from slavery to Satan and fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Only Jesus gives true, eternal life, through the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience God’s blessings, and we know that we are secure in his protection.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

27 Pentecost - Wednesday Before Christ the King
To be used after the last Variable Sunday of Pentecost until Christ the King
Posted November 19, 2008

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 Resurrection

Jesus’ resurrection is the “first-fruits” of believers who have died. Death was introduced into Creation by the sin of one person, Adam, and Jesus is the one who has brought resurrection from death. Through Adam all people die; through Jesus all will be raised to life. But each event is in the appropriate time. Jesus is the “first-fruits” and then at his return, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end of time, when he delivers the kingdom of God, after destroying every worldly rule and authority. Jesus will reign until all his enemies have been subjugated, and the last enemy to be done away with is death. God has given authority over all things to Jesus, who is himself subjugated to God, so that God is supreme over everything and every one.

Jesus’ resurrection was witnessed by over five hundred people (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). His own resurrection and his miracles of raising the dead, like Lazarus (John 11:38-44) and Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9:18-26) were intended to demonstrate that there is existence after physical death. God’s Word declares that man dies once, and after that comes Judgment (Hebrews 9:27), not “nothingness” and not reincarnation.

God taught Israel the concept of an offering of “first-fruits.” Israel was required to give an offering of the “first-fruits” of the harvest to God before they could use the harvest themselves. Paul used the metaphor of “first-fruits” to teach that Jesus was the sacrifice to God of the first-fruits of the spiritual harvest of eternal life. He also equates the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit as the “first-fruits” of eternal life in believers (Romans 8:23).

We are all born physically alive but spiritually dead. This lifetime is our opportunity to seek and find God and to be spiritually “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only way to know and have fellowship with God, the only way to know divine, eternal truth and to have true, eternal life. Only Jesus gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the “first-fruit,” the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

“Born-again” Christians have a personal fellowship with Jesus by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We know personally with certainty that Jesus is risen and eternally alive (John 14:21).

Jesus has promised to return on the Day of Judgment at the end of time, to judge “the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5) in both physical and spiritual senses. In that day those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and have trusted and obeyed Jesus will have been “born-again” and will receive eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom. But those who have rejected Jesus, who have refused to trust and obey Jesus will be condemned to eternal destruction, eternal death, in Hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10). All Jesus’ enemies will be eternally destroyed. Then Jesus will deliver the kingdom to God.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

27 Pentecost - Thursday Before Christ the King
To be used after the last Variable Sunday of Pentecost until Christ the King
Posted November 20, 2008

Mathew 25:31-46 Christ’s Return

When Jesus returns on the Day of Judgment, he will come in glory and power, with his angels, and he will sit upon the Throne of Judgment. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats: Sheep at his right hand and goats at his left.

He will tell his sheep that they are blessed and he will give them the inheritance of eternal life promised by God the Father, because they had given Jesus food and drink when he was hungry and thirsty, when he was a stranger they welcomed him, clothed him when he was naked, and visited him when he was sick and in prison. They will ask Jesus when they had done these things for him and he will tell them that as they did it to the least of people they had done it to him.

Jesus will tell those on his left to depart from Jesus’ presence for they are cursed. They will enter the eternal fire of hell prepared for Satan and his demons, because they had not fed, clothed and given a drink to Jesus when he was hungry, naked and thirsty. They had not visited him when he was sick and in prison. They will ask when they had seen Jesus in need and not helped him, but he will say that as they did not do it to the least of people they had not done it to Jesus. They will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous will enter eternal life.

God realized from the beginning of Creation that in giving us freedom to choose whether to trust and obey him, we would sin by disobeying God’s Word. Because the penalty for disobedience is eternal death, God knew we would need a provision for forgiveness and salvation, and designed Jesus into the very structure of Creation (John 1:1-5, 14 Acts 4:12).

God has been revealing his plan for Creation from the very beginning. For thousands of years God had promised to reveal the Messiah (Christ; God’s anointed), the Savior of the world. The Jews were God’s chosen people, who had received God’s Word in the Bible, and through whom the Messiah would come, but they were unprepared to accept him when Jesus came.

We have all sinned and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). Jesus is the only way to be forgiven from sin and saved from eternal death which is the penalty for sin (Romans 6:23), the only way to know divine eternal truth and to have fellowship with God which was broken by sin, and the only way to have true, eternal life (John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

Jesus’ death on the cross is the only sacrifice acceptable to God for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus’ blood cleanses us by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus, and makes it possible for us to be spiritually “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

Jesus warns that it is not those who call themselves Christians, or disciples of Jesus Christ, but those who trust and obey Jesus’ teachings (Matthew 7:12-27; Luke 6:46) who will be saved. Jesus taught by word and example, how to become his disciples, how to be spiritually reborn, and then commands them to repeat the process, making disciples of Jesus Christ, teaching them to obey Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 28:18-20), telling them to wait within “Jerusalem” (the Church) until they have been “reborn” and then to go into the world and repeat the process (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5, 8).

Jesus’ crucifixion stands at the mid-point of history, from the beginning of God’s call to be his people, through Abraham, about two thousand years before Christ, until today which is two thousand years after Jesus’ first coming. We are much in the same situation as Israel and Judaism at the time of Jesus’ first coming. Are we any more prepared to receive him than Israel at his first coming?

Jesus has promised to return at the end of time to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5), in both physical and spiritual senses. Everyone who has ever lived will be accountable to Jesus for what they have done in this lifetime. Those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and have trusted and obeyed Jesus will have been spiritually “reborn” in this lifetime and will enter eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom as God promised. Those who have rejected Jesus and have refused or failed to trust and obey him will be condemned to eternal destruction and death in Hell with all evil.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

27 Pentecost – Friday Before Christ the King
To be used after the last Variable Sunday of Pentecost until Christ the King
Posted November 21, 2008

Isaiah 65:17-19 New Creation
Matthew 5:13-16 Salt and Light

God declares that he is creating a new heaven and a new earth. This present Creation will pass away and the things of this world will be forgotten. His people will rejoice and be glad in his new Creation. His new Creation will be the cause of rejoicing for Jerusalem and joy for his people, and the Lord will rejoice with them and be glad in his people. There will be no more weeping or distress.

God’s people are to be like salt of the earth. Salt without its saltiness would be worthless. How could its saltiness be restored?

God’s people are to be like light in the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does one light a lamp and try to cover it so that it cannot be seen; they put it on a stand so that it gives light to the house. So God’s people should let their good deeds be seen by the world, so that God will be glorified through them.

God is right now creating a new heaven and a new earth, which will be revealed at the end of time on the Day of Judgment at Christ’s return. This temporal world is a “laboratory” where God is creating people who willingly learn to trust and obey God. Jesus is the essential element, the “catalyst” by which we are transformed into God’s children.

We have all sinned (disobeyed God’s Word) and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23) and the penalty for sin is spiritual, eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God’s only provision for our conversion from spiritual death to spiritual life (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the only way to be restored to fellowship with God and eternal life which was lost by sin (John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

In order to enter eternal life in the new Creation we must be spiritually “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

Only by the indwelling Holy Spirit can we be cleansed of sin and live according to God’s standards of righteousness (doing what is right, good and true according to God’s Word). The indwelling Holy Spirit is the act and sign of our “adoption” as children of God, who live according to God’s Spirit within them (Romans 8:15b-16).

God’s new Creation will perfect: there will be no more sin and evil. The bad things of this present world are the result of human choice to sin by disobeying God’s Word. Only those who have learned to live in obedient trust in the Lord through his indwelling Holy Spirit will be allowed into the new Creation, or it wouldn’t be any better than this present Creation.

This Creation, and we ourselves, are limited by time and death, because God is not willing to tolerate rebellion and disobedience forever, or at all in his new Creation. Sin leads to spiritual, eternal death (Genesis 3:3). In the new Creation, time and death will be no more.

In this lifetime God’s people are to be salt and light. We are supposed to learn to live in obedient trust in the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-9). When we do that we will influence those around us like salt or yeast. Nominal or “Sunday” Christians who live the rest of the week like worldly people are like salt that doesn’t possess saltiness. They cannot be distinguished by a distinctive characteristic, and they cannot influence those around them for good. They are like light inside a clay jar. They aren’t allowing the light of the Gospel to shine in the spiritual darkness around them.

Salt that has lost its saltiness cannot be restored, but nominal Christians can become “salt” and “light” by accepting Jesus as Lord, and becoming his disciples, learning to trust and obey Jesus. As they do so they will be spiritually reborn by the indwelling Holy Spirit. If Jesus is truly our Lord we will listen to what he says and will trust and obey him. Just calling him Lord doesn’t make it so (Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46).

All of us have been born into this Creation physically alive but spiritually dead. On the Day of Judgment, Jesus will judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5) in both the physical and spiritual senses. That Day of Judgment will be within the span of our individual lifetime, and no one can be sure to live until tomorrow. At our physical death time ceases for us, and the next event is the Day of Judgment, when Jesus will call us forth from the grave (John 5:28-29).

Those who have accepted Jesus as Lord will have been “born-again” and will enter the new eternal Creation restored to perfection. Those who have refused to accept Jesus as Lord and have refused or neglected to trust and obey Jesus will be condemned to eternal destruction with Satan and all evil (Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

27 Pentecost - Saturday Before Christ the King
To be used after the last Variable Sunday of Pentecost until Christ the King
Posted November 22, 2008

Revelation 21:1-7 New Heaven and Earth

John, the Apostle, was in exile on the tiny island of Patmos, for preaching the Gospel. He was given a series of visions from Jesus Christ to record and transmit to the Church.

John foresaw the coming of the new heaven and earth (prophesied by Isaiah: 65:17; 66:22). This present Creation had passed away. John foresaw the New Jerusalem, the holy city of God coming down from God in heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband. A voice from the throne of heaven declared that God will dwell with his people. He will be their God and they will be his people. He will remove all sorrow; there will be no mourning, no crying or pain, and no death anymore, for all those things have passed away with the old temporal Creation.

God himself declared from his throne that he makes all things new. He told John to write down that God’s purpose has been completed. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of all things. God will give without cost, to those who are spiritually thirsty, water from the fountain of the water of life. Those who overcome will receive this heritage (life in the new Creation). God will be their God and they will be his sons and daughters.

God has intended from the beginning of this Creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey God. This world is the nursery for the next world. This lifetime is our opportunity to seek and come to know and have fellowship with God, our Creator. This lifetime is our opportunity to be “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) spiritually to eternal life. Jesus is God’s one and only plan to accomplish his purpose, and he has been designed into Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14).

Jesus is the only way to find and know God, the only way to divine, eternal truth, and the only to have eternal life John 14:6), through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

This present Creation was designed to give us the freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God’s Word or not. Disobedience of God’s Word is sin, and the penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). We have all sinned and fall short of God’s righteousness (doing what is good, right and true according to God’s Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). Jesus is God’s only provision for our forgiveness of sin and salvation from eternal death (Acts 4:12; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

This present Creation and we ourselves are limited by time and death. God doesn’t intend to put up with rebellion and disobedience forever. Those who won’t or don’t learn to trust and obey God’s Word in this lifetime won’t be allowed into the new, eternal Creation.

The Church is the “New Jerusalem” on earth, the bride of Christ. Eternity begins now, in this lifetime, but it is just a foretaste, the “first-fruits” of the new eternal kingdom which is to come. This is the time of preparation, like that of a bride, for the coming marriage when we will be united with the Lord in the New Creation of God’s eternal kingdom.

God will dwell with his people, and he begins to do that now, through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:23), but that dwelling and fellowship is imperfect, while we are still in this world. God comforts us now in the trials of life in this world by his Holy Spirit, but we have to persevere and overcome them by faith (obedient trust) in his Word, in the Bible and in Jesus Christ, the “living Word,” in order to receive eternal life in the New Creation where there will be no more of those troubles. Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment, and example of God’s Word, lived in this present world in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14).

God does make all things new. He is in the process of renewing Creation, his Church, and his people by the gift of his Holy Spirit. As we’re renewed individually, the Church will be renewed, and as the Church is renewed we will renew this present world.

God is the beginning and end of all things. He started this Creation, from nothing, by his Word, and he will end it by his Word. God doesn’t want anyone to perish eternally (John 3:16-17). He offers freely the water which gives eternal life to all who realize their spiritual need. Jesus is the source and giver of “living water,” and the fountain of living water is the indwelling Holy Spirit within Jesus’ disciples (John 4:13-15; John 7:37-39).

God is God, whether we acknowledge him or not, but God is not willing to be all that a good, all-powerful, loving God implies, unless we are willing to be his people who trust and obey his Word.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?