God's Way or Ours

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

Joshua 1:7-8

After Joshua was chosen and called by God to lead the Hebrews into the land of promise, God commanded him to be strong and courageous in heeding God's commands written in the Law.  He was not only called to familiarise himself with God's commands but to speak of them, meditate in them day and night, and observe them faithfully.  If you are not aware, there were hundreds of commands and prohibitions in addition to the 10 Commandments detailed in the Law of Moses.  Observing God's Law was a huge, life-changing demand placed upon Joshua he was responsible to keep before God--in addition to leading the Hebrews like Moses before him.

In observing God's command to Joshua, it is important not to reduce the relationship God and Joshua shared as transactional:  you do this, and I will do that.  God did not say He would make Joshua's way prosperous if he kept God's Law:  God promised Joshua would make his way prosperous and have good success in fulfilling his responsibility by choosing to walk in the way God revealed in His Law.  God had already told Joshua the way he and the children of Israel ought to live, and by going God's way their way would be prosperous.  In His wisdom, God allows people to face good and bad consequences of our own decisions.  Before Joshua and all His people, God placed clearly marked paths that lead to life or death, and under Mosaic Law they would be blessed or cursed depending on their choices and performance.

During a recent study of the book of Romans, we discussed how Paul explained the Law is good and by it is the knowledge of sin.  The Law of Moses does not provide any ability to keep the Law without fail!  The Law acted as a schoolmaster to bring Jews and Gentiles to Jesus Christ to be justified by faith and declared righteous by God's grace.  Jesus identified Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Jesus went beyond the requirements of the letter of the Law, for Jesus said many times while teaching His disciples:  "It has been written...but I say unto you..."  It is not by what good things we do or by sin we avoid we are made righteous but by faith in Jesus the Messiah.  God word has revealed the Truth we ought to believe, and the Law, Psalms and prophets wrote concerning the Prophet like Moses God would raise up--and Jesus is more than a prophet but Immanuel, God with us, who frees us from the curse of sin and death.

All mankind proved unable to follow the the Law that revealed the righteous way to live, and Jesus has been revealed as the Way we can follow by grace through faith in Him demonstrated by obedience.  Having been born again by the Gospel, this ought to transform our hearts, minds and lives more than Joshua having a new leadership role.  Day and night we are to be led by our Saviour we seek to please by heeding wisdom of His word and the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments."  Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He loves us, and by this all people will know we are Christ's disciples.  It is Jesus who leads us in the way of prosperity and success in doing God's will, and God places the choice before every one of us if we will choose to make God's Way our way.  If we choose to go our own way, we hinder our own prosperity and success.  If we trust Jesus to save us forever, we ought to heed Him in living today.

Jesus In The Flesh

During Friday night Bible study, we discussed how the divinity of Jesus is often more the focal point than whether or not Jesus was a person who lived years ago.  Though the modern date and year hearkens back to the existence of Jesus, John warned there were people in His day that denied this.  He said matter-of-factly in 1 John 4:2-3:  "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."

Gnosticism was a heresy in the early centuries of the church whose adherents claimed to have secret knowledge of God, and it was believed through secret knowledge they alone comprehended one could be freed from illusions of darkness and "saved."  Gnostics would not have denied Jesus came to earth, but claimed He did not have a human body--it just appeared that He did.  They viewed physical matter as inherently evil and only what is spirit is good.  This created a situation where anything done in a physical body was of no consequence because what is done in the spiritual realm matters.  These views are totally contradictory to the revelation of God and sound doctrine in the Bible.

From a biblical perspective, it is very important to establish Jesus did indeed come to the earth as a human being in a physical body.  Unless Jesus was born He could not die for sinners, and if He did not die He is not risen.  If Jesus Christ is not risen our faith is futile, we are still in our sins and everyone is headed to everlasting destruction!  John said those who do not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of Antichrist which was already in the world in John's day.  There are people today who do not hold to Gnosticism yet deny Jesus came to the world as a historical figure.  Perhaps by casting doubt on the historicity of Jesus they hope to spare themselves the need to consider His life, words, works, death and resurrection--and His promise to return in judgment.

Though the Antichrist has not yet been revealed, that malevolent and deceitful spirit was already at work in the world, and it is through the revelation of Scripture Christians are made wise to it.  To call Jesus "Christ" is to acknowledge He is the promised Messiah, the anointed one of God who will save His people from their sins.  Jesus being born in human flesh, dying on the cross, and bodily rising from the dead are all fundamental, essential doctrines of Christianity.  To deny any of these facts is to deny Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible.  Those who confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and we can say this by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth, who provides understanding of God's word, and helps us to walk in God's will.  The spirit of the Antichrist at work in the world ought not trouble us as Christians, for we serve the Christ who is greater than all, stands ready to save us and will deliver us from the wrath to come.

God Who Tries

Reading the Bible with faith in God works to change our perspective and outlook.  Being the word of God, the Bible is the upright standard by which all claims, assumptions and beliefs are measured by.  When I hear a cliche, read a quote or see the heading of a video, my immediate response is to consider if it is biblically accurate.  A heading that grabbed by attention yesterday was, "God will try to warn you."  While it is clear people do not always heed God's warnings, the Scripture is clear God does not "try" to do anything--as if He lacks the ability, skill or wisdom to do everything.  Job concluded in concerning God's ability in Job 42:2:  "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You."

God does not "try" to warn people:  He warns them.  Whenever God says He will do something, His doing it depends entirely upon His righteousness and almighty power.  In the song of Moses God declared in Deuteronomy 32:39-43: "Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. ⁴⁰ For I raise My hand to heaven, and say, "As I live forever, ⁴¹ If I whet My glittering sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, and repay those who hate Me. ⁴² I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the heads of the leaders of the enemy."  God does not "try" to kill or make alive; He does not "try" to judge His people or render vengeance upon His enemies.  His arrows will not miss their target, and His sword will always hit its intended mark.  As Proverbs 21:30 says, "There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the LORD."

We may try to heed God's warnings and forget.  We try to do what is right and fail, but God never fails to fulfil the words that go out of His mouth.  He does not try in vain to communicate to us, but we fail to listen to Him or heed His word.  What God does with His warnings is He "tries" us, to test to see if we will obey Him or not.  He refines us as gold is refined in a crucible and allows us to experience trials to purify our character and strengthen our faith.  He tries us by chastisement for the purpose of restoring us to Himself by repentance.  God does not "try" to try us, for even when we resist His guidance and refuse to go His way His will is being accomplished through His divine tests.  Glory to God He is not like a man who tries and falls short of perfection, unable to do all He intends.

With confidence in God's ability to do everything, we ought to rejoice in His omnipotent power and goodness as it is written in Deuteronomy 32:43:  "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people."  God will avenge the blood of His servants, render vengeance to His adversaries, and will provide atonement for His people.  As surely as Jesus Himself provided atonement for the sins of Jews and Gentiles with His own blood, God will take vengeance upon His enemies.  Without straining or working at all--without trying--God does everything He says He will. 

What I Love About Heaven

Whenever I gather with fellow believers in Christ, it is a small foretaste of heaven.  The kingdom Jesus rules that is not of this world and is eternal, and Jesus connected His kingdom with paradise in His statement to the thief on the cross:  heaven is a place that is perfect as God, where nothing can enter that defiles, where there is no sadness, sickness, crying or death.  While the Bible does not go into great detail about heaven--likely because we lack the capacity to comprehend the glory of it--we are comforted, encouraged and inspired by considering what has been revealed.

Many Christians look forward to going to heaven to finally be free of the struggles, conditions and pains of our lives on earth.  Others eagerly await the prospect of uniting in fellowship and worship of God with saints we have never met in person and to reunite with loved ones who preceded us into glory.  These reasons, while perfectly good and reasonable, I do not believe can move the needle compared to being in the glorious presence of God in person.  In our human bodies corrupted by sin we cannot even look at God's face and live, and to see our Creator before our eyes, to sit as His table, to join with the angels in worship and to be embraced by Jesus Christ Himself is awesome beyond reckoning.

There are things I love about heaven that far exceed the beauty of united believers who gather in Christ's name.  In heaven we will have no need to ask, "How has work been going?" or "How has the week gone?"  It will always be present day in heaven, and there will not be anything to catch up on.  While people have different motivations for going to a church service or Bible study, everyone who will be in heaven will want to be there (rather than anywhere else) and we can know God has joined us together.  Another thing I love is that there will not be anywhere we need to go that severs times of personal fellowship--like lunch plans, needing to run to the shops or go to the gym, or needing to leave because you are weary from a packed schedule.  A lot of our conversations at church involve what has happened or we are planning for outside of church fellowship.  What I love about heaven is the perfect, complete union we will experience in mind, heart and love with Christ at the centre while retaining our individuality and intimate friendship with one another that includes everyone all the time.

When we are enjoying ourselves we wish the moment would never end; when we have an incredible experience we would prefer to never need to leave:  the presence of God in heaven will satisfy these fleeting desires of our hearts beyond our comprehension.  On earth all good times must come to an end, but what I love about heaven is it will be a perfect place for us to experience the rest God has promised to give our souls forever.  By the grace of God we can experience peace that passes understanding and fulness of joy in this life, but due to our forgetfulness and weakness it is only in fits and starts.  God grants us a foretaste of heaven with His presence in our hearts and in fellowship with one another in the church, and may this inspire us with the glorious future together God has in store for all who love Him.