Unexpected Fruit

Years ago we did some composting and was surprised when our pile of scraps yielded a couple of healthy pumpkin vines.  We did not intend for vines to grow from the seeds thrown there, nor had we thought our discards could result in delicious pumpkin pies.  Even as God created seeds to bring forth plants and fruit after their kind, so He would supply salvation and unrighteousness where it was least expected.

In light of the new covenant God would establish through the Messiah Isaiah 61:10-11 reads, "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."  God sent Jesus to seek and save the lost in Israel, and the Jewish nation would largely reject Him and the Gospel He preached.  From a small group of Jewish believers the message of salvation spread to Gentile nations and many rejoiced to receive it, for they trusted in Jesus Christ as Saviour.

The prophet said as the earth brings forth buds and gardens grow seeds sown in them, so God will cause righteousness to spring forth before all nations.  This miraculous spread of righteousness by faith was seen even in the Old Testament, like when Rahab and her family were spared from the stronghold of Jericho that was doomed for destruction.  The Gibeonites disguised themselves and made a treaty with Joshua because they feared the God of Israel.  Foreign kings like Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus acknowledged the greatness of the glorious God of Israel who does mighty things.  In these last days the salvation and righteousness of Jesus Christ will spring forth, and we can expect this in unexpected places accompanied with rejoicing in the LORD.

I saw an illustration of unexpected growth and fruitfulness during a trip to Israel at the ruins in Caesarea in 2005.  A palm tree had sprung out of a brick structure, and though it was neglected and untrimmed it flourished.  When I visited the spot 10 years later, there it was!  Here is a picture from my earlier trip.

This palm did not grow by itself but from a seed, and the soul that rejoices in salvation and righteousness received them from the LORD most high.  The speaker in Isaiah 61 said of God, "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness..."  This is true for everyone who is born again by faith in Jesus, for He has imputed righteousness and granted salvation to us when we were dead in sins and spiritually barren.  God clothed Adam with skins at the cost of the life of an animal, and He clothes those who believe in Jesus with righteousness at the price of His only begotten Son.  His word has gone out to all the nations and even in places that appear dry, barren and impossible He will cause His righteousness and praise to spring forth from the nations.  Glory to God for His goodness and for spreading the Gospel abroad.  Let us praise Him today and always!

The New Covenant

At Calvary Chapel Sydney I preached today on Genesis 15, the passage where God made a covenant with Abram who believed in Him.  He believed God would make of him a great nation with descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars in heaven despite not having an heir in his old age.  He believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

Abram brought the requested animals before the LORD and divided the heifer, goat and ram.  The idea was those involved in the covenant would pass between the animals which had been cut in two united before God as witness to do all they had said.  If they broke the agreement, it was with full knowledge their lives would be forfeit, even as the animals which were divided.  In a trance Abram saw a smoking oven and a burning torch pass between the pieces, an emphatic demonstration by God He would keep His word to Abram and his descendants would inherit the land.  By the power and authority of God it would be done without Abram having to do anything to obtain God's favour.

Fast-forward to the new covenant Jesus Christ established with His shed blood on Calvary:  before Jesus breathed His last and died on the cross, the scriptures say the veil in the temple was rent in two top to bottom (Matt. 27:31; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:42).  This was the veil which divided the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant would have been stored, the place where the presence of God dwelt that could only be approached by a sanctified priest on the Day of Atonement with blood of the sacrifice.  The writer of Hebrews shines light on the significance of this occasion in Hebrews 10:19-22:  "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

God cut a covenant with the only begotten Son of God Jesus Christ who is our great High Priest and KING OF KINGS.  He is the Door through whom we enter by faith to receive forgiveness and eternal salvation, our sins having been washed by His blood.  Like the smoking oven and burning torch that passed through the pieces, Jesus made salvation possible by grace through faith in Him alone.  We cannot do anything to earn the right to become children of God, but He has extended this invitation as a gift to all who will believe and receive Him as LORD.  Jesus has made a new and living way that depended upon Him alone to obtain victory over sin, death and Satan.  What Jesus did in dying on the cross for sinners and rising from the dead in glory gives us full assurance that what He promised He is able to perform.

In His wisdom God has rendered the covenant of the Law of Moses obsolete in establishing a new covenant by Jesus Christ.  Hebrews 10:10-13 says, "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹ And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool."  The Law of Moses demanded blood be shed to atone for sin, and Jesus did so once for all so we can live with a purified heart, conscience and body.  There is not a thing we must do to earn eternal life, but we can enter into the new covenant by faith in Jesus Christ and experience the abundant life He has for us.

The Torch Lesson

Live long enough and you will have experiences that supply beneficial lessons God can use to live wisely.  Today I had one of those moments when a situation provided insight beyond the surface and speaks spiritual truth.

When I went to change the batteries in my favourite torch, I noticed the lack of the familiar rattle of the batteries inside.  To my surprise the alkaline batteries over a year had swollen in size and were stuck fast in the aluminium housing.  Try as I might, I could not make them budge.  Tapping the end of the torch on a piece of wood making use of gravity had no impact, and grabbing the end of the battery with needle-nose pliers popped the circular end off!  I could see the end was blackened and oily, welded tight to the torch all around.  This was not a good sign.

So I did what many people had before me:  look for posts on the internet by people who had the same issue and succeeded in fixing the problem.  This led to me drilling a pilot hole in the battery for a lag bolt to pull it out, using washers as leverage.  All I did was take a core-sample from the stubborn battery.  I warmed the housing with a heat gun:  nothing.  What was very interesting is when I tried to grab the hollowed-out battery with pliers the light flicked on brighter than it had when it was switched on previously.  Ultimately I reached a point where methods of extraction required so much force I ran the very high risk of permanently damaging the torch or injuring myself, so into the bin it went.

Thankfully I had another torch of the same kind stored away that will work nicely for the foreseeable future.  But what occurred to me is the long passage of time I knew the light from the torch was growing more dim and I never bothered to open it up and change the batteries.  I have tons of batteries of the proper size, so that wasn't the issue.  Neglect of doing the simple act of opening up the housing and taking a look when performance began to suffer ended up in the torch being unusable and destroyed.  It reminded me of our need as followers of Jesus to take the time to examine our own hearts.  Just because we are in fine health on the outside does not mean our thoughts or motives are pure or we are free from sin.  Even as the torch was amazingly able to function with a massive hole drilled through the centre of a battery, so we can go through the motions of life, family and ministry when we are in dire need of personal revival and restoration.

The light of a torch shines away from the batteries, and thus it is necessary for someone to use a different light to examine them.  As insightful as we might be concerning ourselves, we are not nearly as discerning as our God who created us.  It is His gaze we must invite and submit to, choosing to heed His voice.  That is why David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  God knows and sees what man cannot, and in love He will point out of sins and worries man tries to justify.  Praise the LORD He knows us and loves us, and the Light of the World Jesus Christ makes us to shine bright by the power of the Holy Spirit according to His grace.  A new heart and a renewed mind is ours when we humble ourselves before the LORD in contrite faith.

God and Rights

In the book What's Wrong With Human Rights, David Cross makes a strong case the zeal for standing up for human rights is a religious one born of the tenets of humanism.  Those who would paint religion, "social constructs" or politicians as the cause of all conflicts have ignored and dismissed the sinful bent of their own hearts.  Cross sums up the introductory chapter of his book in this way:

"A right is an entitlement conferred on a person by another who has the authority to give such entitlement.  In order for foundational and innate human rights to be legitimate, they must be conferred as part of our creation.  Some have argued that God has indeed given universal basic rights simply as part of our human existence, but this cannot be supported by the Bible.  Some have argued that such rights are a self-evident aspect of human development, which must be enforced by law, in order to bring justice to the world.  However, the Bible says that it is only the resolution of man's sin that brings true justice, not the claiming of man's rights.  Furthermore, Jesus expressly teaches us to forgive rather than to claim a right of retribution against those who have hurt us." (Cross, David. What's Wrong with Human Rights: Uncovering a False Religion. Sovereign World Ltd, 2018. page 35.)

If a right exists, it is conferred upon people by God or even by a government upon citizens upheld by law.  From a biblical worldview all governments and those in power are placed there by God, and thus we honour them not only as public servants but as those responsible to serve God.  This responsibility exists whether a politician believes or admits this, and in a secular society this would flatly be denied--even as the existence of the God who created all things is denied.  But scornful denials do not make this untrue.  The God who graciously gave us life will hold all people accountable and will judge us all according to His righteousness.  All legitimate rights must come from someone greater before whom they submit, and thus a claim of rights acknowledges God.

A well-directed point Cross makes (among many) is the difference between ability to do something and a right to do it.  God has given every person the freedom to make choices concerning our beliefs, what we choose to say or do.  We have the choice between doing what is right and wrong, walking in faith and obedience to God or going our own way.  The Beastie Boys song goes, "You gotta fight for your right to party," and people have taken up many fights for rights that are just as biblically illegitimate.  When He came to earth Jesus voluntarily laid down His divine right to rule as the only begotten Son and took up residence in a human body that grew in Mary's womb of the Holy Spirit.  He humbled Himself, made Himself of no reputation and was a servant of all though LORD of all.  He carried His cross to Calvary to satisfy the justice of God and atone for the sins of the world through the Gospel.

God had given the nation of Israel that land occupied and ruled by the Romans, but Jesus did not espouse the right of Jews to fight to own their land.  Luke 9:23 says, "Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."  Jesus did not teach passivism, capitalism or socialism but the denial of self and submission to God in faith marked by obedience.  All people alive today, regardless of their circumstances, have been given life by the grace of God.  To those who answer the call of Christ to follow and enter into the covenant in His shed blood are given the right to become children of God--and with that other rights as citizens of His eternal kingdom are included.  In our unregenerate, sinful condition we are stripped of these rights, yet we are so loved and valued by God He sent His own Son to redeem us, fill us with His presence and crown us with glory.  We have no right to be saved but except for the grace and mercy of God.

I have observed a lot of anger and frustration in people when they feel their "rights" are being stripped away.  The religion of humanism that looks to government, politicians, legislation, self and the "power of the people" cannot provide comfort for our souls at the best of times, for legislation passed today can be overturned tomorrow; when the majority rules they do not always walk in righteousness.  Until people are willing to acknowledge God's sovereignty and resolve to confess our sin, repent and follow Jesus in faith, the crusade for human rights will charge on with soul-crushing impact.  The claim and pursuit of human rights can be at its core a denial of God who is our only Hope and falsely claim humanity alone is capable to save the planet and ourselves.  Instead of fighting for rights, let us choose to do what is right by seeking forgiveness from God for our own sin.  Then we will be led in love towards others and walk in newness of life, and the future will never look more bright.