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Carried Up into Heaven

Often the gospel is only viewed as Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, but while that is of first importance (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), our salvation could not be possible without the incarnation (the Word becoming flesh and making His dwelling with us) or the ascension.  Several things are possible because Jesus is alive forevermore (Revelation 1:8) and seated at the right hand of the Father.

I. Luke 24:50-53.  Because He ascended, we can have a change of address.  What a beautiful picture it is of the alive Jesus being carried away to the Father.  It’s very similar to the poor man in Luke 16:22.  Both are fully conscious when they ascend, and Jesus tells us He’s going to prepare a place for us (John 14:2-4), something that is done for alive people.  Furthermore, for those who are part of the first resurrection, the second death has no power over them (Revelation 20:6-15).

II. Acts 1:6-11.  Because He ascended, our questions have good answers.  No doubt we live in a time when Christian faith is under attack by scoffers (2 Peter 3:3-4), yet we can give an answer for where our Savior we claim is alive currently is and the work He is doing at the right hand of the Father.  We can also say with certainty that Jesus will indeed return, not to bear sin (He’s already done that), but to bring to the Father those who are eagerly waiting for Him (Hebrews 9:26-28).

III. Hebrews 1:2-4.  Because He ascended, we now have a heavenly advocate.  Jesus told us that unless He went away we would not have certain advantages (John 16:7).  As our High Priest in heaven (Hebrews 8:1-6), He can be a great help to us in our current lives because He was made like us in every way (Hebrews 2:14-18), but He can be a perfect intercessor for us at the Father’s side (Hebrews 7:22-26) as Satan is constantly accusing us before this very throne (Revelation 12:10).

We need Jesus every moment of our lives.  Because He is ascended alive into heaven, our Savior is in a greater position to help us in every need that we have.

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Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

In this greatest of stories, a righteous God redeems sinful man.  In its beginning, man is pitted against God, other men, and himself because of sin and faces an eternity separated from his Creator in hell.  But in the suspense-filled climax, when it looks like Satan has won by putting our Savior on the cross and in the tomb, Jesus rises from the dead, so that we may too!  What a resolution!  It’s no wonder that “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” is one of our most beloved hymns:

Christ, the Lord, is ris’n today, Hallelujah! Sons of men and angels say, Hallelujah! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Hallelujah! Sing, ye heav’ns; thou earth, reply, Hallelujah!

I. John 19:38-30.  As the second stanza states, love’s redeeming work was certainly done (1 John 4:9-10). Never having to face death again, it no longer had mastery over Jesus (Romans 6:9) and so not us either as we are ransomed from our futile ways (1 Peter 1:17-18):

Love’s redeeming work is done, Hallelujah! Fought the fight, the battle won, Hallelujah! Lo! Our sun’s eclipse is o’er, Hallelujah! Lo! He sets in blood no more, Hallelujah!

II. Matthew 27:63-66.  Concern from the Jewish leaders that Jesus’ followers would steal the body and claim that He had risen from the dead prompted them to lie when Pilate eliminated all explanations for the empty tomb except that Jesus had actually risen (Romans 3:21-26):

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Hallelujah! Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Hallelujah! Death in vain forbids His rise, Hallelujah! Christ hath opened paradise, Hallelujah!

III. Luke 24:5-7.  The angel proclaims this fact as well.  We should not look for the living among the dead anymore for Jesus is risen and will never again die (Revelation 1:17-18).  Because He overcame death, so can we.  Death can have no hold on us ever again (1 Corinthians 15:54-57):

Lives again our glorious King, Hallelujah! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Hallelujah! Once He died our souls to save, Hallelujah! Where’s thy vict’ry, boasting grave? Hallelujah!

And that is indeed good news! Having obeyed the gospel, are you living as if Jesus is risen or still in the tomb?

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I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Meant to keep ladies cooler, crinolines over hoop skirts were a terrible fire hazard around open flame.  The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was burned too severely trying to extinguish the blaze that killed his wife to attend her funeral.  Two years later with one of his six children dead already and the oldest wounded terribly in the Civil War, he rode a train to DC and on Christmas 1863 wrote of the disconnect he found between life and the peace he read about from the pages of his Bible.

Perhaps we, who also struggle with life and the world we live in, can reconcile God’s Word with what we see through what became the song, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

I.  Isaiah 9:6-7.  Longfellow found a disconnect between his grief and horrors of this life when he heard the church bells ringing and thought of all they symbolized.  If Jesus was the Prince of Peace to bring peace on earth, where was that peace?  Job too went through much anguish, but he trusted God through it all (Job 1:20-22; Job 2:9-10).  The first stanza on his mind’s journey went like this:

I heard the bells on Christmas day, Their old familiar carols play, And mild and sweet their songs repeat Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

And the bells are ringing (peace on earth), Like a choir they’re singing (peace on earth), In my heart I hear them (peace on earth), Peace on Earth, good will to men.

II.  Matthew 10:34-39.  As long as the fellow’s focus was here on earth, he found only destruction and death.  The Prince of Peace, as it turns out, came not to bring peace but a sword.  How can that be?  His eyes needed to shift higher.  It’s peace between God and man that Jesus brought by His incarnation as He was the baby born to die (Matthew 1:21).  We suffer here but have peace and hope there (Romans 5:1-5).  We see him wresting with this in the second verse:

And in despair I bowed my head, “There is no peace on earth,” I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

But the bells are ringing (peace on earth), Like a choir singing (peace on earth); Does anybody hear them? (peace on earth), Peace on Earth, good will to men.

III.  1 Corinthians 15:13-19.  As this dawns on Longfellow, there’s a transition in the hymn:

Then rang the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead, nor does He sleep (peace on earth, peace on earth); the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on Earth, good will to men.

He decides that this world is not his home and puts his trust in the gospel that brought the outcome of peace between God and man as evidenced by the third stanza:

Then ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, a chant sublime Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

And the bells, they’re ringing (peace on earth), Like a choir they’re singing (peace on earth), And with our hearts, we’ll hear them (peace on earth); Peace on Earth, good will to men.

His struggle is the same as ours and the same question posed to us as the final chorus asks:

Do you hear the bells, they’re ringing? (peace on earth), The light, the angels singing (peace on earth); Open up your heart and hear them (peace on earth); Peace on Earth, good will to men.

Peace on Earth, Peace on Earth, Peace on Earth, good will to men.

The same peace that Longfellow found that the bells proclaimed can be yours.  Do you have it?

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Made Like His Brothers

If Satan wanted to destroy the gospel, how might he do it?  Since he can’t eliminate it, he would allow the story of a baby born and laid in the manger–as long as we didn’t know that baby as our Savior.  As long as Christianity is just one plate on the buffet of world religions and as long as the Word becoming flesh and making His dwelling among us is cluttered with many layers of man-made traditions, then it can exist as a lost and irrelevant relic.  But, Jesus being both fully God to be our Savior and fully man to be sacrifice is essential for the gospel and our salvation (Hebrews 2:14-18).

I.  Luke 4:3-13.  Since God is untouchable, Satan goes after those made in God’s image as we are able to choose sin (Genesis 3:1-15).  So, when God became a man, the devil had to test just how man-like He was, but Jesus remained sinless to His death on a cross.  And because He defeated the one who held the power of death through His own death, we too who are flesh and blood can share in His immortality and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15).

II.  John 8:34-38.  In doing so, Jesus delivered us who were in slavery to the fear of death because it is “Abraham’s offspring” that He helps.  Many thought they were Abraham’s offspring because of physical descent, but Jesus explains that it is those who are obedient by faith that He sets free from the slavery of sin.  It’s those who are sons of God through faith, having been clothed with Christ through baptism, who are Abraham’s offspring and heirs (Galatians 3:26-29).

III.  Romans 3:22-25.  Because He’s fully God, Jesus can be our Savior (Isaiah 43:3-11); because He’s fully man, though, He can be our sacrifice (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He had to be made like us in every way so that He can help us in eternity and here and now (Hebrews 4:14-18).  He is our righteousness and our propitiation for sin, sympathizing with our weaknesses and providing an ever-present help in our need.  And that is indeed good news!

As Satan does his best to dilute the gospel message or clutter it up with so much that is not about Jesus becoming a man to take care of our greatest need, let us uncover the light of the gospel message and let it shine forth.

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In a Strait Betwixt Two

Struggling with the ghosts and monsters that glorify death at this time of year, many Christians focus on the delights of the Fall season instead.  Rather, we have an opportunity with those who still fear death (or believe that’s the scariest thing in this life) to teach them that Jesus has conquered death (Philippians 1:19-24).

I.  Hebrews 2:14-15.  Though Paul was suffering in prison, he states that by his life or by his death, Christ would be glorified in his body.  While we often place our comfort over our character, Paul had adopted God’s perspective on death, knowing, as the Hebrew writer says, that Jesus had destroyed the one who had the power of death and freed us from the slavery of the fear of death.  Sadly, many love the world still (1 John 2:15-17) and live in their bondage to this fear.

II.  Philippians 3:8-11.  Paul knew that this temporary world could not offer what was ‘far better’ with Christ.  Often, though, we assign eternal status to the temporary and work to live forever in this world that is passing away, becoming a friend to this world and an enemy to God (James 4:1-4).  Looking to avoid the sufferings that Jesus endured while in this life, we exchange that which is ‘far better’ for worldly pleasures and so forfeit the resurrection.

III.  1 Corinthians 15:42-58.  Unlike many today who have grown comfortable in this life, Christians should view, as Paul did, that our time here is for a purpose to have an impact on those around us.  And, just as those who served others didn’t recognize that they were doing these things for Jesus when they did them for others (Matthew 25:37-40), we too must realize that time here is “necessary on [another’s] account” and abound in our work for the Lord.

So, how do you feel when someone dies in the Lord or think about your own eventual death?  Do you fear death or are you joyful that you used the time that God has given you to live faithfully and play a role in getting others through the gates of heaven?

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Up from the Grave He Arose

Last July, six year-old Bridger Walker threw himself in front of a mean dog to shield his little sister from certain death.  After the dog tore open his face, he still got her to safety.  When asked why he did it, he said that as the big brother, “If someone had to die, I thought it should be me.”  Isn’t this what Jesus determined at Gethsemane and Calvary that He must do for us?  Just as the scars that Bridger carries are a reminder of the love he has for his sister, Jesus, being fully God, shields us from certain death by rising from the grave.

I.  Luke 24:1-7.  At the tomb, Jesus conquered our death problem.  Because we’ve all sinned (Romans 3:23), we’ve all earned death, but the gift of eternal life can now come to us because Jesus conquered death (Romans 6:23).  He was fully man to be our sacrifice, yes, but He was fully God to be our Savior.  We no longer need to be held in slavery to our fear of death because Jesus conquered (Hebrews 2:14-16).

II.  1 Corinthians 15:1-26.  At the tomb, Jesus had to be fully God to be our Savior.  The leaders of every other world religion died; only in Christianity do we serve a risen Savior.  Jesus reveals His divinity by promising to raise Himself from the dead (John 2:18-22).  On Pentecost, Peter confirms this by stating that God raised Him (Acts 2:22-24).  Because Jesus was fully God, the gospel can save us.

III.  1 Corinthians 15:42-57.  We can rise with Jesus who was fully God to be our Savior.  We, who die in Christ, will also live in Him.  Because death has been conquered, we can have victory in Jesus.  But we must obey.  Jesus’ work at the cross and at the tomb is ours to obey (Romans 6:3-5).  Because Jesus overcame death, He became our source of eternal salvation if we obey (Hebrews 5:7-9).

As noble as Bridger Walker’s saving of his sister was, Jesus’ conquering of death for all who obey the gospel is a better salvation story.  Have you obeyed it?

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There’s a Great Day Coming

At this time of year, the world puts forth all the things that it considers scary, but they all have to do with the first death, the separation of our souls from our bodies.  No wonder that this experience and the unknown surrounding it are the ultimate in fear for those who have no hope.  But what is the first death to a Christian?  After all, every human being will experience this death.  As one humorist quipped about life: none of us will get out of it alive!  Paul said it best in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Gain?  How did he get to that point?  By knowing what to fear.

I.  Matthew 10:16-35.  As Jesus sends His disciples out into the world, He admits that He sends them out like sheep among wolves.  Not having the same power as God in the flesh, how was it that they were to combat the strength of the world?  By rejoicing, persevering, and trusting in God (Philippians 4:4-7).  Being anxious about circumstances of this temporary existence that could only lead to their first death would show that they feared the one who could only kill the body–and they are reassured that the Lord is at hand.

II.  Ecclesiastes 12:12-13.  Rather than fearing anything that might bring about the separation of our souls from our bodies, we should fear the one who can throw both body and soul into hell.  This verse in the middle of the Matthew 10 passage is often used by itself to mean we should fear Satan, but God alone is our Judge.  His judgment will part the saints and sinners right and left, the conquerors to eternal life and the cowardly to the second death, an eternal separation of their souls from God (Revelation 21:6-8).  It is no wonder, then, that rather than being scared or worried about the things of this life, our whole duty here is to fear God and keep His commandments.

III.  Matthew 25:1-13.  Consequently, our time here is all about preparing for eternity.  Judgment Day will come when all will have to give an account to God.  Rather than any suspenseful music you might hear coming from a horror movie or costume party, the scariest song is “There’s a Great Day Coming” because it speaks of the second death (Matthew 7:21-23) and challenges us in our preparation now, especially the third stanza:

There’s a sad day coming, a sad coming,

There’s a sad day coming by and by,

When the sinner shall hear his doom, “Depart, I know ye not.”

Are you ready for that day to come?

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Show Me, O God, How to Hate

Show me, O God, how to hate
This wicked world and all its ways,
To hate this life wrapped up in things,
In thoughts that throw us far from you.

Destroy what cannot remain forever,
That I might gain eternal blessing,
Release desires and old resentments,
For cleansing the heart grown hard by sin.

Show me, O Father, how to love
All heavenly truths that lighten my burden;
Let die this seed, enrich the soil,
To grow in Christ from the ground of pain.

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I’d ask one thing

Of all the prayers that I could pray,
Requests that I could make,
I’d ask one thing: my dying day
At Jesus’ feet to wake.

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We never want to see death

What power in Jesus’ words! They shake our world, and challenge our most cherished beliefs. They show our self-reliance to be a sham.

I want to find a place in my heart for his words, O God. Let them penetrate and transform. Let them bring to me the Spirit of truth.

I hear and respond, O Lord. In my hearing and responding, be my Father. We honor the Son, whose day Abraham saw, and we honor the Father, who sent us the Son.

We never want to see death, our Father. So help us to obey the Lord Jesus, whom none can prove guilty of sin.

Use the truth to free us so that we may be really free. As your children, we desire to remain with you forever.