DISRESPECTING GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11)

Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life itself. Have you ever considered the deeper implications of the slightest sin, of the most minute peccadillo? What are we saying to our Creator when we disobey Him at the slightest point? We are saying no to the righteousness of God. We are saying, “God, Your law is not good. My judgement is better than Yours. Your authority does not apply to me. I am above and beyond Your jurisdiction. I have the right to do what I want to do, not what You command me to do.” 

-- R.C. Sproul in “The Holiness of God”

#5855

THE SOVEREIGN LORD OF LIFE

“He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears… In that day the people will proclaim, ‘This is our God! We trusted in Him, and He saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!’”  (Isaiah 25:8-9 NLT)

The reality of death is with us. We face it as and who we are. It is at this juncture that those who are Christians, those who are in Christ, reveal their faith which is their character.

“Death,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his Letters and Papers from Prison, “is the supreme festival on the road to freedom.” Such confidence in death as access to the fuller presence of God can only come from a conviction that our lives are hidden with Christ in God -- with Christ who is the incarnation of persisting, caring grace -- and in God who is the sovereign Lord of life before and beyond death.

-- Thomas A. Langford in “Christian Wholeness” 

#5766

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CHRIST

As Paul sums it up, God's power "raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now He is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else… God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church" (Ephesians 1:20-22).

Celebrating and proclaiming the ascension is therefore crucial if we are to fully exalt Christ. Jesus is not only risen but reigning, not only alive but sovereign, not only central but supreme. Moreover, as theologian Douglas Farrow demonstrates, whenever we fail to proclaim Christ as ascended, enthroned, and exalted, something else -- our personal agendas, the world's agendas, the church's agendas -- moves in to fill the vacuum. Mark it down, when we fail to exalt and enthrone Jesus, something or someone else inevitably assumes the throne. 

-- Stephen Seamands in an article entitled "He Ascended into Heaven" in Good News Magazine, May/June 2011

#5470

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

“For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  (Colossians 1:13-14 NIV)

God is at work carefully bringing about His Kingdom. He is working to bring all creation unto Himself. The Holy Spirit’s work in each believer’s heart is certainly a part of that greater work of God, but God is also about the cosmic business of completing creation and bringing everything to consummation. We humans can merely wait and anticipate.

What a blessing that day will be when Jesus arrives for His children. When God ushers in His Kingdom once and for all. When [evil is] swept away and impurity is banished from the world. When we are restored to our eternal place near the throne of God to be joined with believers from all times and all places in singing the praises of our Lord and our God. What a day! Come, Lord Jesus, come. 

– Allen R. Hunt in “Nine Words”

#5459

THE REIGN OF GOD

Much of what Christian community needs right now is... awareness... In its most complete expression in both Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, awareness is the quality of simple alertness and receptivity to whatever the Divine Presence may be doing.

Jesus seeks to draw people into a fuller state of awareness with the words we know nearly by heart: "Let the little children come to Me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it" (Luke 18:16-17).

We are to become like the awed and the open, like those blinking their eyes at the wonder of life. Do this, Jesus counsels, and then we shall enter most fully what God sets before us. Not long before His crucifixion, Jesus responds to those seeking dramatic signs of God's reign: "The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you" (Luke 17:20-21).

Be open, Jesus counsels. Be attentive. Be aware! The reign of God is in our very midst. 

-- Stephen  Doughty in “Discovering Community” 

#5435

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE POTTER

“Yet, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we are all the work of Your hand.”  (Isaiah 64:8 NRSV)

The amazing thing is that even in the midst of disappointment, surprise, and mystery you will discover how very reliable and trustworthy God is -- and how secure you are in His hands. And oh, how we need that in this day of relativism and vacillation, filled with empty talk and hidden behind a lot of semantic footwork. In the midst of “spin city” it is the Lord who talks straight. It is the Lord who has preserved Truth… in His Word. And it is the Lord who has the right to do as He wishes around us, to us, and in us. He’s the Potter, remember. Puzzling as the process may be to us, He stays with His plan. There is no need for us to know all the reasons, and He certainly doesn’t need to explain Himself. Potters work with the clay, they don’t fret over it… or ask permission to remake the clay into whatever they wish. 

-- Charles R. Swindoll in “The Mystery of God’s Will: What Does He Want for Me?” (1999)

#5320

JOY IN A WEARY WORLD

“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:6 NKJV)

In December 1948 Prince Charles was baptized in Buckingham Palace. The following day the first pictures of the royal baby and heir apparent were released to the public. One of the most popular photos showed the royal family, including parents and grandparents, gathered around the little prince, gazing at him. The caption underneath was: “All eyes on the Baby.”…

This Christmas, and throughout the coming year, we have every reason for optimism. In all the weariness of life write this caption underneath your life: “All eyes on the Baby… the Baby Jesus.” He came the first time in a cradle as a Savior to bring the light of salvation, life, and forgiveness. He is coming again wearing a crown, as Sovereign, as Prince of Peace, to take over and make everything right forever. Whatever you do this Christmas, don’t miss the joy!

In dismay -- looking at the current situation of the ongoing pandemic -- some might say, “Look what the world has come to.” In delight -- looking at the Son who was given -- we can say, “Look Who has come to the world” and “look Who is coming again.”

That’s more than enough to shine light into every heart and saturate every mind with joy in a weary world.  

-- Adapted from an article by Mark L. Hitchcock entitled “A Weary World Rejoices”

#5249

AN ANALOGY FOR SIN

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”  (Isaiah 53:6 NKJV)

D. R. Davies provided a helpful analogy when he observed that sin is more like the act of a traitor than the act of a criminal. The rebellion of a criminal against the laws of his country is quite limited. No matter how spectacular his crimes, he breaks only certain specific laws. A traitor, by comparison, commits the far more serious offense of contesting altogether the sovereignty of his country. Analogously, the sinner is distinguished, not so much by the particular laws that he has broken but by the fact that he denies altogether the right of God to rule.  

-- William F. May in “A Catalogue of Sins”

#5227

THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)

The presence of Christ with the Christian has numerous benefits.  Christ is like the Good Shepherd, guiding us through life, and He is sovereign over everything.  This realization gives us a deep peace.  It is most significant that when Christ met His disciples after He rose from the dead, He often gave them greetings of peace (Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 21,26).  This peace touches every area of life that could trouble us.  We are freed from a troubled conscience that could bother us with guilt feelings over the past.  We have courage to face the challenges of the present because Jesus, who is sovereign over all things, is with us.  We are not anxious about the future.  So the peace of Christ touches our attitude to the past, the present, and the future.  It is a peace completely different from the peace the world gives (John 14:27), for it is not dependent on circumstances, but on Christ, and He is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). 

-- Ajith Fernando in “The Christian's Attitude Toward World Religions”

#5008

A CHANGE OF MIND AND HEART

“Jesus replied [to Nicodemus], ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’”  (John 3:3 NIV)

We believe in conversion.  But what is it?  It is the most basic transformation in life.  It is a revolution at the heart of one's being.  It is the new birth.  It is not a natural growth but a supernatural rebirth.

For selfish persons, conversion means a basic change in the center of their commitment.  Self is dethroned; Christ is enthroned.  For those who measure success and failure in dollars and cents, the new birth means the reign of Christ and of His standards.  For those who put their highest trust in political organizations and in the might of arms, conversion means seeing in Christ the only hope of the world.  To those who are crippled by failure and despair, conversion means absolute trust in the healing ministry of the conquering Savior.  In short, we are born of the Spirit when Christ becomes the master impulse of our life.  And we enter into this new life at the moment when we take all that we know about ourselves and lay it trustfully before all that we know about Christ.

Conversion or the new birth, then, is a basic change of mind and heart.

-- Bishop Mack Stokes in “Major United Methodist Beliefs,”  published by Abingdon  Press, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.


#4794

SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD

“God who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all -- how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died -- more than that, who was raised to life -- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”  (Romans 8:32-24 NIV)

To Jesus the ascension came as the culminating divine assurance that the work He had come to do had been completed to the entire satisfaction of the Father, to whose right hand He had now been exalted. “The right hand of God” is metaphorical language for divine omnipotence. “Sitting” does not imply that He is resting, but reigning as King and exercising divine omnipotence. The doctrine of the ascension is therefore the divine affirmation of the absolute sovereignty of Christ over the whole universe…

For the believer, our Lord’s ascension has blessed implications for us. Though physically remote, He is always spiritually near. Now free from earthly limitations, His life above is both a promise and the guarantee of ours. “Because I live, you shall live also,” He assured His disciples (John 14:19). His ascension anticipates our glorification and leaves us the assurance that He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2).

-- J. Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest”

#4314