Month: May 2018

90. Raise Up at Last Day

 John 6:39, 40 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

 John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jesus follows up the promise that He will not lose me; He goes on to promise that He will raise me up on the last day. This is the resurrection of the body unto life, the eternal life of God that never ends. We have in the soul eternal life now, and also have the guarantee that the body will be raised up at the End. The body is not yet resurrected, but we do have Jesus who is resurrected in His body. We who believe in Him are joined in unity with Him; thus we have His Life now and forever, and we know that the body will be resurrected just like the body of Jesus.

Jesus is the first Resurrection and we, by faith, have part in it. Those who share in the first resurrection (believe in Jesus) are blessed; the Second Death has no power over us now or ever; and during this time on earth we are priests of God and we reign with Him. The knowledge and assurance that we will be raised in the body at the Last Day strengthens and encourages us during this life: we share in Christ’s resurrection now and the One Who Was Raised will raise us up.

The comfort we have comes from knowing that the Father drew us and for this reason we come to Jesus; we cannot come to Jesus, or decide to believe in Him, by our own power or strength; God Himself calls us by the Gospel. He does the drawing and the “coming:” since I did come to Jesus by my own choice I can be certain that He who drew me to Him will keep me with Him; and He will raise up my body.

89. Come and not Cast Out

 John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

 Jesus promises that He will not cast out anyone who comes to Him; and he whom the Father gives to the Son will come to Jesus; Jesus receives him and keeps him. It is the Father that gives me to the Son; when that happens I come to Him, and I am comforted, protected and kept in His welcoming arms.

“Not cast out” is a euphemistic understatement: it does mean, “not rejected,” but it also means accepted and kept in care and protection. It also means God wants us because He loves totally and unconditionally. We all need to be loved, but even more we need to be wanted; that makes me important and significant; I have worth and value. The Father wants me; He gives me to the Son; because of God’s giving I come; I come to Jesus and He accepts me and keeps me.

It is also comforting to know that God, the Father, is in charge of the whole saving and keeping process from beginning to end. If He wants me, and I know He does, and if He gives me to the Son for safekeeping, then I have no shred of doubt that God will do what He says. I am His responsibility and His promise to care for me is absolute.

88. Bread from Heaven

 John 6:32 My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

John 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

John 6:35I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

 Bread is a global symbol for everything needed for the survival and sustenance of physical life. Everyone knows what “bread” means; in our day it is a word for money. Jesus says pray like this: “Give us this day our daily bread,” which means everything that belongs to the support and wants of the body. It is the only physical petition of the Lord’s Prayer.

But in John 6 Jesus says He is “the Bread of Life.” This moves the meaning of bread to the spiritual realm. Jesus is Life, spiritual life, and He is also the essential nourishment for that life. Just as we need physical bread for physical life, so we also need spiritual bread for spiritual life. Jesus is that bread, and He gives it to us. The bread we need is the true bread from heaven, that is, from the spiritual world inserted into our present physical world. The bread of God is the man who comes down from heaven, from the spiritual world. Jesus, the person, is the bread, and any person who comes to Him and believes in Him will never hunger and never thirst. In other words, we shall never be empty of the life we need to live with God. He is with us, He is in us, and He supplies us with Himself for every spiritual need.

We eat the bread when we believe the Gospel; we receive Jesus when we hear the Gospel; we are nourished and strengthened for life when we believe the Gospel. Although we will never hunger or thirst, we will hunger and thirst for righteousness, not because we are empty but because we are attacked on all sides from our enemies. We have God, yes, but we still yearn for Him more and more every day.

87. Meat that Endures

John 6:27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

 God promises to give us meat that endures unto eternal life. The meat which perishes refers to the manna in the wilderness, the bread from heaven. It nourishes for a day or two and then it is gone, perished. The food which the Son of man gives endures forever. Jesus Himself is the Bread of life, the bread of heaven.

We eat, or receive, the true bread from heaven which endures to eternal life when we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. This Bread endures and continues to give life, strength and health today and forever, because it is the very life of God. When we hear the Gospel it is life-giving and health-giving, nourishing and sustaining the eternal life that is already in us by faith; this is the true Life and it is eternal.

Since we sin daily, and daily sin produces only death and destruction, we need forgiveness daily; and daily forgiveness produces life and health and strength and nourishment and sustenance for living the full and rich life God wants for us. We can only get this kind of spiritual life and the nourishment of it from the Word of God which gives us the Gospel, which is Jesus Himself, the Bread of Life. This life and its strengthening endurance only come through the Gospel. Hearing only the Law, morality, wisdom, philosophy, psychology, inspiration, motivational speaking, self-help steps, how-to improvements, and any other good thing does not minister life. It is only true bread, solid meat, spiritual food and health-giving spiritual nourishment that ministers life.

The Gospel that once saved us and brought Jesus to us needs to be heard thousands of times in a lifetime. The New Life needs to be nourished by the Gospel to make it strong enough to overcome the Old Self, which must be continually drowned and die through repentance and faith while remembering our Baptism (Romans 6). The New Man with its new life grows healthy and strong only by feeding it Jesus through the Gospel, not through the Law or Morality or Good Works. The flesh and the world continue strong until confronted and defeated by the Gospel, and without this feeding of true Bread (Jesus) the spirit grows faint. The Bible and our Church Fathers recognized this; the Old Testament gives the Sabbath and the New Testament suggests Sunday, signifying that we need to hear the Gospel at least once a week; but, of course, daily is better. “Labor for” this Food does not mean work hard to earn it, but it means pay attention to it and receive it often.

86. Resurrection of Life

John 5:29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

 All people, both the good and the evil, everyone, will hear His voice and come out of the graves and tombs; they will come forth unto the resurrection of life or the resurrection of judgment. Either way, every body that ever lived and died will come forth into resurrection in a new body. The general resurrection of all flesh in a physical body is a prediction, a truth guaranteed for all people; but there is a distinction: a resurrection of life or a resurrection of damnation. It will be one or the other with no middle ground. This is not the promise.

The promise is that those who have done good will come forth from the dead unto the resurrection of life, that is, they will live forever in a spiritual body that will never die, grow old, get sick, or perish. The condition for the promise of the resurrection of life is that one must have done good. Doing good or evil will be the criterion for the Final Judgment. All people have done evil, but believers in Christ have been forgiven of all sins so that the evil is taken away and only the good is left; and believers in Christ have actually done good, although it is the Christ in them that has done the good. Interestingly, it is Christ in us that does the good, but it is us the persons in whom He lives that get the credit.

Therefore, because of Christ (and only because of Him) we have done good; this “done good” will be displayed before all in the Judgment so that all the world will see that we are truly deserving of the resurrection of life. When the books are opened at the Throne only those written in the Book of Life will be seen as having done good, and they will be judged accordingly: heaven is opened. (If a name is not written in the book of life, he is thrown into the lake of fire.)

The resurrection of life might arguably be the most important promise of Jesus; at least, it will be most important on our deathbed. This future promise also profoundly affects our daily life and influences our thought for good. Given the alternative, we praise the glory of His grace now and forever. I am a part of the Resurrection of Life!

85. Live

 John 5:25 The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

 We shall live! We shall live now and we shall live forever after temporal death. The Gospel of John is full of this promise to Live, to have eternal life now and forever. The hour is coming and now is: the hour is both now and later. Since believers have the Life now, this Life is eternal and so believers will have it later as well.

The promise of living is usually connected with believing and with hearing. Those who hear will live, both immediately and after this age. Faith comes from hearing. Hearing the Gospel message precedes believing, and the very hearing causes the believing. Hearing > Faith > Life. One leads to the next leads to the other. We can think of the “voice of the Son of God” coming to us at three different times: 1) when Jesus is living as a man on the earth He preaches the Gospel and announces the kingdom; 2) when Jesus speaks during our lifetime, and we hear the Gospel and are passed from death to life immediately in our time on earth; 3) when Jesus returns to earth at the Second Coming the voice of the Son of God will ring out for all the earth to hear, and when it happens the dead will live at the Resurrection.

Since it so important to hear the voice of the Gospel it would certainly behoove us to hear the Word of God (Jesus speaking) as often as possible: every Sunday in church; every day in our personal conversation with God; every opportunity to be in the Word and in Bible study. Every time we hear the voice of the Son of God the dead will live. The first submission we need is to the truth that we are dead in sin and it is impossible for us to live. The second submission we need is to the truth in Christ that the Lord Himself raises us to live, really live. I was dead in trespasses and sins, but God made me alive together with Christ. The good news of this promise: I can live in newness of life today.

84. Passed from Death to Life

 John 5:24 He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.

The promise of Eternal Life and No Condemnation is not only future, but eternal life is a present reality; it is life that we have right now, at the moment of faith. We do not wait for eternal life, but we enjoy it and live it during the time we live in the midst of death. It is not life only after death but also life during death.

The statement further explains this present truth: “He that hears…and believes…is passed from death unto life.” It is not “will pass,” but “is passed.” We are born dead because of original sin and we continue to live dead, the walking dead. As long as sin reigns death reigns. We live with the knowledge that we will die; we are mortal. We live with the loss of friends and family who die. We live with the signs of death, including sickness, disease, injury, pain and physical suffering (not to mention emotional suffering). Death is always around us, and in us, since we can almost always point to some kind of pain or loss; very seldom are we in perfect health and full life; nor do we live long without missing a loved one.

We are in death while we live, but the amazing promise that when we believe in Jesus we pass from death into life. Death still exists and it surrounds us, but we ourselves have come out of the grasp and power of death; because of Christ death no long has a hold on us; we are freed from the fear of death. Death will try to frighten us and cause depression and anger, but Death does not have the power to make it stick, if we believe. We can absolutely, for sure, claim that we have been transferred into Life; this is the realm where we really live, where life is real. The grip that Life has upon me is far stronger than the grip that Death claims to have upon me; for it is Truth, Death is Lie. I claim the Life God gives me, not the Death that Sin urges upon me. The Truth: I am passed.

83. Quickens

 John 5:21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

 The Father quickens, or makes alive, the dead, and Jesus makes alive whom he will. God is life; God creates life; God gives life. God creates life from nothing and God gives life to the dead. The Son is God and He also makes alive. The promise of raising the dead and giving life to the dead is very clear, very certain, and very important. He is risen! And so shall we rise from the dead; God gives life. In spite of all physical and empirical evidence to the contrary (we don’t see resurrected lives, only resuscitated ones) nothing is more certain than life after death, even more certain than death itself. Death is nothing; death is defeated; death has no power. “Though he die, yet shall he live.”

But “quickening” means much more than just life after death;it also means life during death. Right now, here, on earth, in this existence Jesus makes alive and gives life every day. Every time we hear the Gospel God makes us alive, gives more life, and injects a spurt of life-giving spirit into our spirits. We have experienced times and seasons in which we sort of “feel alive.” We know it can happen by feeling. But, feeling or not, it absolutely does happen when we hear and receive the Gospel; it has the power to give life, or quicken. We may not “feel” alive every time we hear the Gospel, but being alive, or more alive, really does happen. God breathes life when we are “in the Word,” for God’s words are spirit and they are life. We do not rely on seeing, or feeling, or experiencing, but we rely on the Word and Promise of God. He says He quickens and we can be sure He does.

82. Well of Water

 John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

 Jesus promises to give us water that will be in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life. This water is the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 7:38-39). A well of water by itself can become stagnant and spoiled since it doesn’t flow, but this well springs like a flowing spring. The Holy Spirit in us is not still, but He keeps moving and acting and prompting and inspiring.

The water (Holy Spirit) springs up into eternal life. Eternal is the life of God within, the life that is real life and life abundant, full, and rich. The good news is that this Life springs up into our conscious awareness from time to time, and every so often, without our trying to make it so, this Life affects our feelings so that we feel lighter and fresher, and peace floods the soul.

These spiritual “feelings” will not always be present, but the Life is moving and active deep within at all times. The Life makes a difference in our life, our family, our relationships, and on the world around us.

The other part of this promise is that we will never thirst. At times we may feel a spiritual dryness, emptiness and thirstiness, but we are able to take a drink whenever we need it. This water of eternal life will always be present and available so that we will never thirst because thirst-quenching life continually flows. It is interesting that the Holy Spirit (the water of life) is so gentle that we can actually quench the Spirit. The Spirit will quench thirst or we will quench the spirit by remembering or forgetting, paying attention to or ignoring, Jesus Christ. The degree to which we enjoy life may depend on our focus.

81. Living Water

 John 4:10 If you knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

 Jesus promises “living water.” Living water is running water that constantly refreshes itself, not like stagnant water that just sits there and doesn’t move. The life that Jesus gives us is the life of God; it continually runs and refreshes; it flows and never stops washing away sin and death. This living water is the Holy Spirit that lives and moves inside of us who repent and believe the Gospel. This continual washing and cleansing is needed because we continually sin, and we continually pay attention to our own self and its sinful interests.

Without a continual flow of fresh water and renewal we quickly stagnate, poison our lives, and live in the misery of sin and guilt. God is gracious to give us Jesus who continues to forgive even while we continue to sin. Without this living water we would simply thirst again. Thirst is a good thing signaling the body that it needs water. Spiritual thirst is also a good thing as it signals that the soul needs forgiveness and new life. Spiritual thirst is not readily recognized, but when we admit that we need Jesus all the time He will come and quench the thirst, for without Him we dry up, get bored often, worry more, get agitated quickly, lose our temper, forget patience, and live in a general malaise. These are signs of spiritual thirst, which comes from a willingness to live without living water for a period of time.

If I do not get refreshed regularly life deteriorates. I need to recognize the signs of thirst. Jesus tells us the remedy: “Ask of him.” We know the gift of God and who it is who speaks to us, and we ask. Then He gives.