Month: August 2018

4. Glory, Honor, Peace

 Romans 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good.

 The conditional promise: if you work good, then you will have glory, honor, and peace. Everyone who works good is the one who believes in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. “Do good.” That’s the key. But no one is good: “Call no man good;” “There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not.” For “without faith it is impossible to please God.” But God is pleased with the one who believes in the Son, so the one who believes is the one who “does good.”

They asked Jesus, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” [John 6:28-29]. Faith in Christ is working good. Therefore, the one who believes in Jesus will receive the promise of glory, honor, and peace. The believer actually does do good, but what actually happens is that Jesus gives him His glory, honor, and peace.

Glory and honor has to do with what others think of me and how I am regarded by people. That glory and honor is fickle and short-lived; it passes quickly. Real and long-lasting glory and honor is what God thinks of me and how He regards me. We know that because of Christ God glorifies and honors me; He thinks extremely highly of me. There are many times I really need to believe this promise. No matter how bad I feel or how terrible are the conditions of life I know what God really thinks of me. He bestows glory and honor upon me now and forever. It’s really Jesus’ glory, but He gave it to me. I am honored, always.

The further promise is the promise of peace. “My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you.” Jesus lived at absolute peace with Himself, with the Father, and He was without conflict or trouble even in the midst of undeserved torment. That is the kind of peace we need; and Hallelujah! It is the kind of peace we have. I promise.

3. Eternal Life

Romans 2:6-7 [God] will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.

 God renders eternal life to those who believe in the Son (John 3:16). Eternal life is the wonderful promise given as a free gift of grace, grace earned by Jesus Christ by His Cross and Resurrection. It is freely granted and not in any bit earned or deserved.

However, on the Judgment Day all people will be judged according to their deeds, that is, by the life they lived. This kind of life lived is the evidence of the inward faith in the external word that has received the gift. How do you know if someone has true faith in Christ or not? You don’t, but you will know them by their fruits. You shall not judge them by their fruits because you could be mistaken and you cannot know the motives of the heart; faith is invisible. But faith becomes visible to the entire universe in the Final Judgment. Then God renders accordingly. Those who maintain faith in Christ have no sins that will show up; those who do not believe in Christ will still be in their sins and these will be shown for all to see. Though we do not see the faith all the world will see the deeds; and God judges justly.

“Patient well doing seeking for glory and honor and immortality” is what will be seen in the revealing judgment. The judgment will reveal all those who have a heart for God, faith in Jesus. It will look like patient well doing seeking God’s life. Because we do not see the heart we cannot pass judgment on any person. We may tell a person that unless he or she repents and believes the gospel he cannot be saved and he will die and be judged in his sins. But we cannot judge; we can only love.

Patient well doing describes the faithful believer; it is not a prescription or requirement for eternal life and salvation. Patient well doing is not something we try to do and become. It is a fruit of the spirit; it is not produced by the efforts of the soul. Faith lives it out and works it in. Patient well doing is lived by the Holy Spirit of God who lives in the spirits of those who are connected to the Vine by God-given faith in Jesus. Patient well doing is the eternal life of God in us. We believe in Jesus = we believe the Promise. The Promise = Eternal Life. Eternal Life = a heart for God.

2. Righteousness of God

 Romans 1:17 For therein [in the Gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

 God makes a fantastic, unbelievable, promise to us: He reveals and gives His own righteousness to us and we are just by faith. He reveals the righteousness of God in the Gospel. It is the Gospel that shows us a righteousness that is ours by faith. God’s justice demands righteousness in us; we shall be holy; we must be just and right. We cannot produce it, we cannot live it, we cannot claim it; we cannot be it; we have no righteousness in us in the least bit, and yet God requires it perfectly and fully. But God gives us His own inherent righteousness, a righteousness that belongs to Him, but He shares it with us who believe the Gospel.

God’s righteousness is ours, but Luther calls it an “alien” righteousness, alien because it is not a part of us, it has no source in us, it is not produced by us, and it has nothing to do with us. Though it is alien it belongs to us by faith. It is revealed to faith and faith perceives it, receives it, and makes it one’s own. Faith in the gospel is accounted to us as righteousness. God grants us His righteousness and counts it as ours. By faith, we are considered as, reckoned as, looked on as, related to as, regarded as, and loved as righteous people.

This is an all at once process and by faith it is complete once for all. God does not make us righteous, that is, He does not change our character and personality and essential being. It is long process of sanctification that slowly makes us more and more righteous and enables us to live a more holy life over time as the Holy Spirit applies the Gospel over and over. The sinful old man lives alongside the righteous new man while it is slowly influenced by that alien righteousness living in our spirit. It is an inward righteousness, which avails before God; it is not an outward righteousness, which shows itself before men. It is a faith that grows, but it will not be complete outwardly until the Resurrection, when we shall be changed substantively, both inwardly and outwardly.

Faith is necessary and absolutely required to receive this inward, invisible and alien righteousness because we do not see it; we get glimpses and fruit shows, but we do not see it either in ourselves or in others. Therefore, we believe the promise.

1. Power

Romans 1:16 The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation for every one that believeth.

 We have found almost 500 promises in the Psalms and the “red” words of Jesus; now we turn to the promises that God gives through Paul’s Epistles. Will we find hundreds more? Paul’s promises, as all the promises of Scripture, relate to the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel is itself a manifold and variegated promise and it is also the means by which the promises come to us.

Here is the promise: The Gospel is Power. It is the power of God providing salvation to those who believe in Christ. The word power in this verse means strength, ability, force, dynamism and explosion. The Gospel is able to do things; it can make things happen, particularly salvation. The Gospel of Christ has the power to save us from the extremely strong forces of Sin, Death, and the Devil. These Enemies are the strongest forces in the universe, far stronger than any power or strength or arms that you or I can muster; but the Gospel is an even greater force; it is the power of love. The enemies are defeated; one little word (gospel) can fell them.

In this world during this life we are the weakest of all creatures in the face of the evil powers. But we believe the Gospel and thus we have a stronger power. This Word, received and given, is able to sustain us, bring victory, and overcome in every circumstance of life. We need this power; we need to hear this gospel; we need to believe this word and promise; we need it often; we need it spoken with clarity; we need it in our ears and in our hearts. We can never get tired of hearing it; we will never get bored with it; we cannot get used to it (“Oh, I heard that before.”) It is new and fresh and powerful enough to overcome every sin and guilt and temptation and threat and fear and doubt.

We just apply it, that is, “believe.” Not only is the gospel the power to save those who believe, it is also used by the Holy Spirit to create faith to believe it. The Holy Spirit (God Himself) desperately wants us to use that power, so He gives us the faith to believe and apply it to life. The human being is deceitful and creative, and he creatively sins in new ways every day and lies about it. Confess and believe the Gospel daily for it is the power of God unto salvation. It is stronger than our deceptions.

177. Reward

 Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

 Jesus promises to bring His reward with Him when comes again the second time at the end of the world. He will come quickly. He will give His reward to everyone according to his or her work. The life we life in faith in Christ will have a reward. These are rewards of grace: grace means Jesus has earned the reward, but He graciously gives the reward He has earned to His believers. These are not rewards for the works that we have done but for the works that Christ has done in us. I must face the fact that I cannot by my own effort by myself do anything worth a reward. My sin prevents me from doing a truly good work acceptable to God, for sin and self will always taint it.

However, when the blood of Christ cleanses me and His Holy Spirit comes to dwell in me Christ Himself is able to do truly good works in me and through me. These works that He does always has a reward attached; these rewards are being saved up and will be distributed at the Judgment. Almost all these rewards will surprise me for I do not even know I did a work. “Lord, when did we see thee…?” It is enough to know that God is doing a work in me and some of these good works come out of me and affect others. Any time the Lord uses me to do or say a truly good thing in faith I can be assured that each work has a reward.

Not only do I not know the works, but also I do not even know the rewards. I pay no attention whatsoever to the reward, and I do not even notice the works, so I certainly do not do good works for the sake of a reward. But I can believe that rewards are coming according as the work shall be; I leave that up to Him. My focus is on Christ and His Gospel message. It is enough to know that God notices, takes account, and brings the reward with Jesus when He comes. I have much to look forward to. I do not need a payback for every good deed and I don’t expect tit for tat. All I know is that “he who gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones will by no means lose his reward.”

This last promise from the lips of Jesus encourages us to look forward with anticipation and to be extremely optimistic about our future.

176. Blessed

 Revelation 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

The conditional promise of blessing comes to the one who keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book. If you keep the words of the book, then you will be blessed. The book, of course, is the Book of Revelation, but, situated at the end of the Bible, the promise also applies to those who keep the words of the whole Good Book. This truth is abundantly obvious, for everyone, even the atheist, knows that the consequences of keeping the Moral Law of God’s Word is a good thing and brings blessings.

Life will definitely be better for the person who obeys the Ten Commandments, but the promise goes beyond just the temporal blessings and curses of doing or not doing the Law. The promises include especially eternal blessings, like forgiveness, life and salvation, because the sayings of the book also include the words of the Gospel, Keeping, or believing, the Gospel includes thousands of spiritual blessings in addition to some temporal physical and mental blessings. Keep is an important word because it means more than just reading, hearing and knowing the words of Law and Gospel; it also includes actually applying and doing it. “Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.” [Luke 11:28}. Keeping here means believing and taking to heart the Gospel: God forgives you, God loves you, God saves you, God gives you eternal life, God delivers you from the judgments of this book, and God brings you into the kingdom of God.

The other side of this coin gives a warning: the plagues will be added and the share in the tree of life will be taken away from anyone who adds to or takes away from the words of the prophecy of this book. This distinction is ever before each of us, as Moses writes: I set before you a blessing and a curse, life and death. Therefore choose life: believe the Gospel.

175. Blessed

 Revelation 9:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

 Jesus predicts that He will come again and when He does it will be as a thief, without warning and with surprise. The conditional promise of blessing is for those who watch and keep their God-given clothes. The surprise Coming is not a promise; it is a fact; it will happen. The promise is that it will be a blessing for us when He comes.

Since we don’t know when Jesus is coming back and it will be a shock when it happens we need to watch, that is, stay awake and alert and prepared; we must not fall asleep like the Virgins waiting for the Bridegroom. We cannot be lulled into complacency and doubt, thinking: “Where is the promise of His coming?…All things are continuing as they were since the beginning of creation.” [2 Peter 3:4]. Watching does not mean that we must constantly be thinking, “Jesus could return any time,” for we cannot consciously be aware of the Second Coming all the time. But we can “watch” by keeping our faith in the Gospel up to date, by daily repentance and faith and by weekly hearing the Gospel in church. The Gospel makes us ready.

The second condition for the one who is blessed: he keeps his clothes, lest he is caught with his pants down at the coming of Christ. The symbol of clothing is the robe of righteousness earned, given and placed upon us by Christ. The one who thinks he can come to the Wedding Feast in his own clothes will be cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Naked” means standing in our sin and its shame for all the world to see, or even putting on the fig leaves of our own good works. No one will stand in the Glorious Appearing except the ones who are robed by Christ. We “keep the garments” by continually hearing and believing the Gospel. When we do not hear and believe the Gospel we may drift into the complacency of thinking, “I’m good enough as I am with my own good works.” It is possible to lose sight of the daily need for Jesus. Blessing comes to those who stay awake and stay dressed. The blessing is not only later after He comes but also now while we wait.

174. Sit on Throne

 Revelation 3:21To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

 The seventh promise to the overcomer: sit with Jesus in His throne. We will sit with Jesus on His throne in the same way that Jesus has overcome the enemies of Sin, Death, and the Devil and, after that victory, He sat down with the Father in His throne. Sitting on a throne is ruling with authority. All authority has been given to Christ and now He is ruling with authority over all our enemies, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name both in this age and in the age to come. The Father has placed everything under His feet and made Him head of all things to the church; the church is the people of God, all the believers in Christ. That means Jesus Christ is in charge of everything and overcomes for the good of His believers. It is enough to truly believe that our Savior who loves us is on the throne taking care of all things working them all out together for good.

 But there is more: He also promises that we will rule with Him on His throne working out the overcoming victory for the wellbeing of God’s people. We rule with Christ both in this age and in the age to come. He shares with us His rule and authority and we participate with Him in His ruling authority even now while we live in this present age. He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places so that we may show the riches of His Grace to all the worlds, to the believers in the kingdom of God, to the unbelievers in the kingdom of the world, and to the good and the evil powers in the spiritual realm. We love them all so that we can have a part in delivering the kingdoms to the Kingdom,

It is an awesome responsibility to think we, too, sit on His throne. Overcomers rule in love for the good of all.

173. Fellowship Meal

 Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

 In His writing to the failing church in Laodicea Jesus is calling on them to repent (“be zealous and repent”). Then He gives this conditional promise: if you repent, hear my voice and open the door, then He will come in to you and enjoy table fellowship. Jesus is urging repentance: be willing to admit your fault and guilt and turn to me for forgiveness and life. Repentance includes not only a sorrow for sin and a desire to change but also faith. The Holy Spirit who uses the very words of the Gospel produces repentance and faith in the Gospel. The Lord is ready to forgive and restore a friendly relationship. The Holy Spirit convinces us that the Lord will receive and welcome us into His presence. He makes us willing to listen to Jesus and open the door.

Your sins have separated Me from you; repent and believe the Gospel. When the Holy Spirit opens the door we are surprised by the grace of God that loves us and forgives us because of Christ. He assures us that He is not going to hold our sins against us but rather take them out of the way so that a loving relationship is restored. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see that God really does love us unconditionally. He loves us so much that He desires an enjoyable relationship with us, and then He actually makes it happen. We enjoy His presence and bask in His love while we share a fellowship meal together. This sharing of life goes on all the time and every time we repent and believe (hear His voice and open the door).

This fellowship and eating together is especially powerful when we participate in the Lord’s Supper: He sups with me and I with Him. Holy Communion is a wonderful foretaste of the Feast to Come. One of the taken-for-granted joys of life is eating together with family and friends; we enjoy this gift every day; the experience is greatly enhanced when we invite Jesus in as Host and Guest. He is the One who prepares a good meal and enjoys the fellowship time with us. This daily blessing is nothing compared to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom.

172. Name

 Revelation 3:12b [Him that overcometh…] I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

 The second part of the sixth overcomer promise: the name of God will be written upon the believer, and the name of the city of God, and Jesus’ own new name. The powerful name of Jesus and of Yahweh will be written upon us. The Aaronic Blessing of Numbers 6:24-27 puts Yahweh’s name upon the people. Today we go out from the Divine Service wearing the name of God. (Do not bear it in vain.) This is a serious blessing and a serious promise. This Triune Name was placed upon us at our Baptism, and we wear it proudly. We go out into this world witnessing to this Name by which we must be saved and exercising its power in love. Now in the Book of Revelation Jesus promises us that we will bear this Name in eternity also.

The name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem, is also written upon us. This new city, come from heaven, will exist and rule the new heaven and new earth for eternity. The fact that it is written upon us signifies that the city of my God is also our city; we belong to it; it is our home, our native land, the city in which we are born again. By faith, we live in that spiritual kingdom and city right now, even though at the same time we are living in the kingdoms of this world, the earthly world we can see. But we don’t belong here: we are traveling though on a sojourn until we reach our heavenly home, the New Jerusalem prepared for us by God. We know it is ours because the name of the city is on us.

Interestingly, Jesus has a new name; we don’t know what this means, but it probably has something to do with the exalted name of Jesus at which “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Either Jesus received a new name at the Ascension and Session at the Right Hand, or the name Jesus itself has received a new meaning and significance: the Name of Jesus now has absolute dominance and Lordship over absolutely everything. This Authority is most likely the “newness” of that name, all because of the Resurrection. That strong Name is now upon us: Amazing!