Our heavenly home

 John 14:2-3

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

It is a sad truth that some people often evaluate who we are based on our earthly homes. They are impressed when the house we live in looks like a mansion, with all the trimmings money can buy. They then perceive us as influential, powerful, and successful in life, even if they do not know whether this is true or not. Whereas a low-key abode in a poorly kept neighbourhood gives them the opposite impression – we are seen as unsuccessful, powerless and without influence in the world around us, again without any known facts by which to form this impression.

But with Jesus, things get turned upside down. He Himself referred to the fact that during His ministry, He did not even own a home to live in (Matthew 8:20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”) As a homeless roaming Rabbi, He drew all manner of people to His side – from the extremely rich to the extremely poor. And the emerging first church after His ascension, still so pure in their intention to emulate Him, did not strive to outdo one another with the quality and quantity of their possessions - in fact the rich sold their assets and distributed the money among the poor (Acts 4:34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales). Following Jesus suddenly made sharing with one another more important than owning more than everyone else around.

How would we live if we knew that the most beautiful home in all of creation awaits us? If we understood that the place that Jesus had promised that He is preparing for us, is beyond our wildest imaginations, beyond what every eye has seen, or ear has heard of, beyond what has ever entered man’s heart (1 Cor 2:9)? And it is available to all of us who love Him, it has nothing to do with our wealth status here on earth!

Knowing this will give us hope in our circumstances, whatever it may be. The mansion-dweller, who knows that he cannot take anything with him beyond the grave, might stop striving to create an even more luxurious home, realizing that he cannot here on earth achieve what awaits him in Heaven. The homeless person will be comforted in knowing that he will one day be living in unimaginable splendour!

Pearls to ponder:

Read Rev 4; and also, Rev 21:10-27 and start meditating on the great blessings that await us there. Know that in Jesus you are meant to be there, it is your rightful inheritance – and live accordingly.

Heaven is my home

Being with Jesus

 

Acts 4:13

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Our society is obsessed with formal education. To be the successful candidate when you apply for a position practically anywhere, you need to produce the papers that prove that you have had formal training and passed the relevant exams in the area in which you wish to work.

This is also true about positions in religious organizations. Having a Doctorate in Divinity will normally give you a head start in applying for these positions, and the minimum requirement for any teaching position in religious colleges would certainly be a post-graduate degree.

In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees and Sadducees were exclusive educational groupings that thrived on the fact that they were the best educated men in their society. Their knowledge about religious matters was drilled into them from since they were children, and their whole adult life was spent in studying to master even more complicated religious concepts - they were walking encyclopaedias on all matters pertaining to their particular branch of religion.

But where did all this education lead them? For all their impressive head knowledge about their coming Messiah, they still did not recognize Him when He stood right in front of them. Whereas two uneducated, common men were boldly and with unfettered eloquence proclaiming the truth about Jesus Messiah, healing a cripple man in their midst!

The answer to this stunning contradiction lies in the words of our quoted verse above: “And they recognised that they had been with Jesus”. Having an intimate relationship with the living Messiah Jesus is way more important than studying theology and gaining only book knowledge about Him!

Pearls to ponder:

There is nothing wrong in attending Bible school or enrolling in a religious degree or diploma at university or college. In fact, it is unfortunately a reality that some church groups will not even listen to you if you cannot prove your academic qualifications in theology. It would be necessary to further your education to be able to reach those people.

But before you do, examine your motives in doing so. Are you seeking recognition because your educational level is higher than those around you? Do you wish to have the ‘prestige’ of people addressing you by using an academic title?

Let our motive for all further religious education be to equip us to advance the Kingdom, by getting to know the truth that sets us free. And let our intimacy with Jesus be the driving force and outcome behind all our studies!

Knowing You Jesus

Witness to His resurrection

 

Acts 1:21-22

“So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus— from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.”

We can easily prove the existence of Jesus through historical records. Apart from the Bible itself, there are also non-biblical evidence given through the writings of historians like Josephus, Tacitus, and Pliny. The latter two were Roman politicians, neither of whom liked Christians and therefore would not record anything with the motive of promoting the Christian faith. Even Gnostic writers mention Jesus. Satirist Lucian and philosopher Celsus denounce Jesus as a scoundrel. Archaeological findings, corroborating details given in the Bible about the time Jesus lived in, are numerous. In fact, there was never any debate in the ancient world about whether Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure.

The apostles were looking for a replacement for Judas, and though they specified that this person had had to be present with them during Jesus’ lifetime, it was not so that he could witness to the fact that Jesus did walk this earth that he would be chosen. It was so that he could witness to Jesus’ resurrection!

And this is the pivotal point of our belief. If we only believed that Jesus existed here on earth, even if we believed that He died a cruel death on our behalf, it would count for nothing if we did not also believe that He was resurrected and lives forevermore, interceding on our behalf. This is where the line is drawn separating true believers in Jesus and non-believers. It is easy to gather people from all belief systems together under the auspices of a One World Church if your requirement to belong to such an organization is only to believe that there was a historical prophet called Jesus, who lived and died somewhere around 33 AD.

The belief in the resurrection of Jesus is what the first Christians were persecuted for, what they were prepared to die for. If you consider the horrible ways in which the apostles of Jesus were murdered, ask yourself the question: Would any of them have been prepared to endure that agony for something that was not true, something that was simply a fabricated story?

Pearls to ponder:

Let us reconsider the basics of our belief. Am I believing the full Gospel - the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Son of God, Who then sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us until He returns again? Also consider the fact that you are saved because someone witnessed to you about the resurrected Christ. Are you prepared to witness to others also? Think about the different ways you can do that and start today!

Send me

Fretting

 

Ps 37:1-2

Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

“Fret” is a somewhat archaic expression meaning that you worry so much about something that it eats away at you - this issue consumes your thoughts, you are visibly and constantly anxious about it.

We live in times where, unfortunately, many circumstances lead us into this state of fretting. As South Africans, we face bribery and corruption in politics from the highest office down to the least important official on street level; rampant thievery of huge sums of money meant for public expenditure; violence and murder that have become a very real threat in our society.

And to top it all, the number of leaders of national and international ministries now being exposed for sexual abuse of all kinds.

We might think that things have never been as bad as it is now. But Ps 37 gives us a glimpse of a civilization where we read about evildoers plotting against the people of God (corruption), casting down the poor and needy (thievery), slaying those who walk uprightly (murder). 

And our Lord, understanding us so well, repeats His instruction to us in Ps 37 three times – fret not! In verse one He tells us that the evildoers will wither and die away, leaving no trace of their existence behind. In verse seven and verse eight He says to be still and rest in Him; not to fret because of him who got rich based on wicked practices; and to not let our fretting lead us to anger and wrath. The Lord even laughs at the wicked, for He sees that their own day of defeat is coming! Whereas the meek and blessed of God will inherit the earth. Even if these promises come to pass when we have already gone to be with Jesus, they shall be fulfilled becaue the Word of the Lord has established it.

Pearls to ponder:

Study Ps 37 to see how to navigate your path from fretting about external things, to finding your resting place in God. Master the art of these instructions given there - trusting in God; delighting yourself in Him; committing your way to the Lord; being still and resting in the Lord; waiting on Him patiently. Being merciful and dealing graciously; expecting the Lord.

And then do not forget to take note as you read along of the destruction decreed on all the wicked people, whilst the righteous have a Refuge and secure Stronghold in the time of trouble, who will help them, deliver them and save them – because they trust and take refuge in Him!

Anxious heart

Lilies of the fields

 

Luke 12:27

“Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

How often we read well-known verses and precisely because they are so familiar, we often do not stop to consider the impact of them on our personal lives. The quoted verse is one of those – it sounds so right, we have heard it so many times, and yet – what is it really saying deep in our hearts?

God made those lilies absolutely beautiful. Even though He knew that they would bloom only for a short season, then wither and die. Even though He knew that they would not be world-changers, or preach the gospel to millions, or produce food for thousands of starving people. Even though He knew that many of them would not even be seen by any human being because of the remoteness of their location.

They are just lilies. Exactly as He intended. And He proclaims them beautiful beyond measure, much more beautiful than Solomon, the richest man to ever live, could ever make himself to be.

What is the secret that Jesus wanted to share with us here?

Those lilies are not striving to produce their beauty or working hard to do something to earn God’s love and admiration. They are not doing the work of God, they simply are the work of God, and in being true to what He made them to be, they are basking in His approval and acceptance.

This should be the uppermost perception in our hearts – to let our lives become the work of God, instead of us striving to do the work of God!

Pearls to ponder:

You are uniquely made by God, and only He knows what His original plan for you is. It is never a great idea to just start working in His Kingdom according to the expectations of those around you, however good their intentions towards you are. We all need to develop an intimate relationship with Him, so that we can become what He intended us to be, rather than to feverishly start doing all kinds of work for Him in the hope of being good enough in His eyes.

Let us use this year to focus on Him, to hear His voice, to only obey His calling, to grow where He planted us and ignore all the other demands on our time and energy and resources. And once you have reached that place of being a willing instrument in God’s hands, have the boldness to start walking that road, even if it involves leaving some familiar things behind.

Trust and obey

From the Old to the New

 

Matthew 11:11

Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

John the Baptist had impressive credentials for his work here on earth: he was born of the line of Aaron the High Priest, his father was an active priest ministering in the Temple, and he was the only priest ever whose birth was announced by an angel in the Temple itself. Many years in the desert equipped him for his important task. His ministry included leading the people to be cleansed of their sins by having them repent and then baptised in the Jordan – this is the most important function of a High Priest. We can then say that John was a better and purer representation of the Levitical priesthood than the High Priest Caiaphas and his priests were at the time – they were totally corrupt and even plotting the murder of their Messiah.

Jesus brought us into a new covenant relationship with God through His death and resurrection. We know that it is a better covenant than the old one - Heb 8:6 Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.

But when a covenant changes, there must also be a change in priesthoods. The new covenant therefore means a new priesthood, replacing the old Levitical one.

It is highly significant then that Jesus urged John the Baptist to baptise Him in the Jordan. Jesus, as our High Priest (Heb 4:14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, ...), facing John the Baptist in his High Priestly function, representing the two priesthoods of the two covenants. As John baptised Jesus, he was in reality ending the functionality and right of existence of the old covenant priesthood and handing the reigns over to Jesus, and the new priesthood of the new covenant begins. Two significant happenings pointed to the transition from the old to the new: Caiaphas tore his clothes, thereby stripping himself of his authority and funtion as High Priest, and the veil in the Temple tore in half, opening the sanctuary of God to all who believe.

 The new priesthood started operating at His resurrection. Jesus now makes us, (believers in Him from all nations and tribes), the priests of this priesthood, as we read in 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of the One having called you out of darkness into His marvelous light  We now function as kings and priests (royal priesthood) in His Kingdom. As kings, we have the authority to act in His name, as priests, we have the duty to reconcile people to God and minister to their spiritual and physical needs. We as believers in Jesus have even greater credentials for this role than John the Baptist had for his priestly role – we are children of God, born in His image, completely equipped for the task by Holy Spirit! And this is what Jesus meant when He said that even the least in the Kingdom will be greater and better equipped than John the Baptist.

Points to ponder:

How do we ‘proclaim the excellencies’ of Jesus as His kings and priests? By our decrees. If we make a proclamation according to the Word, the following happens: the Holy Spirit moves; angels are summoned; spiritual opposition is destroyed; the promises of the Word are made manifest. His prophecies come about, His kingdom expands, miracles happen, and darkness flees! Take your place today – the world needs the continuation of the ministry of Jesus!

The song of the Redeemed

Take up your cross

 

Mark 8:34

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

To ‘take up your cross’ is widely interpreted as meaning that we all have a special burden to bear when we follow Jesus. That we have to embrace the will of God, however painful, even if it means to bear the same burdens that Jesus did up unto His death on the cross. Pulpit Commentary explains that this cross assumes various forms such as persecution and martyrdom, affliction and sorrow of whatever kind appointed by God, and temptations of Satan - permitted by God for our trial, to increase our humility and virtue.

All of which certainly is true, but is this what Jesus was saying to the crowd on that occasion? If we dig deeper into the meaning of the Greek words translated here, we see that the words ‘take up’ comes from a verb that means ‘to lift up’ but also ‘to remove’.  The word ‘cross’ means a stake or post, like those used to hold up a tent. It does not refer to the crossbar of a cross, but the stake on which the crossbar is hung. This is shown by the translations in Acts 5:30  The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree and in Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

What Jesus’ listeners heard that day, was “If anyone wants to show up after Me, he must reject himself and lift up that stake of his, and follow Me.” They would have understood perfectly, for they would mostly have been traveling people who knew that you pull up the central stake of a tent to use it as a walking stick on your journey to your next destination.

This is still the words of Jesus to us who wish to follow Him today: “Pull up that which is keeping you captive in your present circumstances, fold up your tent and come travel with Me to new horizons!”

Points to ponder:

In Jesus’ day, following Him meant going against everything your culture and religion had taught you to be true. You would be ostracized from your family and from your community, probably with a command never to contact them again. This is still the case in many countries today. Sadly, even in communities that are mostly Christian, religious legalism would have the same effect – your family and friends simply do not understand your new or even renewed passion for Jesus. He is asking you to work out the cost of following Him (Luke 14:28-29), and then decide whether you are willing to pay that price. For there is no cost you can pay in following Jesus that will not be made up a thousandfold in the resurrection! Carefully consider your present circumstances – are you willing to pull up your stake?

Have you counted the cost

Evil has a beautiful side

 

Rev 20:2

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Mentioned here are a few of the names used to identify Lucifer – dragon, serpent, devil, Satan. (Dragon in Hebrew most often refers to a great sea serpent). By association, these names therefore refer to something extremely evil. And with each of these names there is a strategy to lessen the impact of them on our children.

If we focus on dragons, we know that descriptions of them often have an uncanny resemblance to the dinosaur skeleton remains that have been unearthed so far. In fact, the word ‘dinosaur’ was not coined until the mid-1800’s – up until then these types of creatures were called dragons. Although they were dangerous animals (as are crocodiles, lions, etc.), there is nothing inherent evil in them. But the dragon referred to here in Revelation is far removed from any earthly animal created by God – it describes the evil entity called Satan in his end-time form.

It is no coincidence that there has been a surge of books and films about dragons and taming your dragon lately. In the film version, the lead character discovers that dragons, who were always considered our enemies, are actually our friends. Children are conditioned to see dragons in a good light - they are portrayed as cool and fun, and no mention is made of the evil it represents in the time we are living in. As it currently is also the Chinese Year of the Dragon, followed next year by the Year of the Snake, expect quite a bit more of the same. Many dragon art drawings are found on the internet, also colour-in pictures for children, colour-in books, and video games - collectively influencing young impressionable minds to embrace the word dragon as representing something non-threatening and acceptable. Certainly not evil.

Then there is the American custom of Halloween, which regrettably has blown over to South Africa in recent years. Children are dressed up as the devil, complete with horns and a three-pronged fork, for the occasion. Who on earth needs to be on their guard or careful around a little devil running around on the night of 31^st October, asking for trick or treat? Certainly not the dressed-up child or his friends who trust their parents to guide them into embracing truth – if my parents think it is the right thing to do, then it is, isn’t it?

Cartoons with the devil as main character have been around for some time, depicting a small devil kid still in diapers. Too cute to be evil, right? These have since morphed into cartoons for adults, with really dark themes.

Evil has to present itself as beautiful and enticing, or innocent people would not be lured into participating in it. And children are easy targets, because they rely on the perception of the adults in their lives concerning what is evil or not. Once they are hooked into the occult, even innocently, they can be desensitised step by step into going deeper into the darker side of things.

It is time for Christian parents and teachers to awaken to the fact that there is an evil agenda out there against our children, an all-out war for their souls. Search out the source of all widely accepted children’s entertainment, the time has come to be extremely vigilant!

Points to ponder:

Nothing which depicts demons, devils, monsters, ancient serpents, dragons, and the like should be allowed into our homes, onto our children’s clothes, as stickers on their possessions, as toys, as video games – nothing. Heed Ps 97:10 “O you who love the Lord, hate evil…” - hate means not entertaining and inviting it into your life, on any level. Ever!

Hate evil

Prophecy revisited

 

Isaiah 10:33-34

But look! The Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power! And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

Some very interesting modern-day facts are tied up in these words. This prophecy given through Isaiah did indeed come to pass, as we read in 2 Kings 19:35. God sent the angel of the Lord and killed 185 000 Assyrians in one night. Even the proud and lofty king of the Assyrians was murdered by his own sons as he worshiped in the temple of his god after attacking Judah. And Lebanon (under Assyrian rule) was destroyed, as prophesied.

The very next verse after this prophecy is Isaiah 11:1-2, which speaks about the coming Messiah, described as the Branch out of the roots of Jesse (David’s father). Remember that the dividing of Scripture into chapters and verses came later, the original text would have been read as one continuous scroll. This implies that the reader would see these two prophecies as somehow connected to each other, and indeed many rabbis consider it that way – they see the fall of Lebanon connected to the coming of Messiah.

Gematria (where words are assigned number values by adding up the numeric value of their individual letters) is used to back up their claim – the number value of the words Lebanon and of Branch both come to 138 and are therefore considered to be linked to each other. Ben Elohim (Son of God) also adds up to 138.

This is where Rabbi Jason Sobel points out some very interesting facts about the current conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The above verse says that Lebanon will fall by the “Mighty One” and be cut down by iron. The Hebrew word for mighty one is Adir. It so happens that the Israeli Defence Force gave the F35, its main fighter jet, the name Adir. Also, this ongoing conflict, which started as a response to the surprise attack by Hamas on 7^th October 2023, is called The Swords of Iron War. A remarkable coincidence, as names of battles in Israel are computer-generated, not chosen by the army generals themselves!

Can we revisit a prophecy, which has already been fulfilled, and predict it into the future? We surely can. Jesus said that the signs pointing to the end times would be like giving birth - the same pain is felt, but it will repeat and intensify. Can we then say that the possible fall of Lebanon in the current war will signal the return of Jesus, our Messiah? We can at best consider it to be a sneak preview of all that has been prophesied, one of those events in a chain of birth pangs that will happen before He returns. Certain prophecies are like key dominoes, their toppling over leads to others falling in very rapid succession. Could this be such a one?

Points to ponder: We are not walking head-on into eternity, i.e. purposefully walking to the front end of a cliff top and falling off at a certain appointed time known to us. Rather, we are walking along that cliff top, parallel to its steep sides, and our falling off can happen at any time! The question is not so much whether we know the exact time of Christ’s return, but whether we are ready to meet Him at any time?

He's coming soon

Heaven on earth

 Revelation 20:4

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

There is going to be a glorious time on earth in the future, called the Millennium - a word which is a combination of the words mille, meaning a thousand, and annus, meaning year. The above verse is taken from Revelation 20, where the words “a thousand years” appear no less than six times – strong affirmation of the fact that such a time actually will exist!

It is not only here in the book Revelation that the Millennium is spoken about. Altogether there are more than 400 verses in more than 20 different passages in the Old Testament alone that deal with this time when Jesus will personally rule and reign over planet earth. We read about it in numerous places in the New Testament also.

The controversies surrounding the Millennium are easily silenced if we just decide to read and accept the revelation as given to John by God. For instance, the timing of the Millennium is clearly given in our quoted verse – John saw the Tribulation martyrs, who were beheaded because they had not received the mark of the Antichrist or its image and had not worshiped him. They were resurrected and then reigned with Christ a thousand years - the Millennium therefore begins after the Tribulation.

The belief that there is no literal Millennium, but that God’s Kingdom already started at the cross and we are therefore now living in the Millennium, cannot hold water as we clearly read in Revelation that Jesus will first physically reign here on earth for a thousand years before the rest of eternity unfolds. The fact that it has now already been more than two thousand years after the cross adds to the impossibility that this belief is true, it also is plain to see that Satan is not bound at the moment! And if you believe that the Millennium will only start after the church has prepared the earth for His coming, working diligently until peace, righteousness and prosperity is to be found all over the globe – then I am afraid that the utter chaos and destitution and wars that will be a sign of the end times will make this an impossible goal to accomplish.

What is the reason for the Millennium? It is so that God’s promises to Israel and also His promises to the church can be fulfilled. Among others, God promised that Israel will be the Head Nation on earth, occupying the whole territory given to Abraham and his offspring in Gen 15 and not just the sliver of land that currently comprises Israel. He promised that living water will flow from Jerusalem into the Dead Sea, redeeming it so that fish will be found there. He promised that old men and women and young children will be relaxing in the streets of Jerusalem. For the church, He promised that we would rule and reign with Him here on earth. All these will happen in the Millennium, where we will really experience heaven on earth!

Points to ponder:  Paul exhorts us to encourage one another with all the wonderful blessings that God has promised us if we only keep our faith to the end (1 Thess 4:18). The Millennium is one of those blessings – imagine a world where animals do not kill each other anymore; where a child can play with a cobra; where the earth will bring forth what is sown into it in abundance and where nobody will have to work extremely hard to let that happen.  A time when Satan is locked up! Let us look forward to it with eagerness and joy!

Victor's Crown