Category Archives: The Word

The Testimony Of Jesus Christ–A Mistaken Identity (Pt. 3)

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Allan Halton

Last time we talked about the apostle John being in the isle of Patmos for “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  I think John is speaking of the testimony that back on the mainland got him in trouble.  Jesus had said to His disciples:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me, and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning… (Jn. 15.26,27).

It was the Spirit of Christ in John that enabled him to have the testimony of Jesus Christ.  John by the Holy Spirit was convicting those around him of sin—the same thing Jesus had done when He was here (Jn. 16.9).  Again it wasn’t appreciated.  It got John banished to Patmos.

But I think this “testimony of Jesus Christ” refers also to what Jesus had in mind to speak to John on Patmos.  He had much yet to say to John, and through John to us all—this prophecy we know as The Revelation of Jesus Christ.  This prophecy is what “God gave unto Him (unto Jesus Christ), to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass” (Rev. 1.1).  And so Jesus the Word of God, the faithful and true witness, is testifying of what God has now given Him.  It is a prophecy.

And He sent and signified it by His angel—His messenger—unto His servant John.

I believe this was the same angel that later in the prophecy John was tempted to worship, thinking this one was Jesus Christ Himself.  But the angel would not permit John to worship him.  He was not Jesus Christ, but had “the testimony of Jesus.”

See thou do it not:  I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19.10).

The Greek original has the article there.  “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of the prophecy.”  The same words are used in Rev. 1.3, which the KJV translates this prophecy.

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy…

It should say, “the words of the prophecy.”

We will speak more of this in a minute.

The word angel simply means “messenger,” and it takes discernment to discover whether it’s referring to one of the heavenly angelic order, or simply a man, a messenger sent by God.  Sometimes the distinction isn’t clear.  But in this case we’re told clearly, for the angel himself tells us clearly: he is a man: “thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren…” So we gather he was one of the saints beyond the veil.  (Very quickly here, this gives us a little glimpse that moving beyond the veil of this life does not mean idly sitting on a cloud playing a harp all day.)

John is tempted a second time in this same manner at the close of the book.

And I John saw these things, and heard them.  And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book.  Worship God” (Rev. 22.8,9).

So here was a man—a prophet—that John was ready to bow down to and worship.  And it happened twice.  John obviously was having trouble with this.  Here before him was a man so like Jesus Christ that John actually thought it was Jesus Himself.  And so he fell at his feet to worship him.

But the man forbade him.  His testimony was, “I’m a man just like you, John.  What you are seeing in my life is actually the Testimony of Jesus Christ.  What you’re hearing me speak—I’m only speaking what Jesus Christ is speaking.  What I am showing you–it’s what Jesus Christ is showing me.  It’s Jesus Christ you’re seeing.  It’s Jesus Christ who is prophesying.  It’s the testimony of Jesus that is the Spirit of the prophecy.”

The man called himself a prophet.  The prophecy he was involved in—the prophecy we know as our book of The Revelation—was nothing less than the shining forth of “That Prophet,” the Son of God Himself.  God spake in times past to the fathers through the prophets in various ways—a word here, a word there, a portion here, a portion there (Heb. 1.1).  But in these last days He hath spoken to us in a Son, who is the full, complete message of Himself, the outshining of Himself, the “express image of His Person.”  That is the Testimony of Jesus Christ.  He spoke only what the Father was speaking.  He did only what the Father was doing.  He revealed the Father.  He was so one with the Father that those who saw Him… it was the Father they were seeing.  Yet Jesus was not the Father.  He was the Son of the Father.  He was “the faithful and true Witness,” who by the Holy Spirit bore witness to and shone forth the Father in all He said and did.  That was His testimony.  “The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do…”  That is the Testimony of Jesus Christ.

And that’s what this man had.  “I am of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus…”  We’re inclined to think that it’s blasphemy that an ordinary man should have this kind of testimony—that those seeing him would mistake him for Jesus Christ Himself.  But here is at least one man from the past who had this very testimony.  No doubt there are many others.

I ask the question, then.  Have you or I ever been mistaken for Jesus Christ?  You and I—are we so committed to speaking only what He speaks, and doing only what He does, that we too have the testimony of Jesus Christ?  Have we become so like Him in love, in holiness, in righteousness, in mercy, in patience, in humility… in all His graces… in the power and manifestation of His Spirit and Presence in our lives… there is such Light about us… there is such a shining forth of Jesus Christ Himself in our lives… that people around us are tempted to fall down at our feet and worship us?

Would that we too might have the same opportunity, like that man beyond the veil, to forbid it, and call others to worship God alone!

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The Testimony Of Jesus Christ (Pt. 2)

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Allan Halton

Last time we talked of the Testimony in the days of the Old Covenant.  God’s testimony in the Old Covenant was the Law.

For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel… (Ps. 78.5).

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples (Isa. 8.16).

Under the Old Covenant the law and the testimony were equated, were one—and God bore witness to this with His Presence over the tabernacle.

Now let’s look at certain New Testament scriptures that talk of the Testimony.

Paul, writing to the Corinthians:

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2.1,2).

What an astonishing thing to say.  This man, a Jew steeped in the law and the prophets, comes to Gentiles with “the testimony of God.”  Which is?  The Old Covenant Law, the Torah?  No.  Not any longer.  Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  The New Covenant testimony of God is all bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The scribes and Pharisees, Jesus told His disciples, sat “in Moses’ seat” (Mt. 23.2).  They felt confident they were the custodians of the testimony—the word of God, the Torah, the Scriptures.  And yes, it’s true: to them God had committed the oracles of God.  But when the True Oracle came into their midst—the living Word of God, this Man born of the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, and thereby witnessing faithfully of His Father, doing only what He saw His Father doing, speaking only what He heard His Father speaking—this One became the faithful and true Witness—the testimony of God.

He was crucified for that testimony.

In The Revelation we find in a number of places the phrase, “the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  And we find it coupled with “the word of God.”

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw (Rev. 1.1,2).

I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1.9).

John is not talking of two different things for which he was banished to Patmos—expounding the word of God, and then going out and testifying, witnessing, about Jesus Christ.  What he is saying is that the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ are one and the same thing.  Someone may say they have the word of God, pointing to the Bible.  And indeed, Jesus the Son of God said the Scriptures were those that testified of Him (Jn. 5.39).  But it is He Himself who is the Word of God.  Merely having the words of Scripture or of doctrine is not the kind of testimony that got John in trouble.  Just as Jesus Christ the Word of God was crucified for the testimony He bore, it was “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” that landed John in Patmos.

Now we come to the thing that is of the utmost importance.  How was it possible for John to say he had the testimony of Jesus Christ?  Jesus was in Heaven when John wrote about being in Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.  If Jesus was in Heaven, how could He give His testimony here on earth?  And how could John have this testimony?  It was because John had the Witness in himself.

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness (the Testimony) in himself (1 Jn. 5.10).

The Witness?  What is this speaking of?

And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 Jn. 5.6).

This, really, is the greatest of wonders.  What can be more wonderful than to have Jesus Christ the Son of God Himself in us?  John had this!  He had the Spirit of Christ—the Witness—in Himself.  He had been born again, and had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire.  The Spirit of God, the Spirit of the living Word, dwelt in him.  No doubt John knew much of the letter of the word by memory—the Old Testament scriptures.  But beyond that, the living word of God was dwelling in John, abiding in him, as he taught in one of his letters.  “…The word of God abideth in you…” (1 Jn. 2.14).  He is speaking of the Testimony—the Witness—the Spirit of Jesus Christ the word of God.

It is the Spirit of God who has the Testimony of Jesus Christ the Word of God.  The Spirit of God here in the earth is the faithful witness of Jesus Christ the Word of God at the right hand of God in the heavens.  John had this Spirit—this Testimony.  And so John’s own testimony, because of the Spirit of Christ that dwelt in Him, was nothing less than the Testimony of Jesus Christ.

What about you and me, then?  Do we have the Spirit of Christ?  We are to bear that same Testimony, then, that same expression of the word of God that manifests the living Christ in and through our lives.

What was the testimony of Jesus Christ the Son of God when He was here?  He did what He saw the Father doing.  He spoke what He heard Him speaking.  He revealed the Father.  He was the faithful and true Witness.  He bore witness of the Father.  He said:

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (Jn. 14.9).

That was His testimony.  And correspondingly, He said:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me, and ye also shall bear witness… (Jn. 15.26,27).

What a wonder.  The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, testifies of Jesus Christ.  And because of the Holy Spirit we too are to bear this same precious testimony—which is nothing less than the shining forth of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself—as we too are faithful to do only what the Holy Spirit is doing, and speak only what He is speaking.

…So that—I tremble at this word—you and I by the empowering grace of God are ultimately able to say, “He that has seen me has seen Jesus Christ.”

Do you see why I am held in thrall by this phrase—the testimony of Jesus Christ?

Beloved, this ought to provoke us to a deeper seeking.  This is our greatest need—the testimony of Jesus Christ.  Because oh, how men need to see Him!  Many of us claim to have the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  No doubt we do—in measure.  But to what extent do we have this beautiful pure testimony of Jesus Christ among men?  Can we say yet that, “He that has seen me has seen Jesus?”  You say that’s blasphemy?  But that is the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit.  It’s only blasphemy if the Holy Spirit is not capable of fully and faithfully bearing witness to the Son of God.  Let me ask.  Does the Holy Spirit bear a pure and full and faithful witness to Christ?  It’s blasphemy to say He cannot.

But if the Holy Spirit bears this faithful testimony, so too shall those who are baptized—immersed—in the Holy Spirit.  We who have the Spirit of Christ—He is given to enable us to have the Testimony of Jesus Christ, to shine forth the Testimony of Jesus Christ—nothing less.

Why, then, do we so readily settle for less? Oh, how men need to see Him!

Remember, though.  The Greek word for testimony is marturion—from which we get our English martyr.

There is a price tag on this Testimony.  Jesus was crucified for this Testimony.  John was in exile in Patmos for this Testimony.  We who have this Testimony will also pay that price—even here in our so-called free Christian nations.

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The Testimony Of Jesus Christ (Part 1)

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Allan Halton

I have been held in thrall for a long time by the phrase, “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (You know the meaning of enthral. It means “to hold in or reduce to slavery, to hold spellbound.” A thrall is a servant slave, a bondman.)

And so—the testimony of Jesus Christ. It’s an absolutely captivating phrase. To live a life of liberty outside the thraldom of this Testimony is a life that has been sadly wasted.

The phrase, or a similar one, appears in the New Testament a number of times. But first we need to find out what “the testimony” was in Old Covenant days.

Stephen while giving the testimony for which he was stoned—it was the testimony of Jesus Christ—said this:

Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen (Acts 7.44).

“The tabernacle of witness.” My interlinear shows the article in the Greek: “the tabernacle of the testimony.”

The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, as commanded He who spoke to Moses, to make it according to the model which he had seen.

And so the tabernacle in the wilderness was called “the tabernacle of the testimony.” Why so? We find our answer in Exodus.

And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel (Ex. 25.22).

The tabernacle was called the tabernacle of the testimony because in it was “the testimony” that God commanded was to be placed in the ark—the ten commandments.  This “testimony” was placed in the ark, and therefore the ark itself was called “the ark of the testimony.” And because the ark of the testimony was in the Holy of holies of the tabernacle, the tabernacle itself was called “the tabernacle of the testimony.”

And so the “ten words” in the ark covered by the mercy seat—this was the testimony of God. They summed up the whole of the Torah, the Law. This was God’s testimony revealing who He was, what He was like, the kind of God He was. If Israel would keep this Law, this would be God’s testimony among men. By keeping His commandments, by keeping this Law, they would “bear witness” to God, to the kind of God He was. In this way men would come to see the kind of God He was.  “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me… Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy… Thou shalt not kill… Thou shalt not commit adultery…” and so on. Keeping these commandments—not just reciting them—would result in a true portrayal of God among men, a true testimony of God.

The tragic thing is that Israel never did come to realize that this “testimony” in the ark was actually a testimony against them, as Moses later told them. For they never could keep this testimony, as much as they gloried in having it.

Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee (Dt. 31.26).

That was the Old Covenant testimony—a testimony that forever left Israel a guilty people with no means to relieve that guilt but by the blood of bulls and goats. How dismal if God had left things there. But He didn’t. When we come into the New Covenant we see the testimony of God linked up with a wonderful Name—our Lord Jesus Christ.

More next time. And you will see why I am enthralled.

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In Due Season We Shall Reap

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Allan Halton

I was thinking about that verse in Galatians again earlier today.  “And let us not be weary (or, lose heart) in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6.9).  I looked it up, and apparently the Greek here is something like, “in its own season.”  In other words, there is a specific season for the harvest.  Let us remember this—those of us who have sown to the Spirit and wonder where the harvest is.

We are seeing all around us in our world that things are pretty ripe as far as evil is concerned.  There’s been a lot of sowing “to the flesh.”  So there is going to be a harvest of corruption.  The season of that harvest is obviously nigh.

Now, the doers of evil never seem to need encouragement to persist in doing evil and not grow weary.  It just comes naturally.  At the same time, it’s kind of dull of them to not grasp that their evil doing will bring them a bountiful harvest of evil.

But aren’t our own senses just as dull if we have grown weary of sowing to the Spirit?  We rejoiced when the seed was sown.  But then come the difficult times—like the one we are in right now—and we faint.  The promise of the Word of God is that we shall reap… if we faint not.  I know it can be very trying when we embrace the seed of the Word in our heart and faithfully seek to keep out the weeds—and yet still do not see the fruit we long to see.  Our Lord knows this, and inspired Paul to write those words.  He urges us to not be weary in well doing—in sowing to the Spirit.  We are going to see the harvest—in the season God has ordained for the harvest!  God is not mocked.  We shall reap what we have sown… in the season God has ordained for the harvest.

As I was thinking of this earlier today, and about God’s provision for us in the Day of Evil, Psalm 27 came to mind, and I turned to it.  And as I read the familiar words once again, the light bulb suddenly went on.  (The Bible is such an awesome book!)  David knew an Evil Day was coming—something many Christians today are aware of, and talk much about.  When Christians get together this will often be the topic of conversation.  Trouble is nigh.  Great shakings are ahead.  It seems we understand this quite well.

But how was David preparing for this evil day he understood was coming?  Well, in a sense he wasn’t preparing for the evil day at all.  He was preoccupied with One Thing today.

“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple.  For in the day of evil He shall hide me in His pavilion…” (Ps. 27.4,5).

See how beautifully the one follows the other?  David had a certain preoccupation day after day… all the days of his life.  Seeking to dwell in the house of the LORD today.  And so where will that put him when the evil day dawns?

“For in the Day of Evil…” (That’s how we must translate the original Hebrew for the phrase the King James translates as “the time of trouble.”) “For in the Day of Evil He shall hide me in His pavilion (His covert, His booth): in the secret (place) of His tabernacle He shall hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” (Ps. 27.5).

Day after ordinary day, David was sowing to something.  He was seeking to dwell in the house of the LORD.  Where, then, will this find him when the Day of Evil arrives?  In the same Place he was in yesterday—in the house of the LORD—and discovering that this House is a Secret Place of refuge from all evil.  It is the “secret Place of His tabernacle.”  How simple, yet how wonderful, the ways of God!

“He shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret (place) of His tabernacle He shall hide me…”  This is God’s provision for the Day of Evil?  A tabernacle, a flimsy tent?  But I am sure David has in mind the tabernacle he set up on Mount Zion for the ark of God, for the Presence of God Himself.  The secret (place) of His tabernacle is the secret of the Presence of God.  Once we see this it suddenly becomes very understandable why a flimsy little tent becomes the place of perfect security.  God is there!  In a day when it seems that evil has been let off the leash there is a Place evil cannot penetrate.  “In the secret (place) of His tabernacle He shall hide me…”

And who is this Tabernacle, but our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the House of God, He Himself is this Tabernacle of God—this Place of the Presence of God—the one and only refuge in the universe when all evil is unleashed around us, the immoveable Rock we can confidently stand on when all else around us is sinking sand.

Psalm 27 is no doubt prophetic of the Evil Day that is before us.  God says that this is our provision for what is ahead of us tomorrow—what we are doing today.  Let us believe Him, then.  Let us sow to the same thing David was sowing to.  Let us not be weary in doing this, even though it’s a very difficult hour, and finding this Place of His Presence is often very difficult.   There is a weariness.  But let us persevere.  Let us continue sowing to this.  Let us seek to dwell in the House of the Lord—in this Place of His Presence—all the days of our life.  We will not be caught off guard tomorrow if we are sowing to this abiding relationship with Jesus Christ today.  In the Day of Evil when our need is desperate we will find ourselves hidden away in a certain Tabernacle.  In fact it’s just as necessary today, isn’t it—this Secret Hiding Place.  I sow to this even now in the evil days that often come my way, and every day.  As difficult as it is I am not giving up.  I have tasted the preciousness of this Presence many times… in measure.  I have seen the beauty of the Lord… a little.  And I am hooked.  I am going to continue sowing to this.  I shall yet see the fullness of His beauty in His House, and go no more out from His Presence.

How can I be so sure?  Simply because… I sow to this!  And God is not mocked.  I fully anticipate a harvest.  God has designated a season for this harvest.  I am going to reap what I have sown.

That is the Word of God.

 

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Expectations For 2012

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Allan Halton

About this time of year the prophets take advantage of the opportunity to once again favour us with their annual forecasts.  If you think you might be detecting a flavour of cynicism here, I commend you on your discernment.  Over the years I have become very skeptical about much of this, especially the offerings that the popular Charismatic prophets put forth as they compete with one another in wooing the people.  I have observed that, a) most of the things they tell us will happen in the coming year do not happen; and, b) they rarely if ever prophesy the things that actually do happen.

We are not to despise prophesyings; my heart is open to hear a truly prophetic word.  But all too often we neglect to read the next verse in Paul’s exhortation.  Yes, he said, “Despise not prophesyings.”  But immediately following this he adds, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thes. 5.20,21).  So, we are not to swallow whole all that the prophets set before us; we are to test what they say, prove what they say—and hold fast only that which is good.  How can we do this?  How can we discern the true from the false?  Only by drawing very close to the Lord ourselves and seeking to cultivate a hearing heart—the kind of hearing that comes only to the one who has offered his whole life to God on the altar of burnt sacrifice.

I don’t have a prophetic gifting myself.  But as one who seeks to steep his life in the word of God and stay awake on his watch, I believe I can say confidently that the coming year will continue to see great shakings—both in the world and in the church.  This is both a warning and a promise.  A warning, because those whose lives are not right with God dread the prospect of shakings.  A promise, because those who love Him anticipate the shakings.  They may not feel very capable in themselves to go through hard things.  But even so, they trust their God to bring them through, so they anticipate what is ahead.  For, the shakings mean that the faithful God is at work.  He has promised to shake all that can be shaken, and remove all that can be shaken, and bring in a Kingdom that cannot be shaken (Heb. 12.27-29).  God is a God of judgment, and His judgments are being released, as we have seen over the last few years.  To the haters of God this is deeply resented.  But, “Zion heard and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of Thy judgments, O LORD” (Ps. 97.8).

God needs no one to defend Him from His accusers—those who charge that the Christians’ God is a vindictive God, that His judgments are not just.  But let me remind you that the God of love is a God of righteousness.  He hates evil.  He is deeply pained with what evil has done in His world.  Yes, He is patient and longsuffering beyond our capacity to comprehend—so much so, that those whose rule of life is to do as they please assure themselves that God (if He even exists) obviously never interferes with this world of theirs.  But God is not going to endure evil forever.  He is going to roll up His sleeves, and when He is finished no evil will be found in this world of His.  None whatsoever.  He is going to deal with all evil—once and for all.  In fact at the Cross He already did that.  And He intends to bring the judgment of the Cross fully to bear upon the whole world.  For some this is bad news.

But for others, this is good news; it means our salvation.  What did the days of the flood mean to Noah and the ark?  It was the time of salvation for those in the ark.  And when judgments were being meted out on Egypt, it was because a great salvation was in the works.  There was darkness over Egypt so thick it could be felt.  But the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

So is the Day of the Lord.  Some dread the sunup of this Day.  It means the end of their night of pleasure—the pleasure of self-will and sin, I mean.  “Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch” (Mal. 4.1).  But for others—those who fear the Name of the Lord—the same Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings.  And they go forth leaping as calves let out of the stall.

And so, come what may, good things are before us.  Let us seek to nourish this sense of anticipation in one another.  Personally I look forward to the coming year.  Our world is shrouded in night—in thick darkness.  And I, little child that I am… I am afraid of the dark.  I don’t know how much longer I can endure any darkness.  But I have hope.  The night is far spent, the Day is at hand!  There is a beautiful passage in Job, in which God describes the coming of the morning as the dayspring taking hold of the ends of the earth and shaking the wicked out of it—like someone shaking the dust out of a carpet (Job 38.12,13).  That’s what I anticipate—the Sun of righteousness arising and shaking the darkness and wickedness out of the earth.  I am weary of wickedness, and of the darkness that has provided the wicked with a cloak.

And so when the shakings come—and they will surely come—let us remember Who it is that is housecleaning, and has hold of the end of the carpet.

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When I Consider Thy Heavens

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Allan Halton

I have been thinking about those ancient stargazers who saw the sign in the heavens announcing the birth of the Great King.  It’s intriguing to me that they were able to look upward and understand so much.  What is written in the heavens was like a second language to them.  This should not surprise us.  God said right from the beginning that the lights He created in the firmament of the heavens were “for signs, and for seasons…” (Gen. 1.14).  These men knew how to read those signs.

We have largely lost the ability to do that now, and I am not suggesting we turn to modern astrology, and horoscopes, and the like, to try to get that ability back.  It is a heavenly language that the stars speak, and only God Himself can give the interpretation.

God Himself has testified as much, as our Bible records.  He challenged Job, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades (the seven stars), or loose the bands of Orion?  Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (the twelve signs, each) in its season?  Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?  Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?  Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? (Job 38.31,32).

This challenge left Job feeling pretty ignorant, as it leaves me also.  But one thing is clear. Completely apart from the deception of modern astrology, the heavens display wondrous messages from God for us.

The shepherd David realized this back in the days when our Bible was still being built.  While watching his sheep at night he would look up into the starry sky and write down his thoughts.

“The heavens declare the glory of the LORD,” he wrote, “and the firmament sheweth His handiwork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowlege” (Ps. 19.1).

That’s very interesting.  Not, “day after day,” not “night after night,” but “day unto day,” “night unto night.”  The night sky corresponds to the time of night we now live in, the moon being the church, the bride of Christ; and the stars her children—the “children of the Day,” shining forth in the night the glory of the Lord in differing degrees of glory.  And the sun in the daytime?  I marvel at what David said about the sun.  This had to be purely by revelation from God.  For he said that the sky was “a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race” (Ps. 19.5).

The Bridegroom comes out of His chamber of night rejoicing for the contest before Him.  It’s the day of Christ, the great Day of the Lord over which He rules, and He shines forth in powerful Light– and heat. “And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”  It is going to be a very hot day.  We are well advised to be prepared for it– and seek a Shady Place.

Back to that other skywatcher David, out watching his sheep at night again, always totally awed by what he is seeing.

“When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?”

David was so humbled by what he was seeing—and so am I when I look upward.  I can barely read that heavenly language, but when I look up into the heavens on a starry night, I am held in awe, and humbled.  It’s so humbling to look up.

Let us do that often, then!

“What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?”

How wondrous.  This majestic God who created the sun and the stars and set them in the vast expanse of a universe past finding out is not only mindful of us.  He has visited us.

And He is going to do so again.

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Thyself

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Allan Halton

Many years ago I came across a poem, which I wrote into the flyleaf of my Bible.  I’ve read it so often that it’s etched in memory now.

I thought I’d share it here.  You will recognize one of its lines as the title I used for an earlier post.

                Thyself

I read Thy word, O Lord, each passing day,
And in the sacred page find glad employ.
But this I pray:
Save from the killing letter; teach my heart,
Set free from human forms, the holy art
Of reading Thee in every line,
In precept, prophecy and sign,
Till all my vision filled with Thee,
Thy likeness shall reflect in me:
Not knowledge, but Thyself my joy!
For this I pray.

J.C. Macaulay

 

   

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Come And See

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Allan Halton

“Rabbi, where dwellest Thou?” John’s two disciples had asked.

Jesus did not respond by giving them His house address and directions on how to get there.

His invitation was, “Come and see” (John 1.39).

We are living in days when the amount of Christian knowledge available to us—very good Christian knowledge—is absolutely immense.  The Internet has Bible study resources like nothing the world has ever seen before.  There are also countless messages by a host of good ministries, and books and audios and videos without number.  Most of this is in the English language, I know, but I think there are translation tools available for a lot of it.

Add to that the multitude of messages over our pulpits on any given Sunday, and the weekly home Bible studies…

This is all very wonderful, is it not?  Yes… but at the same time it is, to me, somewhat frightening that we have all this available to us.

For, I remind you that alongside all this Bible knowledge, the darkness of our world has also grown to immense proportion.

How can this be?  So much light, but so much darkness, also?  Why, with all our Internet resources and Sunday sermons and Bible studies are we not making the impact on this world that we need to be making—and which the beloved Bible we are studying so much says we should be making?

Could it be possible that we are being led astray by the very abundance of the knowledge we have at our fingertips?  Is it possible that the light we have is actually blinding us?  I think that it might be.  At least the potential for that is there.  I think it is, at least, a very great test we are being subjected to.

If the abundance of the Bible knowledge available to us in this day is not creating in us a cry… “Lord Jesus Christ… it is YOU YOURSELF we want… and need; we want YOU in our midst, we want to see and need to see YOU…”  then we have miserably failed a very important test… with dangerous implications.

We have all this available to us… the sermons, the Bible studies, the Internet resources… yet our need in this hour for the Presence of the Lord Himself in our midst is beyond words to describe.

This is what I meant when I said last time that John the Baptist gave his disciples a very good spiritual education—something beyond the things I’ve mentioned.  The diploma these disciples had received in the School of John the Baptist certified—and their own hearts bore witness to it—that it was Something more than knowledge their eye was searching for.

“Rabbi, where dwellest Thou?”

“Rabbi, where dwellest Thou?”

Is that the cry on our hearts as well?

And if not…  why not?  In spite of all we are learning, are we in the right school?

That is the question we need to face up to.  Where is our hunger for God—for God Himself?  I wonder if hunger for God Himself is not the greatest spiritual blessing a person can have.

Notice.  John’s two disciples address Jesus as Rabbi—Master, Teacher… Rabbi—the very title by which they had previously addressed John.

“Rabbi, where dwellest Thou?”

In other words, they were expectantly looking to Jesus now to be their new teacher.

Their new Rabbi inducted them into the School of Christ immediately.

“Come and see.”

Lesson Number One in the School of Jesus Christ:  It was not information He gave them, but an invitation to participate in a walk with Him.

It is only by walking with this Teacher and dwelling with Him, and taking His yoke upon us, and in this way learning of Him, that we become true disciples in the school of Christ.

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Are You Receiving A Spiritual Education?

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Allan Halton

Let me ask a probing question.  Are you and I receiving a spiritual education?  Are you and I, spiritually speaking, becoming educated persons?  Here’s how we can tell.

When John the Baptist came on the scene, many came to him to be baptized in Jordan.   Some of these became his close disciples.  For we read that John had disciples.  Now, what is the single-most thing John taught his disciples?  I should rather say, what was it about himself that John the Baptist passed along to those who were his disciples?

It is this.  John the Baptist lived, breathed, ate, slept, walked, talked… One Thing alone—to see the Christ of God, and join others to Him.

And there came a day when John looked up from his baptizing in Jordan, and saw Him coming to him.

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a Man which is preferred before me, for He was before me (John 1.29,30).

John sums up his whole ministry now.

And I knew Him not: but that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing in water.

This was the whole purpose of his baptism—to prepare the hearts of the people for a Manifestation that was at the door, a shining forth of this One who was to come.  It was a manifestation so radical, so “outside the box,” that, apart from John’s baptism, they would miss it!

John, as we read the passages of Scripture that speak of him… we touch a man with a deep, deep love in his heart.  It is this, really, that he passed on to his disciples–his love for the Bridegroom.  His one great desire was to see all those he was baptizing joined to the Bridegroom.  In fact he called himself “the friend of the Bridegroom,” that is, one of the Bridegroom’s attendants.

But the friend of the Bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom’s Voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3.29-30).

What self-effacing humility in this great man—whom Jesus later proclaimed to be the greatest “among them that are born of women” (Mt. 11.11).  John had no interest in joining the people to himself.  Yes, he was a rabbi in Israel—a guide, a leader, a teacher—his disciples called him, “Rabbi” (John 3.26).  But his one concern was to see the people joined to the One who was coming after him.

And so, what a day it was for John when this One came to him to baptized in Jordan by him!  He had accomplished his ministry.

This my joy is therefore fulfilled.

Again the next day as John was standing by the Jordan with two of his disciples, he lifted up his eyes and again saw Jesus walking along.  As John watched Jesus, his eyes riveted on Him as he walked along, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

The two disciples, whatever they were doing, heard their teacher speaking.

And they followed Jesus.

They left their beloved teacher, and began to follow this One.  For this is what their beloved teacher had taught them—and he rejoiced when it began to happen.

Now comes the verse by which you and I can gauge the state of our spiritual education.

Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? (Jn. 1.37).

Notice that—and I wonder if it wasn’t a test question.  Jesus was asking, more or less, “What do you want?  What is it you are after?  What do you want from me?”

No doubt there were many things they could have asked for.  But it was not some thing they wanted from this One… and I love this verse:

They said unto Him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest Thou?

What an answer.  It shows us the kind of education these men had received from John.  It shows us just how well educated, spiritually speaking, these men were.

Rabbi, where dwellest Thou?

What a letdown for John, right? His disciples are moving on to a new rabbi. But no, this is the very thing he had taught his disciples to anticipate.

Master is an old English word meaning Teacher.

Teacher… where dwellest Thou?

…You are our Rabbi, our Teacher now… and we just want to be with You… wherever that happens to be. How precious to discover that it is this very thing the new Teacher Himself wanted.

He saith unto them, Come and see.

It is His gracious invitation to those who are asking this question.  “Come and see!  Come and see where I dwell, come and dwell with Me.  Do you want to be with Me?  I want you to be with Me!”

Do you and I have this same passion burning in us?  Is it, at least, being kindled in us, and growing?  I know… the needs in this hour are many, oh, so many, and very great… and some of our longings so deep.  But we come to a certain place, and… all we want, all we really are interested in is…

Teacher, where dwellest Thou?

For, dwelling with Him, is not this The Answer to all our need and all our longings?

Teacher, where dwellest Thou?

In my estimation, those with this question growing in their hearts—this pursuit—are receiving a top-notch spiritual education.

Oh, for teachers like John the Baptist in our day!

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