Tag Archives: Lord Jesus Christ

Going To Heaven?

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Allan Halton

“Going to Heaven” is so common a phrase describing the Christian’s hope when days on earth are done that you’d think it would be found in the Bible more often than it is. How often is that? Brace yourself. None at all.

Here is what was on the mind of the apostle Paul when he wrote from prison to the saints in Philippi. He wrote that he was in a strait—hard pressed between two things.  The one was that the saints here on earth needed him, and on that account he was confident of his release through their prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This, Paul wrote, was “according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phi 1:20,21 NKJV).

And so Paul anticipated that if he lived, Christ would be magnified in his body. And—the other side of the strait—if he died? What gain did he have in mind?

For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. (Phi 1:23 NKJV)

There it is, the other thing that pressed hard upon him, which he called “far better”—the desire to “break camp” (for so the word depart implies) and… go to Heaven? But it wasn’t Heaven that was on his mind. It was to be with his beloved Lord Jesus Christ who loved him and had died for him, and whom he had come to know and love in sharing His sufferings here on earth.

And where is Christ? Yes, in Heaven, and of course the habitation of the saints who have gone on is in Heaven. But going to Heaven was not the yearning of the apostle, but rather to be with Christ Himself, as we discover also in the rapture passage:

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4:17)

“With the Lord.” That’s what Heaven was all about for Paul… being with his beloved Lord Jesus.

This is just as, for Christ Himself, returning to Heaven was all about being with the Father.

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? (Jn 16:5).

I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. (Jn 16:28)

Christ desired to be with the Father. And where is the Father? “Our Father, who is in heaven…” (Mt 6:9)

And His great desire was and still is that His own be with Him there:

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (Jn. 17:24 NKJV)

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. (Jn 12:26).

Those two verses are joined together in an old hymn:

O Jesus, Thou hast promised
To all who follow Thee,
That where Thou art in glory
There shall Thy servant be.

Yes, but those who love Him desire to be with Him even though it mean sharing in His suffering and shame. Such was the love of Ittai the Gittite for David the king at the time of Absalom’s coup. It looked like David had lost the kingdom, so he gathered his few faithful followers and prepared to leave Jerusalem behind. When he saw his friend Ittai and his men among those following, David urged him to go back. Foreigner that he was, and already an exile (from Gath of the Philistines), he need not jeopardize his life like this. “Return and remain with the king,” David said. (Quite something, that David called Absalom king.) But it wasn’t securing his own life and interests that was in Ittai’s heart. It was David himself who was in his heart. And he continued to call him king.

And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be. (2 Sam 15:21)

What love. And such is the love of those who have come to know the King of kings in the days of His humiliation and rejection—in the days of our sojourning here in this present evil Christ-hating world. To follow Him, to serve Him, to be with Him wherever He is… this is all we desire.

It’s all He desires.

I am reminded of the repentant thief on the cross who asked the Lord beside him to remember him when He came in His kingdom. “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be… in paradise” (Lk 23:43). Paradise? It’s the same word that the Septuagint translators used for the Garden of Eden. “Today you will be… in the Garden.” How wonderful is that; who could want more? But did you notice that I left out two words? “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” What is Paradise without this One, who so loved a dying thief that He was laying down His own life for him at that very moment, desiring that he live with Him forever in the Paradise of God?

This reminds me of Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661). He was a Scottish pastor who was a Nonconformist—that is, one who refused to “conform” to the required procedures of the Church of England. For this he was deprived of his ministry in Anwoth in southwest Scotland, was exiled to Aberdeen in the north, and barred from preaching anywhere in Scotland “for the duration of the King’s pleasure.” It was during his two years in Aberdeen that Rutherford wrote many letters which were eventually compiled and published. In the earlier letters he often wrote with sorrow of his temptation to believe it was the Lord Himself who had been displeased with him and had therefore removed him from his duties as pastor. This caused him deep anguish; he felt defeated, and wrestled with doubt and discouragement and depression—along with the pain of being separated from the flock of God he loved so much, grieving that they were left to hands of hirelings and  the jaws of wolves. But then he made a discovery. Over and over he would write of Jesus coming to him in such times, coming to him and communing with him His love for him, a love the depth of which he had not known before, but had discovered in the fellowship of His sufferings. Oh how this love raptured his heart.

And Rutherford came to love Him as never before, to the extent that, although he wrote profusely of going to Heaven in his letters, he wrote also this:

“If heaven were at my disposing, I would give it for Christ, and would not be content to go to heaven, except I were persuaded that Christ were there.”

Selah.

 

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Breathing Together With God

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Allan Halton

Let’s talk about conspiracies, the real and the fictitious. And then let me tell you about the greatest one of all, which is the ruin of them all, and how you and I may become involved in it. I’m not happy using the word conspiracy with its connotation of evil for this one, but more on this later.

Conspiracies are not new, there have been many throughout the ages; the Bible itself tells of many actual conspiracies, and there are no doubt many in the world today. Neither are conspiracy theories new, these also have abounded. It’s easy enough to see why. A theory may prove true or otherwise, and the fact that there are real conspiracies lends credence to the false. It’s like counterfeit money. The only reason people make counterfeit money is so they can pass it off as real.

But counterfeit conspiracies have something in common with real conspiracies. They are both the works of the Devil, the Prince of darkness. As long as there is darkness in which the workers of darkness can hide there will be conspiracies. Real conspiracies. There will also be conspiracy theories purporting to give us some light into what’s happening in the dark. They are the polar opposite of what the psalmist had in mind when he wrote that “light is sown for the righteous…” (Ps 97:11). They are sowings of darkness under the cover of darkness intent on deceiving those in the dark. They are phantasms of darkness meant to cause fear.

Many years ago I myself was quite attracted to a conspiracy theory. This was back in the 1970s in Calgary. I was a newborn Christian and my heart was full with so much that was new to me, and I began to hear also of something called The Illuminati. Even the very title—this is the main idea behind conspiracy theories, isn’t it. You are now “illumined,” you are in-the-know, no longer duped like the masses out there in the dark. That’s how it was with a few of us in the little fellowship I was involved in (Faith Tabernacle led by dear old Brother Graham) when we heard of an Illuminati seminar. We too wanted to be in-the-know. The Illuminati conspiracy theory has a long history but this one was some kind of “new improved” version. (Which makes me wonder if the conspiracy theories in our day are in the lineage of the Illuminati; they seem to have the same family likeness.) In any case, when those of us who were intrigued by the Illuminati heard about the seminar we decided to take it in. It was a Saturday evening. The speaker got under way, and as we were sitting listening I turned my head to look around and, lo and behold, there was Brother Graham seated toward the back across the room from us. What a surprise. From time to time, and ever so nonchalantly, I looked back. He was listening intently it seemed to me, quite often with his head bowed and eyes closed. After a time there was a break. We were invited to help ourselves to refreshments at the back and have a look at some literature on a table. I hoped to talk with Brother Graham among the people milling around. But I couldn’t find him. It seems he had used the opportunity to slip away. The next morning, Sunday morning, I headed for Faith Tabernacle. I could hardly wait to hear what he had to say about the Illuminati. I walked in and sat down. On the wall above the pulpit was a little notice board upon which he usually placed a weekly Bible verse. This morning it read, “Preach the word. 2 Tim. 4:2.” After a time of singing and prayer and prophecy he gave his message, saying not a single word about the seminar. I got the message.

And have given myself to the word of God from that day to this.

So it’s not my intention to debate the truth or falsehood of the many conspiracy theories out there these days. What I want to do is tell you of a true “conspiracy” that is the undoing of all others real or fabricated. Anyone who has a Bible can read about this one; it’s hidden in plain sight. It’s because of this one that I don’t trouble myself with the conspiracy theories that abound these days. I’m not fearful of the agenda of “a cabal of global elites” who have what they call the Great Reset in the works. And when I hear the cry of alarm being sounded by those who are intent on awakening us to this evil conspiracy… warning us  we need to get “woke” and become involved in what they are calling the Great Awakening… I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. If this is not a satanic counterfeit I don’t know what is. This is deception upon deception. I anticipate a Great Awakening—but not that one. And, yes, it’s high time to awaken out of sleep, for the Great Reset took place some two thousand years ago on a hill called Calvary outside Jerusalem.

Conspiring—breathing together

Our English word conspiracy comes from the Latin conspirare—to be in harmony, to conspire: from com, together, and spirare, to breathe. So a conspiracy is “a breathing together,” a very vivid word construction; in your mind’s eye you can see the conspirators huddled close together in the dark, secretly breathing out their wicked whisperings. But what happened at Calvary—I can’t bring myself to use the word conspiracy with its connotation of evil—this was the carrying out of the breathing together of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in their eternal plan of salvation for man and the utter destruction of the Devil and all his works. In this holy breathing together, this secret council in the Light, they determined that the Devil himself would be taken in the works of his own hands and destroy himself. For some reason, the Devil didn’t grasp his role in it all back then, and to this day never does:

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Cor 2:6-8 NKJV)

That’s quite something when you think of it. The wisdom of God in a mystery, a secret. The hidden wisdom. Secret from whom? Hidden from whom? From the rulers of this age, both heavenly and earthly, who conspired together to crucify the Lord of glory. Their doing was their own downfall. There is more. Paul continues: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor 2:9).  We stand in awe of that, don’t we. But Paul adds something; may it startle us awake. This hidden wisdom, this secret wisdom that God has hidden from some is wisdom that has been prepared for them that love him. He has revealed, unveiled these things, yea, the very depths of God, to those He loves. How does He do this?

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Cor 2:10).

Paul has been writing of the proclamation of the Gospel—“Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24). Then he adds, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor 1:25). Here, then, is the hidden wisdom of God—Christ crucified—the wisdom of the cross, which, says Paul, he speaks “among those who are mature.” Such as these would comprehend what he was saying. So right here we have an insight into what it means to be a mature Christian. They are those who, even while they have grown in understanding, continue to have the childlike believing heart. Jesus on one occasion rejoiced and thanked His Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that “You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes” (Mt 11:25). Hidden them how? For He spoke them openly. But being wise in their own eyes they were blind to these things, as the prophet foretold. “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee” (Obad 3). Revealed them how? By His Spirit to the lowly of heart.

This must be why God’s “conspiracy,” although openly declared in Scripture, is apparently incomprehensible to the king of pride, the Devil, and the proud of heart who conspire with him against God.

Preach the Word

I think I’ll just string together now some scriptures of the Word of God—thank you Brother Graham for sowing that seed in my heart years ago—scriptures that speak of this hidden wisdom of God, who in His weakness and foolishness turns to foolishness the might and wisdom of men. It’s all over the Bible, really, this hidden wisdom; let’s breathe it in:

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. (Ps.9:15,16)

Notice the plural in verse 15 above—conspirators breathing together; and in verse 16 the singular—the Wicked One.

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. (Ps 94:12,13)

Who is digging, or should I say dug, this pit for the wicked? Here’s our answer:

Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate (Ps 7:14-16).

The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. (Ps 10:2)

For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation. (Ps 35:7-9)

But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.
Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. (Ps. 141:8-10)

Now some actual instances of this:

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified. (Est 7:10)

And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled… (Jdg 7:22)

And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. (2 Chr 20:22,23).

Those are all from the Old  Testament. Now consider this from the New:

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Col 2:13-15)

Triumphing over them in what? In His cross, the cross in which they were sure they were triumphing over Him.

As in the story of David and  Goliath. Who slew Goliath? Yes, David. But how did he slay him? No, not with a sling and a stone, but with Goliath’s own weapon.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Heb 2:14,15)

Amen. True illumination from the scriptures of truth.

I promised at the beginning to tell you how we ourselves may become involved in God’s “conspiracy,” that is, in the weakness and foolishness of Christ crucified. Here is how, and it’s humbling to think that we ourselves are invited to breathe together with the holy God. He invites into His holy council chamber the humble, the meek, the lowly, and shares with them daily His counsels, His breathings. What is His counsel? That we take up our own cross daily, and, being led by the Spirit, follow Jesus, being always childlike of heart, simple of heart, trusting God. His way works, beloved, His secret counsel is effectual; it’s been demonstrated, and this will yet be manifested and shouted from the rooftops of all Heaven and earth.

Dear Father, thank you for inviting us to breathe together with you the breathings of God. Amen.

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Pictures Of Eternal Life

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Allan Halton

 

In this increasingly unstable world of ours, and growing darkness, let us be mindful of Jesus’ words that are both a promise and a warning. He warned that “the thief cometh…” He is referring to what one has called the “cosmic thief,” the Devil. This thief is intent on one thing, which he loves to do under cover of darkness. “The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy…” The thing we must get hold of here is that it’s His own flock that Jesus is warning; it’s these that the thief has his malicious eye on. But in the same breath Jesus now adds, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). This is his precious promise, and it becomes the heritage of those who hear the voice of their Shepherd and follow Him as He goes out before them. This is their part; it is His part to lead them into His green pastures of abundant life, and protect them there. No lion or bear or thief can touch them when they do their part, and when He does His part. Let us do our part, then. Let us never for a moment stray from the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls! I’m not saying we should have no interest in what’s going on out there in the world. I’m saying let nothing tempt us to distance ourselves from the protection of our Shepherd’s loving presence. I say presence because it is in Himself that the abundant life is found. “I am come that they might have life…” Let nothing in this world, then, nothing great or small, seduce us to breach even for a moment the life-link with our loving Shepherd in the high pastures of Israel—our spiritual heritage in Christ Jesus. If we do we have set ourselves up not for provision and protection but for robbery and destruction.

With this in mind, I hope to open more fully to our understanding what the abundant life in Christ is like so that this becomes our one desire—and our determination that nothing shall move us from it. Let’s read a verse of Scripture:

And this is the promise that He has promised us—the land of Canaan. (I Jn. 2:25 NKJV)

“Wait a minute,” I hear you protesting, “that’s not what it says.”

I’m glad to see you know your Bible, we’re off to a good start. Actually it reads:

And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

But do you see where I’m coming from? Canaan was the earthly land of promise that God promised Israel of old. He gave the promise initially to Abraham, and faithfully brought the descendants of Abraham into that abundant land after first enjoining upon them the Sinai Covenant. This was all a type of what was to come. It is eternal life that He promises the New Covenant people of God. That is to say, life in Christ. “…God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 Jn. 5:11). This is the New Covenant “land”—the Son of God Himself, a “land” characterized by eternal life.

Eternal life? We have shortchanged ourselves if we think of eternal life solely as life without end. Certainly it is life without end, but it’s far more than that, it’s far more than something we enter into once we have died and gone to Heaven. Eternal life is a heavenly heritage we begin to enter into while yet on earth. But obviously it’s far more than an earthly plot of ground. Yet eternal life is like the earthly land of Canaan inasmuch as reality is portrayed in a picture book. That’s how I like to describe the Old Testament part of our Bible. It’s a picture book given to children prior to the New Covenant reality that has now come. Of course those accounts in the Old Testament are not fairy tales, they are not fiction; they are true accounts of people on terra firma. But they were prophetic of a spiritual reality to come.

What does eternal life look like?

So, what does the Picture Book have to say about the promise of eternal life? What is eternal life like? Here from the Picture Book are some descriptions of eternal life:

And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not,
Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Dt. 6:10-12)

In other words, the provision of the land was not the result of their own work. It was wonderfully all there already in the land. Here’s another:

For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. (Dt. 8:7-9)

Again, we see that the land was a prepared land; in it the people of God would lack nothing, there was abundant provision for every need. Joshua confirmed the same at the end of his life:

And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. (Josh 24:13 KJV)

And so the people entered into the land of their inheritance only to find it just as they had been told. The provision of every need was ready at hand. In fact God called this land “the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you” (Dt. 12:9 NKJV). None of this would involve their own works. Even the warfare they accomplished in this land was the result of the Lord—and Joshua (their Jesus)—going before them. “The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said” (Dt. 31:3).

Even so, eternal life is the prepared life, the very life of Christ, the ever-present salvation and provision for our every need. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:10). It is the kind of life and salvation in which our walk is a prepared walk, our works prepared before us. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). We are new creations in Christ and we walk by the rule of new creation life—steps that are prepared before us. “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16).

It is all that He Himself might be glorified in our lives.

The Bishop of the land

That heading might throw you; I know what the word bishop brings to mind. But bear with me. Let’s read a longer passage. I love this one:

But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.
Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;
And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. (Dt. 11:7-15 KJV)

That’s what their earthly inheritance was like. And this is what the heavenly heritage of eternal life is like. It is a land, a life, “which the Lord thy God careth for…” What do you mean, Lord? I mean this: “…The eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year…”

Careth is the Hebrew darash, which more literally would be seeketh after, or searcheth. I’d really like us to get the sense of this, so let’s look at some other versions:

 …A land which Jehovah thy God is searching; continually are the eyes of Jehovah thy God upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the latter end of the year. (DT 11:12 YLT)
…A land about which the LORD your God is continually concerned, because the eyes of the LORD rest continually on it throughout the entire year. (ISV)
…A land the LORD your God looks after. He is constantly attentive to it from the beginning to the end of the year. (NET)

Do we get the picture? Let’s string those together. His eyes are continually upon this land, He is continually concerned about it, He is constantly attentive to it in order to look after and take care of this land moment by moment.

Here’s another—this one from Brenton’s English translation of the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Old Testament:

…A land which the Lord thy God surveys continually, the eyes of the Lord thy God are upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

The Septuagint Greek for surveys is episkopeo, which the Apostolic Bible Polyglot (a translation that codifies the Greek Septuagint with Strong’s numbers) actually renders oversees. “A land which the Lord  thy God oversees continually.” What a thought! Eternal life is a land, a domain, that God continually oversees. Strong’s defines episkopeo as “to look diligently, take the oversight.” From this we have our English word bishop—overseer, one who sees over, one who watches over the flock with a view to its care and protection. “For ye were as sheep going astray,” says Peter, “but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Pt. 2:25). Or as the New King James Version has it, “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” He cares deeply for the welfare and wellbeing of our souls, our lives, therefore continually watches over us day and night, mindful of the very best for us in the pastures of eternal life, just as He did the land for which He cared, His eyes searching it attentively with a view to giving it His loving care and attention.

“…For the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”

This, beloved, is what eternal life, life in Christ, is like. It is like “…a land of milk and honey… a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” That description from the Picture Book gives us through a glass darkly an insight into eternal life. It is life which is life indeed in the “land” of our inheritance. “Life, and that more abundantly.” Life in Christ. Eternal life. God is overseeing this land, the heavenly Canaan, to do it good that He may do us good. He keeps its care in His own hands. Gone are the days in Egypt when we watered our plots with an irrigation system entirely in our own control. Not so now. Not in this land. This land is the Rest of God; the days of toil to bring forth our bread by the sweat of our brow are over. This our new land is watered with the rain of Heaven, of which God alone is in control.

Did I hear you catch your breath just here? You mean leaving this entirely to Him? Yes, it means absolute and utter dependence upon Him alone. If that seems risky it’s only because we don’t know Him very well. Once we know and believe the love that God has for us, who would have it any other way? For we come to see that it is a God of lovingkindness and faithfulness who promises this kind of life and rest, life eternal, upon our entering into and abiding in His “land” in total dependence upon Him. Only in His “land” is this kind of life, eternal life, to be found. Upon putting our trust entirely in Him we bid goodbye forever to our unrest, to our doubts and fears. We cease from our own works and labours and strivings and the world with all its cares. Our lot is now to rest entirely in Him and simply obey His leadings, His commandments, thereby enjoying the life of abundant fruitfulness and total victory over every enemy.

This is just what 19th century Quaker Hannah Whitall Smith had to say upon what she called her “entrance into this life.”

I have found it to be more and more true, every day of my life, that Christ is a  complete and ever-present Savior, and that if I but commit all my interests to Him, I have, as a dear child once said, nothing to do now but “just to mind.” To say “Thy will be done” seems to me, more and more, the sweetest song of the soul. The deepest longings of my whole being are met and satisfied in God. He is enough! Believing, resting, abiding, obeying—these are my part. He does all the rest. What heights and depths of love, what infinite tenderness of care, what wise lovingkindness of discipline, what grandeur of keeping, what wonders of revealing, what strength in weakness, what comfort in sorrow, what light in darkness, what easing of burdens I have found, what a Savior, no words can tell!
Hannah Whitall Smith, 1887

That is beautiful, is it not? This is a description of eternal life, the prepared life in Christ, wherein our Saviour’s part is to do the saving; our part is simply to mind Him with ready obedience, and even for this He provides the needed grace. Who can but love Him with all the heart and soul and mind and strength?

 

 

 

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The Lamb Is My Shepherd

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Allan Halton

In the following devotional the personal pronoun “I” has been used. Dear reader, if you are one of the sheep of His pasture, you are invited to take this “I” unto yourself. If you are not one of the sheep of His pasture, oh, become one!

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 I have a loving Shepherd of my soul, who, when I had gotten myself very lost (as all we of Adam’s race do) went as far as a hill called Calvary to find me in a valley called Sin and Death.

My Shepherd had to die to come to me where I was—dead in trespasses and sins.

Then, the God of peace brought again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep—my Lord Jesus Christ—in the blood of an everlasting covenant.

When He arose He brought me up with Him: He took me up in His arms and carried me in His bosom, and brought me out from that desolate valley into a green pasture called Resurrection Life, a high mountain pasture where, as the Lamb in the midst of the throne of God, He continues to shepherd me, by His Spirit leading me daily to fountains of living waters. I thirst no more. I hunger no more. I walk with Him daily in newness of life—His life. The blazing sun does not beat down upon me, nor any heat, for He who sits on the Throne has spread the shady Tabernacle of Himself over me.

This Lamb who gave Himself for me is my shepherd, the overseer of my soul. He watches over me daily, keeping me, protecting me from marauding lions and bears. He causes me to lie down in His green pastures of living truth. He leads me beside the waters of rest. Daily He restores my soul, provisioning me afresh with all I need to do His will, working in me what is wellpleasing in His sight.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His own Names’ sake.  Leads me, I say. For He Himself is ever with me. Yes, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death with evil about me on every hand, I fear no evil. For, now I am no longer a subject under the shadow, the domain, of King Death. My Lamb-Shepherd has redeemed me from that king, and now, just as the children of Israel lived securely “under the shadow” of their kings, I live under the shadow of the Anointed King Jesus, the breath of my nostrils, whose shadow is the reign of grace, of righteousness and peace, of life and light and liberty.

And so we walk together, my Shepherd and I, He leading, and I following, in the Pathway He has chosen for us through the valley of the shadow of death. No longer a resident here, I am just passing through.

My Shepherd King is with me. So I fear no evil. He has a rod and a staff, and they comfort me—the rod to deal with my enemies, or to correct me when I need it myself, and a staff that sustains me, holds me up.

He prepares a table before me in the very presence of my enemies, who, though they continue to roar and threaten, can no longer torment me with fear.

The head of my Shepherd-king is anointed with oil, and that oil flows down upon my head, making me a king too.

It is all too, too much. His cup, my cup, runs over.

My Shepherd the Lamb of God went as far as Calvary and the grave to seek out and find this lamb. What comfort—to continue to lean on Him and trust Him daily in every circumstance great or small. He—my Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd and Bishop of my soul, “has come into my circumstances with divine and tender love, making Himself acquainted with all the little details of my life; and He has brought me, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in endless life, into His own magnificent circumstances, where I enjoy the light of His countenance… where I am the delight of His heart.” (J.B. Stoney)

Now, instead of my enemies pursuing me relentlessly every day, His goodness and His mercy pursue me all the days of my life.

I shall be dwelling in the House of my Shepherd forever. I know and trust that as I do so, God will, in His time, wipe away each and every tear from my eyes.

(Psalm 23; Hebrews 13:20,21; 1 Peter 2:25; Revelation 7:15-17; Lamentations 4:20)

 

 

 

 

 

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The Exegesis Of God–Part Two

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Allan Halton

Let’s recall from last time Solomon’s proclamation at the inauguration of the temple that God had instructed him to build for Him.

 The LORD hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.  But I have built an house of habitation for Thee, and a place for Thy dwelling forever (2 Chr. 6:1,2).

This is what Solomon’s temple was all about.  It was to be the place among men where the God who had formerly dwelt in thick darkness now shone forth.  Solomon’s temple was, however, only a shadow of the true temple not made with hands—the Son of God Himself.  And so last time we also quoted a verse from John.

 No man hath seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him (Jn. 1:18).

The word declared is the Greek exegesato, and is related to our word exegesis, which is the biblical science of discovering and explaining what the Scriptures really say and mean.  Patient exegesis of the Bible will yield to the yielded much fruit.  But in John 1:18 we discover that the Son of God when He walked the earth was the exegesis of God Himself.  He was the One who explained, made known, revealed, shone forth, the hard-to-understand, unseen, obscure, unknown God.

That’s very wonderful, but I wonder if I don’t hear someone thinking, “Well and good that Jesus the Son of God was the exegesis of God the Father back then, but He is not here now.”

I know the regret you’re expressing: if only we could have lived back in Jesus’ day… or if only He were still here today.  Too bad the Devil succeeded in tearing down that living Temple in whom God dwelt and was revealed.

Just a minute.  Remember what Jesus said about that.

 Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up…
But He spake of the Temple of His body (Jn. 2:19,21).

And so the Devil has his own regrets that he and his cohorts conspired to have the Lord of glory crucified, thinking to be done with Him.  For He rose from the dead.  And He ascended into Heaven, where, seated at the right hand of God, He began His more excellent ministry of the New Covenant, and an enlargement of that Temple which would continue to be the same exegesis of God.

How so?  When Christ ascended to the right hand of God, He “received the promise of the Father” (Acts 2:33), on the day of Pentecost sending the Spirit to His waiting disciples, just as He, in turn, had earlier promised them.

 I will not leave you comfortless.  I will come to you (Jn. 14.18).

I will come to you?  This is a mystery.  The coming of the Spirit was such that the same One who was the exegesis of God at the right hand of the Father, while continuing to abide at the right hand of the Father in the Heavens, came to His disciples again, and took up residence in them.  For, those in whom the Spirit dwells, it is Christ Himself who dwells in them, as we read in many places in our New Testament.  (For example, Romans 8: 9,10, and many other places that speak of the indwelling Christ.)  And thus they become part of the same Temple Solomon prophesied of, the same habitation the Son of God fulfilled—the same living Exegesis that reveals God and makes Him known among men.

That is the astonishing implication of the sending of the Spirit.  Those in whom Christ dwells now become part of that same exegesis of God that the Son of God was.

This is what the New Covenant assembly is all about, or ought to be.  The church—which was formed by the coming of the Spirit to individual disciples—is to be the fullness of that same Exegesis of God who walked the earth two thousand years ago, and is now seated at the right hand of God.

 The church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:23).

The fullness of Him?  The church is His very body—the fullness of Him?  I am sure this is what Jesus had in mind when He “spake of the temple of His body” which He said He would raise up.  “The church, which is His body…”  The Devil thought to be rid of Him by the cross.  What he did, to his great chagrin, enabled God to lay in Zion the foundation Stone for an enlargement of that temple.  It began with the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost.  He comes for nothing less than to continue the same exegesis of God that the Son of God was when He was here.

That is the nature of Christ’s more excellent ministry of the New Covenant.  It is a ministration of the very knowledge of God, and thus, “all shall know Me from the least to the greatest” (Heb. 8:11) .  This is something more than knowledge as we generally think of the word.  It is New Covenant knowledge: the kind of knowledge—the knowledge of God—whom to know means our being like Him.

How imperative, then, that we in the church, as ministers of the New Covenant (which all Christians are to be) give the Prime Minister of the New Covenant—the Holy Spirit—His lordship and pre-eminence in our individual lives, and in our gatherings.  He comes for nothing less than to reveal, to make known, the same God of love and righteousness that dwelt in the Son… so that the same exegesis of God now dwells in and shines forth from the churches—you and me and our brothers and sisters in the churches.

This is what the New Covenant, and the New Covenant assembly, is all about—or is supposed to be—the exegesis of God to a world in darkness.  Anything short of this… we are sorely missing His mark.

And it has to be said that much of what is called church in our day has in fact done that.  Has fallen short.  Has missed the mark.  Let the broken and repentant heart be encouraged.  Christ is still on the Throne at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit sent from the Throne is still in the earth.  The temple He inaugurated at Pentecost is still here, though in the midst of much that man has built cannot always readily be seen.  In fact her enemies are gloating these days that they have succeeded in destroying her and treading her down in the dust.  The Lord on the throne has a surprise in store for His enemies.  The power and principle of His resurrection life is still at work.  He continues to raise up this Temple—the One that was torn down on Calvary’s cross—just as He prophesied He would do.  He will beautify her, set living stones in her just like Himself.  He will yet be fully revealed, will yet shine forth in this temple in all His glory in the Heavens and in the earth…

…And all the confusion and debate and doubt and misunderstanding as to who He is—all the thick darkness—will vanish like the morning mist in the light of the sun.

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Mind Not High Things

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Allan Halton

Christians everywhere this time of year are thinking of the birth of the King of kings. Don’t tell anybody, but even in summer I sometimes find myself singing (to myself) The First Noel, or, O Little Town of Bethlehem.

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light:
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

What cause for rejoicing!  We live in a terribly dark world, yet into this world of darkness—I am so thankful—a Light has come!  Into this world of darkness He came, the everlasting light!

And when I think of the way this happened—the way the God of glory came down into a world of darkness and revealed Himself among men—I am awestruck.  It is true that He is the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity; there is none greater nor higher than He.  But at the same time, there is none more lowly than He.

There was great expectation in those days that their Messiah-king was about to appear.  Would it not be natural to assume that the Great King, the Deliverer of David’s line, would be born in a palace?  This in fact is what the Magi assumed when they first saw His star in the east.  They made their long journey to Jerusalem, and inquired in the palace of Herod.  Where else would such a potentate be born?

But no, He is born to a penniless teenage girl and her betrothed husband who have just had to make a very difficult trip at a very inconvenient time.  She is great with child, and just as they arrive at their destination, suddenly her pains come upon her.  The inn has no room for them, and so the King of kings is born in, of all places… a stable?  He is laid in a manger… a feed trough for cattle?  There is no pomp, no ceremony to which the great ones of the earth have been invited.  In fact His first visitors are shepherds who are keeping night watch over their flocks while most men sleep.

It is this, all this, that is so moving about the birth of Jesus Christ.  Here is all this lowliness—the cattle shed, the manger, the nameless shepherds… Yet we know we are touching grandeur, majesty of the highest order.  The open heart cannot help but be on its knees.

Do you long to be involved in great things?  So do I.  But do we recognize that God’s greatness is always couched in this kind of lowliness?  Many in our day are not so sure of that anymore.  There is as much a celebrity culture in the church as in the world these days.  Hollywood has its stars, but so now does Christendom.

Bearing this in mind, here’s another poem I love.

That Holy Thing

They all were looking for a king
To slay their foes and lift them high:
Thou cam’st a little baby thing
That made a woman cry.

O Son of man, to right my lot
Nought but Thy Presence can avail;
Yet on the road Thy wheels are not,
Nor on the sea Thy sail!

My fancied ways why shouldest Thou heed?
Thou com’st down Thine own secret stair;
Coms’t down to answer all my need,
Yea, every bygone prayer!

George Macdonald (1824-1905)

I love those lines.  “Thou com’st down Thine own secret stair…”  How deeply we need our Lord Jesus.  Only His Presence—He Himself—will avail to right our lot, that situation in our lives we so desperately need an answer for.  He comes to answer all my need—my present need, and not mine only: all the prayers of ages past as well.  But how does He come?  I look at the way He appeared back then when people looked for Him among the important of the day.  And I look at what is happening these days in the Church among the fame seekers and big-name entertainers and performers.  All too often I am seeing the red carpet being rolled out for “another Jesus” these days, one far different from the lowly One who made His debut into this world in a cattle shed.  He came down His own secret staircase, came down Jacob’s ladder from the top to the bottom, and was born in a cattle shed.  You mean the High God took upon Him human flesh in that manner?  It sends shivers down my spine.

We live in days of such grievous and heart-rending things; there are those who try to tell us that the human family is just an accident of evolution gone terribly wrong, and the sooner it’s all scrapped, the better.  I am not among the cynics.  God has things in store for the family of man beyond our wildest fancies.  He has chosen man, of all creatures, for His own Dwelling Place.  When Jacob saw that ladder in a dream at Bethel one night, it was the Man Christ Jesus that He was seeing.  It is the Son of man, Jesus Christ Himself, who is Bethel—the house of God (Gen. 28.17, Jn. 1.51).

And wonder of wonders, there are others among men who are part of this same House! But  who?  The high?  The lofty?  The praise seekers?  The great among men?  Beloved, if we want to be part of this Dwelling Place we will be companying with the lowly in “the secret place of the stairs.”

This is my great desire and prayer for those who read this little blog A Mending Feast.  Let us not be minding high things, beloved.  Let us be among the lowly… anticipating a precious visitation in the Spirit.

…Maybe you would join with me in singing another verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem.

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given;
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in.

Amen. Blessings to you all at this time, and all through the coming year.

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What World Do You Walk In?

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Allan Halton

Habakkuk the prophet spoke of a time when he could find nothing but desolation all around him.  The fig tree had not blossomed, nor seemed likely to blossom.  There was no fruit in the vine.  The labour of the olive had failed.  The fields had yielded no food.  The flock was cut off from the fold, and there was no herd in the stalls (Hab. 3.17).

This was a spiritual scene Habakkuk was prophesying about—signs of a frightening spiritual crop failure, and therefore severe famine at the door.  Yet what was Habakkuk’s reaction?

Yet will I rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places (Hab. 3.19).

Joy?  Rejoicing?  How can it be possible to be in the midst of such grievous circumstance and yet tap into a source of joy?

Let me tell you of one high place higher than all others—the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is seated at the right hand of God in heavenly places “far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1.21).

And we are called to walk in Him there.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving (Col. 1.7).

Fellow Christian with the hinds’ feet of the Holy Spirit, though we live in an evil world of trouble and great darkness, it is our heritage to be living and walking in the high places of an entirely different world.  In Christ we have the opportunity—and the provision by the Holy Spirit—to walk no longer dependent on this world for our peace and wellbeing and happiness and security.  Those who walk in this world, when evil circumstance—trouble or affliction—comes upon them, their peace and wellbeing evaporates like the morning cloud in the heat of the sun.

I know this happens to you and me too at times.  But it need not.  There is another realm in which we can walk.  Those who have received Christ Jesus the Lord, we can walk in Him.  Regardless of present evil circumstance or affliction, JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, and so, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, we can be living and walking in One who is seated upon the Throne of God in a kingdom and dominion that transcends and rules over all.

Let us consider this earnestly, and meditate upon it, and sow to it.  It is quite the thing that there are people on this troubled planet who are actually rooted and living in a different world.  They are not subject to the vagaries and transience of earthly things. There may be some deeply galling circumstance in our life, or deep affliction, something from which, like a prison, there seems no escape.  But right there we can be living in another realm.

Consider the apostle Paul when he was a prisoner (Phil. 1.13)… and not quite sure how things would go for him (2.23).  How long would he be in this prison?  Perhaps he might even be executed?  And yet he is filled to overflowing with joy.  Read his letter to the Philippians remembering he is in prison while he writes this.  Yet he is filled with joy, so much so that his joy just spills over to those he is writing to.  You have to read the whole letter in one sweep to get the feel of it, but here are two or three verses.

…Christ is preached, and therein do I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice (Phil. 1.18).

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me (Phil. 2.17,18).

Paul expects it could well be that his days here on earth are over, but he is filled with joy, and seeks to infect his friends and brethren with the same joy.  Like Habakkuk, he is rejoicing in the midst of the worst possible circumstances.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord (Phil. 3.1).

These are Habakkuk’s words, aren’t they.  And it appears Paul is about to sign off.  “Finally, my brethren…”  But the joy continues to well up, and now something else comes on his heart,  and it is not till he has given us one of the most precious chapters in the whole of the Bible (Philippians Ch. 3) that he picks up his benediction again:

Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice (Ch. 4.4).

How can he be so full of joy considering his circumstances?  It’s simply because he is rooted in a heavenly Ground that transcends his present evil circumstance.  He knows that the Gospel of Christ in him is a power that rules over all; whatever comes it is not possible for him to be disappointed.

…According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Ch. 1.20).

We find this same confidence in Paul’s second letter to Timothy written when he is again in prison.  This time he is chained like a common criminal—and this time he knows for certain his end is at hand.  (He was executed under the Roman emperor Nero, likely in 67 AD just after writing this letter.)

And note what we glean from this letter; it’s enough to sink anyone in despair.  All in the province of Asia where Paul has laboured so earnestly have now deserted him (2 Tim. 1.15).  That in itself is enough to take the heart out of anyone—to see their life’s work disintegrate before their very eyes.  The flock, it seems, has been cut off from the fold; Paul’s labour of the olive has failed… or so it seemed.  And it appears it’s a rare thing that anyone comes to visit lonely Paul in prison; he makes special mention of a certain Onesiphorus who came from Ephesus and searched hard to find him and came often and refreshed him, “and was not ashamed of my chain” (2 Tim. 1.16).

What is more, Paul tells Timothy that the first time he stood before Nero no one showed up to stand by him and defend him (2 Tim. 4.16).  My.  One would think the Lord Himself had abandoned Paul… until we continue reading.

Nevertheless the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me… and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen (2 Tim. 4.18).

And so we see in Paul an unshakable faith and confidence that springs from a source other than this present evil world.  Paul is rooted in another world, a heavenly world—actually in Christ Himself, who never ever forsakes him.  He is being built up in Him, for he is established, grounded, in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving.  His letter is filled with words of encouragement for Timothy, whom he knows to be somewhat timid of nature, and vulnerable to fear and anxiety.  Paul reminds him it is for the Gospel that he is suffering these things, and regardless of the present scene, he is confident in the triumph of the Gospel—to be revealed in a certain Day.  And so he rejoices in the Lord, in the God of his salvation.

For which cause I suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that Day (2 Tim. 1.12).

Beloved Christian, there is a Day coming.  There is coming a Day.  But this does not mean that the Gospel is not triumphant even now in our present troubles—for the one who with hinds’ feet walks in Christ in the high places of a different world… while we confidently await the Day when that triumph will be openly manifested.

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The Sea And The Waves Roaring

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Allan Halton

I don’t know if you are feeling the same way I am about things in the news these days. It seems to me things have “morphed” into a frightening ugliness.  My news source is the Google news page, and I don’t make a habit of going through it all.  A lot of it I dare not read; it’s unclean.  Much of it I can’t read; it’s too painful to read it.  So I skim the headlines.

The other day as I considered it all, these words came on my heart again and again.  “…The sea and the waves roaring… The sea and the waves roaring…” (Lk. 21.25).  That’s what Jesus prophesied things would be like just prior to the coming of the kingdom of God.

Upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring…

That’s a perfect description of the sea just now—the sea of nations, the sea of humanity.  There is so much distress, and perplexity, and unrest.

In fact I wonder if I don’t see a new beast rising up out of the sea, something along the lines of Daniel’s vision, “and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.  And four beasts came up from the sea…” (Dan. 7.3).  John the Revelator saw something similar—a beast having seven heads and ten horns rising out of the sea.

Now, I’m not trying to invent a new eschatology of what that is all about, and I’m not saying I’ve had a divine revelation; it’s just a feeling I have; I’m just surmising.

What I’m thinking of is the “waves” of influence that have arisen as masses of ordinary people in various nations have gathered together—multitudes in the streets banding together in a common cause.  They just came up “out of the sea.”  They discovered that massed together, rising up together, they had power.  Is this a new political force in the earth– a new beast rising out ot the sea?

Some of these waves have been extremely violent.  Add to that the frightening riots in our so-called orderly democratic societies.  Anarchy right before our eyes.

Now add in this– the influence of social media these days.  The little people who had no voice now have a megaphone that has turned their puny voice into a shout that gets political attention.

Whereunto shall all this grow?  Truly the waves of the sea are becoming very restless.  Very boisterous.  I believe they are going to grow even more boisterous.

A storm is gathering strength.

I take courage in knowing this—the One who stilled the waves on Galilee will in His timing speak again and still the waves of this great sea.

Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them.  (Ps. 89.9).

What I mean is… consider this verse in the light of the one just before it.

O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto Thee? Or to Thy faithfulness round about thee?
Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise Thou stillest them.

Thou rulest the raging of the sea.  Who is that?  The LORD God of hosts.

Fast forward to a stormy night on Galilee centuries after this psalm was written.  Who was it that stilled the raging waves of the sea that stormy night on Galilee?  It was a Man whom to see was to see the LORD God of hosts, a Man who did only what He saw His Father the LORD God of hosts doing.  The things this Man did, it was God the Father who dwelt in Him who did the works (Jn. 14.10).

And so it was the LORD God of hosts who calmed the sea of Galilee that night, fulfilling an ancient prophecy of the psalms.

I believe we shall yet see an even greater fulfillment of that prophecy.  I anticipate that this same One shall speak again and still the raging waves of the restless sea of humanity.  How shall He do so?  Through that same Man again—and those who are in union with Him because of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

That will indeed be a very powerful word going forth from the mouth of the Lord—in the body of Christ.

High sounding words?  Do you think it’s even possible for this kind of word to go forth from the body of Christ?  I do—when it is Christ Himself speaking.

Which means you and I must seek very earnestly to abide in Christ and hear His Voice and speak what He is speaking.  Be sure that it’s only those who are abiding in Christ— only those who are walking in the yoke and lowliness of Christ, who are going to be entrusted with this kind of word and authority.

But it’s the only answer for this increasingly lawless and violent and godless world.  We are already seeing anarchy in many places.  So far men have always felt they could solve their problems and bring things under control.  I believe God is going to convince man that this is no longer true.  The problems are becoming too great, too complex.  Things are spinning out of control.

The sea is getting very stormy indeed.

It frightens me… and I’m glad to read the disciples of old were scared too that night on Galilee.  They were sure they were about to perish.  I can identify.

…But didn’t they know who was with them in their little ark?  And don’t I know too?

Jesus—He was asleep on a pillow through it all—awoke to their cries.

And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mk. 4.39).

Notice that.  “He rebuked the wind…”  That’s where the real problem is—those “four winds of the heavens” that are always stirring up the great sea.  These are the real instigators behind all the turmoil—evil principalities and powers in the heavenly realm.

“…And He said unto the sea, Peace, be still.”  He rebukes the wind and speaks to the sea—to the peoples in turmoil and unrest.

And there was a great calm.

The disciples were overawed at this.

And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the waves obey Him?

They weren’t even sure He was a man, as the original Greek implies.

Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?

Who?  What manner of Man?  A Man who is one with God.

Likewise shall many be overawed when this same Man speaks peace and brings order out of chaos again.

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This Ark Can Go Through Fire

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Allan Halton

We’ve been talking about the great flood of Noah’s day and the ark he built, and how that is a figure of the atonement of Christ on Calvary.  We saw that Peter likened the flood to a great baptism, and the ark to God’s salvation in that baptism.  Peter said that the Christian’s baptism in water is “a like figure” (1 Pt. 4.21).  Water baptism is itself a figure that cannot accomplish what the real baptism can—the cleansing of the conscience.

This does not mean we should not be baptized in water, as some have taught (the early Quakers and the Salvation Army, for instance).  The early Quakers taught that as a mere outward ordinance water baptism wasn’t necessary.  I can understand their stand on this; the church of their day had become totally seized up with the formalism of outward ordinances.  But Paul, after that experience on the Damascus Road, was baptized in water.  And in other places in The Acts we find that the apostles who baptized people in the Holy Spirit also baptized them in water.  And so we do this also. It’s a step of obedience that shows our commitment to submit to the true baptism—baptism into Christ—all our days.

And we are yet going to discover that baptism into Christ, the baptism of the cross, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire—all this along with water baptism is really only “one baptism”—is going to make us invulnerable to the fires of the Day of the Lord.  This is our “ark.”

Peter has much to say about Noah and the flood as something that foreshadows the present dispensation and what is before us now—the fires of the Day of the Lord.  And he says that in the last days there would be scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying:

Where is the promise of His coming?  For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation (2 Pt. 3.4).

George Warnock points out in one of his writings (Chain Reaction in Realms of the Spirit) that we are well past that time now.  Men are no longer saying that all things continue the same.  How could they?  Things have accelerated dramatically the last few decades.  What with the AIDS epidemic, and 9/11, and devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, and peace and order disintegrating on every hand… no one says any more that things continue the same.  More and more the words of the scoffers are hollow in their mouths when they ridicule the words of the Lord.

Peter reminds them (and us) that it was the word of the Lord that sustained the old world (the world before the flood, 2 Pt. 3.5).  It was the word of the Lord that had created the heavens of old, and the earth.  It was the word of the Lord that on the third day had caused the dry land to appear out of the water (Gen. 1.9).  Even during the time when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, the word of the Lord continued to sustain that world.

But then the day… and the hour… and the minute came… and by the same word of the Lord the windows of heaven were opened and all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the world was deluged with water, and perished (2 Pt. 3.6).

It is only the word of God that continues to sustain our present world (Heb. 1.3, 11.3).  Only the word of the Lord.  Not yet, He says.  Not yet.  Not yet.  The longsuffering God who waited in the days of Noah is waiting again in our day.  He is longsuffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance (2 Pt. 3.9).  And so we account that His longsuffering is with a view to salvation (2 Pt. 3.15).  It’s not because He is slack on the job and doesn’t care about this sin-torn world.  He hates iniquity far deeper than we.  But the work of the Holy Spirit in God’s people is not finished yet.  The Ark is not quite ready yet.

But when it is finally ready?  He will speak.  There will be fire.

But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition (destruction) of ungodly men” (2 Pt. 3.7).

What the ark was in prophetic type back in the days of Noah it is in reality now.  Back then those in the ark became the beginnings of a new creation.  All else was destroyed.  Noah was the “eighth person” (2 Pt. 2.5).  “Eight souls were saved by water” (1 Pt. 3.20).  Eight in Scripture is the number that signifies a new beginning.  It is the same now.  God has a new beginning in mind—a new creation.  Its beginnings are already in the Ark.  For “if any man be in Christ he is a new creature…” (2 Cor. 5.17).

And only what is in the Ark Christ Jesus is going to survive the fires of the day of the Lord.

All else will not make it through.  “The earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pt. 3.10).  Wickedness shall not rise up the second time.  We will all be glad.  For out of it will come a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness—that is, in which righteousness is not an unwelcome unwanted stranger, but is at home (2 Pt. 3.13).

I long for that Day.  Surely we understand that this is not about some kind of vengeful God wreaking wrath on innocent victims.  It’s about a God of love who is pained more deeply than we can comprehend with the evil that has engulfed His world.  That’s what motivated Him back in Noah’s day.  He hated the iniquity.  He hated the violence.  He put a stop to it.

What He has in mind as a result of the fires of the day of the Lord is a world in which righteousness is at home.  He is a God who loves righteousness, and hates iniquity.  Do you and I also love righteousness and hate iniquity?  Are we like Him ourselves?  Just as Noah built the ark and in doing so condemned the world, we can hasten the coming of the Day of Fire by our own “ark building”—our holy and godly lives—as we mentioned last time.

Therefore, since all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
Looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God… (2 Pt. 3.11, 12, NKJV).

We can hasten that day!

And we can be found in Christ in that day—in the Ark, that is, when everything around us is going up in smoke.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless (2 Pt. 3.14).

There is only one Place in this universe where anyone can be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.  That is in Christ.  In the Ark.

Beloved, there are many who mock these Bible stories, and scoff at them– at the word of the Lord.  Let us see to it that we ourselves are not mockers and scoffers.  Let us take these things seriously.  Let us get out of Sodom.  Let us get into the Ark.  I remember as a young man how I myself used to heap scorn upon such fairy tales, and the naive people who believed them.  But I remember the night I was converted.  It still stands out in my memory how I suddenly saw that the story of Noah and the ark was actually true.  It was not a fairy tale.  It was true!  It actually happened!  What a change had taken place in this I-know-better mind of mine!

And so I say… let us take God seriously, just as Noah did, who being “warned of God of things not seen as yet,” by faith built that ark and entered it.  Let us give diligence to do the same.  God means business.  Judgment is at the door.  This has been so impressed upon my spirit of late.  How little we understand God—that He is a God who exercises not only lovingkindness, but also “justice and righteousness in the earth” (Jer. 9.24).  How terribly people have presumed upon His goodness and lovingkindness and longsuffering and patience and grace.  But when His hour comes He is going to show His undiluted hatred for unrighteousness and iniquity.  It has caused Him such deep pain to see what iniquity has caused in His earth.

He is going to deal with it all.  The Day of Fire is dawning.  And just as the ark was the only way through “the stormy waters,” the Cross of Calvary is the only way through the fire—the fires of judgment of the Great Day of the Lord.  It is the mystery of the Cross.  What to some is certain destruction becomes for others their salvation—because of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Jesus Prays For Thee

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Allan Halton

Does it not fill you with awe, and humble you—to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ prays for you?

He prays for you.  And prays for me.

I know how you feel—this seems backward; isn’t it you and I who do the praying to Him?

But remember, Jesus told Peter He had prayed for him, that his faith fail not.  We are not told just when this happened, but it appears Jesus often prayed for His disciples while He was here on earth.  I think of the time when His disciples were struggling to cross the sea of Galilee against contrary winds in the darkness of night.  Jesus, we are told, had had gone “into a mountain apart to pray” (Mt. 14.23).  No doubt it was His disciples He was praying for.  “He saw them toiling in rowing” (Mk. 6.48).  That’s pretty good vision Jesus had, isn’t it, to be able to see His disciples in the darkness of the night across the stormy waters.  And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them “walking on the sea” (Mt. 14.25).

He still has the same good sight.  He sees us even now in our toils and struggles.  Even now He continues praying for us from the heavenly Mountain He has ascended into.  He makes intercession for us, as He did those disciples of old.   He tells us as much in John 17, which is the record of a prayer Jesus prayed during the Last Supper, praying as though He were already ascended to the right hand of His Father in Heaven.

I pray for them (Jn. 17.9).

He is speaking of His disciples back then.  But He adds:

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word… (Jn. 17.20).

And the writer of Hebrews tells us:

Wherefore He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. 7.25).

And in Romans we read:

Who is he that condemneth?  (Since) it is Christ that died, yea rather, is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us (Rom. 8.34).

And so it’s very encouraging—that the main ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the throne of the Father in Heaven is as our great and powerful Intercessor.

It could be said that there are two main ministries in this universe.  One is the ministry of the Accuser of the brethren.  The other is the ministry of the Intercessor of the brethren.

Beloved, one of these two ministries we want no part of—either on the giving or the receiving end.  But when we do find ourselves on the receiving end of the Accuser of the brethren, oh, how wonderful to know that we have One who ever liveth to make intercession for us.

It’s very encouraging the way Paul brings in the fact that Christ’s intercession for us is as One who is seated at the right hand of God—the place of the greatest power in the universe.  In other words, He is not making intercession for us as One who pleads with great love and desire, but has no power.  He intercedes as One whose intercession is filled with the power of the Throne of God, and is therefore effectual.

It is a wonderful thing to know that Our Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of power is there as our great high priest and intercessor.  He is my great High Priest—who laid down His life for me on the Altar of the Cross of Calvary.  But my great High Priest is also the great King.  He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  He has all power in Heaven and earth.  He is able to “save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.”  How so?  His intercession on our behalf—on your behalf, and mine—has the power of the throne of God in it.

Now… maybe you already see where this truth is going to take us… which I will get into next time.

…But wait a minute.  How can I resist closing here with the wonderful words of one of my favourite hymns?  I’m singing it right now as I listen to it on Cyberhymnal.

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/r/i/arisemys.htm

And I’m rejoicing!  How can we not rejoice, brother, sister, to have so great a Salvation, and so loving a Saviour and Intercessor before the Throne of Grace!  Let us rejoice!

Here is the hymn, one of Charles Wesley’s finest:

Arise, my soul, arise,
Shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice
In my behalf appears;
Before the throne my Surety stands,
Before the throne my Surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above,
For me to intercede;
His all redeeming love,
His precious blood, to plead;
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears;
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers;
they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray,
His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away
the presence of His Son;
The Spirit answers to the blood,
The Spirit answers to the blood
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled;
His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child;
I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

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