The Beauty of God

And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Rev.4:3-5)
Wow! How tremendous! It is almost impossible to even comment on such amazing truths, taking a brief look at the worship around God’s Throne, illustrated with such God-inspired words, so we’ll just seek to glean some of these glorious truths for our spiritual edification as we think of our Savior's death and resurrection for us that makes it all possible.

It seems these awesome colors are representative of the glory of God!
And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. (v.3)

This makes us also think of Ezekiel's awesome vision of God's glory!

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. (Ezk.1:28)
As magnificent as this is, Ezekiel’s response is appropriate and understandable, rather like John's to the glorified Savior!
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I Am the First and the Last… (Rev.1:17)
In this same John’s response to seeing the glorified Lord Jesus, we understand it being much like Ezekiel’s or any who would encounter the awesome God! Yet notice the Lord’s gracious response to His servant! Fear not! Only the child of God in Christ receives this loving command due to His salvation in our life! The next verse in that text also sheds light on our understanding the Lord’s meaning in our text in Revelation 4!
I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I Am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Rev.1:18)
Isn’t it wonderful the beauty of our Savior, even in His awesome power and glory! There is no need to try and debate who the elders are, yet one thing is certain, as high-ranking as they seem to be, and as blessed as they are, they are most definitely subordinate to the One and Only God on the Throne of His universe! This represents and pictures a wondrous truth that is more and more dear to us the darker and more troubled our world becomes, as we remember this truth remains and will always be, God is on the Throne in His Heaven, ruling and loving His own! He knows what He is doing, He is always and only good and we can trust Him! He loves His own, and He has made it possible for any and everyone to be His own through simple faith in His Son’s shed blood for us! God couldn't complete His written Word to us without sending out one final invitation!
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev.22:17)
This text also, as we touched on earlier, reminds us of the overwhelming, awe-inspiring and breathtaking beauty of our God! David said it so well:
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. (Ps.27:4)
No matter how ugly and twisted sin turns this world-system, yet God’s glorious beauty is untouched and unchangeable! Paul calls our God the incorruptible God! Though all else may be corrupted, not our holy, beautiful God! Praise the Lord!
In closing, we’re reminded of God’s matchless grace, in that though the thundering represented deserved judgment to come on those who rejected our Savior, yet the elders round His Throne remind us that they, as we, though once sinners and enemies, received His redemption and are His beloved sons and daughters, saved from the wrath to come! The psalmist put it beautifully:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (Ps.91:1)
And it is all because of Jesus!

When He Comes

Have you ever thought of what it will be like when Jesus returns, and we're in His blessed presence? I know that I almost always think of the fact that I'll see those wonderful Hands with nail-pierces in them, that paid such a dear price for my salvation all because of His great love for me. We who have come to Him as He invites us to, and has given us glorious rest from the tyrannical burden of our sin, we know that it will be a joy beyond description and even the possibility of full expression now when we see Him! We'll run to Him, and rejoice in seeing our Best Friend! I know this because we have Scriptural proof of it. Peter, who sinned as much as any of us, yet he came to know Christ, and even after he had denied his Savior so terribly, as we often do, when he realized Jesus was on the shore after His resurrection, what did he do? Did he run away from Jesus in shame and fear because he had failed his Savior so badly? Let's let the Scripture speak for itself on it. "But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.”  And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea." (Jn.21:4-7) Peter ran to his Savior! Not long after this, the Lord Jesus in His loving way, allowed Peter to express publicly his genuine love, imperfect as it was, for his Savior, and then He told him to feed His sheep, which he did through his 2 great epistles. Our sins are gone, as the great old hymn sings with joyous abandon, and we need to do as Psalm 107:2 says, let those of us who are redeemed by the Lord, say so!!I'm saying so right now. Maybe you want to as well, then go for it! May the Lord bless you.

Repentance

Have you ever wondered if you had "done it right" when you trusted in Christ for your eternal salvation? I will admit to having had doubts and fears to run through my mind over this issue in the past. But a friend and brother in Christ as well as a fellow blogger has helped me see that faith doesn't look inward at itself, but upward to Christ and beholds Him. In sharing the Gospel with someone, a certain person seemed to have trusted Christ, but later he began to have these doubts and fears as to whether he had "done it right" or not. The main issue in his mind was that this was eternity in question, and it better be right! He was right in that he understood the importance of the matter, but there was something that he was missing, something very important. This person understood that God loved him. He understood that God had done everything to make His gift of salvation available to him, and anyone that wanted it, but the one thing he was terribly unsure of was how to get it. I asked him if he wanted to be saved, and he desperately did. I asked him to think logically about it for a moment, and he did. I said that God being God, knew that he wanted desperately to be saved. Also, I asked him if it made any sense that the God of love who had gone to the great lengths He had to make salvation available to him, would then say, "I'm sorry, but you didn't do it just right when you received My gift of salvation, so you can't have it." He agrees that it would make no sense whatsoever, and it seemed that it was at this point that the "light" came on and he rejoiced in his salvation! The beautiful thing is that God has done it all, and therefore it is out of our hands, except to just accept that it is ours through Christ. I offer that this is true Biblical repentance unto salvation. This dear soul changed his mind, realized who God really was, he already knew he was a sinner and needed Christ, and now he had received what Christ had already done for him! Folks, this is really Good News! God bless you all.

Christmas Grace

Don't really have much in the way of anything prepared to say, just that my heart is so thankful for our Savior who came to earth 2,000 plus years ago to that cave, basically as I understand it, to take on sinless Human Flesh so as to not only save us from our sins, but to identify with us.(Heb.4:14-16). It simply amazes me to think that we can just talk to the God of the universe & know that not only does He hear us, He cares! He also answers us, maybe not always in the way we'd like, or at the time we think He ought, yet His answers are always best & at the perfect time & way we most need it. I have friends tonight who are going through trials that just about are ready to pull them under, yet God's grace is sufficient for them. So it is with you & me. I just want to say, a very Blessed CHRISTmas to you & yours, whatever may be your situation. Remember, Jesus Christ cares, He went to the cross & suffered for you & me in ways we'll possibly never understand yet He did it because He loved you & me so much that He could not let us go to hell without His giving it all so we could have eternal life if we'll just trust Him. OK, I'm gonna stop for tonight & just say Merry CHRISTmas.

God's Grace

We hear a lot about God's grace, & we write a lot about it, & this is good. But it seems we don't always see it in action like we should. I am one of the worst in this, I am pretty good at talking about it but not as good at living it. One of the sweetest verses in the Word of God on this subject of the grace of God is Ephesians 2:7, in which God says that in the endless ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us as believers through Christ Jesus! In other words, God's grace will be on open display all throughout eternity just because we're in Heaven as trophies of His grace! Sometimes we may wonder when we go through hard times how they could ever be used for His glory, or even less, our good? I think of Job in the Bible, & I am just now beginning to see God's abundant grace in this Book like I never have before. Job went through unspeakable suffering, & it was not because of any sin in his life, even though his legalistic friends tried to pin that on him. In fact, God doesn't come right out & tell us in so many words just what caused all Job's suffering except that He allowed it. Yet, at the end of the Book, in Job's response to God, I believe we do see at least part of the reason God allowed the horrendous suffering He did in Job's life. That reason makes all of what he suffered worth it all. In Job 42:5, he says to God, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You." In other words, I have heard quite a bit of men's opinions of You, from these so-called friends of mine & others, but now I know You in a much more personal way through this suffering." What could be better than to know God better? Paul longed for this type of knowledge of God in Philippians 3:10, & he was glad to suffer, even if it meant his death, to get that deeper knowledge. Jesus said that eternal life is to know God & Jesus who God sent.
Recently God in His grace helped us see at least some of why He allowed a tough time in our life awhile ago, & it ended up being so we could experience His grace in a deeper way. Was it worth it? No doubt! Praise the Lord.

Real Thanksgiving

You may or may not be aware of a man who lived over 350 years ago, his name was Martin Rinkart & he was a German pastor who lived through one of the bloodiest times in modern history, what has been called the thirty-years war. The suffering & death that occurred during this time can hardly be described, but as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, pastor Rinkart stayed with his little flock that suffered untold persecution & pain themselves, unto the end. Not long after the war ended & peace came to the war-riddled area, pastor Rinkart left this world & went to be with his Savior. Yet while here, he accomplished more good than we could imagine. One of the most lasting blessings we have from the crucible of suffering brother Rinkart endured is a beautiful Thanksgiving hymn that has quickly become my very favorite, titled Now Thank We All Our God actually written during a time of intense suffering & heartbreak for pastor Rinkart & his people. The weary pastor had been literally performing funerals for his people all day long, & nearly collapsed from the heartache, yet through it all, the Lord brought this beautiful hymn from his heart. If you have the chance, check this beautiful hymn out on YouTube, there is a great version of it played masterfully by Dr. Sean Jackson on the organ. It will be well worth your time. It is amazing how much grace our wonderful Savior can give when we trust Him for it!! A truly joyous Thanksgiving to you all, & may the Lord bless you!

Who's your Quartus?

If you remember, & probably you don't, it's OK really, I posted quite awhile back on a brother in the Lord that Paul briefly mentioned in the 16th chapter of Romans as he was thanking God for those brothers & sisters in the Lord God had used in his life. He said a few things about each one, & when it came to Quartus, all he said was "Quartus, a brother." I said at the time I posted earlier, & I still believe, that Paul simply referred to this dear brother as an encourager to him. I'm reading between the lines, but it seems that Quartus may have been the type of believer & brother in Christ who was just there for you in all types of situations, both good & horrible. Do you have those in your life like this? If you do, thank God for them now. I have been blessed by quite a few, but those that really stand out are my beautiful & Godly bride, & my Dad who led me to Christ many years ago. A couple older & very Godly pastors also come to mind here. I'd love to hear anything on your mind regarding this as well. May the Lord bless you.