Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: hebrews

  • for our God is a consuming fire

    for our God is a consuming fire

    Hebrews 12:18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

    22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…

    25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

    For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

    26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

    … thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

    How much reverence and awe do you have for God Almighty?

    Do you, dear believer, sometimes fail to remember in fear and trembling the Power of the risen Lord, Christ Jesus?

    (It is no wonder that Jesus greeted fearful Apostles with the assurance: “Peace.”)

    It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Hebrews 10:21

    The Disciples finally realized that Jesus had not established God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem at the time He entered its gates prior to His crucifixion; yet the Apostles knew that Jesus will return on the clouds as Judge of the Heavens and earth!

    Prior to becoming Disciples of Jesus, some were disciples of John the Baptist who had preached:

    Matthew 3:

    10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

    12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

    If the burning fire of the conquering Christ was prepared by John; if the burning fire of the conquering Jesus was prepared by the Cross; if the Judgment and Kingdom were close at hand; then how much nearer now? You with ears to hear, hear.

    Jesus’ Disciples wanted to know when, but the Lord would not reveal it.  Never-the-less as Jesus rose into the clouds promising His return, the Disciples were filled with awe and reverence for the risen Son of Man.

    Well they knew all of what our Lord Jesus had warned and cautioned:

    John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

    Luke 24:51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.

     

     

  • Endurance Toward the Cross

    Endurance Toward the Cross

    …let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

    looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, 

    who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…

    Hebrews 12:1b-2a

    Jesus had walked… for three years (by comparison to eternity, a blink of an eye).

    Having been handed the baton of faith after more forty years of my race on the wrong path, I have walked with the Lord toward the cross a mere twenty years. Though I have endured the hardship of the race (a sprint in terms of time), a marathon of pain and suffering have not yet brought me in view of the finish line.

    By our certain faith we must press on toward the crown given by Christ Jesus our Lord until our time is come to pass on the baton of faith.

    Jesus has his face set toward Jerusalem. The crowds have followed. Many have fallen away. Some have been saved. Some have endured.

    Yet as in the life of the faithful widow; as in the life of the resurrected (Lazarus and others); as in the life of the weary Disciples and worn-down flesh of our Savior, the race is not finished.

    The race is not finished for Jesus as He looks upon Jerusalem. His race is not finished until the Cross.

    Neither has our race reached the finish line of faith until we, too, have drug the Cross of Christ to the sanctuary of the Holy Place of our rest.

    Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

    As we approach the HOLY WEEK of our Christian faith, I invite you to take sanctuary in our Lord Christ Jesus.

    Take a fresh look at the GOSPEL, the Good News of our Salvation in the Cross by the Sacrifice of the Blood of our Lord.

    READ once more the entire story of JESUS, through the witness of the Apostles John and Matthew; or the early witnesses of the church after Jesus’ resurrection: Luke and Mark.

    It may be helpful to some of you if I share a portion of my own witness, although your personal time in the Gospel is a better witness.

    We have begun the penitent season of Lent with a call to the church and a personal rebuke to many of us to get right with Christ Jesus in our relationships with others.

    I would be remiss to neglect my own history of sinfulness by contrast to the great grace, love and righteousness of our Lord in leading me into the path of His eternal blessings.

    Those who know me from the first two decades of my life have witnessed how I was raised in the church family. We all worshiped faithfully with Mom and Dad every Sunday. Then, like in most teens, rebellion. Like in most families, brokenness of relationship with each other followed. Most of us were isolated from God, set on our own paths.

    Those who know me from my twenties know that I participated in ‘church’ every Sunday, while I sinned greatly. I was married, as many once did in our twenties. (I did the right thing, though most do not bother with such commitment any more.) The wife of my youth broke her vow and ran back to her daddy. I thank the Lord that she became a Christian later and pray that she has remained faithful to the Lord and to her husband.

    Those who know me from my thirties know that the Lord led me to a faithful wife, a virgin, a Roman Catholic in belief, faith and practice. We married. She lived as a saint worthy of note in all her witness, while I attended church with her and all-to-frequently became enticed by several sins of the world. She remained faithful also to me, as I would never have been unfaithful to my wife in any desire for anyone else.

    By the continued grace of God, we had our only child, now a grown young woman of faith much like her mother (and also like her yet unmarried at just twenty-one).

    I will share the story of my salvation with you, God willing, during Holy Week on Good Friday.

    Viewing the race nearer the present: after the death of my wife I remarried a woman introduced to me by mutual friends. Though she claimed to be a Baptist, she had no relationship with Christ and with other Christians. (It should have been a warning sign, but I did not heed it.) She divorced me. I continued to hold onto the Lord.

    The Lord then led me a long way (from Florida to Pennsylvania) to my present Blessing, my wife Lissette. Lissette was a practicing Christian, member of a local mega-church. (We later moved, at my urging, to worship at a different church. As I said, the church is the people worshiping the Lord together in a place.)

    My wife stood beside me and raised her hands in praise to Jesus (something I only rarely did in my upbringing of ‘traditional, worship). She owned Bibles (English and Spanish). She had women’s devotional books. Lissette is a Christian… as I was a christian before I was born again in the Lord in my mid-forties.

    One more thing (about my wife): while we were dating (long distance) she discovered that she had cancer.

    I immediately prayed to the Lord, “WHY ME?” ( a most selfish question, for it was Lissette who had the cancer). The Lord had taken my beloved wife Becky from me after just twenty-three years. I loved Lissette. “Why me,” I asked the Lord… and the Lord’s answer was immediate and clear answer to my prayer:

    “Who better?”

    As God is my witness, I had prayed unceasingly on the bed of my grief in February, 1999. I had asked the Lord “Why?’ I had asked the Lord for proof of the continuing life of the soul of my beloved wife.

    I contended with the Lord. I wrestled with the Lord until He would give me proof of her resurrection. The Lord gave me clear and immediate signs and assurances three times.

    Finally, after three days, I let go of her soul; torn from me by the interruption of the death of one body, made one with mine.

    Life is a great mystery, death even more mysterious. Marriage is a great mystery, love even more mysterious.

    Praise the Lord, for healing my wife, Lissette, of her cancer!

    The indwelling of another soul with ours is incomprehensible to this finite mind of flesh.  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God into the soul of the redeemed sinner is a mystery too wonderful and a love so amazing!

    I love my wife, Lissette. I love the Lord.

    Jesus Christ and my wife Lissette Harned are one with me. I cannot explain it.

    Divorce cannot separate us (though it is a good illustration of our unfaithfulness to God).

    As a grand ceremony in a place of worship or an authorized signature on a marriage license do NOT make a marriage; as a claim of a lawyer and signature of a magistrate do NOT make a divorce; a baptism, a catechism, a confirmation, an attendance star, a claim, a communion, a contribution, and MANY other things do NOT make a Christian.

    No work or law or righteousness will guarantee that a christian will receive the crown of glory at the concluding celebration of Christ Jesus.

    Only the Lord can save you.

    Will YOU ask Jesus, once more, to fill you with HIS LOVE?

    Only Christ Jesus can keep you… can keep my wife (and your beloved spouse)… can keep our children, our beloved family and beloved friends…; ONLY Jesus can save our loved ones; only Christ Jesus can save you for the joy and blessings of His love.

    Please pray for me, my wife, and our three beloved children (all young adults).

    As Jesus Christ approaches, the time and the place of the Cross are near.

    Which way will you turn?

    To whom will you look for the finish line of your faith?

     

  • Covenant and Truth of Christian Marriage

    Covenant and Truth of Christian Marriage

    Marriage: It should be so simple. Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Husband and wife make a promise “until death do us part.” They make a covenant, with witnesses. Confirm it publicly in a ceremony officiated by someone in authority. They speak vows of love (for better, for worse, etc.). They sign a covenant of marriage. They are pronounced husband and wife and go on their way to much celebration of this permanent union of love.

    Simple and so significant.

    “And they live happily ever after,” so the romantic story of love and marriage goes.

    As Christians committed to one another (as is our focus here), the covenant and truth and the love of God, the love of all other Christians, and their pledged love for each other should be reason enough for them to celebrate anniversary after anniversary as one – anniversary after anniversary as one joined as one to Christ Jesus, our Lord.

    … And they live eternally ever after…

    So it should be…

    Yet even Christian husbands and Christian wives struggle with the truths of marriage and the consequences of sin and divorce, just like anyone else.

    So rather than glossing over the Biblical model for marriage (which we will address) and pretending that Christian marriages have it all “for better and for even better” (an unrealistic fairy tale of some ideal Christian preaching), we will address the history of marriage through both the Old Testament and the New and look at some realities in the marriages of Christians through the light of scripture.

    Once upon a time, we could address the issues of marriage without having to define it; but in these post-Christian times it is best that we narrow our focus sharply on the Biblical.

    Marriage: in the Hebrew, multiple uses: – `ownah –  halal – yabam – ba`al – ‘iysh (husband) – ‘ishshah  (wife) 

    I am least of those to define these. There may be more, but study these and their several, related scriptures and you will begin to have an Old Testament understanding of marriage. (Please add your Comment to our site of any insight the Lord gives to you.)

    Marriage: in the Greek, the language of the New Testament:  gameō – and the root word: gamos.

    Again, look at the scriptures and context, which we will examine in more detail next week.

    Hebrews 13:4 

    Let marriage be held in honor among all,

    and let the marriage bed be undefiled,

    for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

    Christian Marriage: To be continued…