Easter Thoughts 2022

I was in the Maundy Thursday service and the Easter services at my church over the last few days and had these thoughts:

• To an outside observer with no religious perspective, it must seem strange that such a multitude would gather each year to celebrate events that occurred 2,000 years ago.
• Over these 2,000 years the body of Christ has constantly demonstrated the righteousness of God by its perseverance through tribulation and death.
• The Holy Spirit has constantly demonstrated the grace of God by resurrecting the souls of men through new birth into the eternal kingdom of God.
• The resurrection message will be completed when the entire body of Christ is resurrected and glorified in her marriage to Jesus the Lamb of God.

Thus, the Easter message is constantly new and meaningful to every generation and every soul who sees and hears this message through us! I can't think of a better demonstration of this gospel of grace than the presentation below coming from Ukraine.

 Until next Easter... He is risen indeed!

Your Trial Ends Tomorrow

For a few days recently, I exchanged email with some friends with the subject Re: Your Trial Ends Tomorrow. The thread started with a message from an online service about to expire.

Sometimes email subjects like this persist when the thread becomes quite different. Today I looked at one of these emails and thought - I wish my trials would end tomorrow!

Isn't that a wonderful thought! The only problem is that tomorrow, -Your Trial Ends Tomorrow- will still be in the future. Tomorrow will always be in the future as long as today is still called today. That reminds me of this verse:

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13

Sin always wants to deceive us, to tell us "you can do it tomorrow" or "you can quit tomorrow." In the Bible, Today is the time to act. Tomorrow is some time in the future and in my case it's usually too late!

As far as Trials go - will they ever end? Jesus says "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

James says "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." (James 1:2-3)

Thankfully trials come and go and we get stronger through them. Our final trial will end when the last enemy is defeated, which is death. The Bible says we should not fear death because that is the end of the conflict, the day when we shed this old shell and put on immortality.

Victory in God's kingdom is not what we expect. Jesus re-defined victory in a surprise attack on the gates of hell, by offering His blood to purchase our souls from the law of sin and death. What our Adversary saw as defeat was actually the ultimate victory for the kingdom of heaven. Now Jesus is seated at the right hand of God and says to all men: You are welcome here - leave your baggage at the gate!

I can see this clearly now - we can experience victory where the world sees defeat. Though we can rest assured that our trials will end tomorrow, every pain and shame of this mortal body reminds me that victory is certain and we can rejoice in it -the hope of glory- today!

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 15:57

Isaiah 30 - Apocalypse in a Nutshell

I want to focus on Isaiah 30 in this post, because it pertains to the church (Zion, the kingdom of God) and the threat posed by the resurgent Islamist head of the beast (Assyria).

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS,

and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him;

 and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.

So it is to be. Amen.

Revelation 1:7

For behold, the Lord will come in fire,

and his chariots like the whirlwind,

to render his anger in fury,

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

Isaiah 66:15

Both Jews and Christians recognize Messianic prophecy embedded in the writings of Old Testament prophets, even in prophecies that were fulfilled long ago. Such is the case with most of the book of Isaiah.

The Ungodly Alliance

Through a land of trouble and anguish,

from where come the lioness and the lion,

the adder and the flying fiery serpent,

they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people that cannot profit them.

Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;

therefore I have called her

“Rahab who sits still.”

Isaiah 30:6-7

The LORD admonishes Israel not to go to Egypt for help against the Assyrian armies. Against God's advice, the stubborn and rebellious children of God will carry out an ungodly plan, and make an ungodly alliance. They make an alliance with those who cannot possibly help. Does this sound familiar today? The alliances made by the western powers cause them to make ungodly compromises on the battlefield and lead them into treaties with untrustworthy nations that undermine their true friends in the region.

Rebellious People

And now, go, write it before them on a tablet

and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

as a witness forever.

For they are a rebellious people,

lying children,

children unwilling to hear

the instruction of the LORD;

Isaiah 30:8-9

There is no doubt that this prophecy is to be carved in stone for a distant time in the future. Thus the prophecy applies now. The children are those who have been set aside by covenant with the LORD, who have become rebellious and rejected God. Today this would be the apostate church.

A Thousand Shall Flee at the Threat of One

Because you despise this word

and trust in oppression and perverseness

and rely on them,

therefore this iniquity shall be to you

like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse...

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

But you were unwilling, and you said,

“No! We will flee upon horses”;

therefore you shall flee away...

A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you shall flee,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,

like a signal on a hill.

Isaiah 30:13-17

Because of their rejection of God, the rebellious children are subject to terror. The idea that multitudes will flee from the threats of a few people is the very definition of terrorism. It can only be defeated as spoken of GOD, by "the strength that comes from repentance and faith." I fear that my generation lacks the faith of our fathers, and many who don't "bug out" and run to the hills will simply compromise with the beast and take his mark on their heads and hands.

Judgment Begins in God's Household

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God;

and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome

for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

I Peter 4:17

At the end of this season of testing, God's wrath will be turned away from his children and focus on those who will be eternally judged.

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the LORD is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him.

Isaiah 30:18

This final time of tribulation will bring the world to its "last and greatest harvest." For those who remain faithful, those with wisdom will shine like stars in the darkness. They will lead many to righteousness, but the wicked will become more wicked. The church will put away their idols and again be led by the Holy Spirit. I believe even many of the children of Abraham will be revived in this great harvest of souls. When those who dwell in Jerusalem cry out, the Lord will hear their cry and no longer hide from them, but their eyes will see his face and their ears will hear his voice.

When the Towers Fall

And on every lofty mountain and every high hill

there will be brooks running with water,

in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,

and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days,

in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people,

and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,

burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;

his lips are full of fury,

and his tongue is like a devouring fire...

Isaiah 30:25-27

In the final day, the Day of the Lord, this chapter says the sun will shine seven times brighter as the LORD approaches, burning with anger and shrouded by clouds of thick smoke. John also mentions that the sun will burn with intense heat before the Lord returns. The world may not know it, but when the Lord comes with the fiery seraphim of heaven, all that light and heat is just a preview of what is to come. The return of the Lord will be a day of comfort and rejoicing for those who suffered at the hands of the beast, but a day of terror for the terrorist. The king mentioned at the end of this chapter is the beast, the spawn of Satan, the one who will be cast alive into the lake of fire. 

The Assyrians will be terror-stricken

at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod.

For a burning place has long been prepared;

indeed, for the king it is made ready,

its pyre made deep and wide,

with fire and wood in abundance;

the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Isaiah 30:31,33

Harvest Time in the Kingdom of God

It's a beautiful crisp fall day, much like another day I remember that began as a crisp clear day across the country. That day ended with smoke and flames and the winds of war stirring in the east.

Just to our east a tropical storm is brewing and strengthening. We can't see it but soon its effects will be felt on the east coast. Beyond that another storm is gathering and moving west, carrying refugees fleeing the violence in the Middle East. While we enjoy relative peace here in the west, let's not forget those who are already experiencing (or are soon to experience) great tribulation. There is a harvest ripe for gathering ahead of this brutal storm; let's remember every day to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers, to not hold back their wages, to pray for and help those who are suffering, and to build up our own faith in the coming days for we will surely need it.

Above all remember, the joy of the Lord is our strength. Father, pour out your Spirit again on all flesh, and let us live in the joy that strengthens our faith!