December's Delights

   As I haven't blogged in a few weeks I thought I might share a few thoughts I have had recently while reading my bible...

    The God who Reigns


 The sheer weight of common sense and wisdom seems to point toward a being who holds this world in his hand, watering it and tending to it, with love and might and truth. When each of us ponders God, we know that he must surely be.
   When one finally realises for oneself that a God reigns over this world, then they simply must worship and praise him. It goes without saying. The book of Psalms is a hymn book that overflows with praise and adoration- the primary purpose of mankind. King David wrote the words of Psalm 18, rejoicing in a God who reigns and who greatly helps his people; verses 28 to 31 make up my memory verses for this week:

For it is you who light my lamp;

the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

  For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

  This God—his way is perfect;

the word of the LORD proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

For who is God, but the LORD?

And who is a rock, except our God?—

   I watched a video clip from youtube yesterday which highlighted further mankind's desire to praise and to glorify God. An unsuspecting crowd of shoppers in a food hall are treated to a sudden Hallelujah chorus, as various of the shoppers (cunningly disguised choir members) leap to their feet and join their voices to the beautiful performance.
   It is difficult to listen to Handel's Messiah without being amazed and overawed by the music. (Handel took his inspiration and many of his 'lyrics' from Isaiah and Luke in the Bible). I sat in the Royal Albert Hall two Christmas' ago and heard the whole Messiah, it was stunning. I know very little about music and even less about classical pieces, but the sounds and, more importantly, the words describing our Saviour left me staggered. The thought that God is being glorified- even if many of the choir do not understand what they are singing or whom they are singing about- is great.
    Likewise, the crowd in the shopping precinct sit both dumbstruck and delighted listening to a chorus about the Lord Jesus reigning! Many of the comments left by watchers of the video clips are saying about how wonderful it is to hear God being praised like that, in an almost (paradoxically) spontaneous fashion.  Perhaps Heaven will be something like that?! Angels and saved sinners spontaneously bursting into song and praise!
    At Christmas time the western world thinks, if only briefly, about Jesus Christ, and although few may realise why he actually came to earth (especially as a babe) we must seize the opportunity to thank and worship our God! We must seize this brief window when people are open and willing to hear about Jesus to spread his Gospel of wondersome news!!
 

    Revelation's Blessings  

   During the course of my daily bible readings I have recently been reading Revelation (almost at the end!).
   In the early chapters of the book of Revelation, the Lord speaks to the seven great churches of the 1st Century world, he gives them warnings, rebukes, encouragement and exhortation. Repeatedly, to each church in turn, the Lord ends with a comment "The one who conquers........" or "To the one who conquers........". 
   Throughout the New Testament the Christian's life is compared to warfare. In Ephesians we are told to buckle up and to dress ourselves in the garb and equipment of a soldier. Paul lists every metaphorical item we must wear. At the end of his life, in his letter to Timothy, Paul says "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 
   We are constantly told to "endure" and to continue in our faith- the Christian life is a battle which only ends when Christ returns or takes us home. The Lord Jesus has won ultimately, but the struggle will continue for a short time. The 80's Christian band, Petra, have this to say:

"This means war, and the battle's still raging,

                War. 

       The victory's secure, and victory's sure,

                  But until judgement we all must endure.....

                           This means war!"

 (please note:  I do not advocate, under normal circumstances, taking theological advice from rock bands)

    One thing which we must never lose sight of is this: we only endure, we only conquer through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is him who 'keeps us'  and 'holds us'. Our own works gain us nothing: our Christian walk, like our salvation, entirely rests on Jesus and his mercy toward us.
   If, through Christ's wonderful free gift of life and forgiveness, we do 'fight the good fight' and finally 'conquer' then these are the blessings which the Lord God promises to the 1st Century Christians, and to us as well:  

"To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

"The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death" 

"To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it." 

"The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations..... And I will give him the morning star."

"The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." 

"The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name." 

"The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne." 

...."He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches"