Month: March 2024

My mood is somber, yet deep down there is also a sense of lightness, of expectation. In two days we will be celebrating the key moment in history when everything changed.

”It is good to slow down and consider from time to time – events of such importance – so that they remain fresh to us and we do not get so used to them that they no longer move us – that they start seeming mundane. That is in your human nature – to forget – not the actual event but the deeper meaning it had for you when you first discovered it. So, as you approach this weekend slow down and ponder, consider again the full meaning of events which have been documented as absolutely true. And as you experience that full meaning, I will lift you up into My very presence to worship and enjoy our relationship!”

As I was reading through the gospel account of Jesus’ death on the cross in Mark: 15:33-39, something struck me which I have not perceived before:

Perhaps the key moment of the whole description of Jesus’ crucifixion is the actual moment of His death. which is signified by His cry of dereliction in vs 34. Mark describes two events that happened at that moment. “Darkness came over the whole land” vs 33 and vs 37, “The curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom“.

As I pondered this I could almost see in my mind’s eye, God taking the Old Covenant document written on the “page” of the curtain in the temple, that object which had always signified the separation of sinful man from a Holy God and tearing it up. Notice the writer makes a point in the fact that the curtain was torn from top to bottom, signifying that it was an act of God Himself.

Then He says, “I am out of here!”, removing His light which signifies His presence in the world and He withdraws Himself from the whole scene, where He has been working for centuries with a people whom He had called and chosen, in a specific way. One of the main features of that relationship which He had been ordering was a series of covenants which described How He desired this relationship to be conducted. So, this event was like a giant full stop to the whole of the Old Covenant that God had been making.

So why are you making such a fuss you ask me? Well, you see God had been promising a “New covenant” for several centuries to the people, in the light of their disobedience and inability to keep their part in the Old Covenant. cf several passages in Isaiah esp 62 : 11; Jeremiah 31:31; Ezek 37:22 ff and several other passages. What I have been describing in Mark is a clear sign that the New Covenant was a completely new covenant, not a slightly altered Old Covenant. The people who first set up the bible understood this, hence the fact that our bible consists of two distinct parts. The word” Testament” is parallel to the word “Covenant”. It was a completely new start.

So, what is my point? When Peter identified Jesus as the Messiah in Mark 8:29, Jesus immediately revealed that the fulfilment of His Messiaship was that He was going to die. Mark 8:31 ff. Then He says this to the disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross and follow me” vs 34

What does “taking up your cross mean? It means to die to your old self and all its desires and plans and start in a fresh direction. It is called “repentance” and according to Acts 2:38 it is a necessary step for anyone who would become a Christian. Baptism is an outward expression of what has happened in your heart. The old is washed away and the new is established. Paul puts it like this in 2 Cor 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” and in Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”.

So? Just as Christ’s death signified the death of the old and opened the path for the new, it is necessary for anyone who would be a true follower of Christ to die to their old self and be reborn as a son or daughter of the Living God. Becoming a Christian is not just reforming your ways, turning over a new leaf, following the 10 commandments, living according to the Sermon on the mount, becoming a church member or any other way which may lead a person to imagine that they are a Christian. There is only one way. A complete transformation, a complete repentance and taking up a new course for your life, nothing less than a total rebirth, where you are born again of the Spirit who will then indwell you into eternity. You cannot do it for yourself, God must do it for you, but He will never force Himself on you.

Dear reader, if this news has sort of shocked you, good! This weekend is a great time to go to Christ and humbly seek the new birth from Him. If you are not sure where you stand, ask Him anyway, He has promised that “if you seek Him He will be found of you” Matthew 7:7, 8 and if you ask Him for this how much more will He give you the Holy Spirit” Matthew 7:9-11.

Friends this is a reminder of the heart of our wonderful gospel, may you experience it first hand this weekend.

With no point of reference – you spoke and made light – from there the whole of creation forward – till the ultimate light was put out on a hill you created – so that we could all have the opportunity of experiencing your light.

”Yes, light in a way symbolizes so much of who I am. Darkness is the opposite – as much as I spoke light – I came as the light to bring the light home to each one of you. To remove the darkness from your whole being and replace it with My light. That is what is happening in the world where so much darkness seems to be ruling. I am still the light and I am bringing in my kingdom – person by person to be the bearers of My light. there is one who is fighting this with all his might and you are in the front line – yet at the same time he has already been defeated at the cross – and the battle is not actually yours – the battle is Mine – make use of the full armour I have provided – resist him and he will flee from you. My love is always supreme and victorious.”

After a severe battering with a clever scam on the internet this weekend, the message of 1 Samuel 29 is as relevant for me today as it surely should be for all of us.

We pick up the story which was launched at the beginning of the previous chapter where David is asked to go with Achish to fight the Israelites. The question which hung in the air was, how was David going to get out of this almost impossible situation? Remembering further back when he was taken under the protection of Achish he pretended to be raiding Israelite settlements but was actually raiding other pagan tribes. To hide this, he was forced to kill all the people in the tribes he attacked. Without making a judgement, it is quite clear that David wanted to avoid attacking his own people at all costs.

Today he can’t use that ploy. He is attacking Israel as a co-fighter with Achish. An almost impossible situation for him. The whole of ch 29 shows how God intervenes and gives David a way out without losing anything. The chapter ends with David returning home. What we will see in the next chapter is that when he gets home his people have been raided. So not only does he get out of the impossible situation with Achish, he also gets home in time to deal with this new situation.

It is clear that this is all due to God’s steering of events. His providence. But what can we learn about God’s providence in this and the other chapters we have studied for David, but especially for us?

Firstly, His providence is mainly aimed at completing the overall plan or purpose he has for the believer (Cf Roman’s 8:28) “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to his purpose“. In David’s case he was the chosen next Adam in the line to the final Adam, Jesus. He was the king which launched the kingly line which ended in Jesus. For each one of us God has a purpose and that purpose is ultimately shown in Rom 8:30. His purpose is our glorification in the presence of God’s glory.

Once a believer has entered God’s purposeful plan for his life, there is no mistake or sin that will ultimately prevent that plan from being realized. We just need to look at David whose path was anything but beautifully righteous. Yet God looked on his heart and called him a man after His own heart and took him forward from there.

Being part of God’s purpose for you and your life does not guarantee a life without challenges, remorse, grief and pain as well as huge joy. Hence the promise in Rom 8:28 that God is working out all these intricacies to finally accomplish His plan for you. There are various reasons we face these tribulations, as Jesus warned us; “In this world you will have tribulation but take heart, in me you will have peace”. Here are some reasons for that:

1. We live in a fallen world and are exposed to all the evil in that world.
2. God often uses trials and tests for the purpose of growing our faith.
3. He also uses “hardship as discipline” Heb 1:7. Treating us as sons/daughters, just as a loving father would treat his children.
4. We are soldiers in a huge cosmic spiritual battle which rages around us.

This is just a brief summary. We may all be aware of ways in which God has steered our lives in the past. Sometimes in dramatic ways. Having said that I believe Psalm 139 shows us that God is also intimately involved in our thoughts, heart’s desires, plans etc and that He is constantly tweaking events and circumstances by His grace as He leads us. Sometimes we may be aware of these interventions probably in many cases not. To achieve real peace in our lives we need to realize and believe in our hearts how awesomely mighty, wise and loving God is. He is not a superhuman, He is the Creator and sustainer of the whole universe, involved in everything, from the mightiest to the almost insignificant.

Do you sometimes feel He has left you out, or turned and looked the other way? I am sure we all feel like that from time to time. I certainly did at unguarded moments this weekend. That is why we need to depend on God’s word and not our feelings which can often let us down. May God bless you as you feed on this piece of juicy steak from God.

What a faithful God have I. I allow these words to sink in, to sink in deep to my inner consciousness.

” Ribbons of mercy and grace adorn my throne, filling the air with a message which brings joy to every weary soul. Surrounded by the multitude of believers everyone covered by that message – the message that if God is for us who can be against us. If he gave his Son to die on the cross for you – how much more will He give you all things. Can you take the fullness of that message in? You can have, you already have, if you are a believer every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. You have My complete Grace and My love to cover the multitude of your transgressions. So come closer this morning, let the ribbons of mercy and grace wrap around you and cover you and bring you deep peace and joy.”

The picture of desperation and terror which have taken over Saul’s life, pictured here in 1 Samuel 28, is very real reminder of what it is like when God turns His back on you. In today’s society there are many who give God no thought, but anyone who has really tasted what God is like may experience this desperation. It is a stark reminder to us of what Jesus must have experienced, multiplied by a million times when He called out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In vs 15 Saul calls out, “God has turned away from me”. Samuel reminds him in vs 17 that he had predicted this and Saul should not have been surprised. However, he had obviously not really believed Samuel. He had made a half-hearted attempt at cleansing Israel by banning all the mediums and spiritists, but this act alone was clearly not from a fully believing heart. The very fact that he was prepared to seek out a medium in his fearful state shows where his heart really was.

The chapter opens with a chilling message as Achish plans to use David and his men in an attack on Israel. We already know that David would do anything to avoid having to do this from the previous chapter. The question hangs in the air and will lead us into reading the next chapter.

The chapter ends on an interesting note as the women seek to minister to Saul in his desperate state. I take that as an indication of God’s ‘common grace’, which he extends to the world as a whole, whether you are a believer or not.

This passage may again raise the perennial question, “Can you lose your salvation?” After all Saul was anointed as king of Israel by Samuel, described in ch 10. Samuel tells him that: v 6, “The Spirit of the Lord will come on you in power and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person”. This is the sort of language which we associate being born again in the New Testament. Yet here we find this same man with God having turned His back upon him. Can that happen to us?

This is an important question which needs a definitive answer. The answer lies in the fact that the promise of the new covenant was that our sins would be forgiven and we will be given a new heart able to live a new life of obedience. This promise followed centuries of apostasy and disobedience by the people of Israel, despite the promises of relationship with God under the various covenants.

The work of Jesus on the cross and the subsequent offer of full regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, indwelling each believer, places the NT believer on a different plane to those in the OT. There are a number of promises under this new covenant which indicate that once God has saved you, He will never, never leave you eg Rom 8:1 ff, Philippians 1:6.

However, we should never become complacent. In the same book Philippians, Paul says in 2:12, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. There are many stories of apparently devoted Christians turning their back on God. What is not always clear but is a fact that those people were probably never truly saved. Jesus warned us in the parable of the tares that the church will be made up of a mixture of Christians and Non-christians. The tares were a weed which so closely resembled wheat that it was only when they came into ear that you could distinguish them.

So while we can never lose our salvation if we are genuinely saved, the genuineness of our salvation will only be proved if we persevere to the end, Heb 10:19 ff and ch 12.

The work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was different to the new. He was given as an anointing to help specific people accomplish God-given tasks. Like kings and prophets, but others as well. It did not involve salvation and He would often only be given for a time till a task was accomplished. Thus, we can see David and Saul next to each other. Both anointed by God to be a king and both being involved in some horrendous things. Yet God could say about David that he was a man after God’s own heart and on the other hand turn His back on Saul. God could obviously discern the motivation of each of their hearts. Faith and love in one and disbelief and disregard in the other. Ultimately true forgiveness is only possible through Jesus and even the OT saints were only forgiven in retrospect through Jesus’ work on the cross, see Romans 3 :25

So, friends let us continue with joy, believing in the absolute certainty of God’s love and nothing separating us from that yet working out our salvation in fear and trembling. God bless, till next week.

I am overwhelmed this morning with thoughts of the love of God – the height, the depth, length, and width of it and more so since He has revealed this love to me in the fact that He took my place on Calvery.

“It is so easy to speak of love – a word which provokes feelings and thoughts of a huge variety and depth in each person. Some people have been so disappointed by the broken promises of someone who claimed to love them and later let them down. Others may have experienced the heights of ecstasy followed by the depths of despair due to the fickleness of their lover. On the other hand, I have taken pains to show that my love is absolutely steadfast, never wavering or failing. The ultimate demonstration is in the death of My Son Jesus on the cross for your sake, taking every punishment due to you on Himself and setting you free from bondage. Free to love Me fully and experience My love. Never get tired of contemplating My love and seeking to experience it in our most intimate relationship.”

We come now to 1 Samuel 27. This short chapter may seem to be fairly barren, describing a period in David’s life voluntarily exiled again from His beloved Israel and the Promised Land of Canaan. At first reading it may not be completely clear what was happening in this foreign territory.

Despite his apparent reconciliation with Saul, it is clear that David does not trust his fickleness, so he chooses again to put himself at the mercy of Achish who we have met earlier when David was alone and fled there pretending to be mad eventually to keep himself safe. Now, however he has 600 men with him as well as all their families and represents a potential threat to Achish. Achish tolerates his presence, even giving him some land to settle on, but obviously remains nervous and suspicious of David and his intentions.

To set his mind at rest David pretends to attack various tribes of Israel, who were living in various places in the Negev. The word Negev means South and describes those Israelites who had settled in the Southern part of the Promised Land. He is clearly trying to deceive Achish into thinking he had turned against Israel and was therefore no threat to him. Hence the last vs 12: “Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so odious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant forever“.

Instead, David was raiding other pagan tribes and to prevent this from being discovered he was simply killing everyone on each raid.

There is no judgement given in this chapter to help us evaluate what David was doing, so we need to approach it with care, asking Jesus to speak to us through it.

Our first impression is to be horrified at David’s behaviour, especially the apparent unnecessary annihilation of whole tribes of people including women and children.

Before we make too strenuous a judgement we should try and understand some of the pressure David was under. Spending years fleeing from a determined foe with great powers and the ability to kill him at any moment. He must have been desperate to leave the comfort of his beloved Canaan and hide under the power of a pagan king who was not really well disposed to him.

Nevertheless, where is the great faith that he had shown with Goliath, believing he could accomplish anything in God’s name? Had the constant fleeing eroded his faith? What about the times God had apparently delivered Saul into his hands?

The main positive note in the story is his commitment to not harming his own people in any way, despite his exile. Admittedly he had taken this to extreme, being prepared to kill innocent women and children. There is no way that the bible expresses approval of these actions.

Looking at it from a New Testament perspective, we can say that the NT equivalent to Israel in the OT is the church. And the question I found myself asking was, “What is my commitment to God’s church?” How would I react if I was forced out of a fellowship, or even out of a position of responsibility that I enjoyed? Would I at all costs (hopefully legal and moral) continue to defend this group even if they had become hostile to me?

David clearly had a very high view of God and hence the importance to him of firstly his anointed king at the time and secondly the chosen people of God. Do I have such a high view of God that I will defend the church and its members as strenuously as possible?

One thing is also clear. David was very human and full of failings, like each one of us and nevertheless we know that in Acts he is described as a man after God’s own heart. So, God continues to love us and use us, despite our shortcomings. What a wonderful relief that we have a God who is so full of grace and love that He sent His Son to die for us so that these character wrinkles can be ironed out.

Have a blessed week.