My Morning Meal

I’m hovering over the last words of the last reading of the last day in my reading plan for this year. They also happen to be the last words of the Bible. There is something about last words. When you’re coming to the end of all that you want to say, you want to use those last few words to make sure that others are picking up what you are laying down. Can’t remember where, but I was once told that, if you want to ensure you are communicating, start by telling your audience what you’re going to tell them . . . then tell them what you want to tell them . . . and then, wrap up by telling them what you just told them. Here’s how the Word of God wraps up all the words of God . . . here’s how the Spirit tells us what He just told us . . .

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.  Amen.    (Revelation 22:21 ESV)

Cover to cover, the Book is about grace. From start to finish the story is about grace. Define it how you want . . . forgiving mercy . . . unmerited favor . . . God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense . . . when all is said and done . . . when all is done and said . . . the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

There is no other ground to stand on . . . there is no other plea to hope on . . . but for the grace shown to the creation by the Creator.

It was grace that compelled a God who so loves, to breath life into lumps of dirt that He might share that love, though He knew they would spurn it. It was because of grace that, from eternity past, God purposed to redeem to Himself a people. A people who would be born not just once by natural means, but would be born again through the regenerating work of His Holy Spirit. Grace that would replace hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. Hearts dead to the things of God made alive with hearts that beat with the rhythm of heaven. And while the natural man, the flesh, would try to “reject” this divine organ transplant, it is by grace that the new man learns to put down the old man. Grace that provides the continual cleansing of sin through the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Grace that forms the very nature of the Beloved Son in those He has redeemed by His blood.

It is sufficient grace. Grace able to save to the uttermost. To save from the penalty of sin, to save from the power of sin, and–O Come, Lord Jesus –to save, one day, from the presence of sin.

It is sustaining grace. Through weakness and through waywardness. Through faltering and failure. Through trial and temptation. That grace which is with all His people, will keep His people always. The work that He begun, He will complete. Not by my might . . . not by my strength . . . but by His blessed Spirit.

It is saturating grace. Abundant grace. Grace to overflowing. Like a mighty river poured out on those who, by faith, seek to place themselves in the paths of transforming grace. As one songwriter put it, “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking!”

O that I would continue to abide in His grace. That I would continue to testify of His grace.

For His glory.

Amen.

There are some songs that just never grow old. Some lyrics you never get tired of. Some melodies that never cease to move you. I can think of a number of hymns that fit that bill. I’ve been around “contemporary Christian music” long enough to have experienced some of that with some of these “modern choruses.” I’ve had enough connection with some forms of “secular music” that I can identify one or two “classics” in that genre as well. Sometimes referred to as “golden oldies,” they create a nostalgic atmosphere, stir up emotions, and often are the catalyst to bring back memories. They are “oldies but goodies” . . . renewed and revived across generations . . . never losing their appeal.

Seems like heaven will have a similar dynamic at play . . .

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire–and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are Your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”   (Revelation 15:2-4 ESV)

Those who conquer the beast during the great tribulation, that is, those who are faithful unto death, not bowing to the enemy nor taking the number of his name upon themselves, . . . these conquerors sing a song. An oldie but a goodie. The song of Moses.

I’m thinking it’s the song of Exodus 15. The song sung on the other side of the Red Sea. The song sung beneath the pillar of cloud on the morning after the night before.

It is the ancient song of deliverance. Of the God who has become “my salvation” (15:2) . . . of the God who is unlike any other god, “majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders” (15:11) . . . of the God who, in His steadfast love, leads out of captivity “the people whom You have redeemed” (15:13).

But it’s also a new song. A kind of remix. For it is also the song of the Lamb, the greater Deliverer. The One who, through the shedding of His own blood, and through the offering of Himself as the final atoning sacrifice, leads men and women, boys and girls, out of the bondage of sin and the tyranny of death. And those who have known such rescue cannot help but sing. Sing the old song in a new, not to be fully comprehended way.

It is the song of Moses . . . It is the song of the Lamb . . . It is, praise God, the song of the redeemed!

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, 
“I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; 
the horse and His rider He has thrown into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my song, 
and He has become my salvation; 
this is my God, and I will praise Him, 
my fathers God, and I will exalt Him. . . .
till your people, O LORD, pass by,
till the people pass by whom You have purchased.
You will bring them in and plant them on Your own mountain,
the place, O LORD, which You have made for Your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.
The LORD will reign forever and ever.”     (Exodus 15:1-2, 16b-18 ESV)

An oldie . . . but a goodie!

Because of grace . . . and for His glory.

Reading in Revelation 14 this morning. Three angels. Three envoys. Three messengers. The second warns that the world and its ways will fall. That the values and economy of “Babylon the great” are unsustainable and, before a Holy God, eventually intolerable. The third angel warns of judgment, the “wine of God’s wrath” poured out on those who determine to follow false gods . . . gods who set themselves in opposition to the One True God. But, as chilling as the warnings of angels two and three are, it is the first angel, and his message, which causes me to pause . . . and wonder . . . and worship.

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”   (Revelation 14:6-7 ESV)

An eternal gospel . . . everlasting good news. That’s what the angel heralds to those who dwell on earth. And reading I’m reminded this morning that the gospel is:

ETERNAL AS TO ITS EXISTENCE. That, from before the foundation of the world, God, who lived and loved in perfect communion within His triune being, determined to bring others, who He would create in His image, into high and holy relationship with Himself. To show the extent to which He loves, He would do so though they would rebel and be soiled with sin. He would love them by means of the eternal gospel. He would provide the means for sinful men to commune with a holy God. The mystery of the gospel made known with the birth of a Savior, the death of a Lamb, and the resurrection of a Conqueror.

ETERNAL AS TO ITS ESSENSE. That while the mystery of the means of reconciliation was made known some 2,000 years ago, the essence of the good news has been in play since the garden. There blood was shed that sin’s shame might be covered up. The shedding of blood revealed as integral for redemption and the delivery of people from bondage. Foreshadowed in Israel’s exodus from Egypt. A journey made possible by a lamb slain, blood applied, so that holy judgment might pass over. The foreshadow brought to light at the cross of Calvary where God Incarnate . . . the Christ . . . Jesus, the Son of God . . . shed His blood as the Lamb of God come to take away the sin of the world. The blood shed so that, for all who would apply it be faith, they too might know deliverance from sin and an exodus to a promised land. The essence of the good news remaining throughout eternal days in glory, as those who look upon the throne of God see, in the midst, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain (Rev. 5:6). And they drink forever of “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. 22:1)

ETERNAL AS TO ITS EFFECT. And, it is the gospel which rescues, and redeems, and reconciles forever. Those purchased by blood are sealed by the Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing their inheritance, “to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13-14). Those who hear and respond to the good news during their short time on earth, will learn of the gospel depths through eternity . . . and will enjoy it effects everlastingly . . . and will worship its Architect with wonder, awe, and worship, eternally.

An eternal gospel.

By God’s abundant grace . . . for God’s eternal glory.

So often I focus on Jesus’ revelation to John as something to be figured out rather than something to be experienced. I can be so intent on the “the trees” that I miss “the forest” . . . so consumed with the facts and what they mean and not spend time in wonder at John’s experience and how it must have felt. Point in case this morning as I sit back and think about the temple opened.

Then, in heaven, the Temple of God was opened and the Ark of His covenant could be seen inside the Temple. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed and roared, and there was an earthquake and a terrible hailstorm.
(Revelation 11:19 ESV)

First, a door standing in heaven was opened and John is invited to come up (Rev. 4:1). Now, the Temple of God is opened and John is invited to come in. John permitted greater and greater access to the inner sanctum of heaven . . . John drawing nearer and nearer as the vision continues to play out on man’s last days on earth.

And it becomes clear to me that as God’s holiness is increasingly revealed, the justification for, and the intensity of His wrath are more understood. Open the doors to the temple, expose the Most Holy Place to the dealings of earth and you might expect nothing less than lightning and thunder, earthquake and heavy hail, to fall upon a world bent on rebellion and transgression.

But what was it for John to see God’s temple in heaven opened? What was it to look into heaven’s Holy of Holies and behold the ark of God’s covenant? Jaw-dropping I’m thinking. Isaiah had a taste of it . . .

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”    (Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV)

Jaw-dropping . . . face-planting . . . awe-invoking. What wonder!

Isaiah trembled because of how aware he was of his uncleanness. John, however, approaches washed in the blood of the Lamb . . . robed in the righteousness of Christ . . . adopted and counted as family with the Son . . . aware of how much he has been forgiven and of what privilege He possesses in the One he has known as Savior.

Today, I can read of the temples of times past and marvel at their function as a place of worship . . . and wonder at what it was like for the glory of God to dwell within their walls. Or, I can be reminded that today God’s people are being built into a living temple . . . a habitation for the glory of God through the Spirit of God.

But what will it be when heaven’s door is opened and I am invited to come up?  To, at first, stand at the outer edge of those who, from every tribe and language and people and nation, are gathered around Him who sits on the throne and worship the Lamb in the midst? And then, to see the temple opened . . . and to be invited to draw near . . . that, face to face, I might behold the majesty, the might, and the glory of God. What will that be like? I can only imagine.

When, by the gift of His infinite grace,
I am accorded in heaven a place,
Just to be there and to look on His face,
Will through the ages be glory for me.

Oh, that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.

Oh, That Will Be Glory by Charles H. Gabriel