Category: Salvation

Far Beyond Gasoline Prices

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The devastation in Japan is heartbreaking, to say the least. I have spent time praying that God will intervene as He sees fit, especially in the area of the human soul. I have prayed that this disaster will turn people to God, rather than away from Him. I have asked the Lord that people who feel helpless and hopeless will find their ultimate help and hope in the salvation of the God of the Bible. As many of us know in a familiar way, the Lord often gets an honest hold of us through tragedy. Since, “even the darkness is not dark to [God], and the night is as bright as the day” (Psalm 139:12, NASB), we know that the Lord can use even the most horrible of situations to accomplish His greatest work – the salvation of a human being.

Today, I heard a radio commentator connect the Japan catastrophe to a jittery stock market and even greater rises in the cost of gasoline. Not anything close to an economist, I do not understand completely the fragile relationships behind the economic changes. I do, however, realize the effect of the changes on many people. Some of us focus mainly on the tsunami’s effects on our own, material lives. We are frustrated to pay two or three more dollars to fill our tanks. For those struggling financially, this can have a profound effect on the household. However, in a broad sense, we need to get hold of our reactions and trace the problem back to what really matters.

Instead of focusing on the higher gas price or lowered portfolio value, realize what the devastation in Japan truly represents. The tragedy reminds us human beings just how amazingly close we are to the end of earthly life. We are on the precipice. We are so fragile. In a moment – in a heartbeat – we may cross from life to death. Though myriad people try desperately to forget the reality of death – and they push it away with any number of meaningless distractions – death will still come. We are one tsunami, one accident, one affliction, or one calamity away from our standing before the God and Judge of existence.

As I drove by a gas station and noted the ten cent increase per gallon of fuel, I refused to let it frustrate me. Instead, I allowed it to remind me of what thousands upon thousands of people are facing. They are recognizing the brevity of human, earthly life. They are apprehending the vital nature of spiritual truth. They are contending with the deep questions only a real God can answer.

We who are relatively safe and content (for now) ought to allow the calamity in Japan to spur us to prayer for others and to a dynamic change in our thinking. Disaster and death are strange friends, reminding us that the status of our soul in relation to God is at the forefront of reality. Our mundane preoccupations notwithstanding, a brief life will end, and we will face God to receive the eternity He grants according to His will and His Word.

Genuine Christians need to remember two truths during these difficult days: 1) Our mission is clear and critical, and we only have limited time. Jesus said, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4, NIV). Friends, direct your energy to the work of God. Live the Gospel. Preach the Gospel. 2) Our focus is essential. The apostle Paul proclaimed, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (II Corinthians 4:18, NIV). We must shed the non-essential and live for what lasts. Think eternal. Live for the everlasting.

Rescue from the Wrath to Come

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“Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” – I Thessalonians 1:10b (NASB)

There is a wrath to come. Oddly enough, I affirm that statement with both grief and gratefulness. God does not delight in the pouring forth of His wrath (II Peter 3:9, NASB). In fact, He delights in the demonstration of mercy (Micah 7:18, NIV). As one of His children, I also do not take joy in God’s wrath, but I imperfectly grasp its necessity.

I am aware of horrible things in this current world system: children starve to death, dictators wield unjust power, people suffer with myriad debilitating diseases, parents neglect and abuse little ones, angry people kill other humans, desperate people give up on themselves, natural disasters destroy homes and lives, people speak hateful words, humans die in loneliness, entire groups wage war on nations, and some orphans never find homes. In light of these observations, I thank God that one day He will set things right and refuse to allow sin to influence anymore. The Bible makes clear that the sinfulness of human beings has brought a curse to this world. All who choose to follow the sinful nature will have to be dealt with in order for God to bring to reality a right world. All who choose to follow Jesus and accept His righteousness in exchange for their sinfulness will abide eternally in that right world (John 3:36, NASB).

At the helm of sinful choices stands Satan. He leads those who want to follow him in rebellion against God and God’s ways. He leads the march against all that is right. Satan leads the march toward destruction, because God must pour out His holy wrath on sin and all its horror. Revelation 20:10 (NASB) declares, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” The greatest tormentor will be tormented so that horror will finally be confined. Atrocity and pain will be imprisoned with sinful rebellion in a place of God’s making. Justice will be served so that Heaven can flourish. There is wrath to come.

Following the ultimate demise of Satan, Revelation 20:14-15 (NASB) proclaims, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” And there we have it. All people who have chosen death instead of life by choosing sin instead of Jesus (Romans 6:23, NASB) will be confined to the same place of torment in which their leader will exist. The wrath of God Almighty will be poured forth on all the sinfulness that has perpetuated the horrible things of which I spoke earlier. God hates sin, and God hates what sin does. God also dignifies His human creatures. We are made in His image, with the freedom to choose. Sin, therefore, originates in the human heart (James 1:13-15, NIV). Unless Jesus is asked to stop it, sin continues to reign in the souls of those who choose it to be so. Therefore, the wrath of God must extend to those souls. In His mercy, God must one day eliminate sin and its indescribable damage.

Let us now focus on our hope found in the Scripture we are studying. I Thessalonians 1:10 (NASB, emphasis mine) describes our hope as “Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can rescue us from this wrath. He is our Way to the right world God is preparing (John 14:1-6, NIV). We have no chance of escaping God’s wrath but by divine rescue. Ours simply cannot be a mission of self-help. There is nothing we can do to change the bent of our heart from sinfulness to righteousness; for us, only one answer exists – rescue by Jesus Christ! He alone can make our whole being brand new – apt to love and serve Him (II Corinthians 5:17, NIV).

Two millennia ago, Jesus died on the cross of Calvary to suffer the wrath of God on behalf of humans He loves. The infinite, holy God bore the wrath of the infinite, holy God so that finite, failing humans who believe in Him may enjoy eternal life rather than suffer eternal wrath. God’s holiness demands justice. Jesus offered to meet the just requirement of payment for sin on our behalf by shedding His own blood. We must now run to Him and yield our hearts and lives to Him.

I have asked Him to save me from the wrath to come by re-making me so that I am fit for righteousness through Him. His sacrifice is my only hope. Please turn to Him this moment and ask Him to save you from the wrath to come. The divine rescue of Jesus – and the needed wrath of God – work together to give us the eternal hope that we will one day suffer no more!

The Real You and the Plans of God

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There is a distinct and strong comfort in the ability to be oneself. Transparency’s enemy is the mask so many people wear in order to appear to be who they think they ought to be in any given situation. Freedom and peace are stolen by these masks. We crave to jump headlong into life, unhindered by the pressures of appearances. Why this longing? It is how God designed us.

Transparency was assaulted in the Garden of Eden. Human rebellion against God caused people to run – from their Creator and from each other. Sin brings shame and separation. Jesus shed His own blood to bridge the gap between us and God –and between us and everyone else.

The problem so many people face is our reluctance to run to God. Too proud to admit we are a mess, we try to hide the “real us” while the facade continues. Have you ever – like me – convinced yourself you were doing something for God when, in fact, it was mostly for you? Have you ever engaged in church activity or pious practices when your heart was full of self-righteousness or pride? Have you ever acted out the life of a Christian when your heart was so much more about you than about Jesus? Have you ever convinced yourself that you were doing something right even though you knew it was wrong – simply because you wanted your preferred results?

The prophet Isaiah is very clear when he proclaims, “Then the Lord said, ‘Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me’ . . . Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, and whose deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, ‘Who sees us?’ or ‘Who knows us?’” (Isaiah 29:13,15, NASB). Notice the phrase about people who are surely doomed; they “deeply hide their plans from the LORD.” How foolish we can be! We actually convince ourselves that if we hide our plans deeply enough, God will not know our inner musings. We ridiculously come to believe that we can act and say things that do not align with the thoughts and truth of our inner being and get away with it in the sight of the Almighty. We cannot!

For as deeply as we try to hide our core, the God of the universe digs deeper still! I cannot hide my soul from the very One who breathed the breath of life into the dust that is my body. He knows the atoms of my exterior and He knows the invisible intentions of my interior. Therefore, I want to run to Him with honesty for the work that only He can do in me.

I sing with the Psalmist, “For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands. How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep” (Psalm 92:4-5, NASB). Deeper than the vainly hidden plans of the unrighteous are the thoughts of our righteous God. The blessed cure for the unrighteous is to run to the God who is deeper than elaborate, useless plans to cover sin. God’s deep thoughts are thoughts of cleansing and rebuilding. Since eternity past, He planned the sacrifice of His own Son for the redemption of those who – without vain attempts to cover their hearts – will run into His arms.

Psalm 92:5 tells us that God’s thoughts are very deep. The Hebrew root for the word “thoughts” is amazing. It implies that God is thinking, planning, calculating, inventing, and imagining. In other words, God is working to build our lives into what He desires. We are a great workmanship – a wonderful edifice! My God has made the Heavens and the Earth, and now He wants to make us into people who reflect His heart, His love, His wonder, and His creativity. God’s planning and calculating and inventing and imagining is so deep! We cannot even begin to ponder how great a design we could be if we would truly yield our hearts to Him without reservation and bring praise to Him for the work of His hands and His thoughts!

The same Hebrew root for the deep thoughts of God in Psalm 92 is used in other passages that give us the flavor of what a wonderful thing God longs to do with us. When God instructs Moses how to build the tabernacle, He says, “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman” (Exodus 26:1, NIV). This curtain of colorful, elaborate beauty is the result of the plan and imagination of God. What a gorgeous curtain came to be from the thoughts of God.

In II Chronicles 26:15 (NIV), the same root word is used to describe the inventions of King Uzziah, “In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones.” The plan and invention here is that of Uzziah and skillful men, who reflect the infinite wisdom of their Creator. Interestingly, God can build into our lives the weapons we need to thwart the enemy of our souls. As God gave these men of old the mathematical and scientific skill to build physical weapons, so God gives to us spiritual skill to fight with spiritual weapons the battles in which we stand.

The same Hebrew root is obviously meant to imply precision, as we see it used in Leviticus 27:18 (NASB), “If he consecrates his field after the jubilee, however, then the priest shall calculate the price for him proportionate to the years that are left until the year of jubilee; and it shall be deducted from your valuation.” The exact mathematical evaluations of this verse solidify our assuredness that God is building us to precise specifications. He knows exactly what we ought to be like in the end, and He has calculated accurately the plans necessary to get us there. A trial here, a success there, an answered prayer here, a time of persevering there, a season of difficulty here, a season of rejoicing there – all of these are definitely working together to make me who I ought to be.

Will you now say with me, “How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep”? Will you now run to Him, instead of hiding?

Upsetting the World

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After being imprisoned in Philippi for sharing the Good News of Jesus, Paul and Silas proceeded to Thessalonica and were accused of something most peculiar. A mob gathered to come against Paul and Silas and said of them, “These men who have upset the world have come here also” (Acts 17:6, NASB).

What a wonderful accusation! The apostles were guilty of upsetting the world. Oh, that we would be known for the same, as this world certainly needs shaken. The world system is inside-out and headed in the wrong direction. It is on a fleeting, selfish, and deceptive course toward destruction. We need men and women who will follow God in swimming upstream, against the flow of sin and confusion.

Ads of all kinds attempt to convince people that more things and expensive things are necessary to be respectable. This notion flows from the false assumption that the respect or envy of other people won through materialistic efforts holds the potential to bring real joy. The glitz of fancier modes of entertainment pushes people to believe contentment is found when we have more time and ability to laugh mindlessly and to avoid reality as we deny the core questions of the heart. Recently, a television commercial portrayed a grown woman as amazingly excited to discover seven people were searching for her online. Does it really change our lives to know a handful of other mortals is looking for us? Can self-centered living bring peace?

When Jesus saves people, He turns them inside-out; He makes them new (II Corinthians 5:17). On this earth, Jesus begins to prepare His people for the new world He is someday making. Jesus begins to shape individuals who are no longer content to waste hours, days, and years accumulating things that distract us from the pursuit of God. Jesus molds men and women who radically race toward what is broken in order to bring healing. Jesus transforms people into those who embrace the greatest paradox – that in giving our lives away to God, we gain everything (John 12:25).

As a Christian, I ought to feel the friction of my travels in a direction opposite the flow of the current, unrighteous world system. When I undergo new birth in Jesus, every fiber of my being ought now to sense that sin is to be battled vehemently.

Our Jesus is coming back to make a home of righteousness (II Peter 3:13). In other words, He will invade again the space-time continuum to make a world that is as it ought to be. Obviously, right now this world is far from being as it ought to be. The earth is broken (as seen in natural disasters and the second law of thermodynamics), bodies are broken (by disease, disability, and aging), relationships are broken (by selfishness, impatience, and unrealistic expectations), and hearts are broken (in ways innumerable). But, the Maker of the universe will miraculously remake the universe. Only the God who made everything from nothing can make wholeness out of brokenness. The fixing of this world will come by no human endeavor. It will take the invasion into history of our God . . . and He will do it!

Meanwhile, Jesus remakes people one at a time as He redeems us from sin. And then He calls us to “upset the world” – to live radically different from this vanishing, sinful flow. Jesus has the power to overcome brokenness in your life. Sin pulls us away from wholeness in our hearts. Sin also set into motion the tendency toward disorder and disintegration we see in the natural world; scientists refer to this deterioration as the second law of thermodynamics. When we shake a puzzle box and then drop the pieces to the floor from a few feet above, the pieces land randomly – scattered all about. The more we shake the box and the higher from which we drop the pieces, the more randomness and separation we observe.

Picture your heart as those puzzle pieces. Left to sinfulness without Jesus, our hearts – our lives – fall shattered, making no sense. However, if Jesus shakes your heart, the unexpected happens – the pieces fall out and are fully connected! He overcomes the natural, and forms the whole picture, causing things to make sense! He fixes us – against every plan of the enemy and every apparent triumph of wrong.

We need to reflect our Savior in shaking the world in which we live. We need to pursue the wholeness Jesus intends. We need to go against the flow.

Upset your world with a heart of service instead of a heart of power, private integrity in place of facade, kindness in the midst of attack, value of prayer and Bible study above entertainment, truth-telling though it cost much, giving of resources in the midst of selfishness, gentleness though surrounded by harshness, forgiveness when revenge is easier, sacrifice of time for those in need, and love of God above love of all else.

May Christians be accused as Paul and Silas were – of upsetting this world.

Need a Better Word than the Word of Guilt?

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Many people are familiar with the biblical fact that Cain killed his brother, Abel. The physical act of murder being a sin most people do not commit, the story is sometimes incorrectly dismissed too quickly. This account has everything to do with me – and you.

First, God makes clear that from the start Cain did not have faith in His holy Creator. Hebrews 11:4 (NIV) declares that it was “by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain did.” For purposes of space and time, I choose not to diverge here in a detailed discussion of why Abel’s animal sacrifice was of faith, while Cain’s offering from his crops was not. However, the status of the hearts of both men is what was critical to their giving. This is always the case. Physical actions and spoken words brought from a wrongly motivated heart are ugly in the sight of God, and often in the sight of men. Clearly, of the myriad of things that might have motivated Cain, faith in God was not it. What a curious and critical insight. Many motivations of the heart stand wrong before God, and only one stands right – faith (Hebrews 11:6).

After having acted wrongly from his heart in regards to his offering, Cain was warned by God that the practice of sin leads to further practice of sin. In fact, God clearly informs, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:7). Instead of heeding God’s warning, Cain chose to focus on his discontent and the perceived reason for his discontent – Abel. Mind you, the true source of Cain’s unrest was his wrong standing with God. Had he run to God in repentance rather than to man in frustration, things would, no doubt, have turned out differently.

Standing in a field, with jealousy and the restlessness of rebellion against God in his spirit, Cain allowed sin to move from a crouched position to an all-out attack stance. Sin was no longer at the door; its damning fingers now crawl all over Cain’s back. He murders his brother.

And so do we; for, Jesus proclaims, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, . . . But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment'” (Matthew 5:21-22). The anger and discontent and jealousy in our hearts that leads to anger toward others is in the sight of God subject to spiritual judgment just as murder is.

Wow. It seems a hopeless situation. So sad is it that God said to Cain, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). And so it is with me. The blood of Abel cried out loudly about Cain, “You are guilty! You are condemned!” The results of my sin cry out loudly the same thing, “You are guilty! You are condemned!” Can you hear it? It drives us insane if we understand its implications. Hopelessness is all that stands before us if this is the final and strongest cry.

Enter Jesus! Blessed, wonderful, loving Jesus! Hear the Word of God, “But you have come to . . . Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22a, 24, emphasis mine).

Did you hear that? The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel! Abel’s blood cried out the horror of guilt and condemnation, but Jesus’ blood proclaims forgiveness! So powerful is Jesus’ blood to cleanse the human heart that the original languages tell us His blood simply “declares” its power, while Abel’s blood “cried out.” My friend, when your lack of faith, your sin, and your humanly-wrought disaster cries loudly your condemnation, let the blood Jesus shed on the Cross decisively and authoritatively declare, “You are forgiven.”

Do you need a better word than the word of sin and guilt? Jesus is the Word you need.

The Weakness of God

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The God of the Bible is both all-powerful and unchanging. He is not, therefore, weak. Having created the universe and every system within it, He upholds the same universe. Our God is strong, for sure. Why then does the apostle Paul clearly say, “The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength”? (I Corinthians 1:25, NIV)

Beginning at verse sixteen of the same passage, Paul begins to tell us the world system simply could not understand the death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. While the Greeks saw the message of a god dying on a cross as foolishness, the Jews saw it as weakness. The Jews – as Paul points out – demanded miraculous signs, as they wanted their Messiah to come in power and take over the governments of the world to set His people free in the here and now. Therefore, Jesus was a “stumbling block to Jews” because they had their eyes fixed on an earthly ruler. While running after that kind of a deliverer, they tripped over the real Jesus who came the first time to earth to pay for our sins. The full redemption of the universe is yet to come. Priority at the first advent of Christ was His sacrifice for our sins, without which we are eternally lost. This mission was painful beyond imagination and was viewed by many as weakness, but – in reality – it was the most powerful thing ever done. Perfect God takes on human flesh to provide the way out of sin’s curse for people. Eternal deliverance for those formerly hopeless is brought to the forefront; that is power!

Let us go back to that beautiful phrase, “The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” God is not weak – not even close. However, His power appeared as weakness to the world. The crucifixion did not make sense to the masses of unbelievers. Even today, we are largely taught to work it out for ourselves, to work hard, to be self-sufficient, and to get all we can. Antithetical to the selfish mind is this concept of a God who purposefully allows Himself to take on flesh and die for the sake of the world. Also antithetical to the sinful mind is the idea that we as humans can be truly forgiven and released from our sins because of God’s payment instead of our efforts. This kind of thinking – this amazing plan – appears to the world system as frailty. It is not – in fact – weakness, though many view it that way. It is – in reality – the ultimate power of a God both loving and holy.

What appears to be God’s inadequacy is actually the thing that saves us! In other words, God’s “weakness” is actually more powerful than the greatest strength of humans. People can accomplish many things, and our greatest efforts do contribute to the course of life. However, when it comes to the most essential areas of reality, our greatest strengths mean nothing. No person can save himself from sin. No person can overcome sin’s power in her life. No person can escape the curse of sin. No person can overcome death. We are doomed – despite our greatest accomplishments – unless the “weakness” of God rushes in. What appeared to make no sense – the crucifixion of Jesus Christ – powerfully pays for our sin!

The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. May we also remember this in everyday moments of life. Metaphorically speaking, God has more strength in His pinky finger than all the collective power of every human being who has ever lived. I need not worry about my life if He is my Lord. Furthermore, whatever part of God’s plan appears powerless or foolish is actually stronger than anything I can imagine. What God is currently “up to” in my life may not make sense to me, but at the times He seems to make the least sense, He is up to something incomprehensibly effectual! “The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

When your strength seems gone, remember that the veritable weakness of God is more than enough for you. God works in paradoxes; He takes pleasure in turning things inside-out. The greatest story He has written is that of our salvation, and though it has often been interpreted as foolishness and weakness; it is the supreme work of an all-powerful God.

How will He now work when you feel weak and confused? We can only imagine!

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” – I Corinthians 1:25 (NIV)

The Mercy Seat of An Infinite God

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A Commentary on Isaiah 66:1

“Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.” – Isaiah 66:1a (NKJV)

Listen to what God says, for what man says is of no consequence unless it aligns with the Almighty’s revelation. Quite vital to remember is that God has spoken, and His Word is distinct and above all else (Psalm 138:2). Set God’s Word at the forefront, or we risk succumbing to the relentless temptation to believe the prevalent, mundane thought that God is small and weak and not altogether different from us. “Thus says the LORD” is a phrase meant to shake our paradigm, as we are so apt to focus on anything or anyone other than the Creator from whom all things derive.

God cannot be contained, nor can He be measured; incalculable is His nature (I Kings 8:27). Yet in daily thoughts and actions, we reason that we understand how God has worked, or is working, or will work in various situations of life. With Heaven as His throne and Earth as His footstool, God’s infinite nature staggers the imagination. The visible heavens, the innumerable parts of the universe we are still completely unable to access, and the very abode of God Almighty exist as His throne. God is infinitely greater than all the heavens, able to encapsulate and harness each part for His purposes. Our Creator is the one who “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11b). His unfathomable power unceasingly pulls all aspects of life – physical, emotional, and spiritual – toward His ultimate will. The Maker of all that exists will irrefutably have the final word over all that exists!

Stunning is the truth that earth is God’s footstool. We humans have not yet explored all the depths of any particular ocean, we have barely begun the first leg of the journey into any miniscule portion of the vastness of space, and we have not yet plunged into all the depths of the mystery of the molecular; still God refers to the earth as His footstool. He means for us to know that His magnificence cannot be calculated. Metaphorically, that upon which He rests His feet is immensely more than that with which we can even commence to grapple. Therefore, it would be ridiculous for us to grow hopeless concerning circumstances of the earth, for God says of this place, “That is simply my footstool.”

How would it be to know that the God who created everything from nothing and rightfully boasts Heaven as His throne is willing to be with us? To talk with us? To hear our heart and stay with us? To carry our burdens? To share His presence in real relationship? We can know this joy because the specific footstool of God in the Old Testament is the Ark of the Covenant (I Chronicles 28:2) Our Creator desires to rest with us – to “put His feet up” if you will – that we may have a genuine relationship with Him.

This relationship seems impossible, though, given the eternal nature of God, His unfathomable power, and His holiness. This seeming impossibility steps back and disappears into the shadow of the Ark of the Covenant and its treasured mercy seat. The mercy seat marked the separation between the Law and God’s manifest presence. In the ark, below the mercy seat – or atonement cover – rested the tablets of the Law. Above the mercy seat – between the gold cherubim – God’s glorious presence came. Although every person ever born on earth ultimately longs to be in God’s presence where all is right and joyous, most try to imagine the longings and emptiness of life could be satisfied in some other manner. Hence, Isaiah 53:6 proclaims, “Each of us has turned to his own way.” Still, the only way to right and hope and peace and ultimate, coveted fulfillment is to be in God’s presence – to rest with Him.

We ask, “How will I get to God, for I am constantly dragged down by this law below?” Each time we attempt to rise up and rest with our Creator between those cherubim, the tablets full of commandments we cannot keep pull us back down beneath the atonement cover. We feel as Paul did in Romans 7 asking how he could possibly be delivered from his failure to do what he knows to be right. Do we also feel the victory Paul knew as communicated in Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” God forbid we ever forget the mercy seat lies between the law and God’s presence as a clear delineation of our hope. For, on that mercy seat, was the blood of the sacrifice applied. Symbolically – via the animal sacrifice – the blood of Jesus was sprinkled on that cover to settle the matter and forever absorb our inability to fulfill God’s law. Through the blood of Jesus, we can rise above hopelessness and enter God’s safety despite our own sinfulness. Quite literally, we rise from being pitiful creatures condemned by the law to being God’s own children, with access to His blessed presence. How does this happen? The blood of Jesus on the mercy seat opens up the way and we rise to God through the blood of His own Son.

The thought of Jesus’ blood opening up the way for sinful man to gain relationship with a holy God breeds yet another thought: there is nothing stronger than the blood of Jesus. No sin, no failure, no amount of inadequacy can stop Jesus from giving to us access to God. That mercy seat of the Old Testament was made of pure gold. Metaphorically speaking, our spirits rise from the lower compartment of the condemnation of the law to the upper space of freedom and joy, ever watched by the cherubim that long to know this miracle of salvation. How do we rise since the atonement cover of pure gold lies between the law and God’s presence? We can rise because the apostle tells us in I Peter 1:18-19 that we are “not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold …but with the precious blood of Christ…” Gold, though highly treasured and often tried by fire, is yet corruptible – a substance that ultimately succumbs to disintegration. Not so the blood of Jesus! Precious, incorruptible, just like our heavenly inheritance. That timeless, infinitely powerful blood blasts through any obstacle that hinders us from reaching God!

God, who is infinite and has spoken all things into existence with just His breath, can accurately say that this realm – this terrain – on which we live out our limited days, is so small and powerless compared to Him that He boasts it as the place to rest His feet. This same God is sure to remind us that of all the locations on this planet on which He focused for His resting place it is the Ark of the Covenant. Why? Because the personal rest and relationship all humanity needs with the God who created us can only be found completely where the blood is applied and opens up the way for sinful people to commune with holy God. The funnel representing God’s rest and communion with us narrows down to one point – the place where the blood is applied.