The Apostles Lived Life With One From Heaven! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 1:2-3,

"The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."

This morning my thoughts are drawn to the apostles. John had encountered someone very unique during the formative years of his life as a very young man, maybe an older boy. He became one of an inner circle that Jesus shared select experiences with: Jesus' transfiguration on the mountain, his moments in the garden of Gethsemane, etc. Together with Peter and his brother James, the first martyred apostle, he spent time with Jesus on a very personal level. John describes himself as the disciple Jesus loved, John 21:20-24.

John had the amazing opportunity to spend time with someone who was from heaven itself! John acknowledged to his readers that he and those with him had fellowship with the Father and with his Son. When Jesus was here on earth John lived his life with Jesus. They ate together and encamped together. They traveled together and brought the most amazing news to the Jews, "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" They shared many experiences in those years and I can only imagine the conversations they must have shared that are not recorded in Scripture.

We live in a world that is estranged from God. There exists a great gulf between us and heaven itself. Heaven is from where our eternal destiny springs for those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, and yet we know so precious little of it. There are no travel brochures to provide us pictures, we have no friends who have visited and come back with video clips, etc. But John had access for a period of years to one who came from heaven, the Son of God himself!

If I were John, what might I have asked Jesus about? What was heaven like? Do we relate to it and all there, just as we do on planet earth? Does heaven resemble God's creation in any way? What are angels like? What is it like to live in God's presence? What are the "rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" like?

We know that the apostles were very limited in their understanding of just who Jesus Christ was when he was with them, and we know that it wasn't until the Holy Spirit came to them after Jesus' death that they had much better insight. But here John and the others experienced on a personal level someone who had eternally existed in heaven and was now within their midst and within their fellowship!

Just what must have that been like for them?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Eye-Witness Testimony - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 1:1-3,

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."


A lot of folks have a lot of ideas about just who Jesus Christ is… who he was during his earthly ministry. Some, just following his time on earth, felt he was God but only seemed like a man. Their theology at the time precluded the notion of God in human flesh as their perspective was that anything of the physical must necessarily be evil and so God could not really have become a part of physical existence. He only "seemed" to have. 

Other folks, today, acknowledge he was a gifted moral teacher as a man, but not really God who could perform the miraculous. Were they to acknowledge that Jesus Christ was God in flesh, it would necessarily impinge on the moral choices we are all faced with. If Jesus Christ be God then we are to be held accountable to him relative to his teachings for the things we think, do and say.


One of the many wonderful things I love about God is that he has provided eyewitness testimony about himself! We don't have to be lost in a muddled fog as to who or what we think Jesus Christ is. John claims what he has to say is rooted in the fact that he heard Jesus Christ! He saw Jesus Christ! He touched Jesus Christ! Now he proclaims him and passes on to us what he knows of him! Our Heavenly Father has a Son, Jesus Christ, and our fellowship is with them if we have embraced him in faith. Not a "blind faith", but a trust and confidence rooted in eyewitness testimony!


Our God has provided us this eyewitness testimony as he knows many of us need it in order to wrestle with those doubts we are challenged with at times. He has provided all we need for life and godliness! How wonderful our God has revealed himself to us through his Son Jesus Christ.

As the writer of Hebrews claims, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." Hebrews 1:1-3.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Welcomes Us Into Fellowship With Him! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 1:1-4,

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete."
 
Some people make much of the circles they move in, their friends, associates, etc.

While many of us cannot say that we live among the movers and shakers of our culture and society, it can't be denied that the people we "hang with" is an important aspect of our lives.

And look at who has opened their "circle" to us here! God the Father and Jesus Christ have extended an invitation to enjoy fellowship with them and the rest of God's family – and not just as friends and associates - far beyond that – as members of God's own family!

This is no "arms-length" relationship either. He has opened his arms and his family to us to join him in fellowship. A fellowship that is marked by eternal life as his children!

"Joy complete"!

What a God!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Will Dwell With Us! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 48:35,

"And the name of the city from that time on will be: The Lord is There."

In the vision given Ezekiel, Jerusalem's name will be changed to "The Lord is There." As I think of it this morning, I think how wonderful a place is where God can be found, where he is located. Kind of like Dorothy, the tin man, the scarecrow and the lion making their way to the emerald city where the wizard of Oz could be approached to gain aid for what they each were seeking, God could be found and his help, his favor sought.

But this vision, as lofty and beautiful as it is, includes a priesthood, walls and restricted access. However, through the new covenant which God has made known we have direct access to God, through his Son, Jesus Christ. The place where he dwells is right within each of us through the Holy Spirit, no need for us to go anywhere to seek his help, his favor. And in the resurrection, there will be no restricting walls to separate us from God as he will dwell with us, no priesthood through which we must engage to seek God! We shall behold his face!

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:3-4. "No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads." Revelation 22:3-4. Just how wonderful is our God who does these things for us?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God's Grace Is A River That Runs Deep! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 47:1,

"The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar."

Here is an amazing feature of this temple of Ezekiel's vision. Here is a river, which has as its headwaters a source that emanates from under the threshold of the temple that flows east toward the Dead Sea! The description is careful to point out that the source of the water comes from the threshold of the temple and as it flows toward the east it grows deeper and deeper to support "a great number of trees on each side of the river." The water turns the salt water of the Dead Sea to fresh and sustains "swarms of living creatures". Large numbers of fish and everything in this river's path will live. The fruit trees that adorn the banks of the river will be fruitful and their leaves will not wither. "Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

This, of course, brings to mind the vision given John in Revelation 22:1-2, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

And also Jesus Christ's words to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:13-14, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

This speaks to me of the tremendous and boundless flow of grace that emanates from the throne of God. God's mercy, forgiveness, love and kindness flow from him providing and sustaining life - abundant life. Providing healing for each of us and sustenance to carry us into and through eternity is an ongoing act of God that will ever flow. Never a dry spell, it runs deeper and deeper as we wade into it, as we plumb the depths of it, as Ezekiel did with the measuring line.

What a God!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.