Business at the Place of Worship - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 2:16,

"Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!"

Jesus told this to those who sold animals for the temple worship in Jerusalem, as well as the money changers there. It was at the time of Passover and many had arrived from long distances for the observation. As such they needed what would be required for the temple sacrifices. The activity had become such that turned the temple grounds into a market. Jesus took great exception to it. The principle is clear: the worship of God is a sacred activity, not to be contaminated with the pursuit of making money.

I suspect many of us have felt some discomfort toward those who have come into a community of believers and used the worship services, prayer meetings and Bible studies as opportunities to make contacts for business. I have seen this with insurance agents, peddlers of Tupperware and other products, those representing the myriad of pyramid schemes, and so forth.

Additionally, I suspect many have felt put off by some churches that always seem to be fund raising as well. The need for a youth pastor, a desire to re-do the nursery, a new building, or carpet and pews, etc. Not that these things are not needed in a setting with large congregations, I wouldn't argue that point. But, the focus can be at times shifted from the magnificence of the Lord and on to the project that requires funding - hopefully you get my drift here.

In 1 Peter 2:4-5 we read, "As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Certainly there is the time and place for commerce. However, when it is time to come before our God to worship him, that worship needs to kept from the distractions of the market. And, quite possibly, the better place to make an appeal for giving to the needs of the ministry might be best made in a news letter or some other venue.

There is something that needs to be said to church leaders here. Worshipers who come to extol the perfections of God, to praise him for his many wonderful acts, should never be viewed as opportunities for fund raising. They come to worship their God, and I can't help but think that when a pastor or elders in a fellowship intrude into that sacred activity, they place themselves between God and those who have come to extol his greatness. I think there may have to be some accounting for that before the Lord.

And, it should go without saying that anyone who joins a fellowship to broaden a base of clients for business should be removed from that fellowship. The worship of God by his people is a serious business. Just ask the vendors of sacrificial animals and the money changers of Jesus day...

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Physically Slapping God in the Face! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 19:3,

"And they slapped him in the face."

Those who did the slapping were Pilate's soldiers. The One slapped was the Son of God! It took place when the leaders of the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate to have him put to death.

This is provided us in John's gospel - a book that begins with these words, "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." John 1:1-4. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the creative agent within the Trinity. All things that exist have been created through him.

Mankind literally slapped his Creator in the face! What drove the Jews and the Romans to treat the Son of God this way is what drives us all - it was not just them. It is all of us. We all have a sinful nature that has prompted us to turn our backs on God. We all have a sinful nature that has compelled each of us to live our lives in enmity against him. Here we see just how ugly that sinful nature is.

However, it is that very sinful nature of mankind that God exploited to make it possible for people of faith to cross over from eternal death to eternal life. How easy it was for God to use the self-seeking impulses of lost mankind to effect a sacrifice of himself!

The astonishing thing is that God did this very thing! The Father sent the Son to offer him as a sacrifice of atonement, paying for our sins! All he asks is that we embrace him in faith.

Think of the incomprehensible love the Lord has for us! He gave his life that we might have an eternal life, an abundant life! He gave himself for us... his creatures... that slapped him in the face!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

The Full Measure of the Joy of Jesus Christ is Ours! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 17:13,

"I [Jesus Christ] am coming to you [God the Father] now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they [Jesus' discipes] may have the full measure of my joy within them."

Merriam-Webster defines joy as "a feeling of great happiness". "The emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires :  delight." Other words that bring some meaning to what Jesus asked the Father for on our behalf: elation, exhilaration, exultation, ecstasy, euphoria, rapture, enjoyment, pleasure, cheerfulness, exuberance, jubilance, contentedness and satisfaction.

Jesus wants us to have the "full measure" of his joy within our lives. This is not for all people... it is only for all who have embraced him in faith - true believers. He wants us to experience his joy in our own lives!

Who does not want to experience the joy of Jesus Christ? Who of us do not want to have our existence in this life marked by joy?

Those who reduce the Scriptures into dry academic theological tomes, apart from this joy Jesus speaks of are missing what Jesus Christ offers us. Those who are engaged in maintaining and protecting their positions within a congregation or an elder board or some denominational institution apart from this joy Jesus speaks of are missing what Jesus Christ offers us. Those who are fastidious in their "do-gooderism" (how is that for a word?!) and go sniffing around the rest of us (you know who you are!) apart from this joy Jesus speaks of are missing what Jesus Christ offers us. You get the point...

So, what if I am not experiencing this joy these days? Very simply, I have my eyes off the Lord and off the great "hope" we have in Jesus Christ. Each and every believer should feel greater joy than the lottery winner who is waiting for Monday morning to come to redeem his ticket for hundreds of millions. Our inheritance in the resurrection Jesus has wrought for us is so much more! The Lord has richly blessed us, out of his incomprehensible love with of a wonderful and lavish inheritance that includes a warm welcome into the open arms of the very love the Trinity abides in! We are welcomed into God's river of delights, Psalm 36:8. We are welcomed into eternal pleasures at the right hand of God, Psalm 16:11.

We who make up the body of Jesus Christ here on planet earth have every reason to be the most joyful of all mankind! Look at what is coming our way!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Why Are Christians Compared to Islamic Terrorists? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 15:18-19,

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me [Jesus] first. If you belonged  to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Listen to this quote taken from a column written by Michael Gryboski, a Christian Post reporter, titled "PCUSA Co-Moderator Claims the Church Is a Killer Like Orlando Shooter but 'Not as Efficient'":

"In a blog written within hours of the Orlando nightclub shooting in which Mateen killed 49 people, the Rev. Denise Anderson — a pastor from National Capital Presbytery who is serving alongside the Rev. Jan Edmiston, a presbytery executive from Chicago as a co-moderator for the PCUSA's annual assembly — argues that 'many in our own ranks aren't too idealistically different from this gunman.'"

Here is an example of what Jesus spoke of. Those of the world (just because someone may hold a title or is a functionary in some "denomination" is no indication whatsoever they are a child of God) despise - hate true believers. It is because Jesus has "chosen" us out of the world, while they have been left behind. Jesus made a decision that all who embrace him in faith will "cross over from death to life", John 5:24. The Lord removes believers from the status of being of the world, lost in darkness and places them into his family to live in the light. See 1 John 2:7-11. Resentment is the key here. If someone chooses to cling to their sin and reject Jesus Christ, they resent the others who have chosen differently.

Here is the motivation so many have in their attempts to find some kind of "moral equivalency" between radical Islamic terrorists and what the world views as "Christian Fundamentalists." Applying the "fundamentalist" moniker to both aids in their effort to find an equivalency that simply does not exist in any form.

In that terrorists are viewed with loathing by so many, there is a temptation for those who truly hate real Christians to lump the two together. Many of us may find this baffling, but when we understand what Jesus taught us in John 15:18-19, it becomes understandable why the attempt is made. It serves their hate very well, given the "low-information" nature of so many in our culture today.

This hate of believers by so many of those "of the world", (those who have not embraced Jesus Christ) has been around a long, long time. "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death." 1 John 3:12-14.

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

A Life-Changing Mystery! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 14:20-21,

"On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you... The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."

Here is an amazing mystery and a reality that is so astounding, to conceive of it is life-altering. I am convinced that most believers are weak in their understanding of what Jesus told his disciples before his passion. That mystery is that within the love the Trinity abides in, God has opened the door for us to enter. He has invited us into this communion of love for one another that exists among the members of the Trinity!

Our God exists in what we call the Trinity. One God, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Deuteronomy 6:4. Yet our one God exists in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus told his disciples to propagate themselves through evangelism, he told them to do so in the name of each member of the Trinity, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." Matthew 28:19. Other passages are available, but this serves my point for now.

We learn that among the three persons of the Trinity a boundless, god-sized love exists among them. This is observed by John the Baptist, "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands." John 3:35.

In addition to our verse above (John 14:20-21), Jesus' own prayer to the Father also points to this love within the Trinity and the access God has provided for us, his invitation us to - into this divine love affair that exists within the Trinity:

"My prayer is not for them [the disciples present with Jesus as he prayed] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message [this would be us!], that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23.

Our ability to conceive of, to apprehend, this love of Jesus Christ, this love within the Trinity, the love God has for us, is life altering, resulting in us being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Listen to Paul's prayer:

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19.

The Lord wants us to know this, as he wants this mystery to impact our lives in a demonstrative way, "I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them." John 17:13.

Have you embraced this breath-taking mystery?

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
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Who Got Used by Who? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 13:1-3,

"It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God..."

Here in John's account is when Jesus began his activities to provide his atonement for mankind. He had come from God and was now ready to return to the Father, as by this time he had completed all he come to do, save his atonement that he would bring about by dying on that miserable cross.

I note that it was "the devil" who prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Unlike the other disciples, Judas was not a man of faith and was found to be a "useful idiot" for Satan. Judas thought he would get some money for himself and Satan thought he was going to bring an end to the Son of God. However, both were used by God to bring about the one act that brought this world to a standstill. God used a man riddled with avarice and a rebellious spiritual being, the devil, to effect his atonement. In Luke 19:10 we read, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

All mankind is "lost". Each and every human being that has ever lived or ever will live has sinned and stands condemned before the court of God. Our Creator has a precise sense of justice and all sin will be paid for. Each and every sin ever committed will be paid for by the life of every person that has ever lived. Revelation 21:8 describes this payment as one that is made by being thrown into a fiery lake of burning sulfur. However, not all will stand condemned before God on his great judgment day. Those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith have crossed over from death to life, "Very truly I [Jesus] tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have had their sins paid for through the death of Jesus Christ on that cross. These are the only ones not cast into that fiery lake of burning sulfur on judgment day.

Judas though he would use Jesus to get himself thirty pieces of silver, Satan thought he would use Judas to destroy the Son of God and both were used by the Son of God to bring redemption to mankind... 

God always wins! He is so far beyond a match for anyone that his purposes can never be thwarted. Not by any man, not by Satan, not by anyone!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Jesus, "the Gate" is not a Religion. He is a Person - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 10:7-10,

"Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Here Jesus Christ proclaims he is "the gate". Those who enter this gate gain life, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

There are no other "gates" by which we may enter into God's family. In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." All others are "thieves and robbers".

Merriam-Webster defines "religion" as "an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods."

You hear it said these days that it is somehow "wrong" to promote Christianity among those who subscribe to another "religion" such as Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever. After all, who is to say your "religion" is any better than another's?

The problem with this thinking is that Jesus proclaimed he was "the way", "the gate" into God's family. He did not promote himself as a religion. He promoted himself as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. To equate Jesus Christ to any of the world's religions is to miss the point of who he is and what his agenda is.

As we share the gospel message, it is not an act of promoting one religion over another. It is an attempt to introduce others to a person, Jesus Christ - he is the way to 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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

How Well Do We Know the Things of God? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 9:1-3,

"As he [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.'"

How many times I have heard, when a believer became sick, or suffered some set-back or another, others accused the believer of harboring some sin in their life, or that he lacked sufficient faith.

Somehow or other, this notion - that since God loves us, he doesn't want us poor, does he?, he doesn't want us sick, does he? is the legacy of so many who fail to read their Bibles, at least read them in some sort of meaningful way. This assumption the Lord would never allow that one might suffer apart from some sin or lack of faith on their part fails to acknowledge a number of events and things we read of God in the pages of Scripture.

In this passage, Jesus' disciples engaged in the same poor theology we see abounding today. Since a man was born blind, and had not had the opportunity to commit his own personal sins, just whose sins were responsible for his blindness?

Jesus' answer is an indictment of all those who know so little of their God. As it turns out, yes, this man was born blind at God's intention. However, that intention had nothing to do with personal sin. Rather, he was born blind for the intent and purpose that "the works of God might be displayed in him." In other words, he was born blind for the day Jesus would cross his path and heal him, demonstrating his deity as well as challenging the theological grip of the Pharisees.

Apparently we still have folks among us today who are stuck in the same limited mindset.

Job's friends, millenia earlier, had engaged in the same poor theology and lack of understanding of the things of God. When the Lord handed Job over to Satan to demonstrate a point he was making to Satan, no one knew why Job was suffering. Certainly, Job and his friends had no way of knowing the conversation between God and Satan over Job, that God has those who remain loyal to him (unlike Satan) in spite of suffering or other set-backs. And, just as the Pharisees, and just like those who blame others for their suffering these days, Job's friends accused him of some sort of hidden sin. The account makes clear Job had not sinned in any way all throughout his ordeal.

It may behoove us to listen to Paul, "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." Romans 8:36, as he quoted Psalm 44:22. Paul's point in Romans is that we all need to expect to suffer, not due to personal sin, but to aid us in our spiritual growth. In Psalm 44 we see God's people suffering due to no fault of their own. It's a great psalm. Take time to read it today!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Jesus Experienced Our Hardships - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 4:4-8,

"Now he [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?' (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)"

Perhaps there is something here that gets overlooked at times: Jesus experienced the same physical challenges in this life as we all do. In the above selection of verses we see that Jesus got tired from his walk from Judea into Samaria. He also got thirsty (hence, his request for a drink of water) and, no doubt, hungry as well - as he had sent his disciples into town to get food.

On a side note, with reference to sending his disciples into town for food, why would he do that when he was the one who fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread? (See Matthew 14:13-21.) Answering this question helps us understand Jesus' use of miracles. He didn't always perform them and they were purposeful as expressions he desired to communicate.

In any event, we are told in Philippians 2:6-7, "Who [Christ Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." This human likeness extended to his experiences here, becoming acquainted with the physical shortcomings our existence is marked by, as well as suffering the common challenges we all do, in terms of hunger, pain, thirst, fatigue, etc.

Further, we are told in Hebrews 2:17-18, "For this reason he [Jesus] had to be made like them [God's children], fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." Jesus experienced the struggle we all face against sin. However, in his case, he has been the only one able to resist the temptations of sin perfectly.

No one on judgment day will be able to say, "You don't know what it was like..."

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Our Messiah of Miracles - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in John 2:11,

"What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him."

The first sign Jesus used to reveal who he was, "his glory", was to turn water to wine. A wedding took place at Cana. Jesus, his mother, and his disciples all attended. When the wine ran out, Jesus turned water into wine at his mother's request.

I note this wine was very good. The "master of the banquet" could not understand why this wine, the wine Jesus had made, was not served before the other wine (he didn't know the origin of it). Can you imagine drinking wine hand-made by the Son of God?! It had to have been the best ever had by anyone!

Many struggle with the notion that Jesus Christ performed his many miracles. Some have even sought to gain an understanding of who Jesus "really" was by stripping the miraculous from the gospels. These unbelievers will never gain an understanding as they attempt to filter the full account left us about Jesus Christ in the Scriptures.

Earlier in John's gospel, we read that Jesus Christ, the Son of God was the creative agent within the godhead, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." Further we read, in verse 14, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

It was the Son of God himself that created all we see and know of in the cosmos. Not only did he create things, he also established the laws of physics we have come to learn of that his creation is governed by. Gravity, the laws of thermodynamics, etc.

It is not given to man to abrogate the laws of physics. We are constrained by them. However, the author of these laws is not. He created it all and determined how all will work together. As such he is entirely free as the Creator to do whatever he desires, even negate his own designs and the physical laws that govern them. This is what was active when Jesus turned the water to wine.

Any one of Jesus' miracles demonstrated his deity. Whether he turned water to wine, stilled a storm, walked on water, healed the blind and lame, any one of these authenticates he was who he said he was. He clearly established his credentials as God and certified he was the One we need to turn to for the forgiveness of our sins.

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

The Frightful Day of the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Malachi 4:5,

"See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes."

Earlier in this chapter of Malachi's prophecy the day of the Lord, following the end of this age, is described "'it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,' says the Lord Almighty."

Peter describes it this way, "By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare." 2 Peter 3:7-10.

What a frightful day! The writer of Hebrews observes, "God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29. This is a quote he took from Deuteronomy 4:24, "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."

Don't count on the day the Lord returns as being a picnic. It will be an horrific day when the Lord rids the earth of the current corruption it is plagued with. In Revelation 19:11-16 we read, "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider [Jesus Christ] is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords."

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
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Believers and the Law God Gave Moses - Ruminating in the Word of God

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

"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel."

Here is an interesting statement from the apostle Paul, "For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" Romans 6:14-15.

Here is what appears to be a contradiction! Many are the churches who are entirely confused on this issue of keeping the law God gave Moses. Particularly the ten commandments.

The Lord tells Israel through Malachi to keep the law, "Remember the law of my servant Moses." This is the law God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai during the 1400's BC. A millenia later, here in Malachi, the Lord continues to tell the Jews to keep the law. Was Paul wrong? Paul was Jesus Christ's apostle to the Gentiles and the New Testament's most prolific writer, having authored thirteen of the twenty-seven books.

Paul was not in contradiction at all with what the Lord told Israel through Malachi. We read in Romans 3:20, "No one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin."

The Lord wanted Israel (and through Israel, all mankind) to know and do their best to keep the law. The purpose was to show mankind their sin, and as a result, their need for the Savior. As sinful man attempted to keep the law of God, they would (and did) fail, prompting a sense of hopelessness to achieve an eternity based on our own goodness apart from God's help. Attempting to keep the law would drive one to throw himself at the feet of God's mercy - preparing them for the gospel message. No one looks to be saved if they don't feel a threat. The threat, of course, is God's own judgment of us and the fear of being cast into that lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8.

He sent his Son to take our punishment on himself. And, in the court of God, payment for sin is fungible. All he asks of us is to embrace him in faith. Place our trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

Those who have done so no longer need to be convinced of the sin in their lives and so the teaching we have from Romans 7:6 is, "But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code."

Just how wonderful is that?!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
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A Failure to Fear the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Malachi 3:5,

"'So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,' says the Lord Almighty."

After God the Father sends his Son to planet earth, a judgment comes. Both advents of Jesus Christ are in view here in the prophecy we read in Malachi 3:1-5. The prophecy is given of John the Baptist who will "prepare the way", Malachi 3:1a. The remainder of that first verse speaks of the Son of God's first coming, "the messenger of the covenant, who you desire, will come..." Following this, we read of the second coming of Jesus Christ when the Lord will put sinners on trial, as we see in verse 5.

Thinking of these two advents of Jesus Christ reminds me of Hebrews 9:27-28, "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." In this verse the focus is on the salvation Jesus Christ brings with him when this age comes to an end, at the time of his second coming. The Scriptures are also loud and clear about the judgment that accompanies Jesus Christ's second coming as well.

Oh, on a side note, for those who fancy the notion of "reincarnation" as a series of lifetimes we return to here on earth, following our deaths, did you notice how Hebrews 9:27 begins? "Just as people are destined to die once..." The concept of "reincarnation" is merely an invention of the imagination of those who don't know the one true God. It is a fiction, a fantasy.

I note in Malachi 3:5 that the sinful that are listed are those who do not "fear me [the Lord Almighty]." Woe to those who fail to fear the Lord in this life! It has personal implications for all eternity! "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31.

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Making It Up Later Doesn't Work! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Malachi 2:11-12,

"Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty."

Here is something interesting. Malachi points to Jews marrying Gentile women who worship their own "foreign god". He gives a call to the Lord to have the men removed from God's own, covenant people, even though they may bring an offering to the Lord. While going astray, some of these people apparently still performed their acts of worship! Even though they would have clearly known God's unhappiness toward them for pursuing other things, some continued in their outward acts of worship of the Lord.

It is clear the Lord will not accept worship from someone who has gone astray. The unrighteous acts of an idolater will not be exonerated by outward acts of worship of the one true God.

It brings to mind the wasted time spent in worship "services" in the churches of today. Those who give their hearts to other things all week and then attempt to get right with God on Sunday mornings are simply wasting their time. We cannot pursue other things, no matter what they are, that displace God in our lives and then attempt to "make it up later".

It won't work because the Lord is simply not going to accept it. He didn't in Malachi's day and he doesn't today. "I the Lord do not change." Malachi 3:6.

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Contempt for, or Awestruck by the Lord?- Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Malachi 1:13a,

"'You say, "What a burden!" and you sniff at it [the altar of worship] contemptuously,' says the Lord Almighty."

In Malachi's day, about 430 or so BC, the priests had developed a contempt for the Lord and the worship at his temple. "It is you priests who show contempt for my name." Malachi 1:6.

How different from another time in Israel's history when it was written, 

"As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?...
These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng." Psalm 42:1-2, 4.

How about us today? What is the temperature of our fervor for the Lord? Does our wonderful hope in the resurrection animate and energize our love for the Lord and our worship of him? Are we delighted and awestruck at his wonderful and amazing character and nature? Are we mesmerized with his wonderful works we read of in the pages of Scripture (are we even investing our time in reading the Scriptures?) Are we spellbound by the incomprehensible love our Lord has demonstrated by paying the price for our sins on that miserable cross?

Or, do we grudgingly go to our "church services" (as if worshiping God was a "service" to him!) and honor him with a pittance of what he has blessed us with? Are we quick to scoot out the door to get on with our barbecue and baseball game? I think you get my drift here.

This is a reflection as much for myself as anyone!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

One God Created Us All - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Malachi 2:10,

"Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us?"

There are just a flood of thoughts that come to my mind as I read this verse. We have one Father. One God. Not two and not three. There is only one God who exists and he exists objectively. There is absolutely no room for the notion that God is whoever you make him out to be. He created us and we are simply not free to create him: we can't create God at all.

There is no Allah. There is no god of the Buddhists. There is no god of any of the worlds religions, save the God who brought us his word, the Bible. All supposed other "gods" are contrived, all made up. There is only the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. His one and only Son is Jesus Christ. Together with the person of the Holy Spirit, our God is referred to as the "Trinity". One God and only one. Listen to the Shema, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Deuteronomy 6:4.

In that the only God has created all of us, those who embrace that one true God are the only ones in our society and culture who have a coherent foundation to embrace all mankind as equal and equally precious in God's sight. We learn from the Scriptures that all people share in the sacredness of life because God gave it and he has his plans, his agenda of building a family for himself of us. When Jesus Christ died that miserable death on the cross, he did it for all mankind. Each and every person who has lived and ever will live, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2.

All he asks from us is that we put our faith and trust in him, "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them."

The sacredness of our own individual lives finds its fulfillment, its completion, its intended goal, in becoming a child of the one and only God. The only way that happens is when we embrace him in faith and trust.

Just a few rambling thoughts on Malachi 2:10...

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
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God's "Chosen Ones" - Ruminating in the Word of God

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

"'I have loved you,' says the Lord. 'But you ask, "How have you loved us?" Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' declares the Lord. 'Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.'"

This passage was used by Paul to make the point that the Lord makes his own choices. He expresses his will through the decisions he makes and he chose Jacob to inherit the blessing he gave his grandfather Abraham. As we read the account of Esau, we discover he was anything but a man of faith, willing to give up any blessing from the Lord for a meal. Jacob, on the other hand, was a man of faith and received the Lord's blessing.

What is interesting to see in the account in Genesis is that it didn't matter what Issac thought about the Lord's choice or Esau himself (as it dawned on him what all he was losing out on.)

The reference Paul makes is in Romans 9 where Paul makes the case that although the Jews of the day rejected Jesus Christ and attempted to "earn" their way into the kingdom of heaven by keeping the law, it was the Lord's choice that salvation be by faith, not by works. "Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" Romans 9:10-13.

It turns out the Lord's intent by giving the commandments to Moses was to show us we are sinners, in need of saving. It was not to bring salvation. "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." Romans 3:20.

In Romans 9:16 Paul goes on to say, "It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy." It is in this chapter that Paul makes clear those he has chosen to embrace in his mercy are those who embrace him in faith, "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written: 'See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.'" Romans 9:30-33.

As such, contrary to what many think today, God's "chosen ones" are those who choose him, who embrace him in faith, "To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12. Jesus told us, "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24.

Become one of God's chosen ones by embracing him in faith today!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
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A Burning Furnace or Free to Frolic? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Malachi 4:1-2,

"'Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,' says the Lord Almighty. 'Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.'"

Two outcomes here for each and every person who has ever lived. Only two. No third. We either face a burning furnace or a bright future, "the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays". For those who face that bright future, we "will go out and frolic like well-fed calves."

I say, "we". I am among that number and I desperately hope you are among that number as well. How do I know I am among that number? How is it I know I am not one of those facing that burning furnace? Am I arrogant, full of conceit? Am I better than anyone else? Not at all!

Here is how I know I am among the number with that bright future for all eternity - Jesus said, "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man." John 5:24-27.

I have placed my faith in Jesus Christ. I have heard his word and I have believed in him. I have eternal life right now as I sit writing this. And, you can have eternal life right now as well - as you read this! You have just read his word and now have the opportunity to embrace God in faith.

Why face an eternity in a burning furnace, when we can be free to "frolic"? 

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
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"I the Lord Do Not Change" - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Malachi 3:6,

"I the Lord do not change."

This comment the Lord makes of himself is in reassurance that although Israel has yet again wandered from him, the Lord will maintain his commitments to the patriarchs of Israel. Had the Lord not been unchanging, the implication is he would destroy the lot of them, "So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed."

I am reminded of Paul's observation, "As far as the gospel is concerned, they [Israel] are enemies for your [believer's] sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable." Romans 11:28. Many who sport a theology these days that says otherwise may want to avail themselves of the total counsel of Scripture and include this thought in their theology about God's current relationship with Israel. God does not change, and yes, his "gifts" and his "call" are irrevocable! Even his covenants he entered into with the patriarchs of Israel!

I love the fact that God never changes. I work as a programmer: there are always changes coming around. Our cultural norms are always shifting and changing. What was right yesterday is wrong today and what was wrong yesterday is right today! We have a president who "evolves" on the most basic of issues, like what is marriage! I can't begin to tell you how baffling it is to someone born in the forties to see our culture twist and spin on issues like marriage, like homosexuality, like slaughtering infants still in the womb!

The reality is that no one ever really changes. Mankind still runs amok in sinful ignorance and refuses to follow its Creator, let alone even acknowledge him. Homosexuality was condemned by God in Moses' day three and a half millenia ago! Nothing new here.

Knowing that God never changes provides tremendous assurance for me. What if the Lord told us one day that he had reconsidered this "redemption" thing and decided he wasn't interested in us any more? What if the Lord decided twelve years into eternity that he no longer wanted us around and kicked us all out of his family? Seriously! What if God had a propensity for change? Where would we be?

Of all of the manifold wonderful qualities that make up the Lord's many-splendored perfections, he, in fact, is ever unchanging! What we learn of God today will be "operational" years, generations from now. There really is no need for updates on who God is or what he is like because he has already told us of himself and since he never changes, what was written in the past is still as good, as fresh today as the day he revealed those things to us in his Scriptures!

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 respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com