Freedom is Good News Part 130

I was looking at a scripture yesterday that got me to thinking.  It is not an unusual or obscure scripture but one that should be quite familiar.  It is found in the Gospel of John chapter 14:1.  But before I type it out, let’s fill in a little background.

Jesus has just spent approximately thirty-three and one half years on this earth.  Of those years, He has been with the twelve apostles for about three and one half years.  When we get to chapter 13 of John we encounter Jesus partaking of His final Passover on this earth and the twelve are gathered around Him. 

I’m not sure if the events leading up to this Passover were any different than the others He had spent with the twelve but He alone knew that this would be a very special Passover; He would be the true Passover Lamb – “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. 

He had been giving the Apostles clues about what was to happen.  Four times in the book of Matthew He mentions to them that He would have to suffer and be crucified (16:21, 17:22, 20:18 and 26:2), but they never really comprehended His words.  And now in the book of John 13:1 we are told, “It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.”

It is appropriate for us to examine this part of scripture at this time of year, for we are headed toward the time of Passover.  The next line in John 13:1 reads, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.”  Wow!!  The full extent of His love!!  And it is that line that leads me into the scripture that I was about to type at the beginning of this article.

Jesus is confronting His imminent death – a most torturous, hideous and painful type of death; death by crucifixion.  But at this last Passover meal, His thoughts are upon His disciples and not upon Himself.  He takes time to comfort His friends.  John 14:1, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”

Jesus had just washed His disciple’s feet.  He shared a meal with them and He brought forth the symbols of His own life – the bread (“Take and eat; this is my body.”)  And the cup (“Drink from it all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant.”)

And so He now takes advantage of this precious time with the twelve and begins to teach them some of the most profound things He could ever share with them!!  (Read John 14, 15, 16 and 17)  And yes, He begins by saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled”.  I am reminded of the words of a song, “Hallelujah, what a Savior”.

Yes, there is more to come on this subject.

Freedom is Good News Part 82

“They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”  There is much to be said about this scripture for it is, in essence, the over-riding covenant of God with man!

In the past two articles, we have been looking at a scripture at the end of the book of Revelation, chapter 21:1-4, and considering the good news there-in.  We now come to the scripture quoted above which is in many ways the crux of the gospel – the good news of the Kingdom of God!!

This statement; “They will be My people and I will be their God”, is found as a thread that runs through-out the entirety of the bible.  We see it as God’s everlasting covenant made with Abraham in the book of Genesis 17:7-8.  We see it in Exodus 6:7 where God reiterates to Moses His everlasting promise to His people Israel. And again in Exodus 29:45-46 we see this statement as it will be written in Revelation 21.  It is spelled out in detail in Deuteronomy 26:16-19.  And Jeremiah points out the words of this everlasting covenant seven times in his book of prophecy.  And to show its future application unto the end time, Zechariah tells us this: “I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.  They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God’”. (Note the future tense used here.)

Paul picks up this thread in 2 Corinthians 6:16, “… For we are the temple of the living God.  As God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.’”  The writer of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah in connection with this everlasting covenant, “I will be their God and they will be My people”. (Heb. 8:10)  There are many more instances of this most important statement through-out the bible.  Would that we had the time and the room to explore each and every time this covenant statement appears in scripture.

Some may ask the very good question, “Is this a statement of the old or the new covenant?”  In short, allow me to be somewhat glib, and answer, yes!  This statement of covenant is an everlasting one and embodies the entirety of the bible.  Our God is an awesome God and He, himself, tells us that He does not change. (Malachi 3:6)  In Hebrews 13:8 He tells us that He is “the same yesterday and today and forever”.  In James 1:17 we read, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

The great God of the universe wants to be our God.  He wants us to choose Him as our God.  He wants us to live our lives as though we were His people.  He tells us this in the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Really, what could be more beautiful than to have such a relationship with our God who tells us that He is “abounding in lovingkindness”?