Make A Public Display

     In Hebrews 3:6 we are told that Christ has a house He is building, and that "we are His house"....  It is a common theme in Scripture.  God desires to make us dwelling places for His Spirit.  He wants to "live in us", to transform us into "His glorious likeness". 

     But there is an interesting condition given as to our qualifying for being connected with God in Jesus.  "...if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."   What is this "confidence" and "rejoicing of the hope" that we must hold tightly to all the way to the end of our earthly life?  While it obviously means to hold to an assurance that we belong to Jesus, and be glad about it, is there more beneath the "surface"?

     The American Standard Version reads:  "if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end".  The English Standard Version reads:  "if we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope".   Weymouth's reads:  "if we hold firm to the End the boldness and the hope which we boast of as ours".  These different translations are trying to get at a clearer understanding of the words in this verse.

     The word for "confidence" in the Greek has the idea:  "all outspokenness",  "publicity".   A frankness or bluntness that is on open display.  The word for "rejoicing" has the idea:  "to boast",  "glory in".  To lift up something you have so it will be desired by all.  In other words, we say that we belong to Christ as long as we give a public demonstration of the fact that we believe following Jesus is the greatest privilege we have, and we think everyone deserves the same wonderful life!  (Now while it should go without saying, I'm going to say it anyway so there is no room for anyone to find fault.  This does not mean someone should thumb their nose at another person and say, in a sing-song voice:   "I have Jesus and you don't".)  

     What God is trying to tell us is that being a true follower of Christ means that our life, everything we do and say, should show the great advantage we have because we love and serve God.  We are to have a firmly settled conviction in our mind that belonging to God is the source of tremendous advantages and privileges.  That you cannot imagine living any other way and you think everyone else should belong to Him too. 

     This is what the apostle Paul did when he stated, while standing before King Agrippa bound in chains:  "I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds."   (Acts 26:29)

     Suppose you were to come into possession of several million dollars (insert whatever amount you want here),  and you had family members or friends who were really struggling financially.  Would you try to help them, or would you not say anything because "they might be offended"?   Would you try and hoard all the money for yourself, or would you try to help as many worthy people and projects as you could?

     If you are a Christian, you have been given a treasure of infinite worth.  Wealth that only grows larger the more you try to give it away.  When God entered into the plan of salvation, He took all the treasure of the universe and poured it all out for us.   Knowing that not everyone would accept it, He still gave everything He had in giving us His Son.  In light of that fact, how can we even think of not telling everyone we can about Jesus!

     God will not consider us disciples of Jesus if we are not giving a public demonstration of our belief in His love and care.  Jesus says:  "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall I confess before My Father which is in heaven.  But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him shall I also deny before My Father which is in heaven."  (Matthew 10:32-33)

Do You Believe In War?

"The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus."  Revelation 12:17

            Now here is a good paraphrase of the above text:  "Now the enemy of God, the devil, that is Satan, was insanely enraged against the true people of God, His church.  He made an all out attack against the final small group who were still loyal to God.  Satan hates them because they still keep all of God's ten commandments, and they heed the words of Jesus sent to them through His chosen messenger." 

            This week marks the 70th anniversary of D-day.  One of the big battles of World War II.  It was a horrible event, with tremendous loss of life.  But what I want us to think about today is not the terrible fact of so many deaths, but the terrible burden borne by the generals who ordered the soldiers into battle, knowing many would never come back.  While there are some leaders who do not care about the loss of life among those they send into battle, there are those who give those orders under a heavy sense of responsibility and sadness that cannot be understood by anyone else.

            There are a lot of people who say they don't believe in war.  That war is unnecessary and just the result of men filled with greed and hate who use war to keep themselves in power and destroy those they don't like.  That's only true sometimes.

            You see, the Bible tells us that war began in heaven.  Revelation 12:7  says:  "there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels..."   The dragon, also known as the devil, Satan, Beelzebub, among other names, was originally called "the light bearer" (Lucifer) by God when He created him.  He was the first among all of God's created angels.  But for some reason he started to think of himself as the source of light, instead of the bearer, or reflector, of God's light.  The more he thought of himself, the more he felt himself a victim.  He was able to get a third of the angels under his control and finally tried to unseat God from His throne.  In this battle at the beginning of the war against God he was defeated and cast out of heaven.  (You can read about it in Revelation 12, Isaiah 14, and Ezekiel 28) 

            Now the devil is that commander who doesn't care how much destruction and killing he does.  He is filled with greed and hatred against God and all he wants to do is bring as much suffering and pain as he can.  He showed his true colors when he caused the rejection and death of the Son of God when he came to this earth as a man, Jesus Christ.  Now he  wants to get everyone on earth to worship him and reject God.  Jesus called him a liar and murderer "from the beginning", because those are the weapons he uses. 

            But we have seen commanders, leaders, who don't like war.  They understand how terrible it is and care about the soldiers under them and do all they can to spare them.  Men such as George Washington in the American Revolution, Abraham Lincoln in our War Between the States, or Dwight Eisenhower, General of the Armies on June 6, D-day, in 1944.  It is impossible for us to understand the agonizing burden they carried as they gave the orders that meant death for hundreds, even thousands, of men.  How could they do it?  How could they send men, including young teenage men, into battle where they knew many would never come back? 

            It was because they could see the big picture.  They looked beyond themselves and their own feelings.  They saw the millions who would be destroyed if the evil they were fighting was not destroyed.  They understood that the cost they were paying, while enormous, was worth paying.

            So it is with God.  We are all soldiers in a war whether we know it, or even care about it. We serve under the Heavenly Commander, or Satan.  This war has been going on for thousands of years.  It has involved the lives, and deaths, of billions of people.  Even God the Son was killed in this war.  Everyone who dies is a casualty in this war.  How can God continue this?  Why not just "nuke" the devil and be done with it?

            He sees "the big picture"!  The fate of the entire universe hangs on this war. Our Heavenly Father is working toward a victory that will mean justice, peace, and joy for the remainder of all eternity.  Never again will war and hatred raise its ugly head.  Sin and all the misery it brings will be forever eradicated. This is why God can endure the decisions that He has made, and all the carnage that has taken place in this war.

            There is another wonderful thing about this war that isn't a part of other wars. That is that all who have died, but faithfully followed God while alive, will be brought back to life, never to die again!  Soon this war will be over.  We are now in the final battle.  The enemy has invented weapons never dreamed of before.  Casualties are too numerous to count.  But if we have given ourselves to Jesus, then we are on the winning side.  Our General declares:  "I am He Who lives, even though I was dead.  Look!  I am alive forevermore!  And I have the keys of the grave and death".  (Revelation 1:18) 

            Yes, I believe in war.  This war, the great controversy between Christ and Satan, is necessary.  This war is winnable because the God of heaven and earth, the Creator of all, is the Leader.  While Satan got a third of the angels to follow him, two thirds stayed loyal to God.  I choose to be with the majority.  I choose life.