The Heaton File

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)

Our Father Which Is In Heaven

My earthly father died in 1989. Mom followed a year later. Father’s Day is a day I miss seeing my dad and smelling his musk he liked to wear as he opened the presents we would get him. I enjoyed 32 years with my dad. He was not a preacher nor the son of a preacher but he left a legacy in me that I treasure. I was blessed to be the son of two godly parents who loved the Lord and did their best in difficult times with few nickels to rub together. I miss my father. The older I get the more I miss my heavenly Father. I have never seen Him face to face but I know one day I will be able to do that. The amazing part of meditating on the word of God is how much clearer the image of His face becomes. Even then, it is such a whisper of a face that I think about. I am certain that when I see Him face to face it will be nothing as I have imagined.

John’s revelation reveals the joy of being in the presence of the Father. We will see the face of the Father. No one has seen God at any time save His Son. Imagine that. From Adam no man has seen the face of God. Moses came close but not really. The passing glory of the Lord is so intense no human could withstand its might and power. Blessed with eternal life is the knowledge that we will be able to stand in the presence of the Almighty Lord God and peer deep into the eyes of a loving Father. People often have such a distorted view of heaven. They may comment on how boring it will be to just sit around ‘playing harps’ and ‘floating on clouds.’ This is such a carnal view of what the glory of eternal life will be. I believe it is safe to say that standing before the presence of God will be an experience that we will not be able to take our eyes off of His face – forever! His name will be on our foreheads and we will be glorifying His name. What a joy that will be.

Our eternal Father’s day will be a place where there is no curse, no sin, no pain, no sorrow and no death. All the saints will gather around His throne in the eternal glory of His majesty and worship His name as we behold His face. What a day that will be when our Savior we shall see. His image will be clearly before us. His love will pour in our hearts. Everlasting joy will consume our thoughts as we bask in the sight of seeing our Father face to face. In the hope of redemption, my earthly father will be there along with my mom. As much as I miss them both it is my eternal Father that I cannot wait to see face to face. His glory will be so amazing. Don’t you miss Him already?

Heaven at present is out of sight, but in due time, as snow melts and discovers what it lay upon, so will this visible creation fade away before those greater splendors which are behind it. (John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, 4, 1843)

You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)

The Bug Man Who Was A Litter Bug

If you have lived in North Central Florida for any length of time, you are familiar with a successful pest control company who has had a popular motto that says, “The only bugs we can’t control are litter bugs.” The company has been very involved in the community and offers services that are established upon the principle of exceeding  customer expectations. This past week I was driving behind one of their small cars with advertising all over the vehicle. On the bumper was the familiar slogan I have seen most of my life, “The only bugs we can’t control are litter bugs.” The driver had the window down and he was smoking a cigarette with the obvious cloud flowing out. What caught my eye was as we pulled away from the red-light, he threw his cigarette butt out the window. My reaction was rather humorous because here is a man driving around my fair city representing a successful company of long standing and in one small act went against much of what the company stands for. It’s human nature.

I know that if the company knew what happened they would be disappointed. It is not a reflection upon the principles of the company but the careless act of someone not thinking. It did occur to me of how many times I have done the same thing but on a grandeur scale. I serve the King of King and Lord of Lords. His principles are so high they reach the throne of God. The teachings of Jesus are to reflect the character of holiness in every part of my life. All my life should be a mirror of what the Father teaches me in His message of redemption. And then those days happen when I throw that influence right out the window and someone sees me. Not a good image. In a careless act or word, the person who sees my life does not see the glory of God. They see anger, frustration, and anything that glorifies my carnal nature instead of the goodness of my Creator.

None of us are perfect and we all throw things out the window from time to time. I guess life is trying to limit what we throw out and how often. There are some of God’s people who are throwing huge amounts of debris out the window as they go through life. They struggle and we need to pray for them. We should try very hard to be a good influence of righteousness to everyone we met and to those we influence without knowing it. Paul’s prayer for the saints at Corinth was to remember their lives were like books, known and read by all men. We do not know how many read about our lives. The pictures they see are good and sometimes not so good. As epistles of Jesus Christ, let us try diligently to present an example of grace to everyone. Remember that some see us and we do not know it. Let our lives be written by the Spirit of the living God upon hearts seeking the glory of the Lord. I thought that was a good story.

Someone has said … that the only Bible which millions of people read today is the daily example of Christians – your example and mine. (James E. Murray, Address, March 31, 1948)

Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord, and to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?” Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me–for Me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?’” (Zechariah 7:1-7)

Did You Really Fast For Me? For Me?

The prophet Zechariah lived around 2500 years ago during the reign of the Persian king Darius. God’s people had languished in captivity for seventy years before returning to a destroyed city of Jerusalem. Apathy filled the hearts of the disheartened people. The city was in complete ruin and efforts to rebuild the Temple were met with distrust and opposition. It was laid at the feet of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to kindle a spirit of devotion for the work of the Lord in the people. The task was daunting. There was a foreboding cloud of selfishness among the people who cared more for themselves than worship to the Lord. Religion was only a prosthetic they wore when required. Sound familiar?

Remember when children were small and tasked with a job they would say to the parent, “Do I have to?” It becomes a whining thing. They do the job but with less than enthusiasm. The job is done but there is no desire to get excited about the whole thing. Worship to God becomes like that. When the people sent their messengers to inquire about whether they should weep and fast or not the reply of the Lord shows their hearts were filled with hypocrisy. During the captivity, they went through the motions but not the fervor. The emphasis of the Lord’s reply: “Did you really fast for Me – for Me?” illustrates how devoted the people were. It was not much. Very little in fact. The walls of the city lay in ruin and no one cared. Work on the Temple had begun but then stopped and would take a long time to finish. Captivity had taken away the desire of the people to worship idols but now their worship was anything but going through the motions of doing what is minimally required by law. Sound familiar?

The captive people had fasted and mourned during the prescribed months but it was not because they had a longing desire to worship the Lord in truth. They had turned their worship into the worship of self. “My needs must be met” is what they were saying. “Our designs must be fulfilled” is how they lived. Suddenly the worship of God had turned into a ‘clock-watching-limited-time-doing-things-in-a-rigid-prescribed-manner-of-worship-don’t-ask-me-to-do-more-than-that’ kind of religion. They had a heart for worship; it was a heart for themselves – not the Lord. It was remarkable they had the audacity to ask the question. If they could get away with doing as little as possible, they would be happy. Sound familiar?

Obedience of the heart has always been the need for man. The Lord required sacrifices to test the hearts of the people, not the hands. Going through the motion of worship does not bring holiness. A parrot can be taught to pray but he is only saying words. The heart of true worship is rooted in an obedient heart of truth, mercy, grace and thanksgiving for the wonderful blessings of a loving God. True worshippers never ask the question, “Do I have to?” They do because they love the Lord with all their heart, their soul, their minds and their bodies. Worship is not contained in a box. Praise God for who He really is because of who we really know ourselves to be. Thank you Father for your enduring patience and love.

Adoration means that you put yourself in the attitude of him who is nothing before Him who is everything. It means total submission, even annihilation before the object of your adoration. (Jacques Leclercq, Back To Jesus, 1959)

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God in me. (Galatians 1:18-24)

The Most Unlikely Candidate

Saul of Tarsus was on a mission. He wanted to destroy every vestige of Christianity he could find. His reign of terror over the church reached to foreign cities as he punished anyone who named the name of Jesus Christ. Compelling disciples to blaspheme their faith in God, Saul was a man seeking to destroy the followers of the man from Nazareth. His name was often discussed among the saints as they heard of families being taken away to prison or killed. The story of Stephen’s death would have been common knowledge among the faithful. Saul of Tarsus was feared.

Among the candidates for the gospel, Saul was not on the top of the list. It would be easy to assume he was not even on the list. No one wanted him to find the list. Saul was the antipathy of the children of redemption. The Lord saw in the Pharisee of Pharisees a heart completed devoted to Him; however misguided. On the road to a city called Damascus the man opposed to Christ changed into a candidate for teaching the truth. Three days later when Ananias came to him, Saul became a child of God under the grace of Christ. There were many people like Saul who hated the disciples of Christ and wanted to destroy them. What set the man from Tarsus apart was his heart to serve the Lord in truth. Saul’s conversion was not an act of miraculous changing against the will of his heart. He had a good heart. He made the decision to follow after what he learned to be the only truth. The most unlikely candidate in the world was now a child of God.

There are a lot of Saul’s in our midst. The mistake so often made in teaching the gospel of Christ is how we look for candidates. People like Saul are seldom considered. His lifestyle would be the last consideration to show the gospel of grace. Unless the person is close to obeying the gospel and is of a clean, godly, moral nature we are horrified to suggest the possibility to save them. They are so wicked – why waste time on them. Seeing the cigarettes hanging out of their multiplied pierced lips with alcohol reeking from the breath does not exude the environment to have a conversation about Christ. The neighbor is so worldly they would never consider a Bible study – we conclude. The man or woman working in the next cubicle at work? Don’t waste the time. And then Saul of Tarsus comes to mind.

The brethren were challenged by the new Saul. What do we do with this man? When Saul went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, he was not known in the churches. They had heard that he persecuted the church heavily and now through the grace of God was a preacher for Christ. That amazed them to wonderment. Their conclusion was simple: praise God! It encouraged them to look for more men like Saul. Anyone was a candidate to teach. Souls were saved. Satan lost many followers to Christ. Look around and you will find many people that are rough around the edges but inside have hearts yearning for something more. The love of God is the answer. Go beyond the external and the habits and see the possibilities. There are many Saul’s out there.

God wishes no narrow-hearted souls or empty heads for his children; but those whose spirit is of itself indeed, poor, but rich in the knowledge of him; and who regard this knowledge of God as the only valuable possession. (G. W. F. Hegel; 1770-1832; The Philosophy of History, publ. posth.)

He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations. (Psalm 105:7-8)

God Remembers His Covenant

David was a man of deep conviction. He saw the power of God in the history of the nation of Israel as the testimony to the sacred word of the Lord. Worship to the shepherd king was joyful because whatever the word of God declared would come to pass. Unlike the words of man, when the Lord made a covenant it would not fail. It did not matter how long ago God made a covenant; He would uphold His righteousness by every word professed in the promise. When David delivered this psalm to Asaph, Abraham had been dead for many generations. The glory of God’s word is that David knew the promises made so long ago were still true and remained unchanged. There were no deviations, updates, rewriting of the covenant – it was the pure word of God unchanged. He is Lord because His word is established in heaven.

In the Garden of Eden God made a covenant to send His only begotten Son as sacrifice for the sin of man. Thousands of years later Jesus Christ came to earth. Promise kept. The life of Jesus was two thousand years ago. His promises remain the same. The Lord God who created the earth has kept His promise even to this year you and I live in. How can man compare to the eternal faithfulness of the Father? The covenant God has with the earth remains until this day. Following the flood, the Lord established a covenant of seasons where there will always be seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night. This has not changed. Every time a rainbow appears, the covenant of God is affirmed and acknowledged. His word is truth.

What has the Lord said that He will not carry out? His word promises forgiveness. This word is true. He promises that if we repent and change our lives He will remove our sins as far as the east is from the west. That word is the covenant of truth. If we obey the will of the Lord in obedience to Christ, our sins will be washed away – every one of them. His word is true. The mercy of God is a covenant of grace that remains unchanged. In faith we come to God and through baptism the Lord promises to take away all of our sins that we may rise clean and pure. His word is true.

The promise of heaven is made to the children of God. Why do we live each day doubting the power of God to save us from our sins? He has made a covenant with His children that when we live within the arms of His love we can stand before Him in joy. There is a crown with our name on it. A place is reserved in heaven for us. This is what He has promised the faithful. His word is true. David lived each day in the confidence the God he served was the Lord of covenant keeping. Our worship daily should be the praise of God’s grace allowing us to be part of His kingdom. His word is true and everlasting. Never doubt the word of the Lord. It is impossible for God to lie. On that confidence we may rest our hope on the saving grace of Jesus Christ. His word is true.

No matter what the human intermediaries may be, it is the living and person word of God which presents the truths of faith to the soul until the end of time. (Jean Mouroux, I Believe, 1960)

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know? Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. (Proverbs 30:4-5)

He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands

The doctrine of God is the understanding that all things that exist are formed by the power of the hand of the Lord. It is fundamental for every man to acknowledge the belief in one Creator and one Lord. There is none like Him. The greatest feat of man’s wisdom pales in comparison to the One who placed each star on a blanket of darkness and suspended the sun in an exact position to warm the earth. Creation resounds with the doctrine of a majestic creator who allows the waves to advance only so far, the winds to circle the earth forming weather patterns needed for life, blood coursing through endless avenues of arteries necessary for the life of man and myriads of singular factors ordained in a creative pattern. Who is a God like Him?

He has the whole world in His hands. The children’s song is a fun reminder of what the Lord has done for man. He’s got the wind and the rain in His hands and He’s got the little bitty babies in His hands. Children need to learn that God is the Creator. Understanding the world is held in His hands will help them appreciate how great He is. Those are some big hands. The hands of God are not so big to protect them, to guide them. Children need to trust in the hands of the Lord. They will learn this from two sources: the world and the Bible.

Living in an electronic world does a disservice to children who never take the time to “smell the roses.” Spending time in the creation of the world shows children how beautiful the world has been created and the infinite power of God’s creation. James Dobson tells the story of one morning his father awakening him long before sunrise. They drive for some distance before getting out and sitting down in a field. His dad tells him, “Now watch what happens.” Soon the early sun begins to peek over the horizon and shortly the sky fills with the majesty of God’s creative hand in the early morning dew. It left an impression. Parents need to take their children out in the world of God and show them who He is. That is a vital doctrine for their hearts.

Second, children must know the Bible. Education is important but spiritual doctrine is an eternal necessity. Parents must teach their children the grand stories of scripture, showing them the majesty of a loving God, lifting up the image of Jesus Christ in their hearts. When they see the Lord in creation, they will understand better the God of scripture. Children who grow up knowing that He’s got the whole world in His hands will have some powerful arms to guide them through life. And it goes without saying that parents need to sing this same song. We all need to spend time in creation quietly meditating on His canvas of creative glory. The Bible must be our constant companion. Faith still comes from hearing the word of God. This faith will also come by looking up at the stars and filling the mind with the world He has left as His thumbprint of glory. He’s got the whole world in hands. Sing that today.

The spiritual interest in the doctrine of creation lies solely in the assertion of the dependence of all existence upon the will of God. (William Temple, Nature, Man and God, 1934)

When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:10-14)

Jesus Offended People

The disciples felt a little conscience about the force of Jesus teaching style. They had been with Him enough to know that He did not concern Himself with mincing words against the religious leaders who sought to trap Him. His message was simple, direct and bold. It was truth. The scribes and Pharisees complained about the disciples of Jesus not keeping the traditions of their fathers – at the same time failing to understand the will of God in the Law. Their problem was heart trouble of keeping laws on the outside but failing to worship in spirit and truth on the inside. Jesus knew their hearts. He pointed out the clarity of their refusal to follow the Father. The disciples got a little edgy about His approach. Jesus reply to His own disciples was plain and direct. Those who follow His Father will be blessed and those who refuse will be torn down. Blind men lead blind men and the end is destruction. Any questions?

This is not uncharacteristic for Jesus. In truth, He never offended anyone. His words offended them because they were the truth. People often mistake the action of a person for offensive when in fact the content of the message is what upsets the spirit. Jesus reminded the multitudes the words He spoke were the words of His Father. Truth is narrow. It is direct. There is no latitude to allow for holding back so that men’s hearts will not be offended. Eventually the people would kill Jesus for the same reason. They could not handle the nature of truth. He was the embodiment of everything that was right in everything He said and the Jewish leaders hated Him for that.

Truth has the same message today. It is a clear temptation to withhold the truth because of how it may be perceived in a world given over to political correctness. Remember this spirit of correctness is not new. Since the beginning of time, the truth has been established as plain, simple and direct. Noah offended many people. A flood was coming, salvation is in the ark alone, repent or die. His words were truth because a flood did come and the only people that were saved with those in the ark. Being offended by the preaching of Noah did not change the reality of the coming flood. The prophets of old were killed because they told the truth. In the early days of the church disciples were persecuted because they upheld a banner of truth.

Teaching the gospel of Christ today is telling the story written by the finger of God. It is His story. The message of salvation is simple, plain and direct. There is no other way of salvation but Jesus Christ. He is the only way, the only truth and the only life and without Him no one – underline no one – will see the Father. If people are offended by what is taught, make certain what is taught is the word of God. When the word of God is taught and people are offended, remember they are mad at God – not you. You preach the word. God will handle His end. If they follow the will of the Lord, they will be saved. If not they will be lost. God’s word! His truth!

There is a tragic clash between truth and the world. Pure undistorted truth burns up the world. (Nicholas Berdyaev, The Divine and the Human, 1949)

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him. (Nahum 1:7)

Trusting In The Lord

The mind of God is so huge it boggles the spirit of man to consider how great the Father is and how small we are. Literally, there is no comparison. Not even close. The greatest achievement of man is an oblivion of microscopic nothingness when the greatness of God is laid alongside the knowledge of the wisest of men. So why do we continue to rely upon our own power to solve matters of life? The oldest person I have ever known lived to be 106 but the Father is older than light. He dwells in eternity, which is without beginning and end (as if anyone really understands what that means). The Lord has a name for every star. His hand is so large it holds the universe easily within His grasp. He spoke and the world formed. His knowledge is so vast He knows everything about every person filling this six billion person rock three doors from the sun. He remembers what every man, woman and child has said and done for the last thousands of years since Adam and Eve first walked along the banks of the Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel and Euphrates rivers. The list goes on and on. Question: why don’t we trust the Lord?

God is good. He is really, really good. All of creation screams His glory of how good He is. Nothing the Lord has done from the beginning of time has ever been without goodness. He does good things because He is the meaning of good. Throughout the Bible story, He has painted a portrait of goodness to those who love Him. Nothing has been withheld. His blessings are in multitudes of this goodness and that goodness and everyone who received His kindness never deserved it. Take a deep breath and thank God He is good. Look around the world, see the wonders of creation, and thank God He is so very good. Ponder the heavens on a star filled night and know how good the Lord really, really is.

God is a stronghold in the troubles we face. Life can be hard. It can be difficult without many answers. The limitations of man’s knowledge grasps at the wisp of his inability to know from one generation to the next. The Father is a place of security that even Satan himself cannot breach. Trusting in the Lord is the confidence that dwelling in the city of God protects us from all harm. The battering rams of doubt, despair and uncertainty do not penetrate our lives because we rest our hope on the solid rock of our heavenly Father. What will happen on the morrow is left to the marrow of God’s wisdom because He is already there. Trusting the Lord is leaving the matters of life in His big, wide and wonderful hands. There is nothing to worry about and nothing to be anxious for.

He knows those who trust in Him. What an exciting thought to know that God knows my name. Of all the people who have ever lived and live today the Lord God Creator knows who I am. When we trust fully in His love, He knows who we are. Giving our lives wholly to His will, He blesses us personally with His presence, His wisdom, His spirit and His incredible mercy. It’s personal. God knows those who trust in Him.

Father, thank you for being so good, so strong and so loving.

So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing to the Lord, accompanied by loud instruments. And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the Lord; and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers. Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast another seven days, and they kept it another seven days with gladness. For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the leaders gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests sanctified themselves. The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, also the priests and Levites, all the assembly that came from Israel, the sojourners who came from the land of Israel, and those who dwelt in Judah. So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven. (2 Chronicles 30:21-27)

There Was Great Joy In Jerusalem

Worship to God has always been a fundamental part of the fellowship man enjoys with his creator. Man was formed to give glory to the Lord and through his acts of worship; he exalts the majesty of God and reminds himself of his humble station. The years of turmoil following the death of Solomon destroyed much of the spirit of worship to God. As the people sank deeper into the poverty of idol worship, their hearts were seared with the spirit of rebellion against the will of God. The northern kingdom of Israel never recovered from their impenitent hearts. Sprinkled through the history of Judah, a king would seek the will of God and do what was right. Hezekiah was one of the kings who did what was right in the sight of the Lord. It was during his reign that temple worship was restored.

Hezekiah sent letters throughout the land encouraging the people to come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Runners went throughout all Israel and Judah announcing the proclamation of the king. Many of the people laughed them to scorn and mocked them but the righteous in heart heeded the words and came to Jerusalem for the Passover. There was a singleness of heart among the faithful as the Lord blessed them. Singing and loud instruments filled the city with the praise of God echoing from every corner. The Levites taught the people the word of the Lord and the feast lasted for seven days. Sacrifices were made as the people confessed their sin. It was a deeply, moving time for the faithful children of God who were reminded of the holiness of worship to God. So much so the people wanted to keep the feast another seven days. They continued the worship for another seven days with a spirit of gladness.

There was great joy in Jerusalem. So much joy that nothing like it had been seen in the land since the days of Solomon. This was a high time of spiritual renewal. The faithful had rediscovered the joy of worship. God’s people had been reminded of the manifold blessings of a gracious Lord who had cared for them and protected them with His mighty hand. A restoration of spiritual remembrance infected the hearts of the humble who gladly worshiped the name of Jehovah God. The city of Jerusalem was a place of loud praise. The prayers of the people went all the way to the holy dwelling place of Almighty God who dwells in heaven. What a shout. What a joy. What a story.

Spiritual restoration is always a need for God’s people. Worship can become dull and filled with apathy. The faithful in the days of Hezekiah learned how to rekindle their hearts to the worthy praise of the Lord. It was a glorious time of worship. Tomorrow is the first day of the week. We come together – as we always do – to follow a pattern of worship. The question is this: will Sunday be a time of routine doing this and doing that; or will it be a time of spiritual renewal? How the worship impacts the heart in song, prayer and meditation upon the death of Jesus, will depend on how we prepare our hearts to worship God.  I like to read about the joy in Jerusalem. Let us make our worship tomorrow be a time of joy. Be happy to be with God’s people. Rejoice that God loves us so much to give us all the blessings of His mighty hand. Do not be tied to a ‘time-keeping-clock’ mentality but desire a spirit-filled expression of eternal joy because of the Passover Lamb who gave His life so we could enter heaven. Make worship tomorrow fill the throne room of God with fervent prayers, songs filled with joy, quiet meditation on the sacrifice of Jesus and amen laced sermons of the powerful word of God. Praise God. Let the place where you are be a place of great joy. Now that will be a great story. Amen?

Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth. (Hosea 6:1-3)

He Will Heal Us

Hosea is a prophet of the love of God. He bore a heavy burden trying to turn Israel from their path of destruction. His language at times is hard and yet the kindness of the Lord shines forth in his message of God’s forgiveness. The children of Israel had gone the way of Baal and followed the gods of the nations around them. Their wickedness filled the land with sexual immorality, sorcery, licentiousness, murder, stealing; every sin imaginable. As a nation, it had become a melting pot for the putridity of man’s base nature to exalt the pleasure of the flesh. Children were sacrificed as burnt offerings, families murdered for political gain and the word of God lost in the hearts of God’s people. The Lord was bringing judgement upon the people and the prophets warned of impending doom. Hosea did his part. His marriage to Gomer was an illustration of how much God loved His people even when they were so evil and corrupt.

Hosea pleads with the people to return to the Lord because the mercy of God would grant forgiveness. The harm they suffered was the punishment of the Lord but He would also show them love when they repented. Striking them with pestilence, disease and plagues was an effort to turn their hearts. Coming back to the Lord the people would find a compassionate and forgiving God. They were destroyed for lack of knowledge but the pursuit of knowledge would save them. All the promises of God were true Hosea reminds them and they should remember the forgiveness of God was promised. Like the blessings of rain the wonderful grace of God will revive the nation again.

God’s character is unchanged. Our sin is grievous in His sight but He longs for us to return to Him with penitent hearts. His grace is so large to forgive a spirit that grieves over the penalty of sin. Returning to the Lord He will heal us and bind our wounds with the blood of His Son. When we pursue the knowledge of God He will forgive us. His will guides us back to His throne. There is nothing we have done that He will not forgive if we come to Him seeking His abundant mercy and grace. What a great God we serve to be filled with such love. Nothing we have done and nothing we will ever do can deserve the forgiveness of God. He grants it still. From the parched plains of our sin He bears us on eagles wings to the mountains of His abundant blessings to be nourished by the rain that showers upon us His kindness. What a great God we serve.

The divine love hovers over the life of man with the vivacious persistence of April calling earth to life. (Walter Farrell, The Looking Glass, 1951)