War and Peace

Last night in Bible Study we were in Revelation 19. This chapter of the Word of God describes in graphic and vivid language when Jesus will return for the second time and judge His enemies. There's a lot of controvery about the end of time and the book of Revelation, but all Christians agree that when Jesus returns, it will not only be to bring peace, but to make war. 

But this makes us feel a little weird. As my mom brought up last night, it changes our view of Jesus. So often we think of Jesus as this meek and mild, emaciated prisoner who goes to the cross just to bring peace and love. We think of Him with tears in His eyes, slowly dying, wishing there was another way to save the world. But that would cause the picture painted of Jesus in Revelation 19 to cause a bit of a problem. This is what it says about Jesus' return:

"Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on His head. He had a name written that no one knows except Himself. He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is the Word of God. The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. A sharp sword came from His mouth, so that He might strike the nations with it. He will shepherd them with an iron scepter. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGSAND LORD OF LORDS." (19:11-16)

This is Jesus. The same Jesus who died to bring peace is now making war. When we separate Christ's judgement from His love, we're maligning His character. We like to focus on His love because it makes us feel good. Jesus in a bloody battle makes us uncomfortable. The only blood we see Him associated with is His own. But to distinctly separate the cross and His second coming, His love and wrath, His war and peace is to paint a false picture of Jesus.

There was a clip from a Voddie Baucham sermon going around, on "A Sissified, Needy Jesus." Dr. Baucham said wisely,

"I despise the picture that is painted in our culture of this sissified, needy Jesus. ... He's just yearning for you. He's just longing for you. He wants friendship and relationship with you. He needs you. Oh, you're just breaking his heart. No. He's going to break you. ... By definition, God is self-sustaining, self-sufficient and self-existent. Therefore, by definition He needs nothing. God does not need you, and He's gonna prove it one day."

And then he read Revelation 19:11-16. Culture can handle needy Jesus. They can handle a good teacher, who teaches good morals, and dies for peace. What they can't handle so much is Jesus coming back to make war, to destroy His enemies with the sword and to bring final and lasting judgement.

If you think about it, Jesus could have skipped the cross, done it another way. He could have called down armies of heaven and stormed death's gates. But instead, He created the cross and chose that as His means of victory. He did this to bring love and to make war. The cross was a war act. It wasn't big and bold like we think of war being. But it was bloody. And it was the pinnacle of all human history. It was this that was the rescue mission. When Jesus returns to bring judgement, it will be no rescue mission. It's an all out war. And there will be no prisoners.

I don't know about you, but I serve no sissified, needy Jesus. I serve the Faithful and True.

An ... Interesting Experiment

So Mom and I had a problem. It was a serious problem. It was an ice cream problem. It was, what I believe to be, a rather common problem. It dealt with a carton of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Now this flavour happens to be Mom's and my favourite. But why do we love this ice cream? Obviously, because of the chunks of gooey cookie dough. But herein is where the problem lies - there is just never enough chocolate chip cookie dough in the ice cream! And we've purchased our fair share of this ice cream, so maybe we just got a dozen bad cartons ... or maybe there's just something wrong here, some lurking evil at play ...

We went with the latter option of course. Something evil has got to be involved if it's taking away the cookie dough from our ice cream. So we decided to conduct a little experiment. We would make our own chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. We'd whip up a batch of cookie dough, buy our own carton of french vanilla ice cream, mix, and voila! We'd have the best cookie dough ice cream, better than Dairy Queen and Brahms and Farmers and Breyer's and Mishoo's and Mayfield and ... well, you get the point.

So last night we conducted this experiment. It was ... interesting. We bought the ice cream, made the cookie dough and then combined. The results were something neither of us had ever anticipated. One spoonful and we were in love. Two and we were hooked. Three was magnificent. Four was great. Five was good. Six was okay. Seven was getting a little sweet. By eight we were ready to be sick. Nine didn't make it our mouths. We didn't get halfway through the bowl.

So, our results? We now recognize why there is only so much cookie dough in ice cream, and we recognize and appreciate the fine art of ice cream making and realize that it is not for us. Yes, we feel shame. But. It did get me thinking about something of more importance that ice cream. And that is the Bible.

How often do we - or others - get in our heads that the Bible needs beefing up? Sweetening? Shortening? Simplifying? Altogether to be easier to swallow? But that is a false and sinful attitude. Even though it may seem better at first, just like those first bites of ice cream, and you may feel like you've improved the Word of God, you'll soon realize what terrible thing has just been committed. It's disastrous:

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19)

So what has my ice cream experiment taught me? When we take the Bible into our own hands, we are committing a sin of terrifying consequences. And when we try to make our own cookie dough ice cream, only disaster can ensue.

Looking Forward to the New Heavens and New Earth

After a couple of insane days at a province-wide drama festival, I've been thinking a lot about the hope that we have in the new heavens and new earth, and this encouraging passage really has me looking forward to those days.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son." (Revelation 21:1-7)

Peace on Earth? I Don't Think So ...

This morning, as I was ripping off yesterday's word on my Word-a-Day Calendar, I noticed four words at the bottom of the today's sheet. Under the big number 21, it read International Day of Peace. That reminded me of just a few days ago, when I found myself in Matthew 10 in my devotions. Matthew 10:34-38 seems really applicable to this day, as the world seeks to glorify temporary, earthly peace among humans, when Jesus teaches us something much different:

"[Jesus said] 'Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.' "

When I read this, I almost dropped my Bible! Whoa was all I could think. Did Jesus just say that He didn't come to bring peace on earth? What about all those Christmas carols where we sing about Jesus bringing peace on earth and goodwill toward men? But right here, I had just read that Jesus didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. Now what does that mean? If you keep reading, He tells you. "For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household." What??? Is Jesus saying that He wants to set us against our family? Not ultimately, but what He does want us to do might result in conflict with our loved ones. "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." So what does Christ want us to do? Quite simply, follow Him. He wants to be our all, our everything. He doesn't want anything or anyone to come in the way of that, not loved ones, not money, not possessions, not anything. He wants to be enough for us.

But as I think about today, the International Day of Peace, and I remember that Jesus didn't come to bring peace on earth now, He did come to bring it in the end. Because of Christ's death and resurrection, one day, when this old, dying, sinful planet is destroyed and we're living in the New Heavens and New Earth, peace will reign. Not the peace that's celebrated on IDP, but a peace that is everlasting, that will never wane, that will never diminish, a peace that unites all men. Not simply a peace that celebrates the absence of war, but a peace that celebrates the unity of all people in Christ. So, today, while the world sings "peace on earth," let's remember that:

1. Christ did not come to bring temporary, worldly peace. He came to bring temporary division, a division that will root out the unbelievers and sanctify His children and prepare us for the day when His eternal peace will reign.
2. Though Christ's peace does not cover the world now, it will. One day we will see "a new heaven and a new earth ... “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”" (Revelation 21:1, 3-5) 

And so now, let us say with confidence, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20)

Bay of FUN-dy

Yesterday, after the church service, Dad, Mom, Travis, Grandpa and I headed down to a cottage on the Bay of Fundy. To see what my dad got out of the trip, you can check out here. The day was really incredible! One thing that was so amazing was the way everything worked. I mean, take the tides for instance. Look at two pictures of the same boat, one at high tide and one at low tide.

High tide

Low tide

There's only six hours between the two tides! How amazing is that?

Or take the little waterfall rushing over the cliff, just twenty feet away from the edge of the water (it's twenty feet away from the water at low tide; at high tide, the waterfall falls right into the ocean). The waterfall has nearly two dozen tiny, intricate paths flowing right through the rocks and into the ocean. How cool is that?

Or look at the little church on the cliff.


Do you think that cliff could support all those buildings and hundreds of trees? But it does!

All of this, the tides, the waterfall, and the cliff are all working smoothly, together. I mean, if the cliff collapsed, the waterfall would fall with it. If the tide always remained at high tide, you could never even see the waterfall. It's so intricate, so designed. I don't know evolutionists or atheists look at something like this and say, "There's no God." This is like a painting, a beautiful work of art. People don't look a that painting and say, "There's no artist."

The Bay of Fundy testifies to God's existence. It's almost impossible to look at something like this and ignore God. You can feel God's hand at work. You can know for sure that only God could create something so beautiful, so intricate, so magnificent as the Bay of Fundy.

"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." -- Revelation 4:11

Remember the Rainbow

I don't know about you, but the weather changes my mood. If it's sunny with blue skies outside, I can't help feeling encouraged and upbeat. But if it's like today, with gray clouds and drizzling rain I automatically feel down. Then, I think what's going to come after it. Like Gilbert K. Chesterton said, "And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow."

Rainbows cheer me up. They remind me that God is with me. So, on days like today, I strive to "look up, rather than down." I try to look for the rainbow, amidst the clouds. That's kind of like life, don't you think? We have sunny days, and we have rainy days. In life, the rainbow is God. Some people don't have that rainbow to look up upon. They think that they will just have to mumble "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" under their breath, crossing their fingers that it will. For those of us that have Christ in our lives, we can know that the "Son" really will come out. Maybe not tomorrow, or the day after, or this year, or in 10 years. But it will. When we see Jesus. In fact, we won't even need the sun because Jesus will be all the Light we need.

"And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb." ~ Revelation 21:23

What Do You See?

Yesterday, my parents took my brother and me to the Halifax Discovery Center. It's a big science building with hands-on exhibits and fun science movies and activities. There's things like a maze and bubble room and electricity room. My personal favourite was the box surrounded by mirrors that made it look like I had no body and my head was floating on air. Near the end of our visit, I noticed a sign that looked out of place. It read:

PARIS IN THE
THE SPRING

I didn't quite understand it, until I saw the little letters at the bottom that said, "Usually we see just what we want to see. You probably didn't even notice the second 'the' in the sentence." Did you notice it? I didn't. That got me thinking about how some people "see just what they want to see" in the Bible. What?! you say. It's true.

Take the organization, the Ku Klux Klan, for instance. They are a racist organization that bears the name of Christ. They take and use what they want, and instead of honouring it all as the complete Word of God, ignore the passages that condemn them. In Revelation 22:18-19 it says, "I testify to everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. ¹⁹ And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, written in this book."

God takes this stuff pretty seriously. Let's focus on God and His Word as the only Guide in our lives. Let's not pick and choose through the Bible. Let's not add, nor take away any of the Lord's wonderful Words.