Month: September 2023

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 30 ~ ~ Psalm 8:3-4 ~ ~ “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

From the book, “We Shall See God”

“God as a Master Artist”

SPURGEON:

Concerning the joy to which we are called, we would say, it is a joy in creation: “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth….I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness” (Isaiah 65:17-18)

I must confess that I think it a most right and excellent thing that you and I should rejoice in the natural creation of God. I do not think that any man is altogether beyond hope who can take delight in the nightly heavens as he watches the stars and feel joy as he treads the meadows all adorned with buttercups and daisies.

The man who is altogether bad seldom delights in nature. He cares little enough for the fields unless he can hunt in them, little enough for lands unless he can raise rent from them, little enough for living things except for slaughter or for sale. He welcomes night only for the indulgence of his sins, but the stars are not one half as bright to him as the lights that men have kindled. For him indeed the constellations shine in vain.

One of the purest and most innocent of joys, apart from spiritual things, in which a man can indulge is a joy in the works of God. I confess I have no sympathy with the good man, who, when he went down the Rhine, dived into the cabin that he might not see the river and the mountains, lest he should be absorbed in them and forget his Savior. I like to see my Savior on the hills and by the shores of the sea. I hear my Father’s voice in the thunder and listen to the whispers of his love in the cadence of the sunlit waves. Here are my Father’s works, and therefore I admire them. I seem all the nearer to Him when I am among them.

If I were a great artist, I should think it a very small compliment if my son came into my house and said he would not notice the pictures I had painted because he only wanted to think of me.

In doing so He would condemn my paintings, for if they were good for anything, He would rejoice to see My hand in them. Oh, but surely everything that comes fro the hand of such a aster in his works. Shouldn’t His people do so? He said of what He had made, “It is very good.” If a man thinks that what God has made is not very good.,” If a man thinks that what God has made in not very good, He cannot be very good Himself. In this He contradicts His God. It is a beautiful world we live in.

There are lovely spots in this fair globe which ought to make even a blasphemer devout. I have said, among the mountains, “He who sees no God here is mad.” There are things that God has made which overwhelm with a sense of His omnipotence: how can men see them and doubt the existence of the Diety? Whether you consider the anatomy of the body or the arrangement of the mighty heavens, you wonder that the scorner does not bow his hand—at least in silence—and own up to the infinite supremacy of God.

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Ps 33:6

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

Isaiah 40:22

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

Isaiah 40:26

Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

Ps 147:4

He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.

Psalm 84:3

Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young— Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.

Matthew 10:29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 29 ~ ~ Psalm 72:11~ ~ “All kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.”

From We Shall See God.

“Rejoicing in the New Creation”…from Jerusalem’s point of view.

RANDY ALCORN:

God’s people were right to expect the Messiah to bring an earthly kingdom. That’s exactly what God had promised. The passage above is an explicitly messianic passage that tells us “His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10)

God promises that He has a great future in store for Jerusalem, in which He will “extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream” (Isaiah 66:12) All the nations will bring their cultural treasures into a healed and peaceful Jerusalem, precisely as Revelation 21:24 portrays.

Isaiah 66 says that peace will come to Jerusalem and Jerusalem will become a center of all nations. The Lord says, “I….am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages and they will come and see My glory” (Isaiah 66:18). This prophecy is clearly fulfilled in the later chapters of Revelation. Jerusalem will reside on the New Earth, wouldn’t we expect it to be called the New Jerusalem? That’s exactly what it is called (Revelation 3:12, 21:2)

Scripture’s repeated promises about land, peace, and the centrality of Jerusalem among all cities and nations will be fulfilled. On the new earth, a host of Old Testament prophecies will ultimately be fulfilled. There the people of God will “possess the land (earth) FOREVER!!! (Isaiah 60:21)

Every time Jewish people greet one another with “Shalom”–loosely translated “Peace”—they express the God-given cry of the heart to live in a world where there’s no sin, suffering, or death. There was once such a world, enjoyed by only two people and some animals. But there will again be such a world, enjoyed by all its inhabitants. Knowing that this glorious future awaits God’s children can give us perspective and courage to face our present suffering, which are very real, yet in view of eternity, only fleeting.

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Here is an additional writing, by John Piper, from his book, “The Pleasures of God”:

He sees death from a totally different viewpoint than we do. When our loved ones go on a trip, we see it from our point of view. We will miss them. We will have to do more work, we won’t be able to talk with them. We see their backs, leaving us, and we’re sad.

But the people they are going to see on this trip see the trip from the opposite direction. They see them COMING to them. They see their fellowship with them, their help, or whatever the reason for the trip was, and they rejoice to see their faces coming toward them.

This is what Jesus sees at the death of a loved one. The Word says:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Ps 116:15

PRECIOUS! It gives God delight to see them coming into Paradise with Him! He delights to show them the beauty of Heaven, and the fellowship of Himself, and to show them how they will glorify Him!!!

He understands our grief, and He is with us in it, but He sees far ahead; He sees what we will eventually see, and He has double joy when He sees us together again, and the entire world system ended, us living forever in His Kingdom!!

Direction of sight makes all the difference. Amount of knowledge and wisdom makes all the difference.

Ps 90:12 ~ ~ “So teach us to number our days,
That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.”

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2 Corinthians 4:17-18

 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Psalm 4:8

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 37:11

But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Psalm 85:10

Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 28 ~ ~ Isaiah 65:17-19 ~ ~ “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.”

From “We Shall See God”—Charles H. Spurgeon and Randy Alcorn

“Rejoicing in the New Creation”

SPURGEON:

“As we see in so many Old Testament prophecies, God delights in transforming the old into the new. We can eagerly anticipate a new creation, a new Kingdom, a New Jerusalem, a New Earth.

This passage, like the rest of Isaiah’s closing chapters, will have it’s most complete fulfillment in the latter days when Christ shall come; when the whole company of His elect ones shall have been gathered out from the world; when the whole creation shall have been renewed; when new heavens and a new earth shall be the product of the Savior’s power; when, forever and forever, perfected saints of God shall behold His face and rejoice in Him.

I hope and believe that the following verses actually describe the condition of the redeemed during the reign of Christ upon the earth:

“They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
They will not labor in vain,
Or give birth to children for disaster;
For they are the descendants of those blessed by the Lord,
And their descendants with them.

It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen. The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.”

Isaiah 65:21-25

But the word which is spoken of above is begun already among us. There is to be a literal new creation, but that new creation has commenced already, and I think, therefore, that even now we ought to manifest a part of the joy. The Lord Himself will rejoice, and we who are in sympathy with Him are exhorted and even commanded to be glad. Let us not be slack in this heavenly duty.

Do you know what this work of creation is, which is here three times promised in the words, “I create, I create, I create”? It is evidently a second creation, which is altogether to eclipse the first and put it out of mind. Shall I tell the story?

The first creation was so fair that, when the Lord looked upon it, with man as its climax and crown, He said, “It is very good” (Genesis 1:31). But it failed in man, who should have been its glory. Man sinned, and in his sin, he was so connected with the whole of the earth that he dragged it down with him. The creation was made subject to vanity, and it groans in pain even until now.

But the infinitely blessed God would not be defeated, and in infinite condescension He determined that He would make a new creation which should rise upon the ruins of the first. He resolved that under a second Adam something more than Paradise should be restored to the universe. He purposed that He would undo, through Jesus Christ, the Seed of the woman, all the mischief that had been wrought by the serpent. He has begun to undo this mischief and to work this new creation, and has so begun that He will never withdraw His hand until the work is done.

He has commenced it thus—by putting new hearts into as any as He has called by His Spirit, regenerating them and making them to become new creatures in Christ Jesus. These the apostle Paul tells us, are a kind of firstfruits of this new creation. Our newborn spirits are the first ripe ears of corn out of a wonderful harvest that will come by and by. The saints’ spirits are, first of all, newly created, but their bodily parts remain in the old creation. Hence we suffer pain, for though the spirit is life because of righteousness, “the body is dead because of sin” (Romans 8:10)

By and by our bodies shall be newly created, when, from beds of dust and silent clay they shall rise into immortal beauty. The Resurrection will be to the body what regeneration is to the soul. When body and soul are thus created anew, the whole earth around them, in which they dwell, shall be, at the same time, renewed also. And so God shall make the spirits, the minds, and the bodies of men all new.

Inasmuch as this ought to be the subject of joy, and the text invites us to it, I come to press upon you the sweet duty of present delight. Oh, when happiness is made a rule, when joy is made a command, I cannot but hope that God’s people, to whom I am now speaking, will answer the call!! Has gladness become the rule? Then we will gladly enough obey, and our hearts shall dance for joy.

Tomorrow Randy will tell us about how this affects Israel.

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Hebrews 13:5

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  So we may boldly say:

The Lord is my helper: I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Amplified version:

I will never (under any circumstances) dessert you (nor give you up nor leave

you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless), nor will I

forsake or let you down or relax my hold on you (assuredly not)!!!

Deuteronomy 33:27

The eternal God is your refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
He will thrust out the enemy from before you,
And will say, ‘Destroy!’

Psalm 9:20

Put them in fear, O Lord,
That the

nations may know themselves to be but men.

*Psalm 91:4 He shall cover thee with His feathers and under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 27 ~ ~ 1 Corinthians 3:11-13 ~ ~ “For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work.”

From the book, We Shall See God with sermons from Charles H. Spurgeon and comments by Randy Alcorn.

“Handling Money As Citizens of Heaven”

SPURGEON:

When you get to heaven, what kind of treasures will be waiting for you? Whether we realize it or not, what we do now with the money and possessions God has entrusted to us will have significant implications for all eternity.

Suppose that a man here has come fresh from heaven. Some would be curious to see what his bodily form would be like. They would expect to be dazzled by the radiance of his countenance.

However, we will let that pass for now. We want to see how he would live. Coming newly from heaven, how would he act? If he came here to do the same as all men do on earth, only after a heavenly sort, what a father he would be, what a husband, what a brother, or friend. I would sit down and let him preach this morning, most assuredly. And when he was done preaching, I would go home with him and have a chat.

I should be very careful to observe what he would do with his wealth. His first thought would be, if he had a shilling, to lay it out for God’s glory, “But” says one, “I have necessities to buy with my shilling.” So be it, but when you go, pray this: “Oh, Lord, help me to lay it out to Your glory.” there should be as much piety in buying your necessities as in going to a place of worship.

I do not think this man coming fresh from heaven would say, “I must have this luxury; I must have this nice outfit; I must have this grand house.” but he would say, “how much can I save for the God of heaven? How much can I invest in the country I came from?

I am sure he would be pinching pennies to save money to serve God with. And as he went about the streets and mingled with ungodly men and women, he would be sure to find ways of getting at their consciences and hearts; he would always be trying to bring others to the bliss he enjoyed.

Think that over, and live so—so as he did who really did come down from heaven. For after all, the best rule of life is, What would Jesus do if He were here today and the world were lying in the grip of the wicked one? If Jesus were in your business, if He had your money, how would He spend it? For that is how YOU ought to spend it.

Now think, my brother, you will be in heaven very soon. Since last year a great number have gone home; before next year many more will have ascended to glory. Sitting up in those celestial seats, how shall we wish that we had lived below?

It will not give any man in heaven even a moment’s joy to think that he gratified himself while here. It will give him no reflections suitable to the place to remember how much he amassed, how much he left behind to be quarreled over after he was gone. He will say to himself, “I wish I had saved more of my capital by sending it on before me, for what I saved on earth was lost, but what I spent for God was really laid up where thieves do not break through and steal.”

Oh brothers, let us live as we shall wish we had lived when life is over, let us fashion a life which will bear the light eternal. Is it life to live otherwise?

ALCORN:

Jesus spoke about where we should place our hearts and our treasures.

“do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt 6:19-21)

When we surrender our earthly treasures to care for the needy, love our neighbor, and further the purposes of God, what we do with money on earth results in eternal rewards in heaven. Giving transforms earthly treasures into heavenly ones.

We topple the money idol by giving away money and material things. Jesus always had two kingdoms in mind. He spoke of two treasuries, two perspectives, and two masters of those two kingdoms

 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

(Matthew 6:22-24).

Each set of verses in Matthew chapter 6 above presents two options and demands one choice. Unless the right choice is deliberately made and tenaciously clung to, we’ll make the wrong choice by default.

There is truth in the old maxim “You can’t take it with you.” But when Jesus tells us to store up treasures in heaven, He adds a new corollary. Essentially He is saying, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”

Material things on this fallen earth just won’t stand the test of time. Even if they escape the moths, vermin and thieves, they cannot escape the coming fire of God that will consume the material world (2 Peter 3:7).

Christ’s primary argument against amassing material wealth isn’t that it’s morally wrong. It’s that in light of the short time we spend here and the eternity we will spend in heaven, storing up our treasures here instead of there is simply a poor investment.

Every day is one day closer to the day we will die. Therefore, those who store up treasures on earth spend every day moving away from their treasures; they have reason to despair. Those who store up treasures in heaven spend every day moving toward their treasures; they have every reason to rejoice.

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IPeter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers…..

Phil 4:19

But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus

John 4:14

But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Psalm 37:11

 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Romans 6:22

 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Isaiah 51:11

 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 26 ~ ~ Isaiah 30:18 (Amp)~ ~ “Therefore the Lord waits [expectantly] and longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed (happy, fortunate) are all those who long for Him [since He will never fail them].”

From the book, “We Shall See God”–containing sermons from the late, great, Charles H. Spurgeon, and comments by Randy Alcorn.

Continuing “To Enjoy Heaven is to Enjoy God”

Randy Alcorn:

I’m often asked the following question: “Why talk about heaven when we can just talk about Jesus?”

The answer, as I hope you’re seeing from Spurgeon, is that the two go together. The right kind of longing for heaven is a longing for God, and longing for God is longing for heaven. If we understand what heaven is —God’s dwelling place—and who God is, we will see no conflict between the two. A woman who longs to be reunited with her husband could well say, “I want to go home,” By home, she means the place she shares with her beloved husband. There is no competition between Christ and heaven. He loves heaven, and He wants us to love heaven and to long to be with Him there.

Any bride in love with her husband wants to be with him more than anything, but if he goes away to build a beautiful place for her, won’t she get excited about it? Won’t she think and talk about that place? Of course. Moreover, he WANTS her to! If he tells her , “I’m going to prepare a place for you,” he’s implying, “I want you to look forward to it.” Her love and longing for the place he’s preparing—where she will live with him—is inseparable from her love and longing for her husband. If she says, “I love you but I have no interest in the place you’re lovingly preparing for me,” then in fact she is not loving him.

I’ve heard it said that God, not heaven, is our inheritance. Well, God IS called our inheritance in 1 Peter 1:3-4. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”

So which is it? It’s both,. Every thought of heaven should move our hearts toward God, just as every thought of God will move our hearts toward heaven. That’s why in Colossians 3:1 Paul doesn’t say to “set your hearts on Christ” but to “set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” To do one is to do the other.

A Christian leader once told me that people shouldn’t look forward to heaven; rather, they should look forward only to being with God. But Scripture knows nothing of this dichotomy. It says of Abraham that “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11;10) Or what about God’s people who are said to “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16)? Shouldn’t they have been desiring just God, not heaven? No! If they were doing something wrong, God wouldn’t commend them for it in Scripture. In desiring heaven, they WERE desiring God. In looking forward to heaven, they WERE looking forward to seeing God.

Charles Spurgeon spoke a lot about heaven, and he did so with passion. But isn’t it clear that he was God centered in doing so? All the joys of heaven are derived from the overflowing goodness of our God.—to enjoy Him will be to enjoy heaven. To enjoy all the derivative goodness He shares with us in heaven will be to enjoy Him.

God has no fear that we’ll get too excited about heaven. After all, the wonders of heaven aren’t OUR idea, they’re HIS. The wonders of the new heavens and new earth will be a primary means by which God reveals Himself and His love to us.

Picture Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve says to Adam, “Isn’t this place magnificent? The sun feels wonderful on my face. The blue sky is gorgeous. These animals are a delight. Try the mango—it’s delicious!”

Can you imagine Adam responding, “Your focus is all wrong, Eve. You shouldn’t think about beauty, refreshment and mouth-watering fruit. All you should think about it God.”

Adam would never have said that, because in thinking about these things, Eve WOULD BE thinking about God. Likewise, our enjoyment of what God has provided us should be inseparable from worshiping, glorifying and appreciating Him. God is honored by our thankfulness for His gifts and pleased by our anticipation of heaven, that magnificent place the God-man is building with His own hands—the place for which he purchased our admission with His own blood.

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Ps 103:13-14 Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For he Himself knows our form. He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.

Ps 36:5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches past the clouds.

Ps 68:6 “God makes a home for the lonely……….”

Psalm 73:28

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

II Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 25~ ~ 1John 1:3 Amp ~ ~ “….. And indeed our fellowship [which is a distinguishing mark of born-again believers] is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

From the book, “We Shall See God” with sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon and comments by Randy Alcorn.

“To Enjoy Heaven is to Enjoy God”

Spurgeon:

If you’ve ever felt torn between a desire for heaven and a desire for God, this text will calm your concerns. These yearnings are properly intertwined. The more we love God, the more we will love the place He has prepared for us. And the more we long for that place, the more we will find ourselves longing for Him.

Heaven is the place of fellowship with God, and this is a blessed feature in its joy. But in this we are now participants for “indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with us all. It is our joy and our delight.

Having communion with the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we are uplifted and sanctified, and it is appropriate that the will of the Lord should be done by us on Earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)

“Up there,” says a brother, “they are all accepted, but here we are in a state of probation.” did you read that in the Bible? For I never did. A believer is in no state of probation. He has passed from death into life and shall never come into condemnation. We are already “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6) and that acceptance is given in a way that can never be reversed.

The Redeemer brought us up out of the horrible pit of depravity, and He has set our feet on the rock of salvation, and there He has established our paths. Therefore should we not, as the accepted of the Lord, do His will on earth as it is done in heaven?

“Yes,” says one, “but heaven is the place of perfect service, for His servants shall serve Him.” but is not this the place, in some respects, of a more extensive service still? Are there not many things which perfect saints above and holy angels cannot do? If we had a choice of a sphere in which we could serve God with widest range, we should choose not heaven, but earth. There are no slums and overcrowded rooms in heaven to which we can go with help, but there are plenty of them here. There are no jungles where missionaries may prove their unreserved consecration by preaching the gospel at the expense of their lives.

In some respects this world has a preference beyond the heavenly state as to the extent of doing the will of God. OH, that we were better men, and then the saints above might almost envy us! If we did but live as we should live, we might make Gabriel stoop from his throne and cry, “I wish I were a man!”

It is ours to be in the forefront in daily conflict with sin and satan, and at the same time it is ours to bring up the rear, battling with the pursuing foe. God help us, since we are honored with so rare a sphere, to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven.

Then you say, “but heaven is the place of overflowing joy. Yes, and have you no joy even now? A saint who lives near to God is so truly blessed that he will not be much astonished when he enters heaven. He will be surprised to behold its glories more clearly, but he will have the same reason for delight as he possesses today. We live below the same life which we shall live above, for we are made alive by the same Spirit, are looking to the same Lord, and are rejoicing in the same security. Joy!! Do you not know it? Your Lord says, “My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11).

You will be larger vessels in heaven, but you will not be fuller; you will be brighter, doubtless, but you will not be cleaner than you are when the Lord has washed you and made you white in His own blood.,

Do not be impatient to go to heaven. Hold lightly to the things of earth, yet, count it a great privilege to have a long life in which to serve the Lord on earth. Mortal life is but a brief interval between the two eternities, and if we judged unselfishly and saw the needs of earth, we might almost say, “Give us back the old days of human life, that through a thousand years we might serve the Lord in suffering and in reproach, as we cannot do in glory,.”

This life is but the entrance to glory. Clothe yourselves in righteousness of Jesus Christ, for this is the royal robe of earth and heaven. Now begin the song which your lips shall sing in paradise, or else you will never be admitted to the heavenly choirs.

None can unite in the music but those who have rehearsed it here below.

(We’ll see what Randy has to say….tomorrow)

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Is 41:13 For I, the Lord your God, will keep hold of your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’

Ps 72:12 For He will deliver the needy when he cries, The poor also, and him who has no helper.

Is 44:21 ….Thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

Ps 54:4 Amp Behold, God is my helper and ally; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul [my upholder].

Ps 121:7 The Lord will…keep my soul

Ps 95:7 I am the sheep of His hand

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 24 ~ ~ Revelation 3:12 ~ ~ “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God….”

From the book, “We Shall See God”—-sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon and comments by Randy Alcorn.

“The Thin Partition Between Heaven and Earth.”

Spurgeon:

From our earth-bound perspective, heaven may seem impossibly far away. But in reality, earth is merely a shadow of heaven, a place made in the image of heaven—and the two are much closer than we might think.

One day the material world shall become a proper temple for the Lord of hosts. The New Jerusalem shall come down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride is prepared for her husband. We are sure of this. Therefore, toward this consummation let us strive mightily, praying evermore, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Matthew 6:10

There is an analogy between earth and heaven, so that the one is the type of the other. You could not describe heaven except by borrowing the things of earth to symbolize it, and this shows that there is a real likeness between them.

What is heaven? It is Paradise, or a garden. Walk amid your fragrant flowers and think of heaven’s bed of spices. Heaven is a kingdom: thrones, crowns, and palms are the earthly emblems of the heavenlies. Heaven is a city, and there again, you fetch your metaphor from the dwelling places of men. It is a place of “many mansions” (John 14:2)–the homes of the glorified. Houses are of earth, yet is God our dwelling place.

The tables are spread here as well as there, and it is our privilege to go forth and bring in the vagabonds and the highwaymen that the banqueting hall may be filled. While the saints above eat bread in the marriage supper of the Lamb, we do the like below in another sense.

Between earth and heaven there is but a thin partition. The home country is much nearer than we think. Heaven is by no means a far country, for it is the Father’s house.

Heaven is, at any rate, so near that in a moment we can speak with Him that is King of the place and He will answer to our call. Before the clock shall tick again you and I may be there. Can that be a far-off country which can reach so soon?

Oh, brothers and sisters, we are within hearing of the shining ones; we are nearly home. A little while and we shall see our Lord. Perhaps another day’s march will bring us within the city gate. Even if another fifty years of life on earth should remain, what is it but the twinkling of an eye?

It’s clear enough that the comparison between earth and heaven is not far-fetched. If heaven and heaven’s God be, in truth, so near to us, our Lord has set before us a homelike model taken from our heavenly dwelling place.

Randy Alcorn:

In his seventeenth-century classic, Paradise Lost, John Milton describes Eden as a garden full of aromatic flowers, delicious fruit, and soft grass, lushly watered. Like Spurgeon, Milton connects Eden with heaven, the source of earthly existence, portraying heaven as a place of great pleasures and the source of earth’s pleasures. In Milton’s story, the angel Raphael asks Adam,

“What if earth

Be but the shadow of heaven and things therein

Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?”

Though the idea of earth as heaven’s shadow is seldom discussed, it’s a concept that has biblical support. For example, we’re told there are scrolls in heaven, elders who have faces, martyrs who wear clothes, and even people with “palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9-13).

There are musical instruments in the present heaven (Revelation 8:6), horses coming into and out of heaven (2 Kings 2:11; Revelation 19:14), and an eagle flying overhead in heaven (Revelation 8:13). Perhaps some of these objects are merely symbolic, but surely not all of them.

The book of Hebrews seems to say that we should see earth as a DERIVATIVE realm and heaven as the SOURCE realm. If we do, we’ll abandon the assumption that something existing in one realm cannot exist in the other.

God created earth in the image of heaven, just as He created mankind in His image. C.S. Lewis proposed that the “hills and valleys of heaven will be to those you now experience not as a copy is to an original, nor as a substitute is to the genuine article, but as the flower to the root, or the diamond to the coal.”

Why do we imagine that God would pattern heaven’s holy city after an earthly city, as if heaven knows nothing of community and culture and has to get its ideas from our world? Isn’t it more likely that earthly realities, including cities, are derived from heavenly counterparts?

We tend to start with earth and reason up to heaven, when instead we should start with heaven and reason down toward earth. It isn’t merely an accommodation to our earthly familial structure, for instance, that God calls himself a father and us children. On the contrary, He created father-child relationships to display His relationship with us, just as He created human marriage to reveal the love relationship between Christ and His bride. (Ephesians 5:25-32)

God’s plan is that there will be no more gulf between the spiritual and physical worlds. There will be one cosmos, one universe united under one Lord—forever. This is where history is headed. This is the unstoppable plan of God.

When God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, earth was heaven’s back yard. The new earth will be even more than that—it will be heaven itself!!! What Spurgeon calls the thin partition between earth and heaven will be forever broken through!

(Adam’s sin separated us from God and therefore separated the physical from the spiritual, which had been together in the Garden (Adam walking and talking with God). God will bring them together again!!!!)

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I Corinthians 2:9

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Revelations 21:4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Luke 12:32

Fear not, little flock: for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Isaiah 51:11

 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 23 ~ ~ Romans 8:22 ~ ~ “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

From “We Shall See God”–with sermons from the great Charles Spurgeon and Randy Alcorn.

Here’s what Randy has to say about the new earth:

Spurgeon says, “God will bless the earth for Christ’s sake even as once He cursed it for man’s sake.” God has never given up on His original creation. Yet somehow we’ve managed to overlook an entire biblical vocabulary that makes this point clear:

Reconcile

Redeem

Restore

Recover

Return

Renew

Regenerate

Resurrect.

Each of these biblical words begins with the “re” prefix, suggesting a return to an original condition that was ruined or lost. REDEMPTION means to buy back what was formerly owned. Similarly, reconciliation means the restoration or reestablishment of a prior friendship or union.

These words emphasize that God already sees us in light of what He intended us to be, and He always seeks to restore us to that design. Likewise, he sees the earth in terms of what He intended it to be, and He seeks to restore it to its original design.

It’s impossible to understand the ministry of Christ without the larger view of redemption’s sweeping salvage plan.

Religion professor Albert Wolters says it is “particularly striking that all of Jesus’ miracles (with the one exception of the cursing of the fig tree) are miracles of restoration—restoration to health, life, freedom from demonic possession. Jesus’ miracles provide us with a sample of the meaning of redemption: a freeing of creation from the shackles of sin and evil and a reinstatement of creaturely living as intended by God.

God placed mankind on earth to fill it, rule it, and develop it to God’s glory. But that plan has never been fulfilled. Should we therefore conclude that God’s plan was ill conceived, thwarted, or abandoned? No. These conclusions do not fit the character of an all-knowing, all-wise, sovereign God.

In “Creation Regained”, Wolters writes:

“God hangs on to His fallen original creation and salvages it. He refuses to abandon the work of His hands—in fact, He sacrifices His own Son to save the original project. Humankind, which has botched its original mandate and the whole creation along with it, is given another chance in Christ; we are reinstated as God’s managers on earth. The original good creation is to be restored.”

God hasn’t changed His mind; He hasn’t fallen back to Plan B or abandoned what He originally intended for us at the creation of the world. When Christ says, “Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34) it’s as if He’s saying, “This is what I wanted for you all along. This is what I went to the Cross for and defeated death to give you. Take it, rule it, exercise dominion over it, enjoy it. And in doing so, share My happiness.”

God doesn’t throw away His handiwork and start from scratch—-instead, he uses the same canvas to repair and make more beautiful the painting marred by the vandal. God makes an even greater masterpiece out of what His enemy sought to destroy. And for that, we will worship and praise Him for all eternity!!!

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Matthew 25:34

Then the King will say to those on His RIGHT HAND, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

(The right hand, in the Bible depicts the power, mercy, and in fact, the depth of the entire person reaching out. It is a positional statement also. Besides the tremendous blessing of eternal happiness with Him, let’s see what things we get in this life when we are saved—–aka being at the “right hand of God”)

Psalm 16:11

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore

Psalm 17:7

Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You From those who rise up against them.

Psalm 18:35

You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.

Psalm 20:6

Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving strength of His right hand.

Psalm 63:8

My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 89:13

You have a mighty arm; Strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Psalm 110:1

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

Psalm 139:10

If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.

Isaiah 48:13

Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together.

Exodus 15:6

Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces.

Exodus 15:12

You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them.

PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD!!!!

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GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 22 ~ ~ Matthew 6:10 ~ ~ “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”

From the book “We Shall See God” with sermons from the 19th-century “Prince of Preachers”, Charles Spurgeon, and comments by Randy Alcorn

Creation Restored

Spurgeon:

We live under the curse, and so does the whole creation we inhabit. But through the ultimate outworking of Christ’s redemptive work, God has a grand design to restore this earth, not just to what it once was, but to something far greater still.

If the prayer of our text had not been dictated by the Lord Jesus Himself, we might think it too bold. Can it ever be that this earth, a mere drop in a bucket, should touch the great sea of life and light above and not be lost in it? Can it remain earth and yet be made like heaven? Will it not lose its individuality in the process?

This earth is subject to vanity, dimmed with ignorance, defiled with sin, furrowed with sorrow. Can holiness dwell in it as in heaven? Our divine Instructor would not teach us to pray for impossibilities. He puts such petitions into our mouths as can be heard and answered.

Yet certainly this is a great prayer. It has the hue of the infinite about it., Has not this poor planet drifted too far away to be reduced to order and made to keep rank with heaven? Can your will, O God, be done on earth as it is in heaven?

It can be, and it must be, for a prayer wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit is ever the shadow of a coming blessing, and He who taught us to pray after this manner did not mock us with vain words,. It is a brave prayer, which only heaven-born faith can utter, yet it is not the offspring of presumption, for presumption never longs for the will of the Lord to be perfectly performed.

That our present obedience to God should be like that of holy ones above is not a strained and fanatical notion. It is not far-fetched, for earth and heaven were called into being by the same Creator.

The empire of the Maker comprehends the upper and the lower regions. “The heavens are the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1) He sustains all things by the word of His power both in heaven above and the earth beneath.

If earth were of the devil and heaven were of God, and two self-existent powers were contending for the mastery, we might question whether earth would ever be as put as heaven. But we expect to see the dragon cast out from earth as well as heaven.

Why shouldn’t every part of the great Creator’s handiwork become equally radiant with His glory? He who made can remake. The curse which fell upon the ground was not eternal; thorns and thistles pass away. God will bless the earth for Christ’s sake even as once He cursed it for man’s sake.

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

It was so once. Perfect obedience to the heavenly upon this earth will only be a return to the good old times which ended at the gate of Eden. There was a day when no gulf was dug between earth and heaven; there was scarcely a boundary line, for the God of heaven walked in Paradise with Adam. All things on earth were then pure and true and happy. It was the Garden of the Lord.

Alas, the trail of the serpent has now defiled everything. The Lord is King, and He has never left the throne. As it was in the beginning so shall it be yet again. History shall, in God’s providence, repeat itself. The temple of the Lord shall be among men, and the Lord God shall dwell among them, “Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”(Psalm 85;11)

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven:” It will be so at the last.

This much, seems plain—there is to be “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). This creation which now “has been groaning…in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22), in sympathy with man, is to be brought forth from its bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

(If you haven’t made Jesus your personal Lord and Savior, you will not be living on this wonderful earth made perfect, however. “ And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:27-28. The Bible is clear that only those who have received Christ’s righteousness will be there.)

Tomorrow, we will hear from Randy on this subject of the new earth.

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Revelation 21:1

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

*Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

*Philippians 4:6&7

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 21 ~ ~ 1 Chronicles 16:29~ ~ “Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth;”

From the book “We Shall See God”

SPURGEON:

Have you ever heard the sea roar? Have you ever walked by the seaside when the waves were singing and when every little pebble-stone turned choir member to make up music to the Lord God of hosts? Have you ever heard the sea roar out His praise, when the winds were reveling—perhaps singing the funeral lament of mariners, wrecked far out on the stormy deep, but far more likely exalting God with their hoarse voice?

Have you ever heard the rumbling and booming of the ocean on the shore when it has been lashed into fury and has been driven upon the cliffs? If you have, you have a faint idea of the melody of heaven. It is like “the voice of many waters.” (Revelation 14:2)

But do not suppose that this is the whole of the idea. It is not the voice of one ocean but the voice of many that is needed to give you an idea of the melodies of heaven. You are to suppose ocean piled upon ocean, sea upon sea—the Pacific piled upon the Atlantic, the Arctic upon that, the Antarctic higher still—and so ocean upon ocean, all lashed to fury and all sounding with a mighty vice the praise of God. Such is the singing of heaven.

Or if the illustration fails to strike, take another—the mighty falls of Niagara. They can be heard at a tremendous distance, so awesome is their sound. Now suppose waterfalls dashing upon waterfalls, Niagaras upon Niagaras, each of them sounding forth their mighty voices, and you have got some idea of the singing of Paradise.

“I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters.” Can you not hear it? AH! If our ears were opened, we might almost perceive the song. I have thought sometimes on summer evenings, when the wind has come in gentle breezes through the forest, you might almost think it was the floating of some stray notes that had lost their way among the harps of heaven and come down to us to give us some faint fore-taste of that song which sounds out in mighty peals before the throne of the Most High.

But why so loud? The answer is because there are so many there to sing. Nothing is more grand than the singing of the multitudes. Many have been the persons who have told me that they could but weep when they heard you sing in this assembly, so mighty seemed the sound when all the people sang, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,”

And, indeed, there is something very grand in the singing of multitudes. I remember hearing twelve thousand sing on one occasion in the open air. Some of our friends were then present when we concluded our service with that glorious halleluijah. Have you ever forgotten it? It was indeed a mighty sound; it seemed to make heaven itself ring again.

Think, then, what must be the voice of those who stand on the boundless plains of heaven and with all their might shout, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13).

ALCORN:

Spurgeon called upon his people to remember times of singing powerful songs to God, perhaps on those occasions when thousands gathered together and lifted their voices to the Lord in unbridled praise. Have you experienced such times of corporate praise in your life? I have.

Most people know that we’ll worship God in heaven. But many of us don’t grasp how thrilling that will be. Multitudes of God’s people—of every nation, tribe, people and language—will gather to sing praise to God for His greatness, wisdom, power grace and mighty work of redemption (Revelation 5:13-14)

Overwhelmed by His magnificence, we will fall on our faces in unrestrained happiness and say, “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 7:12)

People of the world are always striving to celebrate—they just lack ultimate reasons to do that (and therefore find lesser reasons). As Christians, we have those ultimate reasons—our relationship with Jesus and the promise of heaven. “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3). Does this excite you? If it doesn’t, you’re not thinking correctly.

We’ll never lose our fascination for God as we get to know Him better. The thrill of knowing Him will never subside. To imagine that worshiping God could be boring is to impose on heaven our bad experiences of so-called worship. Satan is determined to make church boring, and when it is, we assume heaven will be also. But church can be exciting, and worship exhilarating. That’s what it will be in heaven. We will see God and understand why the angels and other living creatures delight to worship Him.

Theologian Sam Storms writes: “we will constantly be more amazed with God, more in love with God, and thus ever more relishing His presence and our relationship with Him. Our experience of God will never reach its consummation…it will deepen and develop, intensify and amplify, unfold and increase, broaden and balloon.”

Christ’s desire for us to see His glory should touch us deeply. What an unexpected compliment that the Creator of the universe has gone to such great lengths, at such sacrifice, to prepare a place for us where we can behold and participate in His glory.

Will we ever tire of praising Him? Augustine writes, “As there is nothing greater or better than God Himself, God has promised us Himself. God shall be the end of all our desires, Who will be seen without end, loved without tediousness, and praised without weariness.”

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.

Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with tambourine and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flute.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Everything that has breath shall praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!

Exodus 15:11

Who is like You among the gods, Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?

Judges 5:10

You who ride on white donkeys, You who sit on rich carpets, And you who travel on the road—shout in praise!

2 Samuel 22:50

Therefore I will give thanks to You, Lord, among the nations, And I will sing praises to Your name.

Psalm 21:13

Be exalted, Lord, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power.

Psalm 22:25a

From You comes my praise in the great assembly;