GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 29 ~ ~ Revelation 20:6 ~ ~ “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”
From the book, We Shall See God, chapter “The Resurrection of God’s children —part two”
RANDY ALCORN:
Spurgeon says, “If it is God’s word, we may expect His blessing if we preach it at all. But He will withdraw it if we refrain from teaching any part of His counsel.” he spoke critically of pastors who compromised their Biblical teaching to accommodate the popular theories of Charles Darwin, – which were the talk of London even at that time – and opposed various higher critics who taught that the Bible wasn’t reliable.
Spurgeon takes delight in referring to the men whose books God used to mold his thinking. He refers here to John Bunyan, author of “The Pilgrim’s Progress” with great fondness. In fact, that was Spurgeon’s favorite book – he read it over a hundred times! His many comments on it were collected into a book called “Pictures from Pilgrim’s Progress” which is his own commentary on Bunyan’s great work of fiction. Spurgeon often spoke of the writers who were his mentors as if they were old friends – Baxter, Bunyan, John Owen, and Charnock among them. He talks about these men as if he knew them well – he calls Bunyan “plain honest John” – for they had a formational role in his thinking, just as Spurgeon has had in my life and in the lives of numerous others.
Spurgeon’s meditation demonstrates his understanding that our anticipation of eternal life as resurrected beings in a resurrected universe has present, practical implications. “Therefore – in light of our eventual resurrection – my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
How do we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain? Because of our bodily resurrection. Just as we will be carried over from the old world to the new, so will our labor. In a sense, not only our bodies but also our services for Christ will be resurrected. J.B. Phillips renders that verse as follows: “Let nothing move you as you busy yourselves in the Lord’s work. Be sure that nothing you do for Him
is ever lost or ever wasted.”
Bruce Milne writes, “Every kingdom work, whether publicly performed or privately endeavored, partakes of the kingdom’s imperishable character. Every honest intention, every stumbling word of witness, every resistance of temptation, every motion of repentance, every gesture of concern, every routine engagement, every motion of worship, every struggle toward obedience, every mumbled prayer – everything – literally – which flows out of our faith-relationship with the Ever-Living One, will find its place in the ever-living heavenly order which will dawn at His coming.”
Paul says, “In this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:24). What hope? The words of the previous verse tell us: “the redemption of our bodies” (verse 23). that’s the final resurrection – when death will be swallowed up and sin will be reversed, never again to touch us. This is what we should long for and live for.
Is resurrected living in a resurrected world with the resurrected Christ and His resurrected people YOUR daily longing and hope? Is it part of the gospel you share with others? Paul says that the resurrection of the dead is the hope for which we were saved. It will be the glorious climax of God’s saving work that began at our new birth. In liberating us from sin and all its consequences, the Resurrection will free us to live with God, gaze on Him, and enjoy His uninterrupted fellowship forever, with no threat that anything will ever again come between us and Him.
May God use our mentors, the pastors, friends and relatives we talk to, and the books we read to preserve us from embracing lesser hopes.
May we rejoice as we anticipate the height, depth, length, and breadth of our Savior’s redemptive work.
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Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Colossians 3:23-24
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
2Timothy 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Peter 1:3-4
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”