Dr. Rene Allendy was a selfless, fine doctor who kept a brutally honest
diary to the last day of his long agony of dying (Journal d’un medecin
malade, “Diary of a sick physician”). In the face of death, despite a
humanly ‘good’ life lived, he finally possessed nothing but a hopeless
cynicism. I ask you, every reader: In the face of death, what do you have?
The true Christian should be able to answer so, so positively.
ASSURANCE
AFTER ASSURANCE
The pleasure or will of our loving Father is that we
should share His Kingdom (Lk. 12:32), and that pleasure / will prospered
through the cross of Jesus (Is. 53:10). God isn’t indifferent. He wants us
to be there. That’s why He gave His Son to die. It’s as simple as that. The
deepest longings we feel in our earthly lives, as parents, as lovers, are
mere flickers of the hungering desire God feels for us. It is a desire that
cost Him His very own crucified Son. The Lord Himself knew our basic
tendency to disbelieve the certainty of our salvation when He comforted us:
“Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
Kingdom”. God’s promises are sure; so sure that they are as good as if they
have been fulfilled. Hence the New Testament speaks of our having eternal
life right now, even though that promise has not yet been fulfilled. Acts
7:17 speaks of “the time of the promise” drawing near- putting ‘the promise’
for ‘the fulillment of the promise’, so sure are God’s promises of
fulfillment. “God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of the
promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that…we
may have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the
hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast” (Heb. 6:17-19). If the hope is an anchor to the soul, the
foundation to our innermost thought processes, it must be something more
than a mere possibility. “Boldness and glorying in the hope” are the family
characteristics of the house / family of Jesus (Heb. 3:6 RV). It is the
sureness of the hope that brings us close to God; without such certainty,
how can we have the relationship with the Father which He so earnestly
intends for us (Heb. 7:19)?
When the Lord taught that “the life is more
than the food” which we worry about today (Lk. 12:23 RV), and “the body
[which we shall receive] is more than the raiment”, He surely means that our
hope of eternal life, the life, the only real and ultimate life worth
having, should eclipse our worries about today’s problems of survival. Not
worrying about food, drink and clothing, which God will provide, is likely
an allusion to His provision for Israel during their wilderness journey to
the promised land. And in this context the Lord encourage us: “Seek you the
Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you…fear not,
little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”
(Lk. 12:31,32). If it is God’s pleasure to give us the Kingdom, then surely
He will give us all basic necessities until that time comes. Our certainty
of being there thus greatly relieves us from earthly cares, compared to the
person who has no such hope.
The belief that we will be there is the only
real anchor in life’s uncertain storm. “When the kindness of God our
saviour, and his love toward man, appeared, not by works done in
righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved
us…that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to
the hope of eternal life…and concerning these things I will that thou affirm
confidently, to the end that they which have believed God may be careful to
maintain good works” (Tit. 3:4-8). The confident, regular reassurance of
other believers was to be part of the spiritual diet with which the Cretan
brothers and sisters were constantly fed. And this assurance was to be the
foundation of ecclesial growth as members individually developed the mind of
Christ.
In the end, God gives us our dominant desire. Israel in the
wilderness “despised the land of desire, they believed not his word” of
promise, that they would enter it (Ps. 106:24 AVmg.). They didn’t really
desire the land, so they didn’t receive it. Israel both despised the land,
and they despised their God (Num. 14:11,23,31 RV). Our attitude as to
whether or not we want to be in the Kingdom is essentially our attitude to
God. This has far reaching implications. Ps. 107:30 likewise speaks of how
the faithful are brought to the haven of their desire (RVmg.). All those who
truly love the Lord’s appearing- with all that implies in practical life and
belief- will be accepted (2 Tim. 4:8). And yet Israel didn’t have the
dominant desire to be in the Kingdom, as Joshua and Caleb had. Why didn’t
they? It is vital that we understand the reasons for their failure – such an
understanding will be a safeguard to help prevent us from making the same
mistake (Rom.15:4).
They initially wanted to return to Egypt, and yet it
is also true that they sought for a city to live in whilst in the wilderness
(Ps. 107:4). They wanted to just stay there in the wilderness. They didn’t
want to return to Egypt, they didn’t really desire the unknown promised
land…so, they wanted to just settle there in the wilderness. And so it can
be with us. We can be happy with the way to the Kingdom, it can be that the
social aspect of the Christian life suites us…we are content with it, and
yet it can be that for all that, we lack a real sense of direction towards
the Kingdom. We are going some place. The Christian life is but a path
leading towards an end, and the end destination is the Kingdom. If we
believe surely that we will be there, we will live lives which reflect this
sense of concrete direction and aim.
OUR MOTIVES
But all this raises
the question: Why do I want to be in the Kingdom? What makes this the
dominant desire which we will surely receive? David asked to be given “your
salvation…that I may see the good of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the
gladness of your nation” (Ps. 106:4,5). Paul likewise says that to see the
Thessalonians in the Kingdom would be his glory and joy in that day. Both
those men had a perspective far bigger than merely themselves. If our sole
desire to ‘be there’ is so that I will live for ever, I will have a nice
level of existence…this, it seems to me, is not only essentially selfish,
but our basic dysfunction and tendency to self-abuse and devaluing of
ourselves just will not allow us to have the receipt of personal eternity as
our dominant desire. We’ll be interested in it, but it won’t consistently be
the thing we desire above all else. But if we see the wider picture, then we
will pray for the Kingdom to come so that the things of God’s Name may be
glorified; because we want to see our dear brethren there in the Kingdom;
because we will want to share our Lord’s joy and their joy. These things are
more than the primitive desire for self-preservation which we all have, and
which we can articulate in terms of wanting to personally be in the Kingdom.
Thus if our motives are right for wanting to be in the Kingdom, then this
will become our dominant desire; and we will be granted the desires of our
heart. Really we will be. God’s word promises this.
The grace of God
guarantees our salvation. Yet we find it so hard to believe- that I, with
all my doubts and fears, will really be there. Israel were warned that they
were being given the land (cp. salvation) " not for your righteousness, or
for the uprightness of your heart...for you art a stiffnecked people" (Dt.
9:5,6). These words are picked up in Tit. 3:5 and applied to the new Israel:
" Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing (baptism) of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Spirit" - by His grace alone.
Our difficulty in believing ‘we
will be there’ is perhaps related to our difficulty in believing that in
prospect, we ‘are there’ right now, through being “in Christ”. This most
basic truth, that we are “in Christ” through baptism, carries with it very
challenging implications. We are well familiar with Paul’s reasoning in
Romans 6, that through being immersed in water at baptism, we share in the
Lord’s death and resurrection. As He rose from the dead, so we rise from the
waters of baptism. But what happened to Him next? He ascended to Heaven, and
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God in glory. And each of those
stages is true of us right now. Let Paul explain in Eph. 2:6: “He has raised
us up together [Strong: ‘to rouse [from death] in company with’], and made
us sit together [i.e. Christ and us] in heavenly places in Christ”. We are
now in ‘the heavenlies’; and not only so, but we sit together there with
Christ. And He now sits upon His throne of glory. Even now we in a sense sit
with Him in His Heavenly throne, even though in another sense this is a
future thing we await (Lk. 22:30; Rev. 3:21). No wonder Paul goes on to make
a profound comment: “That in the ages to come [the aions of future
eternity], He might show [Gk.- to indicate by words or act] the exceeding
riches of his grace [which was shown through] his kindness toward us through
Christ”. Throughout the ages of eternity, God will demonstrate to others
[the mortal population of the Millennium, and perhaps other future
creations] how pure and wonderful His grace was to us in the few brief years
of this life- in that, He will demonstrate, He counted us right now in our
mortality as having resurrected, ascended to Heaven, and reigning / sitting
with Christ in glory. The wonder of what we are experiencing now, the height
of our present position, is something that will be marvelled at throughout
eternity as an expression of God’s grace and kindness. And we will be the
living witnesses to it.
And we can start that witness right now.