God's Promise to the Wicked

 

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth; let the wicked disappear forever.  Let all that I am praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!  Psalm 104:35

God’s promises are never dropped or discarded.  The will of God towards evil and good is always preserved and immutable.  This unchanging character of Almighty God is expressed through His Word.  Isaiah’s prophecy explains:

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.  They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.  It is the same with my word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.  Isaiah 55:8-11

The Psalmist’s prayer, that sinners (those who reject the will of God) will vanish completely from the earth, is validated in heaven by John’s end-time revelation that God will make all things new.  Wickedness, in its evil intention towards God and everything God rules (which is everything), will disappear, never to return.

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” Revelation 21:5a

John writes about “new” and that usually means (to we of the 21^st century), the new car, or new house, or new relationship; we think new-ly created.  But there are also new times and ways.  God’s promises are of change.

In the final judgment scene we read that all evil persons, spirits, and even the memory of them will be wiped from the earth and cosmos as God wipes away every tear, and banishes sorrow and pain.  It is the new day promise of God.[1]

In that final judgment of God every sin ever committed against God’s holiness and person there are unimaginable horrors for those who have rejected the loving offer of God to be forgiven.  The very thought pains us to imagine people we love and care for, and even those whom we’ve never met, suffering for eternity.  Indeed, for those who think clearly, imagine that punishment pronounced on your own life. 

It is, as Cain said when God put the mark of “sinner” on the one who murdered his own brother, Abel, it’s too much; I can’t bear it.[2]

For You Today

The promise of God to those who reject God’s offer of forgiveness for sin, is they will bear the mark of Cain throughout eternity.  In Alaska the distance between places years ago was long and marked by wilderness and seclusion.  At the start of one long stretch of “highway” (a single, unpaved cut path), was a sign that stated:

This is God’s sign for the future…which is much longer than Alaska’s highways.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] See Isaiah 25:8 and Revelation 21:4

[2] Genesis 4:13

Bandaged

 

Friday, February 5, 2021

Praise the Lord!  How good to sing praises to our God!  How delightful and how fitting!  The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel.  He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  He counts the stars and calls them all by name.  How great is our Lord!  His power is absolute!  His understanding is beyond comprehension!

This Psalm was written in the wake of the joyful return of exiles from Babylon.  It would be hard to underestimate the thankfulness God’s people experienced.  They had been defeated captives; now they were going home.  There is something about being bandaged up and encouraged when you’ve been beaten to a pulp!  Freedom is sweet enough to make even those who can’t sing praise God in joyful song. 

This week I (literally) had my eyes opened once again to that reality.  These old, badgered eyes saw everything as sepia-toned, dull, no vibrant colors or definition.  Blurry-drab was the focus of my lens, until the surgeon did his thing with the laser to remove the cataract.  Now whites are dramatically-white, and are becoming clearer every day.  I feel like the brokenhearted, having been bandaged and healed. 

It was no surprise that John Newton’s hymn, Amazing Grace, came to mind after eye surgery.  That hymn proclaims, once I was blind, but now I can see!  Of course my healing this week was merely physical; Newton’s words announce the spiritual truth of a soul’s redemption, the healing bandage of salvation.

The returning exiles cried out How great is our Lord…His power is absolute!  We believe every word of that, and not just because seeing clearly is a euphoric reminder of how bad my vision had gotten. 

We believe it because this little reminder of God’s healing mercy is only a portent of things to come, when faith becomes sight in every delightfully possible way as God banishes sin, sorrow, death, and removes even the memory of pain, wiping away every tear.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4

This is the glorious bandaging up of the brokenhearted, badgered, and beleaguered…the eternal balm of Gilead for those who walked in great darkness, but now see beyond the pain to the glory of God’s majestic throne, where sits the King of Glory.

For You Today

It has been said that the stuff and events of our lives are an example of Scripture’s hope for us, and that Scripture, in every way, explains our lives.  One preacher said it this way:  a preacher ought to stand before his flock with a Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other.  If we read that right, it means you can open the Book of Books to any page and you’ll read about what’s going on in your life.

That’s so; like I trusted my surgeon this week to open my physical eyes, let the Great Physician open yours…his Scalpel is sharper than a two-edged sword.[1]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For another post on Psalm 147 see City of David 

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[1] Hebrews 4:12

 

No More!

[1]

Monday, December 28, 2015

VIDEO here

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”  Revelation 21:4^(NLT)  

It’s most difficult to approach a new year without some looking back.  Perhaps that’s why this text is part of today’s readings – it leaves looking back in the rear view mirror!  At this point in Revelation’s prophecy everything points forward to a time when all the memories of sorrow, pain and death are just that – memories. 

There is going to come a time when what we generally picture when we use the phrase “eternal life” will be a reality – no more death, sorrow, crying or pain.

He said no more.

Frankly, I find it hard to imagine, especially at this stage of life, nearing the threshold of my eighth decade.  Yet, I think about it more, and have faith that it is true.

A question that comes on the heels of every sermon on this topic of heaven and God wiping away all tears is:  Will we remember?  And it’s a fair question as to IF we will recall every tear, heartache and loss.  Of course the answer becomes conjecture at best, and an argument from silence at worst, because Scripture, as far as I can tell, is not specific at this point.  And what God has not told us, we can only speculate.

My speculative answer is that I believe we will recall everything, which is based on John’s wipe every tear from their eyes proclamation.  After all, if you’re going to have tears, you have to remember what made you cry in the first place.

Arriving at that deduction is based on one of John’s other statements:

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.   1 John 3:2^(NLT)

Now since we will be like him then, we will also remember, think and reason perfectly.  Therefore we will also understand how the perfect will of God has been fulfilled.  This is the reason for drying of eyes – we will have been introduced at that point to all the answers to all our “why’s”.  All our speculation and doubt over this life’s pain, sorrow, crying and death will melt into crystal clear understanding, and we will know as God knows.

Knowing as God knows is like finally being able to look at the tapestry from the right side.  If you have ever looked at the back side of a tapestry hanging on a wall, you only see there are threads going everywhere; not much pattern.  Flip it over, and you understand – you see the big picture, and begin to understand the artist’s heart.

Our life on earth is somewhat like that because of sin.  While we have the stamp of the Artist’s image on our hearts, it is blurred, distorted and fading.  The Apostle Paul reminds us that it won’t always be that way:

All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.  1 Corinthians 13:12^(NLT)  

For You Today

This past year may have been a tough one; 2016 may be tougher or easier, filled with pain and heartache, or a pause in the crying and tears department. 

We never know what lies around the next corner.

But HE knows, and for those who trust in Christ, we trust that someday those tears and everything that caused them will cease; He will say NO MORE!

You chew on that out on that Rocky Road today…and have a joy-filled and blessed day!

 

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[1] Title image:  Walter Langley [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons