TimothyJCross.org

Jan

2015

A Blanket of Snow

On 8 February 2007, the weather forecasters got it absolutely right — here in South Wales we woke up to a blanket of snow — 5 cm of it to be precise. The snow disrupted transport and closed many schools. This delighted many school children, but inconvenienced others.

My friends in Canada find it somewhat amusing that what is by their standards a very small amount of snow throws a large spanner in the national works here in the UK.

The winter snow of 2007 caused a lovely stillness. It dampened down the sound, and turned my mind to the God of the Bible. For in the light of the Bible, the snow reminds us of both the seasons of God and the salvation of God.

The seasons of God

We, of course, have absolutely no control over the weather, the time or the seasons of the year. But behind all these lies the hand of a sovereign God. It is he who is in control of the universe, for he is the God of both creation and providence.

In Genesis 8:22 God says, ‘While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease’. Then in Psalm 147 16-17 we read that ‘[God] gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes. he casts forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold?’ All we can do, then, is submit humbly to God’s providence and accept whatever weather he sends our way.

And does this not apply to ‘the seasons of life’ as well? Does not Almighty God, in his infinite wisdom, balance the seasons of life in the lives of his children, as much as he does the seasons of nature?

He may well make us experience a cold winter of the soul — a winter of sorrow, stress, frustration or spiritual barrenness. ‘For from him and through him and to him are all things’ (Romans 11:36). The trials and traumas of this life can chill our hearts.

What can we do? In the natural realm, we adapt. We employ central heating and warm winter clothes. And in the spiritual realm we can also adapt — God enables his children to adapt and cope.

It is the knowledge and assurance of his love in Christ which warms our hearts. The Psalmist wrote: ‘When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul’ (Psalm 104:19).

The only ultimate consolation we have is that ‘God is’ — he is sovereign in control, infinite in wisdom, and abundant in mercy, love and grace. He is too kind to be cruel and too wise to make mistakes. His promise avails in all seasons and circumstances: ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ (2 Corinthians 12:19). His grace keeps pace with whatever we face!

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labours increase.

To added affliction he addeth his mercy,

To multiplied trials, his multiplied peace.

The salvation of God

Secondly, the snow also reminds us of God’s salvation. In Isaiah 1:18 God gives the following wonderful promise: ‘Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool’.

Isaiah’s designation as ‘The evangelical prophet’ is apt. Here at the beginning of his sixty-six chaptered prophecy we have a promise of salvation. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’. The promise — with New Testament hindsight — has its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ and his atoning death on the cross for sinners. Sin is a defiled state, rendering us unfit for the presence of God. Hence David’s prayer to God in Psalm 51:5 — ‘Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow’.

The good news of the gospel is that God in his mercy has provided a way of cleansing from the sin which both defiles and damns us. His merciful provision was his own Son — who lived a sinless life and died in the place of sinners, bearing the wrath of God on their behalf.

The simple but glorious statement of 1 John 1:7 is that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin’. The blood of Jesus makes sinners fit for heaven. It washes us ‘white as snow’. The inhabitants of glory, says Revelation 7:14, are those who ‘have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’.

The snow of February 2007 soon thawed. It came and went within forty eight hours. But praise God that his truth stands eternally — ‘The Word of the Lord abides for ever’ (1 Peter 1:25).

The God of the Bible is a sovereign God. He is in control of the seasons of nature and the seasons of our soul, and knows how to balance both for his glory. And he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to the death of the cross. Jesus shed his precious blood so that sinners could be washed whiter than snow and saved eternally.

Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?

There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.

Sin stains are lost in its life-giving flow;

There’s wonderful power in the blood

There is power, power, wonder-working power

In the blood of the Lamb.

There is power, power, wonder-working power

In the precious blood of the Lamb!

© Timothy Cross; originally published in Evangelical Times, reproduced with the kind permission of www.evangelicaltimes.org

Jan

2015

The Finished Work of Christ

While walking home late at night recently, I passed a shopkeeper shutting up his store for the night. His body language suggested he was relieved that his day’s work was over.

Daily work is both a blessing and a bane. We are grateful for it as it enables us to pay the bills. Yet work, when it involves people, machines or computers, always has its pressures and stresses.

Well done

This being said, there is a great satisfaction from seeing a job through to the end. We can all relate to the feeling of ‘a job well done’. Think how a novelist must feel when he or she types the final full-stop after thousands and thousands of words.

What of an artist when he or she does the final stroke on a painting and puts down the brush? Then there are thousands of others of us who know the minor joy of clocking off at the end of the day, having played our minor ‘bit part’ for our nation’s economy and welfare. There is a great satisfaction in ‘a job well done’.

At the very heart of the Christian faith there also lies ‘a job well done’. We are referring to the finished work of Christ at Calvary. In John 17:4, the Lord Jesus said to his Father in heaven, ‘I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do’.

And then John goes on to record that, when Christ died at Calvary, ‘he said It is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit’ (John 19:30).

‘It is finished’. These three words are just one word in the original Greek, the word tetelestai. And this word tetelestai actually encapsulates the whole faith of the Bible. We could translate the word as ‘it is completed’, ‘it has been done’ or ‘it stands for ever accomplished’.

The tense which the Holy Spirit employs is the perfect tense. It is a fitting tense to describe a perfect, faultless work. In Greek, this tense refers to an action in the past which has continuing and abiding consequences in the present.

Once done

Christ’s cry of ‘it is finished’, therefore, was not a cry of defeat but a shout of triumph. We could paraphrase it as: ‘it is finished! — I have fully atoned for my people’s sins’; ‘it is finished! — I have paid in full the debt of sin which my people owe’.

‘It is finished! — I have wrought the forgiveness of my people, so that they will remain eternally forgiven’; ‘it is finished! — I have procured the eternal salvation of my people’; ‘it is finished! — my sacrifice, on my peoples’ behalf, has now made all sacrifice eternally redundant’.

So then, at the heart of the Christian gospel lies the finished work of Christ at Calvary. ‘He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself’; ‘when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God’ (Hebrews 9:26; 10:12).

On the cross Christ ‘made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world’ (Book of Common Prayer). By its very nature, perfection can neither be improved upon nor diminished:

Once, only once, and once for all

His precious life he gave

Before the cross in faith we fall

And own him strong to save

‘One offering, single and complete’

With lips and hearts we say

And what he never can repeat

He shows forth day by day.

Completely done

What then is the answer to the crucial question ‘What must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16:30)? The answer is actually, ‘Nothing!’

We do not have to do anything, because Christ has already done everything for us. According to the Bible, salvation is by divine grace, not by human works; it is by divine mercy, not human merit.

Salvation is a result of what Christ has done, and not what we do. It is due to Christ’s perfect, finished work, and not our imperfect, ongoing, unfinished works. Salvation is gained solely by availing ourselves of what Christ did for us at Calvary.

If you are anything like me, you do not like any ‘unfinished business’, those jobs which are still to be done. When it comes to our eternal salvation, however, if our faith is in the crucified and risen Christ, all is well with our souls. The job is fully done.

The Lord Jesus — the very Son of God — has already done it for us. When he died on the cross, he proclaimed, ‘It is finished!’ His perfect work of redemption saves undeserving, ill-deserving and hell deserving sinners. This is the gospel we proclaim.

© Timothy Cross; originally published in Evangelical Times, reproduced with the kind permission of www.evangelicaltimes.org

Oct

2014

Martin Luther: The Just Shall Live by Faith

MARTIN LUTHER: THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH

The 31^st of October each year commemorates the Protestant Reformation, for it was on the 31^st of October 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. His act was to prove the spark which ignited the Protestant Reformation.

Biblical Christianity

The Protestant Reformation was a rediscovery of the central message of the Bible: that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. And the Protestant Reformation – history shows – was the greatest revival of Biblical Christianity since the days of the Apostles.

Meet Martin Luther

The Protestant Reformation cannot be separated from the life and experience of Martin Luther. Luther had a brilliant intellect, but his life took a sudden change of direction when he was caught in a violent thunderstorm at twenty one years of age. The thunderstorm made him realise the fragility of life and the severity of the impending judgement of God. He was aware that he was not ready to meet God, and so he decided – much to his father’s displeasure – to change his career and become a monk.

Luther became a monk with a view to saving his own soul. With this goal in mind, he followed the usual route prescribed to achieving this in those days. Basically, this was a ‘gospel’ of self righteousness. He was meticulous in prayer, fasting and even self affliction. He took his monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to his monastic order with the utmost of seriousness. The problem was that he found that this did not work. Luther had no peace of conscience. He was aware of God’s great holiness and righteousness, and he was aware of his own imperfection and sin. His religion was of no help to him. He knew that he was lost – incapable of achieving the righteousness which God demanded. It was a dark and difficult time for Luther. Light though eventually came!

Luther’s Salvation

Through a careful study of the Bible, Luther came to the remarkable, life changing discovery that the righteousness which God requires is actually a righteousness which He freely gives to unrighteous sinners. And He does so when they trust in Jesus. Luther came to this glad realisation when he studied and pondered the truth of Romans 1:16,17. Here, Paul writes For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’

Justification by Faith

Luther’s salvation occurred when he discovered the central message of the Bible: justification by faith. ‘Justification is an act of God’s free grace wherein He pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone’ (Shorter Catechism).

Justification by faith refers to being ‘right with God.’ The gospel of justification preaches that we may know that our sins are forgiven and may be certain of being declared ‘not guilty’ in God’s sight when we trust in the crucified Saviour Who died to save sinners at Calvary. Jesus lived a sinless life. Jesus gave His sinless life as an atoning sacrifice. Clothed in His righteousness – by faith – we are fit for God’s presence.

The discovery of the ‘gospel of justification’ was as revolutionary to Martin Luther as it was to prove revolutionary in human history. The message of the gospel had become buried over the years. Luther, however, unearthed it, and he did so, under God, to the blessing of the world at large. The key verse in Luther’s understanding of the gospel was, as we have intimated, Romans 1:17: The just shall live by faith. Listen to Luther’s own testimony concerning this:-

I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant. Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement The just shall live by faith. Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through sheer grace and mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took a new meaning, and whereas before ‘the justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.

The Protestant Reformation today

The question is: Is the message of the Protestant Reformation still relevant to us today, or is it merely a historical curiosity? The message of the Protestant Reformation is certainly relevant today, as the gospel is always relevant and always contemporary. We still need to know that we are right with God our Maker. We need to know that we are saved and that all is well with our souls. And the way to gain this assurance is to heed the message of the Bible, for the Bible reveals God’s way of salvation for lost sinners – it is by His grace alone, through faith alone in the crucified Christ alone:-

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3:22).

They are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

And to one who does not work but trusts Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Romans 4:5).

The message of the Reformation will always be relevant, for everyone who has ever been born – Christ excepted – is a sinner who needs to be saved. The Reformation brought the perennial question of ‘How do we get right with God?’ into sharp focus. The Reformation was a great re-discovery of God’s gospel of salvation. Luther considered justification as ‘the mark of a standing or falling church.‘ Justification by faith became one of the touchstones of Christian orthodoxy. In a nutshell, justification reminds us that we are saved not by our works, but solely by trusting in Jesus:-

Not saved are we by trying

From self can come no aid

Tis on the blood relying

Once for our ransom paid

Tis looking unto Jesus

The holy One and just

Tis His great work that saves us –

It is not Try but Trust

No deeds of ours are needed

To make Christ’s merit more

No frames of mind or feelings

Can add to His great store

Tis simply to receive Him

The holy One and just

Tis only to believe Him

It is not Try but Trust.

Oct

2014

The Dark Days of the Soul

When the hour goes back at the end of October each year, the daylight begins to get shorter, and the long, dark nights return once more. I have to confess that, whilst each season of the year has its compensations, this is my least favourite time of the year. A bit of me almost envies those animals that are able to hibernate until the brighter days of Spring! Living in the UK though, we cannot avoid dark days – the days when the clouds don’t go away, and the whole atmosphere seems uninviting and gloomy.

Physical darkness is one thing, but what of the dark days of the soul? How do we cope with the darker seasons of our lives – the times of sorrow and suffering, disappointment, discouragement and depression which come upon all God’s people at some time? Consider the following thoughts from the Bible:-

The Providence of God

The Bible teaches that darkness is part of God’s created order. Darkness therefore – both physical and personal – is not accidental but providential. It is ordered by God Himself. ‘God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions’ (Shorter Catechism). The Bible reminds us ‘While the earth remains … summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease’ (Genesis 8:22). ‘Thou makest darkness, and it is night …’ (Psalm 104:20). And in Isaiah 45:6,7 God Himself pronounces ‘‘I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness …’’ Remembering then that the dark days of our lives are as equally from God as the bright ones makes them much easier to accept. God is on the throne of the universe! He is infinite in His wisdom and love. He knows how to balance both the seasons of nature and the seasons of the soul for our ultimate blessing and His eternal glory.

The Purpose of God

The Puritans used to say that ‘Grace grows in Winter.’ Darkness necessitates our walking by faith and not sight. We do not always know what God is doing in our lives – but He does, and He is infinitely worthy of our trust. With Job we may affirm ‘But He knows the way that I take … What He desires, that He does. For He will complete what He appoints for me … (Job 23:10,13,14). What is dark and puzzling to us is as clear as day to Him Who is all-knowing. Hence David’s confession that ‘even the darkness is not dark to Thee, the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light with Thee’ (Psalm 139:12).

The Presence of God

The Bible assures God’s children that He will never leave them alone in the dark. He is a God of covenant faithfulness, Who stands by His people through thick and thin, through light and darkness. His love will not let us go! There is a well known hymn which includes the lines:-

Days of darkness still come o’er me

Sorrows paths I often tread

But the Saviour still is with me

By His hand I’m safely led.

The comforting presence of God with us in our darkness is surely superior to any explanations. And in His Word God promises ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5). Small wonder then that the promises of God in the Bible are often pictured as a welcome light in a dark place. ‘Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ (Psalm 119:105). ‘You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts’ (2 Peter 1:19).

The Praises of God

The Bible teaches that it is actually possible to sing cheerfully even in dark times, that is, to delight to continue to give God the praise He alone deserves. He ‘gives songs in the night’ (Job 35:10). ‘At night His song is with me’ (Psalm 42:8). We recall a certain dark, dingy, dirty, dank and disgusting prison in Philippi. Two Christian prisoners were once held captive there. Acts 16:25 though tells us that ‘about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.’ It goes to show that it really is possible to sing during dark and dreary days. The God of the Bible has not changed. He is ‘unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth’ (Shorter Catechism). In dark days He is still the God ‘Who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of His will’ (Ephesians 1:11). And even in dark days the truth still stands that ‘in everything God works for good with those who love Him’ (Romans 8:28), for His love towards His people cannot be extinguished by any darkness. When we realise these precious truths, a song of praise and thanksgiving is elicited from our hearts. By His grace we may ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ (Philippians 4:4). Behind a frowning providence He surely hides a smiling face. So we may trust and praise Him on both cloudy days and clear days, in day time and in the night.

The Pre-eminence of God

Finally, the Bible teaches that, for the Christian, dark days and night time are only temporary. ‘The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day’ (Proverbs 4:18). Christians alone are children of light. ‘He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son’ (Colossians 1:13). On the cross the Lord Jesus suffered both physical, spiritual and eternal darkness. He bore our sins and God’s judgement upon them so that all who believe in Him may bask in God’s eternal light one day. So if we belong to Jesus, better, brighter and glorious times are coming. Yes, this world has its darkness. But in God’s kingdom darkness will be banished, and banished eternally. In God’s kingdom it will always be light. ‘And night shall be no more; they need no light or lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever’ (Revelation 21:5).

So, dear Christian friend, do not be surprised if you experience dark days. They are part of God’s all-wise ordering of the universe. Remember that the Lord Jesus is ‘the light of the world’ (John 8:12) and seek His grace to live with whatever circumstances He sends your way. And never forget that brighter days are surely coming, for ‘the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us’ (Romans 8:18). Your testimony will yet be ‘the LORD my God lightens my darkness’ (Psalm 18:28).

Copyright, Timothy Cross

Oct

2014

The “Unquiet Horse”

THE FIRST PALM SUNDAY

In 520BC, the prophet Zechariah, under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, made the following prophecy: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your King comes to you; triumphant and victorious is He, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass (Zechariah 9:9).

In the fullness of time, the prophecy was to be fulfilled to the letter in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christians recall the fulfilment of this prophecy every Sunday before Easter, on the day known as ‘Palm Sunday.’ On this day, we remember how the Lord Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on a colt – a colt being a donkey under four years old. Matthew’s Gospel records of that day how . . . the crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him shouted ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ (Matthew 21:8,9).

The Last Adam

The incident concerning the colt on Palm Sunday reveals Jesus as ‘the last Adam.’ We know from the Bible that before sin entered the world, the first Adam had dominion over the creatures. Genesis 1:26 tells us how God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle . . . Palm Sunday reveals the Lord Jesus’ dominion . . . over the cattle, for the colt on which He rode was one on which no one has ever sat (Mark 11:3). The colt had thus never been broken in. Ordinarily, it should have bolted as soon as Jesus sat on it. But the Lord Jesus is the Last Adam with total dominion over the cattle. The Lord of creation was in complete control of this unbroken colt. Thou hast given Him dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea (Psalm 8:6-8). Palm Sunday demonstrated Jesus’ dominion over the beasts of the field. Later that week, the cock’s crowing just at the time when Jesus predicted just after Peter’s denial of His Master, demonstrated His dominion over the birds of the air. Elsewhere in the Gospel records, Jesus’ dominion over the fish of the sea is demonstrated on more than one occasion – witness His being able to bring about a miraculous catch of fish, as well as predicting that if Peter went fishing with a rod and line, the very first fish he caught would have a silver coin in its mouth.

An ‘Unquiet Horse’

Returning again to ‘Palm Sunday’ and Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on an unbroken colt, consider the following:-

A specialist equestrian term refers to an ‘unquiet horse.’ An unquiet horse is a restless, anxious one. The anxiety in the case of an unquiet horse though is caused not by something intrinsic to the horse, but by the rider on the animal. Horses are very sensitive creatures and know at once if their rider is ill at ease. The spirit of the rider is communicated to the horse, so a troubled rider causes a troubled horse, that is, causes it to be ‘unquiet.’

On the first Palm Sunday there was much commotion. Messianic expectation had reached fever pitch. People behind and in front of the colt were shouting, waving palm branches and throwing garments on the road. Yet in spite of all this, the colt did not bolt or demonstrate any anxiety – unquiet ness – at all. Why? Because the Prince of Peace was riding upon it, and so this most honoured, dumb creature sensed immediately that all was well.

Horses are very sensitive creatures and know at once if their rider is ill at ease. The spirit of the rider is communicated to the horse, so a troubled rider causes a troubled horse, that is, causes it to be ‘unquiet.’

The Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6 refers to the Lord Jesus as the Prince of Peace. At this moment, the Prince of Peace was riding into Jerusalem with the sole purpose of making peace between God and humanity – the peace of sins forgiven and the peace of being reconciled to God for time and eternity. Riding a humble colt was certainly an act of humility for the Son of God. But infinitely more so was His crucifixion at the hands of cruel men later that week to procure our salvation. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Colossians 1:20 refers to Jesus making peace be the blood of His cross. And Romans 5:1 gives the joyful testimony of every Christian since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace in a troubled world

The Prince of Peace alone was able to make our peace with God. The Prince of Peace alone will be able to bring universal peace, when He comes again in glory to reign, and destroy finally and for ever all the causes of disharmony in God’s world. And in a world as troubled now as it was in Jesus’ day, Jesus still says to His Own: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (John 14:27).

So thank God for Jesus, the Last Adam, Lord of creation and Prince of Peace. He humbled Himself that we might be exalted. He suffered that we might be saved. He died that we might have eternal life. He, the sinless One, was punished in the place of sinners, that whoever believes in Him may enjoy peace with God, now and for ever.

TJEC

Oct

2014

September 11th

‘9/11’

Who could ever forget September 11^th, 2001? ‘9/11’, as it is widely known, was the day when three thousand and forty five people suddenly lost their lives in a cruel, calculated terrorist attack in New York. The ramifications and repercussions of the day are still with us. It was a day which changed the world. The very mention of 9/11 triggers off in us our recollections of where we were and what we were doing at the time, and the mixed emotions of disbelief, numbness, sadness and outrage we then felt.

Writing as a Bible-believing Christian, and not as a politician, I ask the question: Does the Bible cast any light on that black day in the autumn of 2001? It does indeed:-

The Sovereignty of God

The Bible encourages us to see God’s providence behind absolutely everything that happens, with no exceptions. Behind ‘secondary causes’ – even the evil intentions of wicked men – there yet lies the sovereign will of God. The Shorter Catechism reminds us that ‘The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His Own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.’

We are forced to admit our limitations here. In fact, confessing our ignorance is a mark of intelligence. God’s ways are sometimes beyond us. After all, He is God! We, being finite creatures cannot always comprehend the infinite God. We can say though that He knows what He is doing, and He is worthy of our trust. ‘‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD’ (Isaiah 55:8). ‘How unreachable are His judgements, and how inscrutable His ways’ (Romans 11:33). God is infinitely different. ‘There is none holy like the LORD, there is none besides Thee’ (1 Samuel 2:2).

The Sin of Man

The Bible diagnoses all the sorrow and disharmony of the world as being the result of human sin. Sin puts us out of fellowship with our Maker and each other. Sin manifests itself in myriads of painful, destructive ways. Romans 3 tells us that ‘all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin’ (v.9), and then – as we remember 9/11 – goes on to say that one of the consequences of sin is this: ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood, in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they do not know’ (vv. 15,16).

As sinners, we are all in need of salvation. And it is the Christian Gospel which ‘is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith’ (Romans 1:16).

The Fragility of Life

Days such as September the eleventh remind us that life is brief and fragile, eternity is ever near, and this world is, at best, very uncertain. ‘You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes’ (James 4:14). The shocks of this world can act as a wake-up call to us. We cannot assume a tomorrow or a next week. How vital it is therefore to be right with our Maker, as we could face Him at any time. The only way to be right with our Maker is to know that our sins are forgiven. The only way to be sure that our sins are forgiven is to trust in the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, the Saviour of sinners. Decisions in time affect eternity. Decisions on earth affect whether we will spend eternity in heaven or in hell. Hence 2 Corinthians 6:2: ‘Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’

In Luke 13, the Lord Jesus was asked about a certain tower which fell on eighteen people, killing them instantly. Jesus here refused to get involved in the kind of theological speculation and debate which 9/11 brought in its wake. Instead, He gave the stark warning: ‘Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish’ (v.5).

The Comfort of God

Amidst the difficulties, perplexities, disappointments and even the devastations of this life, Christians have a resource of which the world knows nothing. We have a God to Whom we can turn. ‘The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him’ (Nahum 1:7). ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult’ (Psalm 46:1-3).

The Promise of Peace to Come

Christians know – on the authority of the Bible – that this world will not remain the way it is now for ever. One day, God will right all wrongs. He will punish evil doers eternally, and bring in His Kingdom of everlasting righteousness and peace. We pray for this future blessing every time we pray ‘Thy Kingdom come.’

The ultimate goal of all history is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He comes again, there will be cosmic redemption. ‘According to His promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells’ (2 Peter 3:13). ‘They shall beat their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more’ (Isaiah 2:4).

September the eleventh – 9/11. It is a day which will be for ever etched upon world history and in our minds and memories. Strange to report, but I have heard unbelievers audaciously railing against Almighty God for that human tragedy. How we react to devastation reveals much about the state of our souls. We either turn against God, or we seek Him more earnestly – cleaving to His promises and asking Him for help and comfort, being reassured from the Bible that He is actually working all things out for our good, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As you read this though, I am aware that you may have your own version of 9/11 – a particularly sad and devastating day when your circumstances changed suddenly, and your whole world caved in. If so, may the following be balm to your troubled soul:-

O Child of God, this grief

That bows your spirit low

Is yours but half, for Christ Himself

Still shares His people’s woe

His wisdom planned it out

Then bore it on His heart

Till gently on your untried back

Love laid the lesser part

So take it with all joy

Together bear the cross

For while you suffer, He distils

A heaven from your loss

Beneath His secret will

Subscribe with ready pen

Add to this sorrow God has sent

A resolute ‘Amen’

Each day spend out in faith

Nor prove His labour vain

Cast still on Christ the pressing weight

Who only can sustain.

Article Copyright Timothy Cross

Oct

2014

The Book of Life

THE BOOK OF LIFE

An envelope arrived on my mat recently containing a form for me to sign. Had I not signed this form, my name would not have been on the electoral role, and I would then have been ineligible to vote. So, without further ado, I signed the form and posted it off in its prepaid envelope, along with the cynical thought ‘If you do not vote, you cannot complain.’ I wonder just how many other lists our names get onto which we do not know about . . .

Did you know that Almighty God has a list of the names of those who are eternally saved? The evidence for the existence of this list is widespread in the Scriptures:-

The Lord Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 10:20: ‘Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’ In Philippians 4:8 Paul wrote of Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Hebrews 12:23 mentions the assembly of the first-born whose are enrolled in heaven and in the book of Revelation there are frequent references to ‘the Lamb’s book of life’. Revelation 20:15, for instance, reads formidably: if any one’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And Revelation 21:17 says, concerning the glorious city of God, that nothing unclean shall enter it . . . But only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

What then do these verses mean? Especially, to what do the references to lists of names refer? The Bible, remember, was written in an Eastern setting and culture, somewhat removed from our own. With this in mind, one writer explains that, in the ancient world:-

It was customary to have registers of citizenship, in which were entered the names of citizens, both natural and adopted. Heaven is represented as a city, and is inhabitants are registered. Some, who have not yet reached the city, are regarded as citizens on their way home. Their names are registered with the others . . . (Manners and Customs of the Bible, James Freeman).

The ‘Book of Life’ then refers to the roster of believers in all ages. If we truly belong to Jesus, our names are in the book of life, for it is Jesus alone Who bestows on us the gift of eternal life – the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). The most important question of all therefore is: ‘Is your name written in the book of life?’ On this theme, another commentator is most helpful when he elucidates:-

This ‘Book of Life’ . . . is the register of the kingdom of heaven, wherein are enrolled the names of all the elect . . . For the Scripture, employing frequently things of earth in order to represent to our minds the things of heaven, compares the list of the people of God, whom He has chosen from eternity, and marked as His elect, to a register, in which the names of all the citizens of a town are enrolled. I confess that to us this book is shut up and sealed. God knows those that are His, but will not manifest them fully until that day when the books shall be opened . . . But meanwhile we may judge . . . With modesty and charity, by the actions of men, and hold as the elect of God, as citizens of the new Jerusalem, truly enrolled in its register, those who display in their lives the marks of Divine adoption, such as faith, obedience, love, holiness, perseverance and other graces (Revelation, G.B. Wilson).

The Bible then says that God has a book, and if we are saved, it is because our names have been written in this book in eternity past – written in the book of life from the foundation of the world (Revelation 17:8). It is God alone Who decides who is written in this book – salvation is His sole prerogative – and yet, if we believe in Jesus, we can be sure that our names have been written there, for those chosen by God in eternity past, will surely and certainly come to faith in Christ in time, and so spend all eternity in God’s heavenly city, saved by His grace. Acts 13:48 tells us: as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. That is, all those enrolled for eternal salvation came to faith in Christ in due time:-

Loved with everlasting love,

Led by grace that love to know.

Notice carefully that Revelation 13:8 describes the book of life as the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. It shows that the book of life is the list of the redeemed, for the Lamb speaks of redemption. In Old Testament times Israel was redeemed from slavery in Egypt because an innocent lamb was slain and its blood applied. John 1:29 proclaims that the Lord Jesus is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. Calvary could not be more central and integral to the Divine revelation and the saving purposes of God. He has His elect for sure. Yet these elect will only dwell with God in heaven because He sent His Own Son to die for their sins. In the unthwartable purpose of God, He will then irresistibly draw His elect of the foot of the cross, and enable them to put their trust in the Lamb of Calvary – the Lamb slain to take away our sins and render us fit for a place in the eternal city of heaven.

The question then, in closing, is begged. Do you belong to Jesus? Are you numbered among those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Is your name written in the book of life?

Is your name written there

In the Lamb’s book of life?

When you leave this old world

With is sin and its strife?

Will you find your name there

‘Mongst the ransomed of God

In the Lamb’s book of life

Through the Lamb’s precious blood

Let me ask you again

Is your name written there?

Will you be in heaven’s bliss?

Or in endless despair?

You have nothing to do

But the Saviour accept

But woe unto you

If His name you reject.

Article Copyright Timothy Cross

Oct

2014

The Longest Day

June 21^st is the longest day of the year — the day when the sun rises the earliest and sets the latest. Before 21 June, the days get longer. Afterwards they grow shorter, until the dark days of winter are on us once again.

If we believe the Bible, we look beyond these regular events and see the hand of God himself. He states in Genesis 8:22: ‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease’.

The longest day

According to biblical history, the longest day that ever occurred was in the time of Joshua, when God actually lengthened a day to ensure that Israel was victorious in battle.

Joshua 10:12-14 records: ‘Then spoke Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the men of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon in the valley of Aijalon”.

‘And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. … There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD hearkened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel’.

Here, then, we are dealing with a unique day. The Lord of the universe suspended natural laws for the benefit of his people.

If we believe in God, miracles present no difficulty. Almighty God was more than able to control his creation in Joshua’s day, just as he had previously parted the waters of the Red Sea in the time of Moses.

Just as also, in the fullness of time, he was able to raise his own Son from the dead. Our Father is omnipotent!

The longest night

In the Bible, all roads lead to Calvary — the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross in the sinner’s place. Calvary was a unique day in every sense of the word.

Here we are dealing with the longest ever night — for when God punished his Son for sins not his own, he sent darkness at midday.

We read: ‘Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45-46).

Painful days always seem to go slowly. Calvary, therefore, was certainly a long day and a long night for the Lord Jesus. His physical and spiritual sufferings are beyond our comprehension.

Yet the Scripture testifies that this long, dark day, paradoxically, is the brightest day of all. For as the sun was darkened and Christ himself bore the wrath of God, the eternal salvation of all who believe in Jesus was procured.

The death of Christ on the cross in time was an event of eternal significance. The Bible’s explains Christ’s death as follows:

‘Christ … offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins’ and ‘by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified’ (Hebrews 10:12,14).

Christ’s death, then, was an eternal sacrifice. It is sufficient to save us for all eternity. Here we are dealing with God himself and his way of salvation. ‘I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it’ (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

The eternal day

Finally, we note that Revelation 21:25 says of the eternal city of God — that glorious eternal home of the redeemed — that ‘there shall be no night there’.

Why not? Because ‘the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb’.

If we are believers we are heading for eternal day! Few of us will miss the night. At night time, worries always seem more complicated, burdens heavier and bodily pain more acute.

But there will be no such experiences in glory! Christians may take heart, therefore, that in heaven they will endure night no more.

In the Bible, ‘night’ is often used to symbolise sin, danger and evil. By God’s grace we will be for ever free from sin, and eternally beyond the reach of danger and evil — all because Jesus bore the dark night of Calvary for us.

He delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into his glorious kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). Christians enjoy Christ — both as the Sun of righteousness and the Light of the world — now and eternally.

I heard the voice of Jesus say

‘I am this dark world’s light.

Look unto me, thy morn shall rise

And all thy days be bright!’

I looked to Jesus and I found

In him my Star, my Sun

And in that light of life I’ll walk

Till travelling days are done.

Sep

2014

Tolerance

TOLERANCE: A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE?

In 1 John 4:1, the Apostle John – an intimate of the Lord Jesus – gives the following exhortation and warning to Christians: ‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.’

In our 21^st century, multi-cultural, multi-faith, multi-lifestyle society, ‘toleration’ is definitely one of the spirits of the age. It is enjoined as a good, even a ‘Christian’ virtue. Thus one Nick Pratt (sic) is quoted in the Metro of 19/10/12 as being very angry when his son George was prohibited from joining the Scouts due to his professed atheism. Said Mr Pratt: ‘Christianity is meant to be about being tolerant, forgiving and understanding …’ But is a blanket ‘tolerance’ truly ‘of God’? What happens when we ‘test the spirits’?

Consider the Person of God

Contrary to common belief, the God of the Bible is actually revealed as an intolerant God. He brooks no rivals for He has no rivals. Idolatry – that is, giving worship and honour to anyone or anything other than the one true God – is condemned in the Bible throughout its pages. The God of the Bible is jealous and zealous for His own glory. Thus in Exodus 34 He commanded His people to break down the altars and pillars of the false gods found in the land of Canaan. His reason for this was Himself. He affirmed ‘you shall worship no god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God’ (Exodus 34:14). The true God therefore is not tolerant but jealous. He demands, requires and is worthy of our exclusive obedience, allegiance and worship. He alone can affirm ‘I am the LORD, that is my name; my glory I give to no other’ (Isaiah 42:8). And in the very first of the Ten Commandments – the summary of the moral law – God commands: ‘You shall have no other gods before me’ (Exodus 20:3). The Shorter Catechism explains:-

The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God and our God, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.

The first commandment forbiddeth the denying or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God and our God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other which is due to Him alone.

Consider the Law of God

The God of the Bible exercises no tolerance at all when it comes to the breaking of His law. As God our great creator, He has the right to lay down His law and demand obedience to it. Breaking His law is serious solely from the fact that it entails a rebellion against Himself – treason against the King of kings. So in Galatians 3:10 we read ‘it is written ‘Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.’’ So the God if the Bible is completely intolerant when it comes to punishing law breakers. They are liable to His ‘curse.’ Non Christians who rebel against God can expect His merciless judgement in the life to come. And even Christians who lapse and flout God’s law, can expect His chastisement in this life, for the God of the Bible is inflexible when it comes to the law He has laid down. The slightest infringement brings punishment: ‘For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it’ (James 2:10).

Will God punish all who have broken His law? Yes. But the Good News of the Gospel is that sinners may be pardoned and escape from the punishment they deserve, for in His wisdom and mercy, God devised a way whereby sinners could be justly pardoned. In sending His Son to die in the sinners place, and take their punishment, God was true to both the justice and love which lies at the heart of His nature. Calvary was the supreme demonstration of both God’s love and wrath – wrath in condemning sin, and mercy in pardoning the believing sinner: ‘to prove at the present time that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies those who have faith in Jesus’ (Romans 3:26). Which leads us to:-

Consider the Salvation of God.

The Bible is intolerant when it comes to salvation, for according to the Bible, the salvation Christ procured at Calvary is an exclusive one – there is no other pardon for sin and there is no other way of salvation apart from the sacrifice of Christ on the cross: ‘And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under haven, given among men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).

There were those in the province of Galatia who preached an alternative way of salvation from the cross of Christ. They ‘did it their way.’ In response, far from enjoining toleration, the Apostle Paul expressed his indignation and wrote one of the most intolerant letters of the New Testament. It is doubtful whether Galatians pass the censors today. Paul was gripped by the necessity of the cross – its indispensibility for our salvation and the futility of seeking salvation anywhere else. ‘If justification were through the law (that is, our own efforts) then Christ died to no purpose’ (Galatians 2:21), he wrote.

So the exclusive nature of the Christian Faith does not sit easily with the current spirit of the age. Christian belief and behaviour are contrary to the current tide and world view which promotes ‘tolerance’ whilst, paradoxically, is increasingly intolerant of the Christian Faith. The words of the Saviour however still remain: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me’ (John 14:6).

Having considered something of the intolerance of the God of the Bible, along with the intolerance of His law and His salvation, the question is begged as to why He does not intervene straight away in fearful judgement. Isn’t our current world a total affront to Him? The answer is as follows. Paradoxically, again, the Bible reveals that almighty God is long-suffering as well as intolerant. In His great mercy, He tolerates sinners for a while. He exercises His patience with them so that they may come to Christ and be saved. Yes, intolerance is part of His holy nature. But He amazingly has His elect people, destined for eternal glory. So although He will surely intervene one day, He withholds His final judgement so that Christ’s church – the church of the redeemed – may be built. As Peter explained: ‘The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). So whilst God’s intolerance is to be revered, His forbearance is fuel for our praise. Apart from the latter, we would not have come to saving faith in Christ.

Timothy Cross

Sep

2014

From Dawn until Dusk

FROM DAWN UNTIL DUSK

I recently had the experience of being outside in the morning while it was dark, and seeing the day dawn gradually until it was light. Then, as it happened, that very same day, I was out in the early evening as the sun set and the darkness appeared again. The experience reminded me of Psalm 113:3 which reads ‘From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.’

We are told that in heaven, the praise of God never ceases. Revelation 7:15 informs us that there, the redeemed ‘are … before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night within His temple.’ It is doubtful though if there is any moment here on earth when someone, somewhere is not engaged in the praise of God. ‘From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.’

Sunday worship

Think for a moment of an average Sunday – the Christian Sabbath. Here in the UK we might be fast asleep in bed early on a Sunday morning – but the sun has already risen in the east. In China and in the former states of the Soviet Union, Christians are already awake, up and meeting together, sometimes illicitly. They have gathered together to hear God’s Word and to unite their hearts and voices in God’s praise. Then, when the day dawns in the UK, Christians here take up God’s praise. My mother’s church meets at 09.30 on a Sunday. My church meets at 11.00. A church I know in Belfast meets at midday. We have our evening service at 18.30 hrs. The church I know in Belfast meets at 19.00 hrs. Eventually though, in both assemblies, the closing benediction is said, we make our way home and the caretaker locks the church door. Our corporate worship has finished for the day. Yet if we could travel west to America, we would find that their evening worship has not yet begun. It will do though. They will be engaged in corporate worship while we are getting ready to retire for the night. ‘From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.’

The question is begged: Why is God always to be praised? The answer of the Bible is ‘Because He alone is worthy.’ Worship depends on worth, and there is no one or nothing more worthy than Almighty God. He alone may be described as truly ‘great.’ Human greatness is relative. Divine greatness is absolute. ‘Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable’ (Psalm 145:3).

There is then no time on earth or in heaven when Christians, either individually or corporately are not praising God. Their praise actually is a response to Him. Specifically, it is a response to i. His Superlative Glory and ii. His Saving Grace.

God’s Superlative Glory

The ‘name of the LORD’ in our verse refers to the revelation God has given us of Himself – His self disclosure. We learn from the Bible that God is supreme, sovereign and unrivalled. He is the uncreated Creator and sustainer of the universe, unsurpassed and unsurpassable in His power and greatness. In Isaiah 46:9 He makes the assertion ‘I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.’ The Shorter Catechism, in answer to the question ‘What is God?’ states

‘God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.’

The revelation of God in the Bible incites and demands our praise and awe. Not worshipping Him is the height of disrespect. Worshipping anything created is idolatry. Christians therefore praise God for His superlative glory and greatness. But Christians alone have a special reason for praising God, namely:-

God’s Saving Grace

The wonder of wonders is that the awesome God of the universe should have mercy on sinners and enter into a relationship with them – but this one truth is the conviction which unites all Christians. Christians are the recipients of God’s saving grace. Whilst He was within His rights to condemn us all to hell for our sins, in His mercy He sent His Son to save us from our sins and restore us to fellowship with Himself. God the Father planned our salvation. God the Son procured our salvation on Calvary’s cross. God the Holy Spirit has applied Christ’s work of redemption to us, reconciling us to God for time and eternity. With this in mind, Christians meet together for the corporate worship of God – to praise Him for His saving grace in Christ. We have a salvation to celebrate, a mercy to extol and a God to glorify. The wonder of God’s saving grace in the gospel is the fuel which ignites our praise. Hear again John’s summary of the gospel in John 3:16,17: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.’

God’s superlative glory and God’s saving grace. Here is the reason for the praise He receives from His creatures. And here is the reason for obeying the injunction of Psalm 113:3:’ From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.’ The hymn writer captured the sentiment of the verse very well in the following lines:-

We thank Thee that Thy church unsleeping

While earth rolls onward into light

Through all the world her watch is keeping

And rests not now by day or night

As o’er each continent and island

The dawn leads on another day

The voice of prayer is never silent

Nor dies the strain of praise away

The sun that bids us rest is waking

Our brethren neath the western sky

And hour by hour fresh lips are making

Thy wondrous doings heard on high

So be it, Lord, Thy throne shall never

Like earth’s proud empires pass away

Thy kingdom stands and grows for ever

Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway.

Timothy Cross

A Blanket of Snow

The Finished Work of Christ

Martin Luther: The Just Shall Live by Faith

The Dark Days of the Soul

The “Unquiet Horse”

Horses are very sensitive creatures and know at once if their rider is ill at ease. The spirit of the rider is communicated to the horse, so a troubled rider causes a troubled horse, that is, causes it to be ‘unquiet.’

September 11th

The Book of Life

The Longest Day

Tolerance

From Dawn until Dusk

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Horses are very sensitive creatures and know at once if their rider is ill at ease. The spirit of the rider is communicated to the horse, so a troubled rider causes a troubled horse, that is, causes it to be ‘unquiet.’

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