A Renewed Mind Transformed A Nation

A NEW MIND

The young Ebenezer followed his father, the Rev. Henry Erskine, to their old kirk in 1690 for the Catechism Class. The children were drilled in the questions, but F.W. Boreham tells us that young Ebenezer was struck by the answer to the 43rd Question of the Shorter Catechism which starts with I am the Lord thy God. These words were planted deep into the mind of Ebenezer and would take a further twenty or so years before they would germinate.

Following in his father's footsteps, Ebenezer became a pastor at Portmoak, Scotland.

"I began my ministry without much zeal, callously and mechanically, being swallowed up in unbelief and in rebellion against God." Ebenezer Erskine

F.W. Boreham tells us-

'He feels no enthusiasm for the Bible; indeed, the New Testament positively wearies him. His sermons are long and formal; he learns them by heart and repeats them parrot-fashion, taking care to look, not into the faces of his people, but at a certain nail in the opposite wall.'
A HANDFUL OF STARS, page 58, Dr. F.W. Boreham

But Ebenezer's understanding of God and His Word was about to dramatically change. His wife, who knew God, prayed fervently for her husband to meet Christ. She then took seriously ill. The fever gripped her. She begain speaking to her husband in her delirium and "her words were wild and passionate." She spoke of the Lord and His dealings. Her husband was pierced "to his soul." As she lay on her death-bed, Ebenezer cried out to the God he did not know.

"At last, the Lord was pleased to calm her spirit and give her a sweet serenity of mind. This, I think was the first time that ever I felt the Lord touching my heart in a sensible manner. Her distress and her deliverance were blessed to me. Some few weeks after, she and I were sitting together in my study, and while we were conversing about the things of God, the Lord was pleased to rend the veil and to give me a glimmering view of salvation which made my soul to acquiesce in Christ as the new and living way to glory.".From the Diary of Ebenezer Erskine

The words of the Catechism: I am the Lord! I am your God. I am the Lord your God - gripped the mind of Ebenezer. These words of Scripture transformed his mind.

¶ Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2

Despite being religious, Ebenezer Erskine was lost. Then the Lord, the Lord his God, gripped his mind. He realised that the Lord God had a rightful claim on his life. He discovered that what he was taught in his childhood was no mere religious program, but life! Parents should ever be mindful that what they teach their children by word or by deed may take years before it germinates!

Ten years after his conversion the full impact of what Christ had done in his thinking was felt by congregation when he preached not from notes, not from rehearsal - but from his soul as he gazed through the eyes of those in his congregation into souls and declared that God is their God, their Lord, and that Lord thy God was their God! This sermon would go down in history as one of the greatest ever preached in Scotland. Ultimately he would lead to one of the greatness spiritual revivals Scotland had ever witnessed. All because a father sowed a seed of Scripture into his son, a praying wife pervently interceded for her husband, and the Lord God intervened.

Trusting in the Lord thy God,
Onward go! onward go!
Holding fast His promised word,
Onward go!
Ne'er deny His worthy name,
Tho' it bring reproach and shame;
Spreading still His wondrous fame,
Onward go!"ONWARD GO!" Ira D. Sankey, 1881

Amen.

¶ Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
First Corinthians 14:20

Andrew

Redeeming Left-Handers

by Dr. Andrew Corbett 21st November 2012 There are some obscure verses in the Bible that seem to make is difficult for anyone claiming that every word of the Bible is inspired. These obscure verses tend to pop-up through the Old Testament. Some of them seem random. Some of them seem out of place. Take Judges 20:16 as an example- Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. Judges 20:16 Some people who believe the Bible to be divinely inspired resolve these obscure verses by using a combination of ignoring them and ascribing to them a "lesser" divine inspiration. But if the Bible's own claims about itself are taken seriously, then this approach can not be reconciled with such claims. One of the primary claims of the Bible is that it is uniquely authoritative (2Timothy 3:16-17)...[continue reading]

A SOLACE THERE

Joseph Scriven was in love. The day before his wedding he had arranged to meet his bride-to-be for a romantic tryst just outside Dublin. As she rode her trusty horse over the bridge where her love was waiting for her on the other side, the horse was startled and bucked her off into the River Bann below where she drowned. He wrote to his mother that his world had collapsed. He recovered and fell in love with Miss Falconer whom he intended to marry only to have his rival steal her heart. Heart-broken he left for Canada. He eventually fell in love again. But just before he married, his fiancé suddenly contracted pneumonia and died. He then wrote another letter to his mother that would be immortalized in verse for generations to come.

Joseph Scriven undoubtedly asked God "Why!?" It's a question that is asked which invites a non-verbal response, such as a hug, or simply time given listening to the anger, doubts, and frustrations of the hurt. Many people have found God in such inexplicable pain and loss. In asking God "Why?!" they soon discover that what they thought was God's silence was actually God's response. Us ponderous types tend to analyse and dispense theoretical answers to such questions from the hurt and broken who are battling the tragic loss or dibilitating injury of a loved one, while the more wiser among us are not entering into such vain exercises. Instead, they are making meals, mowing lawns, baby-siting children, washing clothes and answering phone calls. In the midst of Joseph Scriven's pain he found solace in not being the beneficiary of love but the giver of it.

He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. Second Corinthians 1:4 THE MESSAGE

Joseph Scriven found Christ in the eye of his storm. He began to look for opportunities to serve. He was seen around Port Hope, Ontario, chopping wood and milking cows to help certain widows out.

Scriven became a familiar sight around Port Hope, a big man with bushy white hair and full white beard, carrying a buck and a bucksaw, offering to cut wood for anyone who was unable to cut his own or pay someone to do it for him. But he wouldn't cut wood for hire.
History of Port Hope, Ontario, Canada*

Battling heart-ache, grief, troubles, disappointments, discouragements, temptations, and sorrows, Mr Scriven found Christ as his Healer, Burden-Bearer, Refuge and Solace. I was reminded of these things today after I had my morning meditation from Second Timothy where the aged apostle Paul lists those who had either "left" him, "betrayed" him, or "damaged" him.

¶ You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes...For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.Second Timothy 1:15; 4:10

Despite all that had happened to Joseph Scriven, he turned to Christ rather thanfrom Christ. It is utterly bewildering that someone would be let down by a fellow believer and turn away from Christ! Firstly, it is not only possible to continue to love someone who has disappointed you and let you down - it is imperative that you do so. A casual reading of Colossians 3:12-14 seems to demand that our loving each other be done against the backdrop of reasons for strained relationships with each other. The next time you are offended by, disappointed with, angry about, another Christian, don't burn the relationship! Especially don't curse your church because of it. Rather, turn to Christ for the grace and strength to be able to fulfil Colossians 3:12-14 (and Romans 12:9-21). Secondly, don't hold Biblically uninformed views about what you can expect from those you love or those who love you. It is very possible for those who love you to let you down. Someone can still love you even though they disappoint you. Joseph Scriven found all of this to be true.

¶ Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive..
Colossians 3:12-13

These difficult experiences caused Joseph Scriven to pen these words to his mother-

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer! 

O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer. 

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer! 

Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer! 

Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge
Take it to the Lord in prayer. 

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He'll take and shield thee
Thou wilt find a solace there.

Amen!

"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
John 15:15

Andrew

THE POINT OF CHRISTIANITY

What does it mean to be a Christian? Recently a minor Party Senator criticised Christians for voicing concerns over her Party’s policy agenda. She claimed that Christians should stop preaching “at” people because Christianity was really about helping the poor. Her claim was bolstered by a recent delegation of nearly 200 Christian ministers who agreed with her! But she’s not the only Politician to think that Christianity is merely about improving social conditions.

Just before Prime Minister John Howard lost power, his opponent was interviewed about being a Christian. He said that his Christianity was like that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (the German pastor who withstood Hitler, was jailed for nearly three years by the Nazis and was executed at the command of Hitler- Hitler’s final command - which he gave two days before he committed suicide and the War consequently ended). Bonhoeffer, stated this politician, did not see Christianity as being about converting people. Rather, Christianity was about opposing injustice - which is why this German pastor withstood Hitler at the cost of his own life. If elected Prime Minister, this politician would promote Christianity as a force for social justice - not converting people “like evangelicals”!

It’s one thing for politicians to not understand what Christianity is about, but it’s quite another matter for so-called Christian ministers! Today there is a growing number of such ministers who deny that anyone need to be “converted” in order to become a Christian. For those of us who do know what a Christian is and care about how Christianity is understood, we are faced with the challenge of not only defending it - but getting on with it!

CONVERTING TO CHRISTIANITY MEANS BECOMING A “PILGRIM”

In John Bunyan’s unequalled classic, Pilgrim’s Progress, he tells of a man who prayed. As a result of praying he becomes aware of the burden on his back. This man realises that no matter how hard he tries he cannot free himself from this burden. He embarks on a journey to find relief and becomes Pilgrim. He meets Evangelist who points him to a hill called Golgotha. It is there that he meets the bleeding Saviour. As he gazes into the face of Jesus he cries out, "For me He dies! For me He dies!" The burden of sin, guilt and shame snaps off his back and rolls down the hill. At that point Pilgrim is converted! So firmly did Bunyan believe that Christianity only began with conversion that he was prepared to be jailed for that belief for some 17 years! 

UNIVERSALISTS DENY CONVERSION

Theologically, a Universalist believes that everyone is saved without having been converted. They base this idea on verses like Romans 5:15 which compares Adam’s sin condemning everyone with Christ’s death saving everyone. If the Universalists are correct, then Evangelicals are wasting their time preaching for people to be converted and should  instead be concentrating on helping the poor. But Universalists must ignore much Scripture and history to come to this conclusion. But what’s more concerning is this: if they are wrong their error has dire eternal consequences for millions of people.

WHAT CONVERSION MEANS

To be converted to Christianity is a dramatic spiritual change. It is described as being “translated” (‘transferred’) from darkness to light (Col. 1:13; 1Pet. 2:9), brought from death to life (Eph. 2:1-5) and being “born again” (John 3:3).  

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

1John 3:14

The problem that the Universalist faces in sustaining their case from Scripture is: Scripture. Reading all of Romans 5 it becomes apparent that the salvation achieved by Christ is available to every person through the preaching of the Gospel to those who “receive the abundance of God’s grace” (Rom. 5:17). Salvation must be “received”. But this is not the only problem the Universalist must deal with. Not only does the Bible affirm that all people are in the grip of sin’s tyranny, human experience down through history confirms every time someone does something evil to other humans. But the same testimony of human experience points us to literally millions of examples of people who have been converted, some dramatically, to Christianity.

Conversion involves a change of heart, mind, spirit and will. It is not merely “turning over a new leaf” or “making a New Year’s resolution”. It is rather a miraculous transformation by the Holy Spirit which begins with a recognition of a person’s sinful guilt. This is called “conviction”. The Holy Spirit then opens that person’s heart to the Gospel where they receive God’s grace and forgiveness as they are enabled by the Holy Spirit to repent.

It appears in Scripture that God generally uses three broad approaches to lead people to repentance. Firstly, Romans 2:4 says that God uses kindness to lead people to repentance.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Romans 2:4

Secondly, it appears that God uses miracles to bring people to repentance. Christ expresses His disappointment that many of the cities in which He performed miracles did not repent-

Then Jesus began to denounce the cities where he had done most of his miracles, because they hadn’t turned from their sins and turned to God. 

Matthew 11:20

Thirdly, God uses tragedy to bring people to repentance. 

God is in the business of conversion. He loves to convert people. He loves to rescue those who cry out to Him in humility. To those people, including Parliamentarians, who ridicule us Evangelicals for promoting Christianity by conversion, converted people like Apostle Paul, C.S. Lewis, and Andrew Corbett present a problem. It might also be worth noting that Dietrich Bonhoeffer would sound a loud "Amen!" He made this extremely clear in his book "Life Together" where he stressed the need for conversion and pointed out that the Christian community should only be considered as being constituted of those who have been converted. 

Phillip Adams, one of Australia’s most renowned ABC media personalities and an avid atheist, spoke at a Pastors’ Conference. He stated what should never have to be stated by atheist to a group of Christian leaders: If I believed what you claimed to believe that eternity, heaven and hell, and the need to be converted - I would be shouting it from the rooftops and I wouldn’t care who ridiculed or opposed me in the process!

It is my prayer that we will see many thousands of people authentically converted to Christ all around the world. It’s one thing to claim that we believe everyone needs to be converted in order to become a Christian - but it’s an entirely different thing to live like we believe it!

© Dr. Andrew Corbett

www.andrewcorbett.net

HURT HEARTS HEALED

The world, just like people, is made up of invisible immaterial stuff, and physical material stuff. And just like us, when there is a problem with the material stuff it is usually obvious. Less obvious is when there is a problem with the immaterial stuff - the spiritual stuff. The centre of who we are spiritually is most usually referred to as our heart.

Just like our physical hearts, our real hearts are fragile. Physically, our hearts are protected by our rib cage. Spiritually though, our hearts start off a little more exposed. When our young hearts are still discovering the world we have trusted people in our lives who serve as protectors. As we grow we learn who to allow in -and- who to keep out of our hearts. But sometimes, some people, learn this too late.

Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none. Psalm 69:20

To love involves opening our heart to someone. Our hearts are the store from which our deepest sources of delights, hopes, dreams, and fears are kept. To reveal your heart involves risk. As with any worthwhile risk, the benefits of having your heart well treated are enormous. These benefits are the essential ingredients for a person to become all they can be. The joy that two hearts wedded together nuptially experience is unsurpassed by any other human joy. But arriving at such a sublime heart-connection involves a journey of both delights and heart-aches. You can tell whether a person has a strong heart by how much of it they let others see.

¶ We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.
2Cor. 6:11

Yet there are some whose hearts will never allow them such wonders of love because they have locked too many rooms of their hearts to prevent anyone else from seeing in letting alone entering in. If your heart has been wounded perhaps you have simply shut that room rather than repaired it.  A wounded heart that is a shut heart becomes a cold heart. Perhaps it's time to receive some divine heart surgery?

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.Psalm 51:10

Of course, sometimes we don't mean to shut up hurts within our hearts. Offences come and our hearts almost involuntarily withdraw. Betrayal strikes deep in our hearts and we lock down even further. Envy creeps in and cripples large sections of our heart. And before we know it our once transparent hearts are now as cold as stone. But God the Great Heart Surgeon invites us to open up our hearts to Him.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26

All of us have had our hearts hurt. Not all of us have had our hearts healed. Will you open up your heart to God? He is the Model Father. He can be trusted. He knows how to guard and protect what you share with Him from your heart. Pour out your heart to Him tonight. If you are struggling with an issue of heart coldness, let Him heal your heart. Christ is still in the business of taking cold hopeless hearts and warming them with His love. You'll see.

They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?"
Luke 24:32

Ps. Andrew

LIFE IS SHORT

NOT JUST 7 UP

The "7" UP documentary series is considered the most influential documentary of all time. It is currently airing on SBS Television in Australia as "56 UP". It portrays the lives of several English people by showing them from age 7 and visiting them every 7 years to see how their lives have panned out. Some of the stories are heart-warming. Some of their stories are heart-breaking.

It's almost surreal to watch the lives of people age from 7 to 56 in just 30 minutes! It puts the brevity of every human life into a very confronting reality. This is made all the more real as each of the subjects featured in the documentary series discusses their individual regrets. Several of them had big "If only I had..." regrets. It made me wonder how many of us live without a sense that our lives are fleetingly short?

¶ So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Some people waste their lives. They exist more than they live. They spend their lives rather than invest their lives. When they suffer a setback, they don't getback they seek payback. This bitterness they harbour robs them of valuable years that could have been fruitful and productive. As a pastor who has been by the bedside of dying people, I have too often heard the pain of regret and the realisation from those whose lives were nearly over that bitterness and unforgiveness has calously lied to and stolen from them. Life is short.

¶ "O LORD, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!Psalm 39:4

Your life will be over sooner than you realise. At the end of your life you will either leave a legacy or you will just leave. For some, their lives will have made the world a better place because they lived with purpose, direction, reverence and thankfulness to God. Some precious souls have lived lives which by general standards have been too short - yet they have contributed more to the world in their brief lifetimes than most because they invested their time rather than spent it. They refused to allow petty unforgiveness and bitterness rob them of their rightful peace. They lived out their dream by walking a strait and narrow path rather than wandering and meandering to no where in particular.

It's not just the lives of those in the "7 UP" series that are passing quickly before the world's gaze - all of us are!

¶ A voice says, "Cry!"
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
Isaiah 40:6-7

I don't know how long my life will be. But before I go, I hope that I can fulfil the dream in my heart to have preached, written, or taught on every verse in the Bible in a way that will help people to love not just the Word of God, but most especially, the God of the Word. This dream involves pastoring a growing dynamic church of people who hunger for God's Word, who crave to have a deeper understanding of it, and passionately share their faith with well-reasoned thought-bombs that lead others to trust Christ. For me, each Sunday is another opportunity for us to invest our time and advance this dream. I don't want us to waste our lives and get to the end of our lives feeling that we had failed to even attempt to fulfil our grand dream. This sentiment is beautifully captured in the opening scene of the animated classic "UP" -

Leadership guru, John Maxwell, says that he can tell where a person is going by spending just one day with them. He says that how a person spends their day is the best indicator for where their life is going. Please don't waste your days. Please don't neglect what is truly important (devotion to God through prayer, Scripture, church, worship, family). Please don't allow pettiness, unforgiveness, or bitterness to steal your destiny.

Some people live their lives to make a name for themselves. They don't care who they hurt or abuse to get there. These people live highly regrettable lives. Others live for "simpler" purposes. The UP documentary series has powerfully reminded me of how easy it is though to have the dreams of our childhood and youth evaporate. But these simple childlike dreams of living lives of meaning, happiness, love and purpose are not gradiose and they are certainly not unattainable. But they are only attainable if we apply Matthew 6:33 and live for God's glory. At Legana we have a dream to help make life better for people by helping them to invest their lives in what really counts. But this dream is too big for me to handle or even deliver. I need your help. Please dream with me. Please invest with me. And hopefully in 7 years we can look back and say it was totally worth it!

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
Isaiah 40:8

Ps. Andrew

Revelation Daily Devotional - Day 30

Day 30

Revelation 21

Here’s the climactic call to endure in this revelation. Having shown his fellow believers that Christ would keep them through all they were enduring and about to endure, John sees the curtain of time drawn back and reports to his readers the sublimely glorious future awaiting them if they endure to the end. Today, we generally don't have to endure the direct persecution that these first Christians did. But the need to endure in the midst of a plethora of digital distractions, in an age when pleasures are plentiful, at a time when ridiculing fools have hijacked academia, and when pantheists who masquerade as environmentalists furiously deconstruct Christianity from the public square through their politicking -  the need for believers to endure is just as critical as ever!

Consider what is awaiting us. No more death. No more more pain. For those who love God this part of the revelation is altogether wonder-filled. For those who despise God this reinforcing of the consistent message of Revelation is vile, offensive, and despicable (Rev. 20:8). This just goes to show that the Word of God is delightful to those who love the God of the Word. The Apostle Paul described in terms of fragrances. For those who welcomed Christ’s lordship over them it was as if they enjoyed a sweet beautiful aroma in doing so. But for those who despised Christ and rejected His right to direct their lives it was as if they wallowed in a stench - a stench of death. Let us be a fragrance of life and delight.

Consider what is awaiting us. It’s delights are hinted at throughout the redemption story of the Bible. Hints. You have to become increasingly familiar with the Bible to begin to learn its language. After decades of studying it I am yet to get near plumbing its depths. But this I have discovered: The glory that awaits us is not bound up in heaven but the One who is enthroned there. Union with Him is the goal of salvation. Peace with Him is the source of all peace. He is our awaiting glory. He is the One who radiates the light of heaven. Miss Him and you actually miss the very message of the Bible. He will make all things new, but it can start now. Have you been made new?

Dr. Andrew Corbett

For more articles and discussion on the Book of Revelation, visit-

www.andrewcorbett.net

Revelation Daily Devotional - Day 29

Day 29

Revelation 20:11-15

[Rev. 20:11] ¶ Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. [Rev. 20:12] And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. [Rev. 20:13] The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. [Rev. 20:14] Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. [Rev. 20:15] If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire. 

“All good things come to an end” is only the first of what should be considered an incomplete expression. A latter half should be added, “so that something better can start.” Scientists tell us that the universe is winding down. Eventually, the energy that is within the cosmos will dissipate and with it the very fabric that binds all matter. Perhaps what John foresees, “earth and sky fled away” is Biblical language for what scientists tell us will happen. Time as we know it will come to an end. When it does the Judge of the Universe will be seated in judgment before Whom all will appear.

The Apostle Paul told us that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). That will happen most honourably and most horribly on this “Last Day” (John 6:39-44; 11:24; 12:48). I have chosen to make my confession on that Day one of honour. Have you?

On this Day, the books will be opened. The Scriptures speaks of God keeping “books” in which our deeds are recorded, our prayers are registered, and our words transcribed. While these books are important, they are less important than the Book mentioned in the closing verse of this chapter: the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8).  

The Book of Life is a separate book to the books that record of deeds, prayers and words which means that there is another reason why someone's name would be placed in it. This reason is grounded in the grace of God. That is, it is not because we ‘do’ something that we are saved from sin and made right before God. Christianity is not spelt -D-O-, rather (because of Christ’s saving work on our behalf) it is spelt: -D-O-N-E-. Every believer should memorise Ephesians 2:8-9. But every believer should understand that God will open “books” not just “the Book”. That is, while it is on the basis of the truth proclaimed in Ephesians 2:8-9 that our names are written in the Book of Life, it is on the basis of Ephesians 2:10 that our positive deeds, prayers and words are recorded in “books”. 

Good works are not the root of our salvation - they are the fruit of our salvation! What you do, pray, and say, matters. And it will matter for eternity. If you have not yet determined to glorify God with your talents, time, tongue or treasure, maybe in light of the “books” of God it might be a good day to start doing so.

Andrew Corbett

http://www.andrewcorbett.net/e-books/index.html#tmebitb

Revelation Daily Devotional - Day 28

Day 28

Revelation 20:1-10

[Rev. 20:1] ¶ Then I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain. [Rev. 20:2] He seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan—and tied him up for a thousand years. [Rev. 20:3] The angel then threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time.) [Rev. 20:4] ¶ Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  [Rev. 20:5] (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished.) This is the first resurrection.  [Rev. 20:6] Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. [Rev. 20:7] ¶ Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison [Rev. 20:8] and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea. [Rev. 20:9] They went up on the broad plain of the earth and encircled the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and devoured them completely. [Rev. 20:10] And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever.

Questions always abound when things seem to go wrong. People were being martyred, none the least were the great apostles- Peter (who was recently crucified upside down) and Paul (who was beheaded). It seemed like Satan was triumphing. How much worse could it get? With all of this happening in the background, John sees thrones. Christians were suffering because of things being decreed from temporal thrones. But these were not temporal thrones revealed to John. He was seeing the Church seated as Paul had described in Ephesians 2:6. 

Rather than the Church being the victims of Satanic plots the Church will be victors over Satanic schemes! The Church would triumph - not in the temporal-political sense but in the spiritual sense. It would more than endure - it would grow. It would bring the spiritually dead as described in Ephesians 2:4 to life as described in Ephesians 2:5 a resurrection referred to by Christ in John 3:3 as being "born again'. Have you been experienced the blessing of this “first resurrection”? 

Not until Christ’s purposes for the Church on earth is nearly completed will Satan be allowed to wreak such havoc again. But this would not be for a “thousand” years. A thousand is often used in Scripture to signify ‘not meant to be counted’. In this Revelation passage it indicates how long Christ will reign - “forever” (Revelation 1:6; 11:15).

Today, believers are members of the same triumphant Church which John saw reaching every tribe, nation and tongue (Revelation 7:9). This triumph is not temporal-political but spiritual where the dead souls are made alive through the power of the Spirit as the Word is proclaimed. Let us join the triumphant by proclaiming the Lordship of Christ in word and deed, at home and wherever the Lamb may choose to send us. 

Andrew Corbett

www.andrewcorbett.net