Category: Band

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John wrote down the words of Christ as he spoke them in a vision to John. The revelation is addressed to the seven churches in Asia as John wrote from the island of Patmos where Jesus had come to him in a vision.

Jesus speaks to the seven churches, but in chapter 2, we see that there are four to whom he speaks initially: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira.

As Christ addresses each of these churches, we see some recurring themes. To me, I think that what I have noted the most is the contrast between the warnings and the reward.

From the perspective of the warnings, I see Christ calling his church to remain faithful and continue burning hot in their faith to him and for him. Jesus is calling his church to leave the prevailing culture behind, to leave the evil of worship of other “gods” through eating foods sacrificed to them and to sexual “worship” by having sex with prostitutes at the temple.

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.

Revelation 2:14

So we see that Jesus is patient with his people and patient with his church. But he also gives them warnings that they will be judged for their evil, and they will be punished for what they have done.

However, on the other hand, Jesus will also give the possibility to come to God through him. He will also give them eternal life. Life with God forever.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:7

Jesus says that they will have the right to eat from the tree of life. This is the same tree from which Adam and Eve were mercifully banished in the Garden of Eden so that they would not live forever in their sin under the judgment of God. In God’s paradise, which will be given to those who are victorious, Jesus will allow them to eat from the tree of life, giving them life forever with God.

John is speaking of Christ and our relationship with him in chapter 5. Through the course of the chapter, he writes some important news for us to remember.

We often testify that Jesus is the way to come back into relationship with God. But the more important news for us to consider is that this is not just our testimony, but it is God’s testimony as well, and because it is His testimony, it carries much more weight.

And then John delivers the testimony itself:

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

1 John 5:11-12

These two verses are full of both wonderful and terrible news. Jesus is God’s Son who came by water and blood and then confirmed by the Spirit of God. He came by water through his baptism and identification as the Son of God. He came by blood by shedding his blood on the cross for us. And the Spirit of God both testified for Jesus when he was on the earth, and continues to testify for him as He speaks within us today to confirm the words from the word of God and from speakers that we hear to today.

So the wonderful news is that if we believe in him, if we believe in Christ, then God has given us eternal life. Life in eternity. Forever.

We can live on forever. Our spirits will continue in Christ, with God, into eternity, but only if we are in the Son. Only if we are in Christ can we have this eternal life.

And so there is a corollary to this statement that is also true, and is as equally terrible as is wonderful the previous news. And that is, if we do not have Christ, if we do not know him, if we are not in him, then we do not have eternal life. Instead, we will have punishment. We will have eternal death. We will have eternal separation from God.

That should, if we truly believe what it is saying, give us a great urgency, both for ourselves as well as for others. We must know Christ to have an eternal life. We must know him, or else we do not have eternal life. We have eternal death. May we know him, live for him, and tell others what they must know to have life themselves!

Let me start by saying that I don’t believe that the Christian faith is a test. There are many that think that our life is simply a test to see if we are “good enough” to be able to reach paradise. I think that is nonsense. None of us is good enough to be able to reach heaven. God is perfect and holy and wants nothing to do with sin, so this is why we need his covering, his forgiveness for our sins. And that is why he sent Jesus.

So our faith is not a test because we have already failed. It is only by God’s love and mercy that we can know Him.

However, there are points in our lives when we can use tools to be able to know how to best proceed forward. How can I know whether it right to continue forward in a particular relationship? How can I know the right direction to go? Sometimes these can be important things to understand as we try to employ wisdom in a particular situation.

John writes a couple of ways that we can know if we are headed in the right direction. For example, he explains how we can know that a particular person is speaking from God or not. Very simply:

Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

1 John 4:2-3

Much of the direction of the world, actually, hinges on this question: Who is Jesus? For example, in the case of Muslims, they say that he is the Christ, but then go on the say that he is only a prophet, meaning that he receives messages from God, but isn’t necessarily himself from God.

But here, John helps us to understand that Jesus must be acknowledged and understood to be the Messiah, to have come from God as His Christ. If they do not do that, then this person is speaking as having the spirit of the antichrist.

God would not deny Himself, and Jesus came from God, so God’s Spirit would, himself, acknowledge and affirm Jesus for who he is.

In the second test, John makes the test practical, both for us individually as well as for others with whom we might come into contact.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:8-10

So again, John makes it simple for us. Are we showing love? And has that love become a practical outpouring of action in our lives? If so, then we know God.

But if we do not love – if we are not showing it to others – then we do not know God. This is a way that we can know whether we are acting rightly, or if the person that I am interacting with truly knows God or not. Love is a determining factor.

So these are simple tests. Again, not because our faith is a test, but ways that we can know if we are going in the right direction, or how the people that we are connecting with are truly following God or not and whether or not we should continue forward in the direction that we are going with them.

A few years ago, I can remember a young Muslim guy that I had been reading the Bible with at the time had told me that he learned about the idea that we are called the children of God in the Bible. He was very curious about this and wondered what it could mean.

I explained that he was correct, that we are referred to as God’s children. This was, of course, quite different and strange for my friend because, as a Muslim, he is considered to be God’s servant, and that only. But the Biblical scriptures make a significant distinction here, that we are not just considered to be servants, but we are adopted into God’s family as His children and we become heirs to the promise that God had given to Abraham that we would be blessed and we would be able to know God Himself.

John spoke about this same idea in his first epistle to the believers of his time. He said:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

1 John 3:1-2

I see at least a couple of really important points in this couple of verses. First, it is the Father, God himself, who has lavished His love upon us. In fact, it is He, God, who calls us His children. We aren’t calling ourselves God’s children, but God has shown us His love and called us His children.

As I mentioned previously, we have been adopted into God’s family. We are not born into the family of God, but we are adopted into His family. As those who follow Christ, God allows us to be called His children.

The second important point that I see here is that when Christ appears, we will see him for who he is. That is, we will see Christ as God’s child, but we will also understand that we are also his children because we will be considered God’s children alongside of him.

So, unlike my friend who believes that he can only be a servant, one who works for God, we instead learn that we are part of God’s family. As followers of Christ, we are adopted into God’s family and we are royalty. We are no longer just considered servants, or followers, or students, but instead we are considered God’s children, part of His family!

John is writing to the disciples of the time and trying to encourage them to live in the ways that they had been taught. They had learned that Jesus is the Christ and that they should love him by doing what Jesus had commanded. They had learned the truth, but now they must walk in that truth.

But it is possible to deny the truth of Christ. Either at that time, or in our day, the truth of Christ could easily be denied, leading many people astray, and that is what happens in these days. Many people have been blinded as a result of their denials, whether they be the “learned”, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or many, many others. They have denied that Jesus is the Christ. So John has some specific warnings for the believers so that we keep a watch out for these people and their teachings:

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

1 John 2:20-23

We have a desire within us to go our own way. We desire to be our own ruler, our own king. But John is writing, he says, so that we that know the truth of who Jesus is will not fall away but will continue in what we know. We do not want to be influenced by those who lie through their denials of the identity of Christ. We do not want to fall under the influence of the antichrist, but instead know the Son, and therefore we will know the Father.

John says that whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ is the antichrist. Let us continue on our path to proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah who was to come into the world and is yet to return.

If you think about it, it is pretty incredible. People have seen God. People have heard from God. God has been here, walking amongst us, and we have seen him and heard him.

The One who spoke and made the universe come into existence has been here with us. The One who parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River for Moses has been here with us. The One who brought the Israelites into the promised land has been here with us.

The One who was rejected by the Israelites has been here. The One who punished the Israelites for their rebellion by scattering them to the nations has been here.

And this is the same thing that John was speaking about when he started his first epistle:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

1 John 1:1

John is saying that this One who did all of these things, and so much more, is the same One that they were allowed to see. Jesus is the Word of life, and they were able to be with him. They were allowed to truly see him with their own eyes. They were allowed to hear him with their own ears. And they were allowed to touch him with their own hands. They had seen and heard, and touched, God.

They saw, heard, and touched eternity through the Eternal One, even while he was here on earth. His leaving wasn’t the end, it was simply a moment in time. His life would continue on forever, and so would the life of those who believe in him.

How privileged were these people, that they were allowed to see God?!? That God was willing to come to them in their time in history. God came and dwelt among them!

But we should be clear that God continues this to this day. Jesus came as God in the form of a man. Jesus was referred to as Immanuel, which means God with us.

But Jesus also gave us his Spirit. For those that believe in him, the Holy Spirit will come to dwell with them. Jesus wants to know his people, and he wants his people to know him – and intimately. This is no small thing. The God of the universe comes as a man to earth to show Himself to everyone, and now he will know us, but more importantly, we can know him.

And so now, his Spirit dwells with us and we are called to live by the Spirit. No longer by our flesh, but living according to Christ within us. Through the Spirit within us, and through his word, we can know him. We can know God. With our own eyes and ears, we can see and hear him.

Jesus’s “trial”, as recorded in the book of John, is quite a scene. There is a progression of interesting statements that are made, especially and most specifically by the Jewish leaders.

First, after Pilate offers to free either Barabbas, the insurrectionist, or Jesus, the innocent man whom the Jews have accused of insurrection, the Jews say that they want to set Barabbas free. Oh, the irony…

So presumably, that is what Pilate does, but he does go ahead and have Jesus beaten. He is flogged, but then Pilate brings him out and says that he has found Jesus to be innocent, despite the beating that he just gave him.

But what is the response of the Jewish leaders? Crucify him!

And they repeat it, shouting back to Pilate that this should be Jesus’s fate.

But Pilate doesn’t get it. Why should he crucify him? Jesus hasn’t really done anything wrong. And here, the Jewish leaders show their hand. They “say the quiet part out loud”, as the saying goes. They say:

We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.

John 19:7

This isn’t really what they were supposed to say. This is the real reason that they want to crucify Jesus. They want him gone because they believe that he is blaspheming. Their unbelief prevents them from being willing to understand who Jesus truly is. Their eyes have been blinded and their ears can no longer hear. Their rage against Jesus as a result of his threat to their leadership prevents them from being able to believe in him.

And so they are coming after him for blasphemy. That is the real reason, but it really isn’t a good enough reason for Pilate and the Roman government.

But Pilate was afraid because he couldn’t understand what was happening. Where are you from?, he asked Jesus. But Jesus wouldn’t give him an answer that would satisfy Pilate any further. He would stay silent, just as the prophecies said that he would.

Pilate still couldn’t figure out why he should crucify Jesus, so he continued to try to set him free. But the Jews continued to shout and demand that Jesus be killed. And now they get their story straight as they level their accusation:

If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.

John 19:12

The Jews are backing Pilate into a corner. Now they have worked up their story to make Pilate understand that they are accusing Jesus of being against the Roman state. This is no longer a conversation about religion or about the Jewish laws, but now this is a question of Pilate’s loyalty to Rome. If Jesus is against Rome, then Pilate is against Rome if he doesn’t crucify him.

But now the death blow, both to Pilate, to the Jews, and most of all, to Jesus:

They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

John 19:15

Jesus is standing there to be judged and Pilate is still trying to set him free, but the Jews make a statement that rings through eternity, both into the past as well as into the future:

We have no king but Caesar.

How true. The Jews rejected God as their King in the time of the prophet Samuel and God allowed it, giving them first Saul, then David, Solomon, and many kings after them. They wanted to be like the other nations around them, not having God as their King, but instead having a human king, just like the other peoples.

And now, they are so far from having submitted themselves to God’s lordship that they are willing to say that their king is non other than the king that lords over them from a foreign nation. They have been conquered by the world and its systems of sin that they can no longer see how they have sold themselves as slaves to it as well.

It could go unsaid, but this is, of course, a significant warning for us as well. Who is my king? Who is yours? Do we submit to “Caesar”? Do we submit ourselves to this world? Or do we offer ourselves to Christ as King in the Kingdom of God?

The Jewish leaders had brought Jesus to Pilate to be judged. They had in mind already that he would be killed, even prior to his trial. The outcome was determined. Jesus must die. Everything that would lead up to that outcome was simply a show and procedure to get to that place.

But Pilate wasn’t so sure. First, his wife had warned him not to be involved with Jesus. Second, he couldn’t seem to wrap his head around what precisely should be the charge against Jesus.

Pilate eventually calls Jesus out and asks him if he is the king of the Jews. So we see here what the Jews accuse him of to Pilate. They are accusing him of insurrection.

But why would they do that? Because they know that Jesus will be immediately killed. If the Roman government believes that there will be an insurrection, it means that the people are attempting to rise up against the government and appoint a new king. In that case, Caesar would no longer be the sovereign over them, but instead they would now have a new king that would rule over that land.

So the Jewish leaders have accused Jesus of being the king of the Jews.

Where did they get this idea? Jesus had always spoken of the Kingdom of God and he had just, a few days ago, ridden into Jerusalem with the people welcoming him with a hero’s welcome. So it wasn’t too difficult for the Jewish leaders to spin Jesus’s words and actions into saying that he was going to cause a political uprising.

But Jesus confirms to Pilate that he isn’t here to create a political kingdom out of Israel:

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

John 18:36

Jesus isn’t attempting to create the kingdom of Israel. He is reestablishing the kingdom of God. God had been the King over all of the Jews until they had rejected him, requesting a king just like the kings of all of the nations around them, thus rejecting the only King that they had ever had, God himself.

But now God is here, and Jesus has been given all authority, and the Kingdom of God is his. He is King. But his Kingdom is not of this world. It is the Kingdom of God that is now open to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, who will bow their knee to him as their one true King.

Before being taken to be killed, Jesus prayed for his disciples, aloud in front of them. He prayed, asking that God would be glorified, and that he also would be glorified. He prayed, confirming that his disciples know and believe the words that the Father had given to Jesus to give to the disciples. He also prayed that his disciples would be protected from the evil one. He even said that his disciples were not of the world, and that they wouldn’t be taken from the world, but that they would be protected while they are in it.

Jesus also prayed that they would be sanctified by the truth, that they would live out in holiness what they had learned from Jesus.

Jesus also prayed for those that would hear the same message and experience the same process through his disciples. He wanted additional generations to have the same experience, believing in Christ and following him, even after he had returned to be with the Father in heaven.

But now, let’s get to the Why. Why was Jesus standing there praying in this way? Why was he praying out loud in front of his disciples? He was doing this because he wanted his disciples to have joy.

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

John 17:13

So often we think that to follow Jesus means that we are to be empty of joy. We are to be solemn and sullen. We think that because it seems like the people of God act this way. Or because our churches are solemn places. Silent except for the voices of the priest or the pastor. Silent except for the songs of the choir. We think of seriousness, of gravity, of solemnity. We certainly don’t think of joy.

And I should mention that joy doesn’t necessarily mean happiness at all times. Jesus himself was preparing to go to die a death of significant agony on the cross. He certainly wasn’t happy about that. In fact, at Gethsemane, he prayed and asked the Father if there was any other way that this could be accomplished. He knew what he had to do, but we can’t necessarily say that he was completely happy about the fact that he had to do it.

But Jesus was full of joy. He was joyful that the Father would be glorified in what he had done and what he was doing. He was joyful that he himself would be glorified by his disciples and by his Father. He was joyful that he had completed the work that he had been given to do by his Father.

Jesus had a deep sense of joy. A deep sense of satisfaction in what God was doing. He was being used to reestablish God’s Kingdom on the earth, and he himself is the King. Jesus was joyful because he had done what God had sent him to do and now the work was complete.

But we see that Jesus was praying aloud for his disciples so that they would experience that same sense of joy. Jesus knew that they also would go through a deep sense of agony as they witnessed him go through the death that he was about to go through. The emotions would run deep. The sadness for his death would be profound. But they will soon understand. They would soon have revelation from the Holy Spirit for what God is doing around them, and for what God is doing through them.

And so Jesus desires a different reality for them. He desires that they would also live lives full of joy. Maybe not always happy, per se, but joyful. He wanted them to be full of joy because they understood what God is doing.

And that is the same joy that God wants for us. He wants us also to live lives full of joy. In the good times and in the difficult times. In the happiness and in the sadness. In all times full of joy because we know that we have life in eternity with our God. Not separate from Him, but with Him forever, and in this we can see what our Father is doing and we are full of joy.

Peter was sure that he had it worked out. He was one of the leaders in Kingdom that was to come. Jesus was the Messiah and Peter had a front-row seat, even as one of the Messiah’s disciples. He even seemed to have an inside track as the leader of the leaders. Could it get better than this? He was in great shape.

But then Jesus says that he is leaving. He is going away.

Wait, what? Peter might have thought…

I imagine that Peter might have also been thinking:

Where could you possibly be going?

We have important work to do. We need to take over Jerusalem and overthrow the Romans, don’t we?

But Jesus says that Peter cannot follow him now. He can’t come to where Jesus is going.

Now Peter is alarmed. He is in the catbird’s seat. He is in a great spot, and now he is going to be left behind? Hold on just a second…

So Peter makes his case. He says that he is willing to give his life for Jesus!

Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

John 13:37-38

Jesus is right there with the answer. Despite Peter’s best intentions, Jesus already knows that Peter is about to truly be tested. Words are one thing, but the true test is about to come. In fact, while Peter doesn’t yet realize it, the true test is coming that night.

Unfortunately, we find out that Jesus’s prediction comes true and Peter does deny Jesus. Three times, and in somewhat rapid succession no less. Jesus will be arrested and suddenly everything will come crashing down from a human perspective. God’s plan is continuing forward, but Peter’s plan is about to take a hard turn in the wrong direction.

I think Peter’s ordeal and the lesson that he is in the midst of learning at this point is actually a lesson also for each of us. Words are cheap, so the saying goes. But this lesson that Peter is about to learn is going to send him into a new level of understanding suffering for the Gospel.

Will Peter really lay down his life for Jesus? Not this time, but it will be a lesson that he will learn for the rest of his life.

And what about us? Will we lay down our lives for Jesus?

We can make a choice, but it is important to understand that we aren’t just talking about a choice to lay down our physical lives because of our association with Jesus. Not just if someone has a gun to our heads or is threatening our lives. This isn’t really the only lesson that we should take away from this situation.

Instead, we should be thinking about how we are living for Christ. Not just whether we will die for him, but how we will live.

Will I really lay down my life for Jesus? Will I really turn it over to him? Will I really give it to him, or will I deny him and live the way that I want? Will I truly lay down my life, or will I deny his lordship over my life?

Words are cheap. Actions are what count. Now is the time to act, laying down our lives for what we say we believe.