Christ died for us - Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (NIV).

   Imagine if someone had died for you.  How would you feel knowing someone had saved you, and that he or she was now gone?
   When I was in the sixth grade I was the Captain of Safety Patrols at Columbia Elementary School.  Though thirty-seven years ago, I still feel honored to have been the safety patrol leader.  I took my job seriously.  I was dedicated to my work ensuring students at Columbia were safe in traveling to and from our school.  I wore the orange belt with pride, never leaving the house without it, and even folding it every afternoon according to standard safety patrol procedure.  I aimed to be myself with students, yet I committed to bringing a halt to any action which could bring injury or which was against school rules.  Then near the end of the year, I gained a huge distinction.  It was announced at my school I had earned an award from Fairfax County for being the second best safety patrol in the county for that school year.  Then I learned who received the award for the best patrol in our county: a sixth grade girl at another elementary school who had saved a boy’s life.  The young boy had walked out in the road in front of an approaching school bus.  The safety patrol darted in the road, pushed the boy away from the path of the bus, and lunged herself away so no one was hit by the bus.  Had the girl not pushed the boy out of the way, the bus may have swerved to miss the boy.  Or the bus may have hit him and he may have suffered certain injuries.  However the most likely scenario was that boy would have been killed.  That elementary school safety patrol likely saved that boy’s life.  And that girl could have died saving the boy.  She could have pushed him out of the way just in time but then have been unable to lunge herself out of the way.  She could have died.  She was willing to risk her life to save a boy.
   I do not know her motivation for saving the boy.  Maybe she did it out of a sense of duty as a patrol.  Or maybe she was simply a loving person who cared for the safety of a kid at the risk of her own life. That young boy must be in his forties now.  I wonder if he sometimes thinks of that girl saving him back in 1979?
   Christians often state, “Jesus died for you,” or “Jesus died for us.”  Yet why would anyone need someone who was crucified on a cross about two thousand years ago?  The answer is people need God to be sustained eternally, yet people have been separated from God and done wrong stuff ever since.  The separation was due to sin, and the continued straying is sinful, sin being that which is contrary to God’s holy will.  The sad reality is that people, even the most moral of people, even the nicest of people, even the most gifted of human beings, even the smartest of human beings, and, I must admit, even sixth graders who are Captain of the Safety Patrols, sin.  The result of any sin is spiritual death.  Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death…”  Thus all of us need a Savior.
   The radical revelation in the Scripture is that a Person has died for all of us, the sole Person with the capability to save people from the wages of sin.  Jesus, God the Son, died a death on behalf of people.  He who was without sin took the punishment we deserved.  He suffered the consequences we should have suffered.  “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  And why did He do it?  Looking at the entire verse, we learn the reason: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV).
   Yet what Jesus has done is a gift you must receive.  Being not just a temporary salvation, this salvation involves a new way of life for eternity, and you get to make the choice as to whether you will be saved, changed, and alive with Jesus for forever.  Every person has the opportunity to make that choice.  If you believe in Jesus, He will be your Savior, and you will be saved from spiritual death in h-ll, and you will have everlasting life with the LORD God Almighty.  Jesus died for us!
Hunter

Scripture Love Blog

Where is God?

Psalm 42:2   My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God? (NIV)

   For two years previous to this past summer I was on a huge ministry adventure.  Back in the spring of 2013, my intention was to gain long term employment, get married, and settle down.  Instead God put me on a ministry trip which involved living in two other states in two years.  First I was in a rural area in Appalachia teaching Bible.  I enjoy teaching, I loved the students, and I liked Kentucky, yet I struggled with discipline issues at the school, it was a poor place to be single and looking for a wife, and I always felt a bit of an outcast there in that rural area.

   Once during a hard time for me as I was in a transition before moving from Appalachia, I went for a hike in the mountains behind the school.  I lived on the school grounds in the teacher dorm, and a hike was common for me, since when I was a teacher I hiked up a little mountain behind the school after school almost every day to get refreshed.  It was a needed opportunity for me.

   On that warm day I took a side path to a place where I was in the midst of thick woods.  At one point I stood on a tree stump which was on the edge of a steep hill.  I prayed, expressing a need to know the presence of God.  Then not saying anything, I stood there for a long time, but I did not feel God.  I heard the leaves of trees blowing in the wind both near and far.  Yet I did not sense the presence of God.  Yet the unusual thing was I had peace.  In reflecting back on that event, and some similar events during that two year ministry adventure, I realize that during some extremely difficult times during that challenging ministry trip I was unable to detect the direct presence of God in the woods or by a river even though being in those environments made me feel closer to Him normally.  Yet even in those difficult times I could know God in my heart, for He was with me.  Jesus revealed that God is spirit (John 4:24) and all people have a spiritual core, since people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  For any person who believes in Jesus, he or she is baptized with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33), and the Holy Spirit dwells in her or his heart (1 Corinthians 6:19).  The reality of the Holy Spirit may not be physically detected by us, yet He is someone we can know in our spiritual heart, the One who brings joy and peace to the heart of His child, even when circumstances are crummy.

   I miss walks in the woods of Kentucky.  I miss walks on the C&O Canal by the Potomac River from when I was in Maryland for a few weeks before coming home.  Yet there were some hard days for me during that ministry trip; and there was one period where God seemed to have deserted me.  Yet God was present with me daily, and He remains with me, wherever I happen to be.  I say “Thank You Jesus for being with me.”

   If you have never believed in Jesus, may you know Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the consequence of wrongdoings, which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, you will be saved from spiritual death, and God will be with you forever.

Hunter

Room in the Inn - Luke 2:7

Luke 2:7   “…because there was no room for them in the inn.”
   My friend Dave worshiped at a service last week on Christmas Day.  The minister told a story of an occasion when he was at another church years ago which presented a Christmas play.  The play director worked diligently with the students who were the actors and actresses, and they were well prepared the night of the performance.  The script emphasized the fact that no one gave Joseph or Mary a place to stay when they were in Bethlehem.  In the play Joseph and Mary went to three different inns trying to get a room.  At the first two inns, though Joseph pleaded with the innkeepers since Mary was so far in her pregnancy, the students portraying the innkeepers were gruff in turning away Joseph and his pregnant wife.  When they talked with the third innkeeper, Joseph and Mary pleaded for a room.  There was a pause, and then the innkeeper said, “Yes!  You can stay here!”  The play director got frazzled because now that Joseph and Mary were in an inn, how were they going to get to the manager scene?  The play hit some improvisation.  Yet the play director put actors to work to somehow get them to the manger scene.
   After the play, the minister went to the student who was the third innkeeper and asked him how come he changed his line in the play.  The boy looked at him and said, “I could not say ‘no’ to Jesus.”

Heaven Home

   Starting in 2004, my grandma was in a nursing home for one year and ten months after a serious fall.  I spent much time with her at the nursing home during her time there.  Before leaving, I often would sing Grandma a song and other residents in the hall would often stop what they were doing and listen.  Spending so much time there I got to know some other residents.  There was a woman who was 103 years of age who was frequently in the hall.  Though 103, she was quite mobile in her sitdown walker, and she would often talk to whoever was in the hall, but she rarely spoke to me.  I did sometimes say “hi” as I passed her.
   About a week before Christmas as I walked down the hall one evening, that woman approached me.  Looking into my face she said, “I have to go home.”  In a friendly manner I said something like, “You are home.”  She said, “No, you do not understand.  It is Christmas time.  I have to be home for Christmas.”  Just the way she said it brought sadness to my heart.  I did tell her with assurance how many people at that nursing home cared for her and liked her, and that they felt like she was at home there.  It was not the first time a resident had told me he or she needed to go home, including my grandma.  Yet her sincerity made me sad, and I prayed for her.
   Growing up in a city which changed much throughout my youth as it went through astronomical growth, I often felt like I missed out having a genuine “hometown.”  And then when I was in college, my parents separated after twenty-one years of marriage, and then divorced about six years later.  Though an adult, the “home” of my youth was gone, replaced with family problems galore, and this contributed to me giving more consideration of the topic of “home.”  It was a subject I became concerned with.  I am grateful to God that He led me to realize that He offers an eternal home.  And I received.
   Scripture reveals heaven.  Jesus taught much about heaven.  Numerous parables of Jesus start out with, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  Heaven is a key theme of what we now call “The Lord’s Prayer,” which was given by Jesus when He was teaching about prayer:
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name

Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven

   Heaven is such a key theme in Scripture, I give points regarding the relationship of Jesus and heaven.
   First, heaven is where Jesus came from: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38 NIV).
   Second, heaven is the root of the ministry of Jesus: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.  And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-23 NIV).
   Third, heaven is where Jesus returned to: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.  They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:9-11 NIV).
   Fourth, heaven is where Jesus reigns now: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.  After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV).
   Also, Jesus is with people on earth who believe in Him through the Holy Spirit.  Scripture teaches that believers in Jesus are indwelled with the Holy Spirit.  “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”(I Corinthians 3:16 NIV).  Being indwelled by the Holy Spirit is to be in a relationship with the Spirit of Christ.  “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NIV).  I think this is why Jesus could promise He would be with His disciples “to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV) even though He knew He would soon be ascending into heaven.  So we are not with Jesus in full since He is in heaven in full, yet there is a bond to Jesus being united with the Holy Spirit, the One who is working to sanctify His children.
   The Scriptures above teach that believers in Jesus can be comforted wherever we happen to be on this planet, since the Holy Spirit is with us everywhere.  And believers in Jesus have an eternal home awaiting us in heaven.  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2 NIV).
   I stated above about my concern with the issue of “home” in the wake of my parent’s separation and divorce.  Jesus promises an eternal home to all who give their heart to Him.  “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3 NIV).
   People who believe in Jesus have an eternal home thanks to the atoning sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.  Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the consequence of sins which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life in heaven.
Hunter

Psalm 122 - Christmas hope

   Psalm 122   I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”  Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.  That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to praise the name of the LORD according to the statute given to Israel.  There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those you love you be secure.  May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”  For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.”  For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity (NIV).

   In studying Psalm 122 last week I realized this Psalm leads to a path of Christmas.  How does God use a Psalm of David written around one thousand years before the birth of Jesus to offer Christmas hope?
   First of all, the authorship of this Psalm is disputed because the Temple was not built in David’s lifetime, rather the first temple was built by Solomon who used the plans and resources his father David gave him.  David explained the plans for the temple had come from God.  “All this,” David said, “I have in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan” (I Chronicles 28:19 NIV).  Yet God told David he was not to build the temple rather his son Solomon was to build it (I Chronicles 22:6-10).
   However, only so many years into the 40 year reign of David, the first 7 years of which were from Hebron, and then the remaining 33 years of which were from Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:4-5), David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem where it was placed in a tent (2 Samuel 6:17).  Jerusalem became the place for the Feasts.  Though odd the psalmist would be speaking of going to the “house” of the LORD before a temple was built, he still could be David.
   Authorship aside, the message of Psalm 122 starts with mission to go to the house of the LORD with the purpose of praising the LORD, as is stated in verse four.  Praising the LORD is done in a number of the Psalms.  “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name” (Psalm 103:1 NIV).
   And then the psalmist speaks of Jerusalem being the place of “thrones for judgment,” which are “the thrones of the house of David.”  Though the temple came after David, David did reside 33 years in Jerusalem, the city which was his seat of rule (2 Samuel 5:9-10).
   How does David’s throne lead to a baby being born in a manger?  From that passage of 2 Samuel 5:9-10, we learn Jerusalem began to be called the “City of David,” yet Bethlehem became known likewise as the city of David, or the town of David, since Bethlehem is where David was born.  Thus starts a parallel where we can realize the fulfillment of promises God made in the time of David as He was preparing people for an everlasting covenant.  David was born in Bethlehem; Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  David was anointed king of Israel by God; Jesus, of the lineage of David, though born in a time when Israel no longer had a physical king, was the Anointed One, which in Hebrew is called Messiah, and which in Greek is called Christ.  Some magi used the term king when they asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2 NIV).  Israelites knew they were to worship only the one true God, since for starters this was in the Ten Commandments.  Whether some magi realized Jesus was the one true God incarnate, I do not know.  Yet what we know from Scripture is the baby Jesus born in a manger was indeed God.  “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” –which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23 NIV).
   Finally, though David was anointed king of Israel by God (I Samuel 16:12-13), he did not take his throne until after much turmoil due to the sins of others, especially Saul, and due to some of his own sins.  Likewise there was suffering by Jesus because of his love for sinful people, before He went back to his throne in heaven.  Though Jesus was born the Messiah and lived a sinless life, He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets allowing Himself to be crucified on a cross as the atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins for people.  Jesus was the substitute for the wages of sins, which is spiritual death, a mission of the Messiah which many Israelites overlooked.  Yet then Jesus was resurrected!  He now reigns in heaven.  And Jesus will one day return from heaven to Jerusalem and judge from His throne!  Then He will forever reign in heaven and on earth.
   The conclusion of the Psalm speaks of praying for the peace of Jerusalem.  Praise be to God we know from the prophet Isaiah that the Messiah, born in a manger of all places, is the Prince of Peace!  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this" (Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV).
   The baby Jesus born in a manger was the Messiah who later died for our iniquities.  And when Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, comes again, He will rescue Jerusalem just as Zechariah the prophet foretold, and He will reign from His throne as the eternal King of Glory.  And though in heaven now, Jesus the King of Glory who was God in the flesh, remains the loving Savior who is willing to be your Friend, no matter what your ethnic background, even right now.  You simply need to believe in Jesus.
Hunter Irvine

Tears wiped away - Revelation 21:4

Revelation 21:4   "He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (NIV).

   This week I had the blessing of comforting a boy who was hurting in his heart, a boy of whom I am like an uncle, and who I love.  He is my best buddy.  Hearing a child softly weep is the saddest sound I have ever heard.

   Samoa was the one country outside of my own I traveled to in my youth.  It was a privilege spending some time there with my family.  Many Samoan men are strong gentleman, yet back in the 1970’s they would cry openly at funerals or other tragedies.  That was considered a good act in their culture.  Crying in the American culture, at least for men, has been for many years viewed as a sign of weakness.  I have learned from ministry work however that what many people do is hold it in and then cry in private.

   As someone who has committed himself to unique ministry work for years, in every ministry field I have ever entered there have been times when I have shed some tears.  Whenever I have gone to do ministry work somewhere long term, I have learned of many people’s hurts, and sometimes I have been hurt even as I tried to do ministry work.  The hope through all of the tragedy has been the love of Jesus which I and others have known.

   If you go by a Biblical mode, crying is warranted whether done in public or private.  The Bible makes it clear that “Jesus wept” (John 11:35 NIV).  The sin of people, Adam, Eve, and all people, is the reason there is death and mourning and crying and pain.  We followers of Jesus are called by God to allow Him to improve us so we will sin less and less, and love more and more.  And when hurt due to the sins of others, we must rely on Jesus to forgive.  After following Jesus for twenty-five years, I realize the best gifts I have given to people in their good times and their rough times have been telling people the Gospel, giving people brotherly hugs, shedding tears for their hurts, and praying for them, even if they did not know about the latter two.

   My young friend gave me a calendar last February.  The calendar has Proverbs 7:2 written on it, and a picture of mountains which look like the Appalachian mountains, which I am fond of.  The darkest of clouds are in the forefront, yet there is a large hole in the clouds from which intense sunlight is beaming through.  Jesus is the light who will break through the darkest cloud for the person who will open his or her heart to Him.  He is the One who was resurrected from the dead, and Jesus is the One who has made it possible for you to have eternal life in heaven.
   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the penal substitution for the consequences of sins.  Then Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and now He does reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit in heaven, One God, forever and ever.  If you believe in Jesus, one day, He will wipe your tears, and my tears, away.
Hunter

For a hungry heart - John 6:50-55

   All humans experience hunger.  Yet lingering hunger for any person who does not have enough to eat is a tragedy.  Back during the early summer of 2005 I was unemployed after a tough period of time where I was spending much time my grandma who was in a nursing home.  Being in such a poor financial situation I was drastically short on food.  I normally have milk every morning for breakfast, yet I went several weeks without drinking milk.  Seriously, I could feel something lacking in my body.  No one else could probably tell, yet physically I was lacking.  I do add the good ending to this story; at a genuine hour of need I was given a part-time temp job which turned out to be a great job which I successfully worked for over one year, and which enhanced my volunteer ministry work during that period.
   To be honest, I do not know why God allows so much suffering for so many people, such as children who do not have enough to eat.  And I do not know why even some sincere followers of Jesus do not have enough food.  I do know food shortage started as a consequence of the disobedience to God of Adam and Eve and continues because of the sins of some people.
   I talked in my previous writing of Jesus offering living water and of how Scripture reveals living water is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.  An invitation to the hungry is also given by Jesus, an offer of living bread.  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven….” (John 6:51 NIV).  What is this living bread?  Here in John 6, Jesus teaches “living bread” is a metaphor for Himself!  And again it involves His true love for your heart.
   When it comes to me visualizing drinking living water, the Holy Spirit, for me personally this seems rather natural.  Yet with the subject of living bread, Jesus starts to talk about eating flesh and drinking blood.
   “‘But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’  Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’  Jesus said to them, ‘…I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink’” (John 6:50-55 NIV).
   Just as living water was a spiritual metaphor, the living bread offered by Jesus, which is Himself, likewise is a spiritual reality (see John 6:63).  Jesus was God incarnate, meaning God in the flesh (see Matthew 1:23).  Yet He is still fully God.
   My ‘Introduction to Theology’ class with Professor Matt Jones at Colorado Christian University was a super class because Professor Jones is a cool, caring, and gifted professor.  One of the basic premises of “orthodox” theology in “Christology,” the theology of Jesus, is that He is fully God and also was fully human.  With all due respect to my Roman Catholic and Lutheran brothers and sisters in Christ who advocate transubstantiation and consubstantiation, Jesus was not speaking here on physical terms.  He was speaking on spiritual terms.  He was giving a metaphor to a spiritual feeding.  There is a need to feed on Him in our hearts, the only One who can sustain a person eternally.
   Heaven is a key focus for Jesus.  His parables often start off, “The kingdom of heaven is like…..”  In the “Lord’s Prayer,” which Jesus gave for us as a focus for our prayers, heaven is key in the first sentence.  The manner of heaven is the sole model for the way things should be on earth.  And as recorded in John 6, as a physical man on earth teaching at a synagogue in Capernaum (John 6:59), Jesus clearly teaches He came from heaven, and in a spiritual manner, He offers Himself to people.  And that spiritual feeding is done by many Christians in corporate worship as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, receiving the bread and the fruit of the vine which symbolize the body and blood of Jesus.
   And the Lord’s Supper is a reminder there was a physical aspect to the offering of Jesus.  The One who offers living bread to all people, even today, is the One who made the sacrifice on the cross of His body and blood.  Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He physically and spiritually died; the physical body of God incarnate was lifeless as it was taken off of the cross.  Yet that leaves one more huge question for me.  Why would living bread from heaven die?  Seems contradictory that the One who offers eternal life physically and spiritually died Himself.  The fact is Jesus chose to die as the substitute for people who were going to spiritually die in h-ll because of our sins.  Jesus’ death was the mercy we needed to be saved from spiritual death!  Jesus, who was from heaven, died on a cross, and then was physically and spiritually resurrected three days later.  Thanks to the mercy and grace of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, eternal life is available for you and me.  It is offered to every single human being.  Jesus said, “This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:58 NIV).

Amen.
Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog