I'll Be Seeing You

A line from a beautiful love song of the 40’s say’s, “I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places.” Well, in John’s gospel he records the words of the Lover of our souls, before leaving this world, promising, “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.” And the old saint continues this exciting anticipation in his first epistle by telling us, “We shall see him as he is.” And in the Revelation, alone on Patmos, nearing his end, he adds “And [we] shall see his face.”

The gospel song puts it this way, “What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see; and I look upon his face, the One who saved me by his grace.” As the old timer’s would say of this promise of seeing our Lord face to face, “You can hang your hat on it.” That is, you can depend on it. I like the way Job put it, “For I know…after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh (Resurrection) shall I see God. Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold.”

Let me close by once again quoting “…the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Speaking to all the family of God he writes, “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”

W.W.J.D. or W.W.J.S.

I’m not advocating the throwing away of your bracelet, necklace, etc.; but after this article, you may want to change the end letter “D,” to “S.” In my opinion it is not, “What would Jesus do?” but rather, “What would Jesus say?” I find most that practice the former go by their own imagination, instead of Divine Inspiration.

I seriously doubt if any Believer who saw Christian material being sold in the vestibule of their church for three or four times its actual price, would turn over the tables and drive out the culprits with a whip. That’s what Jesus would do; but what He would say is, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

Jesus did a lot of things we could not and should not do, but all that He said, we can safely follow. God said concerning His Son, “Hear ye Him.” When we’re told to “follow in His steps,” it’s speaking spiritually, not physically. Paul said of young Titus, “Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?”

We cannot do what God does, but we can all do what God says. And so next time we’re in a predicament, rather than asking, “What would Jesus do?” how about, “What would Jesus say?” We’d be surer, I believe, of getting out of our ruts, and also pleasing God. The Apostle Paul wrote, “If any man…consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ…he is proud, knowing nothing.”

Global Warming

I am not a meteorologist, environmentalist, or biologist; but I do profess to be a 100% Biblist. And the Word of God tells me in no uncertain terms that as God destroyed His earth in the past by immersing it in water, He will demolish it in the future with a baptism of fire.

To those fickle followers of Christ who like to spiritualize the hard sayings of the Bible, I would remind you that the picture, good or bad, never does justice to the actual. Therefore, if the text is literal, it is going to be very, very bad. But if it is speaking figuratively, it’s going to be even worse than imagined. You choose.

As to the cause and effect of this devastation, the former is due to man’s continual sin against God. Concerning the latter, it’s the results of the Lord’s judgment upon mankind for his incessant rebellion. In the end-time Book of Revelation we’re told of the sun scorching men with great heat, so that they gnaw their tongues in pain and blaspheme the name God, refusing to repent.

But we are also told of a new earth that is awaiting those who bless that Worthy Name. Peter in his second epistle puts it this way, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

For you who have put all your stock in this present earth, I would remind you that your dividends of return will be ashes. I do not want to sound frivolous in making this statement to you who have put your roots deep in this present earth; but there is more truth than fiction in the old song, “There’ll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.”

So You Believe, Do You?

“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” What a shock it must have been for those early believers, as it is for many today, to find out that the devil has faith. He is orthodox, in that he believes in the unity of God. He can stand alongside of many in churches and repeat their creed: “I believe in the one, true God.” If that’s all one has, then you cannot distinguish them from the devil. To be content with this kind of faith is to be condemned.

It is not a professing faith, but a faith that produces good works that God recognizes. If a person has only a faith without works, he is no better than the devil. The devils know there is one God, but there is no personal relationship with Him. “...what have we to do with thee...I know who thou art, the Holy One of God.” There are no atheists among the devil’s crowd. Those only exist among us mortals.

A mere intellectual assent is a vanity faith—it’s cosmetic. You can have an intellectual faith (the devils believe) and a faith that moves the emotions (they tremble), but only that faith that brings a change of life and good works, counts with God. It’s not talkin’ it that counts, but walkin’ it.

A naked profession of faith is no better than a verbal charity! (Thomas Manton)