Past, Present, and Future

O the sweetness of these words: "To Him who loves us"-  loves us!  That He would ever look with even a mere moment of love upon a sinner such as I is earth-shattering.  But that He loves me with a present tense, ongoing, ever-present passion is unfathomably staggering.  Who am I, that the God who "inhabits eternity" (Is. 57:15) would break into time to pursue me with a present tense love?

And in order to make my experience of His present tense reality eternally sure, He has grounded it in the objective past tense: "and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom."  God demonstrates (present tense) His love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died (past tense) for us.  O, the marvelous assurance that this truth brings!  The foundation of His love is not my present-- my weak, wavering, sin-stained present; the immovable Rock of His affection is His own past-- His unchanging, faithful, eternally accomplished past!

Therefore my heart's deepest longing and desire is this: that every future tense of my life would be suffused with His praise, and an ever-increasing conformity to His precious likeness: "To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen!"


"To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen." ~Revelation 1:5-6

Another Book

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading, I was in Exodus 32, which recounts the story of the golden calf.  While Moses was up on the mountain talking to God, the Israelites got 'bored,' and had Aaron make a golden idol for them.  God was furious, and if not for Moses' intercession, He would have wiped them all out.  But even though He spared their lives, God still held their sin against them.  "But the LORD said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.'"

As soon as I read that, my mind jumped to Revelation 20, where we see God's book again: "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened... And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done."  This is a terrifying scene.  I know my heart, and I know that if I had been at Mt. Sinai, I probably would have been going right along with the idol worship.  Because I was once an idolater too, and even now, I am a saint who struggles with idolatry.  I know that if God kept a record of my sins, I could never stand.

But the scene in Revelation doesn't end there.  It continues: "Then another book was opened, which is the book of life."  Praise God, there is another book!  I will not be judged according to what I have done, because my name is in the book of life.  When I read that this morning, I was humbled and broken and awed.  Truly, it could only be amazing grace that would save a wretch like me and cover over my endless offenses in those other books.  My sins are stacked so high, ingrained so deeply in my soul, written so clearly in those books, that it took the death of the Son of God in my place to blot them out.  So instead of my name being blotted out of the book of life (which is what I deserve), I get my sins blotted out instead.

Praise God, there is another book!

The Eternal Glory of Christ

In Revelation 22:16, Jesus says, "I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."  This is an amazing statement-- He is both the root (which comes first and from which everything else springs) and the descendent (who comes later).  He is both the source and goal.

In light of that, other statements by or about Jesus become more profound:

And as Jesus taught in the temple, He said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?  David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.'  David himself calls him Lord.  So how is he his son?"  ~Mark 12:35-37  Jesus is here calling attention to the fact that the scribes and Phariseees had too small a vision of the Messiah-- Jesus wasn't just the descendent of David; He was also the root of David, the One who brought David into existence.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." ~Revelation 22:13

John bore witness about Him and cried out, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.'"  ~John 1:15

Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."  ~John 8:58

"And now, Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed."  ~John 17:5