What Do You Want?

In John 5 Jesus went by the Pool of Bethesda, where supposedly an angel occasionally stirred the water and the first person to enter the pool would be healed. There He encountered a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. Jesus asks him, “Do you wanted to be healed?” Some translations phrase it, “Do you want to get well?” The man responds, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me” (v. 7). I’ve heard this interpreted as the man making excuses and not really desiring healing. This reading makes Jesus’s question almost a rebuke— “Do you really want to get well, or are you just laying around?”

I’ve seen this interpretation enough times that it’s hard not to read the passage with that tone of voice. But I don’t think that’s how we ought to hear it. For one thing, Jesus immediately healed the man, and apparently didn’t heal anyone else at the pool that day. Jesus knew the what was in the hearts of those He met (John 2:25), so He certainly would have known if the man had hidden motives. Besides which, Jesus didn’t make anyone justify their worthiness to be healed, whether they came looking for help or not. None of us are worthy of God’s intervention in our lives.

Instead, I believe Jesus looked at the man with great compassion and His question was intended to let the man give voice to his helplessness and hopelessness. Who among us wouldn’t lose hope after 38 years in bed? Did he shed a tear each time he missed out on getting into the pool, or had he managed to convince himself it wasn’t such a big deal?

If you’ve dealt with any kind of recurring or unremitting suffering, the last thing you need is some kind of guilt trip like “If you really wanted to be well, you’d find a way” or “If you had enough faith you’d be healed.” That is one of the lies of the prosperity gospel and groups like the Christian Scientists. In contrast, J. C. Ryle wrote:

“Affliction is one of God’s medicines. By it He often teaches lessons which would be learned in no other way. By it He often draws souls away from sin and the world, which would otherwise have perished everlastingly. Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is a greater. Prosperity and worldly comfort are what all naturally desire; but losses and crosses are far better for us, if they lead us to Christ. Thousands at the last day, will testify with David, and the nobleman before us, ‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted.’ (Psalms 119:71).”

If we are completely comfortable and content with this life, we are likely not longing for the new life to come. And if we are not eagerly awaiting the blessed hope of Jesus’s return, we probably aren’t focused on living as citizens of His kingdom or sharing the good news that this world is not the goal or end of the story. Affliction can remind us where our priorities ought to be. A few decades of suffering might seem interminable now, but one day we’ll look back and realize that was nothing compared to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord” (Phil. 3:8).

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Eternal Misconceptions

We all have ideas and images of what we think eternal life will be like. Some are biblical, some are not, and some are interesting possibilities. I realize with a post like this there will be differing opinions, and that’s okay. (You don’t need to tell me if you disagree!) I just want to provide a little food for thought.

Earth and Heaven- Let’s just get this one off the plate first: we aren’t going to live in heaven for eternity. God is making a new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1). There would be no point in a new earth if no one is going to dwell there. We’ll finally get to enjoy what this earth would have been like if sin had never entered the picture.

Humans and Angels- We are not going to look like angels (in whatever form you may picture them). When Jesus said that in the resurrection they “are like angels in heaven” (Matt. 22:30), we can’t ignore the context. He was referring specifically to marriage and our current earthly relationships, and we shouldn’t take that metaphor beyond that context. No one will be married except as the Bride of Christ (Rev. 19:6-9). However, we may have some powers that we don’t currently have. Jesus was able to walk through closed doors after He rose from the dead (John 20:26). I like to imagine instantaneous teleportation to wherever we want to go.

Who’s Who- We will somehow recognize those we have known in this life once we have our new bodies. It’s always puzzled me when people say they think we aren’t going to remember anything about this life. Scripture talks a lot about our responsibility to one another in the Body of Christ here on earth (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4; etc.). Why would God emphasize that so much if we were going to lose all those connections in the new world? And in fact, why would He bother with the current world at all if He’s just going to create all new beings with eternal lives?

Praise and Worship- We will not be singing songs constantly. Revelation 4:8 says the “four living creatures… never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Nowhere does Scripture say that humans will be doing the same. Certainly, we will have reason to give praise and thanks frequently and fervently, but there’s no reason to think it’s going to be one continuous gospel concert.

Work to Do- When God created the earth, He gave Adam and Eve work to do before sin entered the world and corrupted everything (Gen. 2:15). Sin just made the work a lot harder (Gen. 3:17-19). Work is a beneficial part of our existence, and by it we glorify God as we use the gifts He has given us. To imagine eternity as nothing but playing harps forever doesn’t sound all that appealing. Wandering around the earth seeing all the sights might be nice for a while, but I think it would get old after a couple millennia. But if we each get to participate in creative work in the areas that we are passionate about, we could glorify God and enjoy His creation in many varied ways. Some have speculated that there will still be nations, governments, and economics. Perhaps that will be the case, though we know that no one will lack what they need and there will be no conflict.

The End of Evil- Since I was raised in a conditionalist denomination, I have to include this final point, though I realize many would debate it. First Timothy 6:16 says that God “alone has immorality” and 1 Corinthians 15:42 says that “what is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.” God gives eternal life to those who believe in Jesus (John 3:16), so it seems illogical that God would give eternal existence to the unsaved for the sole purpose of punishing them forever. I count myself among those who believe that hell is eternal in its results, not in its duration. There are theologians who can expand on that argument far better than I, but I’ll just note that aionion used in Matthew 25:46 and elsewhere can be translated “agelong.” And this present age will come to an end with Jesus’s return and the final judgment.

Whatever eternity is like, we are guaranteed that it will be perfect, enjoyable, and better than anything we can currently imagine.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3b-4).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

From Beginning to End

Psalm 71 gives a lifelong perspective on faith.

“Upon You have I leaned from before my birth” (6a). “For You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth” (5). “Do not cast me off in the time of old age” (9a). “O God, from my youth You have taught me, and I still proclaim Your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me” (17-18a).

That first quote in particular caught my attention— “from before my birth.” No matter how young you are when you come to faith in Christ, none of us can claim to have been Christians from birth. And yet, when you do meet God and grow in faith, you start to realize that He has been at work long before you knew it. As David wrote in Psalm 139, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (16). And the Apostle Paul proclaimed to the Ephesian church, that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (1:4). You might say that from God’s perspective, the saved have always been saved, even though they have not always known it. C.S. Lewis wrote in The Great Divorce:

“[B]oth good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all this earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory... the Blessed will say, ‘We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,’ and the Lost, ‘We were always in Hell.’ And both will speak truly” (ch. 9).

Whether or not you agree completely with Lewis’s eschatology, there is great comfort to be found in believing that God is sovereign over every day and every detail of your life. The God who created us and brought salvation to us will also sustain us to the end, and then He will also raise us to eternal life in the new creation. “From the depths of the earth You will bring me up again” (20). He will never forsake us, so we can trust Him to old age and gray hairs. With that assurance, “I will hope continually and will praise You yet more and more” (14). No matter how far along the path of life you may be, we can be witnesses to others of God’s faithfulness. “My mouth will tell of Your righteous acts, of Your deeds of salvation all the day... I will remind them of Your righteousness, Yours alone” (15-16).

May we endeavor to be faithful to that high calling.

“So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim Your might to another generation, Your power to all those to come” (18).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

To Boldly Go

I admit I am a fan of Star Trek. Every now and then I notice some comment made by a character that stirs a recognition of either a biblical truth or a secular lie. Here’s a sampling:

“Mortality gives meaning to human life, Captain. Peace, love, friendship—these are precious, because we know they cannot endure” (Commander Data in ST:Picard S1.E10).

This quote is antithetical to Christian belief. We believe that it is the immortality found through faith in Jesus Christ that gives meaning to life. Love is eternal because God is love and God is eternal. As Paul wrote to the Corinthian church (quoting from Isaiah 22:13), “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’” If this life is all there is, then we can either choose the path of supreme enjoyment or the path of trying to make some lasting difference in the world. But in either case, our influence will soon fade. Which brings me to the next quote from the funeral for Dr. Crusher’s grandmother:

“Now we commit her body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope that her memory will be kept alive within us all” (ST:TNG S7.E14).

Although some reviewers have characterized this scene as a Christian funeral, that’s certainly not the language from the Book of Common Prayer— “in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.” Do we really want to put our hope in the memories of those who knew us? How many people who died 100 years ago are truly remembered aside from a name on a stone somewhere? But if our hope is in the coming resurrection, we know that God Himself will remember those who belong to Him, all whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev. 21:27).

Once in a while, Star Trek does stir more encouraging thoughts. In Deep Space 9 (S7.E2), Commander Sisko has a conversation with the “prophets,” who are almost god-like beings. He asks,

“You arranged my birth? I exist because of you? … Why me?”

“Because it could be no one else.”

This scene actually reminded me of parts of Ephesians.

“[God] chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (1:4).

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (2:10).

Our lives have purpose because God chose to give us each specific work to do. Your role in this world can be filled by no one else. Sometimes we may be inclined to think that we are expendable, that our work doesn’t matter, but God says it does. That’s not to put undue pressure on us to live up to high expectations, but it should be an encouraging reminder that each of us is a unique and valuable contributor to God’s grand story. In that hope, we can boldly go into the day ahead of us—knowing that we have a purpose today and for eternity with Him.

“This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him” (Eph. 3:11-12).

 © 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

It is not uncommon these days to hear calls for tolerance and acceptance that say, in essence, “If you love me, you’ll let me do whatever makes me happy.” Although this isn’t a new idea, the voices are much louder than they used to be. Often this comes from a misconception of the biblical idea that “God is love.” C.S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain:

“By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness… And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness… What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter so long as they are contented?’ …whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all’ …I should very much like to live in a universe which was governed on such lines. But since it is abundantly clear that I don’t, and since I have reason to believe, nevertheless, that God is Love, I conclude that my conception of love needs correction… If God is Love, He is, by definition, something more than mere kindness. And it appears, from all the records, that though He has often rebuked us and condemned us, He has never regarded us with contempt” (35-37).

David Powlison wrote something similar in Good and Angry:

“[God’s] mercy is not niceness. His mercy is not blanket acceptance of any and all. Mercy to us costs him—the blood of the Lamb. And mercy comes to us at the cost of our sins and pride. His kindness is an open invitation to turn to him in repentance and faith, to come to him in our need for mercies freely offered, and our trust in mercies freely given” (as quoted in Take Heart, Jan. 13).

God’s love is not benign approval of whatever we may love and enjoy. His perfect love means He puts divine boundaries on what is acceptable, because He knows what is best for us. We, in our sinful nature, often choose what is less than best—what is convenient, comfortable, and even corrupt. It is for this reason that we have His written Word to guide us, to help us understand what has been true from eternity, as opposed to what may appear true in our culture today.

The Apostle John wrote, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:8-10).

God didn’t create the world so He could just smile down on whatever His creation wanted to do. He created us to be brought into relationship with Him. Because of our sin that relationship was broken, and so God sent Jesus to pay our debts, redeem us from sin, and make us right with God again. God’s love for us meant that He gave the ultimate sacrifice, not to simply make us happy, but to make us more like Himself, in the perfect righteousness that we’ll experience for eternity if we follow Him as Lord in this life.

So when we look to God’s model of love to guide us, we don’t choose indiscriminate niceness and acceptance of anything and everything our culture comes up with. It doesn’t matter whether the demand is from a child asking for unlimited cookies, or an adult wanting unlimited sex, or anything in between. In love, we should recognize that many things are off limits if we truly want what is best for one another. And we need to look at it from an eternal perspective—will today’s choices lead to ‘fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore at God’s right hand’ (Psalm 16:11), or will they lead to “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:42 & 50)? True love should make us do all that we can to point people to eternal life, not eternal death.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

 

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

What Does the Future Hold?

This is a post that may raise more questions than it answers, because the Bible doesn’t present clear explanation. Here’s where I’m coming from: I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently in the area of autism and neurodiversity, some written by Christians and some from non-Christians. One common feature between the two is that much of the world has a very limited and limiting view of “normal.” The “medical model” of disability attempts to define normalcy based on statistical prevalence, and then focuses on curing or normalizing the individual who doesn’t quite fit the mold. On the other hand, the “social model” of disability views disability as a difference that can be accommodated by how society interacts with the individual’s unique traits. (Other models have been proposed by some, but I’ll stick with these two for now.)

We could discuss biblical views of personhood, the image of God, the reason for suffering, and how the church should seek to love and serve “the least of these” (Matt. 24:31-46). Those are all worthy topics. However, I want to zero in on just one aspect of so-called disabilities: what is eternal life in the Kingdom of God going to look like for those who are considered disabled in this life? We aren’t given a lot of details in Scripture, but here are a few things we do know:

“So [Jesus] fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and He healed them” (Matt. 4:24).

“But someone will ask ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ …what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other gain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each seed its own body… For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:35-38, 53).

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side… Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in My side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:19-20, 27).

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Rev. 21:4-5a).

There are illnesses and handicaps that God will completely remove. Those things that cause us pain and tears will be changed. However, Jesus’ resurrection body still bore the marks of His crucifixion. What might that imply for our new bodies? Perhaps, following the grain/plant metaphor, our new bodies will be so radically different that there’s no comparison. However, it seems to me that the fact of a bodily resurrection indicates some continuity between the bodies we have now and those we will have.

What about genetic traits that have radically shaped our experience? Some researches and parents have noted that people with Down Syndrome tend to be happier on average than other people. Will God recreate all of us with the “correct” number and type of chromosomes? Or will some retain an extra chromosome but no longer have any detrimental effects from it? Will those born with dwarfism then be six feet tall?

What about the traits that cause a person on the autism spectrum to notice the tiny details of some object, or the savant that has trouble communicating but creates beautiful music? Why would God remove anything that points out or contributes to the glory of His creation? Wouldn’t those traits be retained, but probably without the difficulties in communication or tendency toward meltdowns when overstimulated?

How about personality traits? I don’t think introverts will become extroverts or vice versa, but perhaps we’ll all become ambiverts—able to respond in the appropriate way in every situation. I see no reason why the diversity of God’s people should become muted and monotone. If anything, I think we’ll see how truly creative God has been in making us each unique. We can retain our own interests, abilities, and gifts, but without any of the sinful tendencies that may be associated with them.

If we look back to Genesis 1-2, God created Adam and Eve, put them in Eden, and gave them meaningful work in tending the garden. We tend to forget that fact when we read Revelation and its descriptions of the New Jerusalem. I know I’ve read that and thought “I don’t want to live in a city forever.” I think we can be assured that the “new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13) will be far better than anything we can currently imagine, like our favorite vacation spot enjoyed not only with our favorite people but with our Creator and Redeemer—the One who chose us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), knitted us together in our mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13), and knows us each by name (John 10:3). Since we know that, we can trust Him with all the details of our future bodies, homes, and the universe.

“To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7b).

***

A few resources I’ve found interesting:

“Wheelchairs in Heaven” -Joni Eareckson Tada

“God’s Power in Disability” -Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

“Is Disability Normal?” -The Gospel Coalition

 

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

What's Ahead

I started reading a book this week from a Christian author pointing out dangerous trends in our nation in recent years. (I won’t name the book as I don’t want to imply endorsement of it.) After a few pages I was feeling pretty discouraged. I stopped to read a couple reviews of the book on a Christian website. One reviewer said the author greatly overstated his case. The other said he didn’t overstate it; if anything he understated it. That wasn’t terribly encouraging either, so I stopped and turned to Scripture. I happen to be reading in Ezekiel currently and picked up in chapter 31, which is a prophecy to Pharaoh and Egypt. God declares through the prophet,

“Whom are you thus like in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God” (v.18).

Egypt has had a complicated history, but the point is that there are no more pharaohs and Egypt is far from being the world power that it once was. The prophet Daniel said that God “changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings” (2:21). That is no less true today than it was in Old Testament times. Each person in authority around the world today is there only because God allowed them to get there. That is true in the U.S. and it’s also true in Afghanistan, Myanmar, and North Korea.

It can be incredibly discouraging to see what’s happening around the globe and in our own country. There are truly evil acts that are being perpetrated, and the Church should be a defender of orphans and widows and the oppressed. But we shouldn’t presume that by doing so we can create some kind of utopian society. Scripture is clear that things are not going to get better until Christ returns.

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Matt. 24:6-8).

We do need to observant of the signs of the times—not so we can turn things around and “make America great again,” but so we can be a voice of truth, pointing others to the one true God and to salvation through Christ alone by faith alone. I have no doubt that the intolerance and persecution of Christians will increase in every country, including the U.S., over time and perhaps sooner than we think. We need to be prepared by knowing what we believe and why we believe it. But we don’t need to live in fear of national trends, conspiracy theories, and election results. God is still on His throne. Whatever may come, we can trust that He will carry us through—in life and in death.

We don’t know exactly where we are on God’s timeline, but He does, and that should give us great assurance. The Judgment Day will come—whether today, or next year, or next millennium—when God will put an end to all evil and suffering and will call all of mankind before the Throne. On that Day, I want it to be clear that my faith for salvation is in Christ alone, not in any ruler, political party, nation, or system. There is no other source of eternal life.

“For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him… And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col. 1:16, 21-23a).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

How Long?

Most days I go online and skim through the headlines on my preferred international and local news sites. I may read a few articles, but often the headlines are enough to discourage me from reading further. Murders, wrongful deaths, pandemic deaths, accusations, abuses of power, political maneuvering, etc. The list is endless and nauseating. I repeatedly wonder with the psalmist, “How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile Your name forever? Why do You hold back Your hand, Your right hand?” (Psalm 74:10-11).

Jesus encountered similarly disturbing scenes in His day.

“When [Jesus] saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

“‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?’ …And Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly” (Matthew 17:17-18).

“‘And when He drew near [Jerusalem] and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes’” (Luke 19:41-42).

“When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled… Jesus wept” (John 11:33, 36).

“And a leper came to Him, imploring Him, and kneeling said to Him, ‘If You will, You can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched Him and said to Him, ‘I will; be clean’” (Mark 1:40-41).

“As He drew near to the fate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow… And when the Lord say her, He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then He came up and touched the bier… And the dead man sat up… and Jesus gave him to his mother” (Luke 7:11-15).

“In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables… ‘Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade’” (John 2:14-16). [This was an act He apparently repeated at the end of His ministry—see Matt. 21:12-13.]

Jesus healed many people and restored a few to life and He had the power to do much more, but His immediate purpose was not to fix every perceived wrong then and there. Instead, He provided the means by which eternal perfection would be made possible. He wasn’t the revolutionary reformer that the Jews expected of their Messiah. He knew that the only cure for the sin and brokenness of the world was for Him to carry it to the grave.

Because of His death on the cross and His resurrection, we now live in the time of “already but not yet.” The door to perfection has been opened, but we cannot enter in until we are resurrected to eternal life. In the meantime, we continue to groan and weep over this fallen world where there are so many things we can’t fix. “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23).

We can take comfort in the fact that Jesus knows how we feel because He’s been through it Himself, and we cling to the hope that the day is coming when all things will be made new and perfect.

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Joy Unending

I had an unusual experience this week. I’m a little hesitant to share it, but hopefully my friends will understand. This was the culmination of multiple conversations and events in recent days. Here’s a little of the background...

In our chapel service at the office on Wednesday we were talking about Genesis 3:1-13 where the serpent asked Eve “Did God really say...?” And Eve and Adam decided that even though God commanded them not to eat of the tree, He must not have had their best interests at heart, and they wanted something more than the paradise He had provided. Immediately after that discussion, I read the daily devotion from Truth for Life, “The Deep Cost of Sin.” Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“Did sin ever yield you real pleasure? Did you find solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to your old drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delights you. But inasmuch as sin never gave you what it promised to bestow but deluded you with lies, do not be snared by the old fowler: Be free, and let the memory of your enslavement prevent you from entering the net again!”

Later in the day I revisited a post on Desiring God, “Sin Will Never Make You Happy.” John Piper wrote:

“If my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken... The fight of faith is the fight to stay satisfied with God.”

Then at the end of the day I was meditating on Psalm 16:11 (ESV): “You make known to me that path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures evermore.” Part of my prayer was: “Father, I believe this by faith even though the flesh tells me it is not true... Help me refute the lies of the enemy with the sword of the Spirit...” I admit I was wishing for some kind of experiential “proof” to confirm what I know by faith.

All of that was on my mind as I fell asleep and started to dream. In my dream, I was dying of kidney failure. (I’m not sure how I knew that.) As my physical life was ending and I was unconscious to the world, I was fully conscious of God. I could only see light increasing around me. As it grew, I was suddenly overwhelmed with waves of gratitude and joy and peace. I couldn’t help expressing my thanks—for painless death; for God receiving me with love; for His sufficiency; for the ways He had kept me from sin; and much more. At the same time, I was feeling what I can only describe as delightful tingling in every cell of my body. The whole experience was beyond any earthly comparison.

I woke up, and after a brief disappointment that life still went on as usual, I was deeply grateful for the memory I retained of that dream. I remembered the story Dennis Jernigan shared in the intro to his song “Sweep Over Me” of Charles Finney feeling waves of love coming over him. (Listen to the story and song here or read more of Finney’s story here.) That song stayed on my mind as I went back to sleep.

I’m not trying to interpret Scripture in light of experience, but I will say this: when we as Christians come to the end of life and enter God’s presence, it will all be worth it—every trial and struggle, every persecution or challenge, every time we’ve said no to sin, even every time we’ve found forgiveness in Christ. The Word assures us that this is true. It will be worth it all because of the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus” as Lord and Savior (Philippians 3:8).

Even as the intensity of the dream fades, I hope I will remember it as a little extra fuel for the endurance race of this life. I want to continually remind myself that living for God and obeying Him will always reap greater rewards than any sin that might tempt me. Only He can provide eternal life and pleasures forevermore. I only had a small glimpse of what that might be like, and I know that the reality will far surpass anything I can imagine.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

It Is Written

The following is some theological speculation that I’ve been mulling over in recent months. I don’t claim to have a corner on truth, but this just helps me to make sense of some parts of Scripture…

I’ve come to think of this life as being a book in God’s hand. I’m sure the metaphor breaks down at some points as all metaphors do. Psalm 139:16 (ESV) says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” If all our days were already written, then the book is completed and the end is sure. This should be a reason for peace and trust in the Author. Should we still pray? Yes, because that is method God has ordained for us to interact with Him. As many have said, prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us. Prayer affirms our faith and shapes our understanding of God’s greater plans.

Jesus is referred to as the “Word made flesh” (John 1:14) and the “Author of life” (Acts 3:15). The Author chose to enter His own story for the good of His people. He provided the necessary solution to the problem of sin. Only the Author could resurrect His own character.

Time, from Creation to the Second Coming, is contained within the book. God is outside of time. “Do not overlook this one fact, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). We see time as a fixed construct, passing by second by second, but God sees all of time in His hand.

The choices we will make are already known to God, but not to us as the characters in the book. Because we are created by God with certain characteristics, we fulfill the plot that God has already written. (Perhaps our free will is not so free as we may think.) Some characters are written with evil intentions. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20). “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth’” (Romans 9:17). But as Paul points out in Romans 9, such people are still responsible for their actions and will be judged accordingly.

The image of a completed book also helps clarify some of the conflicting views on death. If a character dies in a realistic novel, you don’t expect them to reappear in a later chapter as either a ghost or a real person. (I won’t get into other types of fiction.) Let’s say the character dies and comes out of the book into the hand of the Author. If the book contains time and God is outside of time, where or when is that character from the perspective of those still in the book? His body in the book is dead. He may or may not be conscious of being in God’s presence, depending on how you understand Scripture. (N.T. Wright interprets Revelation 6:9 to say that the dead are awaiting the resurrection under the altar of God, which presents some interesting images.) But think about this, if the character is consciously with God, do you think he’s going to be asking to get back into the book to see how the rest of someone’s story was written or to try to change it? Perhaps this explains how Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus at the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3). They were written back in for a few paragraphs.

At the conclusion of the book, all the characters will be brought outside its pages to face the final Judgment. And my interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15 is that immortality will be granted to those who have put their faith in Christ while the rest will cease to exist, as characters whose roles in the book have ended and as pages burnt to ashes in the fire. I imagine the book has enough pages to keep a fire going for quite some time. The fire may be eternal even when the book is gone. And maybe the marriage supper of the Lamb is a cookout, since Jesus seemed to like fires on the beach (John 21:9).

When we move into eternal life in the new heavens and new earth (2 Peter 3:12-13), it will be as if we’re moving from a two-dimensional world into a three-dimensional one, out of the book and into reality. What we’ve experienced here is but a shadow of what is to come (Col. 2:17, Heb. 10:1), and just a dim reflection in the mirror compared to what we will one day see (1 Cor. 13:12). That makes me even more anxious to see that new world. But until that day, we might as well enjoy the story as it continues to be revealed to us.

“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now… Come further up, come further in!” –C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Sealed

I keep thinking about a Christmas letter received from an acquaintance of the family. She’s an unmarried woman who joined the Mormon church many years ago. She reported in her letter that she’d been “sealed to her parents.” I didn’t know what that meant so I looked it up. According to Wikipedia: “The purpose of this ordinance is to seal familial relationships, making possible the existence of family relationships throughout eternity.” As a single woman, she would have been limited to a lower degree of the “celestial kingdom” without this ceremony. Wikipedia also states that the sealing is “valid only if both individuals have kept their religious commitments and followed LDS teachings.”

I am saddened by the deceptions perpetuated and accepted by so many people. At the same time, I am thankful that my eternal destiny is not dependent on my parents, a spouse, or any human ceremony. In fact, it’s not even dependent on my own ability to keep my religious commitments. Instead, Scripture says that our guarantee is from God Himself.

“And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ESV).

This sealing occurred at the moment of salvation, and is assured from now till eternity:

“In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

God’s seal upon us is not dependent on obedience, but is motivation for obeying Him:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).

Eternal life is not dependent on who we’re related to on earth, but whether we’ve been adopted by God Himself:

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

Salvation is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Freedom from the guilt and power of sin is a gift (Romans 6:6-7). Sanctification is a gift (Ephesians 2:10). Eternal life with God is a gift (Romans 6:23). When we forget that, we often turn to manmade rituals to try to cleanse our consciences and assure ourselves that we’ll be okay. But if we’re honest, even our best efforts never feel good enough. There’s a lingering doubt that can only be relieved by trusting what God has said in Scripture.

One of my favorite Scriptures is 1 John 3:19-20: “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.” The whole letter of 1 John is full of reminders and assurances that we can indeed know that we are forgiven and that we belong to God. We can one day enjoy eternity in relationship with the One who created us, redeemed us, and adopted us into His family. What more do we need?

“And this is the testimony, that God gave 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. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Secure

I arrived home from my Christmas travels to find my back door kicked in and my jewelry box missing. One of the first things I told the police was “They’re gonna be really disappointed when they try to pawn my stuff. I didn’t have much of value.” After the police left, I was reminded of Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV):

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

At times like this, I know where my treasure truly is. Sure, I’m disappointed in losing things that were given to me by my grandparents and parents, but it doesn’t break my heart. (This bothers me less than the workman I allowed into my house who stole from me, because he pretended to be trustworthy.)

Ironically, I heard this from Alistair Begg today as I was catching up on Truth for Life— “My Help Come From the Lord:”

“Luther said in that great hymn*, ‘But though they take my goods, honor, children, wife, yet is their profit small.’ Why is it small? Because Luther says, ‘All I have is Christ.’ You see, where this goes south for us is if we have not come to the point where all we ultimately have is Christ... If my security, my confidence is in my wealth... or if it’s in my health, or if it’s in my wife, then if you take my wife, my wealth, or my health it’s a disaster. It has to be. But if my security is in Christ, then though they take my wife, goods, children, life, then is their profit small. Why? Because my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”

On the tails of a season often characterized by materialism, it’s a good reminder that our greatest gifts are the intangible things of Christ. There is humility to be found in knowing that worldly possessions don’t last and don’t define us. I remember when I bought my car in 2001. I had less than 200 miles on the odometer when a flying rock chipped the windshield. It was (and still is) a visible reminder that I can’t tie my happiness and pride to things that will disappear sooner or later. Rocks, rust, thieves, disease, and all kinds of other things will take their toll.

So I am thankful for the gifts that never end:

• Salvation and forgiveness
• Reconciliation with God
• Having God as my Father, Jesus Christ as my Brother, and many siblings in the Body of Christ
• Eternal life in a perfect Kingdom

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place... In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight...” (Ephesians 1:3, 7-8).

“...I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 1:12).

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

(*The hymn he quotes is a more literal translation of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”)

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Guess Who

Recently someone asked me if I thought that we would recognize people after the Second Coming. My answer was, “Sure. Although marriage won’t exist anymore, there’s no reason we wouldn’t know each other.” I think her main concern was that we would be mourning those who weren’t saved. While I do think there will be a period of mourning at the judgment, we are promised that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4 ESV). I don’t know exactly how God will do that, but I think we will be so consumed with His glory that the former things will not matter in comparison. In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis imagines hell as being so minuscule and insubstantial that those in heaven are unaware of its existence. Personally, I believe in the complete annihilation of the unsaved after the judgment, so there would be no reason to mourn those who no longer exist.

If God were planning to wipe away all our memories, there is no logical reason for our current existence. He could create new, sinless beings and do away with this fallen world. Our life here and now is integrally related to our future existence in eternity.

Here are some other relevant passages:

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” While I think this refers first to our knowledge of God, I believe it will also apply to our knowledge of one another. We will truly know each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and not just as friends or acquaintances. Currently we only know those things that people choose to share with us. In eternity we’ll know each other with a depth of intimacy that right now probably induces some degree of fear in us.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 we learn, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Our godly responses to the trials and difficulties we face in this life are creating some kind of eternal beauty that we do not yet see. One day we’ll look back at our own lives and the lives of others and see how each of us was shaped and made to reflect Christ. We will know things about one another that we can only guess at now.

The fact that we will know one another should be motivation for sharing the Gospel. Otherwise one might say, “I like Joe, but I’m not going to remember him later, so there’s no reason for me to embarrass myself by bringing up the Bible.” Eternal life doesn’t begin after death; it begins whenever we come to faith in Christ in this life: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). “And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). For the believer, death will be just a temporary interruption prior to receiving a new body.

Jesus did not lose His divinity when He came in the flesh, but rather He added a human nature. Now the resurrected Christ is both fully God and fully man. Similarly, once we receive our resurrection bodies, we will still be fully human and, I would contend, will be even more human than we are now. Our bodies will be imperishable (1 Cor. 15:53) and we will have more abilities than we have now, not less (e.g. John 20:19). We will be like God in ways that we cannot now imagine, but He will still be infinitely greater. And regardless of how it all works out, we can be assured that it will be glorious and that every moment of pain will be worth it all (Rom. 8:16-25)!

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.