One day - no more sorrow!

 Isaiah 51:11

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

 

On that day, there will be no more needs that cannot be met, no more dangers from without, no more longings unfulfilled, and no more tears:

 

Revelation 7:16-17

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

 

No more tears, nor death, nor anything painful, will be in that place:

 

Revelation 21:4

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.

 

God himself will be for us a feast that satisfies the soul; he will destroy death and pain and tears; and we will rejoice in his salvation:

 

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

And he will swallow up on this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

the veil that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the LORD; we have waited for him;

let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 

One day we will put off this broken body and receive a new one, imperishable; death will be swallowed up forever, because God will do it:

 

1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 54b, 57

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. … When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” … thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, in light of these things, press on in faithful labor for Christ:

 

1 Corinthians 15:58

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.

 

What you do in the Lord, is not in vain.  Everything temporal will be burned up and come to nothing; but what you do in serving Christ has value.  It is not worthless labor that will be burned up one day with the world.

 

2 Peter 3:11-14

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

 

So go, labor on, fueled by your hope that God will come and remake his world one day.  Do not let death and sorrow so weigh you down here that you are kept from fixing your eyes on eternity.  All these sorrows are passing shadows, quickly gone; they hurt now, they weigh on us now, but soon they will run the course God has set for them and be finished.  They exercise our souls; they test our faith by fire; and they work for us a much heavier weight of unfading glory.

 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

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.

 

So feel the sorrow; cry the tears.  Then go and sow your field, though in tears.  Keep doing the responsibilities and stewardships that God has given you to do.  One day, they will bear fruit.  And there will be joy in the morning!

 

Psalms 126:5-6

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

 

Psalms 30:5b

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but joy comes with the morning.

 

And even now in the midst of sorrow and loss, there is joy and fullness in Christ:

 

2 Corinthians 6:10

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; … as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

 

Nehemiah 8:10b

…the joy of the LORD is your strength.

 

Philippians 4:12-13

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

 

Philippians 4:19-20

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

draw near, but only in Christ

Here is what the people of Israel said after God consumed Korah and his 250 men with fire, and then broke out in plague against the whole congregation which was complaining against Moses and Aaron:

 

Numbers 17:12-13

And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”

 

This is like what Isaiah said when he saw the LORD's glory:

 

Isaiah 6:5

So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

 

The remedy for Isaiah was his sin being taken away because of the coal from the altar touching his unclean lips.

 

And God's response to the people of Israel is to tell them this:

 

Numbers 18:1, 7

So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. … And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

 

God's answer to Israel was this: you are right; sinners who come near to the holy God, perish.  Therefore, only the priests shall draw very near to God, and the Levites shall help them but shall not go into the most holy place.

 

 

And so we. On our own, we are undone in the presence of the holy God, who is a consuming fire (Heb.12:29).  Yet we have the massive privilege of "drawing near," the very thing that Israel was petrified of because those who drew near, would die.  But we in the new covenant get to draw near, because we have a better and greater High Priest.  Israel could not draw near through Aaron; they had to stay far away, and have him draw near on their behalf.  But by faith in Christ, we are bidden to draw near ourselves to this awesome God:

 

Hebrews 4:14-16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

Why can we draw near through Christ?  Because his sacrifice of his own body, opened the way through the veil into the Holy of Holies; his blood that was shed gives true forgiveness and makes us truly cleansed:

 

Hebrews 10:19-22

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

This truth about God being so holy that sinners are undone and perish in his presence, apart from a mediator-priest with a sacrifice to atone for them -- this is why Jesus is the only way to approach God:

 

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

 

There is no other way to the Father, for he is a consuming fire.  Those who attempt to draw near to him apart from Christ, fall into the hands of the living God and perish.  God is too holy for anyone to see him, and not die, who has not had his sins atoned for by the only Sacrifice that truly takes away sins.

 

This is also why we dare not trust in our own righteousness of any sort -- because if even Isaiah the prophet felt undone and about to perish in the presence of God, how much more we!  If the only way to come near to God and not die, is through the righteousness and work of Christ, then let me never trust in my own "goodness," nor relate to God as though he saw me in light of my own "doing well" or "doing badly."  He sees us as either IN Christ, or APART FROM Christ, nothing else.

 

Philippians 3:7-10a

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him …

 

So come to your Father boldly, boasting in Christ alone!  See the gravity of your own sin, not to then focus on yourself, but rather so that you might see the glory of Christ who covers it!

 

strive to enter

Lessons from Numbers 14

In Numbers 14, the people of Israel refuse to go into Canaan, rebelling against the LORD, distrusting his care for them.  

 

Hebrews 3:15b-16

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

 

God responded by pronouncing judgment on them, that they should wander 40 years and die in the wilderness rather than enter the promised land:

 

Numbers 14:32-34

But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.

 

Hebrews 3:17-18

And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

 

The people rebelled against God, disobeying him, because they did not believe him:

 

Numbers 14:11

And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?"

 

Hebrews 3:19

So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

 

We are to take warning from this, being wary lest we too gain an unbelieving heart that leads us away from God:

 

Hebrews 3:12

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

 

In order to avoid falling away into unbelief, we are to exhort one another daily against sin and toward faith and holiness:

 

Hebrews 3:13

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

 

And we are to learn from Israel's example, and strive to "enter God's rest," and strive that our brethren reach that rest also, and not fall away:

 

Hebrews 4:11

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

 

The next verse tells us that the Word of God is to be used as a sword to pierce the heart -- our own heart and those of our brethren -- that we might not be hardened by sin and fall away:

 

Hebrews 4:12-13

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

 

We are to "hold fast our confession," coming to God for help and mercy and grace through Jesus our high priest:

 

Hebrews 4:14-16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

This is meant to be a warning to us, that without vigilance and striving and holding fast, our hearts are prone to be deceived by sin and to turn away from God, in unbelief that leads to disobedience.  And this is such a great danger that we are not strong enough to keep ourselves safe from it, by ourselves; we require the exhortation of others and the Word of God, on a regular basis, to expose what is in our hearts.  And we have been given Jesus the High Priest, by whom we can come to God for help on this difficult path to Heaven.

 

Therefore, you MUST be in regular fellowship in a church, the Body of Christ -- not just attending services, but in community and relationship with other individuals in that local church.  Be taking in the Word of God consistently through preaching, private devotions, and the exhortation of others, because without it, you will not see where your own heart is deceived.  And you must cling to Christ.