while today

Glimpses of Heaven

May 13, 2011

The Book of Revelation is difficult reading. Yet, Revelation is also rewarding. Five major and contradictory approaches to Revelation can be found in the religious world. Such facts can boggle the mind, yet I think there are some simple guidelines for reading the book. Read Revelation for what it says about itself, rather than what others say about it. Read Revelation in light of the rest of scripture. Scripture is its own best interpreter. If all we get from Revelation is that Satan will be defeated and God wins, then we’ve understood the major lesson. Passages may puzzle us, but some things are crystal clear. Among the clear things is the fact that John gives us glimpses into heaven.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 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.” Revelation 7:9-17, ESV

Heaven is assured by the teaching and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Revelation, John gives evidence for heaven and glimpses of our future hope.

Heaven answers a deep longing. With C.S. Lewis we too cry, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”¹ Christ conquered death, and so will the Christian. Paradise lost in the garden will be paradise regained in heaven.

Heaven gives purpose. The person who most fully believes in heaven will also be the one who most faithfully lives for the Lord in daily life.

¹C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 120

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Posted by Russell Holden

Travail Has Become Joy!

May 6, 2011

When Becky was born, I took 35 mm pictures and recorded the audio of her birth on a micro-cassette tape recorder. A few months ago, I dug up the recording to see if it still worked and transferred it to a digital recording.

I’m not totally certain it was a friendly act to send the audio to my then pregnant daughter, but she listened to it. It was interesting hearing it again. When time for the delivery came, things happened quickly. So quickly that Kathy wasn’t able to have a spinal block. It was all natural child birth whether she wanted it that way or not. When they wheeled Kathy out to the delivery room, I was told to change into my scrubs and wait. I told them I would change, but not wait. And it was a good thing I didn’t wait.

The recording has about 10 minutes of labor prior to the birth. Pain and stress are in Kathy’s voice. The doctor and nurse are business-like, and I’m trying to be calming and reassuring. Then the birth comes, and you hear that little cry, and the whole mood changes. Travail has become joy.

I recently confessed to Kathy that I felt more anxiety over the birth of our grandson than I did for our own children. I really hadn’t worried back then. I asked if I had been that naïve. With the reassurance that only wives can give, she assured me that I had indeed been that naïve. (Of course, it is easier being the breathing coach than the one actually going through the labor.)

Labor and delivery has a mixture of pain and joy, so does raising a child, although my experience has been that the joy far outweighs everything else. We may have a hard time realizing the pain and sacrifice parents make until we become parents. But we all have a debt of gratitude.

I’m looking forward to Mother’s Day 2011. Lord willing, I will spend it with my wife, daughter, son-in-law, and new grandson. I will be with my daughter on her first Mother’s Day as a new mom.

Mothers are special. They have experienced the travail of child birth and its joys.

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” (Proverbs 31:28–29, ESV)

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Posted by Russell Holden

To Walk or Fly?

April 29, 2011

Where I live, we have geese. In my world of a shopping mall and a six-lane divided parkway, motorists will stop for geese. The episodes go like this: a mother goose decides to cross the road followed by her goslings. As they venture out, cars come to a screeching halt until the last gosling makes its way to the other side (or at least most of the time).

The other day I saw two adult geese walking across the road. The road just happened to be the six-lane divided parkway. Geese in flight are graceful. On water, they seemingly glide, but when walking across a road, they waddle. The sight is a bit comical unless an automobile is bearing down on you at 45 m.p.h. These geese had to interrupt their walk and take flight. But I had to wonder, why walk across the road when you can soar above it?

The experience reminded me of the parable, “The Tame Geese,” by Søren Kierkegaard. He imagined talking geese who every Sunday would gather for a sermon. One of the ganders would preach the lofty goal that the Creator had for geese. By aid of their wings, they could fly to blessed climes. This was their proper home. Here they were only pilgrims and strangers. The sermon would be met with approval of the geese. They would bow and courtesy at the fine words, and then they would waddle home.

During the week, the geese entertained some thoughts that they would never allow on Sunday. They discussed the dangers of flying. They would recount the tale of a goose who wanted to make serious use of the wings God had given him. A terrible death had befallen him. Other like-minded geese had suffered and grown thin. The majority of the geese concluded: “There you see what it leads to when flying is taken seriously.” Kierkegaard ends the parable this way:

And so the next Sunday they went again to divine worship, and the old gander preached about the high goal the Creator (here again the geese curtsied and the ganders bowed the head) had set before the geese, whereto the wings were designed.

So with the divine worship of Christendom…

I sometimes wonder about our faith — mine included. We live in a convenient and comfortable world. Our world is not so different from the one Kierkegaard critiqued. Are we walking, when God intended us to fly?

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Posted by Russell Holden

What Jesus Means to Me

April 22, 2011

Jesus is the wisdom of God. I probably would not have called it wisdom as I was first coming to know Jesus. The more common phrase would be moral teaching. But it may very well be that Jesus attracts us at this beginning point, and we begin to connect with him.

The moral teachings are accessible. Even a child can understand the basics. The greatest command is to love God with all of our being. The second greatest command is to love our neighbor as ourself. We need to control our anger. We shouldn’t lie. Jesus teaches us a simple beginner’s prayer. We need to trust God as our heavenly Father. We must build our house on the rock, and not be like the foolish man who builds his house on the sand.

As we mature, it may hit us how challenging some of these teachings are. To love our enemies is not an easy task. To go the second mile may chafe us like an ill-fitting suit. We may also grasp that Jesus is the wisdom of God because he has come from the Father. Jesus is the one who has come down from heaven to reveal God. “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus is Immanuel — God with us.

Jesus is the gift of God. At a young age I learned “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.” “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.” Jesus died for my sins.

To understand those words, we must come to accept that God is holy. The basic human problem is sin — moral failure. My moral failings estrange me from God. They lead to my spiritual death if not forgiven. Forgiveness is possible because of a life sacrificed in my place. Jesus is that sacrifice, that offering.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Seen by witnesses and predicted by prophecy, the resurrection is also God’s great affirmation of Jesus. Sin and death are conquered. New creation has begun. In Christ, I am a new creation having been born again of the Holy Spirit. With God’s help, a moral transformation is at work in my life. The same Spirit will raise me from the dead giving me a resurrection body or transform me in the blinking of an eye if I’m alive at Jesus’ coming. Because of Jesus we experience new life now, and we look forward to resurrection and life with God for eternity.

Jesus is wisdom, a gift, and life. And Jesus is so much more. Jesus means much to me. What does Jesus mean to you?

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Posted by Russell Holden

“Consequences of Faith”

April 15, 2011

After examining the arguments for the existence of God, Batsell Barrett Baxter in his book, I Believe Because…, demonstrates that there are consequences to skepticism and faith. Quote after quote from famous skeptics paint a dark picture of life. Life is meaningless and hopeless. Morality is crumbling leading to ever greater anger, rebelliousness, violence, and destructiveness.

The chapter entitled, “Consequences of Faith,” presents a far brighter view of life. Life has meaning, joy, and hope. One quote is from T.B. Larimore, a Christian educator and gospel preacher, written in his later years:

My faith has never been stronger; my hope has never been brighter; my head has never been clearer; my heart has never been calmer; my life has never been purer. I love all; I hate none. My love for some lifts my soul into the realm of the sublime. I am willing to die today; I am willing to live a thousand years, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. My friends are dearer to me; association with them is sweeter to me; my sympathy for suffering souls is stronger; my love for all the pure, the true, the beautiful, the good, and the sublime—from the bud, the blossom, the babe, up to Him from whom all blessings flow—is truer, tenderer, sweeter, than ever before…. I sleep soundly, dream sweetly, and “rejoice evermore.” “The word” is sweeter and stronger to me than ever before. O it is delightful to love and be loved, and to do whatsoever duty demands! My vanity is all gone. What the people say does not bother me. I’ll never waver, but always to the right be true.

My experience in life tells me that Larimore’s sentiments are not unique. The walk of faith develops this kind of character.

Baxter observed that for the Christian, “we accept one big miracle (God) and everything else makes sense. In atheism man must accept an endless series of little miracles in order to explain existence.” The problem for the skeptic is that life then doesn’t make sense. The consequences of faith are that life has meaning, and death is faced with hope.

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Difficult Thing about Wisdom

April 7, 2011

The book of Proverbs was written to make us wise. Yet Proverbs itself indicates that more information is insufficient to produce wisdom. For example, wise words, a rebuke, and even a proverb on the lips of a fool may be to no avail.

Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words. Proverbs 23:9, NASB

A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool. Proverbs 17:10, NASB

Like the legs which are useless to the lame, So is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Proverbs 26:7, NASB

So what is so difficult about wisdom?

Proverbs lays the foundation for wisdom and identifies the difficult thing for us: we must trust God more than ourself. We must fear/respect/reverence God, so that we go His way rather than our way.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8, NASB

More information won’t help, if the attitude is wrong. It’s like the Tree of Life in the center of the garden (see Genesis 3) all over again for each of us. Will we listen to God, or will we listen to our own lusts and the Serpent’s call?

Someone has noted the different approaches people take to the Bible, God’s word.

Some people accept none of it.
Many people accept part of it.
A few people accept all of it.

Some people live none of it.
Many people live part of it.
A few people live most of it.

Which approach describes you? It’s precisely at this point that Proverbs and the rest of the Bible challenges us. The difficult thing about wisdom is that it requires us to trust the Lord with all of our heart. The prerequisite for wisdom is faith.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Into All the World

April 1, 2011

Although there are places in the world that are very secular which makes evangelism more difficult, places also exist that are very fruitful. Sub-saharan Africa is a great example. In 1989, there were 6,222 local congregations with a membership of 416,874. By 2002, 14,669 congregations existed with a total membership of 1,070,837. By way of comparison, the United States had 12,719 local congregations of churches of Christ with a membership of 1,239,612 in 1980. In 2006, we had 12,963 congregations and a membership of 1,265,844.

Other brights spots in the world include Eastern Europe and areas formerly under the control of the Soviet Union. Members of the church have been able to provide printed materials to public schools, and congregations have been planted. Latin America is also experiencing growth. We have had over 100 vocational missionaries teaching English in China. The Philippines has 24 missionaries and 900 congregations. There are places that are more fruitful, and there are places that are more challenging. God is always doing great things by people of faith regardless of whether they are in fruitful areas or challenging areas.¹

Whether a place is very fruitful or whether it is tougher going, the faithful must go. Jesus did not say, “Go into all the places that are very receptive.” He said, “Go into the world.” Certainly, churches must recognize open doors and take advantage of them. But any long range strategy must recognize that all places need missionaries and evangelism.

J.M. McCaleb was a missionary to Japan for about fifty years. He went to Japan in 1892. People wondered about going to Japan when “the fields are white unto harvest” in the United States. The nineteenth century was a period of great church growth. McCaleb had an illustration that spoke to the pioneer environment.

The wise farmer doesn’t just reap from the fields he has prepared. He may go to another part of his property and prepare a field. He may have to fell trees and pull up roots. He may have many stones to clear. It may take time before this area of the farm is ready to be a truly productive field. But the time will come when others may reap abundant harvests where a few have prepared the way.²

This was J.M. McCaleb’s way of reminding us to go into all the world. God is doing great things through people of faith. It may be in areas of great fruitfulness; it may be in difficult areas. But there’s the rub. Let us not be discouraged. God will be with us when we act in faith. We need faith to share the good news with a world that so desperately needs it.

¹Dr. Monty Cox, “Around the World in Sixty Minutes,” Harding University Lectureship, 2008.

²J.M.McCaleb, OnceTraveled Roads, pages 361-62.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Pray to the Lord of the Harvest

March 25, 2011

The headline captured my attention: Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study says. A paper read at the American Physical Society had used a mathematical model to explain the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives for remaining religious. The model looked at data over the past century, and it predicted the extinction of religion in Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland. A similar model had been proposed to deal with the decline of lesser-spoken world languages.

I particularly noted New Zealand and Australia because of our work with the South Pacific Bible College in Tauranga, New Zealand, but this is a serious matter for all of these countries. New Zealand and Australia are very secular societies. Church attendance for all religious groups is about 10% of the population. The study only confirms what we already in some sense know. These countries have great needs for evangelism and may be slow and difficult areas in which to work. Lest we congratulate ourselves on being more religious than they are, the trend in the United States is going down as well, although the U.S. is at 44%.

A mathematical model is a way of looking at data and making projections; it is not prophecy. It is not written in stone and unalterable. But it should still be taken to heart. If good people do nothing, the picture for these countries is dire. However, mathematical trends can be reversed.

What should we do? I’m struck by Jesus’ words as he sent out the seventy:

“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ” (Luke 10:2, ESV)

Jesus commands us to pray to God to send out laborers, and note that it is not just a command to pray, but a command to pray earnestly.

I’m convinced that those kinds of prayers are being offered, but the news story reminds me of how important those prayers are. For those who pray, often find that they are also the ones who send, support, and go. The prayer changes them as well as seeking God’s providence. In the midst of dire projections, pray to the Lord of the harvest.

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Posted by Russell Holden

When Tyrants Rage and Buildings Fall

March 18, 2011

When tyrants rage and buildings fall, it may seem that our world is falling apart. Stories of political unrest and natural disasters fill our 24-hour news cycle, and there may be an emotional impact to it. We feel that we are living in a time of uncertainties, and we may wonder: what’s next?

Such questions are not new.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1–5, ESV)

We don’t know for certain the motive of those who related the account of Pilate and the Galileans. Some have suggested that they were following up Jesus’ discussion about interpreting the times a few verses prior (Luke 12:54-56). What is interesting is that Jesus doesn’t turn this into a national or global discussion.

With question and answer, Jesus affirms that these Galileans were not worse sinners than others. It wasn’t as if this calamity had fallen upon them as a matter of divine justice. This was a case of moral evil — the actions of a tyrant — falling upon individuals caught up in the politics of the day. Jesus expands the example to include a tower that had fallen and killed eighteen. Here we have a case that we would describe as a natural disaster. Construction accidents occur. Storms come. Earthquakes happen. Again, Jesus affirms that these victims were not worse sinners than others in Jerusalem who escaped the disaster.

Instead of drawing some big picture application from these disasters, Jesus makes a very personal warning: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Death and disasters are a consequence of sin in the world, but the spiritual consequences of sin are very personal. I may not know what will happen in tomorrow’s news, but I’m aware that two events are in my future: my death (unless Jesus returns first) and the Day of Judgment. When I see disasters happen, I need to ask a personal question: is a spiritual disaster coming upon me because I’m not ready to meet my Maker. Repentance is that change of mind and heart that leads me to say and live “not my will, but Yours, be done.” When tyrants rage and buildings fall, the important question is: am I spiritually ready?

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Payment

March 15, 2011

Have you ever borrowed money? It is almost silly question in our culture. My son and daughter started receiving credit card applications (which I promptly shredded) before they had even graduated high school. We understand what it means to receive a good or service and yet have the payment for that good or service delayed.

Most of the time the payments start the very next month. On a few occasions, the delay may even be longer. I’ve seen furniture stores advertising no payments until the next year. You use your furniture and maybe even spill things on your furniture for the first time before the initial payment comes due.

That analogy helps me understand forgiveness in the Old Testament. Clearly, sinners felt great relief in forgiveness. Observe Psalm 32.

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ” (Psalm 32:1, ESV)

“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ” (Psalm 32:3, ESV)

“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! ” (Psalm 32:11, ESV)

David could exult in the joy of forgiveness even if he didn’t completely understand what it would cost God to grant forgiveness. Paul explains the situation further in Romans 3.

“and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ” (Romans 3:24–26, ESV)

God had passed over former sins. Passed over means “deliberate disregard, passing over, letting go unpunished” (BDAG, p. 776). If God had not dealt with the debt of sin in Jesus, it would have called into question His own justice and holiness as Paul makes clear in verse 26. God showed his righteousness “at the present time,” that is at the time of Jesus’ death. Jesus paid the debt, so that God could be both just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Whether they are sins committed before the cross or after the cross, the death of Jesus is the payment for the debt of sin.

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Posted by Russell Holden