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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 23

23 Dec

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Romans 5:6-11

Dear God, friends with you? Really? I remember a friend of my dad’s who is gone now, but he used to establish mentoring relationships with young men, usually college-aged or older. He would say he wanted to be their friend. Frankly, we tried, but I didn’t care for him that much. I never felt like the friendship was equal or two-way. It didn’t fit my definition of friend.

So when I read Paul saying that we are friends of yours, I wonder how that can be. Is it this kind of friendship this man wanted? A friendship where one person has all of the power and the other is just lucky to be in their orbit? I mean, I’m good with an image of you as God and worshipping you. I’m good with an image of you as omnipotent and omnipresent. I’m good with an image of you as infallible. But it’s hard to think you could be my friend.

But then I think about the evidence you’ve shown me and the world that you want to be our friend. First, you reach out to us at all. That’s amazing in and of itself. Second, you literally sacrificed a part of yourself for us. Third, you took the time to be with us in the flesh to relate to us and teach us. You cared for us. You wept over us. You love us. Fourth, you are here with me now to just love me where I am. No conditions of where I will be in the future. Just love me where I am. Your influence will mold me as we go along, to be sure. If I am the average of the five “people” or I guess entities I spend the most time with, and I am spending time like this with you then I suppose the more I spend time with you the more I will be like you. But you are taking me where I am. It’s remarkable.

Father, it is amazing that I am a friend to God. I am a friend to you. Holy Spirit, you are sitting with me now as I type this. That’s amazing. You are comforting me. Teaching me. Inspiring me. Interested in me. I hope my love in return is enough. Sometimes, I feel like that is all I have to offer. But I offer it freely, willingly, and joyfully. Thank you, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit–my Triune God.

I pray to the Father in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2024 in Advent 2024, Romans

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 19

19 Dec

14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Dear God, when I first read this passage this morning, it made me think of a sermon illustration I heard a year ago that talked about how you became incarnate on a planet of dogs in order to teach them and save them. I did a prayer journal on it at the time. Here is the illustration as I recorded it at the time:

A man had a dream one night, and he met God in his dream. He had been wondering about the incarnation and how it worked. “Why, God, did you have to come to earth as a man?”

God didn’t explain, but decided to show him why instead. He took the and they started traveling through space. Faster and faster until they started to approach a planet. When they arrived at the planet, still outside of its atmosphere, God stopped to tell the man about the planet. “This planet is controlled by dogs,” God said. “They are the highest life form here. The problem is, they are vicious dogs. They are cruel and mean. They destroy each other. They are filled with anger. But somehow, I want to help them. I want to teach them to love. I want them to know I exist and be in relationship with me. I want to show them how I love them. I want to help them take that love and give it to each other.”

The man replied, “That’s wonderful, Father. How will you do that?” 

“That’s where you come in,” God said. “I need you to do something for me. The only way to communicate with them is to become one of them. So I need you to go down there as a dog, tell them about me, and teach them through your example.” 

The man readily agreed. “Of course, I will do that for you and for them,” he said.

“There is a catch,” God added. “You won’t be able to teach them through coercion. That never works. You will need to come from a position of physical weakness to teach them what I need them to understand. They won’t learn if they are physically intimidated by you. So I am sending you as a chihuahua..” 

This caught the man off guard, but he saw the wisdom in it.

“There is another catch,” God continued. “In order to show them my power, you will have to die and let them kill you. Then, I will bring you back to life. This will show that you are truly my messenger and they should listen to you. It will be painful, but it is the only way. I cannot stand their viciousness with each other. I cannot be around it. So I need your perfect life to be a sacrifice for their sins, so that I will have a way to interact with them.”

Now the man was dreading this assignment for the first time, but he was willing to do anything God asked of him. He agreed to God’s terms.

But God wasn’t finished. “There is one more thing. When you are resurrected, you will remain a chihuahua for eternity. You will come to me and be with me, but you will be the chihuahua at my side. I am not a dog. I cannot relate to being a dog. But after you are a dog, I will need you to remain a dog so that you can continue to be my intermediary with them.”

It was then that the man fully understood what the incarnation of Jesus was all about, but instead of sending another sinful creature to be that intermediary, God was forced to send part of himself to earth. He was the only one capable of fulfilling this mission. This reconciliation with humans on earth. They are vicious, selfish, and cruel. But God loves us and wants to know him and live the lives of love and joy he has for us. So he sent a part of himself to teach us and sacrifice for us. To love us. To teach us about himself and what his love looks like. And to establish a way of being in relationship with us.

So here I am. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to learn about your son and what you taught me through him–through yourself and your own examples. Here I am to repent. Here I am to love you. Here I am to love others.

I reading Piper’s commentary on these verses, I liked what he said here: “Christ did not risk death, he embraced it. That is precisely why he came: not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). No wonder Satan tried to turn Jesus from the Cross! The Cross was Satan’s destruction.”

I really like that. Satan didn’t want it to happen because the Cross wasn’t Jesus’s destruction but Satan’s. The Cross was my pathway to life. The Cross was everything Satan did NOT want for me and the rest of the world.

Father, thank you for all of this. As I sit here this morning and pray through what you will have for me to share tonight at the special community Christmas service, let it be purely from you, about you, and for you and your purposes in our community and the world through the lives in that room and beyond. Let your Holy Spirit move mightily tonight.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 19, 2024 in Advent 2024, Hebrews

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 18

18 Dec

13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

John 17:13-19

Dear God, yesterday was supposed to be a simple day, but several things got very complicated on a lot of different fronts, and now I am sitting here with a bit of a heavy heart. There are some problems to solve today, and I do not know how to solve them. There are relationships to navigate, and I don’t know how to navigate them. There are people to love, and I don’t know how to love them. So as I sit here, a week from Christmas Day, I wonder where my heavy heart should be. How should I be responding to these things?

Piper’s reading today focused on verse 18 and the “sending” of the disciples and all of us into the world. And that is true. You are sending me into the world today. And my job is to be your ambassador. To help people 1.) see the difference worshipping you and serving you makes in my life, and 2.) inviting them into worshipping you and serving you. I am also to help others. When I see need, I need to prayerfully consider how to respond to it.

Piper’s commentary today addresses the persecution that can come with missions and representing you in the world: “The greatest danger a missionary faces is to distrust the mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting. God makes ever dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. Alexander says, ‘Each instant of present labor is to be graciously repaid with a million ages of glory.'”

Father, it’s funny how I recoil at the part about any sacrifice I make being “repaid with a million ages of glory.” Frankly, that’s not why I do any of this. I do what I do because I love you. Because I get joy from loving and helping others. So do with my life what you will today. Bring your kingdom and your will into this world today. Give me what you need me to have. Forgive me for failing you and others. Help me to forgive others. And keep me from the temptations of my corrupt heart. And to you and you alone be all glory and honor, now and forever.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2024 in Advent 2024, John

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 17

17 Dec

28 In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord, have spoken!

29 “The people will no longer quote this proverb:

‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
    but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’

30 All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.

31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.

33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

Jeremiah 31:28-34

Dear God, Piper’s Advent reading for today focused on verse 31, but I wanted to bring in the verses around it for a little more context. Frankly, I love the lead-in for verse 31. I love the description of each person reaping what they sow as opposed to children being punished for their father’s sins (see Noah, Ham, and Canaan). I like this because I would hate to think the mistakes I make would be visited upon my own children. I want them to reap from their own fields, not mine. Not that my mistakes do not affect them at all. Sometimes they do. Of course they do. But knowing they can be free from my mistakes through Jesus… Knowing that I can be free of my parents’ mistakes–my grandparents’ mistakes–through Jesus… Well, that just gives me hope. It gives me a release that I can be at peace before you. Through repentance, I can be clean before you.

No one preparing for the Messiah had a clue what you were setting up for us, the freedom you were setting up for us, through Jesus. They thought they knew what they wanted. They wanted power again. They wanted self-determination. they wanted to rule the land. They wanted to throw off their oppressors. They wanted to see powerful struck down and the rich sent empty away. But you knew that’s not what they (we) needed. We needed freedom from our sin and relationship with you. We needed to all be able to relate to you and love you, Jew or Gentile. Slave or free. Woman or man. These descriptors were no longer material in the New Covenant.

I want to quote Piper’s last paragraph from today: “God is now free, in his justice, to lavish us with the new covenant. He gives us Christ, the greatest reality in the universe, for our enjoyment. And he writes his own will–his own heart–on our heart so that we can love and trust and follow Christ from the inside out, with freedom and joy.”

Father, thank you for not giving me what I want, but what I need. Thank you for letting me reset my life through repentance and relationship with you. I pray for this same freedom for those I love who have not yet found it. I pray for it for everyone. I am going to have an opportunity to speak to a large group of people at a Christmas service in a couple of nights. Keep me from wasting this opportunity. Use me to draw at least one person in that room closer to yourself. Make them hungry for you as I conclude my talk. Be glorified through me. Help me to decrease so that you might increase. To quote the Casting Crowns song, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 17, 2024 in Advent 2024, Jeremiah

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 16

16 Dec

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:3-11

Dear God, Piper’s selected verses were 9-11, but I felt like they needed the context of verses 3-8, so I included them here as well. Looking out for the interests of others as important, if not more so, than my own. Oh, how you love us. It’s amazing. It’s simply amazing that you love us so much. How much love then do I not only owe you, but those around me as well? And I don’t care about elevation. I just want to be with you. I don’t care about honor from others. I don’t even need you to honor me above anyone else. I just want to be with you. I want to be allowed into your presence. In this moment. In the next moment. In all of the moments to come. In the new earth. I just want to be allowed into your presence.

Why? Well, one reason is that you are the type of God that would become incarnate for fools like me. Your love and sacrifice for us was and still is remarkable. To just sit with verses 6-8 for a minutes and contemplate their reality is almost mind-blowing:

6 Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

I like Piper’s first paragraph as he talks about verses 9-11:

Christmas was God’s most successful setback. He has always delighted to show his power through apparent defeat. He makes tactical retreats in order to win strategic victories.

Father, give me eyes to see when you need me to retreat, and when you need me to advance. When you need me on my knees, and when you need me out in front. When you need me to have serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and when you need me to have courage to change the things I can. I need your wisdom, Father. And I also just want to say thank you this morning. Thank you for this. Really. You are amazing. You are amazing, God.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 16, 2024 in Advent 2024, Philippians

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 9

09 Dec

3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem.

Matthew 2:3

Dear God, before I read Piper’s commentary on this verse, I want to sit with the last five words: as was everyone in Jerusalem. As word spread about the magi being in town and looking for the newly born “King of the Jews,” what were they thinking? And I want to put a pin in these people for if we talk about the flight to Egypt and the killing of all the young boys, but for now I want to consider what their hope and fears were. Herod’s are pretty easy to figure out. He just saw a threat. A threat to himself. A threat to his bosses in Rome. A threat to his lineage.

But for “everyone in Jerusalem,” what were they “deeply disturbed” by? Did they even want a Messiah, or was the status quo more comfortable? Were they afraid of war? Were they willing to possibly pay the price they thought they would be asked to pay in following a Messiah into battle against the Romans? This is what I assume they were thinking.

And then there is the reality. If they had recognized what Jesus actually came to do–to offer a path to the controlled burn I talked about yesterday–would they have rejoiced instead? Would they too have sought out the baby? What kept all of them from going to Bethlehem and following the magi?

There is so much here that is me. Afraid of the word it will take to follow you. Afraid of risking what I have. Afraid of what would be new. Yes, I might be living in a pit, but the pit is home now. I’ve made it work. What would my life look like if I were to upset all of that to do something you’re calling me to do?

Okay, I just read Piper’s commentary, and it lines up remarkably with what I just said except he was more articulate about it:

There are two kinds of people who do not want to worship Jesus the Messiah. The first kind is the people who simply do nothing about Jesus. He is a non-entity in their lives. This group is represented by the chief priests and scribes: “Assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” Well, they told him, and that was that–back to business as usual. The sheer silence and inactivity of the religious leaders are overwhelming given the magnitude of what was happening

Compare that with the reaction Herod and the rest of Jerusalem: “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” In other words, the rumor was going around that someone thought the Messiah was born, and everyone but the chief priests took note. Why did they not go with the magi? There were not interested. They did not want to worship the true God.

The second kind of people who do not want to worship Jesus are those who are deeply threatened by him. Herod was deeply afraid–so much so that he schemed and lied and then committed mass murder just to get rid of Jesus.

Father, I think I am going to lean on the serenity prayer this morning. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 9, 2024 in Advent 2024, Matthew

 

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“It’s a Quest…For God.”

01 Dec

Dear God, I want to quote the movie Jesus Revolution. I was thinking about it this morning after I just saw a headline on my news feed from a reddit thread called “Am I the A*****?” It’s a place online where people bring their anger and hatred and look for redemption and affirmation among others who are angry and bitter. For some reason, when I saw it I thought back to this scene in Jesus Revolution. This is just a little clip, but it doesn’t have everything I was looking for. It cuts off just a little too soon:

Lonnie Frisbee is talking to Chuck Smith, the more traditional pastor. He’s explaining the hippies to Chuck:

“It reminds me of the words of Jesus: ‘To what then can I compare this generation? What are they like?’

“I was up in San Francisco for long time, living in in Haight Ashbury. In the Streets. All over. Man, we did everything and everyone. But that was the point. You see, the drugs. It’s a quest…For God.”

I look around me now as I enter this season of advent and I see people putting their faith in so many things. It might not be drugs. It might be a politician or political power. It might be money. It might be sex. And those idols start to let them down so they get angry. They get so angry. That’s what it feels like to me right now. It feels like I see so many people who are angry, and they are looking for you. They just don’t know they are looking for you.

My wife and I were talking yesterday about different forms of prosperity gospel. Some are more obvious and some more subtle. The more obvious ones say, “Do X and God will give you success.” Usually money. The more subtle ones will tell you that there is a formula for a successful life. This is one I bought into for a while until I was disillusioned. I was worshipping you, but I expected you to deliver me the family life I wanted. I wasn’t as focused on career, but I had an ideal of what a family could and should be, and I was incredibly disappointed in you when it didn’t turn out that way.

Of course, the reaction to an idol that disappoints us isn’t always anger. It can be depression too. Isn’t it interesting that more people in developed countries need antidepressants than those who live in undeveloped nations? We have everything at our fingertips while the person in the undeveloped nation has to struggle for something as basic as clean water. And yet we are the ones who suffer from anxiety at a higher rate. My uneducated guess is that they simply don’t have time to worry. They just struggle. It’s also interesting that those are the areas of the world where your church is growing. I know I always grow more when I am struggling.

So now I am waiting on Jesus during this season of Advent. I feel like I should maybe be doing something special here like I did with Lent. I’m not sure what that is, however. I have a devotion on the way that I will see if it helps. That’s what I did for Lent. But I know I want to continue to root out my own idols, expose them, reject them, and banish them. I want to be at peace with the path you have for me. I want to be willing to risk everything for you. Not my family, of course, because they are your highest calling to me. But if doing what you want me to do costs me reputation, money, comfort, security, etc., then I want to be willing to put that on the table. Thoughtfully. Prayerfully. Intentionally. I want to do exactly what you want me to do. Use the next 25 days to transform me into the next step of who you want me to be.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 1, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Matthew 4:18-22

30 Nov

18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.

21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

Dear God, I’m in a hurry this morning, but I have to start my day this way before I go. I have to touch hands with you. Touch hearts with you. Touch minds with you. Touch my soul to you. I have to be reminded that your Holy Spirit is with me right now. I have to start from this perspective before I get going. So here I am. I’m here to stop for at least a few moments to acknowledge you are my God. You are everything.

And now, Father, send me into this world. Following my prayer yesterday, make me a fisher of men. Help me to offer them Jesus. And it’s the Jesus that’s not the lesser of two evils, but the Jesus who loves me and offers me life. If I lose my life for him, I will gain it. If my neighbor loses their life for you, they will gain it (Matthew 10:39). Help me to take that message with me as I go through this day. And cover my wife and me, please, angels of the Lord.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 30, 2024 in Matthew

 

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“Would you still follow Jesus?” (1 Corinthians 15:12-20)

29 Nov

Dear God, I was listened to the Holy Post Podcast yesterday that interviewed a friend of Tony Campolo’s, Shane Claiborne. They were discussing Tony’s recent passing, and there were several good parts of it. I expect to listen to it again, but as I sat down this morning and thought about it, I think this is my favorite part. Claiborne mentioned this as one of Tony’s core messages when he would speak to groups, and it is something I trace back in my own life to when I used to say the same things to kids at camp when I was a counselor 35 years ago.

I remember a couple of years later when I was sharing that philosophy (theology?) with a Christian friend who was older than me, and he scolded me for it. He pointed to Paul when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” This caught me flat-footed and I remember not having much to say in return. That conversation was 32 years ago, and it’s amazing how much it still haunts me now.

If I were to have another shot at that conversation, I would want to point out the context of that verse:

12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

In my opinion, and perhaps my friend would still have disagreed, for Paul, the idea of afterlife with you is part of the argument for Jesus’s resurrection. You can’t separate them. If no afterlife, no resurrection. If no resurrection, no afterlife. As I sit and think o this now, I just had a thought that takes what Paul taught one step further. If no afterlife, then no reason for us to even care about you. No reason for the incarnation in the first place. No reason, honestly for you to care about us any more than we care for our pets. Our lives would be so unbelievably insignificant in your presence as specks of dust that are here and gone (Psalm 103:14-15), then what would be the point. No, afterlife is truly the lynch pin to everything I believe in about you.

With that said, following Jesus and what he taught us is not about picking the lesser of two evils: It’s a pain to follow you, but it’s better than hell! It’s about the opportunity to follow you and live a victorious, sacrificial life here on earth that grows the fruit of your Holy Spirit within me regardless of what it physically costs me. It’s about the peace I get here. The love. The joy. The patience. The goodness. The kindness. The gentleness. The faithfulness. The self-control. Knowing you. Loving you. Serving you by serving others. That’s what it all is about. That’s what I’m offering others when I talk to them about you. It’s not a guillotine over their head and a threat that they better follow you or else. It’s an invitation into true life.

Father, I have got to be better about offering this life to others! I am sorry that I’m not. I’m sorry to you, but I’m sorry to them as well. Help me to really get this concept and compel me to live it out. Thank you that you taught it to me. Help me to teach it to others.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2024 in 1 Corinthians

 

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Revelation 14:14-20

26 Nov

14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

15 Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” 16 So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested.

17 After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar. He shouted to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.

Revelation 14:14-20

Dear God, the harvest is the end of the world. That’s actually the name of a song by Charlie Peacock that I just thought of as I started to write this: “The Harvest is the End of the World.”

This song doesn’t necessarily line up with this specific passage, but it includes angels with their sickles so it’s at least adjacent to this passage. My wife and I gravitated to this song because it came out a year after our miscarriage and right when our son was born. As we thought about the daughter we lost and the son we were gaining, this part of the song really struck us:

I see angels in the distance
In the distance, I see angels
And their shadows fall
Like crosses on the fields
Some are swinging low the sickles
Some are binding up the sheaves
Some are sifting out the harvest yield

Rachel, run to join the angels
In the harvest in the distance
Rising from your bed as from a dream
In the feint and splintered line
Where the wheat field meets the sky
You might find your sorrow made complete

To quote another song, “Lord, I don’t know where all this is going or how it all turns out. Lead me to peace that passes understanding. A peace beyond all doubt.” I have concerns. I have sorrows. I have things that burden me. Help me to lean on you as part of this. Help me to trust you when it seems like things are going in ways I do not like. Help me to turn loose of my idols and look to you as my only source of peace and comfort. Help me to repent when I need to repent, serve when I need to serve, and listen when I need to listen. Help me to worship you well throughout my entire being. Then I will let the end of the world happen as you have ordained it and go through whatever you’ve decided I must go through.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 26, 2024 in Hymns and Songs, Revelation

 

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