The Millennium & God’s Final Judgment
In our Bible study on Thursday we looked at Revelation 20, a chapter which speaks of the millennium or thousand-year-reign of Christ. This is a controversial and often contentious chapter amongst Biblical scholars, with three main views having arisen as to how we should interpret these verses. Amillennialism (the most popular current views) sees this reign as symbolic and happening now, the period between Christ’as first and second comings;. Post-millennialism believes that Christ will return to earth after this period, believing in a ‘golden age’ when many will come to faith. Premillennialism (the view of the early church fathers and the classic Pentecostal view) takes these verses more literally and believes there will be a literal 1000 year reign after which Christ will judge the earth.
It’s always difficult to be dogmatic about theology, and there is no real way we can be sure that our interpretations of prophecy are correct! What is clear from this chapter, however, is that God is in control and that Satan’s power is limited. Judgment will come, and there will be everlasting torment for Satan and those who have relied on their own deeds for salvation rather than on Christ’s redemptive sacrifice. The books of life are mentioned in this chapter. The Lamb’s book of life has a record of all who have trusted in Jesus (see also Luke 10:20) and we can be confident that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom 8:1) Judgment emanating from God’s white throne will be just and we need not fear the second death (separation from God) if we have trusted in Christ as our Saviour.
Passwords and Praise
Passwords are the bane of my llife. A good password should include capital letters, lower case letters, special characters and numbers and be between 8 and 12 characters long. It should not be easily associated with you (such as a birth date or name), but of course, what makes it difficult for someone else to guess (and therefore to hack your accounts) makes it equally difficult for you to remember!
Ps 89:15 in the Message version says, ‘Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise’, which may suggest praising God requires the same kind of memory feats that computer passwords use! In truth, the NIV rendering of this verse (‘blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You‘) is probably nearer the mark. We learn to acclaim God (praise and celebrate Him) as we learn about His character and His deeds – a lifelong process. Psalm 89 is particularly good at listing reasons for praise: God’s love (verses 1, 14), His faithfulness (vs 1-2, 5, 8, 14, 30-37), His justice and righteousness (vs 14), His power (vs 8-13) and so on. These are all aspects of God’s character which we may not know automatically, but can learn, and therefore can become our pathway to praise.
The writer (Ethan the Ezrahite) declares blessing over those who learn to walk in God’s presence. Far from getting frustrated over keying in the wrong password (CAPSLOCK is on, the computer suggests helpfully as it denies access….), praising God is easy. It starts by speaking these truths to your soul and then you progress to speaking those truths aloud! Have a go and see for yourself the benefits of praising Him!
Life Is A Song
Melody’s name provided inspiration for us as we considered our lives as God’s work of art. Michael Card reminds us that ‘life is a song we must sing with our days’ (‘Poem Of Your Life’) and we looked at 2 Corinthians 3:3 which says ‘you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.’ (2 Cor 3:3) Whether we realise it or not, we are all creative because we are made in the image of a creative God; God wants our lives to reflect His nature and to point others to Himself.
Creativity flourishes in so many different ways (drawing, painting, music, singing, writing, drama, flower-arranging, knitting, sewing, crocheting, to name a few) and we were privileged to hear Stephen’s song for Melody at the end of the service. Every single one of us is a work of art which God is shaping until we are conformed to the image of His Son and become a reflection of His glory. (Rom 8:28-29)
We do not know what life holds for any one of us, but we want our lives to reflect God’s nature and pray that Melody will learn to sign God’s name to her life to fulfil His purposes for her. Ps 36:7-9 reminds us of the fulness of life God has for us and our prayer is that each of us will learn to let our lives sing to the praise of God at all times.
Walking With God
This morning Garry spoke from Genesis 47:11-12, 27 about walking with God. Walking with God does not mean a life without suffering; Jesus told us that there is a path of suffering which is inevitable because following Him involves living according to God’s standards, not the world’s.
Paul’s experiences (listed in 2 Cor 11:23-27) shows us that to stand against the culture of the day produces opposition. Persecution was the experience of the early church (Acts 8:1) and is still prevalent in many societies today (e.g. in China, where the social credit system monitors where peopole go and what they do). Ideas such as adopting a digital ID need to be treated with extreme caution because it is easy then for privileges to be withdrawn simply because of ‘differing’ views. But we must also note that walking with God involves great blessing too, as Psalm 91 makes clear. His provision, protection and care for His people are evident here with Joseph’s family being given the best of the land, according to God’s promises to Jacob. (Gen 46:2-3).
Walking with God means we must do what God says and go where He tells us, whether this leads to blessing or suffering. Faithful obedience is what is required of us at all times.
End-of-term party
What a wonderful time we had at our first Parent & Toddler party on Wednesday, saying goodbye to Rebekah, Nova and Roza who will be moving up to full-time nursery or school in September (we’ll be saying more goodbyes on Friday and unfortunately couldn’t say goodbye to Escala as she’s already on holiday!)
It was good to have Lynn Utting and her colleague from Coalfields Regeneration Trust with us yesterday. We are very grateful for their grant this year which has helped to pay for refreshments and heating for the Parent & Toddler group as well as enabling us to buy lovely role play costumes and storage equipment (enabling us to set up and tidy away more easily.) We are also very grateful they are continuing to fund us in the year to come, especially as heating costs have spiralled this year. But our involvement with CRT goes back much further, when, as a church with £7,500 in the bank, we bought the building we are currently in thanks to a capital grant of £160,000 from CRT. Thirteen years later, we are so glad to be at Market Street and using the building so much. This year, we have had 75 families attend the Parent & Toddler group (thankfully not all at the same time!) and have run two sessions a week during term-time.
We’re looking forward to our last party and last session before the summer break on Friday 21 July.
We Are Church
Joy Gascoigne from Grimethorpe Pentecostal Church spoke tonight from Ephesians 1:15-2:3, reminding us of both the individual and corporate nature of the church. Jesus Christ comes in power and energises individuals, and so the church is effectively a working body, a living body and a growing body.
Local churches are in touch with people and must live not on bread alone but on the words of God (Matt 4:4). Our role is to share the word of God with others, holding on to His promises. The church must not become insular, but must seek to find those who are outside the church, often lonely peple who need the connection church can bring to others and to God.
Everybody has a part to play in this, starting with prayer. Prayer is not the last resort; God moves in response to the call of His people and works in power, with the same power that raised Christ from the dead. From our prayer life flows our actions; God works in and through us to reach others.
