Scripture

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ Himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

~Colossians 2:2-3, NLT

Quote

When we contemplate the Divine, we get lost in His immensity and we drown in His infinity.

~C. H. Spurgeon

The pagans chided the Hebrews for believing in a God they could not  see. When Pompey the Roman general entered the Holy of Holies, he said, “These poor Jews don’t even have a god.” Of course he was looking for an idol and there were no idols in the Holy Place. The pagans could see their gods; they could set them on a shelf or a table and look at them all day. The Hebrews could not see their God. Yahweh shrouds Himself in mystery. We know what little we know from the witness of creation and the revelation of His word both written and incarnate. But even with the knowledge we have, we remain ignorant of God’s ways and we rarely know what He is doing until He has done it. Jews are not stupid and they have always produced great scholars. They had such scholars at the time of Jesus birth but they missed it completely. Was it not foretold in the Old Testament? Yes, it was, but they misinterpreted what they studies. The same thing is happening today.

The second temptation is to be allured by the sensational. The devil tempted Jesus to do a stunt that would draw a crowd: jump from the highest point of the Temple and then use His supernatural air brakes. People are drawn to the sensational. This is how some church draw crowds. These pseudo prophets who write about the details of the second coming and even have charts and calendars are making millions off of dupes who buy their books. I am telling you: no one knows the details. Jesus is coming back as the King of kings but no man has all the details. We must face the fact that God’s ways are higher than ours and there are mysteries that we cannot figure out.

I came across a new word the other day. It is antinomy. An antinomy is different from a paradox. A paradox is a seeming contradiction that is not really a contridiction at all. Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live. The life I live is by faith in the Son of God.” Is Paul dead or alive? He is both: he is living dead to himself and alive to Christ. This is a paradoxical truth. An antinomy is a complete mystery that cannot be solves. For example: Light is both a particle and a wave. Talk to any real scientist and they will tell you this is impossible, yet it is true. C.S. Lewis quotes Blaise Pascal on the subjet of prayer: “God instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of Causality.” In other words your prayers change things. No one can solve the mystery of prayer so until Jesus changes His orders, ask and keep on asking. If He knows what we need, why did Jesus command us to ask? It is an antinomy; a mystery no one can solve.

Extra

I must praise the LORD Jesus for a great day. He allowed me to deliver the message twice and the Holy Spirit gave me precious liberty. I agree with Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “The pulpit is the most romantic place in this world.”

I just got back from BREAKFAST and THE BIBLE, and we had a good meeting, the best we’ve had in my opinion: THANK YOU JESUS!

On my way to CRMC to pick up June I hope. She had to spend the night in the hospital for observation. She has had a multitude of physical issues going on and had a weak spell yesterday morning. So far, all the test results have been good.

I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.