2nd chapter of Acts – Mansion Builder
I've been told that there are those
Who will learn how to fly
And I've been told that there are those
Who will never die
And I've been told that there are stars
That will never lose their shine
And that there is a Morning Star
Who knows my mind
So why should I worry?
Why should I fret?
'Cause I've got a Mansion Builder
Who ain't through with me yet
(Repeat)
And I've been told that there's a
Crystal lake in the sky
And every tear from my eyes
Is saved when I cry
And I've been told there'll come a time
When the sun will cease to shine
And that there is a Morning Star
Who knows my mind
Revelation 4:6
6and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
Psalm 56:8
8You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle
Are they not in Your book?
Isaiah 34:4
4And all the host of heaven will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
Revelation 21:23
23And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Revelation 22:5
5And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:16
16"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."
Isaiah 46:10
10Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, 'My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Philippians 2:15
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
Philippians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Unseen Battle
Sometimes when I study the word, I try to imagine the scene, the thoughts, the politics, prejudices, pressures, mindset, fears, emotions and the rest. Often this is a guess, but I’ll give you one that has been rolling around in my noggin’ and more so at this time of year. Dream with me.
Luke 2:8-14
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The glory of the Lord shone around them. Was God there?
Goose chase #1:
Exodus 3:1-6
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
In Exodus 3 we see this “angel of the LORD” language. Interestingly Luke 2 says “an angel of the LORD”. Exodus 3 says “the angel of the LORD”.
I don’t read Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic, but interesting none the less.
Point: Jesus is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, but this “angel of the LORD” language is common. In Exodus 3, it is synonymous with God himself.
I have heard some students of the word, tell me the O.T. angel of the LORD, is Christ himself.
Don’t know.
Just trying to paint the picture for where we are headed.
Back to the story #1
My point from Luke 2 is this: the angel of the LORD came and suddenly there was a great company of the heavenly host…
Why?
Wasn’t God or this Angel sufficient to announce all by themselves.
Was it an overflow of pure joy? Was it because God was there? Was it because their King, Jesus Christ, who was with God in the beginning had just completed the most stunning, jaw dropping, mind blowing, unimaginable, knee buckling thing you can imagine. Very God of Very God became flesh to take on our sin and to suffer and die.
I like to imagine that the angels could not contain themselves. They were overwhelmed with unfathomable riches of His grace. How could they possibly not participate?
When gratitude and praise fill you, you can’t help, but go where He goes, do what He’s done and say what He says. You can’t contain it. It is your essence to praise Him.
When you understand that our best if filthy, our heart is on evil from our youth and that none is righteous no not one.
Then you pair this understanding of depravity up with an overwhelming understanding of His grace, love and mercy you can’t help, but go and declare it, to shout it from the roof tops.
Why did the angels come? They could hardly contain themselves? Angels serve God. Where God is - there they are. God came.
Step #2:
Matthew 4:5-6
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Psalm 91:11-12
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Next question. Were the angels ready for this possibility? If their King ordered their intervention. The answer to this, a resounding
YES.
Revelation 20:1-3
1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
“An angel”. Just one. Not a “great multitude of the heavenly host”.
Contrast
Revelation 12:7
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Lots of angels for the war – just one for satan. God did not fight. He did not have to move a “muscle”.
The Point
A great multitude of angels came for the birth of the King of Kings. Very God of Very God came. Unto us a Son is born. The One who was from the beginning, the creator God, the Omnipotent, came.
Philippians 2:5-11
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
If the angels were there at His birth, in force. If they were ready at any moment to defend Him during the temptation. If one angel is powerful enough to take the one, who was a liar from the beginning, by the scruff of the neck and lock him into the abyss, then wouldn’t the army of God be an awesome sight to behold at the cross.
Armed to the teeth. Swords razor sharp. Absolute unity, tension, eagerness, brokenness, anger and singular devotion.
Their King is ridiculed, beaten, mocked, scourged, stripped naked, tortured, humiliated and crucified.
The King of Kings was dying and heaven raged at the suffering of the Holy One and mourned the blackness of the sin burden He was made to carry.
God is angry. Very angry. The skies are black. The sun is eclipsed. Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani. Heaven is in distress and all of heaven is focused on Christ.
God turns His face away. Why? Because He couldn't endure the pain of His son? NO! He is with us always, no matter what. Would He abandon His son? God turned His face away, because another moment and He would have released the angels.
One word from Christ. A nod. A whisper. He could have tapped out at any moment. Had Christ muttered a word, the angels would have been unleashed and every thing that draws breath would have been destroyed in a moment.
God would have brought His Son home and God would put us all in the sea of forgetfulness and remembered us no more or sent us all to eternal torment.
God can forget if He wants to:
Psalm 25:7
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, LORD, are good.
Psalm 88:5
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
Psalm 103:12
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
In the garden the Father encouraged His Son and the Son chose. He chose in that moment and set His face for the cross (not that that hadn’t already happened, as it certainly had).
Interesting at the cross, Jesus declares, “Father, forgive them…”. Why? Was this to fulfill prophecy? Was this simply a son’s dialogue with the Father? Or was it the Son encouraging His Father? The Father was heartbroken, enraged as all the fullness of sin was firmly poured in wrath on His son. Was the Son encouraging Father to hold?
God’s anger was in full furry. Angels are armed to the teeth. Metaphorically, hearts beat fast. Tension is thick.
Even after all of the torture, ridicule and crucifixion, Jesus is ridiculed, despised and spit on. This is not trivial for us and it certainly was not for Father.
I really don’t know how tense things were in Heaven. I know there was anger and heartbreak. I do know the world could have been destroyed in a flash and the workers were completely ready to go to work had it been necessary.
I don’t know God’s thoughts. No one does, but I have a glimpse of the enormity and I am in awe.
If we could simply see, even briefly, the unseen, we would be in awe.
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Luke 2:8-14
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The glory of the Lord shone around them. Was God there?
Goose chase #1:
Exodus 3:1-6
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
In Exodus 3 we see this “angel of the LORD” language. Interestingly Luke 2 says “an angel of the LORD”. Exodus 3 says “the angel of the LORD”.
I don’t read Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic, but interesting none the less.
Point: Jesus is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, but this “angel of the LORD” language is common. In Exodus 3, it is synonymous with God himself.
I have heard some students of the word, tell me the O.T. angel of the LORD, is Christ himself.
Don’t know.
Just trying to paint the picture for where we are headed.
Back to the story #1
My point from Luke 2 is this: the angel of the LORD came and suddenly there was a great company of the heavenly host…
Why?
Wasn’t God or this Angel sufficient to announce all by themselves.
Was it an overflow of pure joy? Was it because God was there? Was it because their King, Jesus Christ, who was with God in the beginning had just completed the most stunning, jaw dropping, mind blowing, unimaginable, knee buckling thing you can imagine. Very God of Very God became flesh to take on our sin and to suffer and die.
I like to imagine that the angels could not contain themselves. They were overwhelmed with unfathomable riches of His grace. How could they possibly not participate?
When gratitude and praise fill you, you can’t help, but go where He goes, do what He’s done and say what He says. You can’t contain it. It is your essence to praise Him.
When you understand that our best if filthy, our heart is on evil from our youth and that none is righteous no not one.
Then you pair this understanding of depravity up with an overwhelming understanding of His grace, love and mercy you can’t help, but go and declare it, to shout it from the roof tops.
Why did the angels come? They could hardly contain themselves? Angels serve God. Where God is - there they are. God came.
Step #2:
Matthew 4:5-6
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Psalm 91:11-12
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Next question. Were the angels ready for this possibility? If their King ordered their intervention. The answer to this, a resounding
YES.
Revelation 20:1-3
1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
“An angel”. Just one. Not a “great multitude of the heavenly host”.
Contrast
Revelation 12:7
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Lots of angels for the war – just one for satan. God did not fight. He did not have to move a “muscle”.
The Point
A great multitude of angels came for the birth of the King of Kings. Very God of Very God came. Unto us a Son is born. The One who was from the beginning, the creator God, the Omnipotent, came.
Philippians 2:5-11
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
If the angels were there at His birth, in force. If they were ready at any moment to defend Him during the temptation. If one angel is powerful enough to take the one, who was a liar from the beginning, by the scruff of the neck and lock him into the abyss, then wouldn’t the army of God be an awesome sight to behold at the cross.
Armed to the teeth. Swords razor sharp. Absolute unity, tension, eagerness, brokenness, anger and singular devotion.
Their King is ridiculed, beaten, mocked, scourged, stripped naked, tortured, humiliated and crucified.
The King of Kings was dying and heaven raged at the suffering of the Holy One and mourned the blackness of the sin burden He was made to carry.
God is angry. Very angry. The skies are black. The sun is eclipsed. Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani. Heaven is in distress and all of heaven is focused on Christ.
God turns His face away. Why? Because He couldn't endure the pain of His son? NO! He is with us always, no matter what. Would He abandon His son? God turned His face away, because another moment and He would have released the angels.
One word from Christ. A nod. A whisper. He could have tapped out at any moment. Had Christ muttered a word, the angels would have been unleashed and every thing that draws breath would have been destroyed in a moment.
God would have brought His Son home and God would put us all in the sea of forgetfulness and remembered us no more or sent us all to eternal torment.
God can forget if He wants to:
Psalm 25:7
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, LORD, are good.
Psalm 88:5
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
Psalm 103:12
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
In the garden the Father encouraged His Son and the Son chose. He chose in that moment and set His face for the cross (not that that hadn’t already happened, as it certainly had).
Interesting at the cross, Jesus declares, “Father, forgive them…”. Why? Was this to fulfill prophecy? Was this simply a son’s dialogue with the Father? Or was it the Son encouraging His Father? The Father was heartbroken, enraged as all the fullness of sin was firmly poured in wrath on His son. Was the Son encouraging Father to hold?
God’s anger was in full furry. Angels are armed to the teeth. Metaphorically, hearts beat fast. Tension is thick.
Even after all of the torture, ridicule and crucifixion, Jesus is ridiculed, despised and spit on. This is not trivial for us and it certainly was not for Father.
I really don’t know how tense things were in Heaven. I know there was anger and heartbreak. I do know the world could have been destroyed in a flash and the workers were completely ready to go to work had it been necessary.
I don’t know God’s thoughts. No one does, but I have a glimpse of the enormity and I am in awe.
If we could simply see, even briefly, the unseen, we would be in awe.
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Union with the Trinity
Monday, December 06, 2010
This Morning's Meditation
C. H. Spurgeon
"As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly."—1 Corinthians 15:48.
HE head and members are of one nature, and not like that monstrous image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The head was of fine gold, but the belly and thighs were of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay. Christ's mystical body is no absurd combination of opposites; the members were mortal, and therefore Jesus died; the glorified head is immortal, and therefore the body is immortal too, for thus the record stands, "Because I live, ye shall live also." As is our loving Head, such is the body, and every member in particular. A chosen Head and chosen members; an accepted Head, and accepted members; a living Head, and living members. If the head be pure gold, all the parts of the body are of pure gold also. Thus is there a double union of nature as a basis for the closest communion. Pause here, devout reader, and see if thou canst without ecstatic amazement, contemplate the infinite condescension of the Son of God in thus exalting thy wretchedness into blessed union with His glory. Thou art so mean that in remembrance of thy mortality, thou mayest say to corruption, "Thou art my father," and to the worm, "Thou art my sister"; and yet in Christ thou art so honoured that thou canst say to the Almighty, "Abba, Father," and to the Incarnate God, "Thou art my brother and my husband." Surely if relationships to ancient and noble families make men think highly of themselves, we have whereof to glory over the heads of them all. Let the poorest and most despised believer lay hold upon this privilege; let not a senseless indolence make him negligent to trace his pedigree, and let him suffer no foolish attachment to present vanities to occupy his thoughts to the exclusion of this glorious, this heavenly honour of union with Christ.
John 17:20-22
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
1 John 3:1-3
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Romans 8:29
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
C.S. Lewis - The Weight of Glory
In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us. It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God...to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it
seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly
sustain. But so it is.
This Morning's Meditation
C. H. Spurgeon
"As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly."—1 Corinthians 15:48.
HE head and members are of one nature, and not like that monstrous image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The head was of fine gold, but the belly and thighs were of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay. Christ's mystical body is no absurd combination of opposites; the members were mortal, and therefore Jesus died; the glorified head is immortal, and therefore the body is immortal too, for thus the record stands, "Because I live, ye shall live also." As is our loving Head, such is the body, and every member in particular. A chosen Head and chosen members; an accepted Head, and accepted members; a living Head, and living members. If the head be pure gold, all the parts of the body are of pure gold also. Thus is there a double union of nature as a basis for the closest communion. Pause here, devout reader, and see if thou canst without ecstatic amazement, contemplate the infinite condescension of the Son of God in thus exalting thy wretchedness into blessed union with His glory. Thou art so mean that in remembrance of thy mortality, thou mayest say to corruption, "Thou art my father," and to the worm, "Thou art my sister"; and yet in Christ thou art so honoured that thou canst say to the Almighty, "Abba, Father," and to the Incarnate God, "Thou art my brother and my husband." Surely if relationships to ancient and noble families make men think highly of themselves, we have whereof to glory over the heads of them all. Let the poorest and most despised believer lay hold upon this privilege; let not a senseless indolence make him negligent to trace his pedigree, and let him suffer no foolish attachment to present vanities to occupy his thoughts to the exclusion of this glorious, this heavenly honour of union with Christ.
John 17:20-22
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
1 John 3:1-3
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Romans 8:29
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
C.S. Lewis - The Weight of Glory
In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us. It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God...to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it
seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly
sustain. But so it is.
Winter Snow - Chris Tomlin
Could've come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could've come like a forest fire
With the power of Heaven in Your flame
But You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
You could've swept in like a tidal wave
Or an ocean to ravish our hearts
You could have come through like a roaring flood
To wipe away the things we've scarred
But You came like a winter snow, yes, You did
You were quiet, You were soft and slow
[ Chris Tomlin Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
Ooh no, Your voice wasn't in a bush burning
No, Your voice wasn't in a rushing wind
It was still, it was small, it was hidden
Oh, You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
Falling, oh yeah, to the earth below
You came falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could've come like a forest fire
With the power of Heaven in Your flame
But You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
You could've swept in like a tidal wave
Or an ocean to ravish our hearts
You could have come through like a roaring flood
To wipe away the things we've scarred
But You came like a winter snow, yes, You did
You were quiet, You were soft and slow
[ Chris Tomlin Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
Ooh no, Your voice wasn't in a bush burning
No, Your voice wasn't in a rushing wind
It was still, it was small, it was hidden
Oh, You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
Falling, oh yeah, to the earth below
You came falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
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