The
saying, “All that glitters is not gold”,[1] is
certainly true. However, while it was originally meant in a negative way,
reminding people that very cheap trinkets can glitter as well as valuable
pieces of jewelry, it can also remind us of treasure far greater than gold,
that presents us with a sparkle even more priceless.
There
is a sparkle of love that is contained in someone’s look that defies the
greatest collection of gold, diamonds, or precious stones. To walk into a room
and see someone’s face light up because we are there is a greater gift and
experience than any material treasure.
However,
for many of us, such talk is like a book club discussing fairy tales. The only stories
we know of such things are those we imagine, or those we read of other people
we have never met. In real life, anything resembling a sparkle of love in
someone’s eyes seems to be a fleeting experience at best.
The
question is, do we have any reason to think of God’s love for his children as
something that would approach the wonder of a sparkle in someone’s eyes? Is
there anything beyond a figure of speech, or an imaginary encounter, that would
give our faith the same gift of delight as when we hear of this elusive
glittering love?
I
think of the parables Jesus told when he was trying to help the hypocritical
religious leaders understand why he was spending time with “sinners”.[2] To
clarify, Jesus was not accepting sinners as they were, and making them feel
loved and accepted while they continued in their sins. He was befriending the
sinners who heard his preaching of the gospel, repented of their sins, and
entered the kingdom of heaven by faith in Jesus as their Messiah.
In
that context, Jesus said that welcoming the sinners into the kingdom of heaven
was likened to a shepherd rejoicing over finding a lost sheep, and that the
Father in heaven was rejoicing along with Jesus every time one of these sinners
repented and received the gospel. He added that the same joy someone would feel
when suddenly finding a valuable coin that had been lost is the joy that God
feels when these sinners received the gospel and entered the kingdom.
By
the third parable, Jesus spoke very personally of a son who threw away his
family, and his inheritance, squandering his life in sinful living. He illustrated
God’s response to such a person by describing a father who came running towards
his son with joy and love as soon as he saw his son finally returning home.
All
three of these parables declared the same thing, that there is great joy in the
one who sits on the throne of heaven, and in the Son who brought the love of
God into the flesh of a human being, whenever their lost children return to
their home. It is not little joy. It is not letting the sinners come in the
back door of the basement and quietly take a seat in the back pew so as not to
disturb all the good religious people who have been behaving themselves the
whole time (so they thought).
Rather,
it is a kind of love that rejoices when the lost come home. Jesus gave us three
witnesses (in his parables), that this is the way God is with us when we come
home to him through the gospel of the kingdom.
These
three witnesses revealed what had already been prophesied of the work of God
hundreds of years earlier. God’s prophet declared, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a
mighty one who will save; he will rejoice
over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you
with loud singing.”[3]By
the time of Jesus’ coming, the majority of the people were living meaningless
religion that could not recognize their Messiah because he was so different
from what they wanted.
However,
the sinners saw Jesus as someone who rejoiced over them with gladness as they
acknowledged and confessed their sin. They were now able to spend time with the
Word of God and feel his presence quieting them with his love. His joy over
them coming into the kingdom was like one exulting over all these repentance
sinners with loud singing.
Jesus
was the one showing us the love of God, the image of the invisible God rejoicing
over the last sheep that had come home, the lost coins that had been found, the
lost sons who had returned from their sin to once again be at home with their
Father.
There
is coming a day when we will no longer need to take these things by faith. Jesus
will come in the clouds, making his presence known so clearly that his children
rejoice at his appearing.[4] We
will suddenly be fully transformed into his likeness because we will see him,
and look upon him, and become just like him.[5]
While
the world calls on the rocks and hills to cover them because they see the wrath
of this Lamb of God against all their unrepentant sin,[6]
the children of God will see the one who rejoices over them with singing as he
gathers us all to himself forever and tells us to, “Enter into the joy of your Master”.[7] At
that time it will be clear, the predominant description of our firstborn
Brother taking us home will be the sparkle of love in his eyes.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
No comments:
Post a Comment