On This Day: To Glory in Seeing Jesus’ Glory

   The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:22-24)

   I was in grade 8 when my dad came home from work with a box of ice skates for all us kids. I quickly fell in love with skating (after the embarrassment of knocking some cute girls over while learning to skate!). The next year I joined hockey and was hooked.

   At the same time (coincidentally) my uncle had opened a sports’ shop with a special focus on hockey. I was able to take my full $114.00 from strawberry picking and buy all my hockey equipment, skates included! I never did learn what kind of “family deal” my dad got, or whether he paid anything extra behind the scenes. All I knew is that hockey was now my favorite activity.

   As a promotional opportunity for his store, my uncle bought 4 season tickets to Vancouver Canucks’ games, and I had a couple of opportunities to attend games in the early 70’s while the Canucks were in their infancy. I know what it felt like to be absolutely fascinated with the on-ice play, the feeling of glory whenever the Canucks put the puck in the net, and particularly when they won a game.

   All that to say that Jesus talking about glory is not a foreign concept. People have no problem feeling glory, expressing glory, delighting in the glory of their favorite people or teams. The ONLY problem they have with glory is attaching to Jesus’ glory even though he is our Creator, and the only Savior of the world.

   What gripped my heart this morning is that Jesus had a “desire”. It isn’t that this brings him down to my level, since desires have been the wreck of me on one side, and a driving force on the other. So, to think of Jesus having pure desire, holy desire, righteous desire, good desire, is fascinating.

   QUESTION: Do I have a right to put myself in the picture? When Jesus expresses to the Father his desire “that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am,” do I really have the right to include myself in this?

   ANSWER: Absolutely! We are still in the paragraph Jesus introduced with, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word”. I am one of the people who have come to believe in Jesus through “their word”. Their word is the New Testament. The four gospel accounts. The history of the book of Acts. The instructional leadership of the letters to the churches. The apostles’ writings have been guiding and directing me for six decades.

   This means that Jesus’ “desire” is for me “also”. I have been given to Jesus by the Father. And Jesus’ desire, even before going to the cross, was that I would be included in that great numberless multitude that will be with him in glory glorying in his glory!

   Over my decades, I have watched so many people either fall away from the church, or slink back to the safety of institutional religion, because they believe they were failed by other “Christians”. 

   At the same time, even as I have been failed by so many church-folk (including the first pastor I worked under who got so angry at me for asking questions that he wouldn’t talk to me and was later caught in adultery!), it has all fallen into the “for those who love God all things work together for good” reality that brings me to today’s viewpoint of Jesus wanting me to be with him enjoying the overflowing joy of his glory.

   My primary reason for sharing this is to encourage anyone who has been hurt by the church, discouraged by people who don’t want to be with you, heartbroken by sinful actions from people you thought were loved ones, however any of us would describe anything that entices us to stop following Jesus, to keep before you what Jesus himself said:

   “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

   How do we know if we are one of the people Jesus’ is speaking of? By examining whether we have responded to the command of the gospel to repent and believe in Jesus. If we have confessed with our mouths that “Jesus is Lord”, and believed in our hearts that God raised him from the dead (meaning all that these things mean in the New Testament), we are saved. We have eternal life. We will be with Jesus forever in the new heavens and the new earth.

   If you are one of those people, “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the GLORY THAT IS TO BE REVEALED TO US” (Romans 8:18). 

   So, instead of turning from Jesus because of hurts or disappointments, turn to Jesus WITH those hurts and disappointments, admit and confess how inglorious they are, and tell Jesus how much it fills your heart with wonder that he “desires” to have you with him in his eternal home to rejoice in the constant glory of his glory.

 

© 2026 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

On This Day: When Friends and Enemies Praise Jesus

   “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:34-35)

   Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem has been a long-standing grief for me. It is a thread of heartache woven into the tapestry of God’s work of redemption. It pictures the wonder of God’s longing for his people, and the tragedy of his people’s preference for the world, the flesh, and the devil.

   One of the most beautiful invitations of God to his people is this from Isaiah 30:15, “For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’”

   When Jesus made his lament over Jerusalem, he associated himself with what God had already communicated about his desire for his people to return to him. If they would return and rest in him, he could save them. If they would quiet their lustful idolatrous hearts and trust in him, he would be their strength.

   However, the sad conclusion back then was a prelude to what the Messiah would face when he came, “But you were unwilling”. And the fact that God would put his heart on such glorious display and the people would be unwilling to attach to him breaks my heart. 

  Which brings us to Jesus’ return. There is coming a time when everyone will declare “‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” The prophets said this would happen; Jesus amened that this would happen; Luke recorded Jesus’ words that this would happen, and Paul explains it even further: 

   Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

   This is what Jesus meant. At his return, EVERY knee will bow before him in acknowledgement that he is “King of kings and Lord of lords”. No one will stand in pride against him any longer. All will bow in submission.

   At the same time, EVERY tongue will “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” No more Youtubers declaring their arrogant atheism, no more science deceivers promoting the evolutionary religion, no more comedians mocking Jesus and his redemptive work. EVERY tongue will confess out loud that there is absolutely no doubt that Jesus Christ is Lord after all. 

   But just as Jesus warned Israel about the judgment coming on Jerusalem, God warns us in his word of what it will be like when Jesus returns to finalize his judgment on the world:

   Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)

   Jesus is “patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (II Peter 3:9). However, everyone in this lifetime shows their willingness or unwillingness to receive him. Those who refuse him will receive God’s justice against their sin. It is coming as surely as Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD. 

   As to those who receive Jesus during this lifetime, here is how they will feel when Jesus returns and takes us home:

   After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12)

   We will all praise and glorify Jesus Christ as Lord when he returns. Some will be his enemies who denied and dishonored him their whole lives. Others will be his friends who called on his name and received his gift of eternal life. 

   And God’s gift is in his word that calls us all to know and love Jesus Christ now so we can live with him in love forever. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

Zion: The Place of Praise and Vows

If there was only one thing I could teach anyone, it would be how to attach to God in his word and prayer on a daily basis. After all, faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the word of Christ, and letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly rhymes with being filled with the Spirit, and since the righteous shall live by faith, why not attach to the person and words that give us the faith to live! 

I am continuing on a journey of understanding Zion throughout the whole Bible. This originates in what the writer of Hebrews expresses when he reminds persecuted believers that we have not come to Mount Sinai with all its terrifying revelations of God but “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”.[1] I realized that Jewish believers of the time would have had a much clearer idea of what this meant, but Gentile believers would need to know the background to such a description. And that is how I began my journey. 

At present, I am working through Psalms that refer to Mount Zion by name (there are so many others that speak of it in other ways). Each reference is like a viewpoint on a trail that leads around Mount Zion, and each time I stop to take in the view, I learn new things about what it means for us today, while also seeing themes developing to reinforce why even Christians today would be so encouraged by the reminder that we have come to the Mount Zion of heaven. 

Today I moved on to the next reference to Zion, and it is this: 

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
    and to you shall vows be performed.[2] 

Zion was Jerusalem, and David is picturing the people coming before God in Zion, the place where the Tabernacle expressed God’s presence with his people, soon to be replaced by the Temple. 

My main focus was on “praise” and “vows”. If Christians come to the heavenly Mount Zion, and praise and vows are the characteristics of our relationship to the Triune God, it says, on one side, that Yahweh is worthy of all our praise and all our vows, and, on the other side, that praise and performing our vows is how we relate to him. 

I found a parallel between this verse and another passage: 

Who shall ascend the hill of Yahweh?

    And who shall stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

    who does not lift up his soul to what is false

    and does not swear deceitfully.[3] 

The “hill of Yahweh” and “his holy place” also mean Zion, Jerusalem, the Tabernacle/Temple. 

“Clean hands” and “a pure heart” signify both the inner and outer expressions of faith. Our hearts are pure in that we truly have faith and love for God. And our hands are clean in that what we do in our actions expresses our faith and love for God. 

Also, under both the old and new covenants, this did not mean that people didn’t sin, but that they dealt with sin as the covenant required. Under the old covenant this means performing appropriate sacrifices; under the new covenant it meant confession and repentance of sin, what we call “keeping short accounts with God.” 

The application is that when Christians are reminded that we come to Mount Zion, the city of the Great King, we must continue to see God as worthy of praise even while the world goes to hell in a handbasket, as they say, and we must perform our vows to God (things we have agreed with him about over the years that are his will for our lives), and continue to live by those vows no matter what we see happening around us. 

I am thankful to see how this journey of exploring Zion in the scriptures is helping me get the picture of why the writer of Hebrews wanted to remind persecuted Christians that this is where we come today as the one new man in Jesus Christ. Zion is where the only true God resides, and he is so glorious and good that praise is due to him no matter how bleak things look on earth, and no matter how the name of Jesus Christ is blasphemed all around us. We keep praising him, and we keep performing our vows of faith to his glory.

 

 

© 2023 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

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[1] Hebrews 12:22

[2] Psalm 65:1

[3] Psalm 24:3-4

On This Day: "Forever"

 

© 2023 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

The Now and Then of the Children of God

One of the things I have really appreciated about meeting with my heavenly Father in the mornings is his determination to show me that his side of the relationship is constant and unwavering no matter how much my feelings are like a rollercoaster of never-ending ups-and-downs. In fact, it often seems that the more honest I am about the Deeper of how poorly I am doing when I awake, the more glorious the Higher is when God makes his word known to me in the most real and personal of ways. 

This morning was no exception to this. I was thoroughly honest with God (without belaboring how I was feeling) and came to him with the boldness that honors him even when I am struggling. I approached him with an expression of dependence that it is up to him how my time with him turned out, and he opened the eyes of my heart to come to know him by experience in a wonderfully new facet of what it means to come to Mount Zion.[1] 

It began here: 

Within her citadels God

    has made himself known as a fortress.[2] 

This is the way I have known God for the past three decades, that my coming to him every day is coming into the fortress of God himself, the one place and the one person who is always happy to see me, always forgiving of my sins, always wanting the absolute best for me. 

Then I continued on with the next verse: 

For behold, the kings assembled;

    they came on together.[3] 

I spent some time considering how things look under the new covenant when there are really no physical protections in place as there were under the old covenant, and there are no promised earthly blessings as there were under God’s covenant with Israel.[4] 

This led to a deep appreciation for how Jesus’ first coming contrasts with his second coming, and the parallel between what the church looks like now in the world with what it will look like at and after Jesus’ return. 

In summary, Jesus’ first coming was quiet, humble, and unnoticed, leaving only 120 disciples with whom he would build his church.[5] The second coming will be so brilliant, glorious, and visible, that the whole world know it is him and will mourn what they did to him. As it is written, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.”[6] 

In a parallel way, the church during the church-age (between Jesus’ two comings) is unnoticed. It is persecuted because the world is blind to who we are. The media does not speak of the wonderful things Jesus does in his church. The nations do not speak of how Jesus transforms people out of their earthly religions into genuine relationship with God. But Jesus is quietly building his church without any fanfare. For now. 

But at his return, the trumpet will blast, the dead in Christ will be raised first, and Jesus’ angels will gather those believers who are alive at his return so that all God’s children will be taken up to be with Jesus as he comes down to judge the earth.[7] 

Which brought me to this expression that sums up what it is like to presently come to the Mount Zion of God’s throne-room while the world does not know we are doing so: 

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.[8] 

In the present time, believers coming to Mount Zion is invisible to the world. We suffer in this world because the world has no concept that they are defying the living God. Even those who do so blatantly do not really know with whom they have to do, and what a horror it will be to them when Jesus appears.[9] 

But what is coming is an experience of “the glory that is to be revealed to us,” and that glory includes “the revealing of the sons of God.” And we will be revealed to the enemies of God as every eye is on Jesus and his return, and the world in its terror and anguish and mourning sees who is gathered to join Jesus’ angels and come to be with him in judging the nations. And when all believers are standing there with Jesus, everyone will know who are the sons of God. 

I hope that gives a glimpse into what it felt like to come to Yahweh as my fortress this morning and be thoroughly and delightfully surprised to receive such treasures of wisdom and knowledge that cannot be found anywhere else or in anyone else. And all this was such a wonderful (and wonder-filled) gift to a child whose heart came to God unable to imagine how he would help me. But help me he did, and for that I give him praise!

 

© 2023 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

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[1] My ongoing theme as of late based on Hebrews 12:18-25.

[2] Psalm 48:3

[3] Psalm 48:4

[4] Yes, there are promises to believers that apply to our earthly life, but the new covenant is not based on the same material blessings and curses that were clearly stipulated in the old covenant for the nation of Israel.

[5] Acts 1:15

[6] Revelation 1:7

[7] This is a mixture of the glorious thoughts revealed in Matthew 24:29-31, along with Paul’s teachings about the return of Christ in I Thessalonians 4:13-18. Together, they picture Jesus appearing in the clouds, the dead in Christ being raised, the angels gathering all the believers to be with the Lord as he continues to descend to the earth, believers being with our Savior as he judges all people, and then watching Jesus invoke the horrible and wonderful realities of the purging of the present heavens and earth and the making of the new heavens and earth  (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; II Peter 3:11-13; Revelation 21:1).

[8] Romans 8:18-19

[9] Revelation 6:12-17 describes this horrible reality.

The Glorious Tapestry of the Pleasures of God

Yes, I know that people mock the very idea that the Bible is the word of God. And, yes, I know that people claim that king Darwin has dethroned the Creator with his fanciful fairy tales of the evolutionary religion. 

HOWEVER!!!!!!! 

While the blind lead the blind away from the glories of God’s word, the poor in spirit open the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge and are moved with awe and wonder at the splendors of their Father’s mind. 

One of the treasures of God’s Book that constantly delights me is the way he weaves his words together like the threads of a tapestry so that the combination exalts the big picture of history as God’s glorious work of making a people of his very own, his treasured possession, his beloved and cherished children, and, at the same time, the big picture of the tapestry draws attention to one thread after another so that the very intricacies of the connections glorifies God for so masterfully revealing himself through words, and by his Spirit, that we can feel the joy of knowing God as our God. 

Here is a glimpse into the way God masterfully wove together so many threads of wisdom and knowledge this morning that my praise to him had to be directed into praise about him. 

For a while, God has drawn my attention to a scene in the tapestry that is described as, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”[1] This is written to Jesus’ church, the people of the new covenant. It is telling us that, while we face persecution and trouble in this world, we are not to think of God as some scary being that is totally unapproachable.[2] Instead, we are to see what Jesus has done for us in the new covenant and come before God in a way that is illustrated by God’s people coming to Mount Zion while under the old covenant.[3] 

This has taken me on a journey of following the “Mount Zion” thread from its first appearance in the tapestry all the way to the glorious scene I just mentioned, and even further into the final book of God’s word that gives such majestic and glorious revelations of the heavenly Jerusalem that will be the home of God’s children forever. 

Here are some other threads God wove together in my mind and heart so I could see the picture of what it means to come to Mount Zion today in the kingdom of God as illustrated by all the ways God made himself known through the Mount Zion of old. 

In the last couple of days, I have followed the “Mount Zion” thread into Psalm 48. There I read that Mount Zion is God’s “holy mountain, beautiful for elevation”. Both “holy” and “beautiful” indicate that Mount Zion, the place associated with God’s presence with his people, is set apart and exalted above and beyond any of the locations the nations use to worship their gods and idols. 

This thread wove into another that reminded me of the way “God has highly exalted” Jesus[4] so that the holy and beautiful elevation of Mount Zion includes the holy and beautiful exaltation of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

But then I noticed another thread attached to these others as it reminded me that God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”[5] This means that even while we are here on earth looking up to the Mount Zion of God’s presence in heaven, there is another side to this in the way we who are “in Christ” are raised up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places. Somehow, already, our spiritual position is at the foot of Mount Zion where Jesus is exalted, and we are seated with him at the right hand of the Father. 

These threads added another that reminded me that, “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”[6] We do not let ourselves adjust our emotions to the evil of the world, but we attach to the realities of Mount Zion that is filled with joy because of the joyfulness of God, and where Jesus himself is seated at the right hand of God’s eternal pleasures giving real pleasure to his beloved brothers. 

As I pondered and meditated on this, considering how we are both living as “sojourners and exiles” in this world[7] while also seated with Christ in the heavenlies, I saw how this thread was woven all the way back to Abraham who lived in tents while “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”[8] Abraham, the Father of our faith, lived like a stranger in the land that God has promised him, not looking only so far ahead as to consider the nation that would come from his son, but even further to the heavenly city he already knew was the focus of the story. 

And that led me to Paul talking about our earthly life as living in a tent,[9] just like Abraham, because this earth is not our home. This earthly body is not the one we live in for eternity (falling on the ice at public skating Friday has reminded me in new and painful ways that this body just ain’t what it used to be!). We will one day be clothed with immortality as we are given our resurrected bodies, and in that much superior version we will rejoice in heavenly joy forever.[10] 

The conclusion of all these threads weaving the picture God wants me to see right now is that everything he wants his children to think about in the darkness and evil of this world is that we are not coming to our nations, or our governments and leaders, or other world leaders and evil elites, but we are coming to the God who reigns from the heavenly Mount Zion where we are positionally seated with Christ in the most joyful and pleasurable place that exists. That is where we set our minds while the world’s evils try to wear us down. 

As the writer of Hebrews had already stated, 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (like Abraham), let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.[11] 

There we have it: Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God on Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the Great King, where we are seated with him, where the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore pour into our hearts from above while we endure the darkness of this evil world below, and as we “consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself,” we will “not grow weary or fainthearted.”[12] 

And I trust that my considering of the Triune God of Mount Zion helps you in that direction as much as it has helped me.

 

© 2023 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Hebrews 12:22

[2] As described in Hebrews 12:18-21 when God came to Mount Sinai to give Israel the Law through Moses

[3] The rest of the scene is described in Hebrews 12:22-25 but my focus at this time is on the Mount-Zion thread

[4] Philippians 2:9-11

[5] Ephesians 2:6

[6] Psalm 16:11

[7] I Peter 2:11

[8] Hebrews 11:9-10

[9] II Corinthians 5:1-5

[10] Paul gives an extensive description of our resurrected bodies in relation to the resurrection in I Corinthians 15.

[11] Hebrews 12:1-2

[12] Hebrews 12:3

The Certainty of Life

Getting older makes me think about death. A lot. So does the story of a rogue virus. So does the data on the vaccines. So does the Taliban taking over Afghanistan. So does the increase of euthanasia, abortion, and wildfires.

No matter what we think of anything going on around us, the human mortality rate is still at 100%. As God says in his Book, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”.[1]

As I have grown in relationships over the years, one thing I have learned is that genuine attachment to people never grows old. I understand that loss of relationships can leave an elderly person so lonely they want to just be done with life. I understand that so many painful experiences with rejection can cause someone to lose the will to live. I can even appreciate that we may deteriorate so much in a physical way that we are unable to maintain any personal attachment to people at all and so the desire to be alive fades away.

However, genuine attachments with people never grow old. There is never a feeling that we’re done enjoying attachments with people and we’re ready to die. And, in many cases, even when an elderly loved-one can’t hang on any longer to physical life, those left behind never see it as a good thing that the attachments are gone.

With death threatening us from every direction, these words of the Creator stood out to me in wonderful comfort this morning: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”[2]

This is a scenario where Jesus was talking with people who thought they believed in him while he knew they did not.[3] Jesus couldn’t leave them like that because then they would die in their sins while thinking they were good with God. Jesus had to direct them to the only way they could truly know that they had eternal life.

What stands out is the promise that people “will never see death” if they keep Jesus’ word. Keeping Jesus’ word is not switching from Old Testament Law to New Testament Law. It cannot be performed by outward behavior alone. Jesus’ word is about loving one another as the Triune God loves us, so only when the love in the vine flows into and through the love of the branches is someone truly a disciple of Jesus Christ.[4]

Earlier in his ministry, Jesus introduced this same theme by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”[5]

Hearing Jesus’ word and believing what the Father says about his Son is what opens the door to eternal life. As a result of experiencing this kind of faith, we are no longer under the condemnation of judgment, but have already passed from death to life. Jesus meant that this is true even for all the millions of believers who have died while waiting for his return.

Jesus put this straight into the context of death when a man named Lazarus had passed away. Jesus told his disciples, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”[6] It is so clear that this does not mean Lazarus wouldn’t die, but that it would not end in death.

When Jesus went to the town where Lazarus had died, he told the sisters, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”[7] Jesus was telling them that, when someone believes in him, they will either live even if they die, or live without ever dying. Both are possible; it simply depends on where anyone fits into the unfolding events of history.

The apostle Paul explained this quite clearly when he wrote that, because Jesus died and rose again,

we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.[8]

The dead in Christ who rise first are those who fit Jesus’ words, “though he die, yet shall he live”. Those who are alive and are “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,” are those who fit Jesus’ words, “everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

It all says the same thing. “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”[9] We will never see death even if we die because our soul/spirit goes to be with Jesus. We will never see death if we are still alive at the return of Christ because we are simply taken up along with those who are raised from the dead. Either way, Jesus gives eternal life to all who believe in him.[10]

In our day, when it is so evident that, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” it is absolutely necessary to know the Savior who, “came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”[11]

The way things are going in the world, it is entirely possible that the evil things perpetrated by one government after another could lead to my premature death. In that case, as Paul testified, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”[12]

At the same time, the way things are going in the world, Jesus could appear at any time. Some of us may be the ones who never see death but are gathered together with those who are raised from the dead. The key is that, “we will always be with the Lord.” And that is what really matters.

I started with the dire warning that, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”. However, what God says next is what gives hope to all who trust in Jesus Christ. God’s word continues, “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”[13]

Jesus will “deal with sin” with all those who have rejected him. But, for those who have received him, we can wait eagerly for his return. Either we will die before Jesus comes and immediately go be with him while waiting for our resurrected bodies, or we will be alive when he returns and go to be with him without passing through death.

Either way, there is coming a grand event of receiving glorified bodies in which we will forever be with our Savior in the presence of his Father and the joy of their Holy Spirit. Trusting in Jesus Christ now is all it takes to receive this incredible gift of grace forever.

© 2021 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

 

 

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[1] Hebrews 9:27

[2] John 8:51

[3] John 8:1-59

[4] John 15:1-17

[5] John 5:24

[6] John 11:4 (in the context of John 11:1-57

[7] John 11:25-26

[8] I Thessalonians 4:13-18

[9] John 8:51

[10] John 3:16 makes this clear, of course.

[11] John 10:10

[12] Philippians 1:21

[13] Hebrews 9:27-28

Home Church Video: The Promising Reward of Eternal Joyful Realness

If it wasn’t bad enough that getting older forces us to think about the 100% death rate of humanity, there are also covids, cancers, sicknesses and diseases of every kind constantly threatening to shorten our lives all the more. 

With all the talk of these threats, with the worst-case scenarios measured in numbers and percentages of deaths, we need to have a good talk about how to be ready for what comes next. 

Here is our latest home church video encouraging us all to draw near to God our Creator through faith in Jesus Christ his Son in order to receive the reward of eternal life that saves us now, and secures our place in God’s Forever Home. 

 

 

© 2020 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

 

The Faith that Does

This morning I was impacted by the connection between what we say about Christ, and what we do about Christ.

Jesus spoke about people who said the words, “Lord, Lord,” and yet had never entered the kingdom of heaven. He said there would be people in the judgment who address him as Lord, and remind him of the mighty works they did for him, and yet he will tell them he never knew them, and banish them from his presence.[1]

In the middle of all that, he tells us who it is who truly enters the kingdom of heaven: “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Somehow, saying, “Lord, Lord,” and doing miracles (or thinking you did miracles), is not sufficient cause to believe one is in the kingdom of God.

Jesus then followed this glaring contrast with an illustrative simile. He said there was a wise man who built his house on rock, and a foolish man who built his house on sand. The wise man’s house withstood the rainstorms that came against it, while the foolish man’s house collapsed into the shifting sand.[2]

What did Jesus say was the difference between the two men? That, although they both heard what Jesus taught, the wise man did what Jesus taught, and the foolish man did not.

Now, we know that people are saved by grace through faith, not of any works they do,[3] so Jesus could not mean that, if we do what he says he will save us (how can dead people do what Jesus says?[4]).

Rather, he differentiates between those who are his sheep and those who are not. His sheep hear his voice and follow him;[5] the goats hear his voice and keep doing as they please (goats are very much like that, don’t you know).

If we must do the will of the Father in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, and we know the Father’s will means hearing Jesus’ words and putting them into practice, what did Jesus tell us about how to enter God’s kingdom?

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

What does the wise man do when he hears Jesus speak these words? He repents and believes in the gospel, entering the kingdom of God by grace through faith. What does the foolish man do when he hears Jesus speak these words? He continues in his sin, and denies the good news of great joy.

Jesus is our supreme example of what it is like to do the Father’s will. He described it like this: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”[6]

If that is Jesus’ view, and the adopted sons of God are created in the image and likeness of our Savior, it ought to be our view of our Father’s will just the same.

This is why James clarified, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”[7] After all, to hear Jesus’ words without doing what he says is like a foolish man building his house on the sand. It won’t last. We must be the wise man who hears Jesus words and puts them into practice.

© 2016 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.)

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[1] Matthew 7:21-23

[2] Matthew 7:24-27

[3] Ephesians 2:8-10

[4] Ephesians 2:1-3

[5] John 10:3-4, 27

[6] John 4:34

[7] James 1:22