Month: July 2013

Scoffer?

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Are you ready for the day that is coming?

Do you wait for Jesus Christ?

Coco has already tried to turn your thoughts to four people who met Jesus. For three of them it was a life changing experience. The Bible tells us that a day is coming when all men will meet him. Rev 1:7 – Behold he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him, they also who pierced him. Coco has more to say about that day another time, but for now, let us think about the fact of his coming.

Peter tells us that even in his day men scoffed at the idea that Jesus Christ would return to this world and bring it to an end. 2 Peter 3:3-4. We have plenty of men around today who scorn this whole idea, and prefer to believe in the fables of what pretends to be science, but is really just old fashioned atheism wearing different colours.

But do you know God has left us plenty of evidence that Jesus will return, quite apart from what is written in the Bible where we have for example, in his own words:

The Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect him. Matthew 24:44

And the testimony of the angels after went into heaven: This Jesus who was taken up into heaven from you will come in a similar way as you saw him go into heaven. Acts 1:11

In the same place that Peter reminds us about the scoffers he goes on to remind his readers about Noah’s flood. The great flood that covered the whole of this planet about five thousand years ago. Only a little while ago we heard about and saw the results of a tidal wave spreading out across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The flood that caused brought devastation and disaster to millions of people. But that was a small flood compared with this one. You may also have heard recently – Coco doesn’t know how widely it has been published – about a meteorite of immense proportions which crashed into the gulf of Mexico thousands of years ago. Some scientists have been able to identify the effects of this strike, before which the recent one in SEA becomes insignificant. Quite how they do this amazes Coco! Huge amounts of water were thrown out of the Gulf onto the adjacent land as well as sending tsunami out. The water dragged fossil bearing rock off the land and into the sea and left behind mud deposits now solidified as much as 15 feet thick. But again that was little compared with the great global flood which destroyed life on this planet and left mud deposits all over the world thousands of feet thick. They are what we call the sedimentary rocks.

But Peter tells us: Men wilfully forget this, that the heavens and earth were made of old by the Word of God, and that that world perished being flooded with water.

Every – well so far as Coco is aware – culture has a record of this flood. They differ in the details which is to be expected having been embellished or corrupted as they were passed down. It is good for us that we have had a written record of it preserved. The Bablyonians have a record. The people of South America have a record. The ancient Greeks had a memory of Atlantis, the lost city that perished in the sea.

But men wilfully forget this. They deny the flood despite the abundant evidence for it, in the history and culture of men and in the very rocks of which the surface of this planet it made.

Why do they deny this? Because if this flood did take place, if God did judge the world by water, then they must also acknowledge that he is coming again to judge the world the next time by fire.

If there was a flood, and there was, then there is a judgement to come. We do not know when it will be, but coming it is. Are we ready for it? There is only one who can prepare us – the judge is also the saviour who died for our sins to put us right with God. If we are right with God the judgement will pass us by.

The day

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Dies iræ!

Dies illa solvet sæclum in favilla

We have thought about four men¹ who met God and how God dealt with them. One day we must all meet God. The Bible says: Prepare to meet your God². I want to tell you something about that day – not very much as we don’t have time to look at it all this evening – because we need to be ready for it. So three brief things: The day is coming. The day is dreadful. The day is unknown.

The day is coming.

Just is case we are in any doubt about it when Jesus tells us about this day that is coming, he reminds us of another day when God judged the earth. Jesus told us: But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be³.

The last time⁴ I stood here I told you about the flood that covered the whole earth about five thousand years ago. There is ample evidence that that happened. We have no doubt about it. So we can be just as sure that the day is coming when everyone will meet Jesus. There will be no choice about it. Jesus tells us that there is much in common between the day the flood came and the day that he will return.

So we know that he is coming.

What is the day like? The day is dreadful.

In the same part of Matthew’s gospel⁵ we read: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

It is a terrible description of what the day will be like when we shall all meet Jesus. In another place⁶ we read: I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

On that day men will search desperately for somewhere to hide from God. But they will not find any where. Men know that have made him angry, and know that when they meet him they will have to answer for what they have done wrong, so they will try to find any possible means to escape – even preferring to be crushed under falling rocks than have to face the judgement but it will be no use.

God holds out the way of escape for us now. Jesus has paid the price for our sins. Jesus has been judged for us. Jesus has taken away God’s anger for us. Will we take what he offers?

So then the day is coming, and it is a dreadful day. The day is unknown.

And finally there is nothing that men can do about it, either to bring it forward or to put it back, for the day is not known to us. Only God the Father knows when that day will come. Jesus told us: But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only⁷.

It could be tonight. It could be next week. It could be in a hundred years time, or a thousand. We do not know. We do not know how long God has given this earth, just as we do not know how long each one of us has to live here. Jesus said: Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.⁸

The day is coming. It is a dreadful day. The day is unknown. We do not know when. So we need to be ready now. And the only way to be ready is to find a new life in Jesus Christ. To turn to him and away from your sins, asking him to help you live a new life for him. God grant that we might be ready for the return of the Lord Jesus, and not be taken away like those who were taken away by the flood.

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.⁹

Pray God that you be not among those who are taken but among those who are left.


¹ See Job, Paul and two thieves
² Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel! Amos 4:12
³ And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Luke 17:25-28
⁴ Scoffers
⁵ Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31
⁶ I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Revelation 6:12-7:1
⁷ But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Mark 13:32
⁸ Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Luke 12:40
⁹ And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left. Luke 17:26-36

Christians persecuted by Islamists, says Prince Charles

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Wenn außerhalb Paris?

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If you know nothing of chocolate, this is not for you.

Amboise

Wenn man in Frankreich aber außerhalb Paris sei….

Die Menschen, wer mein anderen Artikel „Reisen“ gelesen haben, kennen des Haus Angelina, die in die Straße von Rivoli ist. Aber, wenn man in Frankreich sei, sondern außerhalb Paris, wo kann man fahren um güte Schokolade zu finden? Fahren Sie nach Amboise!

Als wir in Amboise waren, besuchten wir die echte Platz.

Wir waren im königlichen Palast Amboise, wo ich ein Traum hatte. In meinem Traum sah ich die Königin Maria-Antoinette. Sie war an den Mauern dieses Schloß, und als sie herum ging, sie zufällig Bigot zu sehen war.

Darunter den hundertmeternhoch Mauern war die Gestalt des kleines Häuslein des Bigot, wer im Jahr 1913 ⃰ gegründet war.

Maria-Antoinette freute sich es zu bemerken. Und sie sprache in seiner Wonne: „O dass ich eine Kerlin wäre; ich wolle nicht hier bleiben müssen. Ich könne im Haus Bigot gehen.“ Und als sein Entzücken so gross wachset, in seinem Herz die Gedachten hemmungslos wild werden: „O dass ich Flügel hätte wie die Taube; ich würde von diesem Mauern fliegen, bis ich Schokolade fände! Und hin, hin aus diesen Palast, wolle ich mein Erfüllung in Bigot machen werden.“

Der Abschluß ist klar. Wenn man in Amboise sei, gehen Sie auf den Palast um das sehr geehrten, echten Haus an die Ecke zu finden. Bigot nennet sich ein Salon de Thé. Bigot ist nicht nur ein Haus, sondern ein Palast des königlichen Schokolade.

⃰ Marie-Antoinette war während des Französisch Revolution im Jahr 1793 hingerichtet.

Crucified?

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Two men met God. One walked away.

Luke 23:39ff¹ & elsewhere

I want to take you to look at two more men who met with Jesus. We have already looked at two religious men, Job and Paul².

Job was a consciencious religious man, full of good works and prosperous. The archetypal nice man for whom no-one would ever have a bad word.

Paul was a religious man, but a fanatic. From what we know of him he would have not been out of place in the streets of the middle east today.

Both of them needed to change their way of thinking and it took an encounter with God to do that.

The men we look at now are very different kinds of men. The only people who would have mourned over the loss of two men we consider tonight would have been their two mothers. They were criminals and robbers. They were crucified with Jesus.

Can you imagine what it is like to be crucified? Can you imagine the screams of these men as they were hung and nailed onto their crosses next to Jesus? I cannot imagine that they were careful about the language that they used. Jesus was put up first however, and they would have heard, or rather perhaps not heard him, for he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before he shearers he opened not his mouth. What a contrast there would have been between the Lord’s behaviour and that of these two men in the face of their executioners.

But as they hung there and as they listened, they heard what other people were saying about Jesus. Someone in the crowd cried out: He saved others let him save himself. Come down from the cross! So they shouted out to him as well: You! Christ! Save us! Their language was blasphemous in every way. The world was glad to be rid of them.

But as they hung there one of them noticed something different. He saw that Jesus did not deserve to die and his attitude changed. Not only his attitude, but his language changed as well. He spoke to the other man – listen to his words: Don’t you fear God, as you are under the same sentence? It is right for us to be punished; we are getting what we deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong!

We don’t know what else the thief knew of Jesus but while he hung on his own cross he changed his attitude towards him. He saw who Jesus is, and now submits to him. He turned to Jesus and asked for nothing more than to be remembered: Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

What a change! The man had done nothing good. He deserved what he was getting and he knew it. Little did he expect what the Lord would say to him then: Yes, today you will be with me in paradise.

He was a changed man, but there was no time for him to make amends and change his way of life. He was about to die. The cross would soon get him. Later in the day the soldiers would break his legs to hasten his death – if he had survived that long. But he committed himself to Jesus and Jesus tells him: Today you will be with me in paradise. It is not the good that we do that will take us to heaven. He could do none. It is the death of Jesus Christ for our sins that gets us there.

The other thief was not changed. He cursed and blasphemed to the last.

Two men met Jesus. Both were rubbish as far as society was concerned, but one of them was changed – and he committed himself to Jesus and Jesus took him into his kingdom.

We are in the same boat as those two. We have done wrong. We have blasphemed and cursed God. We deserve to die and must die, and there is nothing we can do about it to change it or make amends.

We all need to be changed – and it is in being changed – being born again – that we commit ourselves to Jesus and because he died, not because he deserved it, but for our sins, he takes us to heaven.

Where do we stand? With the thief who gave himself to Jesus? Or still outside?

¹ And an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: This is the king of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:37-43
² See Job, Paul and two thieves