The last word

What will the end be like when you finally reach the finish line? What will be the last words on your lips; words of praise, curse or confusion? Some people, the world considers important, have mouthed some of the most ridiculous things imaginable. Here is a couple. “Friends applaud, the comedy is finished.” Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, d. March 26, 1827. “I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.” Humphrey Bogart, actor, d. January 14, 1957. “Damn it . . . Don't you dare ask God to help me.” To her housekeeper, who had begun to pray aloud. Joan Crawford, actress, d. May 10, 1977.

King David was very old when he passed on into eternity. A thriving kingdom, not without its share of problems, was being given to his son Solomon. He had survived many ordeals and buried his share of children. But if I could manage to murmur something intelligent before giving up my spirit, I hope it would resemble what King David said to his son Solomon.

“Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying: “I go the way of all the earth; be strong therefore and be a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statues, His commandments, His judgments and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne in Israel.’ ” 1 Kings 2:1-4.

We know that David finished well, but the road he chose was often full of potholes. His heart was quick to admit his failures and sin against God, driving him back to repentance. David left this world in peace; however it wouldn’t take too long for the kingdom to be divided and engaged in a full civil war. History would reveal a few good kings, a couple of great kings but a long list of evil kings that did not follow the last words of David, not walking with God but following their own evil desires.

David indeed finished well. The last snapshot of his life portrays a scene where David is commanded by Gad to erect and alter to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite..” As Aaunah sees the king coming up to the top of the mountain he bowed before the king with his face to the ground. As David approaches him he tells him that he is here to purchase the land on which the threshing floor was built so that he can build an alter and sacrifice to the Lord.

Araunah, without skipping a beat offers to give the land, his oxen and yokes of wood for the fire to the king as a gift but David will have none of it. Here is David’s reply to Araunah “Then the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.’” 2 Samuel 24:24.

There are many interesting things about this last chapter in David’s life story. One is the fact that about one thousand years earlier, Father Abraham took his son Isaac to this very same spot to offer him as commanded as a burnt offing to the Lord. “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will show you.” Genesis 22:2.

As the story goes,  Abraham is obedient to God but at the last moment, before the knife is driven into Isaac’s chest, God intervenes and provides a substitution; a ram who was caught in the thicket.  In verse 8 of the Genesis 22 passage Abraham informs his son that God will provide for Himself the lamb for the sacrifice. This mountain top of Moriah and the rock cropping where Abraham and Isaac were standing, would become the threshing floor David is trying to purchase from Araunah. This beautiful picture, of a father willing to give up his own son in worship of God, was planned by God to demonstrate His own love for the world He created.

You see, unlike Isaac who was spared, the Father was willing to send His one and only son to that same mountain to be humiliated and sacrificed as payment for the world’s sin on a wooden cross.

 

Wedding promise

“And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father  and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” The words of Jesus Christ from the gospel of Matthew 19:3-6.

Marriage is indeed a picture of Jesus Christ’s own love for His church.  The biblical model for marriage is a monogamous relationship between one man and one woman. The marriage ceremony is a public declaration where the couple promises to make a lifetime commitment to each other. The key words here are “lifetime commitment”.

However, in our fast paced world of instant messages, frozen microwaveable dinners and convenient drive through establishments, we tend to expect our marriages to function that way. Our expectations are that we want our needs to be met right now and we don’t have time for proper communication as our problems get worked out.  Our relationships have also fallen into this trap to the point where divorce becomes the answer because  “you don’t meet my needs anymore” instead of “until death do us part”. 

Since marriage is an institution designed by God for God’s people then it follows that He would have fashioned it in a way that would remind us of His incredible love for His creation. In fact, every aspect of an ancient Hebrew wedding ceremony was designed to be prophetic of God’s ultimate future plan of salvation for all people and the union of God’s Son to His bride; the church.

The first part of the wedding was the covenant or “contract” where the groom would draw up a contact detailing how he was going to provide for his wife stating the “bride price” which was what he was willing to pay for the opportunity to marry his bride. The groom would then pour a cup of wine and if the woman and her father drank from the cup then the deal was sealed. At this point the couple was considered betrothed which was legally binding even though the marriage had not yet been consummated.

At this point the bridegroom would present the bride with special gifts to remind her of his love for her while she waited for him to return sometime during the long betrothal period. Next, a ritual or cleansing bath would be taken by the bride. It was the idea that the bride was cleansing herself for the union with her husband. Her old life of being single was being transformed into a beautiful new life in union with her husband.

The main reason for the long betrothal period was so that the bridegroom could prepare a place for his bride to live. Usually an additional room was added to the father’s house and it was the father’s decision to decide when it was complete. At which time he would tell his son “Ok, go get your bride!”

So what was the bride’s responsibility during this extended period of time while the groom prepared her a dwelling place? It was during this time that the bride was consecrated, set apart and bought with a price. She was to cleanse herself and always be ready and on alert for the grooms return.

When the groom returned he would blow the shofar (ram’s horn) to announce his return. The groom usually came during in the middle of the night. This surprise return would determine if his bride was found ready and awaiting his return. Finally, he would take her back to the home he had prepared for their reunion where the marriage would be consummated. A grand feast and celebration would last for seven days.

The church is the bride of Christ. Jesus paid the bride price for us with His death on the cross and His own blood. At the last supper Jesus raised a cup of wine and made a new covenant with us in His blood sealing our fate and future in Him for eternity. Then He went to prepare a place for us to live with him in eternity. As Jesus left the earth, He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to remember Him by. 

Just as the bride was expected to keep herself pure, clean and ready for the wedding day we were also told to be baptized and abstain from every form of evil while we awaited bridegroom’s imminent return. Our bridegroom has made it very easy for us by providing His blood; the very essence of our purity. While our sins were as scarlet, He has washed us white as snow!

Our cups

What’s in your cup?  If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then God has ordained that you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple is holy, which temple are you?”

So what is holiness? Is your cup continually being re-filled with the Holy Spirit or is your vessel being filled with the things of the world? Being “holy” simply means “being set apart for only God’s use”. An example of this would be the temple service ware consisting of bowls, cups and utensils. These cups, if you will, were only to be used in and for the service of God in the temple by the temple priests. They were not to be used for common use by anyone and so they are “set apart” for only God’s use.

The fact is that all of us fill our cups with all manner of filth. While we are suppose to be “set apart” for only God’s use we tend to give our enemy much too much room in our cups. Instead of being in a state of holiness, we tend to defile our cups with the dirt of the world. In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, God commands us “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

Have you been quenching the potentially powerful work of the Holy Spirit in your life? In Acts 2:1-4, we watch as God fills the apostles with His Holy Spirit. In fact, they spoke in other languages that they did not already know so that everyone present was able to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in their own language. The eye witnesses describe this event, “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, of fire, and one sat upon each of them.” Acts 2:3. So are you on fire for God or have you quenched the fire that He put inside of you? 

Let me ask you again, so what are you filling your cup with? We make choices every minute of every day. The choices we make can either be Godly choices or ungodly. As we pour sin into our lives, God warns us that we can grieve The Holy Spirit living inside of us. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30. What you fill your cup with will have a direct influence on whether or not you will be “set apart” for God’s use, whether or not God will act upon your petitions or even accept your sacrifices.

Keep in mind that I am not talking about a believer’s position or salvation regarding eternity. Jesus Christ has redeemed us by paying our sin debt, past, present and future, when He died on a cross over 2000 years ago; nothing can change that. What I am talking about is the present condition of the contents in our cups. God so desperately wants to help us. He wants us to choose to fill our cups with blessing, to choose to set our cups apart for only His use.

David wrote in the 23^rd psalm “You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” Oil is symbolic of the presence of the Holy Spirit and here we have David proclaiming that his cup was filled to overflowing by God. 

We were all once cracked cisterns full of sin and incapable of holding water, but now, Jesus has healed us and we are capable of being filled with the Holy Spirit if we so desire. If we make godly choices as often as we can, our cups are available to be re-filled with God’s goodness and mercy. 

Surrendering our will to God is the first step towards empting our cups. As we continue to yield to Him He is able to fill the new room we have made in our hearts. Soon the Holy Spirit’s presence becomes a strong influence on our lives that helps guide us through the muck and mire of this world.

God only wants the very best for us. He desires our entire heart, soul and mind. The bible states that we are more than conquers when we are being led by Jesus Christ. The old things have passed away and we become new creatures in Christ. Let us live in Christ to our full potential by allowing the Holy Spirit to rule in our lives. This exciting journey can only begin as we choose to empty our cups and be filled by His Holy Spirit.