Shirt Pocket Homilies

[Olde Tymer]

.
Many of the Christians I encounter online typically discuss retribution in an
academic manner and sometimes forget we're talking about real people.

● Rev 21:3-4 . . Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will
wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying
or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Much of the tears, the mourning, the crying, and the pain will most certainly be
related to the great white throne event depicted at Rev 20:11-15, which will likely
be a public spectacle.

In other words: people will have to watch as friends, family, associates, and loved
ones are literally pale with terror, lips trembling, mouths too dry to speak,
shrieking, sobbing, screaming, weeping, yelping, and bellowing like wounded dogs
as their eyes dart about in sheer white-knuckled panic, desperately looking for
someone, anyone, to help them as powerful celestial beings drag them off to death
akin to a foundry worker falling into a kettle of molten iron.

The Bible says the lost will be given a fair trial (Jude 1:14-15) which suggests some
of us might be subpoenaed as witnesses for the prosecution where we will have to
testify, not for but instead against, people we know and love; including our own,
i.e. moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and quite possibly spouses too.

When I was a child, retribution was academic, i.e. an article of faith. But not
anymore because now I'm 81 and most of my family has passed on. It's very,
probable that my mom and two of my three brothers will have to face justice at the
great white throne event. Somebody else's kin facing that throne is one thing, but
quite a different feeling about it when it's likely to be your own in that fix.

Now; whether the lake of fire speaks of termination plus perdition, or only
termination, is debatable; but one thing is for sure: according to Dan 12:2 and John
5:28-29 there's only one resurrection allotted per person. Therefore nobody is
coming back from the second death because the dead will use up their one and
only resurrection to stand trial.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
He looked beyond my faults,
And saw my need.
( Dottie Rambo, 2003 )

NOTE: Solomon wrote 1,005 songs (1Kings 4:32) Dottie surpassed him with +/-
2,500.

Anyway, that one brief lyric says quite a bit.

● 1John 4:9-10 . .This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and
only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our
sins.

Without Christ's crucifixion, mankind would have no safety net to rescue them from
facing justice with a very meticulous, unbiased jurist; and for sure the outcome
would not be to their advantage. But why would God go to the trouble?

The Greek word translated love in the above passage isn't necessarily relative to
affection. It mostly pertains to impersonal interactions, for example: kindness,
courtesy, charity, civility, tact, assistance, compassion, pity, and sympathy, et al.

Compassion plays a strong role in many of God's activities with mankind. It can be
defined as a sympathetic awareness of others' distress coupled with a desire to
alleviate it. A longing for sympathy is sometimes viewed as a character flaw; but
nonetheless, I think it's perfectly normal for people to crave it.

I've encountered folks on internet forums who actually resent Christ for doing
something for them that they didn't ask for. Well; the thing is; complainers don't
have to sign on for the benefit, after all; it is optional: sort of like the liberty that
homeless people exercise when they refuse a hand-out. But in this respect, we're
not talking about money and/or goods and services, instead, we're talking about a
man's life. i.e. an uncommon donation that's above and beyond the usual.

● Rom 5:6-8 . .At just the right time, when we were still helpless, Christ died for
the impious. Very rarely does anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good
man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us
in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
FAQ: According to Col 1:19-20, God reconciled everything to Himself by means of
Christ’s blood on the cross-- all things in Heaven, and all things on Earth. If that's
so, then why are some people ending up in Hell?

REPLY: An RSVP can be roughly defined as response to an invitation; for example
there's a banquet depicted by Luke 14:16-23 where a number of the invited guests
made their excuses for not attending.

(Well, I have to give them credit for at least responding though their host was very
disappointed.)

The thing is: God reconciled us to Himself, viz: it's a done deal, but not everyone
among us has contacted God with an RSVP indicating their desire to reconcile Him
to themselves, viz: God has expressed His desire for peace and given His own son
over to death as proof of his willingness to bury the hatchet.

● 2Cor 5:19-21 . . God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us, to wit: we pray you in Christ's stead: be reconciled to God. For He has
made him who knew no sin to be sin for us; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.

In other words: reconciliation doesn't work to people's advantage apart from
diplomatic reciprocity.

* If perchance someone out there favors the idea of settling with God out of court;
here's a suggestion.

Find a quiet place; anywhere will do. Cover your face with your hands for a sense of
connection, and tell God-- under your breath or out loud if you like --that you have
never yet measured up to His standards and you're pretty sure you never will. Tell
Him you would like to take advantage of His son's death as a means of bringing you
and He to the table as friends and allies instead of strangers and foes.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Ex 31:16-17 . .The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the
sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between
Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days The Lord made the heavens
and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

The Jews' weekly routine day of rest is a liturgical day. As such it is no more than
twenty-four hours in length, whereas the creator's day of rest is very different.

Six of the creation days were bounded by an evening and a morning; whereas the
seventh day wasn't bounded at all, viz: God has yet to terminate His rest and pick
up where He left off making things. In other words; God's rest has thus far been a
perpetual, never-ending day, viz: it's an on-going rest primarily because the entire
work of creation, from beginning to end, was completed and God left no unfinished
business awaiting His return to work. (Gen 2:1)

● Heb 4:10 . . For all who enter into God's rest will find rest from their labors, just
as God rested after creating the world.

"their labors" are relative to the covenant that Moses' people entered into with God
by means of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy-- a.k.a. the Law --
which rewards compliance with blessings, while at the same time penalizes non
compliance with retribution, e.g. Lev 26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26, and Deut 28:1-69.

So then, the people can never relax because the law-- with its requirements and its
consequences --is constantly hanging over their heads like a sword of Damocles,
suspended by a slender thread easily severed by the slightest infraction.

By no stretch of the imagination is the Law comparable to God's rest wherein He
ceased from His labors when He was all done and there was nothing else to do;
whereas the Law doesn't permit the people to cease from their labors because the
Law's sacrificial system is never satisfied. In other words; every year starts them
off from square one all over again because they can't get by on only one Yom
Kippur.

● Heb 4:11 . . Let us do our best to enter that place of rest.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● John 6:53 . . Truly, Truly, I say to you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.

The kind of life about which the Son of Man spoke is supernatural.

● John 6:54 . . He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

Note the grammatical tense of "has eternal life". It's present tense rather than
future, indicating that when people correctly dine upon Jesus' flesh and blood they
obtain eternal life right then and there, no delay and no waiting period.

* Eternal life and immortality are not the same. The one speaks of a soul that's
immune to death and the other speaks of a body that's immune to death. Although
it's possible to obtain eternal life now, immortality has to wait until our
resurrections. (1Cor 15:51-54)

For example Jesus had eternal life prior to his crucifixion (John 5:26, 1John 1:1-2)
but he didn't obtain immortality till after his resurrection (Rom 6:9, Rev 1:18) And
according to John 5:24, the apostles had eternal life too; but it didn't prevent their
demise; they're all gone because eternal life doesn't prevent one's body from losing
its youth.

Now the thing is: eternal life is a very core element of New Testament Christianity,
viz: people who lack it also lack unity with God's son, i.e. they are literally quite
christless.

● 1John 5:9-13 . .We accept human testimony, but God's testimony carries more
weight because it is the testimony of God, which He has given about His son. . . .
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son.
Whoever has the Son has the life; whoever who does not have the life, does not
have God's son.

There are well-meaning Christians out and about insisting that no one obtains
eternal life until they cross over to the other side. Beware making that mistake
because when people wait to obtain eternal life when they cross over, then they
spend the remainder of their stay on earth in a christless spiritual condition.
Needless to say: that is very dangerous. (Rom 8:9)
_