Orange Moon Friday, August 30, 2024 "The Eternal Theme"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"The Eternal Theme"

        Early in my Christian life, our Heavenly Father graciously led me to fellow believers who strongly emphasized the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the heart of God's purposes.  I also read authors who devoted themselves to the glorious theme.  Most importantly, I found the writers of Scripture sought to point all attention to the Lord Jesus, directly in the New Testament, and in prophecy, history, and type of the Old Testament.  I discovered that the Holy Spirit works to exalt and reveal the Lord Jesus in all things (John 16:14; 15:26).  Moreover, He personally works in all things in our hearts and lives for this sublime purpose.

   "He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18).

    "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, 'Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me' " (John 5:19; 39).

    Nearly a half century later, I find myself keenly aware that the journey into this truth of all truths has barely just begun.  How  worthy of serving as the first and most important subject of God's intentions is His beloved Son and our beloved Savior?   The Apostle Paul's affirmation of "the unsearchable riches of Christ" tells us that He is more worthy than we will ever fully know (Ephesians 3:8).  Regardless of how far we venture along the immeasurable span of such glory, the Holy Spirit beckons us to come further unto the glory of the Lord Jesus.  Four questions guide us in this light of Christ's centrality :

      Who is He?  

      What has He done?  

      What is He doing?  

      What will He do forevermore as the theme of God's truth and actions to glorify and reveal His Son?

    The answers to these questions serve as the first light of all things.  We do well to keep this inquires in heart and mind as we read the Scriptures.  We also do well to interpret God's doings in the world and in our lives with regard to Christ's singular significance.  This raises mores vital inquiries regarding His preeminence in all things:

    How does Christ begin - and forever continue - our understanding of love?  Of creation?  Of salvation?  Of life?  Of prayer?  Of faith and obedience?  Of grace and mercy?  Of righteousness and holiness?  Of provision and protection?  Of peace and joy?  Of election and freedom?  Of God's presence and power?  Of wrath and judgment?  Of provision and protection?  Of hope and expectation?  And, of what He is doing in our lives?  The list could go on and on - and it will - regarding the Lord Jesus as the center and circumference of our Heavenly Father's heart, the Holy Spirit's working, the Bible's truth, and our privileged responsibility to serve as moons that absorb and reflect the light of the sun - Son.  "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (I Corinthians 10:31).  Until we see how the person and work of Christ establishes and perpetuates every truth, we have not adequately viewed the light of God.  "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).  Yes, the living Word, the Lord Jesus, illuminates the written Word, the Bible.  And the Bible ever glimmers with the illumination of the person and work of Christ.  

    "I am... the truth" declared the Savior (John 14:6).  Every page of the Bible and every path of our lives flows with the current of "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:19).  I find this truth both thrilling and convicting.  I could have been so much further down the path of righteousness in discovering and communicating the glory of the Lord Jesus.  Thank God for His  longsuffering patience.  However, I also recognize with grateful awe that regardless of how far we venture into the wonder of our Lord, the road that glimmers with His glory beckons us to come ever further.  Nothing should more fill and fulfill our hearts as an immeasurable, inexhaustible, indescribable Christ assures us of a journey we may have begun long ago in time, but which will forever seem to have just begun in the light of the Lord Jesus as the eternal theme of the purpose of God.  

There is no end to the quest we know,

forever beckons on.

We soar in skies so bright and blue,

above all clouds and storm.

Yes, we fly into the heart of God, 

as in His Son we trust,

and earth will soon be nothing more

than long forgotten dust.

So spread your wings and catch the wind,

o journeyman of hope,

and race toward horizons blessed

with those who also know

That the quest of hearts is Jesus,

He is our shining sun,

it matters not how far we've come...

the Journey's just begun.

"I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

(Philippians 3:13-14)

Weekly Memory Verse

   For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

(Romans 8:13)

   

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Orange Moon Friday, August 30, 2024 "Homeward"

(the mother of a dear brother in Christ and friend just passed away.  This is a repeat from many years ago.  For Mike and the family)

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Homeward"

   

    

   In the moment of our passing from this world by the end of our earthly lives, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will find ourselves more "with" someone than ever we have experienced.

  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me" (Psalm 23:4).

   Our present lives veil the reality of our Lord's abiding presence in our hearts.  "Now we see through a glass darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12).  In that moment, however, when our spirits ascend into the Heavenlies, "Thou art with me" will infuse our journey with a brighter Light, a clearer Voice, and a more intimate "With" than possible during our earthly sojourn.  In spiritual proximity, God may be no more near to us then than He is now - "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20).  However, we will better know the glory of His presence in that hour when His "Thou art with me" will make our passage through death to be no more than the briefest journey through the valley of a shadow.  We will journey homeward, and we shall not go alone.

Homeward, My child, 

it is time to go.

I am with you just as promised,

you'll journey not alone.

I have been this way we travel,

oh see the steps I've traced.

Those sparkles all along the way

are glimmers of My grace.

Homeward, My child, homeward.

Angels travel with us, 

they marvel at the scene

of yet another spirit

My mercy has redeemed.

And Someone waits to greet you,

a Father all sublime,

oh I have no words to tell you 

of the wonder you'll soon find…

Homeward, My child, homeward.

So homeward, child, we venture,

united in My love.

I have waited for this moment

when yonder up above

You'll see things unimagined,

you'll look upon your God,

we'll forever be together

because this path we've trod.

Homeward, My child, homeward.

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

(I Thessalonians 4:16-17)

Weekly Memory Verse

   For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

(Romans 8:13)

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Orange Moon Thursday, August 29, 2024 "Our Brother"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Our Brother"

"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

(Ephesians 2:18)

        Joseph, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ in so many ways, vividly illustrated the believer's access to God when declaring to his brothers their only hope for favor and access into his presence.

     "The man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you" (Genesis 43:5).

    In the narrative of Joseph's rescue of his family from famine, he required the brethren who sold him into slavery to bring his blood brother Benjamin with them as the only means of approach. This vividly typifies our hope of access through the Lord Jesus, who wondrously referred to believers as "My brethren" (John 20:17).  Like Joseph, our Father would say to those whose sins delivered His beloved Son to the cross of Calvary as our sacrificial substitute, "You will not see My face, except your Brother be with you."  As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).  Yes, we come to our Father with our Brother.  Or we do not come at all.  "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6).

    From alienation to acceptance - the Gospel mercifully rescues us from the former, while graciously escorting us into the latter (Ephesians 4:18; 1:6).  Indeed, we often see the question posited, "What will we say to God when first we enter His presence?"  If able to speak, which may or may not initially be the case in the presence of our glorious God, we might direct His attention to the Lord Jesus. "My Father, I come with my Brother, Your dear Son, who is also my dear Savior."  As the old hymn so beautifully exults, "Nothing in My hand I bring, only to Thy cross I cling!"  

   "We have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him" (Ephesians 3:12).

   Because of our Brother, we cannot imagine how welcome - and welcomed - we will be.  Consider Joseph's response when seeing Benjamin:

    "And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him" (Genesis 45:14-15).

   The man of God lavished love not only upon his blood brother, but upon all his half brothers who came with Benjamin (the very ones who had sold him into slavery).  We would not see our Father's face if we sought to approach Him without the Lord Jesus.  But oh, how we will see it forevermore because we come with Him, by Him, and through Him, our hands empty of our own merits, but our hearts full of the Lord Jesus.  An old poem speaks to such grace, and we close in the light of its assurance, and of God's gift of freely given access as we come with our Brother.

Under the law with its ten-fold lash,

learning alas how true,

that the more I tried, the sooner I died, 

while the law cried, "You, you, you!"

Hopelessly still did the battle rage,

o wretched man my cry,

and deliverance sought by some penance bought, 

while my soul cried, "I, I, I!"

Then came a day when all struggling ceased,

and trembling in every limb,

I knelt at the Tree where One died for me,

and cried out, "Him, Him, Him!"

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

(Romans 5:1-2)

Weekly Memory Verse

   For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

(Romans 8:13)

   

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