Hopeless and Helpless...But God.

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.--Romans 5:6


To My Sweet Daughters,

I have been meditating on this verse for several days and have been applying it to many situations.  Truly for both the unbeliever grappling with belief and the believer grappling with weakness and sin it is powerful!  Girls, read these words again:

"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

These are words that can reach the depths of our being and fill us with joy unspeakable. These are wonderful words that should bring us to our knees in gratitude.

For the unbeliever who opposes Christ,  Spurgeon asks,  "How can you oppose One who embodies unmerited, unexpected, and unexampled love!"  "Christ died for the ungodly."  He justifies the ungodly at the time of their salvation.  "If you are sensible, you will see the remarkable grace in those words and will say to yourself, "Why, then, should I not be justified, and be justified at once?" If you are unconverted, my friend this is you...you are who Christ came to save."

Romans 3:10 There is none righteous, no, not one.

Christ meets us at our point of need.  When I was without strength, Christ pulled me up out of the miry clay and set my feet on the Rock.  I barely had the energy to cry out, but He heard me and brought me up...saved me....adopted me as His daughter and blessed me with riches incomparable in the Heavenly places.  I was in a helpless and seemingly hopeless situation and He took my mustard seed of faith (which He gave me) and turned my misery and weakness into blessings... my mourning into dancing.  When I look back, the darkest moment of my life became the greatest blessing I will ever know this side of heaven.  Our God is like that!!! He uses all the trials we face for our good and His glory.  


There are times when I am weak from grief and sorrow and seemingly without strength.  During these times I remember that when I was without strength..helpless and hopeless...He died for me.  How much more will He care for me now that I am His beloved daughter.  I fix my mind there.  I rest there. I cast myself at His feet and upon His mercy and allow Him to be my strength.  Girls, let this one glorious verse sink into your heart and permeate all of your mind and soul.    Sometimes in trials we feel  backed up into a corner with no where to go... at times it is difficult to think straight.  This truth stands on its own.  No thinking required.  Hold on to this one fact.  The Lord Jesus is your strength.  He is your song and has become your salvation.  The Lord is our eternal refuge and underneath are His everlasting arms.

The applications for this verse are endless...meditate on it and allow the Spirit of God to inspire you and encourage you with it.  I pray that as you meditate on it you will see the Son of God's unmerited, unexpected and unexampled love and that as you do, fear will be cast out and you will desire (in an even greater way than you do now)  to live your life completely for Him.  There is such blessing in the meditation of Scripture.  The word is living and powerful..receive it and allow it to implant in your heart and grow. 


Love 
Mom

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,   among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. --Ephesians 2:1-10

Notes on Revelation 4...

 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." --Revelation 4:1


I do not think this is a veiled reference to the rapture but I so want to here those words!  This verse introduces the third and last major section of the Book of Revelation. "After these thing"....after the church age.  The outline for the book can be found in Revelation 1:19...Jesus is speaking.

Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. 


When the church's ministry is complete, the church will be taken up into heaven in the Rapture.  Believers will be removed from the world . Jesus will say "Come up here," and we will be transported to heaven to be with Him always.  (1 Cor 15:51, 52; 1 Thess 4:17)  The rapture will immediately precede the events of the Great Tribulation. 

Revelation 4:2-5 speaks to the throne of God.  I note that John's attention was immediately captured by it.  I also think of Isaiah here after King Uzziah died...when He saw the Lord, high and lifted up sitting on a throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Sovereign rule...authority...these seem to be the focus chapter 4. the word throne is mentioned 13 times and 11 of those are in reference to God's throne!  Me thinks there is a message there. 

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. --Revelation 4:4

These are the redeemed... the only group complete and glorified at this point. The church of Christ.  Notice their joint rule with Him,  their white garments and their golden crowns. (the 24 Elders are not Israel and not the tribulation saints) These are the overcomers from the church age, who have their crowns and are living in the place Jesus prepared for them beforehand. 


And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

The prequel perhaps to the righteous judgment that is about to occur?

Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 

The four living creatures ...these are the cherubim ...the angels from the Old Testament associated with God's power, presence and holiness.  Ezekiel describes these creatures similarly to John.  "Full of eyes"  uh oh.  These creatures are not all knowing...that is a characteristic reserved for God alone but nothing...nothing escapes their scrutiny.

 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created."  

Symbolic language is used here in describing these four creatures....Like a lion...symbolizing strength and power.  Like a calf...humble service before God.  Like a man...rational beings.  Like a flying eagle...fulfilling their service to God with swiftness.  Scripture says that these creatures do not rest but give God 24 hour praise and are joined in praise by the 24 elders. "Holy, holy, holy"....His holiness.   "Lord God Almighty"...His power.  "Who was and is and is to come"  His eternality.

The four gospels are represented also by these four creatures.  Matthew describes the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  The One worthy to break open the scroll (the title deed to the Earth)  Mark describes the calf...the humble servant we see in Jesus.  Luke depicts the man...he shows Christ in His full humanity.  He presents Him as the perfect Man.  John  speaks to the deity of Christ.  John shows us that Jesus was God.  Hence the eagle...the sovereign of the skies.

Verse 11 is a wonderful verse to meditate on...He is our King, our Creator, our Redeemer and our Sustainer. It is truly all about Him.  We are nothing and can do nothing with Him!  All glory and honor and power are His!