Thursday: The God Who Will Come Back for Us
Daily Lesson for Thursday 5th of October 2023
Read John 14:1-3. In what ways is it connected with the end-time message found in the Scriptures?
During His earthly ministry, one of Christ’s most precious promises, the blessed hope, reflects once again the Creator’s desire to be with us for eternity. Jesus affirmed, “ ‘I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’ ” (John 14:3, NIV; emphasis added).
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According to the apostle John, the promise will finally become reality. “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3, NKJV).
“The work of redemption will be complete. In the place where sin abounded, God’s grace much more abounds. The earth itself, the very field that Satan claims as his, is to be not only ransomed but exalted. . . . Here, where the Son of God tabernacled in humanity; where the King of glory lived and suffered and died,—here, when He shall make all things new, the tabernacle of God shall be with men. . . . And through endless ages as the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord, they will praise Him for His unspeakable Gift,—Immanuel, ‘God with us.’ ”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 26.
Here we find the most beautiful picture of Redemption. The God of mission will finally fulfill His desire to be with His children eternally. What a tremendous privilege to be part of this reality!
Weekly Challenges. Throughout this quarter you will be invited to engage intentionally in God’s mission. This will be an opportunity to see and experience the God of mission at work in your life. Take advantage of this moment for personal reflection and be ready to share what you have learned with your class on a weekly basis. Additionally, the Challenge Up will encourage you to increase your involvement in God’s mission.
Challenge: Pray every day of the coming week for God to open your heart to be part of His mission.
Challenge Up: Learn the name of someone in your life you don’t already know—a neighbor, coworker, shopkeeper, bus driver, janitor, etc. Begin praying for him or her each day.
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In the days when I was involved in teaching computers in places of higher learning, each year I sat on a committee that recommended and approved expenditure on capital items for computing equipment for next year's budget. Each department would submit a request for the items they thought they needed. This was at a time when computing was expanding rapidly and people were saying it was "the way of the future". Most submissions were a bit optimistic. They asked for a lot more than they could afford. They asked for equipment in the hope that it would do the job they had in mind. Many of them had not really done the research and provided the justification to make their requests valid. We used a description for these sorts of requests: "They are just dreaming!"
Prior to these committee meetings, I would go to some of these departments with a few questions just to fill in the blanks in my mind about the validity of their requests. My main goal was to find out what they were currently doing in that particular area. It was the computer equipment request version of the idea I expressed yesterday:
Were they really using their current equipment and had come up with a situation where computer equipment would provide a way forward? Or, was it just a "Let's jump on the computer bandwagon" situation? Ultimately when it came to approving requests in the committee room, those department requests where the need was demonstrated by what they were doing now were given a far better reception than those who were dreaming.
Some of us are living in a dream world, thinking how good it will be to be vindicated for shouting that Jesus is coming again. Perhaps we should be asking ourselves, "Are we living as though we are in the presence of Jesus right now?"
If we live the "believable" now, then we have a chance to teach the "unbelievable" to those around us. if our talk about the "unbelievable" does not resonate with the way we live, our unbelieving friends are smart enough to see that as hypocrisy.
Sometimes, we value the presence of someone only when we lose it. Occasionally, we must deal with the desire to be with whom we love because we don't have the loved one close. Love may keep us longing. This is where we are right now with Christ. We can feel His presence through the "wind" of the Holy Spirit, but we must wait patiently for His physical return. He is longing as much as we are. And the meeting is going to be THE EVENT. It is the most crucial event in hundreds of years for the entire planet. How are we getting ready for it?
Very interesting, Maurice Ashton, I became a Painting COntractor. The Apostle Paul became a "Tent Maker." Both of these are nowhere near your teaching in places of "Higher Learning." However, I have served in Church Boards as an "Elder," and as "Head Deacon." I have witnessed thousands and thousands of dollars spent for thousands and thousands of "Signs of the Times," and "Glow" tracks and hundreds of hours by Church members to go from house to house and businesses to place these pamphlets of our "Message," to the non Seventh Day Adventist public. And for all this time and money I witnessed only one person that came and was baptized into membership to our Church along with her little girl and 6 months later, she and her little daughter left to go back to her previous "Christian" background.
Jesus is the only one who demonstrated for us how to work for souls and I see no where in His working where He spent money for literature and time like this. His best example for me is "The Woman at the Well," He just asked her for some water and the rest of the story is in John 4:5-24 And what did Jesus tell the Samaritan woman?: First, to give Him a drink of water. Second, that He would give her water so that she would not need to come to the well anymore. We are to follow this example of Jesus with strangers: Share our food with them and then teach them to work for their own food etc., just like Paul made tents to feed himself and others and like I paint and share my food with others and teach them work and paint for their food.