As I read through a passage of scripture this morning, it spoke to me. Not unusual as I find this to be true most mornings. I would like to say, every morning, but that would not be honest. There are mornings when my mind is distracted. Wandering through thoughts of other things. I may be reading words on the page but my mind is elsewhere. I find the ability of our mind to accomplish this both fascinating and frustrating. At times I consciously make the decision to go back through the passage of scripture I have just read because I have glossed over it without absorbing a single precious word. The last thing I desire is to gloss over the life giving redemptive words of God.
This morning was different. I read the same passage of scripture multiple times. Each time absorbing more. The scripture was profound. I have read it many times before. More times than I can count or remember. This morning it spoke to me a little more with each time I read through. Forty-one versus to be exact. John 16:16-31 & 17. I pondered this passage of scripture in my heart all morning. So much of it has spoken to me, loudly. The mercy of almighty God. The grace he showed. The unfailing compassionate love. The advocacy for man. For me. The promise upon which I stand. The clarity within which he spoke to the issues of the world today. The profound awe in which God leaves me in every time I make a feeble attempt to understand how good he is through the flawed broken lens of my human understanding. So very much of this passage of scripture touched the fiber of my soul.
I could write the entire blog speaking to the profound love displayed by God in this passage of scripture. But after I pondered the day and sat down to read it one more time before I wrote, there is one small verse that has caught my heart’s attention. A thought that resonates so loud I am struggling to move beyond it.
I’ll share.
“Truly you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy when you see me again.” John 16:20
Jesus is speaking to the disciples as he prepares for his time on the cross which is rapidly approaching. Just two short chapters later we read the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. The disciples have no idea the anguish and suffering Jesus is about to undergo. Jesus does. He is not surprised. He is distressed as he faces the days ahead. Yet, he submits to the will of the Father on behalf of you and I. But for a merciful gracious loving God, where would we be. We know the answer although its difficult to fathom. The world and its temporal fulfillment of success, riches, fame, and sinful lust of the desires of the flesh would be all we have to look forward to until an eternity in death and destruction met us as the last breath escapes our bodies. What a dismal concept. Thank God for His perfect plan. His advocacy for the disciples and all of mankind, myself included only a few moments before he walked into the greatest sacrifice as the blameless lamb on my behalf, was a profound display of his compassionate merciful gracious never failing love while I was yet in sin.
As I pondered this scripture in my heart today, I thought of the world today. The world within which I reside. This temporal place and all of its woes, worries, and troubles. The heaviness of the culture. A generation looking for more than the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ because they perceive he is insufficient. The lie of the devil sold to many by well-intentioned people claiming to know Christ. The Bible needs supplemented by the mere minds of humans to help us understand the intent of forgiveness, reconciliation, redemption, and glory of God himself. Covered by terms that sound appealing to the masses. Woke. Progressive. Socially Correct. Tolerant. Loving.
This passage of scripture resonated with me because, I have grieved what has happened in the name of Jesus for far too long by far too many. Well intentioned people have demanded the living breathing word of God be set aside by supplementing its message with social and cultural influences that deny the very deity of Jesus Christ. He said, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me but the world will rejoice. That, my friend, is exactly what the world is doing every time you proclaim your enlightenment of the new age gospel twisting and turning scripture to fit your desired narrative.
I have watched and listened to the push of Jezebel be celebrated by women who claim to do so in the name of empowerment of the women they lead straight into the most bondage they’ll ever experience. The bondage of sin. It comes with a death sentence.
I have watched and listened to the push of sexual immorality and immodesty as though its freeing women from the gift and protection of a modest holy life in the name of empowerment of the women they lead, again, straight into the most bondage they’ll ever experience. The bondage of sin. It comes with a death sentence.
I have watched and listened to the push of division and intolerance, legalistic unforgiveness as though its freeing people from the freedom of a forgiven loving repentant life in the name of justice for the people they lead straight into the most bondage they’ll ever experience. The bondage of sin. It comes with a death sentence.
I have watched and listened to the push for violence, reparations, and revenge as though it makes right the wrong of the matter of the heart of a fallen world earning provision from a world that can never pay as though it isn’t robbing people from the only godly provision that sustains eternal life beyond this temporary world leading people straight into the most bondage they’ll ever experience. The bondage of sin. It comes with a death sentence.
I have watched and listened to well intentioned people drive the agenda of a worldview into the lives and hearts of others claiming it is the only Christ like thing one can do as though it is not leading them down the wide path with many who are separated from their Savior because, you cannot and will not be both of the world and in Jesus, leading people straight into the most bondage they’ll ever know. The bondage of sin. It comes with a death sentence.
As I have watched, my heart has grieved what is happening in the world around me by people I thought were reading the same pages of the bible I am, only to discover we are not even reading out of the same book. Hear me well. I am not suggesting that reading another book outside of the bible is sinful or of distaste. I am saying, clearly, that reading another book outside of the bible, suggesting that its words are superior to the timeless words of the bible breathed out by the very breath of God, is sinful and overflowing with distaste. Luke warm distaste that God himself will spew from his mouth to be clear. Running after social movements of the world from the lens of the worldview in a futile attempt to mesh them into the lens of a biblical view will only leave you drowning in the waves of fallacy starving for truth as you sink into the sand next to the solid rock you have stepped off of.
I have read the timeless word of God who has warned me of the last days (2 Timothy 3). The way families would rise up against each other and I have witnessed it. As I have witnessed it, I have grieved. I have also read time and time again of the outpouring of God’s Spirit on people in the last days (Joel 2:18-26). And I have witnessed it. As I have witnessed it, I have celebrated with great joy.
This is where the passage of scripture spoke to my heart today. I have spent time grieving the world’s treatment, disdain, and contempt with Jesus Christ, my personal Savior and Lord of my life. Counselor. Prince of Peace. Mighty God. I Am. Redeemer. Savior. Healer. The Name above all names. The God of all creation. The one who stood in advocacy for his disciples and all who would believe as a result of their witness which includes me. I believe today as a result of their witness. This God. The God. The only God. Jesus Christ. I have shed many tears as I felt a hollow ache deep within the walls of my chest over the world especially good hearted well intentioned people who claim to know Christ yet have been deceived by the world’s agenda of today.
But, this is not where the story ends. The grieving of my heart. The sorrow and mourning of my heart has turned to wonderful joy, just as his word says. I have seen the deaf hear, blind see, and lame to walk as miraculous signs and wonders in his holy name has happened before my very eyes. I have seen him and his work. It has brought me great joy. I stand in his joy. The world did not give it to me and they cannot take it away. He says, ask using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy (John 16:24). I have asked, I have received, and I have abundant joy.
Despite the circumstances of the world around us, revival is here. John 16 ends with a promise, the promise of a good and mighty God, a promise I stand on through the trials and aches of this world. Let us not lose sight. The soul is the goal, may we never forget.
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Much love in Christ, Bobbie
