I Change Not

One of my sons and his family have gone camping for the weekend so Papa had to go and check on their mutt early this morning. I live on the sea coast and as I was driving near the coast, the beauty and freshness of the new day (I was on the road at 6:00 AM) struck me. That and the steadfastness of our God, how He never changes, how there is no waffling, no saying one thing and meaning another. If He says something, I can rely on it.

I don’t know about you but in these times I really need that.

Numbers 23:19 NIV  “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

Hebrews 13:8 NIV  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

There are an awful lot of things that I don’t understand, but the trustworthiness of God isn’t one of them. I don’t know why but I can’t seem to get the picture of Jesus shedding His blood for you and me out of my mind lately. Sometimes when I’m outside, like I was early this morning, and I smell the fresh morning air, it reminds me of when I was in Jerusalem many years ago and I got up early in the morning. Jesus faced a morning like that many years ago, only He didn’t have the benefit of a good nights sleep like I did. He knew what the day had in store for Him and He deliberately walked right into it.

When Jesus explained to His disciples that His time had come, I’m sure that they didn’t fully comprehend what all it entailed, like He did, because Jesus knew exactly what was waiting for Him and He knew exactly what He would accomplish.

I don’t want to picture it, His body being crucified, His blood being shed, for you and for me, but that was the only way, the one and only way, God, our Father, who is Holy, could redeem us back to Himself. For Jesus was and is the Lamb without blemish, the innocent being sacrificed for the guilty, the just for the unjust, the merciful for the unmerciful. Jesus smelled that morning air that morning but what lay before Him was unlike anything that you and I have to endure. It’s that reality of the morning air when I smell it, it’s the reality of a new day dawning, unlike any other day before, or since, that grabs me, because that is what our Heavenly Father asked His Son to do, and Jesus did it.

I’ve never seen Jesus. I never got to touch His arm or hug Him. But as sure as the sun rose this morning, Jesus faced that day and He did it for you and for me. I have a hard time comprehending that. That was His real blood that flowed, that was His real body that was wounded, that was His life that He gave. I am amazed at God’s love.

John 14:19 NIV “ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”

Because I live, you also will live. That is our hope. That is the reality that Jesus gave us. The cross wasn’t the end, in reality, it was just the beginning, because of what Jesus, who perfectly followed the Father’s will accomplished for you and for me. Because I live, you shall also live. Jesus said that, God His Father confirmed it and we can rely on that.

And what happened? Jesus rose from the dead like He said He would.

John 20:28-29 NIV  “Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

A lot of people would like to go to heaven but not everyone wants God there. I can tell you now, if you don’t want God there, you won’t be going to heaven. Heaven is being in the presence of God. A holy God. A loving and just God. I want to go to heaven because God is there, that’s what makes heaven, heaven. And we who believe will experience that one day, because of what Jesus did.

John 14:6 NIV  “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

That’s no man, no woman, comes into the presence of the Father, except through Jesus. Why? Because Jesus was the one, the perfect one, the one without sin, who gave His life for you and me, through the shedding of His own blood, so that His righteousness would be our righteousness. We are perfect in God’s eyes because Jesus is perfect.

1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV  “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”

That’s what the smell of the morning air brought to my mind on this new day.

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!