Ok, technically this is five words, not one. The new heaven and new earth is the place that God is preparing for his followers. When Jesus comes again he will take us to live there for eternity. We don't know a lot about the new heaven and new earth but here is what we do know:
You can find out more about the new heavens and the new earth by reading the rest of Revelation 21 and 22. This new home is the reason we have hope in the middle of heartache, distress, depression, pain and trials because there will be no more of these things when Jesus comes again. When you get dragged down by the cares of this world, remember that they are temporary and won't be around in the next one!
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Collins Dictionary explains mercy as follows, "if someone in authority shows mercy, they choose not to harm someone they have power over, or they forgive someone they have the right to punish." God had every right to punish humankind because they disobeyed him. But he showed us mercy, not only forgiving us, but adopting us into his family.
Imagine a criminal who was serving time in prison for his crimes, then the king asked his son to serve the rest of the sentence so that the criminal could be set free. And more than that, he adopted the criminal as his son and had him live in his palace. That's a bit like what God did for us. That's mercy. God has been merciful to us and he expects us to show mercy to others. If we show love and compassion towards people who deserve it, that's not mercy. Mercy is showing love and compassion towards those who don't deserve it. Matthew 5:46 says, If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for that? Even tax collectors love their friends. Tax collectors were notoriously despised because they collected extra taxes for themselves. Verse 4 says, love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. CHALLENGE: Who can you show mercy to this week? What will that look like? LORD (in all capitals) is the English translation of God's sacred name in Hebrew. It is also translated as Jehovah. It means the one who is and who will be, or the eternal living one. It was so holy that the Jews never used to say it aloud when they were reading the scriptures. The Bible Project has a short video explaining the name which is really interesting - you can find it below. It's important for us to remember how holy God's name is and not to misuse it. People say "God," "Jesus Christ," and "Lord" all the time as an exclamation. Exodus 20:7 is one of the Ten Commandments and says, You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly. The Lord will punish anyone who is guilty and misuses his name. Imagine if you started using your Mum's name as a swear word - it would be extremely disrespectful. It's the same when you misuse God's name. There are other words in the Bible that we misuse too which we shouldn't such as "holy." CHALLENGE: If you have been guilty of misusing God's name, ask him to forgive you and help you to watch your language. Find something else to say that will not offend God. Okay, so technically this is three words, not one but it is well worth exploring. Trying to define the Kingdom of God is like trying to hold water in a sieve (it's hard) but let's give it a go.
I will start with a disclaimer: I have not been to Bible College, I am just telling you what I understand the Kingdom of God to be based on my personal study of the Bible. The kingdom of God does not refer to a physical place like the Kingdom of Thailand or the Kingdom of Cambodia. It refers to the reign of God. It happens in two phases. The first phase relates to when Jesus came, died and rose again. This signalled the end of the reign of sin and death over his believers. Matthew 12:28 If I use the power of God’s Spirit to force out demons, this shows that the kingdom of God has come to you. Luke 17:20-21 God’s kingdom isn’t something you can see. There is no use saying, ‘Look! Here it is' or ‘Look! There it is.’ God’s kingdom is here with you. The second phase refers to when Jesus comes again. This will be the end of sin and death forever. Titus 2:13 We are filled with hope, as we wait for the glorious return of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. John 14:2-3 I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. The Kingdom of God was the good news that Jesus was preaching - that God had a plan to do away with sin and death forever and that He was that plan. Hope that makes sense. According to Wikipedia, justification is God's righteous act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin. Romans 4:25 in the Easy to Read version says, Jesus was handed over to die for our sins, and he was raised from death to make us right with God. It's like you committed a crime and went to court but someone else pleaded guilty and went to prison in your place. Justification is being found not guilty by God because Jesus did the time for your crime.
Romans 5:18 (NIV) Just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. It's a bit easier to understand in the Easy Read Version. Romans 5:18 (ERV) One sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people. But in the same way, Christ did something so good that it makes all people right with God. And that brings them true life. Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. And it was defeated when Jesus died and rose again. That's justification. CHALLENGE: Spend some time reflecting on how awesome it is that you are free and forgiven when you deserved to be penalised and punished. The word iniquity is not used much any more, even in church. Put simply it means sin or the consequences of sin. King David fell in love with Bathsheba and had her husband killed off so he could marry her - pretty wicked, right? David wasn't sorry until he was caught. When the prophet Nathan confronted him David repented - that's when he wrote Psalm 51.
Psalm 51:1-2 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. Because King David repented God forgave him. 2 Samuel 12:13 says, The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. However, the consequences of his sin remained. The prophet Nathan warned him "the sword will never depart from your house." Bathsheba's baby died shortly after birth and David's sons Ammon and Absalom were both killed. Even though our sins are forgiven because Jesus died in our place, sometimes there are still consequences for our sins. For example, if you rob a bank (please don't though), Jesus will forgive you if you ask him to, but you will still need to serve a jail term. Isaiah foretold the death and resurrection of Jesus to forgive our sins. Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Praise God that Jesus took our sin, our iniquity, so we can live eternally with him! Sometimes we are a bit casual about sin. We think that it's ok because it's just a 'little sin'. Jesus made it quite clear that there is no scale of sin where being mean to your brother is a 1 and killing someone is a 10. In Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus said, You have heard that it was said to our people long ago, ‘You must not murder anyone. Any person who commits murder will be judged.’ But I tell you, don’t be angry with anyone. If you are angry with others, you will be judged. CHALLENGE: Is there a sin in your life that you have convinced yourself is ok because it's just a little one? Ask God to forgive you and to turn away from it. Holy means perfect or without sin. God is the only one who is holy because he is the only one who is perfect and without sin. God called us to be holy too. According to the author of Hebrews, God made us holy because Jesus died for our sins.
Hebrews 10:10 So we are made holy because Christ obeyed God and offered himself once for all. 1 Peter 1: 16 says, I am the holy God, and you must be holy too. So how do we live a holy life? 1 Peter 1:13-22 gives us some clues.
Gospel means good news. If you had to condense the Bible down to one sentence it would be that God gave his son Jesus to die on the cross and rise again so that we could live forever with him. This is the Gospel - the good news about Jesus.
There has been a lot of bad news in the world recently:
But the good news of the Gospel is greater than all of the bad news that has ever been. The good news is:
Thank God, that despite the bad news, he is still good and has good plans for you for eternity, even if right now sucks a bit. The word Faith is used over 450 times in the Bible so it must be pretty important. We use it a lot, but do we really know what it means? I love this simple definition from Billy Graham - Faith simply means believing that something is true, and then committing our lives to it. He explains that there are two parts to faith:
Hebrews 11 lists the Champions of faith but here are some of my favourite heroes of faith:
All of these heroes battled the same fears, doubts and insecurities as the rest of us, but their faith in a faithful God helped them to do it afraid. Faith takes us out of the boundaries of the natural and into the supernatural, out of the possible to the impossible. Hebrews 11:33-34 says, Through their faith they defeated kingdoms. They did what was right and received what God promised. They shut the mouths of lions, stopped great fires and were saved from being killed with swords. They were weak, and yet were made strong. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus tells his disciples, If your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there.’ And the mountain will move. All things will be possible for you. Go and look in the pantry or fridge and see if you can find some mustard seeds - they're pretty tiny. God takes our tiny faith and accomplishes amazing things. He takes what is weak and makes it strong. What is God calling you to do that is outside your comfort zone and you need to step out in faith and do? According to Paul in Ephesians 4, Jesus called some people to be evangelists. The word actually means someone who brings good news. I think all of us are called to be evangelists because of what Jesus said in Mark 16:15, Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world. You don't have to be a pastor or have your own tv show. You can talk to your friends and family. You don't have to know the Bible back to front or have studied at Bible College. You just need to be able to tell people what Jesus has done for you. So next time you get the opportunity to tell someone about Jesus - go for it. He will help you to know what to say.
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