Category: The Last Things

Vox | “Be Afraid, yet Don’t Fear”

In this passage from Luke 12:1-12, the Lord Jesus Christ deals with the subject of fear. The godless have every reason to wake up and be afraid—very afraid!—since they are living on heavily borrowed time. But even true followers of Jesus should beware of letting fear take over, because that very fear can turn God into their enemy. And yet, God’s children have no reason to be afraid of anything in this world, if they only trust Jesus and reject all fear of man.

Are you afraid? Of what—and why? Or are you content, without a care in the world when you should really be alarmed?

Join us for our afternoon service at 4:00 p.m. this Lord’s day (Sunday) when we will treat this passage at the Presbyterian Reformed Church, located at 1870 Route 50, in Tuckahoe. And please feel free to stay after for a shared supper around 5:30 p.m. We would love to have you there!

No sign—except the sign of Jonah

“And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas [Jonah] was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve [Nineveh] shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Luke 11:29-32).

Jesus will soon come in the clouds to judge the nations. He will come to judge you and me, and we will all stand before Him. But though He came so many years ago to show mercy by dying on the cross, suffering the wrath of God for sinners, yet as the great Prophet, He powerfully denounced His generation and threatened fearful judgment. They had received so much, but had proven so unworthy of their blessings!

What is Jesus’ verdict on our generation? Will He acquit? Or will Jesus call witnesses against us?

Join us for our afternoon service at 4:00 p.m. this Lord’s day (Sunday) at the Presbyterian Reformed Church, located at 1870 Route 50, in Tuckahoe. And please feel free to stay after for a shared supper around 5:30 p.m. We would love to have you there!

Drinking anew in the Kingdom

“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:28-29).

That new wine is especially that joy and happiness that Christ and his true disciples shall partake of together in glory, which is the purchase of Christ’s blood, or the reward of his obedience unto death. Christ, at his ascension into heaven, received everlasting pleasures at his Father’s right hand, and in the enjoyment of his Father’s love, as the reward of his own death, or obedience unto death. But the same righteousness is reckoned to both head and members; and both shall have fellowship in the same reward, each according to their distinct capacity.

-Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

“The State of Glory”

Half a lifetime ago now, as I was hitting golf balls at a driving range, the older man in the next booth offered me his brand-new, state-of-the-art, high-tech, large-headed driver. “Try this one, son,” he said. He insisted. I laid aside my old wooden-headed club (it cost £5 secondhand) and tried his ultramodern metal-headed version. The ball flew off the clubface and was still in the air as it flew past my earlier attempts. Suddenly, golf seemed easier, my swing so much more powerful.

I couldn’t believe it. Nor could I afford my own high-tech driver. But, I thought, this must be what the resurrection body in the state of glory is like. No longer weak, but powerful; obedience no longer a struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil—but natural, the smooth and happy tempo of a sin-free world. If I can enjoy this new technology in a golf shot, how wonderful it will be to live in the full blaze of God’s presence.

Read more, by Sinclair Ferguson

Death, the “private judgment”

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). This teaches that prior to death, man’s destiny is not decided, he being not yet sentenced; but after death, his destiny is settled. When he dies, the “private judgment,” that is, the immediate personal consciousness either of penitence or impenitence, occurs. Every human spirit, in that supreme moment when it “returns to God who gave it,” knows by direct self-consciousness whether it is a child or an enemy of God, in temper and disposition; whether it is humble and contrite, or proud, hard, and impenitent; whether it welcomes or rejects the Divine mercy in Christ. The article of death is an event in human existence which strips off all disguises, and slows the person what he really is, in moral character. He “knows as he is known,” and in this flashing light passes a sentence upon himself that is accurate. This “private judgment” at death, is reaffirmed in the “general judgment” of the last day.

-W.G.T. Shedd

The ultimate and everlasting exile

“The consummation of spiritual death in matter of loss, is a total and final forsaking, whereby a man is separated wholly from the face, presence, and favour of God. Mat 7.23, Depart from me. And 25.41, Go you cursed. 2 Thess. 1.9, Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, being driven from the Face of the Lord, and the glory of his Power.”

From William Ames’ (1576-1633) “The Consummation of Death,” in Marrow of Theology, 1.16.

From a dying man to dying children

IMG_0285The following quote will strike our death-insulated, secular, consumerist age as morbid if not cruel. But as death is inescapable, we would do well to learn from a wiser generation – and all the more because their eyes were better trained to behold the great beyond. They realized that death was but the gateway into realms of everlasting happiness for the blessed and of misery for the damned. We could use a good ice-water dousing; and frankly, so could our over-stimulated children.

“Children, ’tis your Dawning time. It may be your Dying time…Go unto the Burying-places; There you will see many a Grave shorter than yourselves…Yea, you may be at play one hour; dead, dead the next.”

Cotton Mather (1663 – 1728)