Category:

Christ’s Return

Noah and God

by Esther Griggs March 22, 2024

The relationship between Noah and God astounds us. God reveals His heart to Noah. He relays his disappointment with man and also, His plan to destroy all flesh, due to their corruption and violence. But He loves Noah. In His plan to destroy all flesh, He instructed Noah as to his part in the plan, made a covenant with him, and Noah followed through.

Noah’s Part

Noah had a part to play in this relationship. God told Noah to build an ark. Then He gave him detailed instructions. Make it of gopherwood, make it with rooms, cover it inside and out with pitch. He told him how long to make it, to add a window, and to make it with three decks.

A Covenant

“But I will establish My covenant with you,” God said. It is the first covenant God made with man. The ark is for Noah and his family. It is also for the animals, male and female to keep them alive. They will come to you, God told him. You must take for yourselves and the animals, enough of all food that is eaten. God would do His part if Noah did his.

Followed Through

Noah did as God commanded him. He followed through on his part. There is all kinds of speculation on what it was like for Noah to obey God in such an evil time. In Matthew 24:37 Jesus referred to the days of Noah, when describing His return to the earth. Only God knows the hour. There will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, a lack of knowledge of what was coming until the flood came and took them away.

I pray that like Noah, we will walk with God, learn His heart, and enjoy the new covenant given to us. The covenant where God places His instructions deep within us, and writes them on our hearts; where He will be our God and we will be His people. For in His plan to destroy all flesh, He instructed Noah as to his part in the plan, made a covenant with him, and Noah followed through.

March 22, 2024 0 comment

Alive in Christ Christ's Return Followers of Jesus Life in Christ Peter

A Transformed Life

by Esther Griggs October 6, 2023

written by Esther Griggs

As believers in Jesus our lives are transformed. Begotten into a living hope, with an indestructible inheritance, we rejoice. If necessary to purify our faith there will be trials. All this, according to Peter, demands a response. Peter gives a directive, the reason for it and summarizes.

The Directive

Peter directs his readers. “Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, rest your hope fully upon the grace to be (received) when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Be God’s obedient children, live to the spirit not the flesh, and like He who called you, be holy. If you call on God the impartial judge, as long as you live, do so in reverence to God.

The Reason

Then he writes out the reason. “Before the foundation of the world,” he wrote, God planned the death and resurrection of Jesus, why? Peter explained it was to buy us back from our aimless conduct. God didn’t offer some material, easily corrupted method. No! He orchestrated the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, so we could put our faith and hope in God.

Peter Summarizes

Peter summarizes his thoughts thus. “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren,” he writes, “love one another fervently with a pure heart.” He explains. You have been born anew, not by a flimsy transaction but rather an incorruptible one, through the word of God which is eternal. Everything else will pass away, rust or fade away with time. “But the word of the Lord endures forever.” As my dad used to say, “that’s a promise you can take to the bank.”

Peter gave a directive, the reason for it and summarized.

October 6, 2023 0 comment

Christ's Return Finding strength Followers of Jesus Life in Christ Suffering When in trouble

Having Troubles?

by Esther Griggs September 22, 2023

written by Esther Griggs

Peter wrote to the pilgrims regarding their great heavenly inheritance and of their being kept by God’s power. There was much to rejoice in. However, in writing of this gracious salvation, he addressed the issue of having troubles. From his words, we learn further of salvation, about the trials which grieve us, and their ultimate purpose.

Salvation

First we learn of salvation. Peter tells his readers that salvation from God causes them great rejoicing. Though they have never seen Jesus, they believe and it has brought them a joy that cannot be expressed. They rejoice with a joy that is full of glory and are receiving the result of their faith. It is a salvation received by faith and ultimately revealed at the end of time when Jesus is revealed.

Trials

Next we learn of trials. In all the wonders of salvation, there is something else. Peter wrote that If it was necessary, and only for a little while, grievous troubles would come. Jesus and the other disciples also talked of trials. Jesus talked about having joy amid persecution because of the great reward in heaven, Paul wrote that trials were temporary and working for us something which far exceeded any trouble on earth. James also says to count it all joy when encountering trials for he wrote that they work patience in the believer. Though grievous they have purpose.

Purpose

What purpose could our troubles have other than to make life miserable? They do have purpose. Have you wondered about the reality of your faith? Before your peers, before your own soul, before God, is your faith genuine? Troubles, like refineries to gold, remove the impurities of our faith. Peter wrote that a person’s faith is far more valuable than gold. Gold will pass away, but our faith, tested by the troubles we face, prepare us for the day Jesus is revealed. When Jesus returns, our faith, tested and tried through the refinery of trouble, will bring praise, honour, and glory to God the Father. Even though we cannot see Him, we love Him, believe in Him and rejoice in the salvation of our souls.

From these words we learned further of salvation, about the trials which grieve us, and receiving the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls at the revealing of the Lord Jesus.

September 22, 2023 0 comment

bold, confident and unafraid Christ's Return Confidence Followers of Jesus Heaven safe and secure in Christ

Our Inheritance

by Esther Griggs September 15, 2023

written by Esther Griggs

One day when Jesus observed the anxiety on the face of His disciples, He made them a promise. “I am going to prepare a place for you. Then I am coming back to get you so we can be together.” The cross and the resurrection still lay ahead of them. Their finite minds grappled with His words. Here, beyond the cross, the resurrection of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter writes a letter in which he describes what awaits those who believe in Jesus. He writes of an inheritance, where it is, and who will receive it.

The Inheritance

God has not only begotten us to a living hope but also to an inheritance. Unlike the things of this world, it cannot be corrupted or resisted. Neither can it fade away. It brings to mind the words of Jesus when He says to lay up our treasures where you have no worries about thieves, rust or moths.

Where It Is

Peter writes that it is being reserved for us in heaven. In Mark’s gospel we read that Jesus was received up into heaven where He sat down at the Father’s right hand. In John 6:38 Jesus told His listeners that He came down from heaven. When Jesus spoke, it was of the things He knew about heaven. The writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus hasn’t entered a holy place made by men but rather the true heaven where God resides. Our inheritance is with God the Father and Jesus.

Who Will Receive It

Peter writes it is for those who “are kept by the power of God.” It is through faith for salvation and it is ready to be revealed in the last time. As followers of Jesus, we are born again and begin a process of working our our salvation with fear and trembling until the day when all of the enemies of God, the last one being death, lie beneath His feet. We who search for that city whose builder and maker is God, will receive an unshakeable kingdom. Hear the words of Jude, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty dominion and power, both now and forever.”

September 15, 2023 0 comment

bold, confident and unafraid Christ's Return

Bold, Confident and Unafraid

by Esther Griggs July 21, 2023

written by Esther Griggs

As we learn about God, we learn He is a just God. We gain an understanding of His wrath, but we also learn how Jesus gave His life to satisfy God’s wrath. In 1 John 4:17-19 he tells his readers that the perfection of love presents us as bold, confident and unafraid when he returns.

Bold

The Bible describes a day of judgement yet to come. However, we are like Jesus in the world. His love has been perfected in us. Because of this we have boldness. It is the sign of love’s perfection in us. This relationship we have with Him was His idea. “We love Him because He first loved us.”

Confident

We will stand not only bold but also confident. Although not mentioned here, In 1 John 2:28, John writes of having confidence when Jesus returns. He promised when he left the earth, that He would return. John writes further regarding this where Jesus says He is going to prepare a place for us and will come back to get us. We face His return with confidence and without shame. It is the fruit of abiding in Him.

Unafraid

“There is no fear in love,” he writes. God’s complete love sends fear away. In fear there is torment, a fear of punishment, a fear of God’s wrath. The person who has been made perfect in love, rests in the work of Jesus.

What blessing the Spirit brings to our heart as we contemplate the day of Jesus return, or the day of judgement. We know that in Him we won’t be ashamed, nor cowardly, nor full of fear. Because of the love of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, we will stand, bold, confident and unafraid when He returns.

July 21, 2023 0 comment