God's Truly Amazing Love

THIS WEEK was very cool. God is awesome.
Last week I said I'd be looking into the Word even more. Well I did, and I saw some really, really cool stuff. I looked into the first ten chapters of Isaiah - I really like Isaiah because the fact of the prophecies about the Messiah really fascinates me. Do you know that the prediction of a virgin giving birth to a Holy Child already appears in only the seventh chapter? Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." "Immauel" is a word which translates "God-With-Us." It is one of my favorite ways to think about Jesus, because that's just what He is - God coming to us, staying with us, because He cares that much about us. Whoa.
I looked into John 12 and read it twice. I noticed how well I could see who Jesus is when I thought about the events in that chapter in particular. He has just resurrected Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha, and they're having dinner. Mary, in all her famous devotion, pours a whole pound of spikenard oil (very, very expensive) on Jesus' feet and washes Him with her tears. She does this because she knows who He is: He is a King, worthy of such honor; He is soon to be killed, so she honors His body by annointing it with oil. In the next few days the Jews of Jerusalem praised Him as He rode on a young donkey through their street, laying down palm branches in His path. Left and right people are honoring Him as a great King, and He is dead set on getting to Jerusalem because He knows it is almost time for Him to be killed there. He is not going anywhere else. He is going straight to where He knows He will be killed because He knows that that will fulfill what He has been sent to do: die to save the world.
This exact event, His being hailed as King while riding on a donkey's colt, was predicted in Zechariah 9:9. The part that really got my attention was John 12:16 "His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him." It's so amazing the way God works. You know the disciples weren't setting everything up to match the prophecies: they were just coming true! And they wouldn't notice until God would open their understanding later, making them, and us, all the more sure of who He is.
The next part is also really amazing. A group of Greeks had come and wanted to see Him, but however much He would have liked to teach them, He would not stop. "[23]But He answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. [24] Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it prodces much grain." He simply said that it was time for Him to be glorified, that is, to fulfill His purpose through death and be glorified in resurrection. He affirms that it is necessary to lay down oneself, in His case through death, in order to produce a wonderful result. A moment later, we see a demonstration of both His devotion to the fulfillment of God's plan and of His relationship with God. "[27] 'Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. [28] Father, glorify Your name.' Then a voice came from heaven, saying 'I have glorified it and will glorify it again.'" I suggest you read through John chapter 12. There's just so much about Jesus' identity there. He is a King, He is the long-awaited Messiah, He is the Savior of the world who would not by any means delay doing what He knew He must do to save me and you. Knowing Jesus more makes me love Him more.
I saw a beautiful miracle this week. Pastor Ryan and Shelby finally got married! That was a special wedding. It was very sincere, very permanent, and very holy, just like a wedding should be. It was not an ordinary ceremony. The Holy Spirit was all over it: you could tell that these two do not only want to spend their lives together, they want to spend their lives worshipping God together. That's the best kind of marriage, one that's all about God. That's the kind of wedding worth waiting for, as long as God wants you to wait for the right person. That, right there, is a couple that was always supposed to be together, and I know that they will glorify God in amazing ways together. When they kissed, both of them had their first kiss ever. That is so cool.
Today I finished reading a REALLY cool book by Max Lucado: "The Applause of Heaven." It centers around the beatitudes and the ways God responds to people. I strongly suggest you go find it and read it, or I could loan it to you.
Anyway, close to the end Lucado discusses a part of Revelation, how the Holy City is as beautiful as a bride. That could not have caught my attention so well any other day than the day after I saw Shelby Reeder get married. It's in the second to last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 21:1-5 "[1] Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. [2] Then I, John, saw the holy city New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. [4] And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' [5] Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'"

When Ryan performed his vows to Shelby, he promised to love her like Christ loves the church. Look at the one couple you know who is most in love. That's not the newest couple who are still gazing foolishly at each other without looking to see whether any spiritual growth can be accomplished from being with that person. It's probably the couple who is still together after quite a while and who puts what God wants absolutely first. That man loves that woman the way Jesus loves us. You see, He doesn't just like us. He doesn't just feel like it would be better for everyone if we were redeemed and if we got to stay with Him forever. He wouldn't die for anything less than the greatest love. John 13:1 "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."
What? Whoa. God loves me that much? I will never get my mind around it, but He does! More than once the body of believers, the mass of all Jesus' followers ever, is described as the bride of Christ. He loves us, He loves us, He loves us. Look at how He cried in Gethsemane. He was very scared. For a moment He wanted out, but He knew that it was much more important for this task to be accompished, however painful, than for Him to be delivered from His pain. He went through with it, and I'm forever glad He did! Look at this out of Max Lucado's book. It's very touching. "John says that someday God will wipe away your tears. The same hands that stretched the heavens will touch your cheeks. The same hands that formed the mountains will caress your face. The same hands that curled in agony as the Roman spike cut through will someday cup you face and brush away your tears. Forever."
It's a very hard world. Sometimes it's a horrible experience living here. Bodies start hurting, happiness turns grey, we hear stories of absolutely horrible things happening and wonder what in the world is going on. Try Psalm 37. Evildoers will get what they deserve, and God will not abandon the righteous. Ever. Psalm 37:18 says "The LORD knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever." Where is God? That's what everybody asks at some point. And He's never left. We're His dear ones. I think of the sweet pink face of my little cousin Molly when I imagine tears being brushed from a child's face. Right here God is saying that there will come a day when He will toss this whole mess out and take us home where we belong. He'll make us forget all the horror and anguish and brokenness as He heals us and holds us forever and never lets us go. In a place that's as perfectly beautiful as a bride.
A few minutes before I started typing this blog I looked into my devotional book. The reference was Ezekiel 34. Go read it. Seriously, don't continue until you've read it. It's really cool.
Okay, have you read it? Look: Ezekiel 34:11-16 "[11]For thus says the Lord GOD: 'Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. [12]As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. [13] And I will bring them out fro mthe peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. [14] I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. [15] I will feed my flock, and I will make them lie down,' says the Lord GOD. [16] 'I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.'" Compare this whole chapter to Luke 15:4-7.
Old Testament, New Testament, God is speaking these words of love to tell us that He cares what happens to His own. God wants us to be okay. He will let pain hit us sometimes, but for good reasons. He does answer prayer, just not how we expect, and often not in ways that we understand or even notice. We pray for healing, and He might take the sick person away and let him be healed in heaven with Him. We pray for an answer, and He might tell us to wait a while and trust Him.
But you see, that's all He wants is for us to love Him, honor Him and obey Him for better or worse, in sickness or in health. But even in death we will not part from Him.
This makes me want to be with God. The less a person clings to this world, the more joy he has because his happiness comes from Christ, not from this world full of dying things. Each one of us is going to be in this world as long as He wants us to be, and I know I'll be out of here the minute He decides I'm done doing whatever it may be that He has planned. It might hurt, but it's His plan, so it's good. And in the end, there won't be any more pain for any of us who have trusted in Him. That's awesome. Praise God.