Finally!

We haven't mentioned here all the good news in our lives lately, but we probably should!

Our house is sold!  Praise God for that.  It sold after only two weeks on the market, and last Thursday the contract was signed with the new owners.  They are a young Christian couple with a young daughter named Zoe, and it seems that they will do a very good job being a light in the neighborhood.

Our launch date to Benin is set: August 30, 2011.  The tickets are purchased, for less than we had thought we would have to pay, and the packing has begun in earnest.

Our plan is to spend a few weeks in Cotonou, the capital of Benin, to get to know the church leaders there, and then to attend Phase 2 Training and an African Missionary Retreat in Lome, Togo, about 4 hours from Cotonou by car.

After Phase 2 Training we plan to move to Natitingou, the city where Suzy Baldwin and Ulrike Baur have been working with the Otammari project for a dozen years or so.

We are grateful, overwhelmed, relieved, and stressed as we look forward to this new phase of our lives.  We know the Lord has been working to get us to Benin at the right time, and we look forward to seeing what He has in store for us there.

Thank you for your prayers, and please keep praying for us.  We need you to.

House for Sale

Here is a link to the ad for our house.

http://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/homes/object?finnkode=29247202

Various Worldview Models

The Perfect Worldview Model, Part 2

Throughout our training with AFM, there has been a heavy emphasis on understanding what worldview is.  Various books and teachers have shared several models and illustrations with us, each model having a slightly different angle on the subject.  Understanding worldview is central in the work of effective church planting, therefore we have been presented with several models.  Here I would like to give a short overview of the various models we have been exposed to.  Later several of them will be further expanded.

Before mentioning the various models and illustrations, however, I want to try to give a simple definition of what worldview is. 

Worldview is our view of the world in which we live.  It is our underlying paradigm, the window through which we view our environs.  Worldview is formed by life experiences.  It begins to be formed from birth, and is our way of interpreting reality.  Worldview is that which tells us what is real.  Worldview tells us how to interpret the input that we receive through our senses.  All people have a worldview, although few are aware of it.  Our worldview determines how we act in any given situation.  Worldview can be changed, but it is a long and difficult process to do so, since worldview is formed from day one of our lives.

The Iceberg Model.  This is the simplest model, and can hardly even be considered a worldview model, since it does not really address the subject of worldview at all.  The concept is that just as most of an iceberg is hidden below the surface of the water, most of the elements that compose a culture are hidden below the visible surface.  Actions, behavior, clothes, products, and tools of a culture are visible, while behind them are beliefs, desires, values, and ideals, which are not easily seen.  The visible aspects of a culture are easy to see and identify, while the invisible elements of a culture are not obvious at first to an outsider, and cannot be discerned without careful and deep study of a culture.

This model is useful for helping us to understand that visible elements of a culture are a small part of a culture, and to help us realize that the bulk of a culture lies below the surface, hidden to outside eyes. 

The Onion Model.  This model is a series of concentric circles that represent various aspects of a culture.  The outer layer represents the behavior, tools, products, and institutions of a culture.  The next one or two layers towards the center represent the beliefs, desires, values, attitudes, and ideals of a culture.  They are hidden, but are known to the members of the culture.  The center of the onion represents the worldview of a culture.  It is assumed, unconscious, and not easily discerned, either by the members of the culture, or by outsiders. 

This model is truly a worldview model.  It shows how worldview lies at the center of a culture, supporting all the elements that make up a culture, but well-hidden from sight.  This model is a good way of understanding worldview as a concept, but is not very useful in helping to understanding what a particular worldview is, or in discovering a worldview of others, or of ourselves.  It is good for a classroom, but not very useful in the field.

The Tree Model.  This is simply another way of looking at the Onion Model.  The leaves of a tree represent the visible elements of a culture, like behavior, tools, institutions, etc.  The trunk represents the beliefs, desires, values, etc., which is known but not as obvious as the leaves.  The root of the tree represents the worldview itself, the source of all the rest of the tree, but hidden from sight and hard to expose.

Just as with the Onion Model, this model is good for helping us understand how the various parts of a worldview are interrelated, but not for helping us actually analyze a worldview and culture. 

The Three Levels of Memory.  This is more of a fact of how the brain works than a worldview model.  The first level of memory is Learned Memory.  The things we have been taught or have read are on this level, and are most-easily forgotten.  The second level is Patterned Memory.  These are memories based on what we have seen modeled by others, or on things we have personally done repeatedly.  These memories sit very deep and long, and the brain is physically changed at this level of memory, as neural pathways are formed between brain cells.  Habits are on this level.  The deepest level of memory is Episodic Memory, which is central to forming our understanding of reality, or in other words, our worldview.  Episodes, especially those involving powerful emotions of joy, fear, or pain, actually change the chemistry of the brain, and affect how we view life for the rest of our lives. 

The Excluded Middle Model, or The 2x3 Table Model.  This model is depicted by a table of two columns and three rows.  The left column represents things that are organic or personal, and the right column things that are mechanistic or impersonal.  The top row represents supernatural individuals or forces that are otherworldly.  The middle row represents supernatural individuals or forces that are of this world, and the bottom row represents natural individuals and forces.

This model proved to be far more successful to help me to begin to understand my own worldview.  I personally find this model to be very useful in explaining how we view reality, and have seen that others have also had their eyes opened by understanding this model.  I will later give much more time to explaining this model, which I think shows us the holes in our cultural description of reality, and helps us to see what needs to be filled in order for us to reach a holistic Christian understanding of life.

In Western culture, life is interpreted in terms of the bottom row of the table.  Science and philosophy seeks to interpret all of life in natural, observable, and understandable terms.  As Christians, we add the top layer to our belief system, but often we do not live lives of interaction with supernatural forces.  Our culture has sought to remove the supernatural, and unless we have powerful experiences that counteract the cultural upbringing we have been formed in, the middle part of the chart will remain blank for us.  We will give verbal assent to believing in the supernatural, but our lives do not demonstrate that we have any real contact with more than natural power.

The Soccer Game Model.  This is another model that is more about culture than worldview, but was very useful for me to give me a deeper understanding of what life is focused on, and what God wants our lives to be focused on.  Dale Goodson is the source of this model.  If life was a soccer game, who would the players be?  Who would be the enemy?  What would the ball be?  How do we score a goal, and how do we prevent the enemy from scoring a goal?

If the early church, as depicted in the Book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament, was a soccer game, what was the ball?  Who was the team owner, and who was the enemy?  Who were the players, and how did they score a goal? 

Comparing the list of players and soccer game elements from our culture to those of the early Christian Church, what is different?  In what ways is our focus today different from what it was for the apostles and church 2000 years ago, and in what ways is the church mixing things that should not be mixed? 

The Dale Goodson Model.  Dale might object to having this model called after him.  I will have to ask him about that.  I don’t know what else to call this model, however, so will leave it like this for now.  Dale, one of the main trainers at AFM, is an expert on worldview.  He has developed a model for understanding what worldview is composed of, and how to study and define the worldview of a culture. 

This model is comprehensive and detailed.  It is graphically displayed as a house built on a foundation.  The house is a particular culture.  The foundation is the worldview of that culture.  The foundation itself is based on a broader foundation, which is life experience.  Life experience is in turn based on other background information.

Worldview is split up into several elements, including Players, Core Values, Tools, System, Theme, and a Worldview Goal.  These are all inter-related and connected to each other, and are dimly understood by me!  Dale is probably the foremost expert in the Adventist church on the subject of worldview, and his classes took us deeper into these subjects than I will be able to do in these posts.  I will try to pick out the elements that I have begun to understand, and to illustrate them with some of Dale’s stories, and some of my own, as well as Bible stories. 

This model is the most practical of all the models we have been taught.  By understanding this model and the elements that it is composed of, we can learn how to break down a worldview into various elements, and to then grasp how people think and why they think that way.  We can then work to actively form their worldview into something that will help them interpret reality in a more holistic way.  By understanding the worldview of ourselves and of the people we are seeking to serve, we can better understand God and help them to do the same. 

Our goal as church-planters is not just to understand worldview.  Our goal is to help people to be reconciled to God.  That means that our goal is to help people develop spiritual maturity, correctly interpreting reality, correctly applying the Bible principles to their lives, and continually growing into the likeness of Jesus.  In this process, we want to avoid syncretism, which is becoming Christians but continuing to relate with God out of a non-Christian worldview.  By understanding where people are coming from, by understanding their worldview, we can best help them to be reconciled to God, to actively engage in the Great Controversy, while avoiding syncretism.  The Dale Goodson Model is designed to help us do exactly that.

The You Model.  Whether you know it or not, you are a worldview model.  As you live your life, however you happen to live it, you are modeling your understanding of reality.  For those who are watching you, you are a model of your own worldview.  The closer your worldview is to the Biblical worldview, the more effective you will be in helping others to understand God’s will for them and for the world. 

The God Model.  God has a worldview.  God has an understanding of reality.  As a Bible-believing Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I call this worldview the true worldview.  I call it the Way we all should live, the Truth about life, and actually Life itself.  Jesus said that about Himself, in John 14:6.  “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Jesus is God’s Worldview Model.  Jesus came to earth, the Word of God made flesh, God’s thought made audible, to help us to understand how to interpret reality.  He came to model the true interpretation of reality, because we learn best when we see something modeled.  He came to give us powerful life experiences, to help us to re-write our dysfunctional worldview, so that our understanding of reality around us would be complete. 

Jesus modeled the way God views reality for us.  He is the perfect worldview model.  His life is the perfect revelation of what is real, and how to interact with what is real.  As we behold the life of Jesus, our worldview is changed.  As we read and meditate on the life of Jesus, as given in the Bible, we are changed.  As we interact with the living Jesus in our lives today, we are transformed.  All other theoretical models pale in comparison to the worldview-altering Person who created us and can re-create us.  Only as we have first been transformed by Jesus can we become effective worldview models for others.

Jesus Rewrites Worldview

The Worldview Model, Part 1

“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’”  John 9:1, 2.

“So, Lord,... Master,... we are wanting to get something straight here.  We are realizing that You are teaching us a new way to interpret reality, and we want to get our facts and our theology straight.  As You know, there is a battle going on about such subjects as this one.  This man has been here for a long time, and a while back we heard some liberals and conservatives, or I mean, some Sadducees and Pharisees, discussing this issue.  We want to know the truth, straight from You.  Honestly, Lord, sometimes You seem like a liberal, sometimes like a conservative, so it seems like we are just going to have to ask You this kind of question about each individual case.  So, tell, us, why is this guy blind?  Somebody obviously sinned for him to be blind, and since he was born blind, we are wondering who the guilty person is.  We want to have our theology straight, Lord, so that we can have the right answer to give if we ever get involved in a debate like the one we saw.”

The disciples of course were incapable of seeing the deeper basis of their question.  It would take them months or years before they would understand that they were unconsciously assuming that this man was being punished for sin, and that God was the one punishing him.  They were wanting to figure out a very superficial issue, while their underlying worldview on matters of sickness and sin and punishment was unaltered, and would have remained unaltered if Jesus had answered their question with one of the options that they presented Him. 

“Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’”  John 9:3.

Guys, disciples, listen to Me.  You need to learn to understand reality in a completely fresh and new way.  I will not answer this question based on the options you have given Me, because you need to see that there are other reasons for this man’s condition.  In the future, I do want you to be able to correctly interpret situations like this one, but I am not interested in you reducing a human life to a theological debate.  This is a chance for the glory of God to be revealed.  That is what I want you to see from now on.

Then, in the moment when the hearts of the disciples were open to learning, Jesus demonstrated what He had just said.  He let them witness a powerful experience that could not fail to get them emotionally involved in what was happening, so that in the future, blind, lame, sick people would bring up powerful images in their minds, and they would do as He had done.

“When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent).  So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.”  John 9:6, 7.

Jesus was not trying to help his disciples know how to live life by choosing among the best options that they saw available.  He spent His life working to lead them to full conversion, to the point that they could interpret life according to His truth.  He told them they must become as little children, learning to interpret reality all over again.  Jesus was not seeking to help people know how to live life as they know it in the best way, He came to give us true LIFE, a whole new way to live, different from anything we have known before.

We often struggle in our Christian lives because we are trying to live by the teachings of Jesus, without understand that His teachings are not good rules to apply to life, but are rather His way of re-writing our worldview, so that our entire understanding of life will be transformed.  He lived a human life on earth, in full view of the society He lived in, and filled His teaching with stories, so that we could have the best possible opportunity to see life through new eyes, to have an entirely renewed approach to reality.

As missionaries, we spend a lot of time studying about worldview.  A correct understanding of the worldview of the people we are working with is the key to being able to present the gospel to them effectively.  We study about worldview on a theoretical level, and as AFM missionaries at least, our first years in the mission field will be filled with seeking to understand the culture and worldview of the people we are serving, before we ever begin to actively do any evangelism. 

The study of worldview and culture has been a great source of eye-opening experiences for me in the last months, and in an attempt to share what I have learned, and to deepen the impression of the lessons I have learned, I write this series.  I hope you enjoy it, and that you are challenged to think in ways you have not thought before.  I hope that these blogs may be a tool that God uses to draw you closer to His will for your life, and that you are inspired to study more deeply into these subjects.  I will present very little if any original material, but I will try to season the theory with personal stories.  The material I intend to share is primarily a rehash of high points from AFM Summer Training, and in writing this material, I am heavily plagiarizing the material that was presented by Erich Baumgartner, Dale Goodson, and John Kent, as well as material in books I have read.  The books include Anthropological Insights for Missionaries, by Paul Hiebert, and Worldwide Perspectives (now Pathways to Global Understanding) by Meg Crossman. 

May your worldview be exposed, challenged, and expanded as you read, is my prayer!

Spirit of God

by George Croly



Spirit of God! descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies;
No sudden rending of the veil of clay;
No angel visitant, no op’ning skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart, and strength, and mind;
I see Thy cross, there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear;
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The baptism of the heav’n-descended dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.

This is worth watching

Simple, effective water-saving washing system

Skiing and Missions

Recently, Oslo hosted the 2011 Ski World Championship games, at least most of the games involving cross-country skiing.  I probably watched the games more than I should have, since it seemed justified when they were happening so close to us, and so I will try to justify the time spent doing that by writing some thoughts from what I saw.


Reuben liked the ski-jumping best.  That probably makes sense for a two-year-old.  There is much more of a thrill, and the thrill is repeated often with short intervals between the part where the skier flies through the air above the snow-covered slope.


I preferred to watch the longer events, though, the 4 times 10km men's relay, and the 30km and 50km races.  For me, those events are more exciting than jumping, since the suspense builds for so long, and the dynamics of the race change as the competitors begin to wear out, or as they near the finish line.

Being a missionary by trade now, my thoughts naturally gravitated to wondering what parallels I could find between skiing and missions.  There are probably many that could be listed, but I will focus on one point.  I believe that short-term mission trips are like the ski-jumping event, while planting a church among an unreached people group is like a 50km race, or even a 90km race, like the one held in Sweden each year.  


Ski-jumping requires a lot of expensive equipment, without which the event would be impossible.  What would be interesting about seeing a ski-jumper who had no jump to launch himself off of? Short-term mission trips require much equipment, in the form of pre-evangelism work done by the local church.  If Holmenkollen didn't exist in Oslo, ski-jumpers would have to go elsewhere to participate in their sport.  If the church did not already exist in an area, short-term mission trips would be impossible, or at least highly ineffective.  With nobody on-site to prepare the site, the crowds, and to do follow-up work, the short-term mission trip would be a flop, regardless of how well the foreigner preached.

Ski-jumping is a huge thrill, with lots of excitement and much to cheer about, but it is soon over.  Short-term mission trips are like that, too.  They are exciting, they draw large crowds of participants and of listeners to the meetings (in many cases, not in all, of course), but they are soon over.  The ski-jumping world record is currently held by Johan Remen Evensen, who jumped 246.5 meters in Vikersund, not far from our home.  A few weeks later, his performance at Holmenkollen was mediocre and he didn't even place in the top 5 jumpers.  To me, that says that ski-jumping is dependent on many small and variable factors that the jumper has little control over, like wind, jump conditions, and what not.  Short-term mission trips return very differing results from place to place, and even the best preachers have their times of minimal success, based on factors largely outside of their influence.


The long-distance events are a very different kind of sport.  Skiing 50 kilometers is possible basically anywhere there is snow.  For the World Championships, there are of course prepared tracks in which a lot of time and effort has been expended, but strictly speaking, cross-country skiers need nothing more than skis and snow to travel 50km.  They don't need expensive equipment that has been installed and tested ahead of time to ensure their success.  As a sport, there is a lot of money put into cross-country skiing events, but the bulk of the money is spent on the skiers themselves, not on the track they will be using.  In the same way, church-planting missionaries can do their work where there is no previous church.  In fact, just as a ski jump would be a poor element to have in a cross-country ski track, the presence of an existing church in a location or among a certain people group makes church-planting redundant and more difficult in many ways.  

Church planting is expensive, but the largest part of the investment is made in the training and support of the missionaries themselves, not in the single events they are a part of.  Some preparation of the area in which a church-planter will be working can be useful, but it is not strictly necessary.  An unentered people group has a tremendous appeal to a church-planter, as untouched snow must have to a cross-country skier.  

So, which form of missions is better?  That is like asking whether ski-jumping or cross-country skiing is better.  In many ways it boils down to preference and need.  Short-term mission trips have their place, but unless a church is planted in an area, there can be no effective short-term mission trips.  How many short-term mission trips are taken to places on the globe in which the church does not already exist?  How many short-term mission trips are taken to the Middle East, for instance, compared to those taken to Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Philippines?   


Short-term mission trips serve a purpose, often largely that of exposing the foreign participants in a new and strange culture, and helping them to see that there truly are places in the world where people are streaming into the church, in contrast to the lukewarm response to the gospel that a lukewarm church is experiencing in their home countries.  I am an individual who got a taste of missions on two short-term mission trips with Maranatha, to Central America, which developed into a desire to devote my entire life to missions.  I am thankful for the experiences I had on those trips, but I have a feeling that I am a fairly rare case.  Perhaps I am wrong, but the numbers of people taking short-term mission trips are largely unreflected in people devoting their lives to long-term mission service.  Hopefully this is beginning to change.  


The problem in short-term mission trips can be that they tend to inoculate the majority of their participants from dedicating many years of their lives to church-planting mission service.  Just like Reuben gets very bored watching cross-country skiing, we can think short-term mission trips are all that missions consist of.  "I know what missions is about.  I went on a one-month trip to Tanzania.  I loved it, and look forward to traveling to the Marshall Islands next year!  After that, I want to visit the Philippines."   We have a sense that we are fulfilling the Great Commission when in fact we are largely just supporting the church where it is already strong.


Short-term mission trips can also give a false picture that there are already Christians all over the world, since by nature they will not be arranged to places where the church does not already exist.  There is certainly a need for evangelism where the church is already established, and there are billions of people within reach of the gospel who need to hear the message that foreign preachers can share, but their condition is vastly different than those who live within cultures in which the Bible does not exist in their language.  The entire world has not been reached with the gospel, and there are still around 2 billion people on this planet who have zero access to the gospel in their language or culture.  If somebody has or even will conduct short-term mission trips to such areas, I would predict that they would not do so twice.  The results of a short-term mission trip would be dismal at best, in an area where the church can not prepare for and follow up the short-term event.  


I like the thrill of ski-jumping.  I also like the thrill of short-term mission trips.  Yet, I prefer cross-country skiing, and I have also chosen to devote my life to long-term church-planting.  I pray often that thousands of others will do the same thing.  There are still around 12,000 people groups in the world with no Seventh-day Adventists among them.  Short-term mission trips are not going to fix this problem.  


"Lord of the harvest, send forth laborers into Your harvest.  Send both those who can work for a short time, and send those who can give their lives to the work until the job is done."

Our Lives, His Time

“Oh, are you back from Africa already?”

“No, we haven’t left yet!”

This is a question we have often received from people here in Norway when they see us visiting their church, and sometimes even at our own church when we have been away for a few weeks.  We have often said that we would be leaving for Benin at such and such a time, but those dates have passed by more times that we can count now.  We have had our plans, but apparently the Lord has had other plans. 

It is an exciting life that we are living!  Hardly a day goes by without some interesting and significant lesson being taught to us, and we have seen God’s hand in so many ways.  It seems that God is making it clear that we are on His heart and in His plans, but that we need to learn to surrender our own plans and wait upon Him.  We have so often been sure we know what the future would bring, and when we would be in Benin, but now we are learning to trust that we will be there in God’s perfect timing. 

Now the significant financial hurdles have been passed, thanks to those of you who have joined our support team both as one-time donors and as monthly supporters.  We are currently waiting for the presidential election in Benin to be done, since it can be difficult to travel on election days, and the dates have been changed on several occasions.

Two Mites

"When I get a job, I would like to support your project.”

“Well, thank you!” I replied to my student friend. “We appreciate that.”

Sadly, many people feel that if they can’t give $100 per month, they might as well not give anything. One lady told me, “I can’t give you $100 per month, so I will just give this one-time gift.” Really, we appreciate everyone who gives. Some of our donors give $5 or $10 per month, and we think that is fantastic. A large number of people giving small amounts per month spreads our support over a wide base, making it stable and sustainable.

Of course, we also very much appreciate those who are able to give $50, $100 or $200 per month. It’s just that we are sad to think that many people feel that small monthly commitments are insignificant. Five dollars may seem like a little amount here in the West, but in the mission field, it can go very far.

“Hmm. Five dollars a month is not much. That is like four Euros or something. I could afford that even if I don’t have a job. I spend that much on candy or soda anyway. Maybe I can start giving right away.” A light had switched on in my friend’s mind. Perhaps the truth of the widow’s two mites was winning yet another convert!

http://www.afmonline.org/frontiers/article.php?id=5166

The Demoniac On Our Stage

Preaching evangelistic meetings in Africa can be a very interesting experience.  One time, a man came running up to the stage, yelling and screaming incoherently.  Reuben Kingamkono, my translator, and I stood on the stage, looking at him.  At first I thought he wanted to attack us, but he couldn’t touch us.  It was almost as if he was stopped by some invisible hand.  I remember thinking that I was not afraid, but I didn’t know what to do.  It seemed clear to me that the man was demon-possessed and was probably trying to reach out for help. Reuben stood there saying, “Toka, pepo!  Toka, pepo!  (Leave, demon!  Leave, demon!)” 

The deacons who were helping out with the practical issues at the meetings came and took the man away.  They took him back behind the stage and began to pray in earnest over him.  As Reuben and I resumed the sermon, the poor guy was surrounded by dedicated Christians who covered him in prayer.  After a time of prayer, he calmed down and began to speak clearly again.

As I have often thought back on that moment in time, I have wondered what, if anything, I could have done differently.  I was not scared in the face of another human who was apparently under the control of a wicked supernatural power.  Yet, I did not know what to do.  I knew that I was under protection and would not be hurt, but I did not know how to exercise that faith to help the poor sufferer in front of me. 

Episodes that like one make me appreciate Jesus and His ministry much more.  He never wavered in His interaction with malevolent forces.  He never gave place to the devil or left a helpless sufferer in his or her misery.  He rebuked the devil and his demons, and they were forced to obey His word. 

I am now about the same age as Jesus was when He died.  As I look at His life, I see so clearly how different I am from Him.  As I think of what my little three-year stint of mission service accomplished compared to His three-and-a-half year time of ministry, I am humbled and awed at the power of The Man.  He lived a life like no other.  He lives today so we can live in us, as well.  Oh, for a faith that not only lets me know I am secure in His protection, but which also acts for the benefit of others!  Oh, to be a partaker of the divine nature!  And, if I do not have the knowledge of how to help the next demon-possessed person I meet, I hope that I again am around those who do! 

The Conclusion of the Matter

 The Pause on the Brink of Eternity, part 12.

I still long for Jesus to come back to this earth, as I did over a decade ago back at Mission College that day the truth of His return first awakened my dull senses.  I am sure that you desire the same thing.  If you have read through this series of essays, you may now see a bit more of the reason why He delays.  Jesus Himself longs to return more than anybody on earth has ever desired Him to return, but in infinite patience, He waits until His church is ready to receive Him.  He will continue to wait as long as necessary, until the church reflects His glorious character, and the gospel has gone to every people group on the planet.

Jesus, in His infinite wisdom, has given us a message that will prepare us to carry the gospel to the world, and that will make us ready to welcome Him in the clouds.  He inspired John to write the book of Revelation in such a way as to draw our attention to this message.  Over 150 years ago, that message began to bring an awakening to the church, but the individuals comprising the body of believers did not thoroughly cooperate with the message to the Laodicean church.  Today the message remains, latently potent with all of the power of the gospel itself.  It waits for us to read it and heed it.  Jesus waits for us to read it and invite Him into our hearts on a scale that has never before occurred. 

One quote from Ellen White lingers in my mind as I consider this subject.  “What is justification by faith?  It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.”  Testimonies to Ministers, page 456.  If God lays our glory in the dust, our power is shattered.  If He does for us that which it is not in our power to do for ourselves, Christ is in us, the hope of glory, and the mystery of God is being finished.   The Laodicean message is central to the gospel, and is custom made for the special issues and temptations that confront the church of Christ in these last days. 

I have personally found that experiencing the power of the Laodicean message is simple, and is possible.  It is not easy, and I have found that the excitement has worn off and revealed that I needed much more contrition and repentance than I had experienced.  I would commend to you as well the Laodicean message.

Reader, if you desire to have power in your life as never before, if you desire to have Jesus dwell in your heart and to hasten His glorious return, the Laodicean message is for you. 

There are many ways to study one passage of Scripture and experience its power.  Personally, I took the word-by-word approach to studying Revelation 3:14-22, and found my communion with God to be growing daily.  I went through the Laodicean message one word at a time, seeking to understand the meaning of that word, and to see how it fit into the rest of the message.  I looked up other places in the Bible that word was used, and even wrote and amplified version of the verses, based on what I found in other passages of Scripture.  The process took me several weeks, but it was worth every minute!  It should have probably taken me several months, for the full effect of the message to be realized in my life. 

God has given us this special passage of Scripture for our good.  He has called us to an intimate communion with Him.  He offers us, the members of this wretched and pitiable church, promises that He has not offered to anybody else in history.  Only the overcomers in Laodicea are promised to be able to sit in the throne with Jesus, as He sits in the throne with His Father.  Only Laodicea is offered the opportunity to dine with Jesus. 

Heeding the message to Laodicea can be very simple.  You, reader, can read those words over and over again, and pray that God will teach you through them.  You can read until you are bored, and then read some more until you are anything but bored!  You can, through the message to Laodicea, open your heart to Jesus, and enjoy the fulness of salvation He came to give.  My friend, I commend to you the Word of God.  I commend to you the Laodicean message.  May God bless you.

Shattering the Power of the Holy People

The Pause on the Brink of Eternity, part 11.

To wrap up this study, I would like to take a look at a parallel prophecy to the pause on the brink of eternity, as described in Revelation.  Then I will try to give some very practical advice for how you can personally experience the power of the Laodicean message and hasten the coming of the day of God.

In many ways the books of Daniel and Revelation are similar.  One of my favorite writers has even gone so far as to say that, “The books of Daniel and the Revelation are one.  One is a prophecy, the other a revelation; one a book sealed, the other a book opened.”  Ellen G. White, Manuscript 59, 1900.  I don’t pretend to know what that really means, but I do know that understanding Daniel is a tremendous help in being able to decipher Revelation, and that there are many similarities between the prophecies in the two books.  Daniel 10-12 contains many similarities to Revelation 10, and to better understand what is involved in the mystery of God being finished, looking back to Daniel is an enlightening aid.

There are other, more subtle similarities between these two passages of Scripture, but this list is sufficient to show that Daniel and John saw very similar visions, which complement each other and help us understand more about what each did see.  Daniel saw the announcement of a time prophecy (“a time, times, and half a time”), while John saw what would happen after that prophecy was fulfilled, when “there would be no more delay.” 

The interesting part of the similarities, at least the part I find most interesting, is the reference to the “shattering of the power of the holy people,” in close parallel to the mystery of God being fulfilled.  Somehow, in order for the mystery of God to be fulfilled, the power of God’s people must be shattered.  What can that mean?  It seems oxymoronic at best to think that God will be able to finish anything when the power of His people has been shattered.

Perhaps this is one of those instances when God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways.  (Isaiah 55:8).  God seems to be able to work in us best when we see our nothingness, and realize that without Him we can do nothing.  Paul realized this in his time, and wrote, “ when I am weak, then I am strong.”  2 Corinthians 12:10.  When God shatters our power, when He shows us how helpless we are to perform any righteous act without His power, He can then use us, and can finish the mystery of God. 

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.”  Isaiah 57:15.

According to the Strong’s Concordance, the word translated as “contrite” in this verse means “crushed (lit. powder),” and is also translated as “destruction” in Psalm 90:3.  God dwells with those who have a contrite and lowly spirit.  He crushes, pulverizes, and destroys that He may re-form us into an abode He can inhabit.  When the power of the holy people is shattered, the mystery of God will be finished.  The mystery of God is Christ in us, and in the Laodicean message, Jesus offers to come into us.  He has first crushed and shattered our self-dependency and self-deception, and He stands knocking at the door of our hearts, wanting to come in and abide with us.  Can you see how all of these beautiful truths of the gospel come together in the Laodicean message?  Can you see how God wants to use it to shatter the power of His holy people, that He might remake them and dwell in them? 

“There are a large number of professing Christians who do not really follow Jesus.  They do not bear the cross by proper self-denial and self-sacrifice.  Although making a great profession of being earnest Christians, they weave into the fabric of their character so may of the threads of their own imperfections that the beautiful pattern is spoiled.  Of them Christ says: ‘You boast of being rich and increased with supposed spiritual attainments.  In reality you are neither cold nor hot, but are filled with vain conceit.  Unless converted, you cannot be saved; for you would mar heaven with your unsanctified wisdom.  I cannot endorse your spirit and your work.  You do not act according to the divine Example.  You are following a pattern merely of your own invention.  Because you are lukewarm, I must spew you out of My mouth.’

“Let us thank the Lord that while this class is so numerous, there is still time for repentance.  Jesus says, ‘I, your Redeemer, known your works.  I am familiar with the motives that prompt you to declare boastingly in regard to your spiritual condition, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.”  Thou “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”’”  Ellen G. White, Manuscript 138, 1902.
 

Wretched and Pitiable

The Pause on the Brink of Eternity, part 10

The Greek words translated as “wretched” and “pitiable” in Revelation 3:17 are each used only one other time in the New Testament.  When I see things like this in the Bible, I almost get goose-bumps!  Although “poor,” “blind,” and “naked” are used often in many contexts, these two words are used only one other time each, so that we can know exactly what Jesus is telling us.  He wants to leave us with no doubt about what His message means.  The two conditions that do not have a remedy that we can buy from Jesus in verse 18 are the most-serious of the bunch! 

“Wretched” is used first in Romans 7:24.  Paul wrote, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”  Debates have raged over Romans 7, and I would rather not start up a new round of those old arguments.  Without going too deeply into the theology of Romans 7, it seems plain to me that in verse 24, Paul is calling himself wretched because he is needing deliverance from a body of death.  He is a man in need of deliverance.  So is Laodicea!  When Jesus used that exact word, He knew that Paul had used it in this way in Romans, and He would draw our attention back to that book.  He wants us to know that we are in need of deliverance - deliverance that only He Himself can provide.  We, with Paul can say, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 7:25. 

The word translated as “pitiable” in the ESV is used one other time in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 15:19, and translated as “to be pitied.”  Paul is again the author, and He wrote, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”  The Bible is not some book of fables simply put together by some individuals a few thousand years ago.  It is the inspired, living Word of God, and it is profitable for our salvation.  Jesus tells us, when He says that we are “pitiable,” that we have hope in Christ in this life only.  First Corinthians 15 is about the resurrection, and Paul is saying that if there is no resurrection, then we are pitiable.  If Christianity contains no promise of an after-life, we are to be pitied.  If we have no hope beyond the visible, temporal life we know down here, we might as well give up on Christianity, because who would choose such a pitiful condition if they gained nothing by it, if Jesus was not real and offering us a life with Him in eternity?  Jesus, in Revelation 3, says with the plainest possible language, that Laodicea has no hope of a resurrection in their current condition.  They are lost and are going to burn in hell unless a dramatic change takes place.  The Laodicean message is a faithful prescription from a loving doctor, who does not hesitate to tell us the truth, even if it hurts.


A friend of mine was once suffering from a painful, debilitating disease.  He visited doctors multiple times, until his savings were exhausted and hope was nearly gone.  He told me that the worst thing a person could possibly hear from a doctor is, “I don’t know what is wrong with you.”  Jesus, in this potent message, tells us, “I know thy works.”  He is diagnosing our condition, and giving us the remedy that we so desperately need. 

Gold, white clothing, and eye-salve take care of the conditions that I personally believe are less serious, but what is the remedy for being wretched and pitiable?


“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”  Revelation 3:20.  Jesus is the remedy that Laodicea needs!  Jesus, the living, loving Savior, is the solution for our problems!  Who could possibly be wretched and pitiable when Jesus is living in them, dining with them?  There is no salvation in any other, and unless we have Jesus in our hearts, we will remain in our lost condition of pitiful wretchedness.  Jesus, in His incredible love, offers to come into the very midst of Laodicea, those He has seen nothing commendable in.  He has said so much about what is wrong with Laodicea, but to them He offers the most intimate of all promises to the seven churches.  “I will come in to him.” 


If you have been reading all of the posts in this series up to now, you may remember the “Mystery of God.”  In one of the clearest verses describing what the mystery of God is, Paul wrote, “...God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  The mystery of God, according to this verse, is “Christ in you.”  Jesus said later, “I will come in to him.”  If we heed the counsel that Jesus gives us in the Laodicean message, He will be in us, dwelling in our hearts through the agency of His Holy Spirit, and in us, the mystery of God will be realized.  The mystery of God will be finished when Jesus dwells in the hearts of His people, and that will happen when His people understand and apply the Laodicean message in their own lives. 

The Laodicean message is the key to the Second Coming of Jesus!  We are pausing on the brink of eternity still today because Jesus is waiting for the Laodicean message to do its work.  The character of Christ will be perfectly reproduced in His people, and those people will carry the everlasting gospel to “every nation and tribe and language and people,” when the Laodicean message is treated with the seriousness that is deserves.

The Laodicean Message Applied to the SDA Church

The Pause on the Brink of Eternity, part 9.


I am indebted to Dave Fieldler’s wonderful book, Hindsight, for much of the information in this section. 


In October, 1856, James White published an editorial in the Review and Herald in which he showed points that made it clear that the Laodicean message applied to the Seventh-day Adventist church, not just to other denominations, as SDAs had been inclined to believe.  At first many people rejected that message, but within a few months, many pastors and lay people responded positively, saying that they could see that the message really did apply to them, and not to others.  It seemed that a revival was beginning to take place in the church, but it too soon died away.  In late 1857, Ellen White published a testimony to the church which presented an inspired account of what had taken place just over a year before, and what could have happened if the revival had continued.

“I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God’s people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work is because of the hardness of their hearts.  But God has given the message time to do its work.  The heart must be purified from the sins which have so long shut out Jesus.  This fearful message will do its work.  When it was first presented, it led to close examination of heart.  Sins were confessed, and the people of God were stirred everywhere.  Nearly all believed that this message would end in the loud cry of the third angel.  But as they failed to see the powerful work accomplished in a short time, many lost the effect of the message.  I saw that this message would not accomplish its work in a few short months.  It is designed to arouse the people of God, to discover to them their backslidings, and to lead to zealous repentance, that they may be favored with the presence of Jesus, and be fitted for the loud cry of the third angel.  As this message affected the heart, it led to deep humility before God.  Angels were sent in every direction to prepare unbelieving hearts for the truth.  The cause of God began to rise, and His people were acquainted with their position.  If the counsel of the True Witness had been fully heeded, God would have wrought for His people in greater power.  Yet the efforts made since the message has been given, have been blessed of God, and many souls have been brought from error and darkness to rejoice in the truth.

“God will prove His people.  Jesus bears patiently with them, and does not spew them out of His mouth in a moment.  Said the angel: ‘God is weighing His people.’  If the message had been of as short duration as many of us supposed, there would have been no time for them to develop character.  Many moved from feeling, not from principle and faith, and this solemn, fearful message stirred them.  It wrought upon their feelings, and excited their fears, but did not accomplish the work which God designed that it should.  God reads the heart.  Lest His people should be deceived in regard to themselves, He gives them time for the excitement to wear off, and then proves them to see if they will obey the counsel of the True Witness.”  Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pages 186, 187

If I am reading that quote correctly, there is a latent potential in the Laodicean message that has yet to be realized.  “This fearful message will do its work.”  There is a power that God has chosen to make available through that message that has not yet been unleashed in its fulness.  God has “designed” that the Laodicean message will be an integral part of the events on earth in the last days, and we can know that it will happen as He has planned. 






When I was teaching classes on the book of Revelation in Africa, I began to understand the fabulous importance of the message to the last of the seven churches.  In my eagerness to help others see and experience the power of the message to Laodicea, I offered the students money if they would memorize Revelation 3:14-22!  With that kind of incentive, many students made sure they got their dollar, but I wonder how effective such a method really is.  “God reads the heart.  Lest His people should be deceived in regard to themselves, He gives them time for the excitement to wear off, and then proves them to see if they will obey the counsel of the True Witness.”  Excitement or a desire for money can get us to do much, but time will reveal to us and to those around us whether the Laodicean message has done a true and lasting work in our hearts.

Much could be said about the Laodicean message, and much has been said in many venues already.  Understanding and applying the message to the church of Laodicea is a primarily personal matter that takes time.  I recommend to you to read and memorize those few verses for yourself, that you may actively participate in this special message. 


Jesus says that the church in Laodicea is “lukewarm,” and specifies that they are: “Wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”  English Standard Version.  Those five words are not exactly flattering, to say the least, but at least Jesus lets us know the truth, and does all He can to help us out of our self-deceived, lukewarm condition.  After describing Laodicea’s condition, He counsels them to buy of Him remedies for three of the five problems He has listed.  “Gold” would change the state of somebody who is “poor.”  “Eye-salve” would remedy the problem of the “blind,” and “white raiment” would cover the shame of the “naked.”  So, what about the “wretched” and “pitiable” attributes?  I believe that in the understanding of those points, the bulk of the power in the Laodicean message lies.  I personally feel that it was in understanding this part of the message that the SDA church began to experience true revival over 150 years ago.

Jesus Standing at the Door

The Pause on the Brink of Eternity, part 8

Now we have taken a look at the mystery of God being finished, and how that relates to the proclamation of the gospel, “[prophesying] again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings,” Revelation 10:11, KJV, and the sealing of the 144,000, and how that relates to carrying the gospel to “every nation, ... all tribes and peoples and languages.”  Now we will take a look at the final piece of the key to understanding this pause on the brink of eternity.

The two series of seven trumpets and seven seals contain an obvious interlude, or pause, between the sixth and seventh of the series.  In each case, the telling of the sequence is interrupted while a chapter or more of Scripture is inserted, making it fairly obvious that John wants to tell us about something that needs to take place before the seventh seal can be opened or the seventh trumpet blown.

The sequence of the seven churches runs parallel to the seven seals and seven trumpets, covering the same time, from Jesus here to Jesus here again, from the first coming to the second coming.  Unlike the two parallel series, the seven churches do not contain an interlude in Scripture, however.  It seems that a parenthesis is missing here.  If the churches represent a period of time concurrent to the seven seals and seven trumpets, why isn’t there a similar pause on the brink of eternity in them?

Perhaps there isn’t such a pause, for the very reason that God wants us to take a look at the messages to the churches themselves, to see if they contain some clue.  There is no apparent time gap in the text of Revelation 3 between the message to the sixth church, Philadelphia, and the message to the seventh church, Laodicea, but there is a dramatic gap in the tone of the two messages themselves.

The message to Philadelphia is full of commendation and encouragement to keep going as they are doing, while the message to Laodicea is the least-flattering of all the messages to the seven churches.  Philadelphia is told, “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it,” while Jesus finds Himself outside of the door in the message to Laodicea: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him....”  Revelation 3:8, 21.  Interestingly, the two unrebuked churches, Smyrna, and Philadelphia, are lacking in riches and strength, respectively, which is also true of Laodicea, but Laodicea is ignorant of the fact!  “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked....” Verse 17.

While Jesus tells Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,” He doesn’t rebuke Philadelphia, but He instead tells them, “I have loved thee.”  Verses 19, 9.  Do you see the huge gap in the condition of Laodicea, as compared to the church period immediately proceeding it, represented by Philadelphia?  In both the letter to Smyrna and the letter to Philadelphia, Jesus speaks of a group “which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:9 (see also 3:9.)  When the church is poor, and weak, yet faithful and unrebuked, hypocrisy in others becomes most apparent.  When the church is rich only in faith and strong only in the grace of God, it becomes clear what true Christianity looks like, and false believers are unmasked for the pretenders that they are.  When weak people are strong to hold on to the Word of God and poor people carry themselves like they are heirs to all the riches of the universe, those whose religion is superficial and legalistic are exposed, and they begin to persecute the true children of God.

Laodicea, on the other hand, seems to be rich and in need of nothing, but God sees things otherwise.  To Him, Laodicea deserves no commendation, but is instead nauseatingly lukewarm, in danger of losing their place in heaven.  Jesus threatens them of the inevitable consequence of their condition: “I will spit you out of my mouth.”  Revelation 3:16.  The Gospel of John, written by the same author as Revelation, has a very different tone in the 16th verse of the third chapter.  There, in the most well-known verse of the Bible, we are told that salvation is offered to all who believe in Jesus, but here, the same speaker tells His church that they are going to lose all connection with him.  

The message to the church in Laodicea is a painful message, a graphic description of the condition of the church of God in the end of time.  As much as we might like these words to apply to somebody else, they best fit the conditions found within the Seventh-day Adventist church.  Our prophet told us as much on many occasions.  “The message to the Laodicean church is applicable to our condition.  How plainly is pictured the position of those who think they have all the truth, who take pride in their knowledge of the Word of God, while its sanctifying power has not been felt in their lives.  The fervor of the love of God is wanting in their hearts, but it is this very fervor of love that makes God’s people the light of the world.”  Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, July 23, 1889.

Your Crippled Teacher

Imagine you are in a mid-sized city in East Africa.  The three paved roads that intersect the highway running through town turn into dust tracks after a few kilometers.  The noises and activity of a bustling city seem to never end, and you are one of the few foreigners there.  

You are holding an evangelistic meeting series in the city, which is being attended by about a thousand people.  Other churches have promised to outpreach you, but they soon run out of things to say, and those attending the dancing sessions begin to come to your meeting instead.  The contending preachers end their efforts within a week of beginning, but you wonder how you are going to say all you want to say in three short weeks!  The Lord is blessing, and people are beginning to tell you that they want to be baptized and join your church.  

You hear about a lady who wants a visit in her home, so you and a friend agree on a time.  You have not met the woman yourself, but those helping in the meetings have told you about her, given you her name, and told you where she lives.  You travel as far as you can in an over-crowded minibus, then crawl out where the broken, bumpy asphalt road intersects with the rutted dirt path to the section of town where the lady lives.  There are no real street names or house numbers, but you ask those you pass where the neighborhood is, and they point you further up the mountain.  

You continue your climb up the mountain, past the dwindling number of houses.  A man on an orange Honda 90cc motorcycle bounces down the hill past you, waving and greeting you as he passes in a cloud of swirling dust.  The road cannot be called a road anymore, and you doubt that anybody who lives up here could afford to own a car.  Finally a lady sitting outside of her house points to the house where the lady lives, and you near the end of your dusty journey.  

As you approach the little two-room hut covered with rusty roofing sheets, you see the woman sitting on a three-legged stool, enjoying the warm sunshine.  You are a bit surprised that she does not rise to greet you, but just then you notice her bicycle and understand.  Her “bicycle” is more of a “tri-cycle,” crudely welded together from various bicycle parts and other pieces of iron.  Instead of pedals as you are used to on the three-wheeled cycles around town, you see that this is a hand-pedaled cycle, specially designed for people who cannot use their legs.  The lady you have come to visit is lame, paralyzed in both of her legs.  Her hand-shake tells you firmly that you would not want to try and arm-wrestle this woman!  You are still out of breath from the climb up the hill to her house, but she obviously has hand-cranked her way up this hill many times.  

The lady wants to talk about serious matters, so she invites you to enter her home.  You stoop through the low door and wait for her to follow.  As the smoke stings your eyes and the chickens dart around pecking for food on the floor, you start to wonder how this lady is going to move into the house.  Will she drag herself along the ground, as you have seen other cripples do?  Soon you see that she has a cleaner method of transporting herself.  As she sits on one stool, she places another three-legged stool beside her.  She lifts herself over to the empty stool, then moves the stool she has just left between her and the house, and repeats the process.  She moves quite efficiently, and soon she joins you in the hut.  

While you stand and watch her progress, you find yourself wondering why you are here.  Of course God’s love is for everybody, but we need strong people in the church!  What can this lady add to the body of Christ?  What will she contribute, when she is so needy herself?  Soon the real conversation starts, so you try to focus on what the lady is saying, and not on your own thoughts.

“I have been attending the meetings you have been holding.  I appreciate what you have been saying, and I want to join this church.”

“Well, that is good to hear,” you say, although you still wonder if it is really so good to hear.  “So, you would like to be baptized?”

“Yes, I would,” she replies.  You begin to talk to her about the various things she has been learning, and find out that she has been studying with church members for several months, but has now finally made the decision.  Yet, for some reason, she hesitates.

“Pastor, I am a bit worried.  I can’t swim, and I am afraid of water.  How can I be baptized?”

For the first time, you realize why this lady has asked you to visit her.  Her heart is calling her to follow Jesus in baptism, but her fear is strong.  You begin to wonder how she could practically be baptized, since she can obviously not carry her own weight, but you don’t need to wonder long.

“Oh, that will be ok,” your friend speaks out.  “We are used to this.  We will have other people in the water with the pastor, and they will hold you and make sure that you go under and come right back up again.  Don’t worry, we have done this before, and you will be fine.”

Good thing somebody with more experience was with you today!  Soon you take your leave of the lady who has now confirmed her decision, and make your way back down to the noisy, bustling city.  

On the day of baptism, 160 people line up on the banks of a small river to be baptized.  Several thousand others are also there to watch.  It is a day of happy singing and hearty “Amen!”s as each person goes into the watery grave and comes up to new life.  After a time of watching the others, the paralyzed lady has her opportunity to go into the water.  Nervously, she takes the hands of two strong helpers, who lead her into the water to the pastor.  Two men hold her firmly, and the pastor places his hands on her and pronounces the blessings.  “Because you have decided to follow Jesus, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  

Gently the lady is lowered into the water.  You can see the terror on her face, but as she comes up again, borne by the strong men holding her, she is no longer afraid.  Peace fills her heart, and she tearfully expresses her joy that she has made this decision.  She is carried out of the river, where she is greeted by the deaconesses who help her dry off and change her clothes.  

Tears fill your eyes as you think of the new life this lady is going to experience.  You marvel at her display of faith.  Not only has she committed her life to God in her heart, but in a very real sense she has trusted her life into the hands of others.  You feel that her faith is far greater than anything you have personally ever known, and you are filled with joy unspeakable.

And as you stand there, thinking of what you have seen today, you realize you are living life to its fullest.  You say to yourself, “I am alive!  I was created to be here today.  I was born to be a missionary in Africa!”  

You thank God for the "weak" ones who can teach you so much!  And you thank Him that He allowed you to be a part of this beautiful moment.

The Premature Honeymoon

The Pause on the Brink of Eternity, part 7

Imagine if Jesus were to get impatient up in Heaven, and decide that He has waited long enough to return.  He decides to hop over a few details in His prophecies and promises, and His passionate love for His people drives Him to abbreviate the history of the world.  He quickly finishes up His ministry in the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary, and marshals the armies of heaven for the great rescue they have been waiting for for millennia. The Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the earth, and the final events take place in rapid succession.  Those who are ready are sealed with the seal of God, and those who are not are marked by the beast.  The great time of trouble commences, and Jesus soon returns in the clouds to gather His jewels to Himself.  

“This is our God, the one we have waited for,” sing the waiting faithful, and they are caught up with the newly-risen dead in Christ to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord.  Oh, bliss, oh, wonderful, glorious, heavenly joy.  One second of heaven would be worth more than all the sufferings of this earthly life, and now all eternity stretches out before the bride of Christ, the redeemed from the earth.  The wedding for which the Bridegroom has waited so long can now take place, and just imagine what the honeymoon will be like!

Well, yeah, imagine what the honeymoon will be like.  Sex will no longer be a part of human existence, but the personal knowing of Jesus in person will far surpass any joy that sex can bring anyway.  So, the honeymoon begins, with the joys and revelations that surpass anything the most-faithful couple have ever enjoyed.  Or, ... well, ... maybe not exactly.  As Jesus rejoices over His bride, He begins to inspect her more closely, and what does He find?  She’s not all there!  She’s missing some very vital and important parts of her body!  She looked ok from a distance, but so much of what would have made her beautiful is lacking, and can never be replaced!  

“Oh, no!” Jesus cries out!  “She wasn’t ready to get married!  She wasn’t whole yet!  What have I done?  It’s over, it’s too late to change anything.  There are over 12,000 nations, tribes, peoples, and languages that didn’t have the opportunity to be part of the body, My body!  Oh, no, now they are lost forever, beyond the reach of any hope, and my bride is crippled, maimed, blemished for all eternity!  She’s missing toes, fingers, teeth, one eyeball, half her heart, and an ear!”

“Count the patience of our Lord as salvation.”  “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”  2 Peter 3:15, 9.  “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”  James 5:7.

As of today, there are still over 6,600 individual people groups, representing over 2.75 billion people, that are unreached, meaning that they do not have a significant Christian presence among them.  When we look at Adventists, the number is over 12,000 people groups with no SDA church established among them.  How could Jesus come back until members from those groups have been reached, warned, and gathered into His body, the church?  Jesus is a gentleman, a Lover who is passionately in love with one Beloved.  He will have nobody else, and even if decades and centuries pass, He will wait until she is ready for marriage.  Today she is not ready, so He waits.  And waits.  And still waits.  How long will He wait?  Hopefully not much longer, but according to His word we know that He will wait long enough for the prophecies to come true that there will be individuals “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” standing in the innumerable multitude before the Throne of God in heaven.  

Jesus doesn’t want to get married to an incomplete bride, and if you think about it, I am sure you would agree that you wouldn’t want to get married to an all-powerful being who doesn’t keep His word.  Could the saved really trust Jesus to keep other promises in His Word if He jumped the gun and came back to earth before every people group is represented in the church?  What other promises might He overlook down the road?  If He didn’t care enough about those nations, tribes, languages, and peoples, how much does He really care about those of us who make it?  

I have heard it said that when a person has sex with their lover outside of marriage, even if they are engaged, they are giving their future spouse permission to have sex outside of marriage.  If a person is not self-controlled enough to wait to get married, can they be trusted even after they are married?  If Jesus jumps the gun now, so to speak, ending history before His bride is ready, can His bride ever really trust Him?  The regret and remorse experienced by impatient lovers here on earth is surely next to nothing compared to the eternal remorse of hastening the second coming.

So, Jesus waits.  He is a gentleman, and He will keep His Word.  He will keep His Word to return, but before that can happen, His Word about who will be in heaven must be kept as well.  I don’t know about you, but I would like to be married to somebody like that, and I would want to do everything possible to be ready for the wedding and the eternal honeymoon following.  Do you want to receive the seal of God in your forehead?  Then consider that that process will be inextricably intwined with the carrying of the gospel to the unreached people groups of this world.  Those who are sealed will be involved to one degree or another in proclaiming the gospel.