Author: BTP

“And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to thee on the water. And He said, Come” (Matthew 14:28-29).

The disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee at night, trying to row their boat against a headwind. They were not making much progress, but then the Lord Jesus came to them, walking on the water. Peter immediately wanted to walk on the water too, and the Lord told him to come. With the Lord’s power, Peter, too, walked on the water, even though it was rough. There is an important lesson for all of us to learn in this.

The rough water is a picture to us of difficulties the Lord allows in our lives, and sometimes it seems that we cannot make much progress against them. Perhaps we try hard in our own strength, but it does not work. However, just as the Lord was not hindered by the headwind and waves, so we too can rise above our problems, and, as it were, walk above them. As long as Peter kept his eye on the Lord, and not on the rough water, he was able to walk on the rough water, just as the Lord did. Tomorrow we will see what happened when he got his eyes off the Lord, and looked at the strong wind and heavy waves.

“Yea, I [the Lord] have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).

It is heart-warming that this verse is not spoken at the beginning of the history of Israel, but rather at the point where God was going to allow them to be carried away into captivity because of their sin. Yet He reassures them through the prophet Jeremiah that He loved them with an everlasting love. Although He did not allow them to get away with sin, yet He never stopped loving them.

You and I have not done any better, yet the Lord’s love to us never changes. In spite of all man’s sin the Lord Jesus went to Calvary’s cross and suffered for sin, not because we deserved it, but because of His love. It was His love that took Him to the cross, and His love that caused Him to remain on the cross, until He could cry out triumphantly, “It is finished!”

The Lord Jesus wants us to remember His love, for as our verse tells us, it is an everlasting love. We can remember His love here in this world, but we will also remember it for all eternity.

“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:18).

There are some animals that take on the color of what they eat. Some of them are birds, such as flamingos and cedar waxwings. Flamingos are pink because of the shrimp that they eat, while cedar waxwings sometimes have reddish-orange tails instead of yellow tails, because of the red Asian honeysuckle berries that they eat. There is another animal called a chameleon that takes on the color of whatever it happens to be sitting on. They are a kind of lizard, and they live mostly in tropical countries, especially southern African countries.

We can learn from these examples. Spiritually, we all show what we have been feeding upon. Christians who feed on God’s Word regularly will show it in their lives, while those who feed on the things of this world will show this too. We cannot hide it.

But what about the chameleon? His ability to change his color makes him harder to see, which helps him avoid his predators. But it is not a good thing spiritually. Some Christians simply adapt to whatever environment they find themselves in. Among Christians they act like Christians, while out in the world, they act like worldly people. Not good. Let us honor the Lord by acting like Christians. Then we will be like a good tree that brings forth good fruit.

“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14).

“Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

Yesterday we mentioned that the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross not only takes away our sins, but will also one day result in the removal of sin from the entire universe, so that sin never occurs again. What a wonderful time that will be!

In our verses today, we see how this will come about. The old creation was spoiled by sin when Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation. The whole creation was spoiled because of this, and we all know the bad results in this world. Sin has spoiled everything—people, animals, and plant life. All eventually must die as the result of sin.

But the Lord Jesus is the Head of new creation, and our verses today refer to this. The Lord Jesus was the One who made the old creation, but in Revelation 3:14, we see that He is the beginning of new creation. This creation will never be spoiled, for by that time Satan will be placed in the lake of fire forever. He will never tempt anyone again!

In Revelation 21, verses 1-8, we have a description of that wonderful day on earth, when God will bring in new creation. He says, “Behold, I make all things new” (vs. 5). The old creation will be burned up, and God will bring in new creation, that can never be spoiled.

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Yesterday we spoke a little about how God is not suddenly going to take away all the suffering in this world, but that you and I can have peace with God about our sins. However, did you know that one day the Lord Jesus is going to take away all the sin in this entire universe? Yes, His work on the cross not only takes away the sins of everyone that believes in Him, but that work He did was so great that one day all the sin in this world is going to be taken away. When that happens, there will never be another sin committed, and there will never be any suffering that is the effect of sin. Won’t that be wonderful?

By the time that happens, those who are saved will have been in heaven for 1,000 years, and of course no sin can ever enter heaven. But eventually, after the 1,000 years of the millennium, God is going to burn up this world, and create new heavens and a new earth, where sin will never come in. We have already seen this last week in 2 Peter 3:10-13.

We will not go into the details of all this, as we do not have space in this calendar to do this, but it is encouraging to realize that all sin is going to disappear from this world someday, and all the suffering and heartache that are the effects of sin.

“They that hate Me without a cause are more than the hairs of Mine head…then I restored that which I took not away” (Psalm 69:4).

Under the law of Moses in the Old Testament, a man who had taken something away from his neighbor, either violently or by being deceitful about it, had not only to restore what he had taken, but in addition had to add “the fifth part thereto” (Leviticus 6:5). That means that he had to give back 20% more than he had taken.

However, in the case of the Lord Jesus, He had to say that thousands of people hated Him without any good reason; they simply hated Him because He exposed their sin. But then, instead of rejecting those people who hated Him, He restored something He had not taken away. You and I could not restore what we had taken, for we had sinned against God, and could never repay that debt. But the Lord Jesus, who had never sinned, restored that debt for us, and He also added the fifth part to it. How did He do this?

The Lord Jesus really gave more than He needed to give. He not only satisfied God about the whole matter of sin, but He also glorified God in His work on the cross. God has been more honored, and we have been more blessed, than if sin had not entered this world. We will speak a little more about this tomorrow.

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you” (Isaiah 59:1-2).

Earlier this week I had the chance to speak to one of our neighbors whose wife has been sick and in the hospital. I was able to give him a small gift, and to speak to him about the Lord. However, he was not interested in knowing how to be saved, and said that “if there is a God, why does He not do something about all the suffering in this world?” He went on to tell me how he had always been a good man and had never treated anyone wrongly. He felt that he was quite fit for God’s presence.

Our verses today point out that the Lord is listening and is able to save, but that we must first of all acknowledge our sins. Many people today are measuring themselves by others around them, and then thinking that they are “good people.” But if we are honest before God, we must admit that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our sins have indeed separated us from God, but the blood of Christ can wash away those sins.

This does not mean that the Lord is suddenly going to take away all the suffering in this world, but it does mean that we can have peace with God about our sins, and have a happy relationship with Him.

“And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30).

The Lord Jesus had just finished eating the Passover with His disciples, and He knew very well that He was to be the true Passover. The Passover looked on to the Lord Jesus, for only His precious blood could really cleanse from all sin, and allow God to “pass over” those who were protected by that blood.

But then we read that after keeping the Passover, the Lord Jesus and His disciples sung a hymn together. How could they do this? We know that the disciples did not really understand completely what was going to happen, but the Lord Jesus certainly knew. How could He sing under those circumstances?

The Lord Jesus could sing because He looked beyond the cross, and could see the wonderful effects of His finished work there. He knew that not only would we be able to be saved, but that it would glorify God His Father as to sin, so that eventually all sin would be removed from this whole universe. What a mighty work that was! Yes, there was awful suffering ahead of the Lord Jesus, but He could sing when He looked ahead to the result of it. He knew that it was worth it!

“After two days was the feast of the passover…and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by craft, and put Him to death. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people” (Mark 14:1-2).

The chief priests, Pharisees, and scribes, who were the leaders among the Jews, had plotted for some time to get rid of the Lord Jesus. Several times they had tried to kill Him, but He had quietly escaped every time, because it was not yet time for Him to die. Now again they took the occasion of the Passover, when many Jews would be in Jerusalem, to try and kill Him. But they agreed that it should not happen on the feast day, in case there was a big riot among the people.

But the Lord Jesus was the true Passover, and He must be crucified on the exact day of the Passover. Whose word would stand—God’s Word, or the decision of the Jewish leaders? Despite the decision of the Jewish leaders, the Lord Jesus was crucified on the day of the Passover, for that is the way God wanted it. “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

“The waters…go down by the valleys unto the place which Thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth” (Psalm 104:6,8-9).

We hear a lot today about how global warming is causing much of the ice in the Arctic and Antarctic areas of the world to melt. Many are very concerned that this will increase the water in the oceans to such a degree that some land areas of the world will be flooded. Those who live on small islands in this world are particularly worried about this. People who live near the coasts of bigger countries are also concerned.

Here in our verses for today, I believe we read about some comfort that the Lord gives us. Originally water covered this earth, as we read in Genesis 1:2. It was the Lord who said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear” (Genesis 1:9). The Lord is able to keep the water where it is supposed to be, and to prevent it from flooding this earth. The Lord knows how long this earth needs to last in order for Him to do what He wants to do. He has set a boundary for the water on this earth, and we can trust Him to keep that boundary, despite global warming.