Devotions

Jesus was in His last days of ministry. He had just cleansed the temple, driving out the moneychangers, and now He was spending time with His disciples to prepare them as the pillars of His future church. Yet at this point they were still faithless, “slow to believe.” Jesus had chided them for their unbelief at various times, asking, “Can you not see?” He saw in their hearts a hindrance that had to be removed or they would never come into the revelation necessary to lead the church.

One day as Jesus and the disciples passed by a barren fig tree, Jesus cursed it:

“[He] said to it, ‘Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.’ And His disciples heard it” (Mark 11:14).

Later, as the group came by the fig tree again, Peter pointed out, “Lord, the fig tree You cursed has dried up.”

Without giving Peter an actual answer, Jesus said simply, “Have faith in God.” We know from Jesus’ amazing response that the message to follow was all about faith.

SOMETHING NEW

The withered fig tree was another of Christ’s illustrated sermons. This dried-up plant represented God’s rejection of the old religious system of works in Israel. That system was all about trying to earn salvation and God’s favor by human effort and self-will.

Something new was about to be birthed in Israel: a church in which God’s people would live totally by faith. Salvation and eternal life would come only by faith.

To this point, God’s people knew nothing of living by faith. Their religion had been all about performance: appearing for worship services, reading the Torah, keeping extensive sets of rules. Now Jesus was saying, “That old system is over, headed for judgment.” A new day was dawning: the church of faith was being birthed.

Whenever Christians speak of the Upper Room, they usually are referring to Pentecost. But the Bible mentions an upper room incident that occurred several weeks earlier, where the disciples had a different type of experience. This upper room was the setting for the Last Supper on the night before Christ’s death on the cross. On that evening He talked about difficult subjects:

• The suffering He would endure
• His approaching death
• The fact that He was leaving His closest friends, the disciples

My father used to call this first upper room experience “being taken to the woodshed.” It’s about addressing things in our lives that aren’t honoring to God. At those times, He tells us, “You’re drifting from Me. You’ve placed your affections on earthly things and lost your first love for Me. I cannot allow you to go any further without addressing this.”

At the first upper room, Jesus wanted to deal with the mixture in His disciples’ hearts. The clearest example is Peter, who told Jesus he would follow Him to the death. The Lord challenged him on that:

“Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times” (Matthew 26:34).

Are you experiencing a first upper room right now? Are there things in your life you know aren’t pleasing to God? He wants to deal with them and He will not pull any punches. His response to Peter was harsh, but we know from the outcome that it was an act of love. Jesus was saying, in essence, “I know you love me, Peter, but there’s an agenda in your heart that isn’t God’s. I’m confronting it now because I don’t want it to become palatable to you. I have greater things in mind for you.”

At the height of all his trials and difficulties, Martin Luther testified: “Lord, now that You have forgiven me all, do with me as you please.” Luther was convinced that a God who could wipe away all his sins and save his soul could certainly care for his physical body and material needs.

In essence, Luther was saying:

“Why should I fear what man can do to me? I serve a God who can cleanse me of my iniquity and bring peace to my soul. It doesn’t matter if everything around me collapses. If my God is able to save and keep my soul for eternity, why wouldn’t He be able to care for my physical body while I’m on this earth? Oh, Lord, now that I’m pardoned, forgiven, and able to stand before You on Judgment Day with exceeding great joy, do with me as You please.”

I have brought this word to you so that your soul might be anchored in Him and to prepare you for any unseen calamity in the dark days that are coming.

Dear saint, rejoice. This present life is not the ultimate reality. Our reality is eternal life in the presence of our blessed Lord. So keep the faith. Things are winding down — but we are going up!

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

Fear is not compatible with all the wonderful relationships the Lord has proclaimed in His love for us. Throughout the Scriptures God describes all the facets of His relationship to us:

• He is our father, our brother, our friend
• our bridegroom, our head, our husband
• our advocate, our kinsman-redeemer
• our provider, our refuge, our shepherd

God has established all these glorious relationships with us through the cross and now He is urging us to know, “This is who I am to you.”

Do you think God is going to suddenly wipe out all these relationships with His people on the Day of Judgment? Never! How can a father reject his offspring in that child’s hour of accountability? Even as the Book of Life is being opened, He will still be your father, your advocate, your intercessor. Nothing can take away that relationship from you.

Fear will not be present on the day of your restitution and coronation.

“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. . . . As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10, 12).

Our minds cannot begin to fathom how far the east is from the west. And that is God’s point in this verse: He has removed our sins beyond our capability to ever call them back.

Why am I calling God’s Day of Judgment our coronation day? It is because Isaiah says of that day:

“As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isaiah 62:5).

As you stand before your Lord then, you will recognize His eyes of love for you.

God offers a wonderful promise to all who were guilty of horrible sins:

• whose acts were bloodied with the stench of hell
• who abused their bodies with alcohol, drugs, perversions, fornications
• who gulp when they think of how close they came to falling headlong into hell

God’s promise to them is that they can stand with great joy on the Day of Judgment without a trace of fear. He pledges:

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

No matter what your past is like, God no longer sees you as you once were. Instead, you’ve been transformed into His precious, lovely, spotless Bride. He is awaiting your presence at the jubilant marriage feast.

Would a bridegroom anticipating his wedding day suddenly charge his bride with iniquity? No groom would do that. You may wonder, “But isn’t Jesus going to judge all wickedness?” Yes, He is. But the Christ you are going to meet on that day is the same Christ who has forgiven you, called you, purchased you with His own blood, cleansed you, and interceded for you all these years.

As you stand before Jesus, you are going to see Him as your husband, your redeemer, your friend, your advocate, your intercessor. And, in that moment, you are going to stand complete in Him, without fault, without spot or wrinkle, holy and blameless.

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13).