Faithful Witness
Faithful witness...Jesus is the faithful witness:
Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
The firstborn from the dead is the faithful witness of the truth. This is the truth Jesus attest to: Life is not possible apart from the source of life. Jesus is the literally the light of the world. Before the world was, He was the source of all life:
John 1:3-4 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
In the trees, God has given us a tangible parable of what God's relationship with people is really like. A tree cannot live without the sun. The sun is the source of life for a tree. A tree needs several things to live, but the one non-negotiable is the sun...no sun=no life.
A tree knows this right down to the cellular level. If you shade a tree, it will grow in all sorts of odd ways to reach more of the sun...it "knows" it has to. Mankind was created the same way. Jesus is the source of life. No Jesus eventually results in no life. The trouble mankind has in seeing this reality is really because of God's mercy. God allows mankind TIME to decide if they want life forever, or not...the time...the life...allowed a person is often misunderstood. Pride causes a person...who does not have what it takes within them to make or sustain life...to actually believe they can live apart from the source of life.
No one would try to plant a tree in a garage and expect it to live very long, but many attempt to rid their lives of God....the very source of life...hoping to have a go at life without the son. God is committed to love, which means He has fully committed to free will, which means He has fully committed to giving everyone what they want. You want to try living life apart from the source of life? He says ok!
Matthew 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
But the TRUTH of life is that you can only actually live so long shaded from the source of life...eventually to choose to live apart from the sun, means whithering...and eventually death. Death is the absence of lush green life we were meant to enjoy in the presence of God...life for people with God...God with man...is what God called "very good" in Genesis 1. God hasn't changed his mind about what is very good. The whole story of the Bible is God restoring "very good" and giving everyone a choice if they would like to live there with Him...He is giving people a choice to see if living in the direct light of the source of life is what they want:
Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
To reject life with God, is to choose death. Death is simply the choice for life apart from the source of life. If a tree chose this, it would dry up, and lose all of its lush green life. It would make great fire wood. For a person, to choose life apart from the source, is consuming fire:
Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Until that day, we have many choices for more life or less life in front of us. Everyone gets what they want. The source of life longs to shine more on my branches...to bring more life...life abundant to anyone who wants it. But there is an enemy...a liar...who desires to steal life. The enemy has always accused the source of life...God...of holding back life....the enemy has always promised that rebellion against God will bring more life...will bring more freedom. This is the same lie the snake has been handing out since Adam and Eve fell for it. It would be like telling a tree that it would grow taller and stronger if it were in a cave...there is not more life separated from the source of life! It is impossible!
Genesis 3:1, 4-5 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Daily, the murderer whispers: "you don't want too much of the source of life." The murderer works very hard to get the distractions to look more appealing than the brilliant Son. The unseen life hidden in Jesus will sustain you forever...the dying culture around you is vying for you to send your roots and branches towards it...the prince and power of the culture wants to take life from me and you, becuase God desires to live forever with us.
But we don't have to wait to get more life! Jesus said we reach for more of Him with our words. "Jesus, I want more of you...more hunger, more thirst." This is the same as saying "Jesus, I want life abundant!" Just like a tree, we can reach for more light...higher and higher... growing taller and taller still. As we do, our roots grow deeper in to the solid rock of the world, where no wind will shake us. Jesus, give me more life!
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
You don't burn out from too much of Jesus, you burn out trying to live two lives...one in the sun and one in shade!
Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
The firstborn from the dead is the faithful witness of the truth. This is the truth Jesus attest to: Life is not possible apart from the source of life. Jesus is the literally the light of the world. Before the world was, He was the source of all life:
John 1:3-4 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
In the trees, God has given us a tangible parable of what God's relationship with people is really like. A tree cannot live without the sun. The sun is the source of life for a tree. A tree needs several things to live, but the one non-negotiable is the sun...no sun=no life.
A tree knows this right down to the cellular level. If you shade a tree, it will grow in all sorts of odd ways to reach more of the sun...it "knows" it has to. Mankind was created the same way. Jesus is the source of life. No Jesus eventually results in no life. The trouble mankind has in seeing this reality is really because of God's mercy. God allows mankind TIME to decide if they want life forever, or not...the time...the life...allowed a person is often misunderstood. Pride causes a person...who does not have what it takes within them to make or sustain life...to actually believe they can live apart from the source of life.
No one would try to plant a tree in a garage and expect it to live very long, but many attempt to rid their lives of God....the very source of life...hoping to have a go at life without the son. God is committed to love, which means He has fully committed to free will, which means He has fully committed to giving everyone what they want. You want to try living life apart from the source of life? He says ok!
Matthew 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
But the TRUTH of life is that you can only actually live so long shaded from the source of life...eventually to choose to live apart from the sun, means whithering...and eventually death. Death is the absence of lush green life we were meant to enjoy in the presence of God...life for people with God...God with man...is what God called "very good" in Genesis 1. God hasn't changed his mind about what is very good. The whole story of the Bible is God restoring "very good" and giving everyone a choice if they would like to live there with Him...He is giving people a choice to see if living in the direct light of the source of life is what they want:
Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
To reject life with God, is to choose death. Death is simply the choice for life apart from the source of life. If a tree chose this, it would dry up, and lose all of its lush green life. It would make great fire wood. For a person, to choose life apart from the source, is consuming fire:
Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Until that day, we have many choices for more life or less life in front of us. Everyone gets what they want. The source of life longs to shine more on my branches...to bring more life...life abundant to anyone who wants it. But there is an enemy...a liar...who desires to steal life. The enemy has always accused the source of life...God...of holding back life....the enemy has always promised that rebellion against God will bring more life...will bring more freedom. This is the same lie the snake has been handing out since Adam and Eve fell for it. It would be like telling a tree that it would grow taller and stronger if it were in a cave...there is not more life separated from the source of life! It is impossible!
Genesis 3:1, 4-5 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Daily, the murderer whispers: "you don't want too much of the source of life." The murderer works very hard to get the distractions to look more appealing than the brilliant Son. The unseen life hidden in Jesus will sustain you forever...the dying culture around you is vying for you to send your roots and branches towards it...the prince and power of the culture wants to take life from me and you, becuase God desires to live forever with us.
But we don't have to wait to get more life! Jesus said we reach for more of Him with our words. "Jesus, I want more of you...more hunger, more thirst." This is the same as saying "Jesus, I want life abundant!" Just like a tree, we can reach for more light...higher and higher... growing taller and taller still. As we do, our roots grow deeper in to the solid rock of the world, where no wind will shake us. Jesus, give me more life!
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
You don't burn out from too much of Jesus, you burn out trying to live two lives...one in the sun and one in shade!
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