There came the day when Jesus came to His own and was rejected by most. Rejoice because their hardening of heart brought in the Gospel of Grace to the rest of the world.
John 4:21-24
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The New King James Version
Jesus does not take up the debate over legitimate holy places. Rather, he points to a future time of salvation when worship will not be limited to any local sacred site, neither Mount Gerizim nor Jerusalem. How one worships is more important than where one worships.
Messiah would be from the Jews, a son of David—not a Samaritan or Gentile.
A unique expression, an hour is coming-and now is, in the Gospel of John that conveys both future expectation and present reality. Jesus’ work in the present inaugurates a new phase in redemptive history. Jesus’ phrasing also echoes the language of the old testament prophets. Authentic worship involves an inward change of heart, not just outward observance. Faithlife Study Bible
Messiah would come from the Jewish people. God is not limited by time and space. When people are born of the Spirit, they can commune with God anywhere. Spirit is the opposite of what is material and earthly, for example, Mt. Gerizim. Christ makes worship a matter of the heart. Truth is what is in harmony with the nature and will of God. It is the opposite of all that is false. Here the truth is specifically the worship of God through Jesus Christ. The issue is not where a person worships, but how and whom. The NKJV Study Bible
Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
Jesus is the first and the last. After the horrors of the tribulation He will reign as the glorious God, King of all. Jesus holds the keys to eternal life with God. The One who was, who is and who will always be. Jesus will stand in their midst.
Revelation 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
Revelation 21:5-7 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
In the beginning God created heaven and earth and it was good. The first heaven will pass away and the new earth will be renewed as in the beginning. The source of life is and has always been the light of God in Christ.
2 Peter 3:10-13 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Jesus will return…when we do not know. The earth will be dissolved and will be replaced with the new heaven and earth. It will be righteous and in peace.
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
The Gospel of the Grace of God rests on the fact that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again and in Him we live.
1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
1 Corinthians 15:27-28
For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
Our hope is based on the resurrected Christ. Jesus is the great I AM. All of life in heaven and on earth is under Him. In Him we live. Carla
Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
John 5:25–29 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself…
Isaiah 2:3
Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.
”For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Romans 3:1–2 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
Romans 9:4–5 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
And now we’re back to remembering the child that still lives inside. The child that sees the sacred in the ordinary.
The child that relishes the gift of the present.
It's paradigm shift time. I will give myself wholeheartedly to this day. Without making it a test or beauty pageant.
Before we wish for another life, let us feel this life.
Before we give in to “if only”, let us hear this moment.
Before we trade in this life, for the life we should have, let us taste this life.
And this from The Little Prince, “Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” Saint-Exupéry Sabbath Moments
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