"For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. O continue thy loving- kindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart." —Psalm 36:9-10
It will not take a great deal of reflection on the part of the informed New Testament believer to see here a bud of Old Testament truth that comes to full bloom in the New Testament. Three concepts emerge that are major themes in the New Testament, especially in the inspired writings of the beloved apostle John. They are life, light, and love.
Not only are they prominent truths, but they lead one directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here life is predicated as flowing from God as the fountainhead; there it is assigned to the Son of God as the immediate source: "In Him was life… " (John 1:4) In his first epistle the evangelist declares, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life [I John 5:12]." With that statement, life is defined exclusively in terms of a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who do not know Christ do not know life, regardless of the fact that we use the term much more broadly and loosely. They are "dead in trespasses and sins."
What men possess who are not in Christ is merely "mortality," a condition that gives the illusion of life, but is in fact a spiritual terminal illness that can be cured only by a spiritual transfusion of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus the apostle writes of those who have received that life, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him [II Cor. 5:1-9 italics mine]."
That is the perspective of life. And it is not only that Christ gives us life, but that He is life. Consider Paul's declaration to the Colossians: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory [Col. 3:1-4, my italics]."
Mortality is the illusion of life, and ends in the mortuary— death and the grave. Life is from God and in God by faith in Jesus Christ and emerges in glory, everlasting. Tragically, the world has it all wrong. Jesus says to the misguided sinner, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life [John 5:39,40]." Sadly, the majority of Christians , lured by "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of 'life'," squander life on mere mortality, having our affection on the things of this world far more than on "things above." Life is being wasted by many of the few who have it!
One is reminded of the fictional, but telling illustration of the Texas oil man who decreed that when he died he should be carried to his grave seated at the wheel of his gold plated Cadillac. That day came, and as he was thus escorted through the streets to his tomb, a poor waif standing on the curb took it all in and cried, "Man, that's really livin'."
With God, via His only begotten Son, is the fountain of life. Have you been to the fountain? And if so, is the life you have found being wasted or invested?
For God's glory and our good,
"Pastor" Frasier
It will not take a great deal of reflection on the part of the informed New Testament believer to see here a bud of Old Testament truth that comes to full bloom in the New Testament. Three concepts emerge that are major themes in the New Testament, especially in the inspired writings of the beloved apostle John. They are life, light, and love.
Not only are they prominent truths, but they lead one directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here life is predicated as flowing from God as the fountainhead; there it is assigned to the Son of God as the immediate source: "In Him was life… " (John 1:4) In his first epistle the evangelist declares, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life [I John 5:12]." With that statement, life is defined exclusively in terms of a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who do not know Christ do not know life, regardless of the fact that we use the term much more broadly and loosely. They are "dead in trespasses and sins."
What men possess who are not in Christ is merely "mortality," a condition that gives the illusion of life, but is in fact a spiritual terminal illness that can be cured only by a spiritual transfusion of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus the apostle writes of those who have received that life, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him [II Cor. 5:1-9 italics mine]."
That is the perspective of life. And it is not only that Christ gives us life, but that He is life. Consider Paul's declaration to the Colossians: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory [Col. 3:1-4, my italics]."
Mortality is the illusion of life, and ends in the mortuary— death and the grave. Life is from God and in God by faith in Jesus Christ and emerges in glory, everlasting. Tragically, the world has it all wrong. Jesus says to the misguided sinner, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life [John 5:39,40]." Sadly, the majority of Christians , lured by "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of 'life'," squander life on mere mortality, having our affection on the things of this world far more than on "things above." Life is being wasted by many of the few who have it!
One is reminded of the fictional, but telling illustration of the Texas oil man who decreed that when he died he should be carried to his grave seated at the wheel of his gold plated Cadillac. That day came, and as he was thus escorted through the streets to his tomb, a poor waif standing on the curb took it all in and cried, "Man, that's really livin'."
With God, via His only begotten Son, is the fountain of life. Have you been to the fountain? And if so, is the life you have found being wasted or invested?
For God's glory and our good,
"Pastor" Frasier
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