EXCHANGED LIFE

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Who Is This? Even the Wind and the Waves Obey Him! (Mark 4:35-41)

Who is not afraid of storms? No one. Who can sleep in the middle of storms, not being bothered by at all? Who can even rebuke the wind and the waves to be still and quiet? There is one who can. He is Jesus Christ. How could he do that? Who really Jesus is? That’s the theme of this storm story. The disciples were in the process of knowing and learning who Jesus really was. So are we. Is there anyone who is free from bumping and encountering storms? No one. Why so? It is what it is from the beginning since the first man Adam. “To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17-19) Everyone is going through many trials and difficulties without exception. Storms are the inevitable components of our lives for the young and the old. So, all storms are designed by God who is all in all and for all and in all. Life trials are the divine intervention into our humanity. For what? For us to learn who Jesus is and who God is. All storms in life are God-given opportunities for us to learn about who Jesus Christ really is.

“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” (Mark 4:35-41)

First, no one is an exception for the various kind of storms. The disciples squarely faced the storm right there where the Lord Jesus was present in the boat. This is the reality, which is common to all mankind. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) All man is bound for the storms of trials and disciplines. It is true for the new born babes. Until the last breath of air, all is assured to go through all sorts of challenges and huddles one after another. Examine Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and the prophets like Isaiah. Take a careful look on our Lord Jesus! No man is free from the trials, even the Son of Man Jesus Christ. Take a moment to think about what trials everyone is facing from birth to death. For the youth, relationship is a real challenge. For the young, job and spouse are. For the married couple, raising children is. For the old, health is. All of those challenges may come at any time. Psalm 22^nd Chapter is about the suffering servant’s song. It graphically describes the sufferings and ordeals of Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Look how much the Son of Man has to suffer much though he was sinless and no trespass found in him.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts in the Lord ,’ they say, ‘let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.’ Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. But you, Lord , do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.” (Psalm 22:1-21)

Jesus tells his disciples that there will be persecutions for the world hates them. “Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (John 15:20) If the world hates the Son of Man, how true it is the world hates his followers. The world doesn’t hate those who belong to it but hates those who belong to Christ. He is the way. Where he goes, we go. Where he is, we are. “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (John 12:26) Where our Lord Jesus Christ went is the place of sufferings where he was crucified on behalf of our sins and was buried. Jesus did not have to die for himself but died for the sin of the world. God chose to punish his Son instead of imposing the judgement on us, the world. “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:10) That’s the way to overcome the storms which leads to the second point.

Second, the way to go through the storms is the faith in God and in Jesus Christ. What is faith? The Scripture tells for us to listen and learn what it is. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is not to believe in what is seen but to believe in what is unseen. Because what is seen doesn’t require faith to believe. What is unseen is what we hope for. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) Faith is God-given confidence and assurance to believe that what has been promised and said through the prophets and the Lord Jesus Christ is true and trustworthy. Living by faith is to exercise the gift of God. For example, when a storm comes in the midst, use the gift of faith to believe that God is loving and caring though not knowing how long it takes for the storm to calm down. Storms are coming and going but the love of God never ceases. A hymn writes exactly what the love of God is:

“He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men,
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

One storm goes and another is coming. Going through the storms, we believe that God cares and loves us as his dearly loving children all time and space. In fact, storms come from God and the remedy also comes from him, which is faith. He loves his sons and daughters. That’s why he disciplines his children to grow in knowing who he is. “And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.” (Hebrews 12:5-8)

Even when we don’t believe like the disciples in the midst of storm, he loves, cares, and protects us from the evil one. Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves which indicates that he was scolding the devil who was trying to wreck the disciples behind the scene by feeding and doubting the lie that God didn’t care of drowning. God knows how much we are able to bear, so it says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.” God will continue to offer us opportunities to learn how to exercise the faith in Christ and lead us to know who he really is that he is compassionately loving and caring for us till we come unto him when he comes again in glory and power.

Third, Jesus Christ is the maker of faith. “… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus Christ is the pioneer of faith and the perfecter of faith. As the maker of faith, what did he do? He endured the cross and rose from the dead on the third day and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Here, we find why living by faith is hard and difficult in our experience. It’s because living by faith implies taking up the cross which is to die with Christ. That’s what happened for those who are in Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Christian are called the followers of Christ. Where Christ goes, they go. Where Christ is, they are. The prerequisite of living by faith is the death of our flesh for it is not acceptable to the Holy God. It is not living by faith to walk in the flesh. Walking in the flesh leads to death. There is no life and peace for those who are against the Spirit (Romans 8:6).

Who does want to give up everything? Who does want to die? No one. But that’s what our Lord did for us. Instead of proclaiming his rights he emptied himself and became a servant. Instead of exercising his power and authority given by the Father to judge the world, he died on a cross, in the obedience to the Father, even to the point of death. He did for the joy set before him. What is the joy? It may indicate his resurrection from the dead on the third day, but that’s not all but much more beyond his resurrection. The joy of Christ is through his death and resurrection many will find life and peace. Following the path the Christ went, many will see and taste the true fulfillment of life in Christ. Many will be in him and follow the way he went and find life and peace. Jesus didn’t see the joy in his earthly life, but hoped and believed. So, he died even to the point of death for the hope set before him. Likewise, we do not see or taste what would be our joy in Christ but believe that God will bring us on the day of the Lord. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) Our joy will be complete and full when we see the Lord Jesus Christ face to face.

July 3, 2018

Sunday, June 17, 2018

His Kingdom Is Like A Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30-34)

How can we see the kingdom of God? What is the kingdom of God? It is what it is. What is not is not. How do we know what it is and what it is not? What is real and what is unreal? What is true and what is not? What is genuine and what is not? What is good and what is bad? What is trustworthy and what is not? What is eternal and what is temporal? What is invisible and what is visible? What is it that we really want in the earth? Why are there many sighs, cries, yearnings, unfulfillments, hollowness, emptiness, meaninglessness in the midst, even day to day? Why is that we simply can forget or dismiss such a bothersome thought? Why is that those uninvited enemies are coming and visiting at the very unwanted time and space always? Why is that the dark side of lives are much greater than the opposite? Life is a mystery. We don’t have all the answers, not even close. We’re far off from knowing all the truths of our lives.

But there is someone who knows all and is all in all because what has been made is not without being made. There is no accident that what is seen is what it is by itself. It is simply and plainly not possible for all the complexities and delicacies of humanity to exist what it is all but on their own. Who can explain why our body functions, operates, reacts, responds, heals, regenerates, grows, and ages this and that way? Who can explain where winds, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, snows come from? Where does human cruelty come from? Where does such a generous humanity come from? Why do we get depressed and heavy laden even though we never want to be? Why do we so desire of love and joy and peace? And at the same time, why do we envy and hate others? Who are we? Who can answer our relentless questions? Who can embrace our roller-coaster behavior? Who can understand our fears and anxieties suddenly and persistently coming out of nowhere? Are there answers at all?

Yes, we have the answers. Jesus Christ is. There is a God who dearly loves the world he made, especially humanity made in his image and in his likeness. God is so compassionately and mercifully caring and loving for humanity that he speaks and reasons through the word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” (John 1:1-4) The mystery of the word was manifested and revealed in Christ Jesus who became a man by the Spirit. In the old, God spoke through the prophets, but finally he spoke by his Son Jesus. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2) Humanity has never left alone in knowing the truth on who they are and why they are and how they are and what they are. The loving God has left traces in volume if anyone wanted to seek and search. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

What humanity really wants to know is the kingdom mystery, the invisible realm of heaven. We’re so much accustomed to the visible world, the material universe. However, what is seen is merely the reflection of what is unseen. We can’t see our face but what we see is the refection of it through the mirror. It is only the physical level. Humans have soul and mind and heart which are invisible, nor tangible but real. The vast array of the visible material universe is then the refection of what is hidden and invisible. It is the hand of God who made all things. In Jesus Christ, all the deity and radiance of God is manifested and demonstrated in beauty and glory and grandeur. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3) The kingdom of heaven is the invisible realm where God rules and reigns in his infinite wisdom and power and glory and knowledge. The Scriptures are written for us to teach and reveal the secrets of the kingdom of God. The mystery of Christ was prophesied and foretold in the past and finally fulfilled in these days by the Son Jesus. He spoke and taught the kingdom mysteries, revealing and manifesting the invisible loving hand of the Father through the compassionate acts of healing the sick and caring for the poor. Especially, our Lord Jesus spoke dearly and kindly and most of all truthfully on the deep things of the heaven and humanity. He repeatedly said one phrase, “Those who have ears, let them hear.” Jesus Christ appealed and beseeched the hearers to accept the greatest invitation call for entering the kingdom of heaven by grace through the faith in him.

“Again he said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade. With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” (Mark 4:30-34)

Here is a parable our Lord Jesus tells, the parable of the mustard seed. The majority of Bible students believes that this parable makes a case that the kingdom of heaven starts with smallness like a mustard seed but when it grows it becomes like a huge plant (or tree according to Matthew’s Gospel) where the birds can find shade in its branches. Furthermore, they say the birds indicate the nations. It is true that in a sense that the kingdom of God is growing and may be seen visibly to the eyes of the world. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) However, it is growing in the heart of believers in the invisible realm to the world. So, growing means that the kingdom of heaven is getting more real and closer and the knowledge of God is getting deeper and higher and wider and longer. It also includes voluntary obedience to the commandments of God just as our Lord Jesus did to the Father, even to the point of death. So, it indicates internal and invisible rather than outward and visible in size and appearance to the world because the kingdom of heaven is hidden and invisible. If anyone thinks that some big churches with tens of thousands of people coming on Sundays are the image of this parable, they are wrong. Though the kingdom of heaven is growing in power and glory it is still invisible to the world because it is in our heart.

That’s what our Lord Jesus is comparing the kingdom of heaven with a mustard seed. It is almost unnoticeably small and tiny but very pungent and biting. That’s the main point of this parable, being pungent. It means that the mustard seed is very small and yet has an unforgettable impact like pungent and sharp taste when taken. Christians are living in a hope hidden and invisible in heaven like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is full and bursting and crammed and packed in glory and honor and power and might just like a mustard seed has such a powerful and potent potential in itself.

“Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” ― Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Apostle Paul describes the ultimate characteristics of Christianity as more than conquerors through Christ. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37) Also, the Apostle depicts Christians as men and women who are always on the triumphal procession regardless of the situations they are put. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16) It is not true that Christ followers would be honored and glowed from the world. Rather, they always remain humble and lowly and small and almost invisible. They are like the scattered people, exiles here and there with no renown, fame, popularity, or status. “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1 Peter 1:1-2) Christians remain as nobody in this earth to the end but not without any hope. The hope is in heaven, which God has preserved for them. It’s imperishable, unshakable, incorruptible, unfading, immortal, indestructible, and everlasting. It is a true and eternal hope which never disappoints or fails us. This hope is not from the earth but from the heaven. So, we live on with such an indestructible hope in God! He put each of us in his infinite wisdom and strategy where we are as salt and light.

It may be not much going on but just the routine as usual in our daily lives. But the day of the Lord will soon be coming like a thief in the middle of night just as he promised. We don’t know when, but he will suddenly reveal himself. When he comes with the mighty trumpet sound and the multitude of angels, we will see the glorious and holy body of Christ well prepared as the bride for the Lamb because we will see the Lord face to face. “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) Until then, we continue to remain as the lowly and humble to the eyes of the world. Jesus says that no man can be greater than the teacher. He was persecuted and accused without any cause. He died though he committed no sin. He forfeited all his rights and gave up his life to the Father. So, we will be persecuted by the world as our Lord was. It will not end until the Master returns. We will be remaining as a mustard seed in this world like nobody. When we truly become nobody, God can begin his mighty work in and through us with the resurrection power just as he raised the Son from the dead in the barren cemetery. The dead doesn’t sin at all. In Christ, we died to sin in order to live for God. That’s why our Lord says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)

June 17, 2018

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

The Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-29)

Many are wondering how to grow in the faith of Christ. It seems like the same yesterday and today, even farther back like last year or many years before. Why is it so? Why is everyday not like a conversion moment or some exciting conference event? Instead, why is our experience in Christian living humdrum and dull? What’s happening in our midst? God is spirit and truth. “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:3-4) Our God is always in our midst to the fullest, keeping, caring, guiding, strengthening, protecting, leading, teaching, revealing, speaking to us in spirit and truth. What does the mature look like? What does the grownup in Christ think and act? It’s a significantly important question because knowing what the mature means leads to live such a marvelous life given as a gift through the promise of God. I think it is the full recognition and realization of the presence of God in our midst. There is no place found in heaven and on earth without God and his fullness. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5) That’s the good news of assurance for those who are in Christ the Lord. As the Son Jesus is in the Father and he in Christ, so we in him and he in us. As the Son Jesus went back to the Father God after his death and the resurrection from the dead, so he sent the Holy Spirit to us. We are in Christ and he in us now and forever. The mature shall go nearer and nearer to the Father in heaven. Our Lord Jesus reveals the secret of growth for the harvest in the parable of the growing seed.

“He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’” (Mark 4:26-29)

The kingdom mystery is unraveled through the parables by the Lord Jesus Christ who became a man, forfeiting the rights as God. The parable of the sower explains the secret of bearing fruits, depending on the field where the word falls and is sowed. The field represents the human’s heart. Whether we respond to the word sown, the result is significantly different, bearing much fruits, or nothing. It tells that our Father in heaven has been sowing the seed in the heart of humanity since the beginning of the world. The parable of the growing seed tells the power of the seed. A man scatters the seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he gets up or sleeps, the seed grows. The seed sown in the land has the power to grow for the harvest. He can see only when the seed dies in the soil and then spouts in the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.

What does this parable tell? It tells that there is nothing involved in the growth of the seed except its own power to make the seed grow till the harvest. This power is from God himself. There is any more cause for the seed to grow to the fullness than God. Worries never help at all. Nor concerns help either. The power of growing seed has been demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ the Lord, especially in the culmination of his earthly life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection from the dead. In fact, Jesus himself said of this principle of the growing seed in the Gospel of John Chapter 12. “Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’” (John 12:23-25)

The secret of power that produces many seeds is two steps, first, be a complete nothingness through the death and burial and then be raised from the dead, the resurrection. The last enemy of humanity is death which swallows up everything. But even the power of death cannot get hold of the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb. “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:24) There is no other power stronger than the power that overcomes death. Such a power is the power of the growing seed. It’s called the laws of nature, more precisely the Law of God. Obeying God is the way to experience the eternal weight of power and glory. Obedience is the prerequisite for the harvest. Our Lord Jesus obeyed the Father God even to the point of death. The grain harvest represents the glory of resurrection. No cross, no resurrection.

That is why our Lord Jesus says, “He replied, ‘Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.’” (Matthew 13:11-12) Whoever accepts and obeys the commandments of God will be given more and more. On the other hand, whoever doesn’t obey God will be taken even what they think they have.

Furthermore, the growing seed for the harvest implies the corporate growth. There is one body of Christ, the church. In the church, there are many parts, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the teaching pastors. God gives each member of the body the gifts according to his will and purpose. “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13) The body of Christ is being built since the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. It is invisible and unseen and we don’t know how much it has been built and when it will be done. But we know that it is growing corporately all together through the power of resurrection. “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5) The church is being built on the foundation of Jesus Christ the Lord (Ephesians 3:19-22).

That is what it is and how it is, the growing church of Christ. There will be the end of construction, the harvest. “As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:29) Then, there will be the great banquet prepared before the time began for the celebration of the wedding of the Lamb. “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)” (Revelation 19:6-8) The seed sown is the word. The word is Jesus Christ. He has already been sitting at the right hand of God, reigning all things. He has already conquered death as God raised him from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.

Apostle Paul prays for the saints, saying “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:18-23) We do not see how the church is growing and prepared as the pure and holy bride of the Lamb. We do not see how we are growing and fitting to be part of his church. But we do know that God who promised will do his work, molding and chiseling us up as part of the body of Christ. What we do is to trust in the Lord in all things, obeying the commandment of God, and love one another.