Writing...

As we approach another Lord's Day and look forward to another time of collective worship tomorrow, let us once again turn our thoughts towards the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was thinking about "writing" and the Lord Jesus, as there is a lovely line of thought to explore.

Consider his coming into the world, our minds would turn to the following verse: "Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me..." It was prophesied hundreds of years before that Christ would come, in fact so many details concerning his coming, his life and his manner of death were written about him before he came, showing the world that this was God's divine plan. The scriptures all speak of him, and every prophetic statement is true. All that God's Word has said would happen has, so we can rest assured that the rest of prophecy yet to be fulfilled will indeed come to pass!

Now think of his perfect life of service, ever bringing glory and pleasure to God. It was such a busy life, there was tireless service and so much activity for God! Then surely this an amazing statement at the end of John's Gospel; "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." How much more there must be that we don't have recorded regarding the life of the Saviour! How many kind and gracious acts of love and compassion, how many more gracious and wise words there must have been to cause the disciple whom Jesus loved to say such a statement... of course all that is needful is recorded in God's Word, it is perfect and complete, but it's certainly an interesting statement that causes us to wonder at it's implications.

Closely linked with the previous scripture would be John's other statement concerning what he had written for God; "These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God". As we mentioned in a previous post, John's Gospel is written very much as a record or account of the Son of God. What strikes me about this verse is that it reminds me that the Word of God tells the world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and it tells us of his saving work on Calvary and that we must repent of our sin and believe on him for salvation. We do not need persuasive arguments, scientific reasoning, any sort of evidence or the backing of any popular figureheads or celebrities! All that is needed is God's Word, it speaks clearly of Christ and the way of salvation, so when we preach and talk to others about him let's always turn back to the Word of God as it is this that will speak to people and challenge them.

Now let us close by thinking of what our response should be as we think on him. We might refer to the words of the psalmist; "My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer." The word 'indite' doesn't do much to convey the meaning here, it means to gush... so the idea is that our hearts are overflowing and gush forth a torrent of praise and worship and thanksgiving as we think about the Lord Jesus!

Our tongues should be the pens of ready writers, and sometimes as we gather together to remember the Lord there can be a feeling of indifference in our hearts, as if the waters or the inkwells have dried up! Let us spend time meditating upon him and preparing our hearts for worship before we gather, and surely we can then in perhaps just a simple way offer praise and thanksgiving as we remember him.

I trust these  simple thoughts will warm our hearts and also challenge us as well!

Your in Christ,