Today we’re going to continue to look at 1 Peter 1:3-5. Here are those verses:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
I find this long sentence fascinating. We were talking about this in our men’s Bible study a couple weeks ago and we noticed that it is full of many prepositions. We joked about how we used to diagram sentences in high school. This one would be a fairly complicated sentence to diagram.
Let me break it up a little bit so that we can get at the meaning. There is a lot here. God has begotten us again. That has to do with the new birth that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about. Look at the verse to see if you can determine the motivation for God giving us a new birth. He did that because of His abundant mercy. God is a God of tremendous mercy. Mercy is receiving something that we don’t deserve, and there is no question that we don’t deserve mercy. We are great sinners — not just before we were saved, but now as well. Sometimes we focus on a few major sins that we don’t commit very often and rate ourselves pretty highly on the obedience side. But just ask yourself, “How many times today have I failed to love God with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength? Your whole heart. And then how many times today have you failed to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself? At least for me, the numbers are staggeringly high. All of those times we failed at this, we were not acting like God. It is ungodly not to love our neighbor as ourselves. That’s why we need a savior, isn’t it. It’s of the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed, Lamentations 3:22.
Let’s look at the next little phrase: to a living hope. The whole purpose of God’s giving us the new birth is so that we may have a living hope. There is real hope for the believer. My dad used to say, “It’s not hope-so hope.” Sometimes people ask if we are going to do something and we say, “I hope so.” That kind of hope is tentative and uncertain. This entire passage that we are studying over these weeks gives us rock solid hope, confidence that God is faithful to His promises and has guaranteed the outcome of our faith — the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:9).
One of the things that has been on my mind the last couple of weeks is how we handle the promises of God. We read them, we believe them, we might even memorize them—but sometimes they just sit there as facts. True facts, important facts, even encouraging facts—but still somewhat distant.
I’ve been trying to change that in my own thinking.
Instead of simply acknowledging a promise, I’ve been trying to take it in personally. When the Bible says, “God never leaves us nor forsakes us,” I want to stop and think, God never leaves me. Not just generally true—true in my life, right now. When He promises to meet every need, I want to hear that as something directed toward me, not just something I agree with in theory.
As we read Scripture, we’re not just reading religious material. We are reading the word from God. That’s what Paul commended in 1 Thessalonians 2:13—that they received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. That’s how I want to approach passages like Psalm 33.
Seeing the World Through Psalm 33
In Psalm 33, we read statements that are easy to pass over, but they’re meant to shape the way we see reality.
“The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”
Do I actually believe that? Does it look that way to me as I go through the day? Or do I mostly notice what’s wrong—what’s lacking, what’s frustrating, what hasn’t gone the way I wanted?
God says the earth is full—full to the brim—of His goodness.
The psalm goes on to remind us that by the word of the Lord the heavens were made. He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. And then it says something that I find especially encouraging: He brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.
All the plans, all the discussions, all the decisions that dominate the news—God is not threatened by any of it. He sees it all, and He rules over it all. His counsel stands forever.
That’s meant to steady us.
The Pattern of Creation
As we come back to Genesis 1, it’s helpful to review what we’ve seen. And one of the things that stands out is the structure of the six days of creation.
On day one, God creates light. Then on day four, He creates the sun, moon, and stars to govern that light.
On day two, He separates the waters and forms what the Hebrew calls the raia—the expanse or space. Then on day five, He fills those realms with birds and fish.
On day three, dry land appears, along with vegetation. And on day six, He fills the land with animals and mankind.
There’s a kind of correspondence there—day one with day four, day two with day five, day three with day six. It’s orderly, but there’s also something almost poetic about it. God is not only purposeful in what He creates; there is a structure and beauty to how He does it.
Appointed Times
When God made the sun, moon, and stars, one of their purposes was to mark what the text calls “appointed times.” The Hebrew word is moed—a word used for set meeting times.
This wasn’t just about seasons or agriculture. It also relates to the rhythm of worship—Sabbaths, feasts, gatherings. These heavenly bodies were given, in part, to structure time around meeting with God.
And it’s interesting to note that three days after their creation—on day seven—we arrive at the Sabbath, the appointed day of rest.
“Let Us Make Man”
When we come to the creation of man, we read, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.”
There’s a plurality there—“Let us… our image.” We’re hearing something of the Trinity in that statement.
And then we’re told that man is made in the image of God.
Image and Likeness
The word “image” carries the idea of a figure, a representation—even something like a statue. Not in the sense of a false god, but in the basic sense of a visible representation of something.
God made us as His image—His representatives in creation.
Then there’s the word “likeness,” which has the idea of form or pattern—something modeled after another. So we’re not just general representations; we are shaped in a way that reflects Him.
God is spirit, and we are not. We have physical bodies. But there is something about us—our nature, our capacities—that reflects Him.
The Perfect Image
In the New Testament, we’re told that Christ is the image of the invisible God.
That’s significant. Adam was made in the image of God, but he fell. The image was not lost, but it was marred. There is now sin, weakness, corruption.
Christ, however, is the perfect image. Where Adam failed, Christ did not. He is the true and flawless representation of God.
A Thought on Idols
Something that struck me recently is this: God tells His people not to make graven images. And yet, in a sense, He has already made an image—mankind.
He created the true representation. There’s no need for us to create substitutes and bow down to them. That’s a distortion of what He has already done.
Male and Female
Genesis says, “In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
That’s an important statement. The image of God is reflected in mankind as male and female. Both together are part of that design. We’ll explore that more when we come to Genesis 2, where the creation of Eve is described in more detail.
The First Commands
God then gives mankind their first instructions.
“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.”
The intention is clear: humanity is to spread, to fill the earth. Not to remain confined, but to extend outward.
Then He says, “subdue it.”
That word can sound harsh to us, but this is before the fall. There are no weeds, no chaos in the sense we experience now. So what does it mean?
It has the idea of bringing under order—organizing, shaping, managing what God has made.
There is work to be done, even in a perfect world.
Dominion Under God
God also says that man is to have dominion. That’s a kingly term. It speaks of rule, authority.
But we need to understand this correctly. God is the King. He rules over everything. What He does here is place humanity under Him as sub-rulers—managers, stewards, representatives of His authority in creation.
You might think of it as a kind of structure: God at the top, and under Him, human beings spread across the earth, exercising rule in their appointed places.
A Living Picture
I’ve often thought about this in terms of something very practical.
When a Christian man and woman marry and start a home, they’re not just forming a household. They are establishing a place where God’s design is being lived out. In their neighborhood—maybe just a few houses down—there is now a home that reflects something different.
The way they treat one another, the way they raise their children, the way they live—it becomes a visible expression of what it means to live under God’s rule.
That’s part of what it means to bear His image.
Ordering the World
Even in the beginning, part of man’s role was to bring order.
You can imagine Adam taking what God had made—already good, already beautiful—and arranging it, shaping it, organizing it in new ways. Not correcting something broken, but developing and structuring what was there.
That’s part of subduing the earth.
The Weight of Being an Image Bearer
Every human being is made in the image of God.
Even in a fallen world, that remains true. And that has implications. It affects how we treat people, how we speak about them, how we pursue justice.
We are not free to take vengeance into our own hands. Justice is meant to reflect God’s character, not our impulses.
Learning to Rule
The New Testament tells us that believers will one day rule and reign with Christ.
And that sheds light on something else. In this life, we are learning. Even in the ordinary conflicts of life—disagreements, misunderstandings—we are being trained.
Paul rebukes believers for taking their disputes to court and asks, in effect, “Don’t you know you will judge angels?”
That’s a remarkable statement. It means that what we are doing now is preparation. This is practice.
Creation Calls Us to Praise
We ended by reading Psalm 148, which calls all of creation to praise the Lord.
The sun, the moon, the stars, the weather, the animals, the nations—everything is fulfilling His word.
Even the stormy wind does exactly what He commands.
And when you think about that, even in a world that has been affected by sin, there is still so much beauty. The earth is still full of His goodness.
That ought to move us to praise.
And as we go through our days, whatever our routines may be, the call is to take God’s word as what it truly is—the truth from God—and to live in light of it.
Before moving forward in the creation account, it helps to review where we have been. Last time we walked through the first four days of Genesis 1.
On the first day God created light. “Let there be light.” And there was light.
On the second day God made a separation. He separated the waters below from the waters above and created the expanse between them. Some Bible versions call it an expanse, while older translations use the word firmament. I mentioned the Hebrew word raka last time. Ancient people didn’t think of this simply as empty space. They thought of it as the sky itself—the place where the sun, moon, stars, and planets were set.
Then on day three there was another separation. Nothing entirely new was created at first. God separated the waters from the land so that dry ground appeared. The dry land he called earth, and the gathered waters he called seas.
But something else happened on that third day. God said, “Let the earth sprout,” and plants began to grow. Vegetation appeared with seed in it so that it would reproduce.
That raises the question of kinds. The text says plants reproduce “after their kind.” When we talked about that, I mentioned that I’m comfortable with the idea that “kind” does not necessarily mean every modern species as we categorize them. There may have been one kind of oak or one kind of maple, and over time there was diversity within that kind. When we eventually talk about animals and Noah’s ark, I don’t think Noah necessarily had to bring every kind of dog—cocker spaniels, German shepherds, and so on. There could have been a basic dog kind from which those variations came. I’m comfortable with that understanding, though if someone isn’t, that’s okay too.
Then we came to day four.
The Lights in the Expanse
On the fourth day God placed lights in the expanse of the heavens.
Light itself had already been created on day one. That sometimes makes people stop and think. How do you have light without the sun, moon, or stars? But light itself is a real thing. In the original creation, God first created light, and then later he made the things that would hold or produce that light.
Sometimes when we explain it to children, we say that God made the sun and the stars as containers for light. The light existed, and then God made the things that would bear it.
Genesis says these lights were given several tasks.
First, they were to separate the light from the darkness.
Second, they were given as signs.
Third, they were for seasons, and for days and years.
And finally, they were to give light on the earth.
It’s interesting that giving light on the earth is listed last. When we think about the sun, we usually think that providing light is its main purpose. But in the biblical description, that appears at the end of the list.
The word translated “seasons” is especially important. When we read it, we usually think of the agricultural seasons—spring, summer, autumn, winter. But the Hebrew word carries a deeper meaning. It refers to appointed times.
These are the appointed times for gatherings.
Later in the Old Testament the Hebrew people had their new moons, Sabbaths, and festivals—Passover, the Day of Atonement, and the rest. All of those observances were guided by the positions of the sun and moon. They didn’t have clocks or wall calendars like we do. Nobody could walk over to the kitchen wall and check what day or month it was. They had to keep track of time by watching the sky.
Even today the Jewish calendar is complicated because it is based on the lunar cycle. A lunar month is about twenty-nine and a half days. If every month followed that pattern, eventually the calendar would drift out of sync with the seasons. So they occasionally add a leap month. Not every year, but some years. That keeps the festivals tied to the proper seasons.
At one point in history the wider world had to correct its calendar as well. Things had drifted so far that they suddenly skipped a number of days in order to bring everything back into alignment. People who had birthdays during those missing days simply lost them that year.
All of that helps us see what Genesis is saying. God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens not only to give light and regulate the agricultural seasons, but also to mark the appointed times when his people would gather.
When I read that, it tells me something about God’s interests even in the creation week. In the middle of these seven days, God is already providing for the gatherings of his people. Later in the biblical story there would be Israel with its festivals, and eventually the gatherings of believers who worship the true God. The heavens themselves help mark those appointed times.
So when we read the word seasons, it’s helpful not to limit it in our minds to weather patterns. It also includes those special, appointed times for gathering.
The Fifth Day: Life in Water and Sky
That brings us to the fifth day.
Genesis 1:20 says:
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.’ And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarmed after their kind and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.’ And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.”
On this day God created the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air.
One phrase that caught my attention in my translation was “great sea monsters.” I hadn’t thought much about that before, so I looked into the Hebrew word used there. It refers to large sea creatures—things we might think of as dragons, crocodiles, whales, and other massive creatures of the deep.
Then you also have the rest of the creatures that swarm in the waters—fish and everything else that lives there.
When you start thinking about the oceans, you realize how much life there is that we have never even seen. There are creatures living at depths we cannot easily reach. My grandson was telling me about organisms that live near volcanic vents on the ocean floor and somehow get their energy from sulfur compounds coming out of those vents. I had never even heard about creatures like that before.
It makes you wonder how many things exist down there that nobody has ever seen. The ocean is deep enough that there may be countless forms of life we still haven’t discovered. God made them all, and I sometimes think he must delight in them.
Someday when human beings discover more of those things, we will probably stand back and say again how remarkable the Creator is. Perhaps when He created them, God thought, “I can’t wait until they first get their eyes on this!”
The Blessing on the Creatures
There is another detail in this passage that is easy to miss.
After creating the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air, verse 22 says, “God blessed them.” He said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
Later we will see God say something very similar to human beings. But humans are rational creatures. We can think about what it means to be fruitful and multiply.
What does it mean when God says that to animals? He is speaking to creatures that don’t reason or reflect the way we do. Yet the text still says he blessed them.
One way to understand that blessing is that God created them with the instinct to reproduce. The blessing guarantees the continuation of their existence. If God had created all these living creatures but withheld that blessing, they would disappear in a single generation.
Instead, the blessing means that one generation follows another. Creatures reproduce after their kind, and life continues.
Some things have gone extinct over time, but in general the pattern remains: life reproduces life after its own kind. The blessing God spoke at creation ensured that the world he made would continue to be filled with living creatures.
And that is exactly what we see.
*Some articles on this publication or website are adapted from my recorded Bible teaching. I use transcription and editing tools (including AI-assisted editing) to convert spoken lectures into readable written form. The ideas, interpretations, and theological conclusions are my own and come directly from my teaching.
In our last overview we had a little science lesson.
We talked about the fact that everything is made of three basic particles — protons, neutrons, and electrons. That’s the chemist in me coming out. But it struck me years ago, even when I was teaching chemistry, that if you picture it this way, God basically had three “sacks” of things. And everything we see is made out of those three put together in different ways.
That’s amazing to me.
We went there because of Hebrews 11:3:
“By faith we understand that the worlds were formed out of things that are invisible.”
With my chemistry background, I immediately think of atomic structure. The invisible things. And yet everything we see is built from them.
On page five of your notes we reviewed a few passages. Romans 4:17 tells us that God “calls into being things that do not exist.” That’s what He did at creation. He called light into being. He calls things into existence that were not there before.
Then 2 Corinthians 4:6 reminds us that the God who spoke light into being at creation is the same God who shines the light of the gospel into our hearts. The One who said, “Let there be light,” is the One who awakens us by His Spirit through His Word.
And then Isaiah 45 — especially verse 7 — where God says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” He speaks of creating light and darkness, peace and calamity. He even names Cyrus before Cyrus knows Him. The gods of the nations are inventions. The God we serve is the One who actually does these things.
That brings us back to Genesis 1.
Day One: Light and Separation
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Then we are told the earth was without form and void, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Something is about to happen. There is chaos and darkness, but God is present.
Verse 3:
“God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
He speaks. It happens.
God saw that the light was good — tōv. There’s your little Hebrew lesson for the day. If you’re doing really well, you can say tōv me’od — very good.
Then God separated the light from the darkness. He named them — Day and Night. And the evening and the morning were day one.
We talked a bit about why it says “evening and morning.” The story begins with darkness. Darkness first, then light. The Jewish day begins in the evening. And that pattern runs all the way through Scripture.
Day Two: The Expanse
On day two God says:
“Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters.”
The Hebrews used a word — raqia — which carries the idea of something beaten out thin, like metal hammered into shape. They did not understand space the way we do. To them, it looked like a dome overhead, like a planetarium ceiling.
God says, “Expanse, be.” And it is.
This expanse separates the waters below from the waters above. Some creationists suggest there may have been a canopy of water above the atmosphere, creating a greenhouse effect. That would explain tropical growth found in places like northern Canada and Greenland. According to that view, the canopy collapsed during the flood. I don’t know if that’s correct, but it’s interesting.
God calls the expanse “heaven.”
Psalm 19:1 says,
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.”
Daniel 12:3 uses the same word when it says the wise will shine like the brightness of the expanse.
Again, God speaks. It happens. And He names it.
Evening and morning, day two.
Day Three: Land and Vegetation
On day three, God gathers the waters below into one place so dry land appears. He calls the dry land Earth and the gathered waters Seas.
Then He commands:
“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind.”
Notice that phrase — “after their kind.” He repeats it. Plants yielding seed after their kind. trees bearing fruit after their kind.
That matters, because when you plant corn, you do not expect carrots. There is continuity. There is variation within kinds — like dogs. You can have Chihuahuas and German Shepherds and all kinds in between, but they are still dogs. What I struggle with is the idea that a fish turns into a dog. That is a different claim altogether.
The more we learn about the complexity of cells — the machinery inside them — the harder it is for me to imagine it all arising by accident. I was raised in a Christian home and trusted Christ at five. But I am more convinced now than ever that what Scripture says is true.
God commanded the earth to bring forth vegetation, and it did. The earth obeyed Him.
And God saw that it was good.
Evening and morning, day three.
Day Four: Lights and Appointed Times
On day four, God says:
“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens.”
These lights are for several purposes:
To separate day and night
For signs
For seasons
For days and years
To give light on the earth
He makes the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and He made the stars also. He places them in the expanse to rule and to separate light from darkness.
And God saw that it was good.
Evening and morning, day four.
But here is something that fascinated me.
The word translated “seasons” is mō’ed. When I hear “seasons,” I think summer, winter, spring, fall. But mō’ed means appointed times, meetings, assemblies.
Genesis 17:21 — Isaac would be born at the appointed time. Genesis 21:2 — Sarah conceived at the appointed time. Exodus 13:10 — the Passover is kept at its appointed time year after year. Exodus 27:21 — the tent of meeting. The tent of mo’ed.
The heavenly lights were placed there not only for weather cycles but for appointed gatherings. Festivals. Worship. Fellowship with God.
Israel’s calendar was governed by the sky — new moons, full moons, equinoxes. Even Easter today moves because it is tied to Passover, which is tied to the location and phases of the moon.
So when Genesis says the lights are for seasons, it may mean more than agriculture. It includes appointed times with God.
God loves fellowship with His people.
Doug mentioned Ecclesiastes 3:1:
“To everything there is a season.”
That word season again. An appointed time. A purpose.
And all of it — from atoms to stars — begins with this:
God said.
And it was so.
*Some articles on this publication or website are adapted from my recorded Bible teaching. I use transcription and editing tools (including AI-assisted editing) to convert spoken lectures into readable written form. The ideas, interpretations, and theological conclusions are my own and come directly from my teaching.
Scripture tells us that it is God that is at work in us both to will and to do of this good pleasure. Sometimes, when I’m battling with some sinful attitude or practice, it is more a problem with the desire to change than the power to actually make the change. When we pray for God’s help in such times, it seems to me we could start with asking for a change of the will. We need to be willing to be made willing.
I was reading my dad’s Bible the other day and came upon some notes that he wrote related to II Cor 13:4 which says, “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.”
His notes are as follows:
Because of II Cor 13:4 I need to pray daily:
1. By faith I apprehend and trust in a perfect Christ and His perfect work – but I do so with an imperfect faith. I pray that God will help my unbelief. (Mark 9:24)
2. Pray in trust that God will work in you (me) both to will and to do of His good pleasure – Phil 2:13
3. As I wait in prayer before God, I need to confess the love of whatever sin I may have succumbed to as well as the fact that I have fallen.
4. Daily I need to reaffirm my comprehensive choice, solemnly made before God to live in the NEW nature and refuse to live in the OLD.
5. Daily in prayer, I need to ask God to make real in experience the fact of Rom 6:14 “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”
6. Daily in prayer, I need to ask God to “Gospelize” and spiritualize my obedience.
7. Daily I need to plead: “Lord strengthen me mightily by thy spirit in the inner man against temptations that daily come my way.
8. Daily I should review important matters for prayer – especially those for whom I have promised to pray.
He closes with the words from the hymn Not What These Hands Have Done
Not what these hands have done can save a guilty soul Not what this toiling flesh has borne can make the spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs or tears can bear my awful load.
Thy work alone, oh Christ can ease the weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O lamb of God can give me peace within. I bless the Christ of God I rest on love divine. And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
Welcome to the Faithful Men website hosted on The Tuinstra’s URL. I (Roger) have had the opportunity to teach adult Sunday School classes and Bible studies for almost 60 years. Before I retired, I seemed to have enough time to post to my blog here quite regularly. For a while, a very short while, I thought I could post once a day like Challies does. But that dream didn’t last a week! Since retiring, I have even less time to write regularly, although I have kept up with my Bible study and teaching responsibilities.
As many of you retired folks can attest, we men often struggle with our goals and purpose in life after retirement. God reminded me of what Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians in Phil. 1:25. Here is my paraphrase: Since God has me still here, I know that I will remain and continue here for the progress and joy of faith in the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
The other day, I was listening to a song with the simple title, “Come!” Have you ever been at one of those points in life when you feel like you’re carrying a greater load than you can manage? You feel like you can’t multitask at a fast enough pace to meet the demands of life. Jesus issues an invitation recorded in several passages of the New Testament. His message is this:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
The song I was listening to uses the text of verses such as this from the Bible where Jesus lays out the invitation and challenge, “Come!” I’ve known these passages for years, but for some reason, those words along with the musical setting made quite an impression on me as to how clear and simple and all-encompassing the invitation is.
This invitation from Jesus is for those who labor and are burdened down. It is for those who are thirsty to experience real life. It is for those who feel like everything is just too hard. Maybe we would use the expression “I’m stressed out.” Does that sound like anyone you know, maybe even yourself? Look at what Jesus says in another place:
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” John 7:37-38
Who is Jesus that he can make such promises? The Bible tells us that Jesus is the creator of the universe. He is God and the Messiah. He has all authority in heaven and earth. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. In other words, it is God himself who is inviting anyone who is weary, burdened, or desperate to really live and to be free from the weight that comes with life, to come to him. God is the source of everything that is good, and he invites each one of us to come to him for relief. In fact, the verse we just quoted promises that whoever believes in Jesus will have rivers of living water flowing from them. Jesus later explained that he was talking about the Spirit of God himself who will come and live in us and be that living water.
Look at what Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” To me, this is an amazing reality to grasp. Jesus calls out with a loud voice, “Come!” The Holy Spirit calls out, “Come!” The bride (which is the church) says, “Come!” And those who hear are so excited that they start yelling, “Come! Come! It’s true! Whoever wants to can come and drink of the water of life freely.”
At the beginning of Revelation 22, just before the invitation to come, Jesus says, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
When Jesus comes back again, he will give to each person according to what he or she has done. The problem is that we haven’t done so well. The Bible says no one is good and no one seeks God. Every one of us has sinned and broken God’s law. What Jesus shouted at that festival was that the rivers of living water would flow in those who believe on him. Believing is the key. It’s not just believing in something, as in “I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows.” That kind of belief accomplishes nothing. Believing in Jesus means believing that he is who he said he is, that his promises are true, that his death on the cross really did pay the full penalty of all of our sins, and that he actually did come to life again three days after he died, and is now in heaven at the right hand of God, and that he is now the ruler and judge of the universe. Believing is not just saying you believe these things; it is actually believing them!
It’s that same Jesus who says, “If you are weary and burdened down, and if you desire to have all your sins, failures, and shame forgiven forever, come to me. I will forgive you and begin to restore you to the person I created you to be.” Believing this is what it means to come.
So, what did he say? He said, “Take my yoke upon you.” A yoke is the thing that joins two oxen together so that they can plow together. Jesus said we should take his yoke because his yoke is easy. It’s not a hard, difficult pull. I take it to mean that he carries the bulk of the load for us. In another place in the Bible Jesus says, “Throw your cares on me, because I care for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) He’s not only saying that he cares about us, he is saying that he’ll do the caring instead of us having to it ourselves.
The other thing that Jesus said in Matthew 11 is that we should learn from him. We take his yoke, and we learn. What do we learn? We learn how to live life God’s way, with Jesus as our yokefellow and his word as our teacher. His word is what we read in the Bible. What is Jesus’ promise? You will find rest for your souls. You will have rivers of living water, i.e., the Holy Spirit, living within. We believe, take his yoke, and learn from him. The result? Rest for our soul. This is the best news anyone could ever hear!
Jesus, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the creator and king of the universe invites you to come. You will find in him all you truly need to face the ups and downs of life successfully. He does not promise that all your problems will go away; but he does promise to be there, helping you and guiding you each step of the way. Come!
In case you were wondering, the song that got me thinking about this is called “The Spirit and the Bride” sung by Joshua Aaron. It’s partly in Hebrew so turn on the closed captioning. https://youtu.be/W5BFmx7SdOY?si=cMscb_jR8fYyTF35
