A call to the faithful

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31

As I was reading my Bible this morning I felt compelled to look at the Old Testament. As a Christian it is easy to spend the majority of my time reading the New Testament - the Gospels and the Letters on how to live a godly, Christ-centred life. However, there would be no New Testament without the Old and there would be no messiah without the promise of one and the framework of the Law and the sacrificial system, which Jesus came to fulfil. 

So I turned to the Prophets and chose to begin with Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 1 contains one of the most elaborate and vivid visions of the glory of the Lord in the whole of Scripture. Ezekiel sees a cloud with streaks of fire instead of lightning, at the centre of which is like gleaming metal. From out of the cloud fly "living creatures" whom have the appearance of a human but with four wings and four faces - that of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. Each living creature sparkled like burnished bronze. Above the living creatures Ezekiel saw an expanse and above the expanse a throne, upon which sat a figure like a man again with the appearance of shining metal and fire. 

As I reflected upon this bizarre imagery I began to ask what it meant. It is very easy to dismiss such a vision as mere fantasy, a figment of an overactive imagination; but as I meditated and then consulted my Study Bible notes the vision began to make sense. The living creatures are symbolic of God's sovereignty over creation - the 4 sides to them could represent the 4 corners of the earth in which God has sovereignty over; the four faces represent God's creation - man, animal (both wild and domestic) and bird. The fact that the living creatures could move in any direction without turning symbolises the fact that God's spirit covers the earth and goes where He pleases, as indeed it says they were led by the spirit and followed Him wherever He turned. Their colour and brightness represent being made holy by God as they came from the cloud, as Scripture says:

"for our ‘God is a consuming fire'." Hebrews 12:29

The figure upon the throne over the expanse is very reminiscent of Jesus' vision to John in the book of Revelation. The fact that similar, almost identical imagery is used in both the Old and New Testament for the glory of God should not surprise us. It is a common misconception that the God of the Old and New Testaments are different. The God who created the universe is the same God who made a covenant with Abraham and his offspring, who is the same God who exiled His people for breaking their covenant and who sent Jesus Christ to die for the sins of humanity. The same God who sent Jesus Christ to the earth to make the ultimate sacrifice is also the same God that will one day return in glory to judge the living and the dead! Jesus' second coming will herald not salvation but judgement:

"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron sceptre.’ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords." 

Revelation 19:11-16

What does all this mean for Christians? It means we should not forget the terrifying glory of the Living God! Paul taught work out your salvation with fear and trembling. This I believe is an important message for the Church today. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Sadly this is as true today as it was when Jesus uttered it. There are millions if not billions of lives that are going to suffer the judgement of God and stand before His glory and tremble on that Day when Christ returns. 

Some may argue but it's all a matter of faith - it's something you believe and who am I to tell others what to believe? That is an excuse! It is an excuse to cover the fact that you are afraid - afraid of rejection, afraid of persecution and afraid of man. But Jesus says:

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

Others will claim that it is much harder for people to become Christians today because of the advances in science and the increase in secularism and atheism. While it is true that the sciences as we understand them today and their discoveries were not yet in existence when the Bible was written, nevertheless there has always been resistence and objection to the Gospel. Paul's mission took him to Athens, epicentre of philosophy in the ancient world where he preached the resurrection much to the derision of the philosophers of his day, who rejected bodily resurrection in favour of dualism in which only the soul was immortal. Indeed Paul went on to teach in 1 Corinthians that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. Indeed if there were not people who scoffed at the idea of God then how could David say:

                                                        "The fool says in his heart,
                                                         There is no God.’
                                                         They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
                                                         there is no one who does good." 

                                                         Psalm 14:1 

Atheism is not a 19th century phenomenon and while the Enlightenment and Darwin's theory of Evolution have given atheism intellectual credence, nevertheless science does not instinctually lead to naturalism as many of the 'New Atheists' would claim. Science is by its very nature agnostic and neutral. How you interpret science is where atheism comes into play and there are many prominent, erudite Christian and theistic scientists such as Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project and currently serves as Director of the US National Institute of Health. Faith and reason, science and religion are not mutually exclusive of one another, despite the propaganda of the New Atheists.

Christians need a fresh revelation of the glory and majesty and holiness of God. Christians need to take to heart Jesus' declaration that the harvest is plentiful and awaiting the reaping. In short we must step out in faith again with a holy and reverent fear of God that is right and honouring to the Lord who is jealous for His holy name over the earth. Jesus died not just for the 'moral majority', the good or the 'not perfect but not evil either' kind. He died for humanity in all its depravity, wickness and evil. Jesus has the power to save everyone who comes to God through Him!