Ensign: And He Will Be Again
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 December 2015
Oh, I too appreciate irony, even when I'm not doing my clothes with it.
The other major science fiction franchise will get all the attention two weeks from now when the latest movie in its series comes out. But I've been holding onto this devotion based on a scene from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home for about six weeks now, and it's got to come out! For those unfamiliar, Kirk, Spock, and the crew of the Enterprise travel back in time to save their world (Earth in the late twenty-third century) from destruction by an alien probe by retrieving two humpback whales, animals still alive in 1986 -- oh, The Voyage Home turned twenty-nine last month -- but extinct in their own time.
Never mind the annoying intricacies of time travel (which I feel Star Trek's never gotten quite right, but that's a story for another day), my focus is on a scene where Kirk and Spock are trying to get some ready cash for their people to use in San Francisco. So they pawn Kirk's eyeglasses --
Spock: Weren't those a gift from Dr. McCoy?
Kirk: And they will be again -- that's the beauty of it.
-- which McCoy gave him the glasses two films earlier (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) as a birthday gift and presumably got them from some descendant of this pawnbroker or pawn shop, doing what scientists and other geeks calls "closing the loop". That is, the event happened because it had to happen. Replete throughout the Bible we see contrasting themes of law and grace, sinner and saint (important: you are a saint saved by the grace of God as a Christian -- but you still sin, you are not a sinner saved by grace) and while we live and draw breath it seems we're caught in the middle.
We HAVE to see the grey areas because we live in them. Or do we?
From Genesis to Revelation, we're really told only one story. It's just a question of what part you and I play in it. From "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) to "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen" (Revelation 22:21), we're really told only one story. And it has to happen just this way -- the despair that turns into malaise when we aren't raptured or called up when the world around us looks like it's going to, pardon my pun, hell in a handbasket, even THAT is part of God's divine plan. It happens because it has to happen.
To truly see sin, truly see separation from God, for what it is and want no part of it, we have to embrace God. And we can only do that by uniting (union being the opposite of separation) with Him, and we can only pass through Jesus the Christ TO God Our Father ("I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6). But it's a union, unlike other traditions you've heard, in which God and you keep your own separate beings. You will just be looking at things the way God does, which will likely influence your choices from there on out.
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
And He will be again -- that's the beauty of Him.
David
P.S. I write this weekly devotional of mine to keep in touch with you and I hope to be encouraging too. If you find I'm not or you want me to get lost, please let me know -- thank you!
Thank You, Lord, that we can come to You in prayer and praise and that You have promised to provide for all our needs according to Your riches in glory, even when we don't know what our needs are sometimes. Please help me -- help us -- to pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides there and all over the world.
Thank You, Lord, for all of us and all those in leadership and service both here and abroad. We praise You, Lord, for the opportunities we have along with the promise of new life for You. And now, may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 December 2015
Oh, I too appreciate irony, even when I'm not doing my clothes with it.
The other major science fiction franchise will get all the attention two weeks from now when the latest movie in its series comes out. But I've been holding onto this devotion based on a scene from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home for about six weeks now, and it's got to come out! For those unfamiliar, Kirk, Spock, and the crew of the Enterprise travel back in time to save their world (Earth in the late twenty-third century) from destruction by an alien probe by retrieving two humpback whales, animals still alive in 1986 -- oh, The Voyage Home turned twenty-nine last month -- but extinct in their own time.
Never mind the annoying intricacies of time travel (which I feel Star Trek's never gotten quite right, but that's a story for another day), my focus is on a scene where Kirk and Spock are trying to get some ready cash for their people to use in San Francisco. So they pawn Kirk's eyeglasses --
Spock: Weren't those a gift from Dr. McCoy?
Kirk: And they will be again -- that's the beauty of it.
-- which McCoy gave him the glasses two films earlier (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) as a birthday gift and presumably got them from some descendant of this pawnbroker or pawn shop, doing what scientists and other geeks calls "closing the loop". That is, the event happened because it had to happen. Replete throughout the Bible we see contrasting themes of law and grace, sinner and saint (important: you are a saint saved by the grace of God as a Christian -- but you still sin, you are not a sinner saved by grace) and while we live and draw breath it seems we're caught in the middle.
We HAVE to see the grey areas because we live in them. Or do we?
From Genesis to Revelation, we're really told only one story. It's just a question of what part you and I play in it. From "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) to "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen" (Revelation 22:21), we're really told only one story. And it has to happen just this way -- the despair that turns into malaise when we aren't raptured or called up when the world around us looks like it's going to, pardon my pun, hell in a handbasket, even THAT is part of God's divine plan. It happens because it has to happen.
To truly see sin, truly see separation from God, for what it is and want no part of it, we have to embrace God. And we can only do that by uniting (union being the opposite of separation) with Him, and we can only pass through Jesus the Christ TO God Our Father ("I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6). But it's a union, unlike other traditions you've heard, in which God and you keep your own separate beings. You will just be looking at things the way God does, which will likely influence your choices from there on out.
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
And He will be again -- that's the beauty of Him.
David
P.S. I write this weekly devotional of mine to keep in touch with you and I hope to be encouraging too. If you find I'm not or you want me to get lost, please let me know -- thank you!
Thank You, Lord, that we can come to You in prayer and praise and that You have promised to provide for all our needs according to Your riches in glory, even when we don't know what our needs are sometimes. Please help me -- help us -- to pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides there and all over the world.
Thank You, Lord, for all of us and all those in leadership and service both here and abroad. We praise You, Lord, for the opportunities we have along with the promise of new life for You. And now, may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
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