Back Story To My Poem

My daughter Becky stopped over this week and while we were talking she mentioned that she liked the poem from my last post. After I told her what was going on in my mind she said it might be a good idea to post those thoughts as well. So here it is.

Sometimes things churn around in my brain, an idea pops out, and then it becomes a poem. This is what was going on leading to my last post - The Next Great Awakening

Some of the first books I read after my conversion were by M.R.D. DeHaan, M.D., a medical doctor and a minister who for 27 years had a half hour radio program. His - The Chemistry of the Blood - and - Portraits of Christ in Genesis - helped provide for me a terrific scriptural foundation showing that the Bible, from the very beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation talks about Jesus and God's plan of salvation.

One of my favorite books by DeHaan was - The Tabernacle. It shows that each detail of the tabernacle, the material, the colors, the furniture and their placement, the names and position of the encamped tribes, every dimension points to the person and the work of Jesus as well as to who we are as a believer and how all that fits into what salvation is.

In church Sunday I saw a pastor who was broken. He had to work hard to keep from crying as he was preaching. It was the 3rd anniversary of his father's death but there seemed to me that more was going on in his heart. He has been preaching for a couple of months from the Book of Exodus and Sunday's theme had to do with God giving the plans for the wilderness tabernacle to Moses as well as how God had etched His commandments on tablets of stone and as soon as those tablets were brought to the people they became broken because the people were in the process of violating the very first one.

He talked a little about the most holy place in the tabernacle. Outside is where the sacrifices are offered. Just inside the tent is an area called the holy place where sits the candlestick, the table of shewbread and the altar of incense. There is a thick veil that separates the holy place from a second room which is called the most holy place, or the holy of holies.

In the most holy place is the ark of the covenant which has on top of it a gold lid. This is called the mercy seat. On each side of the mercy seat which covered the ark, inside of which were the broken tablets of the law given to Moses, were the golden cherubim. Above the ark, above the mercy seat, above the cherubim in this wilderness tabernacle resided the cloud of the Presence, the shekina glory of God. It was into this place, into the cloud of glory but only once a year, that the high priest would enter to make sacrifice for the sins of the nation.

Our pastor was broken and I believe he was broken for souls. When you talk about the awesome glory of God and you realize just a portion of who He is and what He has planned and what He has done it can be overwhelming. When you realize that through Jesus death on the cross the veil in the tabernacle that separated mankind from the awesome glory was torn in two one can feel anxious and in despair for those that remain blinded by this world.

There are so many that need to know Jesus, whose lives could be brought into the glory and the presence and yet are deceived by unbelief, or the world or even by religious works. The numbers are so large and we are so weak. I myself often want to grab people by the shoulders, shake them and yell, "Forget your stupid arguments and excuses. Even though I have seen only just a little of the presence of the glory of God I have experienced it and can testify that you have no idea what you are talking about and what you are missing!"

When I woke up and showered Tuesday morning a song started running through my brain (that's happens quite often) and the song was about an angel bringing a burning coal to touch my lips. I am currently in Isaiah and a few days before I had read the verse in chapter 6 which talks about an angel bringing a burning coal to touch Isaiah's mouth.

So that night I thought it might be a good theme for a poem but I felt I needed to do a little research about Isaiah 6:7. Here it is beginning with verse 1:

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.

Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.

He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."

Other readings for that day were some articles about it being the 20th anniversary of the Toronto Airport revival which continues on even to today and an account from Dutch Sheets about visiting the location of the Cane Ridge revival which led to the second great awakening and then getting on an airplane and being part of a dedication for a bible school and church in Wales that was recently restored.

The church was where Evan Roberts preached and from which began the great Welsh revival and the bible school was where Roberts and then his son had a prayer room which went on for years interceding for the church and against the forces of darkness active in the world

A similar comment was made about ministers from both Toronto and Wales. They were men broken before the Lord who realized they could do nothing in their own power.

There were interesting things I noticed about Isaiah from the commentaries. Isaiah was looking into the heavenly tabernacle which was the pattern for the earthly tabernacle. The work of the cheribum was the same, to guard the presence and the holiness of the Lord. The burning coal would have come from the altar of incense, incense representing the prayers of the people placed on the burning coal.

One commentary brought this all forward to the account in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit first descended upon the church. In what form did He come?  It was not a burning coal placed on the lips but it was pretty close - tongues of fire! What was the immediate result? The disciples who had gathered there waiting for the promise spoke out in other languages, speaking of the mighty deeds of God. And then Peter, who only weeks before had denied Christ 3 times stood up and addressed the large crowd that had gathered and with great boldness proclaimed to them what was written by the prophet Joel.

What was the result?  The Holy Spirit used both the testimony and the praise of those gathered. That day 3 thousand souls were added to the kingdom.

When the seraphim spoke "the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke." May we see a great shaking!

The Next Great Awakening

The angel brought a burning coal
and placed it on my lips
and said - proclaim the word of God
sweet as the honey drips

It was the start of something new
revival in the land
a fire started burning bright
and fortresses couldn't stand

We fell down weeping at His feet
our arms extended wide
and broken hearts were filled with hope
He burned out all our pride

We then exclaimed the wonder of
the power in His blood
and people started rushing in
swept up into that flood

Large crowds were waiting hours long
while some had tarried days
the blind got sight, the lame could walk
the cleansed all offered praise

A million souls were born again
next week a million more
all lives were changed and families healed
prayer opened prison doors

And we are those of unclean lips
fearful of what men say
while mankind dies a thousand deaths
they need someone to pray

But coming soon while we're still weak
an angel with a coal
it's burning hot onto your mouth
empowering your soul

The Holy Spirit is our strength
He'll give us all we need
so step right in - surrender now
to see our nation freed

Our Eternal Home

For the majority of the Christian world it may not really be necessary to understand exactly how salvation works, only that we are saved through the atoning work of Jesus. The gospel message is laid out this simply.

God loves us. He really does.

However there is a problem. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That means that even though God loves us we cannot have fellowship with Him because He is a holy God and we are born sinners.

God provided the solution. He sent His only Son Jesus into the world to pay the price for us which as sinners we could not do ourselves. Jesus paid the price by His suffering and death on the cross, and because God raised Him from the dead that atonement can become ours.

This becomes real to us when we confess our sins to God and promise to try to do better, when we believe that Jesus death on the cross has paid the price that God demands for our sins, and when we then publicly proclaim Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

This basic outline with the supporting scriptures behind them have been presented to many hundreds of millions of people and many have come to a saving and life changing experience because of it. It is not the intellectual argument that makes the outline work so well. Rather it seems to be a framework through which the Holy Spirit can move to open up hearts to the truth.

The following post I wrote about 8 years ago goes into a little more detail on how I see salvation working. I wrote it because I believe that many in Christianity have a very limited view on what salvation really is. Not everyone will agree because (1) they have been taught different and that's a tall hill to climb (2) salvation by works has such a strong appeal to man and (3) it has been accused as being gnostic by making all Christians into "little gods" (that by a former pastor of mine).

Obviously I don't agree and hopefully, if you read it carefully, my viewpoint will help give a little more depth to your understanding of salvation.

What is not in this post and what really should be is a discussion on the difference between the body, soul and spirit of man and how the Holy Spirit works in and through each area. Perhaps another day.

Link to - Our Eternal Home

One Hundred Churches

one hundred churches
one thousand pews
ten hundred thousand
different views

sunday morning
saturday night
wednesday meeting
at first light

grand wooden doors
great walls of stone
or folding chairs
to praise or moan

a father's vestments
a reverend's suits
a doctor's robes
no substitute

young preacher's sandals
and faded jeans
loose fitting shirts
and modern themes

felt baskets brought
by usher's rows
plastic tubs passed
so no one knows

age old hymns
with numbered scenes
overhead stanzas
on video screens

chorus are sung
eyes are closed
some bring tears
just blow your nose

old men and women
to the organ sway
young guys and gals
hear the guitar's play

the word is read
from a big black book
or on the face
of a hand held nook

a booming voice
a keen whisper
where truth proclaimed
for hearts to stir

we sit we stand
some will kneel
even raising hands
has great appeal

we meet we greet
we get to know
sometimes it's fast
sometimes it's slow

walk the aisle
take the bread
drink the wine
or juice instead

some kids stay
some kids go
bible stories
colored so

babies crying
candies passed
hope they've learned
to make em last

visions shared
hearts are stirred
the word proclaimed
hope assured

decision time
altar call
no difference seen
for great or small

blessing given
before we leave
prayers are offered
for those that grieve

small groups gather
strong in prayer
to help and heal
the people there

do not forsake
that common tether
He is present when
we gather together

Watchman's Hut

The daughter of Zion is left . . . like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field   (Isaiah 1:8)

All the quotes in this post are from the 1st chapter of the prophet Isaiah. In this chapter he speaks of God's coming judgment of Judah and Jerusalem and of its future restoration. There are many applications here for us as well. But first my story for the past week.

Unlike most Saturdays this was one where we did not have to do any driver testing. So the Friday night before we were able to have most of our family over for a nice barbecue. The weather was perfect, we had a great time talking around the fire pit and all in all Jackie and I felt very blessed to be surrounded by our kids and grand kids. Considering all the sugar they consumed we smiled brightly as they drove off.

Saturday I was able to spend some time with one of my brothers talking and sitting beneath the shade of some stately old trees on top of a dune looking over the friendly waters of Lake Michigan. Again the weather was comfortable with a nice southwest breeze. I could not imagine anything being more pleasant.

Driving back home I noticed a bride with her bridesmaids getting their pictures taken by a grove of trees outside a North side church. Her full bridal dress was a beautiful ivory and the whole scene looked gorgeous.

That night Jackie and I headed to a deli down town for dinner and then sat at a nice little table on the sidewalk outside, talking and watching the wide assortment of people walking by. Holland has one of the nicest down towns anywhere and it is always busy with a lot of energy. We window shopped afterwards, had a little chat with a retired missionary to Mexico and his wife who were people watching on a bench outside their residence at the Warm Friend and then we went home.

The week started off great as well. Jackie and I went to a service at the church of one of our daughter's where a prophetic team consisting of 3 pastors from different churches come in to speak words of encouragement to people selected by the host church. Our daughter and her husband were one of the couples picked and in Jackie's and my opinion the prophets were right on. They confirmed for my daughter and her husband what they believed would be the Lord's direction for them in the future and we all were feeling good.

But then in the middle of the week we received shocking news. Joanna, a friend of theirs whom my son-in-law had known for years, whom Jackie and I had met a number of times and who had lived with my daughter for awhile before she got married to a man she met in India while on a mission trip there, had suddenly died at age 31. A throat infection had gone septic and quickly spread to her whole body. She and her husband had 2 young children, were living in India, planting churches and taking care of orphans.

(I will remember Jo the next time someone posts that being pro life should also include caring about people after they are born. Who do they think the majority of people are who actually volunteer their precious time to run food banks, mentor the men and women who get released from prison, care for the homeless and yes, take care of the orphans?)

I was struck by the contrasts. One the one hand - incredible beauty, close family, beautiful weather, bright hope and warm feelings. On the other - confusion, deep grief, crushed hopes and unfilled potential.

As it says in Ecclesiastes, there is a season for everything. The thing is, just as it is sure that there is a time for us to live it is also sure that there will be a time for us to die. One can hope that the seasons progress at a regular and orderly pace and we can enjoy things as we go but it is guaranteed that sooner or later there will come that one last season. We can never be quite sure when it will come. But when it comes, what will be our testimony to the One that made us and had a plan for our lives?

transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end. Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen. (vs 28 - 29)

The oaks and the gardens are passing things. It is foolish to pursue things to satisfy the soul if we forget that time marches on and there will come an accounting that has nothing to do with possessions.

Will it have helped to be religious?

I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me; I am wearing of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply your prayers I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. (vs. 14-15)

Our ultimate accounting will have nothing to do with going to the right church, being obedient to the rules and regulations of that church or with any other religious things we have done. We are rebels and sinners and because of that our hands are covered with blood.

So what does the Lord then advise?

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; (vs. 16)

This means to repent of all that we have done outside the will of God and to accept and confess that Jesus died for our sins. It is His blood that cleanse our bloody hands.  There is no other way around the block.

Remove the evil of your deeds from my sight. Cease to do evil (also vs. 16)

True repentance also means that we accept the Lordship of Jesus over our lives. We determine that to the best of our ability we will not continue in sin.

Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. (vs.17)

This is our obligation. This is the mission field for most of us. None of these actions are a weight on a scale that justifies us before a holy God but rather they should be a reflection of who we are in Christ Jesus.

In our church service this morning we saw 19 adult baptisms. It was quite a diverse group, race wise, experience wise, church background wise. Testimonies talked about everything from attempting suicide, losing a child, divorce, being filled with hate to trying to be as good as one could and still feeling empty.

One of the spontaneous songs we sang that resounded through the church after the baptisms was an old hymn that begins; "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." I smiled because many years before Jackie and I had visited this same building (then a different congregation) to hear Dr. J. Vernon McGee speak. He was a guy I had listened to often on the radio with his Through The Bible broadcast. That was the theme song of the program.

The watchman's hut in a cucumber field is a temporary structure. Hopefully the harvest will come in before the enemy steals or blight destroys but eventually if the field is protected there will be a harvest.

As I look out over the cucumber field I am aware of three things. The enemy is real, the blight can destroy, and many are there who will not be on the right side of the harvest.

God the Father in His great love sent His Son Jesus to be our redemption. See what He says to us in verses 18 to 20:

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord,

Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson, they will be white like wool.

If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land;

But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.

Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Communion

Today on my For Ex Catholics Only blog I gave links to 2 of my old posts on the background for holy communion.

If interested you can check them out here.

Happy Hearts

When I was a young
summers were spent at our cottage by Lake Michigan
When Spring came
the family dug out a foot of brown leaves from the back porch
shoveled drifted sand from cement walks
My older brother opened a small creaky door to get under the building
checking rusty pipes and valves
the spiders scared me so I only watched
and waited for him to get eaten

Lakeside cottages smell musty at first
Sometimes a dead mouse is finally found
stiff corpse in the back of the piano
Windows opened
furniture dusted
counters washed
floors swept
fresh sheets on all the beds
we are ready for a different pace of life

Do you know what it is like
to get up just before the sun
and with the early morning chill
walk down wooden stairs
to sit on a mound of fine West Michigan sand
overlooking flat stillness for as far as you can see?
Nothing moves
the dune grass is still wet
and you think you could walk on the water

In the kitchen was a rustic painted breadbox
as well as an old painted table

a place where we would chow down peanut butter sandwiches
Oreo cookies dipped in fresh milk
cinnamon toast
This was where with family and friends
we'd play long and loud group canasta games
eight decks of floppy worn cards
happy red threes, sad black ones

Our bathing suits and towels hung in a large changing room
Just outside was a faucet, bucket and hose
to remove all that clung to our arms, feet, legs and hair
We thought we got it all
but my bed was always filled
It would not be summer
without sand in the sheets
and going to sleep
to the low and constant moan of a fog horn

The best dinners were in the back porch
same day picked sweet corn
shuck it, pick out the silk
boil till ready then roll those suckers on a stick of butter then salt
Dad would grill whatever he was grilling
Mom would fix whatever she was fixing
but you must always leave room for ice cold watermelon
If you curl your tongue just right around a nice seed
you can nail your sister in the middle of her forehead

Some days, if we were lucky, and had a little change
perhaps a friend,  a cousin or two
our parents would let us walk that long mile
down Lake Shore Drive
to the Kitchen Cupboard
pinball, pop rocks, long red licorice strings
all gone by the time we got back
We were good kids
and stayed off the road

An enclosed front porch kept out the mosquitoes
and looked straight West at the big lake
Most evenings the family would sit on sail boat cushions
waiting for the fiery red ball to drop and light up the horizon
or watching far off lightning duel through thick black clouds
counting fireflies, listening to the ball game
Reader's Digest and cross word puzzles
chocolate ice cream cones to end the day
Happy hearts