Are Your Hearts Open or Your Ears Stopped?

 

The last words of the Old Testament prepare us for who and what are coming in the New Testament:

 

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. Malachi 3:16-18

 

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” Malachi 4:1-6

 

When He cometh, when He cometh

To make up His jewels,

All His jewels, precious jewels,

His loved and His own.

Like the stars of the morning,

His brightness adorning,

They shall shine in their beauty,

Bright gems for His crown.

He will gather, He will gather

The gems for His kingdom;

All the pure ones, all the bright ones,

His loved and His own.

Little children, little children,

Who love their Redeemer,

Are the jewels, precious jewels,

His loved and His own.

 

-      William O. Cushing, 1856

 

The idea in the hymn is based on the KJV of Malachi 3:17, “in that day when I make up my jewels.”

 

Are we living as a people prepared for the day Jesus returns to gather the gems for His kingdom, “bright gems for His crown”?

 

 

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place,   until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts

 

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 1 Peter 1:8-12

 

The prophets had said many things about Christ many hundreds of years beforehand. Prophets like Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Ezekiel and the Psalmists. Their full understanding of what they were predicting was obscured to some extent, though they knew, in these particular prophecies, that they spoke of things regarding the distant future, and not of their own times.

 

When the New Testament age dawned, the apostles and others were eyewitnesses of the very person – Christ –

that the prophets had been talking about. And so the word of the prophets  was confirmed as true by these

eyewitnesses.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honour and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

 

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 2 Peter 1:16-19.

 

What was predicted would happen was seen to have happened! Thus was “the prophetic word more fully confirmed”!!

One day, we pray, many will see the light of Old Testament prophecy – shining brightly in its fulfilment in Christ.

 

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

 

To see one exceptional example of this, read Isaiah 53. What a magnificent prophecy of Christ’s atoning death and resurrection, and the salvation of many that resulted. How specific are many of its predictions – as if it were written by an eyewitness of Christ’s very sacrifice, resurrection and many “saved offspring” – the sons of Abraham now children of God.

 

Only one year after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, the Ethiopian Queen’s Treasurer was reading a portion of this Isaiah 53 prophecy while returning from worshipping in Jerusalem. He did not understand what he was reading; so he sought Philip the evangelist’s explanation. God had sent Philip to find the Ethiopian because He knew he would be searching for the meaning of the Isaiah text. It is likely he would have paid big money for that Isaiah scroll when he was in Jerusalem. It makes you recall Jesus’ parables in Matthew 13:44-46 of the man who sold all he had to buy the field containing the hidden treasure, and the merchant seeking fine pearls, and finding one pearl of great value sells all he had and bought that one pearl of great price. The Ethiopian thus found riches beyond measure – his own eternal salvation in Christ.

 

Philip started from the words of Isaiah that the Ethiopian was reading, and preached Jesus to him. The Ethiopian nobleman’s heart was opened. His lack of understanding had been changed to full understanding. He believed in Jesus, saw water and wished to be baptized to be saved. Philip baptized the Ethiopian, who immediately rejoiced and went on his way back home. You can read the account in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 8, verses 26-39. This is real history, not fantasy. It is also how true Christianity began in that part of Africa.

 

There are just a couple of examples of people of such nobility coming to faith in Jesus - the record of their faith

being included in the New Testament. The Roman Proconsul of Cyprus in Acts 13 is another. How about that? A

Queen’s Treasurer and an Emperor’s Governor!! I talked on Thursday to the Mayor of Maitland who’s only recently

retired after a lifetime serving the community. Talked to your local dignitary, lately?? They need the gospel, too.

 

The New Testament and the Old Testament fit together like a hand in a glove. The Old Testament was written in the knowledge that its fulfilment would come many hundreds of years in the future in the New Testament and the person of Jesus.

 

Such is the genius of God that He purposed this to happen and then made it happen as purposed:

 

“To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?

Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship!

They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,  they set it in its place, and it stands there;

    it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors,

remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other;

    I am God, and there is none like me,

declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. Isaiah 46:5-11

 

The Bible has very many examples of such prophecies – more than enough to convince an honest and open mind that in the Bible is revealed the will of God pertaining to your eternal salvation. God wants you to one day be free from the sins, worries, trials, disappointments, death and the temporary nature of life in this world, and spend eternity with Him in the divine love of the glory of heaven that will never end.

 

Your salvation is not about fickle feelings, but about God’s facts – objective truth written down in God’s unchangeable Bible. No matter what your feelings or your circumstances or your country or language, God’s objective standard of truth is always available for you to search to find the truth that will set you free from the problems, disappointments and limitations of this world, and set you on the path to eternal bliss. And when you do find that truth, the following words will be true of you, for the day has dawned and the morning star has arisen in your heart!

 

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ

died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  Romans 5:1-11

 

O happy day, that fixed my choice

On Thee, my Savior and my God!

Well may this glowing heart rejoice,

And tell its raptures all abroad.

                                             (Words by Philip Doddridge, published in 1755 after his death.)

Refrain:

Happy day, happy day,

When Jesus washed my sins away!

He taught me how to watch and pray,

And live rejoicing every day:

Happy day, happy day,

When Jesus washed my sins away!

                                              (Refrain from Wesleyan Sacred Harp, 1854).

 

Our hope is a sure hope – a living hope that will never disappoint us nor shame us. Jesus, who died because he wanted to save all people, came back to life in the resurrection, and then ascended to heaven where He lives forever, thus substantiating our hope of heaven, when that hope will become sight as we personally see our Saviour.

 

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:2-3

 

While Daniel’s words predict the salvation of Israel in the days of Jesus the Messiah, they also foretell that day when

“those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above … like the stars forever and ever,” because, at

some point in many lives, the day dawns and Jesus the morning star arises in your heart. Open your heart to Jesus.