Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, special ones.

It sure didn’t take much to get my shirt to leaking this morning during our little walk/jog routine. In fact it’s leaking right now. Overhead, I see the makings of a spectacular thunder and lightning show. Do you have your ticket?

Of course we are surrounded with a huge amount of work to be done. I just wish I was a little better acclimated to this heat wave so as to get done what should be done without feeling all drained of energy. I’ll do what I can.

What are the chances that our wonderful God-fearing government will lead us into peace, prosperity, and utopia? I have to rate those chances at less than zero. Wow! We don’t even have a democracy anymore! But hey!—Becki helped me to return to our real security this morning—made me cry—when she quoted from the Scripture chorus—“My help is in the Name of the Lord—Maker of heaven and earth.” Praise Him!

OK—let’s get to work. Blessings.

Love, Dad/Ray.

The hearts and minds of all those Jewish legalists who condemned Jesus to death were obviously blind to what they were initiating. The irony of it all is just overwhelming—and disturbing. Here they were very familiar with the whole system of sacrificing innocent animals for the sins of guilty humans based on the Scriptural principle that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22), but their cold religious bondage left them with no clue that they were here transacting the premiere once-for-all fulfillment of that very tradition—sacrificing the very “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The setting is hard to imagine—three men now hanging on crosses—with nothing more to do in life but die. Their natural endorphins had kicked in sufficiently to allow them, in spite of their horrific suffering, to think and speak. One of the criminals had come to embrace a HEART AFTER GOD, the other remained a stubborn unbelieving skeptic. The believing one demonstrated some wonderful divine revelation when he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v. 42). The FOCUS VERSE is Jesus’ wonderful response. Question: Was Jesus telling the truth when he said, “I tell you the truth?” I believe He was. And if your answer is YES, He was speaking truth, and you personally embrace the finished work of “the Lamb of God,” be reminded of your own wonderful future. I have every reason to believe that you too will make that same transfer to “paradise” when you pass through the door of death. There’s nothing gloomy about that prospect.

This is not to say that I know very much about life after death. I’ve never died before. But I have become absolutely convinced that there is such a thing—life after death. Neither do I claim to understand all that goes on between the Holy God and a sinful man that allows a condemned sinner to so drastically change his heart, his course, and his destiny—and qualify him for ETERNAL LIFE. All I know is that it can and does happen in response to humble seeking, confession, and repentance. And it happened to this condemned criminal, not while kneeling at an altar in some church or evangelistic campaign, but while hanging on a cross and opening his heart to Jesus. That has to be worth pondering.