LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND

As we come to the end of a year, there are many brothers and sisters who feel that because they have sinned and failed God at some time in their past lives, therefore they cannot fulfil God’s perfect plan for their lives now.

Let us look at what the Scriptures have to say on this matter, and not lean on our own understanding or our sense of logic. 

Notice first of all how the Bible begins. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). 

The heavens and the earth must have been perfect when God created them, for nothing imperfect or incomplete can ever come forth from His hand. But some of the angels whom He had created fell away, and this is described for us in Isaiah 14:11-15 and Ezekiel 28:13-18. Let’s assume that it was then that the earth came into the condition described in Genesis 1:2, “formless, empty and dark”. The rest of Genesis 1 describes how God worked on that shapeless, empty, dark mass and made something so beautiful out of it that He Himself declared it to be “very good” (Gen. 1:31). We read in Genesis 1:2-3 that the Spirit of God moved over the earth, and God spoke His Word—and this was what made the difference. 

What is the message in that for us today? 

Just this that no matter how much we may have failed or made a mess of our lives, God can still make something glorious out of our lives through His Spirit and His Word.  God had a perfect plan for the heavens and the earth when He created them. But this plan had to be set aside because of Lucifer’s rebellion. But God remade the heavens and the earth and still produced something “very good” out of the chaos.

Now consider what happened next. God made Adam and Eve and started all over again. God must have had a perfect plan for them too, which obviously did not include their sinning, by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they did eat of the forbidden tree and frustrated God’s original plan for them. Logic would now tell us that they could not fulfil God’s perfect plan any longer. Yet we see that when God came to meet them in the garden, He does not tell them that they would now have to live only on His second best for the rest of their lives. No. He promises them in Genesis 3:15 that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. That was a promise of Christ’s dying for the sins of the world and overcoming Satan on Calvary.

Now consider this fact and see if you can reason it out. We know that Christ’s death was part of God’s perfect plan from all eternity. “The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Yet we also know that Christ died only because Adam and Eve sinned and failed God. So, logically, we could say that God’s perfect plan to send Christ to die for the sins of the world was fulfilled, not despite Adam’s failure, but because of Adam’s failure! We would not have known God’s love shown on Calvary’s cross, were it not for Adam’s sin.

What then is the message that God is trying to get through to us, right from the opening pages of the Bible? Just this that He can take a man who has failed and make something glorious out of him and still make him fulfil God’s perfect plan for his life. That is God’s message to man—and we must never forget it: God can take a man who has failed repeatedly, and still make him fulfil His perfect plan, not God’s second best, but God’s best plan.  This is because even the failure may have been part of God’s perfect plan to teach him a few unforgettable lessons.

Whatever your blunders or failures, you can make a new beginning with God. God can still make something glorious out of your life. Let us then “give glory to God by being strong in faith” (Rom. 4:20), trusting Him in the days to come for the things which we considered impossible up until now. All people—young and old—can have hope, no matter how much they may have failed in the past, if only they will acknowledge their failures, be humble and trust God. Thus we can all learn from our failures and go on to fulfil God’s perfect plan for our lives.  And in the ages to come, He can show us forth to others as examples of what He could do with those whose lives were total failures. In that day He will show what He could do in us, through the “surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). Thanks be to God!

A PROPHET’S REWARD

The Lord Jesus referred to the prophet’s reward at the end of His instructions to the Twelve as He sent them off to preach the gospel to “the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). His instructions included warnings that they would be arrested and flogged (Matthew 10:17-18) and hated and persecuted (Matthew 10:22-23). There would be those, however, who would receive them as prophets, and those godly people would receive a prophet’s reward.

A “prophet” in this context is not one who foretells the future. Rather, he is a preacher of the gospel, the good news of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross for sin. To receive such a prophet means not only to embrace his doctrine but to entertain and welcome him, treating him with kindness and respect because he is a prophet (Matthew 10:41). In other words, the prophet is to be received because he is a faithful minister of the gospel and because he preaches and teaches truth. Those who treat a prophet in this way are entitled to the same prophet’s reward as the prophet himself.

What exactly is the prophet’s reward? 

The Bible doesn’t tell us, but it may be a reward from the prophet himself in that he interprets the Scriptures, preaches the true gospel, and leads the hearer into a fuller understanding of the truth.

Those who receive the prophet receive from him a clearer sense of the truths of Scripture and a deeper understanding of spiritual things. This is a great blessing, indeed, both for the prophet, whose joy lies in teaching and preaching, and for the hearer, who is edified by that teaching. Each one shares in the prophet’s reward—one in the giving and the other in the receiving.

The prophet’s reward may also refer to that which the prophets themselves receive—the reward of the kingdom prepared for believers from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:11-14). Those who preach the gospel and those who receive it with joy are promised the inheritance as their reward, as both serve the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

The Lord Jesus also warned the disciples that not everyone would receive them or their message. In fact, some would “exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22). But the disciples were to “rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven” (Luke 6:23; cf. 2 Timothy 4:8).

How can we be sure that we will receive the prophet’s reward? We do as the Lord Jesus instructed. We receive a prophet “in the name of a prophet”. We receive faithful teachers and preachers of the Word of God with open hearts and teachable spirits. In addition, we reject those who speak their own words and those who misinterpret the Scriptures. Paul warned the Corinthians against accepting “a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,” a different spirit, or a different gospel (2 Corinthians 11:4). Only those who teach according to the Bible can be called true prophets of God, and those who assist and follow them will receive the same prophet’s reward.

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