.............................................................................................................................................................
Slow-Moving Judgment
.........................................................................................................................................................
Jesus always prefers repentance to judgment - that’s
why His feet are like bronze — slow-moving - that’s also the reason they are
covered in frankincense, because He has prayed for every person to respond to
His pleadings so He doesn’t have to bring a stricter form of correction -
Jesus’ bronze feet are covered with the hue of intercessory prayer means He doesn’t
want to carry out stronger action
Rick Renner
“And his feet like unto fine brass [bronze]…” — Revelation
1:15
In our TV room, we have a large coffee table that sits
in the middle of the room.
It is covered with large coffee-table-sized books, and
right on top of them is a rather large-sized bronze statue of a Russian bear,
which, of course, is the symbol of Russia.
Often when we are watching television,
Denise will ask, “Rick, will you move that bear so I can see the TV screen?”
I’m happy to move it, but moving it is a task because
it’s bronze — and that means it’s very heavy.
Moving an item made of bronze doesn’t happen quickly
because of the weight of the object. It takes all my strength to pick it up and
move it.
.
When Denise asks me to move that bronze bear, it often makes me think of Jesus, because Revelation 1:15 says that Jesus’ feet are “like unto fine brass” — actually it’s the Greek word chalkolibanos — a strange word for “bronze.”
.
When Denise asks me to move that bronze bear, it often makes me think of Jesus, because Revelation 1:15 says that Jesus’ feet are “like unto fine brass” — actually it’s the Greek word chalkolibanos — a strange word for “bronze.”
We’ll look at why it’s a strange word in just a
minute.
But moving that bronze bear in our TV room, and how
much energy and strength it takes to move it, always makes me think how slowly
Jesus moves when He takes actions toward judgment.
Bronze in Scripture represents judgment.
However, bronze is heavy, and it is difficult to
quickly move an object made of this metal.
The fact that Jesus’ feet were like bronze sends the
message that when Christ does move to bring judgment, He does so slowly.
Even in Revelation 2:21, where Christ is threatening
judgment to a woman named Jezebel, He moves slowly because he wants to give her
“space to repent.”
Christ always prefers repentance to judgment.
But if repentance does not occur, He moves in the
direction of the offender to bring correction and judgment where it is needed —
yet He moves slowly with the hope that repentance will occur before He has to
apply his bronze feet of judgment.
This is why the symbolism of bronze feet is so
important in this vision.
But when John wrote about Jesus’ feet,
he further noted that they looked “as if they burned in a furnace.”
This tells us the metal had not yet set; in other
words, the decision-making process was still being “forged in the crucible.”
The metal had been heated and poured forth, but because
it still glowed brightly, we know that the hardening process was not yet
complete.
Lifting one foot at a time, Jesus was moving slowly
enough to give each person an opportunity to avoid judgment by repenting before
suffering the consequences of continued error or sin.
Let’s consider why chalkolibanos is such
a strange word for “bronze.”
The first part of the word chalkos means
bronze.
It tells us that Christ’s feet carry the golden hue of
frankincense because He lives in the atmosphere of prayer, where He intercedes
as the Great High Priest for every person He has ever washed in His blood.
Although He is poised with potential correction and judgment
if necessary, Jesus is, has been, and always will be interceding for the Church
— pleading for His people to hear Him and repent before He arrives with
judgment.
Just think for a moment of Christians you know who
lived wrong for a long time before correction was brought into their lives.
Christ did not rush to judge them; rather, He gave
them a lot of time to repent and self-correct before He had to do something
more radical about it.
That’s also
the reason they are covered in frankincense, because He has prayed for every
person to respond to His pleadings so He doesn’t have to bring a stricter form
of correction.
Are you a
witness to the longsuffering of God in your own life?
If you know
someone who is a Christian but is deliberately living in sin, pray for that
person to respond to Jesus’ tender mercies that are giving him or her time to
self-correct and repent.
He is
therefore moving slowly enough to give him or her time to self-correct before
He arrives to apply stronger action.
If you know
believers who are in this situation, join in prayer for them to hear and repent
before stronger action is needed to bring them back to where they ought to be
in their walk with God.
That’s what I
think of every time Denise asks me to pick up the bronze bear and move it from
the top of our coffee-table books.
It is a
reminder of the tender patience of Jesus — but it is also a stern reminder that
a day eventually comes when He arrives to deal with the issues that we haven’t
dealt with on our own initiative!
MY PRAYER
FOR TODAY
Father,
I am deeply moved by what I have read today, and I know that it is the truth. I
know that what I have read today is absolutely the way You deal with those whom
You love.
Today
I pray for my Christian friends who are living wrong and just assume that You
don’t notice. Now I understand that in Your mercy, You are giving them time to
self-correct.
Please
speak to their hearts and bring them to a place of self-correction and
repentance before they must be dealt with in another way. I pray this for myself as well today.
I pray this in Jesus’ name!
MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY
I confess that I am quick to respond
when the Holy Spirit corrects me. I serve God faithfully. I do those things
that please Him.
When I am inwardly made to know that
I am doing something wrong — or if I have intentionally or unintentionally done
something that requires correction — I am quick to admit it and to repent.
If I must repent to someone else for
something I have done wrong to them, I am also quick to do that. The Holy
Spirit makes me sensitive to sin and gives me the desire to live a life of
holiness.
I declare this by faith in Jesus’
name!
QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER
Can you think of any Christians who lived in flagrant
sin for a long time, and it seemed like it took forever before God arrived on
the scene to deal with it?
Do you now understand that Christ prefers repentance
to judgment and that He was giving them time to self-correct so that a strong
form of discipline wouldn’t have to be used?
What examples can you think of in the Old or New
Testament where God gave someone time to repent before He had to deal with him
or her more strongly?
Have you been a recipient of God’s longsuffering as He
waited for you to make a change in your life?
Are you in that situation right now?
What is God giving you time to change before He has to
take stronger measures to help you?
Why are you waiting to make the change He requires of
you?
Rick and Denise Renner
Rick and Denise met while they were each
on an individual quest to wholeheartedly follow God’s plan for their lives.
Rick was a college student, growing in his teaching ministry. Denise was a
talented vocalist. She chose not to pursue a course that held the prospect of
performing with the Metropolitan Opera so that she could instead pursue a
relationship with Rick and fulfill her heart’s desire to enter full-time
ministry.
Rick and Denise’s friendship has led to a
lifelong love and a powerful partnership in building the Kingdom of God. After
a decade of ministry, first as pastors and then as itinerant ministers, Rick
and Denise Renner embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. In January 1991, the
Renners and their sons — Paul (then 8), Philip (then 6), and Joel (then 2) —
left behind all they knew to relocate their family to serve the region that
only weeks earlier had become the former Soviet Union.
Rick and Denise remember kneeling
together as a family and kissing the ground when they arrived at the airport in
Latvia on that cold January day. In that moment, they all committed their lives
to the will of God and to the people of their new homeland. The following year,
Rick moved forward to launch and establish the first of its kind — and
eventually the largest — Christian television network in that region of the
world.
Over the years, Rick and Denise pioneered
three churches, a Bible school, and a ministerial association that serves
thousands of Russian-speaking pastors throughout the former USSR as well as
parts of the Middle East. As Rick began training and mentoring leaders in the
early days, Denise also developed a women’s ministry that is actively involved
in changing the lives of women and their families today. Specifically, they
minister to the needs of orphans, women prisoners, the homeless, and
drug-and-alcohol addicts.
Rick, Denise, and their children began as
a small circle of five, willing to go beyond their comfort zone to reach the
uttermost parts of the world. Today that circle includes their sons’ wives,
eight grandchildren, and a large ministry staff that helps the Renners extend
their reach as they exalt Jesus Christ as the Hope of all nations.
No comments:
Post a Comment