Truth Archive

I was raised in Canada in the province of British Columbia in a little city called Chilliwack. There is something unique about that little city. Right in the middle is an intersection called Five Quarters. There are five streets that all come together at that intersection. If you happen to stand at Five Quarters, you have to make a decision where you are going to go from there.

You have five options. If you choose one of those streets, it will take you outside the city. It will take you to the highway that leads to the big city of Vancouver. When you get out on that highway, things are going much faster. You have to pick up speed to keep up with everyone else and keep ahead of the people behind you. Before long you will find yourself in the fast lane, speeding along with all the other people who have places to go, things to do and people to see. When you are on the highway time passes like a blur. There are many things you cannot focus on because you are going so fast. That is one of the options you can choose.

There is a second street you can choose. It also will take you outside the city: you will go into the mountains and come to a lake. In the summertime that lake is very popular, there are many people there with the intent to go boating. Or they set up camp and they are there for a few days and they are on holiday. A lot of people go there to play. Some people go there because they want to do nothing. They are sitting there on the beach soaking up the sun and doing nothing. It is because they have chosen that road.

The third street leads you down to where the sports complex is. That is where everything happens, they can entertain you. That is where the arena is. All the concerts and the big events happen there at the sports complex.

The fourth street, if you take it and you travel along you go over a little bridge. You may not realise it, but you will find yourself on an island. You can keep travelling, it is a nice road there on the island. You can drive for about an hour and you will find yourself right back at the little bridge. You can make that circuit again. You will find yourself back at the little bridge. You can do that as many times as you want, and then you will realise you are going around in circles. Some people choose that road.

The fifth street takes you to the cemetery. These five quarters it remind me of life, the choices we have to make, and the paths we have to choose. Some people do choose life in the fast lane. So many things to do, places to go and people to see. Life passes by and the little children grow up in a blink and you wonder Where did the time go? Sometimes we regret that we have chosen life in the fast lane. Some people choose the lake and a life doing nothing as far as our soul is concerned. Some choose a life of entertainment and whatever they can find to please my flesh, to please my human nature. Some people are going around in circles, and there is no real destination going around and around and getting nowhere. For other people, they are on the slow sad journey to the grave.

When I was a boy, we’d get in the car and go: my mum, dad, brother and myself. Dad would be driving and we would head down towards Five Corners. Dad would turn onto one of those streets and it was the street that led down to the sports complex. We would turn and start travelling down to the sports complex and we never got there. Mum and Dad were not the least bit interested in the sports complex. A little way down, Dad would pull into a little parking lot. Next to the parking lot was an old hall. In that hall were two sister workers who were holding their mission. That hall is long gone now. In my mind, I can still picture the inside of it, I can still smell the stale smell of the old hall. I can still hear the voices of those two sisters telling the gospel story. I was only a boy and those were the years when the gospel story started to win my heart. My parents were bringing their children to Jesus hoping he would touch us.

My brother is older than me. He made his choice in that old hall. Two or three years before I did. I did not make my choice in that hall. But I remember going out of one of those meetings when they had tested the meeting, and I had not made my choice. I still remember the look of disappointment on the faces of those two sisters. It is a good exercise to go down memory lane. Try to remember back to that time. When God began to speak to you, and God was troubling you. There may be a time when you wonder if God remembers you. Remember how he spoke to you back in the beginning. How you were troubled. That will give you some comfort.

We know serving God is like running a race. There is a starting line and a finishing line, and between the two, there is the course. The start of this race is not when we were born. The starting line is when we make our choice. The finishing line is when we come to the finish of life. In between there is this course. There is always an objective to a race. You do not run to run. There is a finish line, and beyond the finish line, there is a prize. I like to think about this wonderful prize promised to us at the end of the race of life. We are promised that there is a crown awaiting. Three places in the scripture tell us what the crown is.

In 2 Timothy 4, it is called a crown of righteousness. In 1 Peter 5, it is called a crown of glory. In James 1, it is called a crown of life. A crown of righteousness, a crown of glory and a crown of life. That is promised if we finish faithfully in the race. Righteousness means being right with God. The meaning of glory I like is “a situation of intent satisfaction”. Life of course is forever and ever. You can picture that crown now. That reward of finishing in the race, crossing the finish line and winning the crown. That wonderful reward of being right with God forever and never again falling out of his favour. That is a wonderful prize. The situation of intense satisfaction forever and ever.

We need to remember we are not running against each other. We are competing against the world, the flesh and the devil. Sometimes in running the race, they get in the lead. Sometimes it becomes the world that is leading us. Sometimes it is our flesh that is leading us. Sometimes the devil has got in the lead, is leading us and we are doubting and fearing. That is the devil that puts those kinds of feelings into us. One of those things has got into first place. We have to work 10 times as hard to get it back in order again. To get those things back to where they belong. I am thankful for these days of convention helping us to get the world back where it belongs. To get the flesh back where it belongs. Because it is the flesh that has been leading us. To get the devil back to where he belongs.

The course is never easy for anyone and no one will breeze through life in this race of life. It would be good to inspire us, it doesn’t matter how hard the course is from here on in. I am going to go on. I like the words in Hebrews 12 about Jesus when he was running the race: “Let us run with patience that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” In those few verses, I see four things that could have discouraged Jesus or caused Jesus to stop running in the race. One of those things was there had to be a cross that had to be endured. There was shame that had to be ignored. There was contradiction to be endured and sin to be resisted. Any of those four things could also cause us to stop running in the race. But no matter how hard the course is, we will go on.

I was in the city in our field and someone came up with the idea they wanted to have a marathon. That marathon was 20 km and they marked out the course of this race. Now there is a blue line through the city along the river and up the other side. The marathon was going to start on a Sunday morning. We happened to be staying with some of our friends who lived about two blocks down from where the course was. Where the runners were going to go past. About 930 in the morning I was in my room trying to get ready for the meeting. All of a sudden, I heard cheering. Then I remembered: the race is on now. It surprised me at that point of the race. It was nowhere near the starting line or the finishing line. Somewhere in the middle and yet all this cheering!

I got a nice thought out of this. There is always a lot of cheering at the starting and finishing lines. Maybe there is a lot less cheering that goes on in the middle part. It was the middle part that these runners were experiencing the cheering. It was like those cheering saying “Thank you for continuing this far, and please keep going to the end.” I am thankful for my brothers and sisters who have words of cheer like that for me. I would like to know better how to have those words of cheer for my brothers and sisters. Many of you are in the middle part and maybe you feel there is not a lot of cheering going on. Many expectations for us who are in the middle part, and it would be nice to remember those who are in the middle part. Thank you for continuing this far, please keep going to the end. I even think of my fellow workers here. I have never met very many of them before. I know what it is like to be in this ministry, and it is wonderful when someone new begins. The longer I am in this work the more I realise that it is a miracle that anyone continues. I say to my fellow workers in this ministry: Thank you for continuing this far and please keep going to the end.

Revelation 3:7-8 “To the angel of the church of Philadelphia write: these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man can openeth. I know thy works.”

It is speaking about Jesus: he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man can openeth. He has the key of David. The key opens the door. Jesus has a key that opens the same door as David had the key for. Or maybe it would be more correct to say that David had the same key as Jesus had. Because he had the same key as Jesus had, and because he had the same key as Jesus had it opened wonderful doors for him. Can you think of anything that David had that Jesus also had?

I was wondering what the writer was thinking about. In Acts 13:22 I found: “When he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” I don’t know if that is the key that is spoken of in Revelation, but that is a key. A key that will open wonderful doors, the key that came to my mind was not to do my own will, but I came to do the will of God. That is a wonderful key that we can have.

There is something else I enjoyed thinking about this key of David. In 2 Samuel 5 when David was crowned King of all Israel, he had a battle to fight because there was a part of Jerusalem that he wanted to conquer. It was called Zion. David and his men attacked the stronghold of Zion and conquered it. David made that his power. I do not know much of the details of David’s power. Power could open a lot of doors and a lot of rooms.

I looked at Buckingham Palace and it has 775 rooms. That is an awful lot of doors. Many of those doors are off-limits to the public, and many of those rooms and doors are off-limits to the servants. But what about the King? I think the King has the key to all those doors. David with his power, there may have been some rooms and doors off limits to the public, and off-limits even to some of his servants. But David had the key that opened all the doors to all the rooms. We can say that about Jesus because Jesus has the key. Some wonderful rooms have been opened up to us.

First of all, I was thinking about the throne room. You do not go rushing into the throne room. Jesus has opened it up to us. He has given us the opportunity to enter into the throne room of God. We can wait there, find grace there, and find mercy there because Jesus has the key that opens access to the throne.

I understand you can tour Buckingham Palace and there are certain rooms the public can tour through. I think the throne room is one room, they will let you look in. Picture this: you come down a long hallway, open the door to the throne room and step in. You step into that lavishly decorated room. Down at the other end of the room is the throne. It looks like an antique piece of furniture. The upholstery of satin and velvet and maybe threads of gold. It represents the seat of power and glory of the King. You are standing in the throne room looking down at the throne. There is one outstanding feature of that throne. You know what it is? The throne is empty.

I do not know how often King Charles will sit on the throne. Maybe a couple of times, or three times if there is a special occasion. I know when he was crowned, he sat on the throne for some photographs. Our God is on the throne, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Continually on the throne, and never will we approach the throne and find he is not there. Our God is on the throne and completely in control. Continuously on the throne and completely aware of everything that happens.

There is one outstanding feature about God’s throne. Rev 4:6 “Before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal.” I could hardly picture what that would be like. You people don’t live too far from the sea here. One time back in North America I was standing on the coast looking out over the sea, and someone said “The sea is calm today.” I thought to myself “Calm?” The tide was coming in, the surf and the waves and ripples. Maybe it was calmer than it had been in the past. The sea before God’s throne is a sea of glass. That means there is not a ripple and there is not a wave and there is no tide, but complete and perfect peace and calm. A wonderful thing is we do not have to wait until eternity to come before that throne. Jesus has opened access so we can approach God as often as we want. All around us, the storm is surging wild. But before God’s throne, there will be perfect peace and we can access that. There will be an influence of peace all around us. It is a wonderful privilege we have, coming before the throne.

Revelation 12 “There was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. And prevailed not; neither was there place found any more in heaven.” Michael seemed to be one of the angels who had some authority. Here war breaks out in heaven, war in heaven. God was on his throne and well aware war had broken out in heaven. God did not even get off his throne, and it is like God said “Michael, you go and look after that,” he did not even leave the throne. He was not even nervous. So, when war breaks out on the earth, do you think God is nervous? God is still on the throne, in control and interested in every detail. The plan is unfolding perfectly and completely on track. Sometimes it may not seem that way, but it is perfectly on track because God is in control. Amen.