A “Post-Thanksgiving Post”

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.  Amen.

Revelation 7:11-12

On this the day after Thanksgiving, we will look at a passage of scripture that might help us to be thankful even on days that are not celebrated as major holidays.  The world refers to this day as “Black Friday,” a time when people madly rush from store to store buying things they don’t need with money they don’t have.  I find it interesting that right after spending a day celebrating being thankful for what we have, we spend the next day consumed with greed and materialism.  But, I digress.

In this passage, John shows us a scene in Heaven.  The angels and the elders and the four beasts are standing around the throne of God.  As often happens in the presence of God, they fell on their faces before Him and worshipped Him.  And notice what they said: “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.”  Even in Heaven, thanksgiving is still observed.  In Heaven, away from all of the sin and filth of the world, they are still thankful.

The thing I would like us to see and think about today is this: we are going to be giving thanks to the Lord in Heaven.  We might as well start now and get used to it now.  For all of eternity, “for ever and ever,” we are going to be thanking the Lord for all He has done for us.  We should just go ahead and start thanking Him today – that will give us some good practice for Heaven!

Agnus Dei

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every on to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Isaiah 53:6-7

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

Revelation 5:12

This post is entitled “Agnus Dei,” which, in Latin, means “Lamb of God.”  I have been thinking about the theme of Jesus being the “Lamb of God”  a lot lately.  The Bible speaks often of us as sheep, and it often refers to Jesus as a Lamb.  He is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”  The inspiration for this thinking came from a strange source: a painting.  The painting was also titled “Agnus Dei.”  It was painted by the Spanish painter Fransisco De Zubaran in the 1600s.  I came across it the other day and haven’t stopped thinking about it.

It depicts a lamb, laying on the ground, bound but not struggling.  (Isaiah 53:7)

The lamb is spotless and pure.  (“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” -I Peter 1:19)

Looking at that painting, I saw what it represented: Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross.  He was bound and sacrificed for me and you.  He went willingly.  He was the perfect Lamb and the perfect sacrifice.  He did it all for us.  He was, in the words of Isaiah, “brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”  He knew what was going to happen, but He went willingly without argument.  What a perfect Lamb and a perfect sacrifice!

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/francisco-de-zurbaran/agnus-dei-1640

Everything New

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.  And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Revelation 21:5

I know that this verse is not actually talking about “the New Year.”  But I do think that we can make an application to that and I think that we can hopefully learn something and take some encouragement from it as we approach another New Year.

When you think about it, it would be a sad and depressing place if not for the Lord’s promise to make things new.  He has promised to make us a “new creature” when we are saved.  He has promised to create in us a clean heart.  Without these promises, we would have no hope.  I like the idea of a “New Year” because it is an opportunity to do better.  We can’t exactly “start over” every year, but we can take January 1 as a starting point to improvement.  We obviously will never have a “perfect” year, but we can always do better.  There is always room for improvement.

While we won’t be perfect next year, right now the slate it clean.  Let us ask the Lord to help us have a year that would honor and glorify Him.  He has the power to “make all things new.”  We have access to that power through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Let us avail ourselves of that power this year.  He has been a wonderful Saviour this past year and I know that He will be a wonderful Saviour this year!

Happy New Year!