What Is True?

© Wendy Clark 2025

People who speak in the public square are being persecuted for their belief in absolute truth. Those who persecute them have their own definitions of both “God” and “Jesus,” and push back against the truth. This is why they can dress, speak, and behave in disgusting and foul ways and still say that they are “a good person,” or that they love God or say that they are Christians or that they follow Jesus and then accuse people like Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk and those who stand up against abortion or transgendered ideologies or sexual sins or those who say that Jesus is the only way to be saved, of being ungodly or not Christ-like or of being evil.

It used to be that you could talk about God all day long and most people would smile and nod but to talk about Jesus was a dividing line that sent the other person walking angrily in the opposite direction, but now, in most cases, you can talk about both God and Jesus–just as long as you don’t get too specific about what might be required to truly follow.

People are happy to “live and let live” as long as they can hold onto their general and squishy ideas about God, Jesus, and what is right and good. It is your “moral certainty” that they find “hateful” and “dangerous” because they rightly assess that the truth is the enemy to all they hold dear.

Isaiah 5:20-21, NLT
“What sorrow for those who say
    that evil is good and good is evil,
that dark is light and light is dark,
    that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.
What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes
    and think themselves so clever.”

John 3:19-21, NLT
“And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” –Jesus

Philippians 4:8-9, ESV
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”–Paul, Apostle of Jesus

Jesus Died on the Cross for our Sins

Sep29

©Wendy Anne Clark, 2025

How do we know that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins and not just as a man who was executed by the Roman government?

First of all, God promised a Messiah and gave many prophecies about this Messiah. It was prophesied that the Messiah would suffer for the sins of all people. Other prophecies about the Messiah say that He will establish a kingdom and rule justly over all the world.

One thing to understand about Old Testament prophecy is that it has a dual nature to it. Some parts have already been fulfilled, and some parts are yet to be fulfilled. Sometimes we see it fulfilled at more than one place in history. So it is legitimate to say that Jesus came and fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah as a Suffering Servant, and that He will come again to fulfill the prophecies of a king coming to rule and to reign, as prophesied to John in His vision on Patmos that we know as “Revelation,” the last book in the Bible.

Messiah as a Suffering Servant

Until about 1100 A.D. Jewish rabbis believed and taught that the Suffering Servant, the individual spoken about in Isaiah 53, was the prophesied Messiah. In the mid 1100s A.D., a French rabbi named Rashi taught that the Suffering Servant described by the prophet Isaiah is not a person, but the nation of Israel or the Jewish people as a collective. Since then, this has become the common teaching of rabbis for the meaning of Isaiah 53, but sometime later, most rabbis stopped reading it aloud in synagogue or teaching on it at all because it raises so many questions.

Today, the majority of Jewish people will never hear a teaching on Isaiah 53, and if they ask their rabbi about it, they are likely to be told that it is not something they would understand. This is the testimony of many Jewish people who decide that Jesus is the Messiah after they read and pray over Isaiah 53, which is sometimes called “the forbidden chapter.”

Messianic Jews are Jews who believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah and fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. When they share the Gospel with Jews, they often choose to begin with Isaiah 53 and establish that the rabbis taught this passage as being about the Messiah until only relatively recently in history. They then point out that prophecy states that the Messiah will come before the destruction of the second temple, which occurred in 70 A.D.

They point out that we can conclude that the Messiah already came and they ask, who lived before 70 A.D. that could possibly have been the Messiah? Who could Isaiah 53 be describing? And very often Jewish people can come to that answer on their own. Jesus seems the obvious answer.

How do the rabbis explain why they believe the prophecy was not fulfilled and that God did not send the Messiah before the destruction of the temple as He promised? How can they still be waiting for the Messiah to come? They say because the people weren’t ready to receive Him, God had to delay His promise and did not send the Messiah when He had said He would come. That explanation doesn’t really work because the prophecies describe exactly that many of His own people will not be ready and will not receive Him. And the Bible is clear that God always keeps His promises.

Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”

John the Baptist

Old Testament prophecy says that there will be a messenger who will come to prepare the way of the Messiah. John the Baptist points to himself as the messenger and to Jesus as the Messiah. The word “Christ” means “Messiah” or “Anointed One”:

John 3:26-28
And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

John the Baptist points back to the prophecy of Isaiah:

John 1:23
He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (Isaiah 40:3)

Matthew, the disciple of Jesus, also points back to the prophet Isaiah when he describes John the Baptist:

Matthew 3:1-3
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

Isaiah 53 is so important because it says that the Messiah will suffer before He comes into His kingdom and rules and reigns. After Jesus died and rose from the dead, the disciples remembered this and understood, but the Jewish people for centuries focused not on the Messiah who would suffer, but on the time when He would come into power and rule over the whole world, and this is why many Jewish people rejected Jesus because He did not overthrow the Roman oppressors.

Let’s take a look at the prophecies in Isaiah 52 and 53 that relate to the Messiah. Notice the words that point to sin and him dying for our sin like “transgressions” (rebellion against God and general rebellion and the guilt and punishment that it carries), “iniquity” (depravity and the guilt and punishment that it carries), “chastisement” (discipline or correction for error or going the wrong way), “an offering for guilt” (a sin offering), “he bore the sin of many” (the sins and the punishment and guilt that they carry)

Isaiah 52:13-15
“Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.”

Isaiah 53
“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

“Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

“Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Job referred to God as his “Redeemer.” (Job 19: 25) This was the idea that someone would come and pay a price that would set another free. The Apostle Paul refers back to this idea and uses it as an analogy for slavery to sin and the salvation from sin that comes through Jesus.

Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Russel Brand in a recent discussion of the death of Charlie Kirk, said that he told Charlie that he was reading and studying Romans, and Charlie told him that Romans is the Christian equivalent to the U.S. Constitution, that it lays down all of the foundational tenants and beliefs for the Christian faith. In his letter to the Romans, Paul explains sin and salvation and how the blood of Jesus was a blood sacrifice that pays for our sin and redeems us from the just punishment that is coming for all sin. He explains grace and how it is a gift that we do not deserve, freely given to us.

Here is how Paul begins his letter to the Romans. (I chose to use the New Living Translation here because Paul deals with some complicated ideas, and the NLT makes things easier to understand. I also have left out verse numbers, so that it’s easier to read this as the people first received it. Chapters and verses were added much later to make it easier for us all to look things up.)

Romans 1:1-5
“This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.”

Remember that the word “Christ” means “Messiah” or “Anointed One.” “Good News” is what the term “Gospel” means. This is what we are told to go and preach in order to make disciples. Paul establishes what that “Good News” is in this letter to the Romans. It’s a very important letter, and that may be why there are people who say they do not pay attention to the teachings of Paul. If you do, it’s impossible to argue that one can be saved by his own efforts and “good works.” But here’s what Peter says about the teachings of Paul:

2 Peter 3:15-16
“And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.”

So those who toss out the teachings of Paul must also reject the teachings of Peter because Peter affirms Paul and his teachings.

In the rest of Romans 1, Paul establishes that all people everywhere have had the truth of God’s existence revealed to them through Creation, through everything that God has made, and this truth hasn’t been hidden from anyone in the world, throughout all of human history.

In Romans 2, Paul introduces the idea that to not obey the laws of God is to sin and that the only way to not be a sinner is to obey all of the laws of God perfectly. He says that no one is able to do that and that we will be judged for our sin, according to the law.

Paul continues this teaching in Romans 3, establishing that all people are sinners, Jews and Gentiles. No one escapes the requirements of the law. He says that everyone is under the power of sin, and he refers back to Psalm 14 and Psalm 53:

Romans 3:10-18
As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”

“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. They rush to commit murder. Destruction and misery always follow them. They don’t know where to find peace. They have no fear of God at all.”

Paul explains the purpose of the law:

Romans 3:19-20

“Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.”

Then he repeats that every human being is a sinner and that Jesus came as a sacrifice for our sin:

Romans 3:23-25
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood . . .”

Paul makes it clear that we cannot save ourselves by obeying the law.

Romans 3:27-28
“Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

In Romans 4, Paul talks more about faith, and he uses Abraham as an example. Even though Abraham lived before Jesus, he lived with the understanding that it was God who would provide a sacrifice for his sin and save him. Looking back, we are able to see this as the meaning behind the event where God asked him to sacrifice Isaac and then provided a sacrifice instead.

Romans 4:20-25
“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.”

In Romans 5, Paul says this about Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins:

Romans 5:6-9
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.”

In Romans 6, Paul talks about how the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross sets us free from the power of sin and death.

Romans 6:12-14
“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.”

Romans 6:20-23
“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In Romans 7, Paul talks about the sin struggle and the reality that though we are no longer slaves to sin it hasn’t left us entirely. In Romans 8, he tells us that we are not condemned when we are in Christ and still fail and sin, that this sin does not lead to spiritual death, but we are guaranteed eternal life because Jesus already paid for our sin: past, present, and future.

Romans 8:1-2
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

Romans 8:9-11
“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”

There is so much more that the Apostle Paul teaches about sin and salvation and faith and grace, but this is enough to see that yes, Jesus died specifically for our sins, to save us, to redeem us, to take on the punishment that we deserved for our sin and to make us righteous before God.

This is what Paul says is the most important teaching to know and understand:

1 Corinthians 15:3-6
“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.”

The Teaching of John

This is what John, the Apostle, says about who Jesus is and why He came to earth:

John 1:10-14
“He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”

The Teaching of Peter

This is what Peter, the Apostle, says about Jesus dying on the cross:

I Peter 2:24
“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”

I Peter 3:18
“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.”

But what did Jesus say about Himself in regards to why He died and the significance of His death?

At His last Passover dinner before He was crucified, Jesus picked up a cup known as “the cup of redemption.” He held it up, and He used it to point to Himself. The disciples would have recognized that Jesus took a cup that had always been used to remember their redemption from slavery in Egypt when God provided Moses as a deliverer, and He gave that cup a new significance.

Matthew 26:27-28
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.”

What was this covenant that Jesus refers to and that the disciples knew well? It was a blood covenant, a spotless lamb sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins. John the Baptist refers to this covenant when he points to Jesus and says this: “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Jesus, referring to Himself as “the Son of Man,” says this:

Mark 10:45
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Bible absolutely teaches that Jesus died on the cross in our place to take the punishment for our sins. This teaching is central to what it means to be a Christian. Though it is through the Apostle Paul that we get most of the detailed and specific teaching about the cross, we also understand that He died for our sins by reading the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, what John the Baptist said about himself and about Jesus, and what Matthew, Peter, and John wrote about Jesus. And we also know it from what Jesus said about Himself and His death on the cross.

There are people throughout all of history who rejected Jesus as dying for our sins on the cross and yet still referred to themselves as “Christians.” But Christians, those who are disciples of Jesus or “little Christs,” believe what the Bible teaches about who Jesus is and why He came.

What We Believe Matters

Jun18

© Wendy Anne Clark, 2025

I was recently reading a Christian book where the authors kept talking about Believers and the “destiny” that they have in Christ. While I understand and agree with what they are trying to communicate, that God has things He desires for your life, I have to reject the word “destiny” as an unbiblical word. A devout Calvinist might disagree with me, but “destiny” is not taught in Scripture.

“Destiny” is the Greek idea that there is an “inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined; one’s lot” or “a predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control.” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.) It carries with it the idea that, not only is something planned for you, but that you can in no way escape that plan.

However, Scripture teaches that while God is sovereign and all powerful and could make us all fall in line with His perfect desires for us, He does not. Instead, He lays out possibilities in front of us and lets us choose. He says, “Today, I set before you life and death. Choose life that you might live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). With the choice that He lays before His people, God explains the consequences that will accompany the different choices.

This choosing goes all the way back to the garden where God provides everything that Adam and Eve need to live and flourish and commands them to avoid one tree, set in the very center of the garden. He doesn’t then compel them to not eat or compel them to eat–either would have confirmed the idea of destiny; He lets them choose. Had God simply plucked that tree from the garden, there would have been no choosing.

Was there simply no other way this story could have unfolded? Was there really no choice to be made? God knew from the foundations of the world what the outcome would be, and He had a plan of redemption even then. Does that mean that sin was the destiny of mankind? We just had to be sinners, from the very beginning?

I know I am getting into the philosophical and theological weeds, and most people won’t be interested, and it is not my purpose here to spin questions that we can’t answer in any satisfying manner. My point, my concern is that we ought not use a word like “destiny” that carries with it baggage that doesn’t easily correlate to Biblical teaching.

In the book I mentioned, The Cure, by John Lynch, Bruce McNicol, and Bill Thrall, the authors define “destiny” as “the ordained intention God has sacredly prepared with your name on it.” Then, a couple of paragraphs down they write, “Tragically, not everyone will fully realize the dreams God holds for them.” This is, however, not destiny. If one can escape it, it is not “destined” to be. That’s what the word “destiny” means. If it is your “destiny,” it will simply happen, no matter what you do.

Why does this distinction matter? The authors of the book The Cure are working to push back against and unravel wrong ideas of what it means to be saved and to walk in the Spirit. They do a very good job of sorting through what it means to live according to the Law and what it means to live by grace. But, destiny is an idea that permeates and pollutes the Christian community. It influences some people to think that if they will just mosey along, eventually they will happen on what God has for them, whether or not they give any attention to seeking after God or growing spiritually. It influences other people to think that the sin they keep falling into is simply an inevitable part of their story, a destined path they were always meant to walk. (BTW, this is not the teaching of The Cure.)

Linked to the idea of destiny is the belief in the “soulmate.” This too is found in Greek philosophy. It’s the idea that there is really only one person for each one of us, but strangely, although one cannot escape his destiny, one can miss his soulmate and end up searching and longing throughout life for that missing piece–that spot that only one can fill. Some believe that you keep looking for and finding the same soulmate in multiple lives or that if you miss that person in this life, there is always a chance for you to meet again in some other life.

I have had discussions with Christians who are convinced that their spouse is their “soulmate” and that there is no way that they could have married anyone else. God would have prevented that from happening, destiny. Of course, it is only those who have happy, healthy marriages who have this perspective. The danger of this thinking is that it invades the troubled or challenging marriage and a person might come to believe that he or she married the “wrong” person. Instead of committing to learning to love each other and grow together, the idea of the “soulmate” provides an easy way out, in order to keep looking for that one, right person.

But the Bible doesn’t teach this idea. What the Bible does teach about whom to marry is to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5), look at the fruit of a person’s life (Matthew 7), don’t be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14-16), and seek wise counsel (Proverbs 12:15). And the Bible teaches that God’s desire is for marriage to be a life-long commitment of love and faithfulness on both sides. The Bible does not teach that you couldn’t possibly make a bad choice in choosing a mate. Many have learned that the hard way.

At its worst, naivety about the importance of careful thought and much prayer before choosing to marry has derailed many a life that had been headed for ministry. How many people spend time fasting and praying before they walk down that aisle? How many have admitted that even as they were getting ready to say “I do,” they were not certain that doing so was the best choice for their lives or even that they “knew” they were making a bad choice? Too many.

I have lived long enough to see many pastors leave ministry because of their wives’ unwillingness to live a life of service to a community of Believers. I have seen many women who longed to be involved and serve in the church, find themselves out of town every weekend because of a husband who does not share their desires (and, of course, this goes both ways).

So while we are sorting through ideas and thoughts and teachings and separating the worldly perspectives from the Biblical ones, let’s toss out the ideas of “destiny” and “soulmates” as ideas that have some appeal but are not really true, and let’s hone in on the truth and live by it and keep encouraging each other to do the same.

Choose Wisely

Jun16

© Wendy Clark, 2025

Isaiah 48:17-18, ESV
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.
Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea . . .”

The sad truth is that though we cannot alter God’s sovereign purposes, we can limit God’s working in our present life. The choices that we make every day, minute by minute, matter. They add up to something. We can choose in ways that align with God’s plans and His purposes and His ways, which lead to peace “like a river” and “righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

Peace like a river–flowing, steady, cleansing–a deep peace that comes from being in the presence of God. In the eternal kingdom it is a river of the Holy Spirit that flows out of the presence of God, out of His throne, and into the surrounding city. By living according to God’s commands that peace, the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, flows within my life right now, in this present life.

Righteousness like the waves of sea–constant, inevitable, powerful. Walking in God’s ways, living according to His commands, leads me to the path of righteousness. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in me, I am changed, conformed to the image of Jesus over time.

But I don’t have to be.

I can choose poorly, and I can live unwisely. And God gives that freedom to me.

I am convinced that God gives us freedom because freedom to choose, even to choose unwisely, is good and right and holy. He grants this freedom to His angels, created to serve Him. He grants that freedom to us, created to worship Him and to bring Him glory. Though He could, by His power and His will, lock us up and force us to obey, He does not. He shows us the right path, the holy and perfect path, and then He sets us free to choose it or to choose some other path.

And we are always choosing.

The very good news is that, even if we have been on the wrong path, choosing unwisely, going our own way, at any time we can surrender and realign ourselves to God’s path, to God’s ways. We can make this switch when we have started off a day heading in the wrong direction. We can make this switch even if we have traveled on the wrong path for many days or weeks or months or years.

It is not easy to move from one path to another, and the longer we have traveled in the wrong direction, the more difficult it may be, and it will require the power of the Holy Spirit in us and a constant and consistent surrender of self, my own plans, my own purposes, my own ways, to God’s plans, His purposes, and His ways. And make no mistake, His ways are not our ways, and surrender will require something of us.

But it is worth it to “consider myself dead to sin” (Romans 6:11). The Apostle Paul writes:

“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.” (Romans 6:20-22, NLT)

Paul says that though we are no longer slaves to sin as we were before we had the Holy Spirit living in us, we still have to choose to live as free from the power of sin.

Today, choose life that you might live.

Who Wrote the Book of Life?

Mar19

The Bible uses many things in the physical world to help us understand things in the spiritual world. For example, the Apostle Paul tells us that Creation reveals things to us about God’s eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20). We can observe nature in the physical world and learn something about God and the unseen spiritual world.

God as Father and Jesus as the Son, gives us an insight into the relationship between God the Father and Jesus. It’s not the exact relationship; the Father didn’t get married and bear a child–not in the physical sense. But there is something about a father-son relationship, especially a healthy one, that can help us to understand God as Father and Jesus as Son. They have different roles and are not exactly the same in what they do even as they are the same in nature and character. The Father is holy. The Son also is holy. The Father is trustworthy. The Son also is trustworthy. All of the qualities of the Father also refer to the Son and to the Spirit.

Jesus submits to the will of the Father. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me” (John 6:38). This is an eternal relationship and not anything new. It has always been (I Corinthians 14:24-28). The problem that we, as human beings, often have is that we do not rightly understand submission. We think of it as making one party lesser or of less significance than the other. But this is a distortion of what God demonstrates to us about submission.

A Bible teacher was once asked, “Is Jesus equal to the Father?” His answer was, “Almost.” Hmmm. While I think I understand where he was going, I don’t agree. Jesus is equal to the Father. They share the same nature and attributes, and yet Jesus willingly submits His will to the Father–His human will. As God, He always shared the Father’s plans and purposes and will.

Jesus also says that the Father gave Him all authority. How is it that the authority had to be given to Him? I’m not sure, but Jesus says that it was. Jesus has all authority even as He submits to the Father. I’m not sure that we can fully wrap our human minds around this relationship, but our human relationships are supposed to help us. I’m sure that is why the enemy is constantly distorting and corrupting our human relationships, to make it harder for us to understand how the Father, Son, and Spirit relate to each other.

The Son willingly submits to the will of the Father and is in agreement with the Father. He speaks only what the Father gives Him to speak (John 12:49). The Spirit willingly submits to the Son and reminds us of the things the Son taught (John 14:26). The Father, Son, and Spirit work in agreement with each other. There is no disagreement, disunity, or rebellion–not ever. Jesus prays that we might have this same kind of unity in the Body of Christ with agreement and willing submission and cooperation. In our case, sin becomes a very real barrier to overcome. There is no sin or selfishness or rebellion within the heart of God.

Marriage of a man and a woman demonstrates something to us of Jesus as a bridegroom and the Church as His bride. Jesus is described as a bridegroom, preparing a place for His bride. When the place is ready, He will return for His bride, and there will be a wedding feast, a celebration. We are meant to attend our wedding celebrations and think of what is planned for the future of all those who are in Christ Jesus. We are meant to watch a loving groom, who is excited for his bride, who is waiting for her and preparing for her, and we are reminded to think of Jesus in this same way, excited for us, waiting for us, preparing for us, and coming back for us.

Will there be an actual feast where we all sit down at a gigantic table and share a meal together? Jesus seems to refer to this at what we call “the Last Supper” when He says, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). I imagine a real feast, a real celebration. Think of the most amazing feast that you have ever attended. Something far better is being prepared for us. With all the time to prepare, I anticipate something too amazing to describe.

What then of the Book of Life? Is this an actual physical book, sitting up on a podium somewhere? Are there physical pages to be turned and consulted?

Chad Bird (pastor, professor, scholar) poses an interesting perspective on the Book of Life in his article “How Do I Know My Name is Written in the Book of Life?” He writes, “This book is not a dusty volume laid to rest and forgotten, but a flesh-and-blood testament of the power of an indestructible life, raised for you . . . . Christ Jesus is the Book of Life. In him and him alone our names are written.”

Interesting.

I have never stopped to think about whether the book is an actual book or just meant to point us to something else. Of course, I have considered the significance of the Book of Life, but I like the idea of looking at the book and seeing a person.

Consider this: Jesus is the Word of God, the logos, spoken in the beginning. He was both with God, and He was God (John 1). Those whose names are written in the Book of Life were written there from the creation of the world (Revelation 17:8). In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us that everyone who is “in Christ” was chosen before the foundation of the world to be adopted as God’s children (Ephesians 1:3-6). God has engraved the names of His people on the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16). Is this a reference to the crucifixion and all who would be in Christ? Are those names, written in the Book of Life, also engraved on the palms of the hands of Jesus?

It is in Christ and through His shed blood on the cross for our sins and our repentance and submission to His sacrifice on our behalf, that our names are written in that book, “The Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:23-27). The Lamb’s Book contains the names of those who are saved by the Lamb.

So then, is the book an actual book, sitting up on a celestial podium in the spiritual realm? Maybe. It’s quite possible that there will be an actual book that is referenced. It’s also possible that it is simply an image for us to understand the nature of our salvation. It is written down, recorded. It is written in ink and will not be blotted out. It is personal–my name is there–in the book and on the hands of Jesus. My name. Me. It is not a collective recording of the Church as a whole, but of each person who is in Christ Jesus.

And God has known all along that I would respond to the Gospel, run to Jesus, and be saved, and God has determined long ago many things that will be mine because my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

And if you are in Christ Jesus and have turned to Him as Savior and Lord, your name is written there too.

In the Presence of the King

Jan23

Brother Lawrence, in his book The Practice of the Presence of God (p 55), writes something along these lines:

What would it be like for the greatest criminal in the world to dine at the king’s table and be served by him, knowing what he had done to break the king’s laws, but not assured of the king’s pardon? Wouldn’t he feel great uneasiness, great fear and trepidation? He would, of course, unless he knew the great goodness and faithfulness of the king and knew indeed that his debt had already been paid, and his pardon was already accomplished.

This is how we, who have been saved by the blood of Jesus, shed in our place, for our sins, sit at the table of the Lord and celebrate in His presence. The more aware we are of our great debt, the more we rejoice in our great and guaranteed pardon. We do not tremble in the presence of One so holy and great–only because we have experienced His amazing grace and mercy.

Hebrews 10:19-23

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

The Throne and the Cross

Mar30

© Wendy Anne Clark, 2024

I remember a diagram we used to use with those surrendering to Jesus. It was a picture of a throne. “Who’s on the throne of your life?” we’d ask. The diagram, though useful in its way, barely scratches the surface of a deep and important part of the Christian life–surrender.

A.W. Tozer writes, “In every Christian heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne ‘till he puts himself on the cross . . . “

We can draw the diagram and ask the question, ”Who’s on the throne of your life?” but it will take more than a few minutes to grasp the fulness of what the means or of what it means to truly surrender and let Christ rule. It will take some effort for us to understand how allowing Christ to sit on the throne of our lives will require that we take our own desires to the cross to die.

How do I take myself to the cross and die to myself so that I might live for Jesus? The short answer is “through confession and repentance,” but it will take much more time, thought, reflection, experience, and diving into Scripture to grasp the concept of confession and repentance and to move to the place of surrender.

While there may be some things that we quickly recognize as sin and confess and repent of, and come to surrender quickly, more often that surrender takes time. It occurs as a long process of self-reflection and examination, of acknowledgement and understanding, of confession–agreeing with God about our sin, and choosing to turn away from it–repentance. And sometimes we will find ourselves cycling back around again before we reach the place of complete surrender. Perseverance is required.

When we are surrounded by others, even others who call themselves Christians, who accept sin as “normal” or “natural,” which is often the case, the walk to the cross will be much slower, much more encumbered. We may have to drag ourselves to that cross, and we might not get a lot of support on the journey. We may not be celebrated by others when we finally get where we needed to be all along.

Sometimes we see and acknowledge parts of our sin and not the whole. Sometimes the Holy Spirit’s work is like surgery. It requires discovery of the problem, recognition that a drastic move is needed, surrender to the process, and then healing and recovery from the changes and maybe even loss that come with surrender.

The process of dying to self is not easy, and can be painful and even scary. Pulling self off the throne and yielding the seat to God is not a simple task. What the diagram of the throne fails to show us is that we often hang onto that throne with everything we have, and convincing ourselves to align with what God says is good and right and true might be the hardest part.

Through His physical death on the cross, Jesus shows us what dying to self in the spiritual realm will look like; we get a glimpse of it–and it is tortuous and bloody, messy and painful. Why do we expect that taking ourselves to the cross and allowing Jesus to rule over us will be comfortable or easy or without opposition? Are we paying attention? Have we noticed that so many give up and give in so easily, living a natural life, rather than a supernatural one?

The Apostle Paul writes to the Galatian church, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, ESV).

It is no longer I who live.

Of this A.W. Tozer writes, “It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to biblical ways, but it can be done.”

It can be done.

But it will require . . . determination and perseverance and seeking the truth, and honest self examination and confession and repentance and . . . surrender.

(Tozer, A. W., From the Grave: A 40-day Lent Devotional, Moody Publishers, 2017.)

(background image: <a href=”https://www.vecteezy.com/free-photos/christian-cross”>Christian Cross Stock photos by Vecteezy</a>)

Come, LORD Jesus!

Jul4

I’m reading through and studying the book of Revelation right now. I’m nearing the end. Have you read Revelation? It is a book in the Bible that has a promised blessing for those who will read it aloud.
(Revelation 1:3). This is the first time in reading it for me that the vision of the Apostle John seems not so much of a mystery. It seems so clear, even obvious.

I still have questions about parts of it, of course; some things are weird. But the justice of God and the finality of God’s justice makes so much sense. It just HAS TO BE. There is no way around it. And there is great comfort in knowing that it one day will be. No one escapes.

There have been other times in history when Believers read John’s revelation and felt certain they were near the end–there were so many signs: evil was so obvious, self-interest so prevalent, the abuse of power, the oppression of people, so out in the open, with so many willingly participating and cooperating.

The rise of Nazi Germany was one of these times in history, but only one. Hitler, Satlin, Pol Pot–as evil and murderous and anti-God as they were, they will not compare to the man who will rise to world power in the end. But every murderous tyrant throughout history has demonstrated for us why the system of evil, the world as we know it, must one day come to an end, a complete and utter end.

I watched the movie Priceless the other day, a movie based on true stories of human sex trafficking. I’ve been watching interviews about the movie The Sound of Freedom, which is also about true stories of human sex trafficking, focused on the selling of young children. More importantly, it is the story of the people who fight against this evil.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but those who have, say it is a good movie about a deeply dark subject. Tim Ballard, a former government agent whose story is being told in the film, talked in an interview with Jordan Peterson about the unbelievable, inconceivable nature of the evil he has encountered. We can’t fathom how deep and dark is the pit of human depravity, the things that we can be led to find attractive and appealing and to justify as acceptable and right by our own standards.

What is the sickest, darkest, most horrendous thing that you can imagine giving you pleasure? According to Ballard, your imagination can’t come even close to the horrible things that people find pleasure in.

Jordan Peterson talked about how getting from where you likely are in your thinking and imagination right now to where deep, abased, depravity resides requires millions of decisions, searing your conscience over and over and over again, over time molding and shaping your heart to a place where it delights in depravity. It dwells there.

James, the brother of Jesus, writes about the progression of sin in this way:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:13-16, ESV)

Our own desires lure and entice us, and we must decide how we will respond to them. Will we reject them? Flee from them? If we lean into those desires, they will take root, grow, and give birth to sin in us. That sin, if we continue to nurse it and then feed it solid food, protect it, shelter it–it grows up. Fully grown sin brings death.

There’s a progression that must take place to create a Hitler, a Stalin, a Pol Pot, a child sex abuser. It’s a long, dark progression that takes place in a human heart, and it involves the step-by-step cooperation of the individual.

The book of Revelation shines a light on the complete depravity of the human heart apart from the redeeming and transforming presence of God. At the end of human history God will allow those who reject Him to live as they desire, fully, and without His restraining presence in the world, feeding all of their own unrestrained passions and desires, but not without consequences. The consequences are deeply embedded in the carrying out of the desires. They can’t be separated from each other

The deepest, darkest things going on now, bringing brought into the light of day for us to see will pale in comparison to the things that people will do to each other out of their own love of self and rejection of God in those final days.

How clear it will be who we are without God! How obvious it will be that we need the restraining power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to live and walk according to God’s ways. We will understand why our best life is always lived on God’s path, according to His plans and purposes.

John’s revelation shows us that humans will always serve a master. Will it be God, who is good and perfect, holy and just, compassionate, merciful, truthful, faithful, trustworthy, almighty, wise? Or will we serve the master who is evil, cruel, selfish, deceptive, divisive, destructive, foul, depraved, corrupting, decaying? Will we serve him to our own demise?

Moses stands before the people of God and explains a clear choice they have to make. Here is what God is offering you–but God’s offer is attached to obedience to Him. You must listen to Him, believe Him, follow Him, obey Him, submit yourself to God and God’s ways. Moses tells the people that this is the message to them from God:

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30: 19-20, ESV)

Will you choose God? Make no mistake, there are consequences attached to your choice. Moses says that the consequences are life and death.

In Revelation we see the playing out of those who say a definitive “no” to God’s rule and reign in their hearts. They know that what they are seeing is the judgment of God, and still they refuse to worship Him and walk in His ways. They know by experience the emptiness and suffering associated with their own depravity, and still they choose their own depravity.

It is because of this deep depravity played out–human desires going to their necessary conclusion–that the final judgment of the LORD, though fierce and terrifying, will be celebrated and bring great joy for those who are safe in Christ Jesus. And so, after all of the horrifying things that the Apostle John saw and recorded, he ends his account this way:

“Come, LORD Jesus!”

May we stand with the Apostle John, saved by the blood of Jesus poured out for our sins on the cross, having chosen to follow God and to walk in His ways, and say with confidence and anticipation of great joy, “Come, LORD Jesus!”

Changed and Changing

Jan16

I’m not the person I once was and not the person that I will one day be. And that’s very good news.

Today, I have lived 59 years.That’s amazing to me and somewhat unbelievable. Wasn’t I in my twenties just moments ago? In truth I’ve been planting many seeds in my life in the past 30 years (and more). As I look back at the growth in my life in the past 30 years, what does the crop look like that I am harvesting now?

I’ve learned to love better, much better. I’m more patient in difficult circumstances and with difficult people. I’ve learned how to wait well, to wait on GOD as a loving Father and to be more compassionate with hurting people. I treat people more gently and with more kindness.

I feel peaceful most of the time, no matter what manner of chaos is going on around me. I live with deep joy.

All of these things have grown in me, not because I am someone outstanding or amazing, but because over time I have learned to surrender to the prodding of the Holy Spirit in my life, day after day after day. I have come to understand the benefit of surrendering quickly and fully to the Holy Spirit, to not try to battle it out with the GOD of the universe. I have experienced His goodness and His grace, His great kindness and tender mercy.

I have responded to the hunger and thirst for the Word that the Holy Spirit has stirred in me, and it has continued to grow more deep and vast, and my view of Scripture has grown richer and more intense. It’s been opened up to me in a way that Wendy in her twenties only dreamed of. Consequently, I have grown consistent in seeking GOD through His Word and have gradually expanded my morning time with Him, wanting so much more.

I sense GOD’s presence so very close to me all throughout the day now, every day. If I feel fearful or anxious, my first and immediate response is to go to GOD as my loving Father in prayer and worship. He is my refuge. He comforts me, leads me, and holds me. He faithfully draws out all fear and worry. In His presence is perfect peace.

I knew GOD well when I was 39. I’d had babies and cancer and healing. I knew Him even better at 49.I’d had failures and successes and walked in more confidence and less fear.

At 59 I realize that I’ve only begun to know Him. In the past decade I’ve relied even more on my heavenly Father for strength, comfort, direction, and provision. With my family I uprooted my life, resettled in another state, changed careers, started a ministry, and left behind a wonderful life for an equally wonderful, entirely different one. I’ve lost both of my parents and have celebrated the lives they lived serving Jesus. I’ve moved into a new season where my siblings and I are now in that “older” generation.

And throughout all of these changes, I’ve continued to grow in my knowledge and understanding of GOD. And He is wonderful. I suspect that throughout Eternity I will be learning, growing, and knowing more and that there will be no end to the expanding depth and richness of understanding about who GOD is and how deeply He loves me.

I’m not done growing and changing. New challenges have revealed new places in me in need of GOD’s tender transformation, and I am confident that He will continue to refine me as I continue to cooperate with all that He wants to do in my life.

And whatever this next year holds for me, I know that GOD will be faithful to His promises. He will never leave me (Hebrews 13:15), He will supply everything that I need (Philippians 4:19), and He will work out all things for my good (Romans 8:28).

The last birthday of my fifties. The last year before turning 60. Ready.Set.Go!

Another Year, Already

Jan15

January 15

Tomorrow I will be 59. How is that possible? Wasn’t I just 29 a few days ago? How did the last 30 years go by so quickly and at the same time seem a lifetime ago?

The incredible passage of time. When I was young, older people told me about it. Some warned, some lamented, some kindly informed. My mom mused, saying that she felt like she was “still twenty inside.”

But I couldn’t understand. I couldn’t conceive of it. Difficult times seemed long. Time seemed slow. Looking back I realize that sense of time was a persuasive illusion. GOD, in His Word had told me otherwise:

“As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (Psalm 105:15-16).

I believed Him, but I didn’t quite understand how that could be. And then I began to see.

The moments came, and the moments passed, and then they were so quickly gone. I learned that if I wanted to slow down the bullet train of time, zooming me through life, I should stop and savor. Others before me knew it. Walter Hagen wrote back in the 1960s, “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way,” and people started saying, “Stop and smell the roses,” and as I started to sense the incredible passage of time, I did. I stopped.

I learned to enjoy the moment, to be present in it, to pause and make memories that I could carry with me in my mind into the future. To never miss the moment of now in favor of reaching for some moment in the future.

So I ask, “GOD, what do you want me to do today? I want to please You.” Sometimes the answer involves planning and preparation that will take me into tomorrow, next week, next year, but always the answer involves paying attention to the people around me and walking in wisdom here and now.

I’m convinced that it is by GOD’s design that I become increasingly aware of the incredible passage of time and the brevity of this life. Seasons come and seasons go. In some places they are more difficult to perceive (like when I was growing up in Southern California), but here in Idaho, it’s not easy to overlook the pile of snow that reaches almost up to my back window.

Experience has taught me that the snow will melt, spring will come, mild and green and blooming; summer will follow, bright and warm, with long, full days; autumn will usher in beautiful colors and milder temperatures, and the days will start to get shorter once again. And then–I will be looking out my back window at the snow, the pile lower or higher, and I will be another year older.

A long yawn or an intense sneeze, and I might miss it. That’s how it feels at this time of my life.

Wendy at 29, pregnant with her first child, uncomfortable, but ready–she could not sense it, this incredible passage of time. She didn’t know.

I don’t have a sense of how much more time I have ahead of me. Do I have 30 more years? More? Less? A lot less? One of my grandfathers died in his early 60s, another in his 80s, one grandmother in her 70s, but another at 52; my mom lived to be almost 80, and my dad died at 90.

How much time do I have? It is not a question that I concern myself with much. The amount of time seems far less important than the choices I make in using it.

I see the incredible passage of time written on my face and in the faces of my husband and grown children, and I’m sometimes puzzled by the changes that seem accelerated. At the same time, I recognize GOD’s gentle nudge. This world is not my home. Today is passing. I won’t waste it.

And perhaps ironically, I feel great peace in knowing that this is true.

Wendy Clark Ministries

Encouraging the Church through Speaking, Singing, and Writing about the TRUTH of God's Word

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